[Sinbi Muay Thai - Globo Gym of Phuket?]

Such great insight, and a great point in how going solo or going with a group can strongly effect experience at any gym. This is one of the things I have struggled with in trying to advise people who ask me about where they should train, or what's "the best gym." It's like asking what's the "best" pie. Depends on what you like, eh? Phuket in general isn't my kinda scene, but then again I'd never ever have imagined myself in Pattaya and yet, here I am. Gyms are businesses and have different clients with different interests, etc. So you just want to find a gym that has the same goals that you do and a lot of the folks who aim for gym-beach-gym-beach get exactly what they want out of the big tourist gyms. I absolutely love my gyms but can't recommend them easily as my needs and specifications for why it's good for me don't translate to a great many other people.

 

If you're looking to try different gyms DO NOT pay in advance! A few of these bigger tourist gyms allow folks to book and pay in advance online, probably offering some discount.  I highly recommend not doing this, just pay for a few days so that you can make an informed decision based on your own experiences and needs.  A guy came out to Pattaya a while back and trained with me one day but then had already paid for two weeks at Fairtex, so that's where he went but he hated the training there. Bummer.

[Conditioning Tips in Preparation for Training Full-Time in Thailand]

You're so clever to have trained yourself in preparation for training! With only one week there's not much conditioning of your feet you can do, but if you can walk around barefoot to build up callouses, that's always helpful. Your feet get jacked at pretty much any gym. And get your miles up with running. The heat is intense and takes a while to get used to, so being used to the miles themselves makes the transition smoother.

 

This sounds kinda lame and hippie-ville, but focus on your breathing during runs and bagwork-type spurts. Training is tiring any way you cut it, but not breathing due to the discomfort of working with new trainers (not knowing what they're asking for and the totally normal "getting to know you" period of working together) can cause you to hold your breath and you will get way more tired than you think you should, given your conditioning. I have to remind myself of this all the time.

[Privacy for Women - How Are We Going To Do It?]

Perhaps the most distinguishing factor of the Muay Thai Roundtable forum is the idea that there will be a separate forum for women only. In the world at large there are not many digital spaces that belong solely to women, and this is even less the case in the world of the fighting arts. Our aim is to create just such a space, where women can come and discuss topics and ask questions with other women with a degree of privacy, away from the shyness, embarrassment, or being drowned out by male-dominated spaces. There's a lot of antagonism and abuse that comes about simply through the veil of antipathy that online anonymity offers. Periodically, Emma and I will receive private messages from women who, quite frankly, just want to ask the advice or experiences of another woman and have to do so quietly and privately because the internet world is just too big and loud and abusive to try these simple questions out in public forums. Asking about cutting weight, training or fighting during your period, or about being hit on at your gym in a public forum results in dozens of cheeky, joking, critical and downright nasty comments with maybe, maybe, a serious response buried in there; and sometimes not even one serious answer. This space is for women to have a voice without all the clutter.

How we are going secure a place for women?

So how are we going to do it? Well, we're going to do it ourselves, by hand, and we're going to achieve it by wanting it. This takes time and effort, and both Emma and I train/work full time in addition to blogging; but we believe it is worth it. Most of the women initially in this section will come from people Emma and I know personally. The Muay Thai community is small, and these forums really expect to be a small space where conversation can be carried on - both in the General area and the area only for women - so early confirmations should happen within a day of signing up. But no doubt as word spreads there will be women who apply for membership who we do not personally know. If we don't know who you are it isn't a problem at all, in fact we are very glad to have you and you are very welcome to the community, but verification may take some extra effort on both our parts. A Facebook page's history will aid in any confirmation, perhaps followed by email conversation, or the request of a 3rd person reference will suffice, but a quick Skype call will likely be the best confirmation that a new user's identity is female. It's something we'll have to play by ear as it isn't something commonly done.

We're sorry for any discomfort or inconvenience caused by this extra layer of confirmation for some, and it certainly isn't fool-proof, but it's what it takes to at least create the space itself, the chance for female athlete and student conversations that don't exist elsewhere. It should be said that if you feel that a member in the women only area has been wrongly allowed access, please do contact a moderator, though we doubt this will be a concern.

Because of the rarity of this kind of space we really ask that you keep the women's only section only between women. Know of course when posting that in the digital world anything can be screen captured from within the group, so nothing is 100% secure, but this will be a small space that belongs to us and if we commit to dealing with one another with respect and patience, this community should be very valuable.

In the possibilities of this board we also have the capability of creating forums and topics that are visible to only a select number of trusted people. I can't imagine that this is necessary, but it is within the options we can choose for ourselves if a sensitive subject comes up that requires even further safeguards in order to keep fostered conversation going.

So while there may be a few extra steps to making a women only digital space, we thank you in advance for your patience in co-creating this. As it is so new we really don't know where it is going, whether it will be big or small - in the end it doesn't matter. This section will be by women for women and as long as it's respectful it will be a success. Hopefully it will become something that will help others and change the way we can talk about things.

[Finding a gym]

Hi Matt,

First of all, thank you for reading and following my blog. I'm very excited to hear that you want to fight multiple times in your time in Thailand and that your girlfriend will be sharing this experience with you. Very cool.

 

The easiest place to find fights in my experience has been Chiang Mai. There are various stadia right in the city and they have fights every night of the week. At my old gym, Lanna, I saw that straight beginners (never trained or fought before) can get a fight within a pretty short amount of time, as well as folks with more experience getting a range of opponents. But I'm not really sure about other gyms in the area. Lanna, and the head trainer there Den, was very pro-fight, and my experiences there may not reflect the practices of other gyms. At 150 lbs (~68 kg) it should be fairly easy to find you a fight in terms of size, although perfect matches up there aren't guaranteed. But that's all part of fighting, too.

 

Master Toddy's is a great place to start out in Bangkok and get a feel for a gym that's western-friendly but also still very technically oriented. I don't know how the fight opportunities are looking in Bangkok at the moment, but maybe Emma, Tu, or Katy can jump in on that front. Down here in Pattaya there are a few stadia going on throughout the week, some satellite festival shows, and down on Phuket there's Bangla Stadium for the whole island. I don't know much about how it all works on Phuket and the last report I heard about Sinbi in particular wasn't positive, but gyms (all gyms) go through phases and changes and different people need different things all that. Emma knows someone training there so maybe you could get some input from a source who is actually there and enjoying it through that contact.

 

As with any of these locations, the gym is going to want to see you training for at least a week or so before they think about booking you a fight. This is so they know what you're about, how to match you, etc. Keep in mind a couple things: 1) in your first week of training full-time you're going to need to sleep A LOT; 2) letting your gym know as soon as possible that you want to fight more than once is a grand idea, but then make sure you SHOW them that you want to fight by how you train. Be consistent and coachable.  I'd recommend getting your first fight quite early in your stay if you can, maybe within the first two weeks. That way you can gather from the first experience what you need to work on, see the pace and feel of a fight for yourself, etc. If you're going to be moving around to different gyms, dedicate two weeks to the first one you feel is going to support and push you and get a fight there. Then maybe move around a bit and consider coming back if the gym suits you best. Realize though, it may not be easy to get a fight booked at all gyms. My friend Robyn just came out here trying to get 2 or 3 fights down in Pattaya, having already visited me and fought at Lanna two years ago, and it was difficult to find her fights down here (she fought only once).

 

And lastly, if you want to fight a few times in a short amount of time, you're going to have to consider active recovery as part of your training routine. Diligently treating small injuries as you go and training around them after fights will be necessary. In the words of my trainer up north, "eat good, sleep good."

 

I'm fighting up in Chiang Mai twice between May 1-4, so if you're there at that time let's say hello. In fact the fights are arranged through Lanna gym, and I'll definitely visit there during those days. These are scheduled against two extremely tough opponents, some of Thailand's best 2 weight classes above me (Tanonchanok and Cherry) so they should be great fights to see. I'm in Pattaya after that (driving back down on the 5th), so if you're here, I'll be here. Definitely keep in touch either way and hopefully your adventures can be something we all can hear about and maybe help with when needed.

 

If you have any more questions feel free to ask. Anyone have anything to add or clarify?

[Hello - What's this Forum? An Introduction]

Hello to All and welcome to Muay Thai Roundtable! This forum is intended to be a place for people of all levels and interest in Muay Thai to come and connect, discuss, and ask questions or offer tips from our various experiences.  The Roundtable is a little bit different in that aside from posting general topics which are specifically encouraged, you can also address questions specifically to me or Emma - the idea of this forum grew out of the questions we both have received in private communications - and of course everyone is invited to respond as well. It's a community resource, and hopefully a knowledge store. We've set up some thread categories to help organize and facilitate exchanges, hopefully there will be more as we go and gather more steam. There is a general board, as well as a "women only" board, which is a place for women to discuss issues or experiences which may be too uncomfortable to voice otherwise, but also a place to help foster female Muay Thai dialogue between women.

In all boards, please be respectful and considerate of each other. Some guidelines are that inflammatory comments or language intended only to incite is not permitted; respectful disagreement, requests for clarification and difference of opinion and experience are all welcome. This Roundtable is a space for us, so please make yourself at home and be polite both as a host and as a guest.

Some online forums are a "Free for All" in terms of moderation and this is not one of them. This Roundtable is a heavily modified space - as such, please do not be offended if a moderator steps in, but also please do not hesitate to ask for a moderator if you feel uncomfortable, disrespected, or attacked.  Speak openly, be nice.

If you are new to forums be sure to read our Forum Features and How to Use Them post, as it will help make everything more interesting.