What helped you decide to compete?

Hi everyone. I just signed up with a gym to start training in Muay Thai boxing. In my heart, I know I want to compete, but I'm not confident I will be good enough since I just got started with all of this. When did you know you wanted to compete? Was it something you were aiming for from the beginning or did it come to you later after months or years of training or did your coach tell you that you should compete? I'm just curious! Thanks for your replies.

Congrats on the first step, Helen!

If you know you want to compete "in your heart", that is your answer. Don't worry about "not being good enough". Competition is a learning experience unto itself, so do it and have fun. You will learn on the fly, as you go to more competitions.

Check this thread for some very good insights:


http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/s...=0#Post15958019

We were never really FORCED to compete, but, how can I put this?? We were forcefully encouraged to do it. Some schools require it for rank advancement and some don't do it at all.

I think it's good to do though. Especially in the style you're practicing. The competition experience incorporates the adrenaline dump to a certain extent and puts you in contact with different opponents to help you improve. It also does alot to bolster your confidence. When you get to the point where you can say, " I've fougt world class fighters and won, or at least took what they had and survived." it makes it much easier to have confidence in your abilities and deal with that adrenaline should you ever have to use them for real. ( hopefully you never will )

Thanks for the thread Matt. I copied and pasted it in Word so that I have something to keep going back to and reading. I have always looked at competition as being a way of showing how good you have gotten. I have never thought of it as gaining experience, even if you suck at it. Thanks for that! I will aim to compete, even if it's just to gain experience and do something that I love to do no matter how often I win or lose!

Corwin....The school I joined, it's not required to compete. Several people do it for fitness. My husband and I both joined this school to learn and to compete. Thanks for the encouragement. If nothing else, I can compete just for experience. But I think I'll at least wait until my coach tells me she thinks I'm ready.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

i can't express how much that quote has inspired me, hell i still get goose bumbs when i read it.

and ditto on what matt says, competetion is an all around great thing. the morning before my competetions im nervous and thinking about quitting and flying home. but after there done, theres no better feeling in the world then knowing you just gave something your best shot, your honest to go best shot.

i wish you and your husband the best. i hope you both train like dogs and poor your heart out in the ring.

Hey Helen

I'm just a naturally competetive guy. Have been all my life at just about anything I'm involved with. Drives my wife nuts!

Sometimes people start martial arts for one reason and they progress in that direction. Other times they start and end up going in a direction that they had never anticipated.

Don't set too many goals at first. Just relax and enjoy the journey.

The school I train in lets the choice up to you. If you want to compete give it a try. It helps correct your techniques, by that I mean: if you mess up proper technique, you’ll end up getting hurt. You learn by making mistakes right?

You can start competing in our school at the level of 4th kyu. That is in about two years of consistently training roughly two times a week.

Well, my husband and I have been training at our school for two weeks now. We are loving every minute of it. The fighters really are a team. I feel a little intimidated because I would be the only woman on the team, besides one of the coaches, if I decided to compete. I am trying to take it a little bit at a time. Right now I'm concentrating on getting the techniques down. I want to get that whole muscle memory thing going. My husband and I bought protective gear and spar almost every night. I love it! I think I really would like to compete, but I'm just not even close to ready for that yet. Thanks to every one that responded. I was really interested in how some of you got started. I will definitely keep you all posted about mine and my husband's progress. Thanks for the support and good wishes!

Unfortunately, I never took the opportunity to compete when I attended Taekwondo classes. My instructor tried convincing me on numerous occasions, but I didn't give in. Now, after having left the school about six years ago, I wish I had competed. One reason why I didn't compete was because I really dislike being among a big crowd. It's not so much as shyness but rather just something I disliked. Another reason was the only sparring that the vast majority of competitions did was point-sparring.

Competitions are the only events in which you can actually put what you learn to application. Not to mention test what you know against someone else, let alone experiment with techniques, combinations, etcetera.

Anyway, if you want to compete, then by all means compete. Don't pass up on a chance like that if you really want it.

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely take it to heart. If I don't decide to compete, at least I will get something out of it. I will be in shape and will have the tools to defend myself, if I ever need to. Also, I will have more self-confidence. I don't feel like I am wasting my time, regardless of what I do with what I have learned. Competition is a big step to me. When the time comes for me to decide if I want to or not, only I will be able to make that decision. Everyone's thoughts and advice will be on my mind at that point in my life and I appreciate it.

Muay Thai and TKD is good practice, but I don't see how you can study either with out sparring they are hands on sports. You can practice the moves but until you learn to apply them thats all you are doing is that. Unless you just started you have sparred in the gym with other people your size and near your level.

Sparring other Muay Thai fighters from other gyms help you defend the near same techniques applied in different ways, its not good to just work within your gyms method you can learn from working with other gym technicans. The same is true with any fighting system.

Usually the Instructors won't let you be over matched, they know this is a confidence building stage of training. Training seeing and feeling what works best for you is the true proof of the pudding in these arts. The good thing about MT is you can grab (close) and push to the ground if they get too rough anybody can do that.

If your Instructor ask you he must see potential or that you need that little push. It will make you far more confidence in what you are doing and where you are in your training.

Stay moving and don't plant your front leg!

Me a fellow girl =) I haven't competed...I probably won't until I hit my 1 year mark or when I feel like I'm made alot of improvements in my health and in my MA skills. Plus in my heart I know I'm not ready.

I feel the same way. I don't believe I'm anywhere near ready to compete (only been doing this for 3 months). However, I'm really gonna leave it up to my coach when the time comes. If she thinks I'm ready, and if I feel ready, then I will go ahead and compete.

Helen,

I've only been doing my thing for 4-5 months. I do Kickboxing, Kali Silat, JKD, BJJ, Muay Thia, and Shaolin Kenpo...a few years ago I was doing Shotokan Karate....

At the dojo I go to every six months they have Fight Night...which explains itself...the next one is in November. That would be my 6 month mark. I don't feel I'm ready. Maybe when the next one comes in May 20 08 I'll be ready.

I am doing kickboxing and MMA. It's a lot of fun! My husband and I spar at home, with protective gear, and I can tell I'm getting better. It's just taking me longer to get the hang of things than I originally anticipated. But, we all have to go at our own pace. I'm sure you will be ready by next May. You seem to have quite a bit going on. I wish you luck and keep us posted when you do compete.

heh heh you pretty much do what I do. What does your MMA consist of? Usually fight night at our dojo is mostly for the KB fighters. Most of the ones who go to that have been training at the dojo for at least 3+ years. And they are stronger than me and physically better. They scare me still LOL.

But me personally I have the Martial Art/MMA/BJJ and etc. advantage they don't. Though I don't know if I can include that into the bout. I know I'm improving and it's coming to the point where I understand when they say doing 1000's of repetitions will make it come naturally...and I see it happening with me sometimes.

My training has consisted of kickboxing, up until this week, when my dojo decided to throw some MMA into the classes. I haven't been to class yet (going tonight), but my husband went last night. The MMA part of class consisted of grounding and pounding and a small amount of grappling to get your opponent into a more submissive position. Sounds like a lot of fun and I can't wait for class tonight. Not sure which martial art that technique comes from, but you get the idea I guess. My original plan was to fight to kickboxing rules, but the competition is limited since I'm female. There seem to be more females in MMA, so I'm looking at pursuing that type of fighting style. Not really interested in a lot of grappling, just enough to survive if the fight goes to the ground. MMA fighting has a lot more freedom (elbows and knees) and that type of fighting seems to suit me more. I watch UFC and IFL Battleground and love it. I wish there were more women involved in this sport. I would love to see Gina Carano fight, but I don't have Showtime. Maybe with time, this sport will be less dominated by men, but for now, we have to deal .

Ground fighting is usually wrestling, sambo, bJJ or one of the other ones I forgot. I love UFC, I'm more of a ground and pound kinda person than a striking/standup person. That's funny how there's mostly females in your MMA class...there' mostly males in mine. And more females in KB. I love MMA and BJJ and Martial arts in general. I think it still amazes people that I love it (as a female) because no one in my circle of friends or even friends of freinds are interested in martial arts and when I told them I MMA training among KB and others...they are like WHOA lol...I love UFC, Pride, IFL, and WEC. I watch it all the time. It's funny how i used to watch it for fun but now I'm in MMA I watch it to study and learn lol.

Maybe one day I'll compete but for now I do it for fun.

My husband and I got into this together, so it's something that we can do together and apart. I like it that way ! Plus, he is supportive of it since he's doing it too. It helps to have at least one person you love believe in you!

My sister was doing the KB and MMA with me but she didn't like the intimacy of MMA (it made her uncomfortable) so she quit that...then she started flaking on KB since she's lazy. And no one I know including friends and family are interested enough to help me practice.

That's sad to hear . It helps to motivate me having someone else in my life that is doing it. I admire your willpower and determination to keep going with little or no help from your friends and family. I hope they are supportive either way. You will always have encouragement and support from this forum. I wish you the best of luck!!!

I don't think family cares either way about my extra cirricular interests. As far as friends go, they think I'm some man "parts" breaking machine. And tease me about being people's bodyguards. I just wish I knew people who'd wanna help me practice. Only opportunity I get is if classmates stay after to practice. Sometimes they do but some of them are still uncomfortable w/ the whole me being a girl thing. Or feel awkward cause they don't really know me too well even though I've been there for months.

I know the feeling. I go on nights that my husband doesn't go, so I'm by myself. I'm starting to talk to the guys more, but it does feel a little awkward. It's hard to get to know people when you don't see them that often.

Yep and I've tried talking to the guys. Some are easy to approach but the younger ones...I've tried saying Hi to them and they don't say anything. I just wish ALL of them took me seriously, and not just some of them.

I bet they will when you have your first fight. Some people, in general, are like that. You have to prove to them that you are legit before they will respect you or think you're the real deal. Don't let it get you down. Even though we aren't face to face, you will always find support here, no matter what sex you are !

Thank you. I'll just keep working hard and when I submit them in practice MMA, then we'll see what happens.