Muay Thai vs. Taekwondo, part 1

So I'm going to start up a little continuing series of Muay Thai vs. Taekwondo on this blog, because I honestly could not find a single unbiased comparison of the two.

If I had, I'd slap a link to it so quickly it'd make your head spin, and have done with it. Alas, people are rude.

Aside from my hesitation at MMA due to the UFC and all their madness (not to take away from the fighters, they are legitimately talented), I have always resented MT fighters boasting about how much more "real" MT was than TKD. It just gets under my skin in a way no other insult about my martial art ever has. There is no single martial art, not a single one, that isn't "real". There may be instructors, or heck, even whole fleets of schools, where the discipline and technique is lacking, but that doesn't reflect the entire art. Screw you if you think differently, I don't care about your opinion anyways.

That being said, the egos always intrigued me. What were they doing in those schools that made members who'd been training for six months want to go around bragging that they could take down someone who'd been training in taekwondo for years? Were they really that good, and I just didn't want to admit it? I was intrigued, and more than a little anxious to get my hands on some of this Muay Thai magic if it was as good as its very vocal practitioners proclaimed.

I walked into the school nervous. I wasn't sure if I was going to be participating in the upcoming MT class (my goal), or told to sit in a corner and watch. If it had been the latter, I can assure you this post would have a different tone. I abhor waiting around watching martial arts. Makes me want to kick someone.

Luckily for me, after a few quick questions and a waiver, I was being set up in a separate room with the head instructor for a quick intro. I dodged the "have you done martial arts before" question pretty easily by quickly saying I had no experience in Muay Thai or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/Judo (haven't decided which of the two I'll be taking). To be honest, I hate that question. I understand its necessary and all, but I didn't want to be treated differently from any other beginner. I wanted the basics. And did I ever get them.

He started off by teaching me the mechanics of punching, which was intriguing, In my head I was silently running a tab of the differences, and it was good for me. I immediately picked up the three he wanted to teach me, jab, cross, hook. The footwork was a bit trickier. There's a lot of weight shifting in Muay Thai that isn't present in taekwondo. The hip movement is also different, and I haven't decided how I feel on it yet. Nevertheless, it was thrilling to finally be learning something new in martial arts instead of perfecting upon years of technique. After a few minutes of solitary teaching, a few more new students joined us. He told me to practice, and set about teaching them. I slowly went over the routine again and waited patiently. After a few minutes, he returned and told me to show him again. I quickly did so, and was sent off with praise to the real class.

From there I was partnered off with two other girls to perform drills. I immediately hit a wall with them. Both were sweet, about 6 inches shorter and much smaller than me, both obviously not martial artists. That's fine, they were at the same class I was at, training. But our motivations were different. I was there to even out already extensive training and gain new perspective on old moves. They were there to learn basics and burn some calories. Both noble intentions, but I don't do well around true beginners unless I'm teaching them. There was just two much of a power and size difference for me to feel comfortable training around them. So I bid them adieu and took up a place at one of the heavy bags.

Feeling at home, I began practicing my punches again. The (very cute) assistant instructor came up to me and told me I was doing really well, but one of my foot placements was wrong. Confused, I asked him which was I was flubbing, as I'd been pretty sure I'd gotten them down with the main instructor. He told me I was moving my back leg in as I hook punched. Frowning, I told him the main instructor had told me to. In a more-than-condescending tone, he told that I must have "misunderstood" him. I told him fine, but doing it that way hurt my rotator cuff. He told me to do what felt comfortable. For now, I'm moving my foot back in. I'll ask the main instructor about it tomorrow.

After that he told us to add a kick drill to the mix. Finally! Just because I'd decided not to say directly that I was pretty darn practiced didn't mean I was going to hold back. Snapping out a clean roundhouse with a very resounding thud, I was reminded that I pull my best moves around others. I guess, in a way, I'm a bit of showboat. Honestly, I know I am. I like to be the best in the room at any time, and it drives me to train harder. I don't really question it, whatever motivates me, motivates me.

After that, however, my dear friend Andrew, the assistant instructor, came over and eyed me warily. I eyed him warily back. After a stalemate staring contest, he opened his mouth.

"You did taekwondo, didn't you?" ....Aw, crap.
".....A bit." A slight nod and he motioned for me to move away from the bag.
"Your kicks are...very good. But in Muay Thai we kick with our toes flexed, striking with the inside of our shin." Nodding and absorbing, I quickly spun off a kick in imitation of what he had shown me. He gave me a slightly warmer grin and told me I'd gotten it. Too focused to pay attention to the cute boy next to me, I launched back into my attacks on the poor bag that hadn't done a thing to me, and waited for him to move to the opposite side the expansive room before quitting to address my issue with the kicking style.

Muay Thai kicks hurt. Not the receiver even, the kicker. My shins were bright red, and are still aching hours later. I was practically whimpering, but there were a butt load of guys there. Even if I was in some serious pain, I wasn't going to be the wimpy girl in the corner whining about shin pain.

Then I realized that every single guy in the joint was wearing shin guards. The wimps! The jerks! All I'd heard about Muay Thai was how strong their limbs were from kicking trees bare shinned, and the lame-o's couldn't be bothered to kick a pad unguarded. Not to mention every single practitioner was wearing boxing gloves, which is just stupid. Who wears boxing gloves in a real fight? Where's that "practicality" now, ya bunch of softies?!

...I get a little rude when I do martial arts.

Undeterred, and spurred on by the fact that I'm man enough to kick with my shins unguarded, thank you very much, I returned to the assigned drill despite the discomfort. The head instructor came up to me a few minutes later, while I was punching and seemed really pleased with me. Apparently, I'm a fast learner. Which is exactly what my tai chi and and kung fu instructor said of me, so apparently taekwondo is good for something (another...HA!).

Asking if I had any questions, I immediately asked to see a kick. He told me to focus on punches. I frowned at him. He sighed and demonstrated the same basic roundhouse variance cutey/annoying Andrew had shown me. I copied the motion again and waited for approval. He gave it, seeming surprised, and then, before I could think, my mouth betrayed me.

"It hurts. A lot." Laughing, he told me to slow it down a bit to adjust. Since "slowing down" isn't part of my vocabulary when it comes to kicking, I resigned to the pain, and pushed on. Before I knew it, class was over. I hadn't really broken a sweat, but if given another hour, I'd be taxed.

Packing up, Andrew asked me, pointing to my shirt, when I graduated from UT. I told him I was still in school. He told me he'd just graduated. Crap. I couldn't hate on another Longhorn. The jerk.

I can't wait to do it all again.

I realize there wasn't much of a comparison yet, but I promise I'll get plenty technical later. For now, I'm just going to enjoy it.

Backish?

So, I'm really going to try and update this thing more. I recently got a new job that's been pretty demanding of my time, and has me on a crazy schedule. I'm not going to mention exactly who they are (legal issues?), so let's just called them "Large Sports Company". So LSC has me working only around 25 hours a week, but those hours have ranged from 8 in the morning to working overnights from 9pm to 5am. Needless to say, both my sleep schedule and myself have been completely thrown off. Working out was of little concern compared to getting adequate shut eye in-between shifts and renovating my parent's kitchen (they waved a fat check in my face, I had to! I'm poor!). Not to say I'd given up, but my gym wasn't open later than 11pm, which is when I usually get off, and I usually work through my prime running hours of 6-8pm. Plus, I suffered a pretty emotional blow from when I came back home and saw my grandmaster, the man who saw me through my blackbelt years, had retired. I didn't know what to do, I had to give up on my other coach because there's about an hours distance between LSC and his school (my house is 30 mins away from both). So to say I was pretty distraught is an understatement.

But that's all gone now! I'm slowly adjusting to work, and am done with everything but painting for my parents kitchen. Plus, tonight I found a new school. No, it's not taekwondo. I think it's high time I resign myself to training myself for a while. But it is martial arts.

For a while I've played around with the idea of MMA. It's an...interesting phenomenon. I love boxing, I grew up watching it and MMA kind of gave off the boxing vibe to me at first, before it turned into a real version of Pro-Wrestling. The egos, the badmouthing opponents, the babes in short, tight shirts? None of it really screamed martial arts to me, and I was turned off even though the concept of a blended style all-out fight intrigued me. But ever since I read that (personal hero) Ronda Rousey had decided to delve into MMA, I've been determined to re-evaluate it and maybe give it a shot. Then, by luck, a great new MMA place led by a respectable instructor pops up right next to my house! So tonight, I checked it out.

I'll be there at 11am tomorrow to hand over my firsts month's check and get some training in.

Then I'm going on a long Week 4 run, before finally getting around to week 5.

Why Taekwondo?

So, I was doing some research last night on the interwebs, putting together my competition schedule beginning late December/early January next year when I hope to be ready to return to competition. I'm nervous as all gettup about it, but it makes me want to push harder already.

Meanwhile, the incredibly hilarious B.Jones, who now has a permanent place of honor on this blog, left a great comment mentioning how my posts make him think about putting his kids in martial arts. This got me to thinking about all of the parents I've met while teaching, and several of the questions I receive once someone finds out what my job is. Since I've always wanted a platform to talk about teaching taekwondo on, and now I have one, let's get going!

Question #1- Is it dangerous?

Well, yes and no. Life's dangerous. Sports are dangerous. I can't guarantee that your child won't be hurt doing taekwondo, that's impossible. What I can tell you is my experience. Personally, the only injuries I've ever received doing TKD are a sprained ankle and knee, separated by around 3 years. Yes, you get bruised a bit once you start to spar (practice fight), but Olympic standards dictate that head, chest, arms, hands, shins and feet be covered in padding. Honestly, there are more injuries in cheerleading than TKD. As an instructor, I have never had a student injured seriously during a class.

Question #2-How long will it take to get a blackbelt? Once I have a blackbelt, am I a master?

The first question depends entirely on your system. I've trained under two separate international bodies- International TKD Federation, and World TKD Federation (ITF, WTF). Under both systems the average seemed to run between 2-2.5 years to get a blackbelt. However, I encourage students not to countdown the time until blackbelt. A blackbelt is an amazing achievement, but it is really only the true beginning of a journey in taekwondo. Receiving your first dan means you have mastered all basic techniques. Once you've "crossed over to the other side" you begin to train to teach and share your knowledge, along with beginning to have mastery over other elements like weapons. 7 years after getting my first blackbelt, 13 years after starting training, and I'm still training basic elements like round house kick, because they can always be better.

Question #3- What will my child get out of taekwondo?

There are five tenets to taekwondo- courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit. The sport is built around teaching these and impressing these values into their students. Courtesy is impressed by how we must treat our instructors, fellow students, and training hall during class. Bowing, saying thank you, yes ma'am/no ma'am; all of these things are taught in taekwondo. Integrity is taught through pushing students to be honest at home and at school, as well as in TKD class. If a student fails to show integrity in one of these areas, consequences are given (push-ups, missing out on board breaking) in class. Because students want to participate in these activities, many parents see better behavior in their children. Perseverance is one of my favorite tenets, and I think TKD got it right. TKD is one of the only sports where there is a definitive reward system. You are encouraged to persevere through difficult training in order to receive a new belt. It promotes the concept that with hard work, comes great reward. Self-control- It takes impeccable self-control to learn martial arts and not use them. In class, students must exercise self-control to behave properly, but it is outside class where this really comes into effect. In every single school I have trained in, if a student is caught using their martial arts to instigate fights, that student's career could very well be through. TKD is all about knowing how to fight, and knowing that it is a last resort. And finally, indomitable spirit. This comes more from seeing yourself grow as a martial artist more than anything else. By practicing TKD, students come to realize the importance of never backing down on a goal or dream, and this refusal to be beat is what makes champions of all students.

Question #4- Sure, this is great for boys. But what about my daughter?

...Are you really asking a female TKD instructor this?

But seriously, TKD is hands down my favorite martial art for girls, and I'll tell you why. Martial arts is male-dominated, it's true. In many arts, you will not find a single female practitioner. I know this from experience; my brother is a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu student, and while I've always been interested in taking it, even as a blackbelt in another martial art I'm uncomfortable taking it up because it is all men. The instructor himself told me he did not have a single female student. But walk into any TKD studio and you will not only find several female students, odds are there will be at least one female instructor. This is mostly because the sport is the largest martial art in the USA, but also because females can truly excel at TKD. Flexibility, agility, grace- all these things are natural to many female athletes, and they shine in TKD. Now, I'm not saying another martial art couldn't be great for females, Ronda Rousey has shown judo can be amazing for girls, I'm just saying odds are your daughter will find better role models, friends, and excellence in TKD. Plus, girls kick guy butt all the time in TKD. Just sayin'.

Question #5- My kids do TKD....can I?

YES! I had a 73 year old man who came with his grandfather and they both got blackbelts together. TKD is for all ages, and instructors are sympathetic if you can't quite bend like an 8 year old. This doesn't mean anyone will go easy on you, it's a workout! But it's amazing fun, and I love seeing parents and children get new belts together. You can't do soccer team with your kid, but you can do TKD. Plus, most families that do it together tend to stick it out, because once the kids lose interest after a year, the parents are totally hooked, keep coming, and eventually the kids find their way back.


Finally, let me just say that TKD is the most rewarding thing I've ever done with my life. One of the main motivating reasons behind me getting back into competitions is so that I will have better credentials to start an experiential psychotherapy program based on the tenets of TKD for children with both learning deficiencies and negative behavior patterns that I hope to practice out of my own do-jang, and eventually introduce into a public school system.

Unfortunately, this requires grad school, so I'm off to study. Calculus, you're about to be schooled!

Sweet Dreams

So, last night I had a dream about running.

I don't remember the specifics, all I know is that it was actually about running and not just me running away from something, or towards something (like ice cream..hmmm, ice cream).

This made me stop and give pause though, because, well...dreams are highly personal things. Who is this running to jump all up into them and interrupt me from doing something better like kissing Alan Rickman or eating ice cream (man, I want ice cream).

It took me a whole semester to dream about college instead of high school. Yup, I was sleeping soundly in my dorm, dreaming that I was going to miss a paper date or something to that effect in my old senior English class.

So, how on Earth after only almost-4-weeks did running manage to pop up into my sub-conscious?

Maybe because, thanks to the amazing inspiration stories over at c25k.com, its become my new favorite thing. I remember reading a post on the forums over there about when you know you're a runner. And I thought to myself, I never want to be a runner, I want to be someone who runs to train for taekwondo. But after reading about so many people who want only to run, and how much happiness it brings them it's completely changed my perspective on running. I want to be a runner.

An old taekwondo coach of mine once told me, if you have time to be something else, you're not trying hard enough. He was referring to my propensity to skip practice to go to rowing camps at the time, but over the years it has stuck with me and it was with that attitude that I began c25k. I was using the program to build up my cardio and lose weight with the sole purpose of being able to get back into the do-jang. Now, I'm running to run. And after I get back into the do-jang, I'm going to run. And once my career is over, and I'm old and pooping out babies, I'm going to run. And as I'm running, I'm going to remind myself, gosh darnit, I like this. Because I can be a runner and a taekwondoist. They're not competing with each other. And yah, I'm going to use running to train for tkd. But I'm also going to use tkd to train to run.

I am so excited to be a runner.

Blistered, but not broken!

So after hunting around for a good secondary cardio workout, I decided today to return to my good friend the erg (indoor rowing machine). I've spent quite some time bonding with that piece of equipment over the last 4 years, and today was a bittersweet reunion. Bitter because that workout kicked my butt. Sweet because that workout kicked my butt.

I couldn't decide on a workout to do, so I mixed it up with 10 minutes of 1 minute hard (under 2 minute split time), 1 minute rest(whatever I could manage). Then I did a solid 20 minutes at my 5K pace, which was pretty darn good cardio. The erg is actually a great workout for taekwondoists. I found this out when I didn't totally suck returning to tkd after my first rowing season in HS, but in a weird way it makes sense. The erg works all muscles in the body, but focuses on the legs, like tkd. It's a mixture of anaerobic and aerobic, like tkd. It often deals with short sprints of all out effort...like tkd. And while the effin' thing gave me blisters since my formerly calloused hands have gone all soft and manicured, I definitely think I'll be adding it back in on my off-running days. Its the only workout I've found that burns more calories than running, and it has a strength training element built in since every stroke is essentially a dead lift on crack. Not sure if I'll do it every off-day, I'm contemplating bike machines too, but its definitely going to get a whirl at least once a week.

Speaking of strength training, I also started my 100/200/200 program today. Ouch. I'm already feeling it in my abs, which might be from the erging too, but it definitely did not help to drop and do like 5033454 crunches. Push-ups wasn't as bad as I thought, but I need to work on form a LOT. Overall, I'm feeling that nice tightness in my legs and back that says, hey, you worked out. I love that feeling.

Who knows, 6 weeks from now I might actually start feeling like an athlete again. For now, I'm beginning to feel like a return to glory might just, maybe be possible. But until I find out, I'm just going to enjoy the ride.

W3D2 tomorrow. So pumped.