Everyone's opinion has quite a bit of merit. My whole goal is to lose some weight and get in better shape. Also, I hope to be able to confidently defend myself against an unarmed attacker. I have never been so tired or so sore in my entire life.
I am beginning to understand how important (and decievingly simple it is to use your forearm as a choke and your shin as a swinging battering ram!)
I have spoken with a black belt in taekwondo here at work and he said that it was a much different style. Taekwondo focuses alot more on technique, speed, concentration, and agility whereas Muay-Thai focuses on power, speed, pain tolerance, stamina, and flexibility. (each one also has other areas, but you get my drift)
This is my Muay-Thai teacher:
"Sensei Dennis has trained for over 25 years in Shaolin Goju.He has also trained in Shotokan, Muay Thai, Krav Maga and currently trains in Sambo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu .Sensei Dennis is a member of the Shinjimasu International Martial Arts Association and holds a 5th Degree Black Belt in Shaolin Goju under Grand Master Gallop Franklin. "
and my Jiu-Jitsu/Sambo coach:
"Sambo Coach, 4th Degree Black Belt (Boxfighting Federation):
Carlos Cummings has been studying martial arts for over ten years. His martial arts journey started at the age of sixteen in the art of Judo. Since then he has moved on to other arts such as Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Israeli Self-Protection, Greco Roman Wrestling and Mauy Thai. Carlos has also trained under Master Mani Javaheri in BoxFighting. Carlos has trained in Sambo under various instructors such as Evin Melacek and Chris Magyer. Carlos is also a member of The American Sambo Association. "
The classes are pretty small and these are the guys actually doing the teaching. No understudies or brown belt instructors at all.
Last night... well, first off I have never wrestled a day in my life till Monday (2 days ago) and last night was Jiu-Jitsu/Sambo. We studied some technique for the first hour and the second hour we split into two teams and had a semi-tournament. I got submitted three times out of three but I got in quite a number of points with different mount and guard positions. (Not tournament points, more like 2 points for top mount, 2 for takedown, etc...)
Fun but tiring.