greenfrog

Hi everyone,
I have been looking, & looking, & looking for a Muay Thai School in the Baltimore area and have not yet been able to find ANY, let alone a reputable school.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Also I have heard there is no formal grading system, so how does that work? How would one know when they are proficient enough to teach? Is there a generally accepted test for instructor status or how does that work.

Thanks again

alexjxaver

i dont know of any gyms in baltimore, but i am shure there are some. baltimore is a big town, there has to be someone

There is no ranking system, and there should not be one. Muay thai is not a martial art, it is a sport. You know how good you are when you get into the ring and kick someones ass, or get your ass kicked. Unfortunately alot of places in america havent figured that out yet. But for proof, when you go to thailand, you wont get see certifications, or colored belts hanging on the wall. You will see stadium championship belts, and that tells you the quality of the person you are training with. Not pieces of paper that someone bought, saying that they are now alowed to teach.

Hope you can find a gym,
good luck,
AlexX

Python

Greenfrog,

Listen, Alex is not quite correct in his statement. Muay Thai IS, I repeat, IS a martial art. It is also a sport, the national sport of Thailand, but a martial art first. NO, there is not a "grading system" with belts like in Karate, or others. Although, some schools DO use the belt system to establish a level of structure. Alex also says "Not pieces of paper that someone bought saying that they are now allowed to teach." You need to get out more Alex, or stop listening to whoever is feeding your head full of shit. Yes, some certificatoins in some arts at some schools are "bought" for lack of a better word. SOME pieces of paper are EARNED Alex. I guarantee you the certification paper stating a person is now a Khuen Khru under Ajarn Chai is EARNED, not paid for. I am a Khuen Khru in the TBA and my title was EARNED. I know of one individual who had to go to the hospital after his test because his legs were so beat up. HIS TITLE WAS EARNED!! In my school, we have four levels under me: student level one, student level two, instructor level one, and instructor level two. The step after these is the test for Ajarn Chai. Other schools, of course, may do it a little different.
You really should "think before you speak" Alex.

Greenfrog, have you done a google search for any in that area?? I will see what I can find out for you, if anything. Good luck with it!

greenfrog

Hi, thanks greatly for the help. I have googled many different ways and not come up with much. One school I found was lloydirvin.com but its still too far to be driving on a consistent basis (one hour, 60 miles each way) I would also prefer to learn styles seperately rather than learning two styles combined (which seems to be what he teaches)

Since there is no grading as a guideline(which I like in a way, although gradings are nice to see where you are at; they are highly abused as a money maker by many but of course not all schools)
If you were to go to say, 1 1/2 hour classes twice per week how long would it take to learn the whole system? 5 years? 15 years? 20 years?

Thanks

alexjxaver

muay thai is simple, there are not many techniques. In the style i use there are only; 3 basic punches, 2 basic kicks, a few knees, and a few elbows, and that is preay much it. It does not take long to learn that, what take a while is learning how to use all of that in the ring, learining all of the little ins and outs of the clinch, and that kind of stuff. It should not take you long to learn alot of what muay thai has... BUT being in the gym 2 day a week is will make it take much longer. think about it you are in the gym only 3 hours of the 168 hour week. To get good fast you need to be in the gym atlest 12(~) hours a week. And should make time for the gym a few hours every day. But for most that hard to do because of jobs and stuff like that,

greenfrog

Hi Alex thanks for the input that was my general impression of it. I agree with your assessment of the time thing, I would plan to train for longer than that per week I just wanted to get a general understanding of the timeline. I will still have to find a school first though. The closest I know of is 60 miles away and I heard $25 per class(ouch) I work full time and also practice another martial art 4 days per week including sparring, so It would be really rough to drive 120 miles per class and still have much time to train outside of class.

Thanks

alexjxaver

keep looking and asking around. there has to other places

Python

Alex, how can you make that statement knowing numerous Muay Thai enthusiasts view this board? You are missing the big picture and giving someone new to the art(Greenfrog) misleading information. Yes, Muay Thai can be viewed as simple, what makes it hard is the grueling conditioning necessary to be a winner in the ring, or defend your loved ones or your own life. But to say that there are only 3 punches, 2 kicks, a few knees and a few elbows is WAY far from the truth....boxing plays a huge part in Muay Thai, even in Thailand, which includes 5 punches(jab, cross, hook, overhand, and uppercut), the kicks: short and long tiip, long lead tiip(like shoulder over knee), jump to side tiip, roundkick(also with hopping roundkick), cut kick...the knees: regular knee short and long, long lead knee, shoulder over knee, round knee, plum or curve knee..you have a half knee/half shin which is a kick but close to a round knee...elbows: snap elbow, down elbow, rising elbow, battering ram elbow, upward diagonal elbow, spinning elbow, downward straight elbow(from the clinch). Now what about the defense: You left that out Alex. How about covers, slips, parry's, catches, evasions, shields, shelfing the high kick, catching the round kick, scooping the tiip, it goes on and on and on....this does not include all of the many combinations linking all of these techniques together. Not to mention the clinch...Greg Nelson has tapes out on the clinch which are very detailed and in depth. Greg has almost made a whole art out of the clinch.

Greenfrog, it does not take long to learn the basics which I am assuming that is all that Alex has been shown up to this point. Afterall, basics are what win fights..but from an art standpoint or self defense, there is so much more to learn about Muay Thai. Alex is right about one thing: it does take many hours in the gym training to get good fast, but you have to use what time you have and make due.

Learning one art at a time is of course easier than multiple, but if you want true self defense out of it, learning Muay thai WITH BJJ or Shooto would be much more effective. They compliment each other very well.

That's all I have for now, sorry if I sound heated..I just don't like someone trying to "inform" someone else when they are not totally informed themselves. Hell, I have been training Thaiboxing for several years, and teaching it for about 4 years and I still have soooo much to learn.

greenfrog

Thanks Python, thats some pretty informative stuff. The guy thats 60 miles away teaches a combo of BJJ and MT, although I would like to learn them both I would prefer to learn them seperately....Unfortunately I dont think that matters because 120 miles round trip is not going to cut it. I've been looking for a school forever on the net, just cant seem to find one around here.

alexjxaver

you dont have to run me throuth the hole tba list of moves, i have been throug it all. Did you skip over the word basic, here let me say it again basic, basic, basic. I i know there are tons of varations, on everything, but i did not want to say all of that, that is why i said BASIC.

__________________
everyone thought bruce lee and jesus where idiots at firtst too

Python

I had a similar problem when I moved from Illinois to Des Moines Iowa. I couldn't believe that in an area of 500,000 people, and dozens of martial arts school, there was absolutely no Muay Thai. I continued to drive back and forth to Illinois to complete my training with my first Khuen Khru and have since opened up a school in Carroll Iowa, bout an hour and a half from Des Moines. Maybe you could do some seminars for a while to get started. It would not be a weekly thing, but would take up a whole weekend at a time, so several hours at one time of training. Just a thought: go to www.thaiboxing.com and check out Ajarn Chai's seminar schedule the northeast side and see which ones you could make. Maybe over a years time or so, one of the instructors somewhere there could get you set up in your own area with a small group of your own and you could all contuinue training with that particular instructor periodically within the seminars he hosts. I don't know if this would work for you, but I have known a few who it has worked for. Good luck.

Python

It was the way you said it Alex, not necessarily what you said, you left it open to make it sound as if Muay Thai does not really involve too much. And I doubt you have been thru the "whole" TBA thing, since you don't really believe it is Muay Thai and you only trained with Mr. Seaman a couple years. I have not seen you compete, I am sure you are good as you have a lot of enthusiam on here, and I truley don't try to slam you purposely, just so you know, but when I see something that I either don't believe in or don't agree with or factually know to be false, I have to give my "two cents" on the matter. That is just the way I am, probably a downfall, but still my nature.

Python

Greenfrog,

Maybe you could call the guy who is 60 miles away, because there could be a chance he has students who are between you and him, who maybe could get with you. There may even be one or two who are almost ready for instructor and they may be closer to you. I am just throwing out thoughts. It never hurts to check. You won't know unless you ask, ya know?

greenfrog

I did send em an email and will get more info about his school and hopefully others closer by. I dont think the seminar thing would work out too well in my situation though.

chanmartialarts

greenfrog:

Check out 'Maryland Thaiboxing Association.' We are located in Columbia, MD
We offer classes in Thaiboxing, Kali-Silat, Jun Fan/JKD, & CSW.

Our head instructor; Khun Kru Scott Anderson is the state director for the TBA. We are affilliated w/ Ajarn Chai, Guro Dan Inosanto, & Sensei Erik Paulson.

shoot me an e-mail if you are interested in an introductory class: chanmartialarts@hotmail.com

-Kru Alvin