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August 1, 2016
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu
Muay Thai, Sylvie's Tips

Sylvie’s Tips – Improve Your Muay Thai Elbows Using a Wall

Sylvie's Tips - Improving Your Muay Thai Elbows Using a Wall

Making Your Elbows (Hooks & Crosses) Fast, Direct and Accurate

This is a pretty simple technique and you can find a wall anywhere, so we can mark this down as one of the most accessible tools there is. Basically, I have been alerted to the folly of how my arms launch away from my body when I throw strikes, which is detrimental to both power and control. Sagat is the one who really explained trajectory to me [<<watch that session to see what this philosophy of strking is about], showing how a wind-up is just wasted space, energy and time, and that strikes are best on a more abrievated path; and Chatchai Sasakul in his private with me showed me how to rotate with the appropriate minimalism for insanely controlled and powerful hooks.

above, my Sylvie’s Tips video showing how to use a wall to improve your elbows

But I’d never thought about all my wasted effort with elbows. When I watch Pi Nu throw elbows in the clinch I get all kinds of excited by how cruel and amazing they look. They seem to come out of nowhere and if you watch him from the back there is absolutely no “wind up” twisting at all, and not fanning out widely. The elbow just collapses into the face of the opponent. I saw the same economy in the elbows of Yodkhunpon as well (watch that session) – you can see the narrowness of attack in this Yodkhunpon GIF below:

So I got this idea to force my hooks and elbows to come out from my ribs the way Sagat insisted, the way Chatchai does it, and the way Karuhat showed me after making fun of my stupid, wonky right cross. I basically use the wall to corral my arms and make my strikes more direct and powerful. Remember, this is a corrective drill, designed to build awareness. These are not perfect strikes.

So, for the left hook and the left elbow that comes across, what’s called a “fahn” elbow in Thai, where it slices across rather than up or down, you want that to come out of your ribs rather than coming around with a swing. I put my left shoulder against a wall, my hip and thigh against the wall so I’m fully connected to it, and throw the elbow from there. No excessive movement at all. It looks like what Pi Nu’s elbows look like from the back. Perfect. So I used it for the hook and switched sides so the wall was on my right to straighten out my right cross and that elbow as well. I’ll do a bunch of hooks, crosses and elbows against the wall to kind of “calibrate” my form. And if you have a bit of space along the wall, you can walk forward and backward throwing the strikes so you get a feel for how to move with them. It looks a little funny, but nobody will be laughing when they feel those strikes on the pads or right in their faces. The wall is like training wheels and when you come off of it, it’s all balance and momentum, no wobble.

This isn’t the only way to use a wall: You can use it to Improve Your Kick

 

An Intro to Sylvie’s Tips

You can read about the Sylvie’s Tips feature focusing on small techniques I’ve picked up here in my first post: Sylvie’s Tips – Muay Thai Tips, Techniques & Helps from Thailand

Read all my Sylvie’s Tips articles one by one here.

The Full Sylvie’s Tips YouTube Video Playlist

Or go to the Sylvie’s Tips Playlist here.

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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

The Author Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

A 103 lb. (46 kg) female Muay Thai fighter. Originally I trained under Kumron Vaitayanon (Master K) and Kaensak sor. Ploenjit in New Jersey. I then moved to Thailand to train and fight full time in April of 2012, devoting myself to fighting 100 Thai fights, as well as blogging full time. Having surpassed 100 fights in 3 years here, my new goal is to fight an impossible 200 times in Thailand, as much as I possibly can, and to continue to write my experience.

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Featured Posts

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Sylvie’s Tips – Muay Thai Techniques

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Sylvie’s Tips – Improve Your Muay Thai Elbows Using a Wall

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Fight Like a Girl - Female Boxing Movie

Fight Like A Girl: My Review of Jill Morley’s Documentary on Female Boxers

This is something of a personal response review of Fight Like a Girl, written as a female fighter. Jill Morley’s film “Fight Like A Girl” opens with a bare-bulb lighting figures as they spar in a ring.  Their white gloves and headgear swing and bob out of the darkness as a voice-over initiates the thesis of the film: people always want to know why female fighters want to fight.  Throughout the rest of the documentary, Jill Morley points her camera at her training partners, her family and herself as they all shadowbox around that question.  Nobody ever seems to hit

Sarah Conner - Sacrifice - Body Muay Thai

Sarah Conner & My Egg Donation: The “Sacrifice” of Body For Muay Thai

In the world of athletics and motivational memes, the word “sacrifice” gets thrown around a lot.  All the things that one must sacrifice in the name of greatness, the hardships of waking up to train, missing out on nights of drinking with friends… whatever.  I know people use this word without truly dissecting the concept, it’s just part of sport-speak.  But I don’t use this word because it means a lot to me. When I think of the word “sacrifice” I think of giving up something of immense value – sacrifice is painful, not unfortunate or just hard.  Abraham willing

angie fight 8-w1400

Muay Kathoey (transgender) – Angie’s Second Muay Thai Fight Here in Pattaya

Some people have shown interest in following the story of Angie, the kathoey fighter at my gym Petchrungruang in Pattaya. I interviewed her just before her first ever fight and last night was her second time in the ring. Her first fight ended very quickly in a TKO, when her opponent fell at an awkward angle on her own elbow and was unable to continue. So, a bit of a disappointment in not being able to have a full fight, but for her second fight Angie would be facing a very experienced Thai woman. (Her first fight was against another beginner, who

Sylvie and Robyn - Petchrungruang

Company in a Male Space – Training with a Friend

The afternoons at Petchrungruang have been crowded lately.  I’m sitting in a somewhat unusual spot between the two rings, rolling my wraps. I’m sitting here because my usual spot on a bench across the gym has already been usurped by a few Italians who train in the evenings; it’s a wrench in my routine, but a sublimely mild one. My friend Robyn is visiting from the US and will have a fight next week. She looks at me while we sit and adjust our wraps, “What do you want to work on today?” Robyn asks. I’m stumped. There are things

First Kathoey Fighter at Lumpinee - Angie Petchrungrung 2

Making History: Angie First Transgender Fighter at Lumpinee Stadium

Email subscribers, see the interview here Almost two years ago I interviewed Angie in anticipation of her first Muay Thai fight, after only a few months of training in Muay Thai. Remarkably, two weeks from now Angie will be having her debut fight at the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. A historic fight. She will be the first kathoey (Trans) fighter to enter those ropes. The famed Nong Toom “Beautiful Boxer” fought at Lumpinee and was a kathoey, but she didn’t fully fight as a “kathoey fighter”. She fought to afford sexual reassignment surgery, would fight wearing lipstick in the ring, but fought

Sylvie and Mai - Female Clinch

Female Fighter Alliance – a Young Girl New to Clinch

There’s a new little girl at the Petchrungruang Gym.  She’s been there for maybe 2 months now, only in the afternoons, but she’s serious.  For a long time I didn’t know her name – I found out it is Mai – but she’s 11 years old and Kru Nu informed me that she already wants to fight.  She’s probably 40 kg.  I always smile at her when I see her, mostly because I’m legitimately excited to have another female in the gym at all (who is training), but also because I want to make sure she feels a connection.  It

nadia

Playing to Type – the Sexy Exchange Student and Muay Thai

– This is part of what is likely a series of articles on western female sexuality in Thai gyms – it’s a big topic and I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and this seemed like the best place to start. This view comes from my personal experience, and reflection, but also from conversations I’ve been having with women who have trained or are currently training elsewhere in Thailand. How Are You Drawn? There’s a stereotypical role that is in male-driven teen comedies – you know, the kind that are about the conquest of losing one’s virginity or

JR at the gym

Revealing: I’m a Muay Thai Fighter

  There’s a street vendor cart right below my balcony (well, many floors below my balcony, but a direct fall/jump) that sells the most delicious fried chicken.  Sometimes I step out and look over the railing to see if they have a good selection and then go pick the pieces I spied, because I love food and the deliciousness of this chicken is just beyond mortal resistance. It used to be a lady and her husband with their chubby daughter running around everywhere, but then the daughter had to go to school and now they seem to have brought in

Tom and Dees in Thailand - 8limbs.us

Reading Notes “Toms and Dees” by Megan Sinnott – Part 1

Why Toms and Dees? On more than one occasion I’ve heard from one of the men or teenaged males who corner for my fights that I will be fighting, “a tomboy.”  This information is always delivered with a smirk or mocking gesture or laughter as if it’s a joke that I’m in on.  The word “tomboy” for me holds a western connotation of a girl who likes to play with boys, masculine toys, play rough and usually dress in pants and a T-shirt.  It’s not a suggestive of a sexual orientation where I come from and, generally, it’s either something

Man vs Woman Fight - What Does it Mean.

Man vs Woman Fight – What Does it Mean? | Interview with Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

Guest Post – Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu This is my interview of Sylvie on what was an extraordinary event that happened this week as Tara, a student at the gym and an attendee of the Women’s Muay Khao Summit fought a male opponent. I wanted to get some perspective on what Sylvie thought about the fight as fights between the genders are rare, and almost symbolize something almost ineffable. As we mention in the interview we can only think of four other adult women who have fought men in an organized fashion (though there surely are many other such fights which

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