Share ye tale.

[Aleks Sytsevich]

Top of deadlift: Cock hanging over bar.

Yes I was wearing shorts, but I forgot my underarmour briefs.

Super cereal lols for that one.

First ever attempt at 365 DL, I left out the most vile and obnoxiously loud fart that I had ever dealt. It was a PR of the very wrongest of sorts.

 

[theBrookDweller]

That's kind of disgusting.

I agree, I felt bad

 

[miaou]

I trained at Lanna while I was in Chiang Mai as well. I liked it until I had my fall break and went and trained at Keatkhamtorn in Bangkok for a week. I then saw what a real Thai gym was and it just wasn't the same going back. I could really tell that Lanna was all about the business of training tourists that are training for no other reason than to say they trained in Thailand and Keatkhamtorn was all about training you to make you the best fighter you can be.

If you think Lanna was all about training tourists, then you obviously haven't been to the gyms in places like Phuket (like the famous Tiger gym)!

I haven't really trained in BKK, apart from a few training sessions in passing. My impression is that, while it's obvious that the fighters and trainers are not to the same levels as the best BKK gyms, some of the trainers at Lanna are fairly decent at holding the mitts, and, as long as your conditioning and level of technique allows it, you can fully take advantage of them. The training is not so much sparring based, but then again there are many non-touristy thai gyms that are not heavy on the sparring side as thais tend to fight pretty often anyway. Other than the mitt sessions, training in Lanna was business as usual, in a city much cheaper than BKK. Having said that, it is true that the trainers would just humor foreigners who weren't themselves serious about their training (some of the trainers would also avoid holding mitts for them). But that is really up to you.

But I am interested in hearing your experiences on how training was different in Keatkhamtorn gym and in what ways it was better.

 

[livingdeadmoose]

Am I the only one who has never farted during squats?

Could be because i always make sure to go toilet beforehand because someone here once warned tht guys can shit themselves.

I fart all the time during squats and deadlifts. I always make sure to take a shit before lifting.

I think my most embarassing moment in the gym was when I was younger, I was done with squats and I unloaded one side of the bar all at once. The other side crashed down and it was so fucking loud.

 

[KnuckleSangwich]

Most embarrassing thing I've ever done in a gym...4 sets of 15 reps ez bar curling. Before I found this forum and started training for strength I did a bodybuilding 'hypertrophy' routine for a month. How embarrassing.

 

[Jake Pudenz]

But I am interested in hearing your experiences on how training was different in Keatkhamtorn gym and in what ways it was better.

Unfortunately I never got the chance to go down to southern Thailand but I have no doubts that they are ultra-tourist gyms. I've heard its beautiful though.

Anyways, the difference between Lanna and Keatkhamtorn were like night and day. At Lanna the pre-training runs seemed to go on forever and by the time I got back to the gym to shadowbox and hit the bags and eventually hit pads, the training just felt stale. At Keatkhamtorn our morning runs were 5 km and the afternoon run was 3 km which felt like a much better distance considering I was getting ready for 3-4 hour training sessions.

Probably the most noticeable difference at Keatkhamtorn was that my girlfriend and I were the only foreigners training there at that time. Each session was us and 20-30 of some of the top fighters in Thailand. Everyone was there to help too. The night we arrived the gym owner, Jakae, took us out to eat and get to know us a bit and told us that every fighter there is a coach and it was true. If I were doing something wrong shadowboxing or on the bag, they would stop what they were doing to come over and help me until I got it. There was also usually a trainer or two walking around before people started hitting pads so they would help coach as well.

When hitting pads, rather than the same type of pad holding for everyone at Lanna, my trainer at Keatkhamtorn, Kai, held pads to highlight my strengths and work on my weaknesses. If I messed something up or didn't do it perfect, he would stop and show me what he wanted and then we would drill that until I got it and then continue on with the pad session. Overall, it just seemed a lot more individualized. Since I am much bigger than any of the Thais they had training there, my sessions looked much different than theirs. He would have me accentuate my power and speed rather than throwing shot after shot.

Keatkhamtorn is also the top clinching gym in Thailand and we would do an 30 min-1 hour of clinching work after each session and I learned a lot during this time. I wrestled in Iowa and I was still being thrown around by some of these guys. Just like before though, the guys you are clinching with are always coaching you too. They truly want you to be your best.

The biggest difference though is that Jakae and the other trainers at Keatkhamtorn genuinely care about you. The first night that we arrived there Jakae took us out to eat just to get to know us. The trainers would all come and talk to us while we were eating just to ask how everything is going and to try and get to know us. During the course of the week my girlfriend developed appendicitis and had to go have emergency surgery to have her appendix removed and Jakae told me to stay and train and then come to the hospital and he took her himself. His whole family ended up coming to the hospital to translate between us and the doctors. As you can imagine it was pretty scary for us to be in a foreign country and her having to have surgery but they did everything possible to make sure we were taken care of. Jakae's brother-in-law actually put up his credit card so the hospital would go on with the surgery since the hospital was having trouble contacting her insurance. The whole family and one of the trainers, Lai, who still calls us and emails us at least once a week, would come and visit for an hour or two just to see how we were doing and they would always bring me food as well.

Sorry for the long read but there aren't enough good things I can say about the guys at Keatkhamtorn. It is a gym where you will get top training and everyone will really care about you as a person and your development as a fighter.

Edit: One of the other things that I noticed, while maybe very subtle, was that the 5-10 or so kids (6-12) training at Keatkhamtorn were always laughing and having fun. They trained hard but they would play and laugh and have fun as well. There were 3 Thai boys that trained at Lanna while I was there and I never once saw any of them so much as crack a smile and one of them actually hung himself during my time there. I think that is very telling of the overall atmosphere of the gym.

 

[cXs808]

Most embarrassing thing I've ever done in a gym...4 sets of 15 reps ez bar curling. Before I found this forum and started training for strength I did a bodybuilding 'hypertrophy' routine for a month. How embarrassing.

That's not embarrassing at all. Curls are advocated here, just not a staple.

 

[Aleks Sytsevich]

That's not embarrassing at all. Curls are advocated here, just not a staple.

Most embarrassing thing I've ever done in a gym...4 sets of 15 reps ez bar curling. Before I found this forum and started training for strength I did a bodybuilding 'hypertrophy' routine for a month. How embarrassing.

He probably meant that the curls was the main goal of the day and not assistance. An embarrassment that I have from past experience as well.

 

[miaou]

...

Thanks for the write-up. Sounds pretty cool. What year did you train there?

 

[Jake Pudenz]

Thanks for the write-up. Sounds pretty cool. What year did you train there?

No problem. If you're ever in Bangkok looking to train, I'd definitely look them up.

I trained there last October.