Bangkok Blogger|Tales from Thailand

When I did a previous post on Bangkok Muay Thai gyms I wasn’t aware of the Petch Yin Dee Muay Thai Gym. I recently saw it when I was passing by in a taxi. The gym is near the Lumpinee Muay Thai stadium and looks pretty good from the outside as you can see in and view the ring and weight training equipment. I didn’t have time to go in and check it out so if you’ve trained there or are planning to check it out let us know what you think.

They have a website but its in Thai although they do have an active Facebook page.

• Website: http://pydacademy.com/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001519586036
• Mobile: 848999088

This Friday (26 November 2010) is the 3rd Bangkok Fight Night at the Bangkok British Club.   I’m told there will be about 10 fights on the night with fighters from around the world taking part.  Quite a few of them are training at the Fighting Spirit Muay Thai gym in Silom, Bangkok and there is a mixture of Thais and farang fighting on the night.

Tickets start at 800 baht and there is an optional sit down meal on the night too.

There is also the Ploenchit Fair AKA the British Fair the following day at the Shrewsbury International School down by the river near Silom.  So if you are feeling home sick or want a thoroughly British weekend then this one’s for you!

• Bangkok British Club
• Fighting Spirit Muay Thai Gym, Bangkok

Seeing as Thailand is the home of Muay Thai and Bangkok is the capital of Thailand you’d be forgiven for thinking the place would be over run with Muay Thai, or Thai Boxing gyms.  But from my experience in the city this is not quite the case.  But if you are looking to train in Muay Thai in Bangkok there are a few decent options available to you.

• Boxer Rebellion. This place offers much more than just Muay Thai so it is a good place to go if you want to combine fighting styles or try out a few other disciplines.  They also do Western or normal boxing classes here too. Boxer Rebellion, Bangkok, is found in a tower block on one of the streets coming off of Sukhumvit: soi 13 to be precise.  They have taken over a few offices on one of the floors which have been converted into gyms with padded floors and all the relevant equipment such as punching bags and pads.  Classes run from the afternoon into the evening during the week and on Saturday afternoons and the nearest BTS is Nana on the Sukhumvit line.  When I went the instructor was farang and the small class learning Muay Thai were also farang.
  http://boxer-rebellion.net/index.php
• Bangkok Fight Club. Like Boxer Rebellion the Bangkok Fight Club Muay Thai gym is also on Sukhumvit but a bit further up on Sukhumvit soi 55 AKA soi Thong Lor and the nearest BTS is Thong Lor.  The Bangkok Fight Club also offers classes in MMA and BBJ so you can combine styles and like Boxer Rebellion the gym is located in a tower block with one of the suites turned into a fighting gym.  Classes start at 6.30pm throughout the week.  When I dropped by the teacher of the Muay Thai class was a Thai fella and the class was a mixture of farang men and women with a few Thais there too.
  http://www.bangkokfightclub.com/
• Fighting Spirit Gym. This place is different to Boxer Rebellion and the Fight Club in that it offers accommodation and is outside rather than in an office block.  Due to its location it is much bigger and has a full size ring as well as fitness equipment and free weights.  You can either chose to stay at the gym or just come for a workout on a drop in basis.  When I popped by for a look around I found out the place is run by an Aussie guy and has three Thai trainers on the staff to put you through your paces.  Despite being outdoors it doesn’t get unbearably hot during a workout as you might expect in Bangkok and there are showers and changing facilities there for you to use.  Fighting Spirit is location on Silom road between soi 9 and soi 11 and the nearest BTS is probably Sala Daeng or Chong Nonsi.
  http://www.fightingspiritgym.com/

Some of the Fitness First gyms and California Wow fitness centres around Bangkok also offer Muay Thai classes but I haven’t been able to check any of these out yet.  There is also a Muay Thai place near Khao San road called Vorapin Gym Muay Thai School which  is popular.

If you know of any more places to train in Muay Thai in Bangkok let me know.

Muay Thai in Bangkok Muay Thai is the Thai version of kickboxing which is very popular in Bangkok and throughout Thailand. There are matches on a few times a week at Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok but I have yet to attend one although it is on my list of things to do.

Before coming to Bangkok I did a bit of regular kickboxing and then a bit of MMA which mixed BJJ and Muay Thai but I only attended a few classes of this. One of the things I wanted to do when coming to Thailand was to take Muay Thai classes. After looking for some classes online I finally found two clubs that were easy to get to and ran classes rather than camps. Most places charge about 400 – 500 baht a session (£8-£10) which is about the same as back home in London. I was hoping learning Muay Thai would be cheaper in Thailand but like most things it is not. One of the clubs was nearer to me but was outdoors and in this humidity I don’t think I’d last more than five minutes so I opted for the other one a bit further away in Sukhumvit. It teaches many other styles of fighting but as I am in Thailand I opted for the Muay Thai. The classes run three times a week and I expect I will go just twice a week at first. It was a good beginner group although it appeared most of the others were more experience in fighting than me. The first session was good fun although very tiring and very hot. The air con was on but I was dripping in sweat! The next session was a little more hardcore and we did some clinch work which isn’t covered in regular kickboxing at all. This killed my neck and after the session I hobbled home a broken man vowing never to return. I didn’t attend any sessions this week as I am still recovering but am planning to go back next week. One thing I heave learnt is that western kickboxing doesn’t even compare to Thai kickboxing!

There are lots of Muay Thai camps you can stay at if you are thinking of coming to Thailand to learn Muay Thai and immerse yourself in the eat, train, sleep culture and these are spread out all over the country. You can find out more about the places to train on this website:

If you are looking for training equipment have a look at this website: MMA Gloves

This website has a list of places to train Muay Thai in Thailand: http://muaythailand.com/