There are many pros and cons to being a trainer/fighter as oppose to just a fighter.
I'll start with the cons because I like to finish positive.
Cons
- Firstly its very tiring to teach 3,4 or 5 sessions in a day when you have trained twice yourself. Ideally the time in-between training should be spent recouperating but this is not possible when your holding pads, sparring, clinching and demonstrating techniques for several hours. In an ideal world a fighter would train eat sleep repeat and that would be pretty much it. But unfortunately the sport of Muay Thai does not pay very well and the truth is whatever career you choose you will have to do something to pay the bills.
- Secondly. There's no secondly actually I think the high energy requirement is the only con of being a trainer/fighter.
So onto the pros
- 1) You get to share your passion with others who generally want to learn and its a great feeling seeing someone develop and improve as they train with you.
- 2) It fits in perfectly with your own training schedule because essentially you decide when you"re available to train clients.
- 3) Every demonstrated technique, bit of sparring or clinching is extra practice for you. Even if your client is at a beginner level you will still benefit from the constant repetition of techniques which is all extra training for you too.
- 4) You get to meet and form working relationships with all kinds of people from all walks of life who you would otherwise probably never come across in your everyday life which I find extremely interesting.
So in general the pros far out way the con which in fact is more a con for being a fighter than being a fighter/trainer because you would have to do another job which would require energy and probably a lot more hours too.
One thing becoming a trainer has done for me is cause me to analyse all of the individual components that make up a technique. Something which, prior to becoming a trainer, I rarely did or at least not to the extent I do it now. Studying what each part of the body should be doing for each move has improved my own technique massively. And what amazes me most is when, after 10 years of training, I learn a tiny detail that I'd missed and that when applied has a huge impact on the given technique. I love that, it literally blows my mind.
I think that just about covers it for this blog post which is the first of many to come. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Femi