Muay Thai/Kickboxing in America, Canada, England, Australia, and other Western Countries vs. Muay Thai Training in Thailand differ mainly because of culture, liability and language barriers.
If you arrive as a complete beginner in Thailand, expect to jump right into class the first day punching, kicking, and even sparring. In as little as 30-60 days if you are doing well and your school needs more people to fight, expect your trainer to ask you if you want to compete.
As a beginner in Western countries, you will often not spar for a few months, and you will not be asked or allowed to fight for real for years. You might not even get to kick pads for a while. However, what you'll get back home that you won't get in Thailand is someone that'll explain to you in English what you are doing and why you are doing it.
Thai trainers just start having you kick and correct you along the way, often it takes months before you realize what they actually want you to do. There are pros and cons of this obviously. In some countries people talk and explain way too much and end up spending half the class bullshitting. In Thailand, maybe because the trainers usually don't speak much English, you just do it. It gets frustrating once in a while but if I had to choose, I'd do it the Thai way and just jump into it.
Tiger Muay Thai has four classes: Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced, and Fighter's Class.
The beginners class is mostly cardio. Some people love it, others hate it. I think it's important to have a good cardio base in the beginning and since the beginners class is always the largest with up to 30+ students sometimes it's the only way they can do it.
The intermediate class becomes much more real muay thai and they teach you the foundations and basics well. However, it seems like the class is exactly the same every week and never changes, you'll get tired of clinching five times a week.
The advanced class is excellent, the trainers push you extremely hard but focus a lot on technique. The classes are smaller, especially in the mornings and the trainers seem to care a bit more.
The fighter's class is more of a place for sponsored TMT figther's who are staying for more than 1 year to do their own training.
At Phuket Top Team everyone is mixed into one class because of the small amount of students:
Since there are almost always less than ten students per class, it wouldn't make sense to have separate classes, and it works out fine. The standard class is jumping rope to warm up followed by a group stretch then half of the students go into the ring to do three rounds of padwork while the other half (usually the beginners/less experienced) do three rounds on the bags while the trainers pull some aside to give tips to. Then you switch.
After Padwork and Heavy Bags you either have boxing sparring, muay thai sparring, clinching, or technique. At the end of each class you have mandatory exercises which can include kneeing the bag, front kicks on the bag, pushups and situps.
Most Muay Thai gyms I've trained at around Thailand have followed a similar schedule and it seems to work well. The class at TMT is 2 and a half hours long while the one at PTT is 1 and a half hours long. I have no idea where that extra hours goes as it feels like I get a simular workout in both classes. Personally my favorite part of muay thai class and the main reason why I need a trainer is for the three rounds of padwork and the sparring, everything else I could do on my own time. Personally I prefer the shorter hour and a half class, especially if you are training twice a day. But I'm sure there are pros and cons of each and to each their own..
Both Tiger Muay Thai and Phuket Top Team have great Muay Thai programs and trainers. I had decent training at Lanta Muay Thai in Koh Lanta, and very basic training at Island Muay Thai in Koh Tao. I'll keep you guys updated whenever I try out a new gym, there are a few more that I have heard good things about that I've been wanting to try, such as Sitmonchai near Bangkok and the gyms in Chiang Mai.
Warm Regards and Good Training,
My Fight Camp
yeah i agree as a complete beginer you are just thrown into it and if your trainers english isnt good it can be frustrating. but i think because, most of them, dont speak alot and blabla in your face the entire session you really watch what they are doing closely and through trial and error you can perfect youre technique. if the trainers see that you are working hard and have dedication, like runnuing alot before class etc you find there intrest in you increases and there is no limit to how far they will push you if you are prepared for it. i dont think you make this same connexion with the instructors back home as you dont see them twice every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm heading down to Phuket in a few weeks and am probably going to be heading to TMT. Because i'm interested in MMA training i might see PTT while i'm down there. Your blog is an excellence source for someone like myself. Thanks for the post.
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