Ranking System in Muay Thai

I guess it is easier for the new guys to come in there and ask for advice from the more experience people by their ranking.

I don't really care for rank though.
 
he could just tell the newbies to shut up.
 
IS300_TRD said:
I currently train at Saekson's and he just implemented the ranking system. He was tired of seeing new guys trying to give the more experienced guys advice.
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Only in America will you see that bullshit. Newbs giving advice to a senior.
 
Sorry for reviving such an old thread, but for people who still look at this thread, the armbands are given according to how much technique you know and how well you perform it. Higher color armband is not equal to how well you fight in the ring. Hope this helps~
 
the prajiad is inscribed with prayers and placed on the arm for luck and protection.
like my sak yants that are tatoo on.
they are blessed by monks, rolled up and placed on the arms before the fight.
prajiads used for ranks, thats new to me.
 
Novels said:
Sorry for reviving such an old thread, but for people who still look at this thread, the armbands are given according to how much technique you know and how well you perform it. Higher color armband is not equal to how well you fight in the ring. Hope this helps~
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This how it is used at Saekson Janjira's gym, not sure about other gyms
 
so my gym Black House Team Nogueira in San Diego just started implementing tests for MT fighters. we went the first few months (since the opening in September 2010) without any such system and then suddenly our Kru mandated that everyone who's been there since the beginning MUST take the test to get band (we're using bands, not belts or flowers lol).

i'm know my gym is legit as we have a pro team and all our coaches have competed professionally, especially my Kru who's fought for over a decade, and (i hope) that the Nog brothers and Anderson Silva wouldn't slap their names on something they didn't believe in.

that being said, after reading so much about the (negative) views on ranking systems for muay thai, i can't help but feel this shift towards rank testing tastes McDojo-esque. the cost for the test is $30 but it's completely refunded if we don't pass, so i don't think they're making any money on this.. certainly not if we fail. so i'm somewhat bewildered at the direction here at the gym.

the one thing that really got me was that the testing was mandatory and seemed to be based on people's seniority (you've been here since day 1? you're testing.) rather than based on skill - lots of people who've been there since day 1 still didn't seem comfortable with even some of the basics.

sorry to resurrect such an old thread but i'm kind of at a loss as to how to feel, obviously the $30 isn't the issue here, i'm just wondering if we're diluting the spirit of muay thai at the gym :(
 
caneca said:
so my gym Black House Team Nogueira in San Diego just started implementing tests for MT fighters. we went the first few months (since the opening in September 2010) without any such system and then suddenly our Kru mandated that everyone who's been there since the beginning MUST take the test to get band (we're using bands, not belts or flowers lol).

i'm know my gym is legit as we have a pro team and all our coaches have competed professionally, especially my Kru who's fought for over a decade, and (i hope) that the Nog brothers and Anderson Silva wouldn't slap their names on something they didn't believe in.

that being said, after reading so much about the (negative) views on ranking systems for muay thai, i can't help but feel this shift towards rank testing tastes McDojo-esque. the cost for the test is $30 but it's completely refunded if we don't pass, so i don't think they're making any money on this.. certainly not if we fail. so i'm somewhat bewildered at the direction here at the gym.

the one thing that really got me was that the testing was mandatory and seemed to be based on people's seniority (you've been here since day 1? you're testing.) rather than based on skill - lots of people who've been there since day 1 still didn't seem comfortable with even some of the basics.

sorry to resurrect such an old thread but i'm kind of at a loss as to how to feel, obviously the $30 isn't the issue here, i'm just wondering if we're diluting the spirit of muay thai at the gym :(
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I'm in Oceanside and had no idea there was a Black House gym in San Diego. I just looked and it's 40 minutes away. How do you like training there?
 
IS300_TRD said:
I currently train at Saekson's and he just implemented the ranking system. He was tired of seeing new guys trying to give the more experienced guys advice.
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I, for one, am glad this old thread was revived. That's hilarious.
 
My school uses a belt ranking system, if nothing else it helps the different instructors know who knows what and how long they have been going to the school.. I see black belts in the advance classes that look like white belts I have seen in Karate. I do agree with the ring ranking idea ie. wins and losses, but if we use that at most schools they would resemble more of just a cardio kickboxing class atmosphere because most people in my school don't even spar... I would imagine alot of our Black Belts have NEVER sparred there... Most students in the classes need that carrot, I for one could care less either way and would feel strange telling a 13 YO Muay Thai kid that could easily kick my ars that I had a Black belt...
 
UrbanSavage said:
I'm in Oceanside and had no idea there was a Black House gym in San Diego. I just looked and it's 40 minutes away. How do you like training there?
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love it! the people who train are all chill and down to earth, we have a pro team and some of them help instruct/goto the non-pro team classes and just give great pointers. the instructors are top notch for sure and super nice. johnny - the dude who runs black house san diego, is an uber chill manager and straight shooter (if you want to join, ask for a discount, he's cool like that). all in all, great atmostphere and great people.

and yeah, i was thinking about it more last night, i do see some benefit of having a ranking system - the phrase "the belt is in the ring" doesn't apply to half the people who train at blackhouse since those people (myself included) will never compete, even at an amateur level. this doesn't mean that i or any other the other 50% of people need these belts/bands as training incentives, i honestly could care less - when the gym opened they didn't have this ranking nonsense and no one was like "oooh, i'm not gonna train here b/c they don't give me a belt". the gym is legit, the peeps are legit, and that's all that matters (to me at least).

so if the belt doesn't help the people receiving them, who does it help? maybe the gym (money)? or (i hope this is the case) the kru's/instructors so they can more easily separate students into levels for training purposes. the big thing (and pretty much my only gripe) is i just don't want it to degrade into some money-making, seniority-based business where some black belt/band dude who can't throw a switch kick properly is now swinging his nuts around wearing bloodied skull tapout gear from head to toe as if he was sponsored, teaching noobies incorrectly how to perform the switch kick that he can't do. :mad:
 
I disagree with using the arm bands as rankings completely, however one MT gym I did attend which was actually some of the best traditional style training i've ever experienced as well had a lot of great and technical fighters used the ranking system. I asked the Kru why he did this because I had never seen it before, his answer was since because we're not in Thailand it's hard to fight every week or two, since in North America (Canada) it's hard to find Muay Thai fights, so he uses the armband rankings just as a personal thing so you can know roughly where you stand on a skill level, since fighting does not happen often. This actually made sense to me, he does his training in Thailand also.

edit: Also, the armbands were not worn in class or anything, was just something you took home and kept in a drawer and there was no fee to get your armband, was all free.
 
caneca said:
love it! the people who train are all chill and down to earth, we have a pro team and some of them help instruct/goto the non-pro team classes and just give great pointers. the instructors are top notch for sure and super nice. johnny - the dude who runs black house san diego, is an uber chill manager and straight shooter (if you want to join, ask for a discount, he's cool like that). all in all, great atmostphere and great people.

and yeah, i was thinking about it more last night, i do see some benefit of having a ranking system - the phrase "the belt is in the ring" doesn't apply to half the people who train at blackhouse since those people (myself included) will never compete, even at an amateur level. this doesn't mean that i or any other the other 50% of people need these belts/bands as training incentives, i honestly could care less - when the gym opened they didn't have this ranking nonsense and no one was like "oooh, i'm not gonna train here b/c they don't give me a belt". the gym is legit, the peeps are legit, and that's all that matters (to me at least).

so if the belt doesn't help the people receiving them, who does it help? maybe the gym (money)? or (i hope this is the case) the kru's/instructors so they can more easily separate students into levels for training purposes. the big thing (and pretty much my only gripe) is i just don't want it to degrade into some money-making, seniority-based business where some black belt/band dude who can't throw a switch kick properly is now swinging his nuts around wearing bloodied skull tapout gear from head to toe as if he was sponsored, teaching noobies incorrectly how to perform the switch kick that he can't do. :mad:
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Cool. I'm looking to start fighting soon. I've got 3-4 years of muay thai and BJJ training under my belt but I'm coming off a year long layoff from an injury. How are the prices there? And do you have to sign up for contracts? The place looks awesome, I wish I was closer but a 40 minute drive (40 minutes with no traffic) both ways every time I want to train is a bitch. It would be hard to get there as often as I like to train.
 
Joshua C said:
I disagree with using the arm bands as rankings completely, however one MT gym I did attend which was actually some of the best traditional style training i've ever experienced as well had a lot of great and technical fighters used the ranking system. I asked the Kru why he did this because I had never seen it before, his answer was since because we're not in Thailand it's hard to fight every week or two, since in North America (Canada) it's hard to find Muay Thai fights, so he uses the armband rankings just as a personal thing so you can know roughly where you stand on a skill level, since fighting does not happen often. This actually made sense to me, he does his training in Thailand also.

edit: Also, the armbands were not worn in class or anything, was just something you took home and kept in a drawer and there was no fee to get your armband, was all free.
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no i absolutely agree, if it's just a "bookmark" to let you know where stand (assuming it's based on skill and not seniority), i'm totally fine with it, again especially since a large number of people just train for fun and not to fight. and yeah for sure i wouldn't wear that crap around.

i'm even fine with it costing money (costs us $30) for processing fees, i just hope they're really for processing and not "processing", i.e. padding wallets. because then the school is more likely to test more/promote more to get more money which lowers the quality of the practitioners, kinda like how TKD McDojo's give out a black belt after a year :rolleyes:

UrbanSavage said:
Cool. I'm looking to start fighting soon. I've got 3-4 years of muay thai and BJJ training under my belt but I'm coming off a year long layoff from an injury. How are the prices there? And do you have to sign up for contracts? The place looks awesome, I wish I was closer but a 40 minute drive (40 minutes with no traffic) both ways every time I want to train is a bitch. It would be hard to get there as often as I like to train.
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to be honest i'm a cheapass - i looked EVERYWHERE for a cheap deal on gyms (even going so low to think about Boxing Club/Lava Fitness). the only other gym that's near the price i got (850/yr) was throwdown (now victory) down in OB. and i think another new gym opened up in OB that's around that price too, but it's too far for me.

if you pay upfront there's no initiation fee, and if you're military you automatically get 750/yr without any hassle. there are two different plans though, if you want everything but BJJ you pay the prices i listed, if you want BJJ too you have to add in another 100-150.

San Diego MMA Training Gym: UFC, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu & Boxing | Black House Team Nogueira - has schedules and a list of the instructors.

40 mins is a bitch though man, tough call.
 
Yeah, I already browsed through the site. I just don't want to train at some small local gym in my city when there's a place of that quality 40 minutes away. I'm pretty sure I could pull it off in 30-35 minutes on the way there and definetely around that on the way back. Maybe I'll swing by sometime soon to check it out and I'll talk to the guy who runs the place. Maybe he'll hook a deal up or let me pay month to month because of the drive. I just really don't want to "settle" on a lesser gym. If I didn't want to start fighting soon then it wouldn't matter, but I do.
 
40 minutes isn't bad. That is fairly normal where I live. Traffic is a bitch. If I were you, I wouldn't ask for any discounts if you are planning on fighting. I couldn't tell you how many times a new guys wants to train at a discount or for free at my gym, then turns out to be a douchebag.

Just pay the full membership, show dedication, and if the price is really a problem, then talk to the trainer.
 
i would let the instructors know that you are training seriously for a fight so they can help work with you. most of the guys, including myself, are just training for fun, the sessions are technique oriented but probably not as intense as you need if you're gearing up to fight.
 
Ryukyu Damashi said:
40 minutes isn't bad. That is fairly normal where I live. Traffic is a bitch. If I were you, I wouldn't ask for any discounts if you are planning on fighting. I couldn't tell you how many times a new guys wants to train at a discount or for free at my gym, then turns out to be a douchebag.

Just pay the full membership, show dedication, and if the price is really a problem, then talk to the trainer.
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Completely agree. I use to drive 1.5 hours each way to the gym as there was absolutely no MT in my area, I had to drive a few towns over. It was a bitch, but when you really want something you have to sacrifice. I'd pay the full membership and if it becomes a problem then talk to someone and try to make some friends.
 
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