Sasiprapa Gym Review

Sasiprapa gym is one of the big names here in Bangkok and if you have any doubt regarding their ability to produce quality fighters, your concerns can be laid to rest with just a look at one of the multiple trophy displays throughout the gym. Sasiprapa gym earned the “gym of the year” award in 2007 and it currently sits in the top 10 gyms as ranked by Lumpinee stadium. However, with all this prestige, there was a serious lack of students when I went. As a matter of fact, there was only one other “farang” training while I was there and I went for the afternoon session – which is usually the busiest time.

From where I’m staying (central Bangkok in the shopping district), it’s quite the journey to get to Sasiprapa gym. I had to take the sky train, then switch to the subway, then jump into a taxi for another 15 minutes or so. The area where Sasiprapa gym is situated didn’t seem to have any foreigners. At least, not that I saw anyway. When I tried to get a light meal before my workout for some energy, none of the servers spoke any english whatsoever. Luckily, one of the resteraunts had photos of some of the plates on the wall so I was able to just point to what I wanted. So, if you come train at Sasiprapa gym, I suggest you brush up on your Thai a bit before coming.

As soon as I approached Sasiprapa gym, I was immediately greeted by my trainer for the day. Honestly, I don’t remember his name but in all fairness, he forgot my name as well since he’d just yell “you” to get my attention.

Unlike every single Muay Thai workout I’ve ever done in my life, the training session at Sasiprapa gym didn’t begin with skipping. Rather, he just had me perform light, rapid punches on the heavy bag while moving my feet up and down. Punch with the left hand, stomp with the left foot – and vise versa. I remembered seeing Yodsanlkai Fairtex doing it with his trainer so if it’s good enough for Yod – then it’s good enough for me.

After the warm up, he had me move right into padwork. I didn’t really get the chance to stretch which is one thing I didn’t like. The padwork was decent and we spent a lot of time working on blocking, countering and elbow strikes. Actually, throughout the workout, I did A LOT of elbow strikes as you can see from a photo I took about 5 hours after the session..

After the padwork, we did about 5 rounds on the heavy bag but what’s cool is that I had the trainer there watching over me the entire time. I did one round for regular Thai kicks, one round for front kicks, another round strictly for elbows, one for boxing and lastly, a full round dedicated to only low kicks. I was exhausted at this point so to finish up, I just did about 3 sets of narrow grip chin ups for clinch strength. From there, I called it a day and just walked around and snapped some photos and took a video of the place. Here’s a video tour..

Here’s a photo of my trainer for the day. I’m not sure how old he is but I’m sure he’s got a lot of fights under his belt.

So, for my final verdict on Sasiprapa gym – it’s pretty good. You get a lot of attention since there’s certainly no overcrowding and the trainers seem like they legitimately want to help you. There’s plenty of affordable accommodation in the area as the Sasiprapa gym is situated in a predominantly Thai residential area in Bangkok. For me personally, I just prefer not to train in Bangkok due to the dirty air but to each his own. If you’re in the area, Sasiprapa gym is worth checking out.

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Back to Bangkok

So I’ve went from a modest, all-Thai village in Issan to the huge, mega-city that is Bangkok. I arrived here yesterday via a bus from Pattaya that cost me a mere 128 baht (about $4.50) – not bad for a 2 hour ride. To be honest, I really dislike Bangkok. Sure, it has it’s positives. The shopping is incredible and the girls that you see on the sky train in their university uniforms are really, really hot but .. The air here is very dirty and like any big city, the traffic is insane. I spent about an hour in the back seat of a taxi last night to get from Lumpinee stadium back to my hotel near the MBK shopping centre (a ride that without heavy traffic would have taken about 5 minutes).

I went to Lumpinee simply to check out the stadium (I didn’t have the 2300 baht to shell out for a ticket). It just so happened that there was a fight-night and the atmosphere was really live. There’s a bunch of cool Muay Thai shops all around the place and I picked up a pair of “King” MMA shorts for about $15 (I’m not really a big fan of the traditional Muay Thai short-shorts that ride up your leg while you’re doing your hamstring stretches, thus almost putting your nut-sack in display for everyone in the gym to see). Okay, that’s an exaggeration I know, but I just don’t like short-short shorts. I think I’ll get a pair of the longer Thai shorts custom made. I know Scorpion gym will let you customize your order.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand (I got a little side tracked there) – I’m going to Kaewsamrit gym this afternoon. I have no idea to get there but I have the address so I’ll just give it to the taxi driver and a) hope that he doesn’t rip me off and b) hope that he doesn’t simply disregard my desired destination and take me to see a variety of “ping pong shows” and “soapy massage” venues so he can collect a commission. I’m excited about it though. Kaewsamrit won the “gym of the year” award twice (see video to the right) and it’s where former Lumpinee champion Anawut Kaewsamrit still currently trains as well.

As always, I’ll be bringing my camera along so I’ll get a video tour of the place and hopefully, some good footage of the fighters training as well. My plan is to visit Kaewsamrit gym today and perhaps Sasiprapa gym tomorrow. Sasiprapa also has a very good reputation amongst the Muay Thai community for delivering quality training. After Sasiprapa gym tomorrow, I really have no idea where I’ll be going. I might check out Fairtex in Bangplee or I might check out Ingram or Eminent Air here in Bangkok. I might even fly down to Phuket or I might hop a bus back to Pattaya. I honestly have no idea at all.

Anyway, check back within a day or two for the pictures, videos and camp review for Kaewsamrit and in the meantime, check out this video I took of one of the car stores in the Siam Paragon shopping centre. Siam Paragon is certainly the biggest, cleanest and most expensive malls I’ve ever seen in my life..

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE