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Background: 31, Male, USA, 185cm, 70kgs - I've been in Thailand for approx. 5-months solo on an open-ended trip through Southeast Asia. Arriving Bangkok early October 2022, I proceeded to spend 2-weeks in Chiang Mai (did not train during this time), 3-months in Pai, 2-weeks in Chiang Mai, and now writing from Udon Thani where I've been for 2-weeks and plan to stay till end of February 2023 when my visa extension expires. On average, I've trained 6x per week at 4 different gyms during this time. It really wasn't until I left Pai and trained at two gyms in Chiang Mai for 1-week each (Santai + Boon Lanna) that I began taking training more seriously. I'm currently training at Siriluck Muay Thai Gym in Udon Thani, a quiet gym in Isaan. My collective training amounts to 35-40 sessions, so I'm still still very much a beginner, but feel like I'm starting to turn the corner. Feeling more competent and capable on the bags, pads and with the general flow of a training session. This gym doesn't have a web presence beyond a few photos on google maps, so I had to go in person to get information. When I rolled up around 3pm on a Monday there were two unassuming men, out front smoking cigarettes watching tiktok videos on a phone attached to an eye level tripod. One of them spoke a little english and told me the other guy is the trainer. A few students trickled in from their run and I introduced myself to everyone. In total there appears to be maximum 5-6 people, all thai, training out of this gym right now, 1 of which is training for a televised fight in Bangkok on February 12th. The main focus and priority at the gym is on this fighter, which the trainer is pushing very hard in preparation and that has been fun to watch. I got the impression that foreigners don't often drop into this gym as they were quite surprised to see me, and very interested in who I am, in addition to being extremely friendly. People in this region are some of the nicest I've ever met. It can actually be a bit startling when you're not used to it. The facility is clean and quite big, resembling a car repair shop type layout with office in the front next to large roll-up door and long open space with mats, 4 heavy bags and weights on one wall, mirrors and more exercise equipment on the other. There are two rings, but only one of them is used currently. In the back there are him/hers changing rooms/toilets. We talked price, $500 full-day or $8,000/month unlimited training. I agreed and we got to training. I'm writing this on Sunday February 5th after training there 5 times last week. The head trainer is very animated, loud, hilarious, and fun to be around. His general vibe is playful and relaxed, but he's stern with instruction/correction and strong holding the pads. We're friends on Facebook now and his page suggests he had a successful fighting career, now retired in his 30's/40's. He doesn't speak much english beyond the basic 'kick, punch, jab', so I never know what he is saying, but he gets me laughing hysterically. It's never clear if I'm 'in on' the joke or if 'I am' the joke, but it doesn't matter, I enjoy it and laugh anyways. If I deliver a bad punch or kick and he corrects me with a light counter jab to the stomach or head and has been challenging me in ways other trainers haven't. My comfort with being hit and hitting back has improved along with the strength and technique of my punches and kicks. I've began experiencing the common small injuries such as knuckle abrasions, bruised shins, knee to knee impacts, blistered feet, battered ankles.. easing off the gas as these things pop up, but going forward I'm going to push through them more than usual. I've found myself placing a lot of pressure to train and perform well, and get disappointed when I slack or am slow to learn or recover. Getting better has become my daily purpose and I feel good about having something to focus on, even though it can be a painful, lonely and isolating process. My goal is to train 10-12 per week for the next 3-weeks, fully committing myself to improving as much as possible in that time. This log serves to keep me accountable and I plan to update regularly.

February 06-2023 - Monday Afternoon 15:00 - 18:00 I'm realizing now that it won't be practical or necessary to post 2x or even 1x daily, so my updates won't be as frequent as originally planned. Before the afternoon session I was able to eat lunch, prepare dinner, do laundry, and found an hour to lay down/relax. My favorite snack right now is banana-egg-roti. I ordered two today, one to have with lunch, and another to be saved for after dinner. The roti shop shares a wall with one of the vegan buffets I like, so I can eat at both places at the same time and get takeaway for later. The weather in Udon has been very mild and pleasant up until yesterday when the humidity and temperature got turned up. Today was a bit tough for me because of that. Me and five others went out for a 2km walk and 2km run around the lake. There are several well maintained lakes/parks to run around in this town, and the air quality is quite good by Thai standards. The gym was a bit busier this afternoon, with 8 training, and 4 holding pads. A good 2:1 ratio. After the run, I stretched, skipped rope for 10-minutes, 5 x 3-minute rounds on pads, 5 x 3-minute rounds on heavy bag (kicks and teeps), 15-minutes clinching, air squats, pullups, pushups, situps, neck curls, stretching. Today is the first day I didn't spar. Kik had me doing jump knees again and I about had to tap out from those as my right knee developed a tender lump, and my left quad has deep bruising. I'm learning to push through the pain. He's still not happy with my punch/jab motion, so fine-tuning that continues to be a top priority. Since verbal communication is limited in the gym, I've started supplementing my learning by reading muay thai text books in the effort to pickup ideas to bring into the gym. Currently reading 'Muay Thai Unleashed' by Erich Krauss. and have found it helpful. Anyone have other book suggestions?

February 06-2023 - Monday Morning 07:00 - 09:00 Good start to the week. Awake and out of the door at 06:50a, and at the gym by 07:00a. I really should be arriving to the gym by 06:30 to start the day with 30-minute run, but I'll admit, recently have been neglecting this. Instead, I began with my usual warmup of 15-minutes skipping + 10-minute full body stretch. There were 4 of us training this morning with the 1 instructor. After warmup, I sparred for 3-rounds with same person who I had only met briefly sometime last week. Not knowing much about him or his skill level, we felt each other out with light kicks and punch combinations. His idea of light sparring was a bid harder than what I had in mind, which became clear when he landed a roundhouse kick to my temple with a bit of force. I reeled back smiling with a hand gesture pushing to the floor while saying 'Sabai', reminding him to go easy, to which he responded by rolling his eyes. In general, he wasn't very warm to me throughout class. We went 2-rounds with gloves and shin guards, followed by 1-round boxing with gloves only, no kicking. He landed some good combinations on me with a bit more power than I'm used to receiving, which is helping increase my confidence and comfort with standing in a guarded position taking shots. I'm becoming less timid/afraid of being hit and hitting back. Landing a clean jab to his chin felt good in response to a hook he got me with. After sparring, I went 5, 3-minutes rounds on the pads throwing simple combinations. Kik seems to enjoy having me do jump knees. With my hands locked at his neck/traps, he counts to 50, switching pads every 10, shouting suun, nueng, saawng, saam, sii, haa, hok, jet, bpaaet, gao, sib... 1-10 in thai. He has a pleasant high-pitched voice and the melodic rhythm of the counting helps distract from fatigue and soreness as knee/quad become increasingly battered from repetitive smacking against the pad. My leg muscles have become noticeably harder, stronger and thicker from all the kicking/kneeing. Immediately after the jump knees, he'll point at one of the boys standing against the ropes to have him come in and clinch. This is tough for me right now because I'll be gassed from hitting pads and a stronger, more rested person will come manhandle me in the clinch for a minute followed by more kicks and punches on the pads and ending with 10 punching sit-ups with trainer stepping on tops of feet. I'm being pushed pretty close to my limit with each training session and have found the bar moves higher with each session. The rapid improvement from near daily training has been fun to experience, but it's clear I have a long road ahead to reach the skill and conditioning level of my peers. After padwork, I moved to the heavy bag for 3-rounds; push kicks, low/high kicks, hand combinations. Finished session with neck conditioning, pullups, bodyweight squats, cooldown, stretch. Paid 3,000baht for another week unlimited training. My goal for this week is to not miss a session, train 2x/day Monday-Saturday, 12 sessions total. For those wondering about cost of living here, training works out to 250baht/session or 500baht/day, motorbike rental is 250baht/day, and apartment is 432baht/day. I'm eating a lot right now trying to gain a bit of weight, so my food cost is approx. 500baht/day. I don't drink alcohol, but do smoke weed. Main expenses total ~1700-2000baht/day or ~$50-65/day. Therefore, a realistic budget for me is $1,500-2,000 USD/month to live the comfortable, but not excessive lifestyle I have here. If someone was willing to eat less, live at the gym, borrow a bike from the gym, not smoke weed or alcohol, you could train here for much much cheaper. I'm just not willing to make those sacrifices. I'm vegetarian and struggle at times to find good food options in Thailand. They like to eat their meat with a side of seafood here, so it can be challenging at times to add diversity to my diet despite being able to explain myself in thai. Fortunately, there are three buffet style thai-chinese vegan restaurants near each other here in Udon Thani. After every training session I go to one of the three for a meal. I've become a regular at all of them. The food is delicious and people all very friendly. There's also a few western chains like Burger King who has a plant-based burger that I've been a long time fan of as someone who has driven across the USA many times. My daily food budget is quite a bit higher on the days where I have western food. Afternoon training begins at 15:00 and I plan to start with a run with the rest of the crew. In the meantime, I'll do laundry, have lunch, and rest.