Luckily, I heard about Phuket Top Team's Grand Opening and knew I had to be a part of it. Looking through their website www.PhuketTopTeam.com it looked like a great gym with lots of potential. I liked that they had on-site accommodation and they had an indoor MMA area. When I arrived, I was blown away. The camp impressed me more than I had even imagined.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
The first thing you notice are all of the MMA posters and motivational quotes on the walls, paired with the Fairtex bags, I felt instantly at home. I knew at that very moment, even though it was 21:00 at night, that this was going to be an exciting three months.
While getting checked in, I couldn't help myself and started kicking some bags. It was the first time seeing Fairtex Bowling Pin style heavy bags and I had to give them a go. All brand spanking new and lined up nicely around the gym, there were more styles of heavy bags that I even knew existed, including a giant one that must have weighed more than me at 100kilos.
Just a bit of late night bag work, courtesyof Fairtex and Phuket Top Team
I met with the owner Boyd and he gave me the late night tour. The grand opening is tomorrow but this being Thailand there were still some last minute touches being put up. Boyd is a bit of a perfectionist and it shows. I told him that the gym looked like a dream come true, and he said, "it is...it's my dream."
Muay Thai Boxing Ring and Striking Area at Phuket Top Team
I didn't get photos of the indoor MMA Area yet but dude, it is twice the size than I thought it would be. It's freaking huge and matted from top to bottom for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo and Submission Wrestling. I can see why Phuket Top Team is truly Thailand's first purpose built MMA gym, and not just a Muay Thai gym that added BJJ and MMA later.
But by far my favorite thing about the gym so far is how close my room is to the training areas. I am literally ten steps away from training.
On the left is my room and on the right is the training area.
The reason why I had originally chose Tiger Muay Thai was also because they had on camp "fighter's budget rooms." And now at Phuket Top Team I'm also staying at one of their rooms at the camp. If you watch UFC's reality show The Ultimate Fighter you'll know the reason why I want to live, breath and train with other fighters. It's great motivation and fun since everyone is into the same thing as you. Training, eating well, working out and watching MMA events such as Pride, UFC, Strike Force, and WEC.
My room itself is bigger than I thought it would be. Clean, bright, and has everything I need. It's nice to have a big double bed, a mini-fridge and a TV with DVD player. Especially since the DVD player has a USB plug. So if you're coming to the camp, make sure you load up your hard drive with TV Series, Movies, UFC, so you can stick them on a USB Memory Stick and watch them on your TV while laying in bed. There are six bathrooms all with hot water showers right next to the rooms, dorm style. So far, so good.
My room at Phuket Top Team
Right now there are five guys living at the camp and a total of ten rooms built. They are planning on building more in the future, but if you want in, you better book it soon or they will fill up fast!
I can't wait for a nice sleep and to wake up for my first day of training. I'll keep you guys updated and take some more photos, but if you are already in Thailand. I would highly recommend you come down and check it out yourself. There are a lot of perks to being in the first class of founding members, smaller group sizes, more personal one on one attention, and just the feeling of being there when it all started. I for one am wishing Phuket Top Team the best of luck and I'm pretty confident that this is going to be one hell of a great gym.
And more to come soon,
Now officially a student at www.PhuketTopTeam.com
cool!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSounds fabulous to be truly immersed in something that you love!
What's up? ;P
It truly is Claire, it's like summer camp but with something not only do really like but also gets me in great shape. What would your "dream camp" be? Yoga?
ReplyDeleteLooks unreal man! Im 23 years old and planing on moving to Thailand from Australia this time next year for 2 years and am interested in heading to a gym like Phuket top team, however I have no muaythai/mma training unless you can count watching ufc/strike force religiously as training lol!. So my question to you is would you recommend this gym to a beginner looking to learn the sport? Your thoughts are much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteRegards Shayne(dawsy@live.com.au)
Hey Shayne, you can come as a beginner with no experience and you'll do fine, especially in Muay Thai. For MMA you might want to start by taking a couple private lessons to learn the basic positions such mount, half guard, full guard, escapes, and some basic submissions like chokes and arm bars. But if you'll do fine after a month or so of catching up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the words of wisdom Johnny. May see you over there next year if your around! I'm enjoying reading up on your blog too take it easy mate.
ReplyDeleteThrough buying the finest of blossoms, for you to deciding on the new music, digital photography along with coping with the difficulties in the event’s logistics – we’ll end up being at this time there with you, each action in the technique, so that most you’ll have to do, can be claim ‘I do’!
ReplyDeleteEquipment Rental Phuket