Fight Vision: KC Muay Thai

I spent 5 months at KC Muay Thai in Chiang Mai and got to know the head trainer Chun quite well. He has the heart of a lion, was genuine, and an exceptionally good trainer.  I was really excited to see Fight Vision make a nice little documentary about KC Muay Thai.

Take a look at it below:

If you want to know more about training at KC Muay Thai, do a search on my blog on the left hand side or click Categories: KC Muay Thai  to read all of the related posts.

I spent over 5 months there and loved it.  It was a small gym, a bit far out of the main town if you didn't have a scooter, but the training was top notch if you wanted to learn traditional Muay Thai.  I had two fights while training there and wrote about it in my book 12 Weeks in Thailand which you should read if you have an interested in coming out to Thailand to train Muay Thai and MMA.

Hope you guys enjoy this post and Thailand,

Johnny

www.facebook.com/myfightcamp

KC Muay Thai Chiang Mai Directions, Map, Location

How to get to KC Muay Thai in Chiang Mai.  It's a bit funny that the gym not only doesn't have a website, their facebook page is misspelled so it's quite difficult to find, and there's not a single map showing where the gym is.  Luckily when I decided to come, I found Michael's website MuayThaiTrainingCamps.com and they had a bit of information on the gym.  But no one really had a map or easy directions to the gym.  Even on the official KC Muay Thai facebook page the directions are a bit unclear unless you've already been here as the Tae Kwon Do gym they tell you to look out for doesn't have any signs and is only open at night.

When I first arrived, none of the taxi driver's at the airport had heard of KC, even though I had printed out a picture of the gym's logo.  They kept trying to take me to Lanna Muay Thai and Chay Yai Muay Thai and even Santai, but I insisted on KC and luckily the found a driver that kind of knew where it was.  He got lost, but eventually found the place after driving around for a bit.

So while trying to explain to Michael White, the owner of Muay Thai Photography how to get here so he could take some photos of a training session I decided that the ridiculousness needs to end, so I sat down and made a map.

If you're coming to KC Muay Thai in Chiang Mai, do yourself a favor and print out this map so you can hand it to the taxi driver.  It's also a good idea to keep it on you for the first few weeks so you can get back to the gym from town.  I hope this helps!  Also here's an interactive google map.

Warm Regards and happy training,

Johnny
www.facebook.com/MyFightCamp - Add me
www.12WeeksinThailand.com - Support my fight camp and buy a book!

KC Muay Thai Tour - Video (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Video tour of KC Muay Thai in Chiang Mai.  Check out the gym, pad work, sparring, accommodations and meal plan.  KC Muay Thai is a small gym in Chiang Mai with a large wide open floor plan, a vegetable garden, and a restaurant.

Located a 10 minute taxi from the Airport, a 15 minute bike ride from the Central Plaza Aiport Mall and Food Court/Cinema, and a 15 minute walk away from Big C Megamart.  Old Town Chiang Mai is a 15 minute drive away.

Unlimited training costs 8,000 baht  ($267US) a month or 5,000 baht ($167) a month if you only want to train once a day.  Rooms across the street from the gym start at 3,500 baht ($116US) for a Fan Room, or 4,500 baht ($150US) for an A/C room with TV, WiFi including all utilties.

Training sessions are 7am - 9am and 4pm - 6pm Monday to Saturday. Closed Sunday.

KC Muay Thai's website used to be http://www.KCMuayThai.com but they took it down.

You can check out their facebook page instead at http://www.facebook.com/pages/KC-MuayThai-Gym-Chiang-Mai/124691457596092

Have you been to KC Muay Thai or know any else about it?  Leave a comment below to discuss.

Warm Regards,

Johnny @ My Fight Camp

Second day training at KC Muay Thai - First time Running

Still combating jet lag as it's my 2nd day in Thailand with an 18 hour time difference, and I was a bit sick from drinking tap water in the Philippines on my layover.  Warning, don't drink tap water in Asia.

I promised myself to take it easy the first two weeks while getting acclimatized and back into shape, training once a day 5 days a week.  Started the afternoon session with a 3.2km run around the block at KC Muay Thai.  I followed some of the slower runners and paced myself.  We started by walking to the end of the block and doing a light jog.  Decided to cut through the parking lot of the Big C supermarket.  I was surprised that I was able to do the entire 2 miles without stopping.  I know it doesn't sound like a long run but I'm seriously out of shape and the sun is hot and draining as hell.  I was quite proud of myself for making it through and will continue to do this warm up run before class 5x a week.  

The nice thing about the running path around the block is there aren't many cars for the majority of it until you get to the main street which is only 1/4 of the run.  You can also not cut through the parking lot, extending the run a bit, and for most people at the gym they do two laps in the mornings before it gets hot.  Making it a 5mile/8km run if you don't take any shortcuts.


Training Session:

Immediately after getting back we did 200 rhythmic knees on the heavy bags, I'm glad they mix up the cardio everyday.  Did 2 rounds of heavy bags with push ups and sit ups between rounds.  Really glad they have us do two rounds of bags instead of the normal 3 which I end up getting bored of without any real benefit of the third round.  Then we did 4 rounds of muay thai sparring with shin guards, 16oz gloves and mouth guards.  (Remember to bring your mouth guard, I had a custom one made for about $80 and it was the best investment ever.)

I started sparring one of the Thai guys.  I've learned in the past never to out show them or make them look bad in front their peers or they'll seriously destroy you.  Focused on combos and techniques.  My cardio was seriously suffering but I did okay over all.  Last two rounds was with an English guy, really different from the thai guy.  He was hitting super hard like most westerns do straight from the get go, but I'm gotten used to it and don't mind it.  He projected his kicks and didn't set them up so it was quite easy to check them.  We were pretty well matched up in terms of speed, size and strength so I'm looking forward to sparring with him again.  I'm probably a bit more experienced than him but my cardio and stamina was much worse, making it quite even.

For some reason we didn't do pad work today, maybe it was because it was Saturday and didn't have enough pad holders?  No idea.  But I was okay with it because I was so beat and I couldn't take any more either way.

Ended the session with 200 push kicks (teeps), sit ups, then group sit ups in a circle which I quite liked.  A bunch of local thai guys and one girl came to class, it's weird to see Thai beginners, it's good to know it's becoming more popular among the affluent locals though and not just for hard core thais that start when they're eight.  One of the girls in class from Canada ended the session with some Yoga which I really enjoyed and needed, wished we would have held each position a bit longer.

I barely made it through the workout, luckily today is Sunday and is rest day.  I was tempted to do pull ups but am forcing myself to take a day off.  Went to sleep dead tired at 9pm last night and woke up at 4:30am, which isn't the best but isn't too bad, hopefully the jet lag will dissipate soon.

On a side note, I am super freaking happy about my apartment.  Great airflow, bright, and comes completely furnished.  Only in Chiang Mai could  get a place like this for 4,500baht ($150US) a month including Electric, Utilities, A/C (which I don't use), and decent Wi-Fi.  Just set up my PS2 and life is good!

I'll keep ya'll updated, leave a comment.

First day training at KC Muay Thai Review

KC Muay Thai has been fantastic so far but is very different from most MuayThai gyms I've been to.  All Muay Thai Gyms have their pros and cons.  First off, the gym itself is in a really good location.  It's 10 minutes away from the airport and out of the main town, so it's close enough to get everywhere including movie theaters and nice restaurants but far enough where you can focus on training.  The street it's on is quiet and the air quality is good, you can even see the mountains in the background.

Location: 

Within a 15 minute walk/5 minute bike ride there is a Big C market, which is the equivalent to the American K-Mart or a Tesco Lotus where you can buy clothes, house hold items such as soap, kitchen stuff and they have a food court as well.  A funny thing happened. I locked myself out of my room for half of the day yesterday with no shoes and no shirt.  Chon, the Thai co-owner of KC was kind enough to lend me his sandals take me on his bike to the food court and insisted on buying me a cup of coffee and lunch.  He is a really generous and good person, especially for someone I had just met.  Still it was super awkward eating in a mall food court with no shirt, only in Thailand!


Facilities and Equipment:  

KC MuayThai is a small gym but well laid out and perfect for it's size.  There are padded mats, one full size ring, and two sections of a total of 7 bags, one uppercut station, mirrored walls, a pull up bar, giant tire for flipping and sledge hammers, and two kettle bells.  It has everything you need and nothing more.  They provide free ice water and there is a filtered water machine where you can refill your bottles at anytime for 1 baht (3 cents)  Also they have a kitchen which is awesome as Kevin's wife cooks authentic Thai food for about 40 baht ($1.30US) after each training session which is a great way to be social at the gym while enjoying some really good thai food after training.  They also have two showers on site where you can rinse on after practice and hang around.  There are three rooms at the gym where the Thai trainers live.

I would say the only thing missing from KC Muay Thai so far is more people living around the gym, my favorite thing about both Tiger Muay Thai and Phuket Top Team was living at the gym with all of the other students and hanging out with them in the off time.

Photo of KC Muay Thai from my bedroom window, notice the open lay out of the gym and the kitchen on the right.

Warm Up and Cardio:

The afternoon class began at 4pm, but the sun was extremely high so Chon instructs us to warm up by skipping rope and saving the run for afterwards.  The rope skipping session felt absolutely forever, definitely longer than I normally do it for which is 3 x 3 minute rounds.  In reality it was most likely 15 minutes straight, but it felt closer to half an hour.  Luckily, for the first time in my life I figured out how to be light on my feet and bounce around instead of jumping straight up and down with both feet.

We then warmed up by shadow boxing a few rounds.


Pad work, Bags, and Sparring:

There were 5 trainers, including K & C, Kevin and Chon and about 10 students, making a great student to teacher ratio.  I was also impressed that both of the owners actually teach at the class and actually seem passionate about it, which is awesome.  They rotate groups, I started with Padwork which I love doing first. Five rounds!  Yes!  Pad work is by far my favorite thing about Muay Thai and the reason why I train at gym and not on my own.  We did five good three minute rounds and had a good amount of rest time in between each which is appreciated.  It was probably a minute in between but it felt unrushed and enough to recover.

Also what's really cool is the Thai guys pour cups of ice water for you in between each round, which is a very hospitable gesture that I appreciate.  My favorite thing about the pad work was that my trainer changed things up and did some things that made sense but somehow I've never seen before.  Little things like instead of 10 left kicks, 10 right kicks to tire you out in the beginning he would do five on each side which makes more sense.  Then he'd have me do two left kicks, two right kicks, alternating which was nice.  We also worked on the standard knees, elbows, kicks, punches, front kicks (teeps) and checking kicks.

Another cool thing is that there are active thai fighers training in the same class as you, about 50/50 thai and foreign ratio but instead of the thai's in a separate class, they train right along side of you.  They were all around 19 years old and the young thai kids trained afterwards.

Some of the Thai Fighers and Trainers at KC Muay Thai

After five rounds of pads, I was assigned to three rounds of bag work.  At the last 30 seconds Chon actually runs around to make sure you are giving it your all for the last portion, he made sure give everyone individual attention.  Kevin was on the timer, and I appreciate that he actually stayed on track and kept a good flow.  One thing that used to really piss me off about other gyms I've trained at is that the head Thai trainer holding the stopwatch wouldn't even turn it on half the time and the rounds and rest time were inconsistent.  Huge plus for KC for doing this really simple but important thing correctly.

There was also light boxing sparring, which I'm really glad they do, since I think it's super important to spar at least 4 days a week.  But because it was my first class there and I had left my mouth guard locked in my room, Chon had me skip it today and instead warm down by shadow boxing, which was a good idea.  Everyone else went for a 4km run which I skipped, and we all finished with some pushups and situps.  Over all it was a great first class, and I'm looking forward to today's afternoon class and resting tomorrow.  I'm glad I'm taking it slow as I need to adjust to the jetlag, climate and getting back into Muay Thai.

I'll keep you guys posted, as always if you have any questions or just want to say what's up, leave a comment below.

Warm Regards,

Johnny @ MyFightCamp

Taxi and Accommodation - KC Muay Thai Chiang Mai FAQ

Just arrived at KC Muay Thai in Chiang Mai, Thailand this morning and completed my first class.  In this post I'll talk about taking a taxi from the airport to KC Muay Thai, booking a room/accommodation.


Taxi from Chiang Mai Airport to KC Muay Thai

You'll most likely be flying into Bangkok (BKK) which means you gotta make your way to Chiang Mai somehow. My favorite way to travel is the overnight sleeper train.  It's about 1,500 baht ($50US) and it's very comfortable. I prefer the non A/C section as it gets way too cold.  The bad news is trains get sold out weeks in advance.  So the quicker way to get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is to fly.  I found a flight through Bangkok Airways for $69 including 2 bags totaling 30kilos (66lbs).  Air Asia is super cheap but once you add on luggage and extras it's often more expensive.

Once you get to Chaing Mai, walk out the front and ignore all of the guys yelling Taxi, Taxi.  You'll get ripped off if you go with them.  Instead, walk straight out and look for the "Taxi Meter" booth.  Their taxi's are yellow with a blue stripe.  Print this out and pay 150 baht ($5US) They'll give 100baht to the driver and keep 50 baht to themselves.  You can tip an extra 20-50 baht if you wish but it's not expected.  If the Taxi driver has trouble finding it, as it's on a small street, give him the phone number and he can call and ask for directions (this happens more often than not in Thailand.)

Print this photo and write down the phone numbers 084 343 3684 and 084 553 4981

Booking an Room, Accommodation in Chiang Mai.

Try to arrive during the day before 6:00pm if possible.  If you do, you don't need to book a room ahead.  There are two hotel type residences within walking distance from KC Muay Thai, one of which is directly across the street from the gym.  There were two available rooms when I arrived today and another one opening up tomorrow.  There are tons of benefits to staying close to the gym.  You won't get lazy and not train, you can run home if you forget your wraps or mouth guard, etc.  Plus it makes it more social as you can hang out.

If you're coming after 6:30pm the gym might be closed and it may be hard to find a room. I would recommend booking a room in Chiang Mai near the airport using TripAdvisor.com  and coming during the day to look for an apartment.  The two available rooms were a first floor fan room for 3,500 baht ($117USD) a month and a second floor Air Conditioning room for 4,500 baht ($150USD) a month.  I chose the A/C room even though I'll never turn it on, just because I wanted the mini-fridge that it came with and the room was brighter on the top floor.

So basically, just show up.  The reason why Kevin and the guys at KC don't book rooms for you in advance is because it just doesn't work that way here, you can message them on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/KC-MuayThai-Gym-Chiang-Mai/124691457596092  to let them know when you're coming and your plans or email them at kcmuaythaicm@gmail.com

Then just show up and they'll help you find a room once you're actually here.


Good luck and leave a comment if you have any questions.

-Johnny @ MyFightCamp

3 Months at KC Muay Thai, Chiang Mai

Booked my flights, got my Visa, and I'm ready for another 3 month Fight Camp, this time in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I fly out a week from today and decided with the help of all the comments on my blog that I'm going to check out KC Muay Thai in Chiang Mai.

The funny thing is I haven't even contacted KC Muay Thai and told them I'm coming yet.  But after all these years of doing Muay Thai Camps around Thailand I've realized that sometimes it's easier just to show up.  I'll most likely rent a room across the street from the gym for 3,000 - 5,000 baht  ($100 - $170 US) and pay for 10 classes up front.  I can't afford paying 8,000 baht ($270US) for unlimited training so I might just pay for 20 classes per month and train on my own on days i'm not doing muay thai.  Most places will let you pay 300 baht per class and give you a discount if you pay for 10 at a time.  I still think it's crazy that you can get unlimited Muay Thai classes in the U.S.A. for $120 a month (3,600 baht) and you have to pay more than double in Thailand.

The first month I plan on getting back into fight shape. I've been biking a lot to get my cardio back up, but haven't been running.  I've also been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to get my core strength up.  So it'll take me about 4 weeks to get back in fight shape, then I plan on fighting 1-2 times a month for the duration of my trip. I plan on staying in Thailand until the end of May, giving me 6 full months to train and fight.

The reason why I chose to train in Chiang Mai this time around instead of Phuket is mainly just because I've been to Phuket so many times and want to try something different.  I had a really good time training at TMT and PTT in Phuket and recommend it to anyone, but for me, I want to be in the mountains this time around.

I chose KC Muay Thai based on the recommendations I've gotten from people leaving comments on my blog about it.  And I figure if it doesn't live up to expectations I can always move to Lanna, Santai or even the new Tiger Muay Thai Chiang Mai when it opens in February 2013.

Getting to Chaing Mai is going to be a bit crazy for me.  I need to take a train from San Diego to LA, take a bus up to San Francisco, then fly to Hawaii, transfer to Manila, Philippines, spend the night, take another flight to Bangkok and transfer to Chiang Mai where I'll take a taxi to the gym.  But it'll make it all worth it.  My plan on getting ready to fight again is to take it easy the first two weeks.  I'm going to do Muay Thai 5 days a week, 1 session a day.  After the first week or two, I'll start running and doing crossfit/cross training type workouts.  

It's time to train hard, and sign up for some fights. Hopefully I'll come home with some more fight posters and wins under my belt.  If nothing else, I'll enjoy the journey of getting back in shape, practicing muay thai, enjoying Chiang Mai and fighting my heart out.  Wish me luck.

I'll keep everyone updated and write a review of KC Muay Thai after I've settled in.

Warm Regards,

Johnny @ MyFightCamp.com