3/16: KICKING AIR
So, a couple weeks ago, one of the Muay Thai guys said I don’t show as much love for the Muay Thai class in the newsletter as I do for Jiu-Jitsu. While we do have many more Jiu-Jitsu students, I really enjoy the Muay class just as much, and the full sparring class is one of my favorite classes of the week. So let me show some love from a great week last week in the world of Muay Thai.
Last weekend, I attended a Muay Thai seminar in Walled Lake where the instructor was a retired Thai fighter names Lerdsila Chumpairtour, with a professional record of 194-33-5. If you don’t know who he is, look him up. He was a multiple time World Champion and regarded as one of the hardest fighters ever to hit. After the seminar, I scheduled a private training session with him during the week. It truly is a one of the coolest things in this industry that so many of the worlds greatest practitioners are so readily accessible to train with. I can honestly say it was also one of the coolest private lessons I’ve ever had.
I had no idea how he runs his one-on-one sessions, and after about 15 minutes of pad work during a break, I asked him if at some point we could do a little bit of light sparring. Fortunately, that was already in his plans. To be able to have 10 minutes of sparring with one of the greatest Mauy Thai fighters of all time is something I never would have imagined possible 10 years ago when I started this journey, but there I was. It was amazing to experience a little bit of what his opponents faced, and I can tell you that I have never kicked so much air in front of someone or thrown more punches that didn’t touch anything. He evaded my kicks so effortlessly it was like he knew what I was doing before I did. However, I had a few moments of success and got in a few shots, and was pretty happy with my defense overall. It was great getting to experience what he does and will work to incorporate those learnings into my teaching and training.
Here are the biggest takeaways I got from the experience. 1) From a personal standpoint, he did not have to make any significant corrections to my technique and was very complimentary on my kicking strength. 2) While I would very obviously lose 100 out of 100 Muay Thai fights against him, I did not feel so far behind him that I would not be able to at least hold my own in a Muay Thai fight. (Allow BJJ to enter the picture, then the equation would change a bit). 3) The techniques that we teach are every bit as technical, clean and accurate as any gym I’ve trained at or person I’ve trained with. 4) The teaching methods that we use are right in line with how he focuses on teaching. 5) Playful sparring is one of the biggest keys he recommends to developing your timing and fighting abilities. 6) All of the Thai fighters I have ever met, here or in Thailand, are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. 7) You should be willing to spend the $150 for a private lesson at every opportunity to train with someone at his level.
If you are truly serious about becoming the best practitioner at WHATEVER your passion is, take every opportunity to seek out the best people in the world and learn from them. Most of them love sharing what they have learned. I have already prepped Lerdsila for the next time he visits Michigan to make sure he or his staff contacts me so I can continue to do private classes with him for as long as he is traveling here. I look forward to developing a relationship with him where we can increase the intensity of our sparring sessions so I can continue to experience as close as possible what a full sparring session with a world champion would be like. I say this all the time, never have I been disappointed attending seminars or private classes with the best people in the world. I will never miss the $150 I spent, and I will always remember the experience that I had.
