Tyler Byers

Cool, that's good info to have. Thanks for the heads up. Any idea if Toto is still over there? I wish Lad Prao or Rama 3 was easier for me to get to. I'm in Thong Lor so kind of far from any decent gyms.

Is the gym open right now? I assumed they would be closed. I'm actually not too far from there and was planning on going to check the gym out after lockdown was ended.

This is awesome, I'm looking forward to reading more. It's always great to read about people's experiences at different gyms!

Border Pai Muay Thai is a new gym in Pai that might be worth checking out. It's really small, but the trainer Suk is pretty good. Hahaha just don't loan him any money. I trained with him for about 3-4 months at Toddy's and he was quite good but he got in trouble for drinking too much. Allegedly he stopped drinking, but I haven't seen or talked with him in a couple of years. I believe he is from the Meenayothin gym originally.

I'm curious about this as well. I was just messing around in the pool the other day and was considering running laps in the pool (just did a few laps back and forth). Seems like it really works your legs without all the impact but I haven't tried it for any extended period of time.

Hahaha I had to really look at it and recheck all the characters. It's a very strange font which I am admittedly not great at reading. I'm like 90% sure though!

I think it just says "Muay Thai" in a fancy Thai script.

You could always build a tire stack too. Usually you can get tires for free from the junkyard. Then just fill it up with dirt or braces.

You gotta do it every day. Running is much more mental than physical. Pick a distance to do every day then make sure you complete it one way or another. 3k for the first week, 5k for the next week, etc. If you have to walk so be it, but complete your miles. Just keep at it and you will get there. I firmly believe that the reason Thais run so much is to build mental toughness as much as it is to build physical strength/endurance. Hence, as Kero said, your trainers will know how much you've been running based on how you fight. If you are timid or inconsistent when clashing with an opponent, they are gonna say you didn't run enough lol. I don't get the whole runner's high thing either and have a strong hatred for running (especially fast). It's necessary though and will teach you to break through moments of weakness. Just get your miles/Km in every day, don't worry about the pace. Good luck and enjoy your trip to Thailand!

Hahaha more on the food topic.... This is a great start to practicing Thai language skills. I'm not entirely sure why, but food vendors tend to be the easiest/most accepting while beginning to learn a little Thai. I think it revolves around food being a common thing between people from all countries. Thais LOVE food! It's like 40% of what gets talked about throughout the day lol. I didn't know a single word in Thai before I arrived in BKK, and the first thing I learned was all the names of fruits, small necessities like eggs, and how to order a few basic dishes. The great thing is that you always can point and it gives you an out if you suddenly get overly self-conscious. One thing I will caution you about is that if you begin buying food from one stall regularly, don't start buying stuff nearby (like within eyesight) just to switch it up. I made this mistake and it soured the owners towards me a bit. Either regularly spread it out (buy one thing from each stall), or find a place you like in each little neighborhood and travel around. If you order regularly from a place they will likely form a bit of a relationship with you and can get upset if they one day see you spending your money at a competing location. Forming these relationships can be half the fun of eating out though, and its a great way to start learning Thai culture.

I don't know why, but I thought it would be slightly less expensive down there. Seems to be about the same though as far as food prices. That's generally how I judge cost of living for different areas of Thailand lol. The price of noodles is a pretty consistent one that will tell you about prices of everything else in the surrounding area.

This and motorbikes/cars are my biggest fear with Brody. He almost got taken out by one of the neighbors the other day when he ran ahead of me as I took him out to go the bathroom. He's just to short for them to see. Luckily a lot of people have dogs in our apartment and almost no one has them on leashes (not to mention all the kids running around also not on leashes lol). Most folks who do have cars know to be fairly careful when driving down our street.

Bit off topic but.... Anyone trained at Chakrit? Its not too far from my apartment and I've thought about going down there a few times a week if I can scrape some extra money together.

Hahaha I can't tell you how much I fucking love this statement. FIND THE VIOLENCE!!!

There are definitely plusses and minuses to being a product of this kind of environment. It can make you strong, but can also give you a lot of self-esteem issues. The desired effect is that the guy will fight back (which earns you cool points if you do it right), but if you aren't familiar with that kind of situation or come from an abusive background that can quickly spiral into unintended territory. What may have started out as mild shit talking turns more into confrontation and can escalate from hurt feelings to physical altercations. With most groups of guys, you are either in or out and it can really suck if you don't understand that kind of treatment. Not responding appropriately will basically lock you out of the group. There isn't an in-between area really and that can be hard to deal with if you are someone who wants to be included. As someone mentioned above, I think there is a lot of pressure regarding body issues too (not unlike women). We all have different genetics though and sometimes you just have to re-frame that kind of stuff in your mind. I think men often times aren't taught how to communicate at all, we just kind of figure it out as we go. For better or worse. A lot of guys never learn to communicate their feelings, their desires, etc. Women often complain about being taught to communicate or act in certain ways from early ages due to how women "should" be perceived (being "lady-like"). I totally understand that frustration, but I think it at least provides some bearing one way or another. Even if they disagree completely with how society tells them to act or talk, at least there is some kind of structure to observe and makes changes from. Through female social circles they learn to communicate better and with more variety from when they are young and begin to make changes about how they act or want to be perceived. Accepted by everyone you respect, guys and girls. Usually the people with the most experience, most fights, best techniques, etc. While we compare ourselves against other guys most of the time since that is who we are directly working with for the most part, most of us still want to be accepted by everyone. I don't think (at least for me) impressing the girls has anything to do with it. That's just immaturity in my eyes. I think the gym environment can really affect the desire to be respected though. In a laid back fitness gym its not as much of an issue. If you are training in a gym where everyone fights, it becomes much more of an issue because there are immediately expectations (I think everyone male or female probably feels this kind of pressure). Depending on your background though I think there are a lot of guys who have overlapping issues with women in gym settings. For example, I have a friend that started doing Muay Thai and BJJ about two years ago. I really had to push him into it and eventually I realized he was just incredibly nervous about the whole thing. He was nervous about getting hit, nervous about not being accepted, nervous about doing exercises the right way, nervous about embarrassing himself, etc. Lol basically anything you can think of. He's a pretty introverted guy and hadn't really done any kind of exercise most of his life and had certainly never been in a fight. It took him a long time to grow comfortable (hahaha and I pushed him a lot to keep going), but eventually he used that nervous energy for positive things. He did extra workouts at home, extra bag work at home, etc. He got really good in a short amount of time and now isn't afraid to mix it up with anyone in the gym. He is still nervous about competing though. I think most people regardless of sport/performance get nervous about that though. Hahaha that all ended up being a bit of rambling and potentially an incoherent mess. Overall I don't think guys have nearly as many fears, difficulties, drama, emotions, etc. coming into a gym compared to women, but I also think we are conditioned for it a little bit more. For me personally, I've never really felt nervous at a new gym or going into a fight. If anything, that's where I am most comfortable. Inversely, I can go to social settings that my gf is completely comfortable/fine in (dinner with new people, parties where we don't know people, basically places I am completely safe lol, etc.) and I'm a complete mess lol. We've just got strengths in different areas, and I think that's perfectly ok so long as we also keep working on our weaknesses.