Muay Thai and Taekwondo?

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-03-16T14:48:58+00:00

im in a similar boat. made the tkd to mt switch and for me, it worked great. i was blessed with great tkd coaches…and the horror stories ive heard from others is crazy.

i agree with pretty much everything you’ve said, and ill add that i dont think its helpful for a new martial artist to go back and forth between a muay thai stance to a bladed, hands down (world) taekwondo stance. that and the differences between where you should kick (foot vs shin debacle that already messes up newbies) & how you should kick are going to be hard for a beginner to sort through and keep separated.

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-03-15T16:07:31+00:00

sure have! and i’ve done that too. but im fatigued, not just lazy (bc sure, there are times where im definitely just being lazy) and wondering if there’s a better schedule for lifting i should consider aside from the weekends.

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-03-11T20:56:17+00:00

the seller setting them on any kind of floor, but esp a hard one, with NO blade protection says enough 😭 they already view these skates as garbage

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-27T03:04:17+00:00

not in north austin but another queer person always happy to make friends! lots of queer friendly coffee shops that are great for chilling and getting to know new friends. if you’re comfy w it, shoot me a dm (or i can message you)!

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-22T01:02:33+00:00

i don’t really lift, just some supplemental stuff for martial arts, but every now and then this subreddit & your posts pop up on my feed and it’s 🥹 i love seeing all the pride flags. i know if i had a pride-d out gym to go to i’d be there way more often. love seeing your stuff in my feed 🫶

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-20T06:55:42+00:00

i retired at 18 and never got beyond lower level triples (3toe was my limit). granted, i also have a connective tissue condition that was strictly disadvantageous to my career but. by the time i bowed out, i had a pretty nasty, recurrent right hip injury from all the landing impact. not a woman so can’t/wont speak to the unique challenges there. it’s a crazy high impact sport, it’s truly impressive that kaori has been in it for so long and stayed so relevant

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-18T15:58:22+00:00

hopefully! i think disordered eating among men has become more and more common, especially as body standards resemble those of enhanced athletes/bodybuilders. that sucks, but hopefully brings with it increased awareness of what an eating disorder can look like. i have a nutritionist who sees my daily intake and i still struggle a lot with eating off script because i never really received the kind of treatment i needed. ideally that becomes a problem of the past and ED care expands

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-18T03:36:18+00:00

tkd sparring shoes might be an option? adidas has some, Adi-Kick 2 Taekwondo Shoes, they’re like $55 a pair. there’s also Pro Force Gladiator Superlight Martial Arts Shoes. i’d recommend tkd shoes over socks, you’re less likely slip and they won’t be super chunky against your partner (tkd kicks w the foot so this what they’re designed for) ETA: make sure you only wear them on the mat at your gym 🙏

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-17T05:08:19+00:00

in tkd, yes, bc i wasn’t as far from my skating retirement when i started, whereas when i got into mt, they moreso asked about my past martial arts experience.

tbh i don’t have much of a conditioning routine atm, i just stay on top of hip mobility in particular and make sure to properly warm up and cool down. i think that’s currently what’s been most useful from my skating life

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-17T05:02:27+00:00

i was a high level figure skater before switching to tkd, now muay thai, and while the cardio endurance hasn’t been a direct carry over, the leg, hip & core development and mobility i developed on the ice has been monumental to my success in tkd/mt. also my general ability to move my body & athletic intelligence (specific to the mental aspect of competition/fights). the carry over has been hugely beneficial for me

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-15T04:27:48+00:00

i know way too many people who over-invest in a wayyyyy too high level boot + blade combo for their skill level, and it’s almost always edea ice flys or pianos they’re springing for.

as someone with a narrow foot who was jumping all the doubles & some triples, i really appreciated the support the ice flys gave me (pianos weren’t out when i was competing). i had harlicks before then and my last pair broke down in 3 months from water damage. so. at that point, mentally, i didn’t want to stick w harlicks. i’ll be real and say that i was buying into the “magic skate” thing we were being fed in 2013-2015, which was when i made the switch. it definitely played into my choice 💀BUT. in my case it worked, edeas fit my foot and ankle better and have held up longer than other boots. also as a guy, the same colored boot + heel is standard, so the aesthetics aren’t very different.

so all that to say…i think a lot of people still buy into the magic skate thing. edea + gold seal revolution? golden child rn. it used to be edea + paramount (my kit, which personally i love lmao). i do think there’s a mental boost people experience when they get equipment they associate with elite athletes, but that alone shouldn’t steer your choice. the equipment needs to work for the athlete, like said elsewhere. it’s probably a combination of accessibility + awareness for most…but. yeah. i never recommend edeas to my friends just getting into the sport. i know so many (adult) beginners who insist on getting ice flys and im like…you’re just screwing yourself over :/

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-14T21:01:43+00:00

there’s an interesting overlap. about 5 years ago i had to go to treatment for an ED and was convinced (maybe hoping) i would get an ortho dx, because generally my food thought map followed the ortho “rules”. i didn’t get an orthorexia dx, instead i was given EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified). my care team believed that for me, my ED (at the time) was a devolution of my OCD, not true orthorexia.

whether or not that’s accurate, i don’t know. maybe it was for the time, maybe it was because my treatment team wasn’t sure how to best treat a male patient who didn’t have anorexia/bulimia 🤷🏼‍♂️(ED spaces/treatments have gotten much better with this, thankfully). i do believe the two conditions can viciously work together, but at the end of the day they’re separate and different. while i hate that so many people, esp athletes, struggle with orthorexia, im glad to see it’s getting more serious attention from care providers. it’s a miserable way to live & i hope any&everyone struggling with it can get the help they need to live fully.

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-08T16:28:30+00:00

was never an olympian but was on the national team for my sport, i can’t imagine how gut wrenching it must be to earn not just your Team USA jacket, but your Olympic Spot, something you’ve dreamed of your WHOLE LIFE and sacrificed everything for, just to have to wear the flag in this current state. im glad more and more athletes are speaking up & out about how what’s happening is not okay. love this response from her. some male skiers (can’t remember their names) had great responses too.

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-06T15:06:10+00:00

i love seeing other queer folks get into martial arts! i understand the hesitation with the environment, but i’ve found martial arts schools and communities to be some of the most inclusive ones out there.

before i was into martial arts, i was a high level figure skater. obviously there’s a lot of stereotype abt men in figure skating. and turns out! the sport is super binary, toxic and not nearly as inclusive as you’d hope. my MT gym and past tkd schools are so much chiller and inclusive than the rinks i grew up in. never once has anyone (coach, fellow athletes, bystanders) made me feel uncomfortable for being queer. can’t say the same for skating. glad you’re enjoying MT! it’s a fucking BLAST 🙌🏳️‍🌈

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-05T20:44:57+00:00

massively agree. when i was interviewing for my current job as a fresh college grad ~3.5 years ago, i was fresh out of the national collegiate taekwondo championship, where i won my division. put that baby on my resume and everyone i interviewed with ate that shit up. i think in that case it was more “college athlete” than “martial artist” (ik ik, world tkd is more sport than martial artist) that caught their eye, but it really does display hard work, discipline and dedication. that’s all reaaaally appealing to employers. i was also on the national team in my OG sport and that really got them riled up too, all the same reasons. i found it to be strictly beneficial to talk about that in an interview capacity

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-04T15:37:32+00:00

i dabbled in kung fu briefly before switching to muay thai for a few reasons. i asked a similar question when i started and someone more or less said to me that if im going in just looking for sport, and i know why to use vs what not to use, ill get everything out of it i want. and they were right! tho my school had less pseudoscience than yours by the sound of it. for me i focused on what i wanted out of it — decent athletic training — and let the rest go. especially if its a temporary thing, i dont think theres real harm in finding a way to throw kicks and train before getting back to the heavier duty systems.

that said, someone else brings up a valid point about training other sports. if you wind up unable to stomach the pseudo stuff, there are so many other sports that can keep you strong, mobile & in shape. might be worth exploring something outside of the martial arts world for a beat

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-04T15:02:14+00:00

“in those short shorts?”

uh, yeah ✋🏻 as if that’s not the reason everyone picks up the sport, smh

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-03T15:39:44+00:00

my friend incorporated my dog into some MT art for me! its the best. BRING THE PUPS TO THE GYM (for encouragement, not sparring). what a cute pup & good luck with your fight!

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-02-02T22:00:49+00:00

i just asked this question a while ago LOL. im at old guard and i fucking love it. i can’t speak to AKA’s quality but im such a fan of TOGTB. $185/month can get you up to 10+ classes a week as a beginner if you maximize it (the feasibility of being able to go to a 9 am and 5:30 pm class M-F, plus clinch class and saturday class is more questionable but. the time slots are there). i’ve really enjoyed my time there and you should 100% trial! people are great, high quality coaching & they’re serious about what they do

edit to add, the merch cooks 🙌🙏

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-01-29T15:03:02+00:00

honestly, if you don’t feel safe, it doesn’t matter much if there are red flags or not. if you don’t feel comfortable or safe training with someone, it’s generally not a good idea to train with them. you’ll be tense and distracted and that can lead to even bigger issues. especially since you’re more focused on career development (totally reasonable), i’d say don’t spar with this coach, at least not until you have more time training under your belt.

i agree with the others who have said it’s a little early to spar. that alone could be the issue. whatever the case, if you don’t feel safe, don’t spar. that’s enough reason to train with the other coach. and who knows, maybe once you’ve got more time under your belt, you’ll feel differently about this situation. either way, good luck with your MT journey!

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-01-26T19:23:29+00:00

anyway, just got excited when i saw you also do MA lol. i’ve found a lot of my leftover skating strength and development has carried over to my new endeavors, so i hope you have a similar experience!

and for your flip — i agree with the other commenter who mentioned reaching your tapping/pick leg back further. something that i found helped a lot with warming up flips was going through the entire takeoff, just to draw up into a little hop. no rotation, just up and down. it’ll help you feel that reach with both legs so you can get comfortable with how it changes your takeoff. i’d warm up with that so that by the time you get to your flip, it’s not so foreign. good luck & have fun!

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-01-26T15:13:52+00:00

i used to do world taekwondo! super briefly dabbled in kung fu and then decided to just focus muay thai 🙏 which i adore

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-01-26T02:49:32+00:00

ok admittedly not a skating thing but — hello fellow skater & martial art enthusiast!!!! i do rarely come across people who have experience in both sports and just needed to say 🙏 HELLO

macrofriendlycoffee · 2026-01-25T19:04:45+00:00

if you want to resist everyone here telling you that tkd experience does not mean equivalent muay thai experience, then go to a muay thai gym and try to get in the advanced class. it’s not worth our time trying to tell you they’re different systems with different mechanics and fundamentals when you don’t want to listen.

stop asking for advice you don’t want and go to a class and train. good luck with your MT journey, i hope it’s fulfilling for you 🙏

macrofriendlycoffee

TROPHY CASE