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Gym/Training Muay Thai Gym Q&A

Im going in bangkok, thailand for a 4 day trip by the end of October, and planning to maximize my stay to train, i'll be having a half day tour and im free after lunch looking forward in training muay thai and mma there. By the way i'll be staying at baiyoke sky hotel in bangkok. Any suggestions of excellent Muay thai camp nearby or mma gyms? Maybe i can contact them earlier and do some research. Thanks guys.
 
Do you think you can post a review of sitsonpeenong after your return? Was wondering if it was worth the extra cash

I will definitely post a review. My friends went there about 6 months ago and they loved it. Its a nice facility with great training. I dont know how much more expensive it is relative to other places
 
I stayed in Chalong last November and trained at Tiger and Dragon MT. Didnt like Tiger at all, switched to Dragon and thought it was much better.

Trying to decide my trip for this year. Dont know if I will spend most of my time in Chiang Mai and pick a camp there or if I will head back down to Phuket.

Near Tiger and Dragon there were many restaurants and nice cheap guesthouses. I stayed at a nicer hotel but many people had decent rooms for very little monthly costs.

If I head to Phuket again I was thinking about trying to stay and be closer to a nice beach, so all the talk about Rawai and Sinbi has caught my attention. I saw the guesthouses that were posted for Sinbi. Can anyone who has stayed there tell me how far these camps are from the beach and if there are decent affordable guesthouses available similar to the Chalong area?

I want to be able to train, go to the beach, go to restaurants, bars (some form of night life) etc. This is my vacation that I train during.

Has anyone been to both Sinbi and Chay Yai in Chaing Mai? Comparisons???
 
I stayed in Chalong last November and trained at Tiger and Dragon MT. Didnt like Tiger at all, switched to Dragon and thought it was much better.

Trying to decide my trip for this year. Dont know if I will spend most of my time in Chiang Mai and pick a camp there or if I will head back down to Phuket.

Near Tiger and Dragon there were many restaurants and nice cheap guesthouses. I stayed at a nicer hotel but many people had decent rooms for very little monthly costs.

If I head to Phuket again I was thinking about trying to stay and be closer to a nice beach, so all the talk about Rawai and Sinbi has caught my attention. I saw the guesthouses that were posted for Sinbi. Can anyone who has stayed there tell me how far these camps are from the beach and if there are decent affordable guesthouses available similar to the Chalong area?

I want to be able to train, go to the beach, go to restaurants, bars (some form of night life) etc. This is my vacation that I train during.

Has anyone been to both Sinbi and Chay Yai in Chaing Mai? Comparisons???

Definitely go to Sinbi next time if you go back to Phuket. I stayed at Green Valley and it was very comfortable and close to Sinbi. I went up to Chalong a few time to the wat and I can tell you that Rawai/Nai Harn area is much nicer and relaxed and plenty of restaurants and great street food
 
The two trainers at the Muay Thai gym I go to in NZ are both from Chay Yai gym, and they are awesome. If the rest of the trainers are similar quality, I'd say Chay Yai is well worth a try.
 
Has anyone been to both Sinbi and Chay Yai in Chaing Mai? Comparisons???

I am at Sinbi atm, and although I havent been to Chai Yai gym (yet) I have had a lot of 1 on 1 training from two of their trainers after they moved overseas. I'm sure someone has been to both, but from what I have experienced on average the training itself is of a very similar (extremely high, as you would expect from these guys) level, but the English of the Chai Yai guys was significantly better and they are very fun, cheeky guys. Making the actual communication easier and more enjoyable. Although they had just moved to an English speaking only country when I met them so you can draw your own conclusions I guess.

Sinbi is obviously a top notch gym, and although I cannot speak for Chai Yai gym itself I would be very surprised if a bad gym could create the two trainers I know, so I would expect to be of very high quality.
 
Man I would love to train Muay Thai in Thailand considering I just fell in love with the style! Its so brutal and effective, but still has the level of respect and honor I love about other traditional martial arts. I live in Philadelphia so reputable Muay Thai gyms seem to be rare on the east coast. But I recently I have signed up at this place called Nak Muay Gym in King Of Prussia that seems to have the most serious program I've seen so far. The technique seems the best from the other six schools I've checked out, and the instructor actually learned mt at Sityotong in Pattaya (which from what I know is a pretty big camp out there). Until I actually get the chance to go to Thailand this seems to be the best fit for me here in the states.
 
Sor.Vorapin Gym: So my plane lands in BKK. And we wanted to stay in the city for 2 days before heading south to Chumphon. I just went to the first gym i could find. And this was my choice.

Sor.Vorapin look like a vintage muay thai gym. i only had two sessions there. The first one was the first day i was in Thailand. And the last time was the day before i went back home to thailand.

The gym got 4 heavy-bags, one full size boxingring, alot of sparring-gear, and a area for shadowboxing and skipping. They also got some free weights for strenght training. You will get discount if you choose to pay for many sessions.

The training there was kinda basic: first skipping rope, then a few rounds of thai-pads, then a few round of focusmits, then heavybag, and in the end some sit-ups and stretching. The warm-up before each session was very hard. Some serious cardio work-out with jumping jacks, burpees, and alot of other stuff.

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Phuthong Gym: My regular gym in Chumphon. This is a very small gym with almost no tourist there. The training is very technical. Each session will tech you 2-3 new techniques. I recomend this gym if you already got the basic stuff. Because then you will get to learn alot of cool strategies and set-ups to use in the ring.

There are only two coaches: Aeki (68 kg), and Sien (63 kg). They are both very cool. Sien is the master/kru of the gym. He is a serious badass. VERY techincal and tough. He will never let anything slide if there is a techinque you struggle to get right. He wont give up, but keep stressing it until you get it right.

Sien have done wonders for my footwork and balance on my kicking. He also helped me alot with my defensive game.

The price for training there is 1000 baht for 4 sessions. They got other prices too. But i dont remember.

The gym is only one small ring, two heavybags, and a small area for warming up/stretching.

A typical training was like this: Skipping rope, shadowboxing, techinque-training with Sien, or pads/sparring with Aeki. Not that much free-sparring. But the thai-pads training will almost be like a fight. Very intensive stuff.

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Island Muay Thai: This gym is located on the little island Koh Tao. The gym got one boxing ring, alot of heavybags, and a area for training. They also got a full gym for weightlifting. They got alot of coaches. Most of them are good.

This is a tourist gym. But there are some very good thais there who are in their peak. I paid 2200 baht for one week of training there.

The training look like this: 15 minutes skipping rope, 15 minutes shadowboxing, 5 rounds on the thai-pads, 3 rounds on the bag, then a few round clinching or sparring in the ring, then 100 push-kicks and 100 knees on the bag, before sit-ups and strething.

I got some good sparring and clinching there. So that was very cool. But the training on the pads varied alot of who i got as my coach. Many of the guys there was yes-men. They would scream "yes! very good" for every techique. Not matter how shitty it was. :)

But the sparring on that gym was so good, that i still can recomend this gym. :)

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Hi,

I'm looking to travel to either Bangkok or Phuket, but can only manage two weeks of training.
Sorry to ask something that has probably been asked before, but does anyone have any good recommendations of where to train, based on the fact that i've only got two weeks??

Cheers!
 
Chai Yai (Chiang Mai) Chay Yai Gym - Chaing Mai Muay Thai - Muay Thai training in Thailand
A bit outside of town. Calling a taxi to city center is 150 baht. A few thai fighters, but mostly foreigners.
Good:
- Fantastic trainers. They always correct you on your technique in a way that you can understand and very friendly.
- Great friendly atmosphere. There are a bunch of people there that have stayed for quite a few months. Most people eat at the same place (cheap and really good) so its easy to get to know others.
- Muay thai family gym. Owner is a former fighter, his brother is a former champion (has his own gym in pai) and his father also works at the gym. The training has structure. You always know what you are suppose to be doing and they don't just leave you alone without guidance.
- A bunch of long term guys training there and you can learn a lot from them.
Not so good:
- The quality of training fluctuates. I was actually there during a low point (what one of the long term training guys told me). Too few trainers for too many people, so you don't get as much pad training as you would like. I'm sure they will fix this though as the number of trainers has just recently gone down when a few left. I still learned a ton though.

RMB (Pattaya)
This gym has been renamed (forgot to what) and probably changed owners as well. I did one training there and it was enough. Do not go there.
- Only one trainer (french guy), who is a pretty bad teacher. Thai trainers speak less English and manage to teach you more and better than him.
- No free water. When you're training in Thailand you need a ton of water as you will be sweating like never before.
- Nothing but beginners train there. Obviously people who know what you should be getting from training in thailand don't go there. A tourist trap gym.

Golden Glory (Pattaya)
This is where I switched to after RMB. As you can imagine since this is a Golden Glory gym, people training there are of a really high level (Overeem always trained there). If you are also a really high level Muay Thai fighter (I'm certainly not) you will probably feel right at home.
The facilities are nice, though the bags are hard as a rock at the bottom, which kind of sucks for kicks unless you're a heavyweight.
Basically what you pay for is pad training and sparing with trainers. Outside of that they pretty much leave you to do as you please. So this is definitely not a place for someone new to training in Thailand. They are not as friendly as in Chai Yai and do not constantly correct you on your technique, they still do it, but I'm pretty sure their standards are lower. If you're there too early in the morning (like standard 8am), the trainers will be asleep and you have to wake them up.
I'm pretty sure all Golden Glory guys train with their own coaches and don't use the thai guys all that much (if at all).
Also don't provide you with free water.
edit: Had a different trainer today, he was much better.
 
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I just posted a review of Patong Boxing Gym.

Link: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f11/patong-boxing-gym-review-phuket-1904521/

Summary:
- Gym has good facilities
- Located between Karon and Patong (Phuket) so lots of options for your non-training time
- “One on one” training approach may be overemphasized but you WILL get at least 1 hour of one on one training at every session
- I don’t have anything to compare the gym to, but I was very happy with my time there and would train there again
- I recommend that you stay at the On-The-Hill Hotel which is 500m from camp
 
Im thinking of going to thailand late June to mid Aug (6 or so weeks). Still researching where I will go etc etc but I was thinking of starting in phuket. Alot of the hotels seem to be 100% booked in that time though ??? I thought it would be a low season and end of year would be the busiest ? Also are the gyms full of people around june-aug ?

Im not a very experienced traveler so it might be a stupid question but when I book accom is there anything I need to look out for in terms of getting ripped off ? i.e if I email them directly as oposed to using the online booking I might get a better price ?

thanks :)

*edit* sorry, I didn't notice there was a q/a thread on thailand.
 
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Hey guys,
Havent posted in this thread in a long time !
Im going back to Thailand in March for 3-4 months, I will be going back to Sinbi for my 2 months but I later want to train in Bangkok.
My last visit to Bangkok I was at Rompo Gym and Windy Plaza and it was pretty good.
This time around im looking at Chuwattana or Jitti.
I would appreciate any input or information on Chuwattana Gym or Jitti Gym, apartments around etc...
Thanks in advance !!!
 
Im thinking of going to thailand late June to mid Aug (6 or so weeks). Still researching where I will go etc etc but I was thinking of starting in phuket. Alot of the hotels seem to be 100% booked in that time though ??? I thought it would be a low season and end of year would be the busiest ? Also are the gyms full of people around june-aug ?

Im not a very experienced traveler so it might be a stupid question but when I book accom is there anything I need to look out for in terms of getting ripped off ? i.e if I email them directly as oposed to using the online booking I might get a better price ?

thanks :)

*edit* sorry, I didn't notice there was a q/a thread on thailand.

If I was you, I would train in Sinbi.
1. Great area and amazing food around
2. Best trainers I have trained under
3. You can stay there until you find an apartment or a hotel.
 
cool thanks for that :)
As Ive never been to thailand before and just trying to go off google maps at this stage... Is there stuff to do at night near were Sinbi is located ? I imagine there must be heaps of night life besides patong ?? Im not realy into partying every night (or all that often anyways). thanks
 
cool thanks for that :)
As Ive never been to thailand before and just trying to go off google maps at this stage... Is there stuff to do at night near were Sinbi is located ? I imagine there must be heaps of night life besides patong ?? Im not realy into partying every night (or all that often anyways). thanks

I used to just pick up chicks in the beach.
There are some night clubs around and usually no lady boys.
There is the ICON night club just by Sinbi with a bar and a pool table, I used to play pool with the trainers every night.
Was funny when Ann and X lost to me in pool :)
 
You will have no problem finding a place to stay, likely won't have to pay full price either. PM me when it gets closer to your leave date and I'll sort out your living arrangments. I'll be at Sinbi June-Aug also.
 
thanks :)
saw your youtube vid's, looks great. Was there alot of the personal 1 on 1 sessions ?


Only problem now is convincing my boss to let me take 6 weeks off.. oh and to start running......
 
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