Khongsittha January and February Recap

What an incredible start to 2017 it has been for Khongsittha Muay Thai! We’ve just finished a two month camp hosted by Sean Fagan, AKA Muay Thai Guy and had shared an incredible journey with twenty Nak Muays. These camps are designed to push participants to their limits, with training twice a day, six days a week in the blistering heat of Bangkok. In addition to training, we hosted a variety of activities for everyone, to create a unique and memorable experience for everyone involved. On a different end to hosting these fight camps, Khongsittha was selected as one of the two gyms to be showcased in an independent feature film about Muay Thai. Some incredible footage has been taken in locations like Los Angeles, New York, Santorini in Greece, and Bangkok, Thailand. The film is still being developed, but expect to hear more about it in January, 2018. You can see a small feature of it here on Entertainment Weekly.

Let’s take a look first at the training routine we developed for this camp and feedback from participants.

Training at Khongsittha has been carefully crafted in order to provide our customers with a complete arrangement of conditioning, strength training, technical training, clinching, and sparring time with both trainers and other participants.

Running is an integral part of an Muay Thai training routine, and participants would run between 3-5km on training days, with the feared “10K run” being done every Sunday. These 3-5K runs are led by Khongsittha trainers and our professional fighter, Sueadam “Black Tiger” Khongsittha leads the 10K run. For many, the transition into training twice a day with a run can be a difficult experience. Throughout the entire duration of this fight camp, the team mentality would prove to be useful in order to make sure everyone was pushing themselves to maximum potential.

Our clinching training was considered by many participants to be the most grueling of training days. With over 30 minutes of clinching multiple partners, it quickly becomes a battle of technique, body positioning, and body strength. Each Khongsittha trainer has years of experience in clinching. Shammy Chan of Canada describes clinching at Khongsittha as being “incredibly difficult but rewarding and useful in many situations outside of Muay Thai.”

The technical training done during our fight camp is one of the major reasons Muay Thai practitioners come out to Thailand; to learn techniques passed on from Thai teachers. Being in Thailand, without family, friend, or work responsibilities, it’s much more efficient to absorb all of the technical aspects of Muay Thai. Led by Kru Yuen, a veteran teacher with over 100 professional fights, technique drills at Khongsittha aren’t as physically demanding as the other drills, but are harder to master. Through repetition and hands-on instruction, all of our participants will have increased their technical skills in the ring to use on their training partners back at home.

Sparring during training varies greatly across the world in regards to how hard you’re actually supposed to go. A common rule is to establish with your sparring partner beforehand what you can and can’t do. Our trainers at Khongsittha quickly established that going 50-60% power during sparring would allow you to focus on going through the motions and learning, rather than actually preparing for a fight. Don’t let the idea of sparring in Thailand scare you; every match is monitored by a trainer and if things get out of hand they will step in and make sure no one is uncomfortable while sparring.

Outside of training, we provided a variety of different activities for our camp participants to do. At Khongsittha, we frequently coordinate transportation to stadiums for big fight nights, night markets, noteworthy attractions, and events happening in Bangkok. In January and February, we took groups to the ancient city of Ayutthaya, located about 90 minutes outside of Bangkok. If you’ve ever seen Kickboxer, this is where Jean Claude Van Damme did his infamous training routine amongst the ruins. Other activities included a trip to get Sak Yant, which is a traditional thai tattoo method that involves a long bamboo needle or steel rod used to draw a Buddhist blessing onto your body. Other activities included going to a performance of Ong Bak Live, an exciting, new theatrical show in Bangkok that features incredible acrobatics and fight scenes. There were a few days where trainers and customers decided to get together for an evening barbecue session after training. There’s always something going at Khongsittha, which makes it a unique experience in comparison to other gyms in Bangkok.

From late February to the beginning of March, Khongsittha had the opportunity to be involved with the production of an American, independent feature film about Muay Thai. Shot in locations all over the world, Khongsittha was one of two gyms selected to be showcased within the movie. Featuring some incredible actors, notable figures in Muay Thai, and the GOAT in Muay Thai, it was a great experience. The future of Muay Thai in Thailand is in the hands of gyms that focus on providing excellent customer service in addition to high quality training. We are extremely proud to have been featured in the movie and look forward to its release next January.

The hot season is approaching us in Thailand, and we expect temperatures to be in the high 30 degree celsius range for the next three months. If you’re looking to challenge yourself and increase your Muay Thai skill level, now’s the perfect opportunity. Here’s a look at the camps that we have planned in 2017.