We recently had our second technical Thai-boxing event. Competition has become the next stage of play for essentially all of our Saturday crew regulars. There was no duress; participation is always self-determined.
Our LMAist, MY, in the blue chest guard, has been training once or twice a week for five months and is also a mom in her late thirties. At the LMA Learning Lab, there are no set expectations. We respect everyone's individual pace, offering a supportive community and structure to help practitioners have fun and stay safe.
In commercial gyms, the standard often involves training five to seven times a week for competition, including hours-long sessions, sometimes supplemented with private lessons, and strength and conditioning. Typically, you must be cleared to join the competition team, which only happens after extensive training. However, being on the competition team doesn't automatically mean you're allowed to compete; that becomes another gate to clear. At LMA, however, the motivation to compete often comes from a desire to work with different movers outside our Learning Lab. While we may not match the training frequency or youth of many competitors from commercial gyms, our ability to compete on equal footing is a testament to the LMA Approach. For instance, MY's opponent in this event was 22 years old—15 years her junior.
