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Hello friends! I'm going to be heading out to Chiang Mai/ BKK at the end of this month and am looking to find a good female friendly gym to train at. Would love some recs. Some things about me: 5'4 female (would prefer a female friendly gym) Intermediate ish level - had about 1 off the record bout Preferred styles: femur or muay matt but open to any honestly Bonus points if you know if they happen to be open during the new years time. Thanks in advance!

As Muay Thai promotions in Thailand tap into the hyper-violence visuals of MMA, modifying their rules and scoring trying to capture the MMA casual audience, promoting viscous knockouts and knockout rates with size mismatches & much sought bonuses, its Old School "don't hunt the knockout" ethos of its Golden Age and beyond has seeped into the UFC. Here Khalil Rountree who has trained a great deal in Thailand and expressed a great deal of respect for the art does a mercy finish (he's been known to not show restraint in the past), satisfied with a symbolic show of dominance. As has often been pointed out, Thailand's Muay Thai has been about dominance, not aggression. The dramatically raised slow fist here even somewhat invokes the executioner's strike that can be found in some traditional pre-fight Ram Muay. He then, post-victory, performed a modified Wai Kru (respect to his teachers), showing how intentful his performance was. The wai kru was nearly removed from some entertainment promotions in Thailand. It's a beautiful thing to see MMA in some way kind of "catch up" to Thailand's Old School respectful fighting and dignity, while Muay Thai is busy trying to catch up to MMA. via Sean Madden There has been quiet, growing concern over the new damage seeking forms of Muay Thai. Everyone loves the bonuses and the pay, but not only is the long term care and concern for the fighters an issue, older generations worry about Thailand's Muay Thai losing its ethos, its way of being, as it seeks more eyeballs across the globe. It's no small thing for Rountree to end a fight like this, in a display of values. It shows that Thailand's Muay Thai, as it traditionally has been, has something to say to contemporary combat sports beside what cool elbows, kicks or trips one can do. It's a centuries old sport of great violence, but its culture traditionally has carried with it principles of restraint and control, principles exemplified in its scoring (which Westerners sometimes have a hard time understanding), making its deeper value its greatest gift to the fight world. There is of course much to socially criticize in Thailand's Muay Thai as it has historically developed, the conditions and liberties of fighters, their economic well being, disparities and injustices of many kinds, but part of that history was also used to find and fashion a sport founded on restraint in the face of violence.

Info is probably hard to find, so I forwarded your question to Patrick Rivera, a USA coach who knows the Philippines. This is what he said: I hope that little bit helps!

If you haven't seen it, this is Sylvie's list of recommended gyms: How long are you coming to train? What are your aims?

I'm curious if there are some techniques I can work on that compliment my body type. I'm 6'2"+ and ~200lbs and I carry a lot of my weight in my legs. I absolutely love clinching. In particular I love a locking style of clinch. I often find myself with a right over-hook and a left-hand behind the neck. There's been a lot of great videos in the MTL that I've watched to really help me refine this particular lock. When I throw my knees, they're less like pointy spears and more like blunt battering rams. As I've heard Dieselnoi(?) say, being tall means that your kicks are naturally going to be slower, and I definitely feel that with my ham hocks. Basically in summary, I am interest what techniques my body type lends itself to, especially as it relates to the Muay Khao style.