Recommended gyms in thailand

[seany85]

Hey peeps,
I was looking for some advice, I have been thinking of going across to thailand to do some muay thai, what gyms would people from here recommend? I have been the WMC on Koh Samui, but thats the only one I have been to, any suggestions is welcome. Also i only have two weeks off work, so its not like a 6 month trip, lol, would be nice though.

thank you.

[Ghost]

any of the gyms in bangkok other than fairtex and sor vorapin.
avoid gyms in koh samui and phuket.

[sportmuaythai]

any of the gyms in bangkok other than fairtex and sor vorapin.
avoid gyms in koh samui and phuket.

I beg to differ. I have bben training at Fairtex BKK for many years, as well as many other camps, and IMHO Fairtex is the best camp in Thailand, and possibly in the world. BTW I'm a paying student just like others (same rate), and I'm a Thai. However, Fairtex accommodation is expensive, and that's where it's difficult to avoid. Nevertheless, there is an American who has found a way to allow him to train at fairtex for over nine months now. He stays at a rented room near Fairtex camp, and manages his own food etc. This may be difficult to do for just only two weeks. Fairtex has many trainers, and you'll get plenty of one on one training. And if you don't like a particular trainer assigned to yuo, you can ask for a new trainer. This is very important, since you'll learn more quickly with a trainer that best match your personality.
Now, there are also other good gyms in Thailand that may suit you better. For a starter, I can reccommend Jitti gym which is conveniently located near a subway station.

http://www.jittigym.com/

This gym is somewhat spartan, but the training is good. They allow per session training, and you can negotiate for the session fee to be applied to a 2 weeks fee if you like the training. This way you'll not be tied up if you don't like the training. I've trained with kru Jitti, and he is good.
In Chiangmai, you can try

http://www.chiangmaimuaythai.com/

I've heard many good things about this camp.

[Ghost]

yeah ive trained at fairtex, my impression is that it was good for thais but not up to standard for foreigners in comparison to other camps.
Jitti is OK i guess. these are gyms totally designed for foreigners to come and train in. my experience is that the best gyms are the non commercial ones, where you actually live with the camp.(not in the fairtex way) and get fully involved with it all.
I found they were much more willing to give up advanced technique and the attention to detail was second to none.
For me the best gym i trained at in thailand was with Sangtienoi.

Fair enough if you like fairtex, i wasnt personally that impressed in comparison to non commercial camps. But its a personal decision always. I live train and fight in thailand for nearly 3 years now so ive seen a few now and found what i like for me.

[aseepish]

Check this thread

http://www.defend.net/deluxeforums/showthread.php?t=10305

I had a blast at Lanna Muay Thai in Chiang Mai.

Also check out Brave Dave's site - a lot of info on various camps.

http://muaythailand.com/camps/index.php

[fire cobra]

I to prefer the smaller camps in Thailand where there are mainly Thai nationals there and not many if any foriegners,but thats just a personal choice and whats suits me may not suit someone else etc.

I do think that as Sport Muay has said on previous threads that building a good understanding with your coach is very important,sometimes you can get a good camp and a coach that doesnt suit you or a not so great camp(facilities etc) with a hell of a good coach.

It is hard for a foriegner to find exactly whats suits him or her when only staying in Thailand a short time,thats why sometimes i recomend to my students a commercial camp usually on one of the islands in the south etc,after all what can you learn about Muay Thai in 2 weeks?.

If any of my students were going for a long stay in Thailand ie 6 months or longer i would then think about what type of training they are suited to,ie do they like to kick,clinch etc and try to advise the good camp for them based on that.

One of my favourite camps is great for the clinch and knee and before myself(and students)went there they have only had one other farang train there and that was a long time ago,
i get good attention there even though there are champions of lumpinee/radjadamnern training there,and all it costs me is food for the boys in the camp ie rice,fish sauce,oyster sauce etc etc.

I feel like ive waffled on a bit here sorry!.

[Damian Mavis]

I wouldn't have said this before (due to assumption that foreigner camps all suck) but Rompo gym which is for foreigners is actually very good. Maybe only because some of the best foreign fighters train there. I'm talking about guys that fight at lumpini and hold world champ titles. At least 2 of the guys that went to contender train there too. Anyway, they seem to be pumping out some of the best foreign fighters and that is proof of their quality right there. They are located off of Rama 4 in Bangkok, close to Sukhumvit soi 26.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD Thailand

[fire cobra]

Never been to Rompo but have heard good thing about it before.

[Ghost]

I wouldn't have said this before (due to assumption that foreigner camps all suck) but Rompo gym which is for foreigners is actually very good. Maybe only because some of the best foreign fighters train there. I'm talking about guys that fight at lumpini and hold world champ titles. At least 2 of the guys that went to contender train there too. Anyway, they seem to be pumping out some of the best foreign fighters and that is proof of their quality right there. They are located off of Rama 4 in Bangkok, close to Sukhumvit soi 26.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD Thailand

thats cool, i havent been there might check it out sometime.There are some good ones that take foreigners as well. plenty of good gyms in bangkok.

[aseepish]

I'd just be happy to be able to spend two weeks in Thailand right now!

Stupid November.

[fire cobra]

Yeah me to Aseepish.

[seany85]

well am booked to go, i fancy the look of the jitti gym in bkk. any advice on travelling alone to thailand? am a lil nervous about it, lol, shall be fun though.

[aseepish]

well am booked to go, i fancy the look of the jitti gym in bkk. any advice on travelling alone to thailand? am a lil nervous about it, lol, shall be fun though.

Yeah - don't drink the Mekhong!

[sportmuaythai]

I don't know how the WMC on Koh Samui appears, but don't be put off by Jitti gym's shabbyness. If possible, ask kru Jitti to do the first day sessions with you before he assign his trainer to take care of you. BTW do you know how to hand wrap Thai style? If not, ask kru Jitti to show you how. Normal handwrap is OK, but Thai hand wrapping with open palms allow you to cup your hands for clinching more comfortably.

[aseepish]

Normal handwrap is OK, but Thai hand wrapping with open palms allow you to cup your hands for clinching more comfortably.

I'm a bit embarrassed to say so but I don't actually know how to tie hand wraps other than the Thai way.

I'd love to go back to Chiang Mai this summer. This thread is giving me a serious case of wanderlust. I'd have to get into something reasonably approaching "shape" first though.