Everyone is wearing Thai trunks.

[okimura]

I've been doing muay thai a year now and having just moved back home after school, I joined this new local gym. I've had four sessions so far and one thing that really struck me was that a majority of the people training there were wearing Thai trunks, including some very raw beginners. At my old gym, I was led to believe that you're supposed to earn your trunks. I thought there was a testing procedure in place and you got trunks when you passed. Was I misinformed? Why is everyone in that gym wearing Thai trunks? It doesn't bother me very much, to be sure. I just wonder if I got some bad info along the way.

Another thing I noticed was that this class practices some techniques that my old gym never did, like crescent kicks, or snapping kicks where the contact surface is your instep. All the kicking I did at my old gym was round kicks with the shin as the contact surface or push kicks (I don't think I've ever seen a crescent kick in a match between muay thai stylists). This too doesn't bother me. I just wonder what other gyms teach.

[ChaunceyB]

okimura,

Where I train you have to pass a certain level before attaining thai shorts. But, for beginners who come in that already have them we do allow them to
wear their own. Like you it does not bother me.

[Python]

Okimura,

Was your last gym a T.B.A. affiliated gym? I ask because we test to earn our shorts here too, well up until very recently. It varies with each gym. One gym I went to in Des Moines several years ago claimed to teach Muay Thai and they used various colored Thai shorts to determine rank structure...well, they were just watered down TKD, NOT Muay Thai. So, I did not stay. They also did crescent kicks, axe kicks, and such. My guess is that the gym you are at now is much the same as that one. We have always earned our shorts, but my fight team has really grown now, and is in 3 different cities with 4 coaches, and many of them had already bought Thai shorts before coming on board with my team, so I have re-structured the level requirements to make them harder, and more indepth, and if they are fighters, then they wear shorts to fight and don't have to earn them before, but they still have a hard ass test for "level one student". Does this make sense?

If it were me, and I was used to real Muay Thai, I would not be happy at the gym you are at now.

Pete

[47MartialMan]

This is what happens when something becomes a fad.

Nothing stays the same

[Khun Kao]

In my gym, our requirement for wearing Thai shorts is that you need to purchase them.

Remember, "earning your shorts" is not a universal custom. In Thailand its practically unheard of.

[OctaviousBP]

Actually KK, I made an interesting observation at my camp the other day. We only have a few pairs of shorts for the entire camp (shorts that have the camp name on them). When the kids train, they wear boxer shorts (believe it or not), and those that fight, get to wear the shorts. I thought that was kind of neat. In a way, that is how they "earn their shorts". Of course, that likely isn't the norm, but interesting none-the-less.

[47MartialMan]

Is earning shorts is the same as earning belts?
Besides, once something becomes exploited, it will change.

[ChaunceyB]

47,

Our school is T.B.A. and we earn our shorts, which we purchase after the test and then we must wear them to train, and we also earn belts for test but we do not wear them for class.

[Python]

47,

Is your cup half empty? lOl.

[okimura]

Okimura,

Was your last gym a T.B.A. affiliated gym? I ask because we test to earn our shorts here too, well up until very recently. It varies with each gym. One gym I went to in Des Moines several years ago claimed to teach Muay Thai and they used various colored Thai shorts to determine rank structure...well, they were just watered down TKD, NOT Muay Thai. So, I did not stay. They also did crescent kicks, axe kicks, and such. My guess is that the gym you are at now is much the same as that one. We have always earned our shorts, but my fight team has really grown now, and is in 3 different cities with 4 coaches, and many of them had already bought Thai shorts before coming on board with my team, so I have re-structured the level requirements to make them harder, and more indepth, and if they are fighters, then they wear shorts to fight and don't have to earn them before, but they still have a hard ass test for "level one student". Does this make sense?

If it were me, and I was used to real Muay Thai, I would not be happy at the gym you are at now.

Pete

My last "gym" was a thai boxing p.e. class and a thai boxing club at a university, and our instructor was the TBA representative for the area. I don't know if he still is.

But you're right about the gym. I'm not terribly happy there. I only got a one month membership, so I won't be renewing it when the month is up. If I had to guess, I'd say some of the instructors there are former american kickboxers or TKD, despite their thai trunks.

[Rickster]

47,

Is your cup half empty? lOl.

No, I am merely statting that once something gets out there, it wont tale long for it to be exploited.

Geez....what is it with MT people. Have they gotten kicked in the head too often?

[Maxx]

My instructor back in michigan gave me a pair of thai shorts the very first day that I walked into class. My perception before I started was that I would have to earn them but to him they were just something you wore when you trained muay thai.

As far as unusual kicks like crescent kicks, most schools that teach that are probably muay thai / tkd / whatever schools that teach a watered down combination of several arts. I have seen several instructors from thailand use techniques like the crescent kick, but I guess it's really rare and they are older techniques that are rarely used.

[Rickster]

Look, once commercialized.....nothing stays authentic or maintains decorum

[cowpaste]

Err...there are no belts, no ranks in Muay Thai. I bet this "earning your trunks" thing is totally American. In Thailand, you wear what you want to practice.

[WhiteTiger]

I have never heard of erning your thai shorts. Yhat just sounds silly. I Have my own coustume made from Thailand...Allsow ranking in muay thai and all that. Its somthing that isent done in Thailand. I agree with cowpaste...And earning them and ranking. It just sounds american.