2013 + 2014

I started to review my year, or better, my journey so far yesterday and want to continue with this today.

After I suffered the injury, I didn´t fight for six weeks. This interfered with my plans to fight once per month as long as I am in Thailand. But after this break, when I started to prepare for a fight again, an idea came up in my mind: The Thais fight so much, even several days in one week. Who says I cannot do this as well?

As I already mentioned in older posts, the Thai idea of fighting, that it is something you simply do instead of making it a big deal, is something I really, really like. And I envy them for this, for it seems to be a ´natural´ attitude. Muay Thai is the national sport so it is strongly connected to the culture of the country and to the people. Combat sports in Germany are far from being mainstream. When I came to Thailand the first time, I was used to having six weeks for preparation for an upcoming fight. What made me kind of stunned, when I was asked if I want to fight in a couple of days – thus I didn't fight here during my first stay.

But this year, I stay longer and I have time. In addition I try to learn the language, get to know the culture and try to understand the Thai way of living and of course the Thai way to teach, train and fight Muay Thai. I will never completely understand this martial art; simply because I didn´t grow up with it, it is not a part of my culture. But I can try to make it a part of it by copying behaviour and routines. So why just fighting 12 times in a year? If my physical condition allows it, I can fight more than that.

And so I did in December three fights in 14 days, being succesfull in all of them, even accepting a fight on one hour notice, what was a completely new experience to step in the ring without being focussed 100%. For me it is special to fight so many times in such a short time, but for the Thai fighters it´s just business as usual. Still, I am proud of the five fights I did here. I got a lot of experience and I definitely want to go on with a high pace – so maybe one day, it will be normal to fight every couple days.

Even if I wasn´t able to have a MMA fight so far, what is basically what I like to do even more than fighting Muay Thai, I am really, really content with the outcome of my first four months in the country of smiles. I learned a lot; the fighting is going well; I always performed as good as I could, even when I lost; I didn´t get hurt really badly and besides the sport I met many, awesome people. I am able to speak at least a bit Thai and there is nothing that tells me, that the next year will not be as good as this one.

So what are my plans? First, I will fight on the 5th of January again at Loikroh Stadium. The fighting on a high pace has to wait because I will have a two weeks break afterwards from training. My body needs it (maybe I will write a detailed post about this) and my girlfriend will come here. The perfect time to get some distance between me and the sport in order to come back refreshed and relaxed.

In the end of February I have to do my next visa run – I will use this to travel, get some more input at other gyms and maybe return afterwards to Team Quest or end up in a gogo bar in Pattaya... no, not really. I will keep my focus on fighting in 2014 as well. But don´t ask me where I will go, where I will train or what ever happens. The only thing I know is there will be a lot of training involved.

So after an awesome 2013, what are my good resolutions for 2014?

Simply put: same thing as last year. Training my ass off, seeing new places and fight, fight, fight. Hopefully I can do five more fights, before I leave Chiang Mai at the end of February. I´ll keep you up to date!
Happy New Year and thank you for following my blog!

 

My Buddha (middle) will keep an eye on me in 2014 - at Wat Doi Suthep

2013

The year 2013 is about to end and with that the first four months of my journey passed already. It really didn´t feel like four months, the time passed by so fast. That means it´s time to look back and assess this journey so far – did everything work out as I planned it? Were my expectations fulfilled?

If you are already following my blog for a while you may already know the answers that come with these questions, but I also want to come to a conclusion so far and furthermore I want to look ahead. Since I arrived everything worked out perfectly, from travelling to Chiang Mai, to finding a flat and to getting the training started.

As far as I can judge my own performance, I think I evolved in several parts of my game, I did in Muay Thai as in MMA and grappling as well. It is amazing how fast you make progress when you train so much. It is way easier to concentrate on a specific technique or weakness because there are no long timeframes between the classes. After practicing one and the same movement for one hour, you realize at the end of the morning session, that if you change this little, tiny thing it may be the key to making the movement way more effective. There is no time to forget something either. A few hours later you will step on the mat again and simply continue where you had stopped before.

I had only two pure boxing classes per week in Germany because all the grappling, wrestling and Muay Thai classes had to fit into my training schedule as well. Now, while I was injured, I had 22 classes in two weeks. Even if I wanted to train so much (boxing), I neither had the time nor the possibilities to do so in Germany.

For example: On Monday, one of the coaches tells me to do this and that while sparring and try a new way of movement or so. By Friday I had improved visibly. Goals are reached way faster and it feels like training on a magic drug. It is not like I didn´t train much before since I trained six times a week for the last three years; but this double up of the classes leads to a whole new pace of effective learning.

But there were also disappointments. The worst thing that bugged me, or still bugs me, is the knee injury I suffered during a sparring session. I have no idea what really happened because it began to hurt the next morning. The pain is still there. Even if I don´t think anything got badly injured, this injury has affected my schedule even after two months. There is absolutely no problem during training, and even competing, Muay Thai. However, I barely did any grappling in the last weeks – bending the knee and sitting on my lower legs, as you do in all the top positions in grappling, causes pain after a few minutes.

I have this fantastic opportunity to live my dream, but the time for that is limited and I don´t want to waste my valuable time with resting and recovering from an injury. What I want is to use this time for the sport, to get as good as possible in this year and learn a thousand other things.

On the other hand, I guess, this is part of the everyday life of all the professional fighters: Dealing with injuries and adjusting your schedule around these.

So if being hurt will be usual (even more usual than it already was in the past few years) I should view it in a positive light: The injury made me concentrate on my boxing and on the Muay Thai. This has given me the opportunity to compete a lot in the pass weeks.

Well... that doesn´t hide the fact, that I missed dozens of grappling classes and, with that, opportunities to make my ground game stronger. But at least there is something positive about the situation.

I keep telling myself that thinking positive helps with everything. I am not sure yet if this is true; but until now, it worked.

Tomorrow, I will continue my review - I´m not finished with you yet, 2013!

Goals

When I started to do this sport I was sixteen years old and had tried a couple of hobbies before such as soccer, badminton, dancing, acting and playing the guitar. It’s not that I didn´t like these activities because I did all of them several years (especially for playing theater I spent a lot of my free time). But when I stepped on the mats for the first time to participate in a Thaiboxing class, I realized that this sport was something totally different. The training was way harder than anything else I have ever done before and, of course, I was fascinated by the concept of being ´strong’ and ‘tough’.

I started to work out at a local gym a few months before I entered a martial arts gym the first time. However, after the first Muay Thai training, moving barbells only was not satisfying anymore. All the time I was doing strength training I wished to kick some pads instead.
Literally, I fall in love with this sport from the first moment on.

After half a year of training three times a week Muay Thai I added Grappling to my schedule. This came due to being introduced to MMA and I liked it even more than just the stand-up fighting. With this second sport added to my list, I started to train six days a week (what caused, of course, some trouble with my parents – "only if it works out with school!") From this point on, the sport became the center point of my life. From this time on, I began to ask myself: What am I aiming for? What are my goals?

When I discovered MMA and became a grappler, I was sure about that I want to compete one day – not only in grappling tournaments but also full-contact fighting. While other say that they want to fight once only, I wasn´t that sure about that before I entered the ring the first time. If I liked it, I would do it again.

And I liked it. And did it again. And again. And again.

Now I made the decision to come to Team Quest and concentrate a whole entire year on fighting only where I could compete a lot and train as much as possible. Where do I want to go? I cannot deny that it is a dream of someday being able to fight at bigger events and that it would be great to fight at a more professional level. Maybe 95% of the people who compete and fight seriously have this dream, so why should I not have this dream too? I am young and I have a lot of time to improve. But what if this does not happen?

Well... who cares? I have fun doing what I do; I don´t have any pressure on my shoulders that I have to feed myself from fighting and to be honest. I don´t want to put any pressure on my shoulders by telling myself that I have to reach this and that level, fight at this and that promotion in order to build a record that is good; or that I want to become the best ever. Of course I want to be good; of course I want to be the best I can be. And as long as I train a lot and step into the ring with the maximum level of preparation while being in excellent shape, I am not willing to blame myself for a loss, as long as I gave my best in- and outside the ring. 

enjoy.

 

 There are so many really tough guys out there. So many of these guys could finish me without using any effort. So why become so results-oriented? I think this could make me overlook the fun at competing if I catch a losing streak or get hurt badly.

Right now, I can step into the ring with a smile on my face – willing to win while giving everything I got to achieve this goal. All this I do without having contracts or other events or whether or not I impress someone with my performance and all this stuff in the back of my head.

I just like fighting... maybe that is the only goal I need. To have fun.

To be on a budget - part VI

After a few weeks it´s once again time to continue this series. Today I want to talk about the things that are expensive and which are cheap here – so you know what you should bring with you and what you can leave at home.

What to bring and what to buy here?

Thailand is way cheaper than many western countries. Nonetheless you should be careful because you cannot always find a good bargain here. Before coming to Thailand, you may think that you can leave some stuff at home, because you can buy it here instead and save some money. Well... that works... in some cases.

You want to leave electronic devices at home? Don´t do that! Electronics are the same price or even more than in Germany. So if you are from the US, you will pay more than at home for sure. The same goes for supplements. I checked out every single pharmacy and supplement store in Chiang Mai – for a 5lbs protein bucket you pay approximately 10€ (~ 400 Baht) more. Only fish oil capsules and mineral- /vitamintablets are slightly cheaper.

On the other hand drugs are really, really cheap here. You can get all the basic medicine you need for when you catch a cold or accidentally cut yourself. These can be bought 24/7 at the supermarket. A box of painkillers, pills against a sore throat, wound disinfectant, tigerbalm or other ethereal oils cost around 1€ (~ 40 Baht).

Clothes CAN be cheap, but at the mall you easily pay the same price as in a mall at home. The huge supermarkets, on the walking streets and on the night bazar you can get some seriously cheap tshirts, shorts, jeans etc. You can get good quality t-shirts from 100 Baht on up and some good, simple sports shorts from 120 Baht and up.

Of course Thailand is famous for its tailors and because it´s cheaper here than in other parts of the country, even Thais travel the 700km from Bangkok up here to get a tailored suite. I haven´t tried this yet but I have seen advertisements and two friends got themselves shirts: They paid 1300 Baht and one of the tailors here advertises that you can get a set which includes a suite, shirt and tie for 120$.

Food Basically, is the cheapest thing you can get here. It is super awesome. There are thousands of restaurants in Chiang Mai and you can get healthy, good quality food at every corner – even a few minutes walk away from Team Quest. For a delicious plate of fried rice with vegetables and meat you pay 30 – 40 Baht; in the city center around 60 Baht. A huge, deepfried chicken breast costs around 40 Baht; a snack of barbecued prok on a stick maybe 15 Baht and a fresh made papaya salad is 25 Baht here. As long as you eat Thai food, it´s nearly impossible to exceed your budget even if you eat a lot. If you prefer eating burgers and stuff, have fun paying more than 200 Baht for one BigMac.

But from time to time you need the fatty fastfood (At least I do - just had an awesome XXL pizza at ´Duke´s´ for Christmas). It´s way more expensive to eat western style food, but still cheaper than at home – for a HUGE pizza I paid 450 Baht, for an Irish breakfast at a pub it´s around 200 Baht. A sushi buffet is approximately 300 Baht and a Thai BBQ buffet around 180.

Thai food - simply delicious

Alcohol is ... well... if you think it´s cheap or not really depends on where are you from. Alcohol is super cheap in Germany so 60 Baht for a 0,6l bottle in a supermarket isn´t cheap for me, . But most of the people I meet consider drinking to be cheap here. At a bar you pay slightly more, maybe 90 Baht, and for a small bottle of the cheapest whisky, you pay 200 Baht at a supermarket and 300 or more at a bar. But if you take training seriously you will not jeopardize the succes of your effort by wasting your money for alcohol. Of course you won't, right?

For now, that´s it – I hope this helps you by estimating how much money you need here. If you have questions -> leave me a comment!

Learning Thai

When you make it to Thailand to stay long-term it is highly advisable to learn at least the basics of the Thai language. As I already outlined in my post ´to be on a budget – part V´ it is not only a great way to save some cash but it also opens the doors to understand the culture and the people. Many Thais don´t speak English well, so mastering all-day situations is a lot easier and more fun when you are able to communicate with the people in their own language. Furthermore my experience is that you have the approval of most of the Thais because it shows effort and an honest interest in the country.

The main difference between western languages and the Thai one is, that Thai is a tonal language – one and the same word can have different meanings depending on how you pronounce it, e.g. in which tone you say it. There are five different tones: Mid-tone, low-tone, high-tone, rising-tone and falling tone. For example the word ´naa´: Inter alia it can mean ´rice field´, ´face´, ´thick´, ´page´, ´in front of´ and ´next´... depending on the tone you use when saying it.

This may sound complicated and could make you think it is simply not possible to master this language, but it is easier than it seems it is. What makes Thai a lot easier to learn is its simple grammar. There are no declensions and conjugations. If you ever had Latin in school you know that complicated grammar is the worst thing ever. But not in Thai – after gaining a feeling for the sentence structure it is easy to build correct sentences over and over again.

So after encouraging you to start learning a new language, the question is where to do so. When you train at Team Quest Chiang Mai you have tons of choices. There are dozens of language schools in this city and I want to share my experiences with you. First I had a couple of single classes with a friend who owns an English school. This didn´t really help me. The system of learning the pronunciations by simply repeating what the teacher says doesn´t work well because there will always be gaps; for example, you are not sure how to pronounce it right, because there are no letters in western languages to write it down correctly.

After this I decided to participate in a six weeks course at A.U.A. Language Center at Thapae Gate, right in the old city, a ten minutes bike ride from the gym. I finished this first term a few days ago and I am really happy that I made this choice. The system of the American University Alumni Language Center is a completely different one. In the first couple of lessons they teach you all the different vowels and pronunciations the Thai language has and introduce you to "new" letters which stand for a specific pronunciation (these letters are easy to learn, like for example two turned around cc´s). Then they make you learn how to say the different tones correctly and how to tell the difference between them when you hear them. Basically the first week is more like a singing class.

A nice place to study - the A.U.A. site

 With these basics it is a lot easier and less frustrating to learn vocabularies. The schedule of the six weeks course is based on everyday use, meaning you learn the grammatical patterns with examples atoned to real life situations, such as asking for the way or ordering food. I was able to apply the newly learned stuff to my everyday life real quick and with the book they offer I’m still improving my Thai.

The price for a six weeks course is 4800 Baht plus 250 Baht if you buy the course book. You don´t really need the book but I highly recommend buying it because it´s great to review the lessons. The lessons take place daily for two hours from Monday to Friday and there are a maximum of 12 people per class. Because A.U.A. is an officially licensed school by the government, you can even get an education visa through them.

I already signed up for the next course at A.U.A., starting in January – it is a great feeling when you are able to talk to the people... I kind of feel more at home here now.

If you have questions about learning Thai at A.U.A. or in general, simply leave a comment!

One of these mornings - Part II

In the first part of this blog post here I described one of those mornings, when you would do anything else than stand up and go to the gym. The question I ask myself is why do I do this? Why do I do things I don´t want to do?
It is kind of crazy to take one year off to simply concentrate on what I like the most and, when it isn’t fun anymore, to continue.

Of course, if it is only one day on which you don´t want to train, it´s easy to say that you should just keep doing it. But when there are a couple of days in a row – when you go to bed in the evening thinking already about the next morning, not wanting to stand up early and being everything else than excited for the workout or days on which your body tells you that it is time for a break – then what? Or may it be just your mind trying to convince you that you should listen to your aching body but in fact it´s the laziness inside you?

Sometimes there is just the problem of being able to motivate yourself. Times that once you’re on the mats, you´re realizing you’re having fun with drills and exercises. But during a bad week it isn´t even fun to work out: I step on the mats feeling tired while checking the time way to often, waiting for the two hours class to end. And when doing padwork, I curse the padholder when he makes me do 20 fast middle kicks.

What is it that keeps me doing it? I can do whatever I want; I have no obligations and the freedom to go where ever I want to. No one is stopping me from lying on a beach and having an ice-cold beer; no one is hindering me from going partying or forces me to train twice every day. So basically, in a bad week, I am doing something I don´t have to do. And, add to that, I don´t even enjoy participating in the training twice a day, six days a week.

That sounds... weird. Maybe stupid. And don´t think that I am already completely aware about my reasons on why I do this! But I have some idea: The easiest answer may be to say that I simply want to get better - wanting to get better means that I have to work hard for it. Then you might wonder: would it be that much of a difference if I would take a day off or just train once a day?
For me, it is. What keeps me motivated on these days is that I want to be sincere – I want to be honest to myself.

I don´t want to be one of these guys that go to the gym once a week and tells everyone about what tough fighters they are but what is waaayyy more important, is that I hate having the feeling that I tricked myself into skipping a class.

In my opinion that is what makes fighters and serious, competitive sportsmen different from most of the other people: There are no excuses. We believe that every missed training session due to a lame excuse is a sign of weakness – a weakness your opponent will use against you to beat you the next time in the ring. Having a bad excuse for skipping the workout will make it easier to skip the next one too and so on. It is as if I fear this process, this process of becoming lazy.

isn´t always fun - padwork

I am not one of these talented guys that watch a movement once and can copy it nearly perfectly – my body control is quite average as is my talent for this sport. To overcome this lack of talent I simply have to work harder. And not to train because I just don’t want to, means failure to me. Not to train means never becoming the best I can be. It doesn´t even make me happy not to train...

... because I know it´s wrong. Deep inside, I feel that I’ve cheated myself of a day’s training and, with this, an opportunity to become better. A feeling of hatred, even a little guilt, eats me up and I cannot even enjoy the day off. Instead, all I do is think about the training I’ve missed.

So, to answer the question as to why I get up every morning, rain or shine, motivated or not; I do it for myself. I do it to improve; to push myself to the limits and test my boundaries. I want to be better, no, not even that, I want to be the best I can be. When I step into a ring, I want to be able to say that the fighter in the middle of the ring is the best fighter I can be – that I am in shape and there is nothing I forgot to prepare for.
Then... it doesn´t matter to lose anymore.

"Let´s go and watch some fights!"

It is Wednesday night and again I am at Loikroh Stadium and the air is filled with the mix of the traditional Muay Thai music and the electric sounds of chart songs. But this time I am not preparing to step in the ring as I did just on Sunday, but playing pool with a friend – but maybe it would be better if I would fight instead of playing pool: Basically I do not have any skills for this game.

Anna from Sweden will fight her 6^th fight tonight which is the first one for Team Quest. Even if I should be relaxed because it is not my show time tonight, I am slightly nervous. Anna seems to be quiet relaxed and is joking around while she gets her hands wrapped but for me it is always weird to see a friend fight. It may be the feeling of being powerless or of not having any influence on the fight that causes this restlessness. After having had a bunch of fights, the body got too used to switching into fight mode - now the mirror neurons trick me to make me wanting to fight myself.

I am leaning over the pool table and aiming with the billiard cue at one of the balls, when I hear Ni shouting my name behind me. When I turn around he beckons me over: "One of the fighters didn´t show up. You want to fight tonight?" A few seconds I stare at him and think about it. Back in Germany I always took one week off after fights but since I am here the pace is a completely different one. Sunday was fight night, and while on Monday I did not train, I already trained on Tuesday and today – two training sessions and a fight on the same day?

"Well... I don´t have any equipment with me" I reply. Ni grins at me and the promoter simply says: "No problem! Just go and get it from your flat!"

Back home it is difficult to get a fight. Weeks before the event you have to tell the promoter that you want to fight on the card and then you hope that you get an opponent and he does not get hurt while preparing for the fight. And now, they offer me a fight right away? I cannot let this chance slip through my fingers.

"Okay! I´ll fight!" The promoter starts laughing and gives me a thumb up.

"Nat can take you home on the motorcycle – get your stuff and come back!" Ni commands.
We jump on the motorcross bike and race along the Chiang Mai nightlife, avoiding big traffic jams in the center by speeding through tiny side alleys. I get my stuff and we return to the stadium. Ni wraps my hands in a hurry – Just when I start to warm up, it is already time for Anna to enter the ring. She delivers a good fight and finishes it in the fourth round.

Then it is my turn. My opponent is quite aggressive and attacks me with furious attacks of flying kicks and a spinning elbow. It is a huge difference if you have time to focus on a fight or if you step in the ring on short notice. I am physically in good condition, but I am far from being completely focused. I get distracted easier by the audience and in the second round my opponent makes me nervous when he becomes more relaxed, drops his hands and goes forward without being scared of getting hit.

I switch into a more aggressive manner and use more boxing – the fight becomes faster, less technical and harder. It works: I can cut off his way, land a huge boxing combination and when we end up clinching he goes down. He does not get back up so my hand gets raised by the referee.

Anna and me after the work is done

Another fight, another victory and more experience in the ring on my record. I am glad that I accepted the fight. It was still fun but I definitely prefer to have time to focus. That I got nervous shows me that I lacked self-confidence.
The mental preparation is quite important – maybe I should accept more fights on short notice in order to get more experience in focusing faster during fights ;)