If you’re ready to take your Muay Thai to the next level, there is no better place to begin your Muay Thai experience than Bangkok. The beautiful “City of Angels” is home to some of the best and most prestigious Muay Thai gyms in Thailand. Whether you’ve been to a dozen camps in your lifetime or just starting out, Bangkok remains as a premier destination for Muay Thai enthusiasts. Before choosing your Bangkok Muay Thai gym, take a look at what the city has to offer.
A Brief Look at Bangkok
In Sanskrit, the name of Bangkok can be translated to the following:
City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarman at Indra’s behest.
That’s a long name for one city. As a matter of fact, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Bangkok’s literal translation is the longest city name in the entire world. The city is situated on what was once swampland. The Chao Praya River runs through the middle of the city, comes from the north, and empties into the Gulf of Thailand. There are a total of 50 districts within the city, and you can expect that there will be at least 2-3 gyms per district. It’s a massive city with over 8,000,000 residents within the city and a total of 14,000,000 residents within the metropolitan area.
The Weather in Bangkok
Climate is a big concern for many people coming to train at a Bangkok Muay Thai gym. The chart below illustrates what the temperature will be close to during your stay.
As you can see, it’s a tropical climate, so expect to sweat a lot during your training. This is a good thing because sweating while training will help you lose weight, keep you cool during intense sessions, and you get a feeling of accomplishment seeing the sweat drip off you. There are only three seasons in Thailand: hot, rainy, and cool. If heat is an uncomfortable issue for you, consider planning your trip during the cooler months of November, December, January, and February
The reason that many people choose Bangkok as their first place in Thailand to train Muay Thai is for a few reasons, but the main one is the amount of activities to do outside of Muay Thai. Bangkok is a trade hub of Southeast Asia, and there are endless options of food choices, shopping malls, night clubs, and activities. No other city in Thailand has the variety of food and entertainment than Bangkok does. TripAdvisor has quite a substantial list of hotels, restaurants, and attractions to visit, so take a good look and figure out what you would like to do when you’re done sweating it out in the ring.
What to Look for in a good Bangkok Muay Thai Gym
1.Location
It’s your vacation to Thailand, you want to be in close proximity to the places that you would like to see or visit! The location of your gym should be paramount towards your decision on where to train. Having plentiful options for food, a grocery or market nearby, a 7/11 (open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in Thailand) and a few bars to unwind after a hard day’s work is always a nice amenity. Do some research on the location of your gym, or if they have an outline of what’s around the gym on their respective website, check it out thoroughly.
2. The Gym “Vibe”
Hopefully you’ll be able to experience a few weeks or even a month at your Bangkok Muay Thai gym. With this in mind, you’re going to have to make sure the “vibe” of the camp is suitable for what you’re looking for.
Are you looking for a hardcore, serious gym that has produced dozens of champions?
Are you a Muay Thai athlete, eager to improve your technique and also stay in top physical shape?
Are you looking for a gym that accommodates beginners to Muay Thai and interested in training with others who are relatively new?
These are the main questions that come to mind when determining what kind of vibe you want to feel when training in Bangkok. It’s hard for a gym to accommodate all three of these types of enthusiasts simultaneously, but it can be done. A great way to find out if a Muay Thai gym is right for you is to do some research online, pick a handful of gyms, and read their reviews and their social media activity. If you do this, you will have a much clearer picture of the type of training given at different camps, and you’ll be more confident in making a decision about what gym to train at if the vibe fits you.
3. Top-notch Trainers
Probably one of the most important things to consider when picking a gym, is knowing that you’re going to be getting trainers that you will enjoy listening to, learning from, and sparring with. You’re not going to get along with every trainer that you come across in Thailand, and you need to be aware of this. This is another piece of advice where hitting up social media, forums, and gym reviews will help your decision making process. As Sean from Muay Thai Guy says, “Some of the best trainers have little to no ring experience at all, and some of the worst trainers could have been fighting since they were 6 years old.” If you’re lucky, your gym will have an updated trainers list online, so you can learn more about them and get a preliminary idea of suitability.
4. The Facilities
Most people who train Muay Thai aren’t interested in hitting smelly pads, dealing with sticky floors, hitting 10-year-old heavy bags, and using the bathroom that’s just a hole in the ground. If you want to have a good experience training, your Bangkok Muay Thai gym should be complete with clean, modern facilities, as well as accommodation. Injuries can occur from using equipment, and if you’re going to be living at a camp and doing other activities outside of Muay Thai, it’s convenient to have a great “base of operations” where you can rest and relax comfortably. Read up on the accommodation available for the gym you’re training at and pick one that you will feel comfortable at.
There are plenty of other smaller factors when determining a suitable Muay Thai gym in Bangkok for you, but these four factors are critical. There is an abundant amount of information that can be found online and a handful of bloggers that have valuable knowledge regarding the gyms that they have trained at. Hopefully, this post will help you find the best Bangkok Muay Thai gym for you.
