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Hi everyone, Just wanted to share my finished at home gym! all second hand gear that I’ve picked up in different places. now, just to use this space anyone else wanna share their home gyms? Or fave place to train

You know what the real trajedy is with these douchebags? If they were just honest from the getgo, people would be cool with it and that gym would likely still make the same money. If they just said, "Hey guys, we train K1 here, we're a kickboxing gym" - nobody would think any less of them.

I guess some people like to try and give themselves an air of mystique. Like they spent a year deep in Isaan, kicking down a hectare of banana trees every morning, followed by a grueling 10 hour training session, followed by 2 back to back fights at the local stadium. Day after day. Finally, after a year of this, they were bestowed the title of 'Kru' by their trainer. They walked across the country to Suvarnabhumi and flew home. No mate, you just woke up one morning and decided to start calling yourself 'Kru'.

Hey that's really awesome, I am going to take inspiration from your setup. I have a nice open space that I'm working on as well but I just need the equipment. I will post a picture of my open space and maybe you can give me some tips or suggestions.

Hello my name is Eder and I'm new member here and I am from Los Angeles, California. I recently started training in the art of Muay Thai (about 6 months ago) out of SickSide gym. Like many other places all of the gyms out here have closed down and it's been pretty rough for smaller businesses. However, I decided to continue my membership with my gym in order to support as much as possible. We have recently started training online through live streaming and an online portal that includes training videos. At this point and time staying active and productive is hard enough so the online classes have helped to keep me accountable. It's been hard to stay dedicated and most importantly motivated but I am hanging in there. I was also recently placed under quarantine through my work (Veterinary Technician) because I came in contact with a client who had contact with someone who tested positive for the Coronavirus. I've been doing fine and I am not currently showing any symptoms of the virus. I hope that this will all go away soon and we can all get back to training and doing what we love, please stay safe out there.

I’ve come across this! Another reason why I left my last gym. That was the final straw along with some other things. I did a few months with John Wayne Parr when I lived in the Goldy and not even he demanded that title. (And he probably could if he wanted to) The arrogance in the west can be exhausting. Amazing gym by the way and highly recommend training with JWP

This post contains some of my photographic study of the Diamond Guard, a Muay Thai specific modification of an old western boxing guard often called the cross-armed guard, used by fighters like Archie Moore, Joe Frazier and George Forman. What I'm really interested in here is how photography itself can be used to explore a technique or a muay (a style), and the role that aesthetics plays in developing truly effective fighting skills and approaches. This is a particular interesting thought case because during the covid-19 shutdown Sylvie and I are working a great deal on this guard, something we would probably never do during regular training stints, and in many ways we are kind of making up its applications, and favorabilities, modeling them on Sylvie's muay as it already is trajectoried. Her Muay Khao forward advances, her drive to clinch engagements, the history of Muay Khao styles she models herself on. I shot these photos as a way of taking an aesthetic slice into the work we've been doing. What I'm interested in here is the way that aesthetics (or Aesthetics) - which often can be derided as the poor of a spectrum which holds "efficacy" on one end, and aesthetics on the other end - is actually the inflection point where the affective powers of the soul, the person, come to bear on the practicality of a technique. How it appears, what it feels like, what it communicates cuts into the shoreline of the Real of fighting. If one is to develop a defense, for instance, how it feels, what it expresses, what it looks like, may be vital questions for a fighter if one is going to reach the higher ceiling of one's capabilities, of its capabilities. Aesthetics, ultimately, allow the fighter to draw on the greater resources of the soul, the Self, to tap in a deeper poetry. And, this photo study is asking the question: What role can photography have in this?

That's great you got to train at JWP's gym. He comes across as a really sound fella

Badass.

This set up looks legit!

Yeah, heard about this one too. Never went there but told by friends who were former students - another gym in my hometown, every trainer had to be addressed as Kru. Fucking hilarious, 'Kru Mike', 'Kru Steve', 'Kru Jimmy' (Using different names here for their anonymity....not that they deserve it) They also had a rule that you had to buy their shorts and t-shirts and wear them every training session, or you had to leave. Not being funny but personally, best most comfortable are football shorts. (Soccer).

Something else that amuses me - although I haven't actually come across it in Australia, seems to be a North American thing from what I read on forums/facebook - is non Thai trainers/gym owners calling themselves 'Kru'. I'll have to put this isolation time to good use and try and make a gif.

It's also a way for a lot gyms in the west to make more money from their members. The first gym I trained at here in Perth had a grading system. They charged $60 to attend the grading, and then another $20 for your new shirt with your new grading on it 'So Snack Payback, will you be attending the upcoming grading?' 'Err, no I won't' I don't train there anymore All the places I've trained at in Perth have been fine. Even that place I talk about above, despite the grading nonsense it was a friendly gym. Once I started heading over to Thailand to train I soon realised I needed to find a new gym if I really wanted to improve. The place I'm at now is great - Thai owned and run. Very friendly and my technique has come on a lot. Also tried one other place before settling at my current one. Owner had spent a lot of time in Thailand and had had Thai trainers over. Again, very friendly and well run place.

Steroids are pretty plentiful and available, and some people use Thailand trips to cycle onto them on a regular basis. You can find lots of articles like this one from 2013 about this: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-30/bodybuilder-gives-insight-into-thailand-steroid-holidays/4723980 Given these patterns, and also that lots of retired men come to Thailand for hormone replacement therapy, it's just going to be present and prevent. I say this without every running into it directly in a gym, but it just is something you have to assume is out there, and part of some people's preoccupation, both in and out of Muay Thai. There is very little to no drug testing in Muay Thai in Thailand (I'd say zero, but maybe there are some rare instances.) If this is making you nervous about fighting I don't think it should be a determining factor. Just assume the fighter might have some advantages that you need to counter, and trust your gym to find your a fair match up that they believe you can fight well in. Having trust in your gym, and their knowledge of opponents is more important than drug testing, I believe.