Training in Thailand

[ApollosLight]

One of my goal for 2018 is to fly to Thailand and train at a local Muay Thai gym. I have very little experience with this martial art, but I am fascinated by it and would like to get a solid foundation through a month of good training; I come from a boxing background, enjoyed it a lot, though I have never fought on a ring.
Now, I have been looking at what muay thai classes in Thailand consist of, and the most surprising thing was that they were mainly centred on technique and pads and very little on cardio. At my old boxing gym we would spend almost an hour between stretching and warm up drills, followed by push ups, sit ups and so on; this doesn't seem to be the case in Thailand where, as far as I could see, the cardio was left to the single student to train by himself.
All these things considered, I would like to know if there is a good gym in Thailand which emphasises this aspect of training. Reason why I'm asking this is because I was told (and I read it too) that some gyms, like Sinbi Muay Thai, are known for not indulging in long circuits or warm ups. This is a pity because Sinbi was in many aspects my top-choice.

So what gym would you recommend?

Thank you in advance

 

[monteiro]

It would certainly be the gym Sitsongpeenong Muay Thai Training Phuket.

It fits in with the training described by you have both class for professional athletes as for lovers like you.

 

[ApollosLight]

Thank you very much. I didn't know they would have a branch in Phuket.

What about Sinbi though? I heard they had very good trainers; is it true?
And does anyone here on the forum have some experience at Sitsongpeenong to share? How is the quality of the trainers?

 

[eng236]

everyone knows tiger muy Thai is the best.... cmon man the packed gym during the summer says it all

 

[facePuncher7]

I've trained at a bunch of gyms in Thailand. There is a focus on technique but you probably won't get shown much unless you stick around for a while.

As for cardio, the heat + long training sessions mean that you don't really need to put any emphasis on it, your cardio just gets better being there.

Most places will have you actively moving for 3-6 hours a day in high humidity. Just avoid the tourist traps with high prices and little substance.

 

[SnwMnkys]

I came from zero Martial arts background and learned at Sinbi. Spent roughly a year at that gym. Youll get good cardio just from the pad work. If you need more then go hard during your heavy bag rounds, run before training and stretch as long as you want before and after classes. There's noone stopping you from going the extra mile on your own there unless you get in the way of a Private session or are hitting bags at 10pm.

 

[ApollosLight]

Great comment, SnwMnkys.
I can deduce from the tone of your post that your experience at sinbi was rather good. How much did your muay thai improve after a year? Did you end up fighting?
Any trainer you would recommend to me? Thank you

 

[SnwMnkys]

Definately a positive experience overall. It has its shortcomings, and those will vary by person and their personal experience. But that could be said of any gym. I have a handful of friends that come back to the gym every year and ones that have left their western lives and moved to Thailand. The area that Sinbi is located in is awesome.

The year spent there was cumulative. Spent 3 months there in the winter of 2014, 4 months in 2015, and 5 in 2016. Fought 2 times my last year there. Was hoping to fight a 3rd but I got some type of infection that hampered my last month of training. Tried getting back there this year but it didnt happen. Hopefully next. If you really want to see improvement when you get there, start taking private sessions as soon as you can. I know if adds more to the budget but its worth it if your goal is to improve learn and improve technique.

All the trainers I trained with arent there anymore unfortunately so I cant really recommend one.

 

[Bernard Bar]

Don’t stress for cardio .. working out 5 to 6 hrs a day 6 days a week will give you more endurance than anything you have ever done in America . Can’t even compare . The technical training is also far superior and I’d say 99.9 % of the camps will have better Muay Thai than here so you can’t go wrong . Again if your concearned about cardio the runs and circuit training at the heat and humidity will put you in shape fast . I wrote a review about my training there in November 2017 look for it . Good luck

 

[Jarvan]

everyone knows tiger muy Thai is the best.... cmon man the packed gym during the summer says it all

It's just the most popular. Not a bad gym, but there are plenty else.

And to the ts, if you are worried abbot getting cardio... You have nothing to fear. My suggestion is don't get cocky. The trainers will swiftly shut u down. Not all play nice...

 

[ApollosLight]

Definately a positive experience overall. It has its shortcomings, and those will vary by person and their personal experience. But that could be said of any gym. I have a handful of friends that come back to the gym every year and ones that have left their western lives and moved to Thailand. The area that Sinbi is located in is awesome.

The year spent there was cumulative. Spent 3 months there in the winter of 2014, 4 months in 2015, and 5 in 2016. Fought 2 times my last year there. Was hoping to fight a 3rd but I got some type of infection that hampered my last month of training. Tried getting back there this year but it didnt happen. Hopefully next. If you really want to see improvement when you get there, start taking private sessions as soon as you can. I know if adds more to the budget but its worth it if your goal is to improve learn and improve technique.

All the trainers I trained with arent there anymore unfortunately so I cant really recommend one.

Talking about infections, is it so likely to contract one? I have heard of many many people who got one, either on their skin or in their stomachs

 

[Kirks]

Definately a positive experience overall. It has its shortcomings, and those will vary by person and their personal experience. But that could be said of any gym. I have a handful of friends that come back to the gym every year and ones that have left their western lives and moved to Thailand. The area that Sinbi is located in is awesome.

The year spent there was cumulative. Spent 3 months there in the winter of 2014, 4 months in 2015, and 5 in 2016. Fought 2 times my last year there. Was hoping to fight a 3rd but I got some type of infection that hampered my last month of training. Tried getting back there this year but it didnt happen. Hopefully next. If you really want to see improvement when you get there, start taking private sessions as soon as you can. I know if adds more to the budget but its worth it if your goal is to improve learn and improve technique.

All the trainers I trained with arent there anymore unfortunately so I cant really recommend one.

What shortcomings?

Did you stay at the gym too? Or is it easy enough to find a cheap room to rent for a couple months that is close by?

 

[SnwMnkys]

Talking about infections, is it so likely to contract one? I have heard of many many people who got one, either on their skin or in their stomachs

Staph is probably the most common skin infection you'll get there. I got a pretty good staph infection on the back side of my neck a couple weeks before my first fight. It got bad enough that my friend who is a nurse recommended I didnt fight. When I first got it I went to a clinic and they prescribed anti biotics but I guess they werent the correct ones. Went to a really good doctor in Kata and he prescribed the correct ones and after a day or two of taking them you could see it was killing it. I think someone might of accidently scratched me during clinching.

I rarely got food poisoning. But I almost always got flu like sickness 4 weeks into my trips. The intense training, environment, food, it just seems like my body would have a melt down and Id get sick for a few days.

Ive had more sickness, infections, and sprained/torn ligaments in the time Ive spent in Thailand than I have in 35 years living in the US. Ha

 

[SnwMnkys]

What shortcomings?

Did you stay at the gym too? Or is it easy enough to find a cheap room to rent for a couple months that is close by?

Cleanliness is probably the biggest short coming of any of the Thai run gyms. They just dont have the same hygiene practices we do in the west. If you go to Western run gym like AKA or Tiger you will see them wiping down the equipment or moping the floors with Detol all the time. Im not a germaphobe at all so it didnt really bother me. But it was a complaint of some people.

Ive stayed at the gym a bit. I always shared a room. My last trip there I stayed at the Sinbi apartments. Nice to have the peace and quiet, a pool, but lacks the social environment of staying at the gym. There are cheap places nearby, you could stay at the gym for a few weeks while you explored the area and found somewhere to stay.

 

[Kirks]

Cleanliness is probably the biggest short coming of any of the Thai run gyms. They just dont have the same hygiene practices we do in the west. If you go to Western run gym like AKA or Tiger you will see them wiping down the equipment or moping the floors with Detol all the time. Im not a germaphobe at all so it didnt really bother me. But it was a complaint of some people.

Ive stayed at the gym a bit. I always shared a room. My last trip there I stayed at the Sinbi apartments. Nice to have the peace and quiet, a pool, but lacks the social environment of staying at the gym. There are cheap places nearby, you could stay at the gym for a few weeks while you explored the area and found somewhere to stay.

Awesome thanks for the info. How was the quality of training and people training? I’ve heard it’s not as good in Phuket and those sorts of areas as you tend to get a lot more casuals?