When comes to training in Thailand there’s a bit of mysticism on the subject. Are you really looking for a place where you will basically eat, sleep and repeat? If you are not, are you still really keen to spend a couple thousands dollars in training, accommodation and food away from your close ones?
We all know the birth of Muay Thai and the place the represents it in the most honorable way is and will always be Thailand. The best fighters are there, and they live and breath their martial art on a daily basis, but as a common Muay Thai enthusiast, are you getting much training in Thailand? The answer is no, if you are not going to the mountains or to a serious camp you will ended up partying harder than training. Entertainment is cheap and accessible in Thailand so if you are not strongly committed to put in the work, your training camp may become a disaster.
When our gym was open in 2009 we had only one goal, to be an authentic a Traditional Muay Thai gym and to have a strong team of Thai trainers in the heart of Sydney. A little over 10 years, and we are still working towards improving, and not jut that, but we are certainly on the right direction. Feels so good when a new student opens the doors and hears the noise from the Thai Pads being kicked and says “What a great gym, feels like Thailand” this sentence still brings a smile to the whole SRG Team.
Of course if you are an experienced fighter, have been practicing the Art for many years and is looking into go to Thailand to live the experience, YES, that’s definitely the thing to do, to go there, to sleep in the gym to eat and train with the fight team of a particular gym you may like or be familiar with and have fights. Fight in the most renowned stadiums of our sport, fight in front of Fans that have Muay Thai as their national sport, fight where many have fought and laid the path to us all here today.
If not, if you are looking into to go to Thailand for a holiday where you can also train Muay Thai? That could also be fantastic, but don’t expect to become great at it or to get much attention from trainers as being traditional as they are, to get attention will require time and commitment, something you won’t be able to deliver in a short “holiday” overseas.
Here at SRG Thai Boxing Gym we have been getting so many people coming through the door saying they have been training in Thailand for 3-6 weeks and they would like to join our Int/Adv classes. Most of the times we have to take them back to our Introduction classes, as they can’t trow a simple jab or even hold pads for their training partners.
We spoke to some of these people and asked them how was their experiences in Thailand training camps, and they all say one thing in common, that at the end of every training session they felt like they were ready to fight, having the trainers holding pads for them for a few rounds and inflating their egos in a way that made them actually think that. Reality is a bit different from that and they all soon enough came with that conclusion all by themselves.
Hope you are all having a good day. See you at training!