Forward!

YMT fighters from 2010 and 2011 will remember the Ski hill sprints. To make it to the end, your will couldn't falter, even for a second. Remember, your legs may run but it's your heart that will carry you. Forward.

Save the Date! Demo Fight April 16th at YMT!

Come out for some action at York Muay Thai on April 16th! Our shows are always full of talent, and have the most hype atmosphere!

Stay tuned for more details.

For now, 6pm bouts start! 20$ at the door :)

Walk. Run. Fly.

Experience plays endurance

Ever notice how the best fighters rarely show their hand right away? To the untrained eye they look like they are sleeping in the beginning. They may even seem to be losing, as their opponent comes out guns blazing to outwork them. Yet all the while they are reading their opponent, calibrating their timing and finding the best pathway to deal damage. Even when they take a good shot, they seem to remain calm and collect themselves in order to launch an effective counter attack. In fact, you can be sure the last half of the round, if not last half of the fight will swing heavily in their favour. Buakaw and Yodsanklai are two popular fighters who embody this well. They understand that the danger of coming in wild, and reserve their ferocity for when they know their opponent is vulnerable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ljdiL-sCVc

The experienced fighters play the long game. Sure, if the opportunity for an early finish is there, they will take it. But what they don’t do is rush. Patience is a virtue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0ZKF54AgHI

Training in the gym should be the same. Sometimes we see students shadow box faster than their techniques can actually keep up. They are concerned with finishing a whole combination, and so the individual strikes that make up the sequence suffer in quality. The same goes for the physical conditioning. Push ups to a count are often done faster than they can be done properly, simply to reach a rep count. But that's where the danger lies. Push-ups done too quickly with your ass in the air or without the right extension only serve to weaken you- causing imbalances in your build. Shadowboxing faster than your technique can hold makes your combinations less effective for real combat.

If you pace your training like a high level fighter, you will reap your rewards by sticking with it. Technique first. Power will come from technique. Speed will come from fluidity and time. Prioritizing in this way is crucial to development, just as the military moves its units in a specific order for attack. The most difficult part in all of this is patience. If we aren’t moving quickly, we often feel left behind. If we aren’t doing something right away, we often feel like opportunity is slipping from our grasp. But if you can become aware of those fears, and build enough experience to control them, you’ll eventually find yourself where you belong.

Slow down.

Walk. Run. Fly.

3 reasons to Ignite your Fire

When's the last time you were really fired up about something? Stoked to start a job, excited to work out, hurting to see a loved one? Do you remember how fast the time passed that day?

The truth is, time was absolutely no different during those moments and others. Those minutes were still each made up of 60 seconds. It's all perception. Yet perception is what makes a world of difference. When you see each moment as critical, and worth putting your heart into, the quality of the time you spend multiplies. It becomes addicting. And once you build momentum, you can ride it so much farther than you originally thought. Changes take root and build you into a better person. However, kickstarting and maintaining that momentum requires intent, drive and passion. It requires you to ignite your fire.

Training Muay Thai is a perfect representation of this. Here are 3 reasons why igniting your fire is important to your growth.

Changing your body

Anyone can follow a work out DVD. Anyone can throw punches at a bag. Pick a number for any exercise or technique. Now realize that your number doesn’t actually matter as much as you think it does. What matters is your intent. Are you grunting your way through 30 full push ups, or just loosely banging them out as fast as you can to hit your rep count?  Are you throwing combinations at the same autopilot rhythm, or are you smashing the bag as you visualize a hostile target?

If you train with intent, you WILL see changes in your body with time. Why? Because whether you train for fitness or to get into the ring, the fighter’s intent to destroy is one of the most powerful forces to be dealt with. In training, that intent must be focused back on the self. You must intend, with every push up or punch, to destroy yourself. That mindset is what turns 60 - 90 minutes of a routine into 60 - 90 minutes of sculpting a masterpiece.

You must break yourself to build yourself.  

Accessing your potential at will

You might be a newbie, finding it hard to get started because the training seems difficult. You might be a fighter, finding it hard to keep going because the training is starting to wear you down. In both cases, only the toughest survive. So how do they survive exactly? It’s because they can tap into their drive on the daily. What makes them tick (restraining their temper at work, the thought of their last fight, the idea of gaining back their old weight, etc) is something they can call upon to push them past the thoughts of coasting or quitting. It's what allows someone to win a fight they were losing.

The key to igniting your fire is going to be unique to you. For some people it can be a memory, it can be the chorus to a pump up song, it can be a combination of many other factors...The important thing is to gradually become aware of what yours is, so you can access it when you need it most- during those moments where many others would fall. The more you ignite your fire in the gym, the easier it will be to figure out how to do it elsewhere (work, at home, the ring etc). It gives you a secret weapon that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Staying passionate

It’s easy to get bored. Plateaus are not fun for anyone. The issue is this: the longer you train, work, or stay in a relationship without any significant changes or reminders of why you started in the first place, the more likely you are to quit and move on. And when you do, you’ll go through the exact same cycle with something or someone else: try, coast, plateau, walk away. But how can you hope to truly love or excel at anything if you don’t dedicate yourself to it?

What igniting your fire will do is turn every seemingly mundane moment into an opportunity. A 5km run becomes a 5km interval set. A push up becomes a one armed push up. A sparring session becomes a defense only session. You’ll see new ways to make everything a challenge worth facing, and just as in the beginning, learn to fall in love with what you’re doing over and over again.

Long weekend hours

Please note we will be CLOSED Friday March 25 and Sunday March 27.
We are open as usual for Saturday March 26!

Have a great long weekend :)

Kru Day demos

Thank you to the YMT family for the beautiful gift basket in honour of Nai Khanom Tom day. Very special thanks to Imtiaz for organizing and speaking on behalf of the students to the rest of the community!

Shout outs to Marcus "120" Persaud on his first demo fighting out of YMT. In the short time he has been with us, he has proven to be a hard worker, receptive student and a humble martial artist. He had a very hard match which he pushed through, and showed us his heart. We are happy with the progress he has made and excited to use this demo's experience as a launching pad for more growth.

Happy Nai Khanom Tom Day!

“No matter where I go, I know where I came from”- Jennifer Lopez, from the block.

A big part of traditional martial arts culture is paying respects to your teacher. In Muay Thai, we are reminded of this every time there are fights. Traditional schools will have their fighters learn and perform the Wai Kru Ram Muay: a dance which pays tribute to one’s spiritual beliefs, hometown, family, and most importantly their teachers. It’s a ritual that you don’t see in a lot of martial arts, let alone ring sports. Fight culture is often perceived as being all bravado and brutality...It’s not often associated with a sense of respectful meditation. Most people who aren’t accustomed to the Wai Kru Ram Muay are confused at first, but then become appreciative of the values it embodies once they learn more.

In fact, as the legend goes,Thai warrior Nai Khanom Tom had bewildered his Burmese captors with his own Wai Kru Ram Muay back in the 1700’s. When the Burmese sacked the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, they took many prisoners including this man. In the celebration of their victory, the Burmese King pitted Nai Khanom Tom against his own warrior in hand to hand combat for sport. Nai Khanom Tom first performed the Wai Kru, then proceeded to defeat his opponent handily. The Burmese had felt the Wai Kru was an unfair advantage, claiming it had distracted their warrior...so they proceeded to pit 9 more opponents against Nai Khanom Tom. In the end, he defeated all of them. The Burmese king was so impressed by this feat, he granted Nai Khanom Tom his freedom. It was seen not only as a victory for him, but a victory for the art of Muay Thai.

Today (March 17) is Nai Khanom Tom day. We reflect and pay our respects to this man, and all those who have helped pass on his legacy: Muay Thai.

When I think about this legend, and the significance of the Wai Kru, it becomes clear to me why this culture has persisted for so many years...even through to non Thai students like myself. We honour the brave spirit that it took for Nai Khanom Tom to be victorious. For if he had failed or given up, we would not have what we have today.

The Wai Kru honours this same spirit. Our teachers, who sacrifice so much of what they have to pass on their knowledge of the art, are worthy of our respect. They are also incredible motivation for us...knowing that someone has put so much of their energy and faith into you is a powerful thing.

So on this day, I’d also like to honour my Krus. In the fight game circle, you may see a lot of “dick measuring” and ego. People are often busy talking trash about everyone else’s credentials, experience and knowledge. What they don’t see is that a real Kru puts the needs of their students first. A real Kru finds the best opportunities possible for their students to grow, even if it means sleep lost or nights hungry. A real Kru channels that same determination that Nai Khanom Tom had into building other people. It’s been 9 years that I’ve trained under Kru Jen to date. In those 9 years, we’ve seen a lot of hard times, but at the end of the day she’s proven to be a real Kru. Of course, we can’t forget that she has been training for over 15 years, and was a professional champion. This isn’t about that though. This is about how we have built the best version of our gym to date, and we are only going to keep getting better...but that couldn’t happen without her sticking with it through the harshest of times. That couldn’t happen without her putting me first, putting her fighters first, putting her gym first….and now (with MuayThai Ontario), putting the sport first.

I see the costs. The amount of work, especially with trying to balance the needs of the government and the needs of the community to get Muay Thai full recognition is incredible. Add that to being a mother to a newborn. Add that to being a business owner and manager. Add that to training fighters and instructors. Yet she’s doing it. She’s still in the gym, running classes and putting our needs first. Don’t get me wrong, we have a fantastic team helping out. But we wouldn’t be anywhere, nor nearly as unified, without her leading us.

So, Khup Khun Khup Kru Jen. Happy Nai Khanom Tom Day.

There are also some other Krus/ instructors I have to thank:

PC Lindor, PC Patrick and PC David,

PC Constantine, Kru Nick, Kru Jay, Kru Kosta, PC Natalie, Tanachon Yingwitiyakun, Kru Mikey, Kru Miami, Kru Clifton, and of course Ajahn Suchart.  All of these people have helped me in some way during my Muay Thai journey, without asking for anything in return.

I’d like to invite you to take a moment, and think about all of those who have helped you too.

-Kru Cam.

Victory at Destiny Fight Night!

No easy fights, No excuses.

Congrats to our own Shanks for winning at Destiny Fight Night!  It was a very hard fight. Shanks managed to fight stronger in the 3rd round with clinch knees, which helped sway a decision his way in such super close match.

The kind of grit both fighters needed to finish the fight is the best experience they could have gotten from it. Great job to them for putting on a show.

Thank you to all the of the Krus, PC's and students who helped during training camp and came out to support!

Lastly, a thanks to Destiny Fight productions for having us and Muay Thai Ontario for sanctioning the event. The main card was phenomenal.

PCP's Movie Pick for March: 127 Hours (2010)

My apologies for not posting a movie pick for February, it was kind of a hectic month for me with moving and work related stuff, but don't worry, I've got a good one for you this month. This one about the shear willpower and determination that an ordinary person is capable of when placed in an extraordinary situation.


127 Hours (2010)

" Don't lose it. Aron, do not lose it." -Aron Ralson

127 Hours is director Danny Boyle’s adaptation of Aron Ralston’s book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place. It tells the real-life story of that fateful week in 2003 when Ralston got trapped in a Utah Canyon for *spoiler alert* 127 hours, and the lengths that he went to in order to survive.

In the film, 127 Hours, Ralston is portrayed by James Franco in what I would argue is the best performance of his career, earning him a best actor Academy Award nomination. He takes up the majority of the screen time but still manages to craft Ralston into an engaging character; a reckless, carefree adventure seeker who is forced to confront his mortality, frequently in closeup while recording the entire ordeal with a video camera, essentially including the audience in his experience. We witness him going through several stages, and see the effects on his mental state as the situation gets more desperate, supplies start running low, and exhaustion and delerium start to set in. Now, for those of you who haven't seen this movie, you've probably heard of it or at least have a passing knowledge of Ralston's story. It has somewhat of a negative reputation for one extremely graphic scene (which in all fairness only lasts for about 2 minutes of it's 94 minute run-time), but there's way more to it than that. 127 Hours is challenging to watch but ultimately uplifting if you can make it through. It is a harrowing depiction of the willpower and determination that one man found when he dug deep down in his soul and saw what he was made of.

This movie had me consider several things. With some of the other movies that I've picked, I have been able to draw parallels between themes mental toughness as it pertains to fighting, something that we as Muay Thai students have the option of engaging in. But 127 Hours presents a situation in which a regular guy who had no idea what he was going to go through when he woke up that morning. So I ask you to consider this. Would you do what it takes to survive? Hard question to answer. It is easy to say what you would and wouldn't do in Ralston's position but it is impossible to know for sure what would happen if it was happening to you. Similar to a fight that you are watching from the crowd, the armchair critics can run their mouths and talk trash, but when it comes right down to it, they don't actually know. It's different when it's you, and only those who have been through it can know.


127 Hours is not on Netflix, sorry, but I still encourage you to sit through it if you can find it. Also, Aron Ralston's book Between a Rock and a Hard Place is available at the YMT library.

Student of the Month (February 2016): Jack D!

SHEspars at YMT fun

Great work by all the ladies today at Shespars! Thanks to everyone who came out and of course Jennifer Boffo Lee for organizing!!

York Muay Thai's Shashank vs Quintin Kelly

Just Announced for Destiny Fight Productions at the Woodbine Racetrack, Saturday March 12!

"UNDERCARD MATCH

Shashaank Sreenivasan of YORK Muay Thai takes on Quentin Kelly of Simcoe Martial Arts in a C class Clash!! Both fighters are ready to put on a show March 12!!!!"

Writing on the Wall

Knee Month Begins!

Getting knee month started off... Balance is the name of the game. 

Shifting weight to and activating the muscles in your support leg is integral to maintaining balance without sacrificing power. 

Try to avoid heavy leaning or twisting motions for the knee... It might help you stay upright, but it's detrimental to your spine and weakens your overall impact.

With practise, you will find there are multiple positions where you can land a strong knee. Some common variations that will be worked on are trapping the hands, passing the punches, and grabbing across the back of the neck/head (pictured below). Each of these motions is meant to support your balance and help shift your weight into the target- doing this properly will manipulate the target's balance, thereby minimizing the their ability to defend themselves, as well as maximizing your own power.