Finn Cartlidge

EDIT: To be honest, I live in England, they don't do a training package (accom/food/training), there's just not enough customers/tourists who would be up for that, also it would be really expensive simply because of accommodation costs. The only place for MMA I know of that does that in Europe is http://www.mikesgym.nl/lessen.html Though Golden Glory has branches in multiple EU countries and so does Mejiro http://www.mejirogym.nl/, although they are both just kickboxing/K1. The thing you have to think about is getting to EU is cheap but once you're in there it's expensive, whereas getting to Thailand is expensive, but once you're there it's cheap. They might end up being similar costs.

Ah I know the US has a problem with those 'mcdojos' or whatever you want to call them, but I've noticed some really good gyms in the US now, and quite a lot of Thai's teaching there. What's the style of the gym you're at now then? Anyway, if you're thinking about leaving then talking with the coach can only go well I think, if you're thinking of leaving anyway then he will either say something that'll make you want to leave even more or make you consider staying. Hope you get well quicker... :)

Another thing is, are you and your partner looking for the same thing in a gym? Is there any areas of his game which he wants to improve that you don't? Have you considered Pattaya also? I don't know what they're like towards women (apart from the 2 gyms Sylvie writes about), but I'm pretty sure Pattaya has some nice beaches and islands nearby.

OK that's just me reading incorrectly. Yeah if you're getting mistreated, you should leave for sure, because the problem is if you get treated like this for a long period of time then you will start to dislike muay and maybe lose trust. I feel like people shouldn't complain about the combinations though, if they want to be fighters then they will someday have to fight a southpaw, and if they're there for fitness it doesn't make a difference or not. To be honest, the gym sounds like it has a bad atmosphere which may stem from the trainer, if he's being a dick to people then its going to rub off onto others or make it a place full of dicks. Finding a gym, search facebook/google/youtube/rankings, I would assume you've tried all of that already though. The only other thing I can suggest is asking on forums with a wide audience in your country, maybe Sherdog or others. There are a lot of gyms that don't have a website. Good luck on the gym search. What country are you from?

I don't like this... there's nothing wrong with losing, but going in there to lose, is wrong. But they get paid well I guess. It comes to something in your life when you accept losing as a career.

Actually I'm pretty sure the gym didn't buy all the fighters, if I understand, one of the owners or trainers had a gym with very good fighters such as Petchboonchu and he basically ran out of money. He went to Bangkok, someone financed for a gym for him and he took his old fighters with him. Or something like that, I think it's on Siamfightmag, pretty interesting though.

Yeah, but the other thing is that, you can try find to find ways to see that you've improved. For example, if the trainer always corrects your right punch and you find one day that he didn't correct it, maybe because it was good! Maybe you clinched and didn't get threw today, all things like this are signs that you're improving. Sometimes you don't notice your improvements that's why you need someone to remind you to keep yourself positive, as you train the best when your positive. Also you said people complained about sparring you because you're a southpaw. Are they complaining because you're a southpaw, or because you're tricky? I've sparred many southpaws, and although you have to adjust I certainly wouldn't complain about it (though I might moan about a tricky fighter), also when you spar a southpaw it also makes some things easier, rear roundhouse becomes harder to block for yourself and for the southpaw, so maybe you can land more of them. Anyway, try to realise when you're improving yourself but as your thread is about, it helps you mentally if your trainer can be positive, he doesn't have to tell you that it was a perfect or amazing kick but he could just say that it was a hard kick, or it was quicker, which is what I was saying before about complimenting without making you feel like you don't need to improve. Also, another thing is, but you might not want to do it or you might already do it, is to record yourself on the pads or sparring, maybe just once a month, and when you feel low, just watch last months or watch 3 months ago and compare it to now. You're going to see improvements and that will make you feel good, also laugh at your old mistakes (watching my first fight is always funny), and seeing where you can improve yourself. But on the topic of your trainer, if you have a few gyms in your area, it won't hurt to try some out if you feel like you're not improving like you should be at your current gym.

Sumalee and a lot of gyms in Phuket sponsor fighters (free accommodation/training and possibly food) but you'll need to fight regularly for them. If you make a video of you hitting pads, and you said you've fought so attach a highlight video and write an email. There's a lot of fighters that get sponsored this way. The most important thing(s) I think when looking in the touristy southern parts is to see, if there's any Thai's training, if not any high level foreigners. There's only so much you can improve with a trainer, sparring and clinching is soooo important. And that leads onto the other thing, I know gyms like Phuket top team, from what I've seen and heard don't clinch. So you'd want to see how often they clinch. EDIT: I just saw this gym on Siamfightmag http://www.siamfightmag.com/en/muaythai-en/reports-en/camps-muaythai-en/south-region-en/900-the-camp-talingngam-muay-thai seems to have quite a few high level Thai's.

The best gym I ever went to, didn't have a website. BUT you can find out a lot about a gym by the website, IF they've filled it out correctly. So typically what I look for on a website is, who did the trainer train under him or herself, I feel this is really important. This is as I once visited a gym, not realising the trainer came from a gym with little no clinch. Although he was a good fighter and had a decent clinch himself (from Thailand), he didn't teach that because it's not how he got taught. Also, I don't think the trainers fight record is important, always look at his students/boxers and Canadian Muay rankings (there should be one), you can find a lot of good gyms from the rankings websites. Despite all these, the best way to find out is to go. All gyms should be beginner friendly, two reasons for this is, this might be there livelihood, and 95% of people coming through them doors are going to come as a beginner. And the other reason is everyone in the gym was once a beginner, therefore they will understand the first times always nerve-racking. It once took me 2 months to take myself down to a gym, I finally went and I kicked myself because the technical instruction was so good and I missed out on 2 months just because I was nervous.

I used 10oz twins for everything for about 3ish years, and they're still in great condition. But now I got bag gloves which I use just for the bag, this is just to help feel where my knuckles land, as sometimes I get lazy on the bag as no one really corrects me. I don't use a bigger size then 10oz for sparring as I can control my power quite well. Also I don't like to use big gloves as I know some people who used 16oz ALL the time for sparring, then when they had to fight in 10oz they realised that it completely changed their guard, and that they also felt the punches land on their guard a lot more.

Not being told you're good at something isn't always bad. Actually I had this discussion at my gym before, they were saying if you always compliment someone it can prevent them from improving. If I was to get told my body kick was perfect everyday, I'd probably start slacking on the technique. But it works both ways, if someone was to tell me it was bad/sh*t everyday, I'd get frustrated and upset with myself and that would also prevent me from improving. The discussion ended with giving subtle compliments or backhanded compliments the best way to go, so that it raises your confidence but you still know you have to improve. Hopefully this was relevant... :)

I think it can be beneficial to tell a beginner to do '360', I did it for a long time before changing it to the floating blocky kick thing Sylvie made a video about. The reason I think trainers tell boxers to do it is because it helps with the rotation of your foot, and hips, but I don't think it's something that should be used long term. Just to get used to the idea of rotation. Also you might see people do the 360 kick if they're shadow boxing in a ring, they get to the ropes and they want to turn round. That's just my opinion anyway.