Is it worth going to a gym in Thailand just for 5 days?

[cakemuncher]

I was actually thinking of going for a vacation in Bali, but now with all the volcanic activity and cancelled flights, I am not sure any more. :icon_chee

P.S. How much would private lessons in Muay Boran cost?

 

[Frode Falch]

what is your skill level? i guess its not a waste of time either way.

But muay boran? why? are you a action movie star?

 

[cakemuncher]

what is your skill level? i guess its not a waste of time either way.

I'd say intermediate/advanced, although I'm in no shape at the moment. Haven't trained for quite a while.

But muay boran? why? are you a action movie star?

I think it could be very useful for a self-defense too, but I'm just very fascinated by the Mae Mai, their names, the stories and mental images used to describe and communicate fighting principles and techniques. <3

 

[Frode Falch]

Well thats cool. But you wont find a place that will teach you real muay boran. you will find either people who train you the stuff that people think it cool (climb up knees, kicks, ect), or people who teach normal muay thai, but call it muay boran.

whatever form for realistic and effective moves that where a part of muay boran, is not there anymore today.

 

[cakemuncher]

It's hard to believe there are no masters of the old style in Thailand....maybe not that many who can speak English and want to give lessons to foreigners.

 

[Frode Falch]

There are some one left for sure. But they tend to not stay at big tourist gyms. Back in 2003 i was invited to visit a place where the royal police had their hand to hand training. I even got to coach them in some hybrid krav maga / kung fu stuff.

Anyway. Their hand to hand skills are muay thai strikers with simple judo / jiu jitsy style takedowns and sweeps.

Then you also have krabi krabon that have some muay boran as their uarmed stuff.

 

[Sanchoy]

Immediate to Advance and you want to train muay boran?

Just watch tony jaa movies and copy his moves instead of flying to Thailand and wasting 5 days. Its 2 days travel from the time you step into your local airport to the time you get to your destination in Thailand. 1st day there you will feel groggy from jet lag and will train lightly or not at all. Maybe train day 2,3, 4th you probably go sight seeing and shopping and day 5 your back enroute home. So actually you will be spending a lot of $ to train 2 days if that..

You will spend more time in the plane then training. It will feel like a dream and not worth it, like a flash your back home. I once went to Thailand for 2 weeks and that felt super fast. 4+ weeks worth it for training anything less is just a vacation.

 

[Pem123]

it will be fun i think, there is nothing negative about getting some workout during holiday while learning something new.

 

[Harukaze]

5 days at a gym that has a steady rotation of fighters at Lumpinee, Rajadamnern, or Channel 7? Totally worth it!

5 days at a "fool whitey" Muay Boran or tourist gym/fat camp? Waste of time, money, and effort.

 

[cakemuncher]

@Sanchoy Actually, at the moment I'm in Singapore, so traveling there would be rather easy. But I agree that going for a month would be much better. Sadly, soon I'll be going back to Europe, so I guess I'll have to wait for some better opportunity. Sigh...;(

@Frode Several years back I took a few lessons from a master of Muay Boran and Krabi Krabong and I thought it was super fun. I'd love to learn some more.

@Harukaze I definitely need to join a fat camp, haha!

 

[TonyK]

You can't learn anything of substance in 5 days. Even if you train beside Saenchai and Yod. But it's worth just for the memory.

 

[TBK117]

You could do private lessons for 5 days and focus on either learning a new technique or two, or polishing up one or two of your least refined ones. If you did want to go this would be your best option, but like other people said its much better to stay for a longer period of time.