he could just tell the newbies to shut up.
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.
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~
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.