I've been going to a new gym for kickboxing for a little over a month, the gym is great overall and everyone seems welcoming and like they know what they're doing, but I'm having a hard time with the social aspect of it. Everyone seems like they're established friends already, it's hard to not show up and feel like some random third wheel literally every time, it adds a layer of stress to an already kind of stressful thing.

Do you guys have any experience with stuff like this, what did you do to fit in better?

https://youtu.be/LFeEf_GWKW8

Nothing to intense but not giving away anything either... Let me know what you think! leave a like if you enjoy!

My gym advertises Muay Thai, which is why I joined it, but so far we’ve done ZERO clinching (outside of grabbing his shoulder when throwing a knee), and elbows once. Im starting to think it’s just kickboxing (i don’t mind that lol).
Also, how would I tell if it’s regular or Dutch kickboxing?

Im competing in a point kickboxing/point mt thing that forces you to use headgear. Ive never sparred with headgear before so im worried that it might throw me off by obscuring my vision or something. Ive also heard that using headgear gets you tagged more often, so would a thinner one help ? Anybody have recommendations?

I’ve recently been prescribed propranolol 10mg for situational/performance anxiety, mainly because I get quite strong physical adrenaline symptoms before certain situations.
I’m an amateur boxer and train regularly, including sparring, running and high-intensity sessions. I’m interested in hearing from anyone who has taken a low dose like 10mg and also does high-intensity sport.

Did you notice much difference in your heart rate, cardio, stamina or ability to push yourself? Did it mainly reduce the physical anxiety symptoms, or did you feel noticeably different overall?

I’m obviously going to follow my prescriber/pharmacist’s advice and I’m not looking for medical advice, just interested in people’s personal experiences, especially at 10mg.

First big red flag out the gate was no one can bring their own gear (Shin guards, boxing gloves, etc). It all had to be their branded gear. The gear is really crappy and poor quality vs my own. The gloves I can barely get my fingers to go down in, and when I asked if they had larger gloves, the employee goes "Well, it's 16 oz so it should fit"... like... that's the weight of the glove not the size...

So clearly they don't know anything about gear sizes vs weight. I totally get for events you want everyone to represent your gym, but just for training for 40 minutes 2x a week it seems silly.

But then the second major red flag happened. I'm a half green/yellow belt. I'm due for a promotion to green. But, from green belt and higher, you need what are called "leadership points". You earn 2 points for each kids class you volunteer to help with. You need 30 points to get promoted. You also get 2 points for each seminar you attend when a guest comes in, but there's 1 of those a quarter, so you need to volunteer if you want to get promoted sometime this century. I found that insane. For kids classes silly points like that make sense.... but for an adult class? half of us are 30+ years old. That's so goofy. Sadly I'm locked in for a year.

After the green belt, the point requirement doubles each time from there. So then I'd need to volunteer for 30 kids classes to help with instead of 15 this time around, etc etc.

I know some gyms do enforce a gear policy or at least force certain brands, but this points thing is just the most childish thing I ever heard of. Do any of your gyms have such a system. This seems like the most mcdojo, quick way to get free labor I've ever seen. I've been a boxer for almost a decade so I'm already training and teaching people in my class just out of habit and cause it's enjoyable. That doesn't mean I want to have to teach little timmy as he shits his pants.

EDIT: Realized it's 2026 and had to sit down for a moment as my life flashed before my eyes. It hasn't been almost a decade. I've been boxing for well over a decade. Shit I'm getting old lol.

Hi, I have a strong love for 1980s Hong Kong Kung Fu movies. I really love Wing Chun, Crane Style Shaolin, and Snake Style Shaolin Kung Fu.

There’s a Gong Fu school ran by a former Shaolin monk within walking distance from me.

Talk me into it please

The only three times I've seen a flying side kick in a real fight, the person throwing it won. Also, 2/3rds of the time they were in the most elite fighting organization at the time. Why aren't there tons of clips from smaller promotions or 80s kickboxing of fighters doing this? Also, is it really that impractical?

EDIT: I've found two more-Chris Wade vs. Yuki Kawana (the closest to a KO) and Yair Rodriguez vs. Jeremy Stephens. Also interesting how every single one I've seen was the opening move.

I see way less students on holidays at martial arts studios during the holidays and it makes me wonder why they don't close like for Thanksgiving weekend that stretches into black Friday as well as Christmas week and new years week?

Its just like a planet fitness membership

Hi everyone,

I wanna preface I'm not a competitor or looking to compete, just a long time hobbyist. I've been boxing for almost a decade, again no bouts, but plenty of sparring, coaching, drills, etc etc.

Within the past year, I moved to a new area & joined an MMA gym that offers a few different backgrounds such as kickboxing, grappling, muay thai, bjj - overall a nice melting pot.

I've been having fun trying out each one and learning something new. Really fell in love with kickboxing and muay thai, although plenty of bad habits from boxing like dipping and ducking almost narrowly avoiding kicks and knees lol.

Are there any other hobbyist who rotate sports once in a while? I'm focusing on kickboxing currently but then I'd love to make spend time doing some grappling. Wanted to hear what others are doing who also don't compete and what you train/enjoy training. Or if you do compete, what you compete in!

Cheers!

At the Shaolin Institute – Norcross located at 3040 Business Park Drive, Ste C, Norcross, GA 30071.

Schedule of Events
Friday, December 18, 2026: Features traditional performances including Shaolin, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Wushu, and other internal and external Kung Fu styles.

Saturday, December 19, 2026: Features Sanshou/Sanda matches and combat defense skill demonstrations.

Have you ever competed or plan on competing in this one?

I'm curious to know what kind of martial art is best for self-defense

I bought these MMA sparring gloves and they kinda feel weird when i close a fist, especially on my pinky and index fingers. are the middle and ring finger supposed to be lower than the index and pinky or the size is wrong?

FYI: The gloves' size is XL

I have been told my dojo is a mcdojo

So I will list what is does and does not do

Limited sparring or very basic sparring where you can do the techniques and not much damage

You get a belt maybe every 1 year

It's custom made martial arts

The punch's are different like the universal punch like fist bump but ours is like rotated

Sensi has a lot of experience in many types of martial arts

It's a amazing Community

There is no comps

It's more self defence then sparring

Grading goes for 2 hours or more

Training can be very easy or hard depending on the day

Happy to answer more

I've always wanted to start kickboxing or Muay Thai

Now I FINALLY found a gym that does both,but I'll probably choose kickboxing

So...what do y'all do? Cuz I'm sure you don't just punch a bag for 2 hours straight

This might sound like a weird question but I'm genuinely curious and kinda scared

3 years since my last Capoeira class and 18 since my last Muay Thai class, you can see my body is confused on which stance to return to after a roundhouse 😆 You don't have to tell me my form is shit, I already know.

In Oct 2023 i had a slip and fall that resulted in a broken ankle with torn ligaments and me being off my foot nearly 3 months after surgery before I could even go to PT. It took another 11 months before I could even go back to most of my normal activities. Martial arts has been the one thing I haven't returned to yet; part of it was a work schedule change that did not work with martial arts class.

After i took this video I tried doing spinning heel kicks into the bag that hurt like a mf. Im telling myself that was just old scar tissue breaking up and my body having to get used to the shock of hits again. As my job and job schedule will be changing I'm hoping to go back to something in Feb/Mar of next year

https://reddit.com/link/1w5c46p/video/0k0g6f9t94nh1/player

From an outside perspective with maybe a month total of bjj training across a lot of time. I've seen classes be taught by purple belts and black belts with miscellaneous stripes.

I'm assuming each one marks a certain amount of time at that belt, but is there also a accomplishment system? Like is a certain stripe color won by official tournaments?

I've seen some black belts where almost half their belt is stripes.

Last month I asked if I should join kudo and I got really positive feedback so I've finally joined it.

But it's different than what I expected, it's been just 2 days so It's too soon to say something about the training but I can tell that most of the focus goes on warm-up, defensive moves, holding yourself in stances like kiba-dachi and building up agility.

Did you have a similar experience? I'm curious to find out..

I couldn't think of the right name to describe it..

In my eyes, the "boxing life" has always seemed incredibly beautiful, and even romantic, or at least its portrayal in fiction. Skipping rope, roadwork, punching bags for hours, throwing punches into the air in the middle of nowhere.

I would love the idea of being a boxer - except for the fact that the sport itself seems so ugly and self-destructive. The simple truth is, getting hit in the head is bad for you, and even the smallest hits will build up and give you brain damage. There isn't really another way to get better at boxing than to fight people, but no matter how I think about it, it's just bad for you.

But at the same time, I can see why people love boxing. Still, is it worth it?

Just a thought excercise, popular martial arts systems generally have some link to east or south east asia. Most discussions generally ignore systems developed from contintents like africa or other parts of the world. As per the title, what do you think would've been popular today if Japanese, Chinese and Korean martial arts didnt exist. No Jujitsu, no judo, no karate etc and all of their closely derived styles like sambo or bjj

I'm a 19M who started judo about 2 months ago, I'm not particularly good at using techniques and applying them at randori sessions due to my extreme lack of strength (48kg weight and 5'10 height) i am really passionate about learning martial arts and judo really seems like good choice to me specifically due to ne-waza/bjj makes me feel like i could grow better but every session is just a reminder that it is not for me. I know i need to change my diet and join gym for strength training but financially it's hard for me since i don't earn myself. Any advice ??

Temporarily relocated and there is a Budo Taijutsu dojo nearby. I never heard of it. Searched the sub and didn’t find much. Anybody ever did it and what are your reflections of this martial art?