Muay Thai: Part 2 — Training Experience

I’m here in Thailand, for a month’s worth of Muay Thai training. 

First and foremost, I am getting my ass kicked - mostly figuratively but also kinda literally too. It’s getting better, but there’s always a next level to get to and I’ll never stop getting my butt wiped. Anyway, I have attended three weeks of classes, with one week to go. So here’s my update: Part 2 of 3 — Training Experience.

“Classmates”: I’m easily the least experienced person here.

If you’ve ever been to an Equinox gym and realized this is where all the fit people are… you take those people and bring them here, and they will think the same. The abs, the pecs, the muscles. I am genuinely inspired by the physique of everyone here.

There are professional fighters, amateur fighters, and then a handful of “tourists”. But even most of the tourists are in pretty decent shape.

Anyway - professional fighters! There’s Tyron Woodley who is a UFC fighter (though he hasn’t joined my class). There’s Manuel Kape, who just won the Rizin bantamweight title. He actually joined in on a couple classes. There’s also a couple others who are clearly professional, and hang out to train at the gym. They loosely attend class, but mostly do their own thing.

Amateur fighters are here as well. And while they are “amateur”, they could definitely beat up a regular Joe. They are in amazing shape, and train for actual fights. They know what they are doing and are very serious about improving their skill level.

Tourists should actually be classified into two groups. Most of the tourists actually have a martial arts background, training in either Muay Thai or boxing at home and then come here for a period of dedicated training. 

Then there’s just a few other tourists like me who want to get in shape. I came in out of shape, with no martial arts background at all. While I began feeling out of place at first, I’ve come to embrace it, and now I would consider myself a novice instead of a beginner. Recently, I’ve started to notice true beginners like I was, and realize I have come a long way.

And yet we are all “classmates”. We train with the same trainers at the same facility. The class structure is conducive to hosting us all and the trainers are really good about accommodating all skill levels at the same time. 

Structure of the class: From beginner to novice.

The first class I attended, I was basically Bambi - the baby deer who couldn’t even walk. I had no clue what was going on, and relied on the trainers specifically telling me where to go and what to do. And now, I’ve got it down. I know what to expect. 

There’s conditioning and stretching. Then we put on handwraps for shadow boxing. And after that, gloves come on for rotations on the kicking bags, punching bags, padwork with trainers, and sparring. (Shin pads come on for sparring.) Sometimes we also do clinching drills, other times we learn various techniques. We always finish with some more conditioning.

The class is usually split into three or four groups, based roughly on a mix of the following criteria: gender, experience, size, and fitness level. At first, I was always put with the beginners/girl group. Then, typically in the beginner/non-girl group. And at the latest class, I was finally upgraded to the second tier of the guys. Of course, lots of factors, based on who else showed up that day, but still signifies my improvement!

One really nice feature that I appreciate is that we end each class by doing a handshake line, where we each thank and shake hands with every trainer and classmate.

Coaches / Trainers: Real Thai trainers, real training experience.

All the trainers are really nice. When I first started, they took the time to help me wrap my hands. Then taught me how to do so myself.

Their English is just enough to be effective. They know the English names of all the basic moves, so they can call it out for me to perform. The accent did throw me off a bit at first. It took me a while to figure out that when they kept saying “Ba Lan”, they meant “balance”.  The other confusing phrase, “Ge Sum Dreen”, was really “Get Some Drink” and meant that it was a water break.

Nonetheless, the trainers are still very effective in teaching. They will slow down and break down various parts of the moves, so I can understand the technique. And when it took forever for me to figure out how to do the jumping knees exercise, a trainer knew how to take me through intermediary exercises to build the right rhythm and motions.

During group classes, we each get some one-on-one instruction with a trainer for padwork. After about a week of classes and pairing up with a few different trainers, I felt a connection with one particular trainer. In my head, I nicknamed him Smiles because he was always smiling. So I picked him as my personal trainer for private classes. Took a couple weeks to figure out his actual name is Wut - pronounced like Woot or Woosh (I’ve heard him called both ways).

Anyway, I really like him as a trainer. He is very patient in showing me how to perform the moves correctly. He also had a good balance of correcting technique while letting some things slide to keep up the rhythm of padwork.

He also attacks the crap out of me during crunch time. Literally. At the end of each private training, I do crunches and he takes a pad and slams it against my stomach. My abs definitely feel it, and it hurts so good.