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I've doubled down on my commitment to continue training in Thailand by getting a fresh 45-day visa this past sunday, which takes me through April 11 with option for 30-day extension through May 11, 2023. I've also renewed my apartment and motorbike for one-month, all of March 2023. Previously I've been paying for everything on a weekly basis, as I like to keep a certain degree of flexibility, but now I'm confident I want to continue doing what I'm doing here in Udon for at least another 4-weeks, maybe longer. I spent the weekend in Vientiene, Laos and Bangkok to get new visa and see a friend. Returning to Udon late last night, I got started training again today after 2.5-days off. I asked the head kru if I can get one hour of one-on-one private training everyday in March (except Sundays) and we worked out a deal for 9k baht/month which includes 2 sessions per day, and the one hour private training every afternoon session. Today before afternoon session head kru messaged me on facebook to say my trainer today wouldn't be him, but instead someone named Orono. He sent me a picture of the guy holding 7 belts so I knew he had been a successful fighter, but didn't know much else about him. I met with him at 16:30 and was happy to hear he spoke good english. He asked me a lot of training related questions I haven't been asked before, probably because of the language barrier. Veryyy little english is spoken at Siriluck Gym, so most of my learning is done through observation and expression of body language. Communicating and receiving verbal advice from Orono was refreshing to say the least. We focused on the absolute basics; breathing, footwork, stance, rhythm, jabs, cross, elbows, l/r kicks, etc.. he closely observed all of my movements like a scientist doing an experiment and gave me helpful tips. My mechanics are not so good, but by the end of the 1.5 hours together (we went 30-minutes longer), my kicks and punches felt more fluid and powerful. I'm trying my best to lock-in the muscle memory, but it's challenging as any reader here knows. So far I'm really liking Orono's teaching style and his overall personality- cool guy. There were 7 fighters training tonight and we all went for a 3km run to the lake and back, with head kru trailing behind on a motorbike. A few months ago, completing this run after 2+ hours of hard training would have been very tough for me. But tonight, I felt great and kept up with the fast pace the guys were moving at. The three 6k runs I did last week are already paying off. When I got home from training/dinner, I began reading about Orono Wor Petchpun and watching his fight tapes. He's fought and defeated big names like Buakaw, Saenchai, Yodsanklai, Lerdsila, and many others. I'm feeling very excited and grateful for the opportunity to start learning from this legend everyday. I don't know why he is training out of this gym now, or what his relationship to the owner is, as he has previously been living in Singapore with Evolve MMA. There's a lot of high level talent drifting in and out of Siriluck Gym and I'm happy to be around it. All of the fighters have matches this month: 3 in Udon, 1 at BKK Raj Stadium, 1 at BKK Lumpinee Stadium, 1 at Yokkao Stadium. I'm planning to attend all of the fights, so I will continue to travel a lot this coming month. In fact, I've been in Bangkok for each of the past 3 weekends, 2 of which were for matches. Hated Bangkok first time I visited, but I fall in love with the city a bit more everytime I go.

Awesome, thank you for the google map spotlight Kevin! I've never posted much on open forums so still learning about publishing tools. I will include that information next time I post about a new gym visit. What size are the fighters out there? Age range appears to be 12-28, 45-68kg fighting weight, ~6-8 fighters rotating in/out of the gym, 4-6 kru rotating in/out. I'm at the top end of size/weight and want to add another 5-7kg's. I feel like I'll benefit from a bit more size at~184cm. 77kg was a healthy weight for me in the past. Do you feel like your training with them is productive for you at 70 kg? I think so. Then again I'm still a ~3-4month beginner with experience limited to training at 4 gyms in Thailand, so I don't know much. For the most part, all training has felt like good training to me, as I've consistently had a good workout every time I show up. I've learned that it's really up to me to ensure a good workout, kru can only guide you so much in a session. My goals are more general fitness based than fighting camp based, so that colors my experience a bit differently too... more recreational than business/work as it is for the Thai fighters. I'm slowly adopting this mindset of treating it like a job. The 68kg fighter walks around at 70-72kgs at 186cm, so he's big. In fact that's his nickname. Training with him has been great, I just try to mimic what he does. He is very good fighter, taking the victory at Lumpinee last weekend at LWC Super Champ event, where he fought an Algerian in the Co-Main Event. Although the fight was quick with not much action... it seemed like big's opponent didn't really want to fight. Here is The Fight - LWC Super Champ February 18, 2023 - Big is in the thumbnail far left. I see you mentioned 15 minutes of clinch, what is the clinch training like for you? Honestly, clinching intimidates me and I'm still trying to get comfortable with being tightly intimate with others in this way. I've had to overcome quite a bit psychologically with my aversion to close human contact (mainly with strangers). Muay Thai has helped me greatly with this, as I have loosened up a lot. The fighters clinch most days for 1-2 hours. If I join them, I usually only go for 15-20 minutes. Just like my goal to run more (have run 6k both today and yesterday), I have a goal to clinch more. My plan is to clinch with Big as he has another LWC fight next month that he'll be training for. He's relaxing this week, but will be back in the gym next week and I fully plan to clinch with him most days for long sessions. His neck and clinch is insanely powerful so I'm looking forward to learning from him. My immediate goal is to become a strong clinching partner to help the fighters prepare for the bouts. In the mean time, I've been doing neck exercises at the end of every training sessions, preparing for the work ahead.

February 23-2023 - Thursday Morning Keeping to my word, I woke up at 06:00 this morning and ran 3-laps around the lake near the gym. I've been told each lap is approx. 2km, so this morning I ran 6k. Going forward, my daily goal is to run 3-5 laps (6-10km) every morning, excluding Sundays. For not having run too much, and for being a lifelong run-hater, the 6k felt surprisingly easy. My preference is to run alone, at my own pace, so that helped. No pressure. I was back at the gym by 07:30, but no one was training. I felt my phone vibrate and found an alert from my kru saying he wouldn't be there this morning and that we'd only train in the afternoon today. I didn't do any other exercises after my run, just a few stretches and went home to do laundry. My trip to Bangkok this past weekend threw off my training rhythm and I'm just now getting back in the groove in time to leave again this weekend for a visa-run. I've been feeling slightly fatigued and sluggish all week, which I think is related to travel and poor rest. Now trying to hydrate, eat, and rest my way through it.

I think that with first fights its important to just lower expectations. They are a mental blur. It will be very hard to execute what you feel you know, and because first time fighters tend to hold their breath under the stress they gas out quicker than they think they should or realize. I think just get your cardio up to give you a bit of a buffer, spar as much as you can with an emphasis on relaxation, and go into the fight expecting it to be more out of your control than you think. If you can relax, have solid defense, and enjoy the first fight experience, you've already won. The whole point of first fights is so you can get to your second fight.