Germinal Press Blog - On The Benefits Of Fighting Frequently

On The Benefits Of Fighting Frequently - Part 1

Friday, 24 May 2013 Blog Post

I haven't fought in three weeks and it's driving me crazy.

This is as long as I've waited between fights in the past year and the last time I had this much time between was in order to recover from a broken nose; and it still felt too long.

One of the main motivations for me in moving to Thailand to train and fight was to fight a lot. By the time I purchased my ticket for the move I'd been fighting for about three years and had accumulated twelve fights in that time (three of those were in a ten-week period in Thailand).

Since arriving in Thailand one year ago I have completed twenty-nine fights, more than double my total in three years in the span of twelve months, bringing the total to forty one.

It's difficult to fight frequently in the US for a number of reasons, the greatest of which is that there aren't enough opponents or shows to fight more often than once per month – and usually it's only a few times, or even once, per year. This has as much to do with western mentality about fighting as it has to do with the cost and availability of shows to fight on. It's just not part of the western program to be fighting a lot but rather to plan a lot for few fights.

By moving to Thailand I hoped to get into a rhythm that would allow me to fight twice per month. My goal was to reach fifty fights and I knew that even with this frequency I wouldn't get there – but I would get closer – in the one year I had budgeted to live and train and fight full-time in Thailand.

As I got into the rhythm of fighting twice per month (which was easy to get into), I was then able to add in a third and sometimes a fourth fight in one month's time. This is thanks to a number of factors: 1) availability of Muay Thai promotions; 2) availability of opponents; 3) trainers and promoters who accept and advocate for my desire to fight frequently; and 4) training at a level that allows my body to recover quickly and always be ready for a fight.

Even in Thailand, it's not necessarily a given that a gym will be happy about a western fighter wanting to fight with the frequency that I do. I contacted a gym in the south that flat-out said that they don't encourage their fighters to fight that frequently, with the unspoken implication that it would not be permitted, due to this lack of encouragement. In fact, when I first started fighting at my gym in Chiang Mai – a few weeks after arriving on Thai soil – my trainers were uncertain that I really meant that I wanted to fight more than once per month.

Nobody else does this at my camp, especially not the westerners. I would show up to the gym the day after my fight, shins bruised but otherwise everything felt okay and I would ask my trainer in the sharp bright and heat of the afternoon for another fight. He would look at me, almost studying me, and usually tell me that we'd "see in a couple of days."

After a couple months of this, with me still wanting another fight even after those couple of days, I got on the schedule of fighting about every ten days. It was such a thrill, like I'd just become visible or released from the "kid's table" when I came to the gym one morning and found my name already on the fight board the day after I'd just fought.

I didn't need to ask – someone else had asked for me and my trainer knew where my heart was.

Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu was born and raised in Colorado and now trains full-time in Thailand as a Muay Thai fighter. She has an excellent website at http://8limbs.us/. This is the first part of Sylvie's blog; the second part will feature shortly

Comments

On Friday, May May 2013 Lauren said...

“I've always wanted to train in Thailand, but held back because I thought it attracted boofhead blokes or camps didn't allow many women. Will now rethink. Thanks Sylvie - a great read. I'll show my girlfriends at the gym”

On Friday, May May 2013 Congo Delta said...

“Takes a lot of guts to have that many fights. I see some people in my gym who are fantastic technique-wise, then get them in a ring and pepper them with a few shots to their face and their technique goes out the window. As I get older, the less training I can do so get as many bouts in as you can.”

On Friday, May May 2013 Xena said...

“You go Sylvie!”

On Saturday, May May 2013 Tel said...

“I saw a couple of women fights while holidaying in Phuket and they were better than the guys. Couldn't believe their intensity! I'm still ambivalent about whether women fighting in boxing or Muay Thai is a good thing, but I can say I'm not against it.”

On Tuesday, May May 2013 danny said...

“Curious how you fight so frequently... Do you not sustain injuries from previous fights? I understand modifying training to prevent injuries but it takes me about 3-4 weeks just for my shins & forearms to tolerate impact. I'm also curious as to what you believe are the benefits of fighting so frequently?”

On Wednesday, May May 2013 Crane said...

“I agree Danny. I train probably 5 times a week, two of which involve advanced sparring with boxers and kick boxers.At week's end, I'm exhausted, even though my fitness levels are high. I'm in my early forties but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to maintain. One of my sparring partners said drink chocolate milk to aid recovery! There's lots of news coverage here in Australia on the use of peptides to revitalise/strenghten the body after concerted exertion, although I have no intention of going down that path.”

On Wednesday, May May 2013 Sylvie said...

“Lauren, you should absolutely look into coming to Thailand to train. There are certainly obstacles involved, which is to be expected when engaging with and in a culture that is different from your own, but with mindfulness and information you can most certainly do so safely and with maximum benefit for your own interests. More and more gyms are open to women, so you can be selective as well. Please contact me if you have any questions and I'll do my best to help!”

On Wednesday, May May 2013 Sylvie said...

“Danny, I do sustain injuries from fights but I find it unnecessary for most of them to abstain from training all together. When I have stitches, for example, I have to avoid cardio or sweating a great deal (which in Thailand is difficult, indeed) because the sutures take longer to heal when the skin is persistently wet. With nearly any injury, however, I can easily adjust training in order to rest whatever injury I've sustained and continue on training everything else. If my shins are bumpy I work boxing; if my elbow is swollen I work knees; if I have stitches I still do pushups and situps and shadowbox while keeping my heart-rate relatively low, etc. As for your shins, check out my website for advice on how to deal with knotted/bruised shins using hot water massage for recovery. "Treating Shins for Recovery" is the title. Lastly, I reckon what I find to be most beneficial about fighting frequently is that one can avoid the protracted cycling up and cycling down of training for specific fights. In the west it is typical for fighters to have only a few fights per year and so intense training takes place for short durations, like 6 weeks prior to a fight and then stops pretty abruptly after the fight has taken place. This, to me, seems far more exhausting for the body and for the sake of gradual and persistent development than just having a fight here and there. It's like trying to climb a hill on a bicycle - if you stop halfway up it will be immensely difficult to get your momentum back up to continue up the hill; however, if you keep a steady pace you will continue climbing with certainty.”

On Friday, May May 2013 namit said...

“Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm interested in hearing the "benefits" as well but there isn't any discussion of them here. Perhaps that will be covered in part II? If so maybe part I should be renamed; it is a bit misleading as it is. I am very curious to hear your response. ”