Leaderboard

I'll answer through what I've learned from Yodkhunpon, who I think is probably the expert above experts on this. He says you train elbows mostly in shadow, because that way you're wearing grooves in your fluidity and feeling, which is 99% of how elbows become dangerous. It's about finding the full range of motion and feeling the correct timing on them. However, in order to really understand timing you have to be employing them against someone who doesn't want you to hit them with elbows, which isn't a bag or padwork, it's a person. You have to be super mindful when practicing elbows with a person, meaning you either pull them and just feel the timing without throwing them, or you wear lots of padding and protection and still throw pretty light.

Hi there! I've just finished my first session at Hongthong this evening so I might not be the most qualified person to comment as I haven't trained at Santai but from my perspective things were really lovely at Hongthong. I had some technical correction from my pad holder but not to the point where it seemed like I had been doing things wrong forever. In terms of fighting I've gone there expressly for the purpose of fighting and they seemed really happy and willing to let people fight (someone actually agreed to a fight at the time I was there so its not like it is a 'behind closed doors' deal). Unfortunately, I can't comment from the perspective of being a female fighter in a gym but that being said it seemed like the women who trained with us today were included. I don't feel like they were as actively included as men were. I had to offer to spar with one of the women because she was left without a partner but I'm not sure if that is just a one-off or a long-term thing. I do know that women do fight out of that gym successfully so I imagine you would have opportunities to get rounds in and all that. But, from my perspective as someone who is openly, though not too openly, queer I felt comfortable. People were respectful and didn't seem to be creepy towards the women at the gym though I don't speak Thai and can't comment on whether anything was happening that I didn't understand. From a community standpoint they were lovely I was introduced to everyone, and they made an effort to remember my name. I got good treatment and jumped right into the group really, I've even been invited to a gym drinks on the weekend. So in terms of 'community' it seemed really nice but I can't say whether that will be universal as I'm able to pass as a cis-het man. All in all, after only one day of training I plan to go back, unfortunately I'm not staying at the gym but the facilities didn't seem to bad. I think they were only built in the last 5 years or so. Sorry that I don't have all the info you need but I hope this helps! :)