Hey guys
I’m thinking of heading to Thailand for a month to train in muay thai
any recommendations for gyms, probably in the phuket area
Im also interested in doing this for BJJ. SIck of been the white belt that gets thrown around the gym every session. I would like to get my skills up to scratch.
Apparently you can train 2-3 times a day and make some great progress.
Anybody done this? I would like to hear about peoples opinions on the usefulness of doing this.
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[quote]theBird wrote:
Im also interested in doing this for BJJ. SIck of been the white belt that gets thrown around the gym every session. I would like to get my skills up to scratch.
Apparently you can train 2-3 times a day and make some great progress.
Anybody done this? I would like to hear about peoples opinions on the usefulness of doing this.
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I don’y know anything about Thailand tbh (although I know of some great MT gyms in Holland.)
But Bird, as regards BJJ; about the best you could do would be Marcelo Garcia’s academy in NY. I know four or five guys who spent some time there. They all had their belt’s promoted upon coming home.
I just sent a message to my former coach, here’s his reply…
“I was at Suwit. It´s not the best by any means, but it´s a more authentic thai gym than a lot fo the others in Phuket. I´ve never trained at Sinbi, but it´s got an amazing reputation and one of my favourite thai fighters comes from that gym.”
“There´s one more near Patong. Can´t remember the name but it´s also hella good. Patong is a tourist shit hole though so it´s kind of a crap location…
Sinbi is in the middle of nowhere and you need a motorbike to get anywhere.
Suwit has a good location towards the south of the town. still helps to have a motorbike but it´s close to the other gyms and the fight tourism infrastructure. Also not far from some good food and beaches - pretty good compromise if you’re looking for vacation and training.”
I guess the infamous tiger gym is also an option but I have no idea how difficult/expensive it would be to get a training spot.
AndRoll,BJJ Adventure Camps are running a camp on Koh toh for 10 days in Jan which I am attending. BJJ, Thaiboxing, Freediving, Climbing all included. It’s going to be great. There are still two places left I believe.
From experience:
The road on which Tiger Muay Thai, Phuket Top Team and Dragon Muay Thai are located is famous as shit and any tuk tuk will be able to take you there. I recommend you simply try them all out one day at a time and choose the one you like. I trained at Dragon and very briefly at Tiger.
Sinbi is a good gym, being far away from the tourist crowds is a good thing in Phuket.
The gym in Patong is, from what I’ve heard, a good one. But never tried it or knew anyone that did.
I personally enjoyed the less intense, but far more technical training at Dragon Muay Thai. With less students there was a high trainer/student ratio and I thoroughly enjoyed the fuckin chiiiiiiiiiillllllll attitudes. Seriously, my trainer didn’t stress about anything. If you’re motivated these guys will keep up with you. If you want to stop, he will stop. They feed off your hunger to train and that’s how you get the best success at that gym. Cough up for private lessons and get stuck in at the group classes. Place may have changed since I went there but it is a little grimy. P.S. don’t underestimate the trainers. Some have bellies. Some are like 150lbs carrying groceries. All of them are stone cold killers when the time to fight arrives.
Tiger! Bloody fancy facility, world renowned trainers and a very cool culture surrounding the place. You will make friends, have fun and probably get fit as shit if you aren’t a total shitbag. They have a slick program that is not confusing to newcomers and plenty English speaking trainers. Here I would absolutely insist that you get one on ones or up your ganme and get into the intermediate or higher skill classes. Otherwise you will be lost in sea of fat tourists and two-left-feet falang.
Sinbi. Good gym as I understand. Lots of foreign fighters pass through there.
As for BJJ in Thauiland… my two cents? Don’t do BJJ there. Go to Thailand for Muay Thai. If you want to have an exotic holiday and learn uality BJJ go to Brazil. Otherwise just find a good gym in your area or the US.
Well said
Thailand is awesome, and being able to train with muay thai champs isnt so bad either.
I also enjoyed dragon the most. They even have my fav heavy bag, because the bottom is hard as fuck. Good way to condition my shins. Tiger is nice, but it is flooded and it’s distracting for me.
I trained in Chiang Mai as well, but I couldn’t tell you the names of the gyms. Well, team quest was one of em, but it’s nothing like team quest in the states.
Although i favored dragon muay thai, I spent most of my sessions at PTT. I started there and got used to the trainers, and felt disloyal if I switched over. They weren’t bad, just a matter of atmosphere and pad holders.
For BJJ, PTT has Olavo, and Olavo is a great professor. Always upbeat and humble. He teaches jits and goes surfing in between. How fuckin cool is that?