Lex Muay Thai Review

So, me and my buddy were driving around on a motorbike looking for the Chay Yai gym. Having just arrived here a few days ago (and not knowing my way around), getting lost was inevitable as we were searching for an area that isn’t even listed on the maps that are passed out at most of the tourism booths throughout the city. We took a wrong turn somewhere (or several) and ended up at a cool temple (in the picture to the left).

From there, we asked some locals for directions and due to the language barrier, they couldn’t really get their point across so rather than giving us verbal directions to follow, one Thai guy jumped on his motorbike and guided us to a camp that was a couple blocks away. It wasn’t Chay Yai, but at this point, we didn’t care anymore as we just wanted to train.

When we walked in, we were told to warm up and that the head trainer would be there shortly. Apparently there was some sort of fight in town and he went to try to mediate things. At this point, the gym was really quiet and following our warm up, my buddy started his pad rounds. While he was doing that, I was just waiting for my turn as they only had the 1 pad holder.

At about the midway point of my friends pad-work session, Lex got back and so did about 8 of his students. Lex (the owner of the camp), then strapped up and hopped in the ring to finish off the rounds for my friend. Once he was worked to complete exhaustion, I got called in. Here’s a brief clip of me training with Lex (note the sick graffiti in the background)..

He was a good trainer and we both got as many rounds as we could handle. As for the actual students/fighters that were training there, the skill level seemed pretty low to be honest. For the most part, it was backpacker-types that were likely passed a brochure somewhere along the moat. That being said, I was only there for the one afternoon so that’s certainly not enough time to judge the quality of the students that roll through the gym on a more regular basis.

As I mentioned, me and my friend both got more than enough pad time from Lex himself and the atmosphere within the gym (with the graffiti and whatnot) was pretty cool. Another plus is that you can jog past the temples to start your training and in addition to the scenery, Chiang Mai has really clean air (unlike Bangkok).

I didn’t stay there long enough to really get a feel for what the training would be like for someone training there on a semi-permanent basis. From my initial perspective, it had its positives (nice running path with temples, cool atmosphere, good trainer) and its negatives (very few trainers, low skill level amongst the students). I didn’t see any on-site accommodation but in Chiang Mai, you can find a room to rent for about 100 usd per month and there’s plenty of rooms available so finding a place to chill and sleep shouldn’t be a problem.

It’s certainly worth checking out if you’re in Chiang Mai but if the purpose of your trip is purely about training, then there are much better gyms (throughout Phuket, Bangkok and Pattaya) that you should base yourself out of. It was a good overall experience though.

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

Settled In At Patong Gym

So I’ve been here for a couple weeks now and I’m finally getting back into the routine of things. The week of debauchery has ended, the friends that I flew down with have gone back home (one of which vows to be back for good in March), and I’ve got myself settled in here at the Patong Boxing Gym.

I’ve trained at the Patong Boxing Gym before. I even wrote up a review on the place, but as you could tell by the review, I really like it here so whatever, I figured I’d stop by once again. I’m staying on-site at the camp this time, which is a nice change of pace because it’s so peaceful up here.

Last year I was staying in town and there was way too many distractions (girls, nightclubs) down there so it’s easy to get sidetracked from the training. Up here, it feels like you’re a world away from all that but when you want to go into town for some shopping or to hit the clubs on a Saturday night, you just have to go down the hill – which takes a mere 5 minutes via motorbike.

And speaking of going “down the hill” on a motorbike, I had my first crash tonight. Me and another guy staying at the camp wanted to head into town. He wanted to go see his new love interest (more on that later) and I wanted to get a sub from subway to switch things up a bit (I’m really getting sick of eating rice for every meal).

We walked over to the convenience store next to the singpatong gym – which is where we usually get a taxi – only this time, the big SUV that they usually drive us in wasn’t available. As an alternative, he suggested that he give us a lift down the hill on his motorbike. Three guys; one motorbike – it didn’t seem like a good idea at the time but then again, it didn’t seem like a bad enough idea to prompt us to walk down the hill either.

So we hopped on and since I was quick to call “giving” not “receiving”, my friend was in the middle and I was sitting at the back. It was fine at the start. A little awkward sure, but we were getting from point A to point B and that was good enough. We made it to “the hill” (perhaps the steepest in Patong) and we weren’t going that slow either.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the driver pumped the breaks a bit (perhaps because we were going a little too fast) and when he did that, he completely lost control of the bike and I didn’t even have time to yell “oooooh sheiiiiiiiiiit” before I was sliding down the concrete.

Immediately after it happened, I stood up and walked over to the side of the road. My right leg was in pain, but aside from that, nothing immediately stood out as being injured.

EDIT: It’s the following day now and my right shoulder is messed up. I must have done something to my rotator cuff because it hurts when I elevate my arm upwards and I can’t throw a punch. I had to skip training today, which sucks because I could hear everyone else training from my room. When I’m healthy, there are times where I just feel like relaxing and taking the day off, but at least I like having the option to train. Hearing screams of exertion, followed by the sound of shins cracking into the pads was pretty discouraging knowing that I couldn’t throw on my gear and head down to do the same. Hopefully I’ll be back at it in a few days.

And Speaking Of The Training..

When I was able to train, things were going well. My cardio is still shit (with no signs of it getting any better either), but my trainer is awesome – and that’s really all it comes down too. The training here is all one on one so you get a lot of individual attention and since my trainer is really good, I couldn’t ask for more.

The gym is located on a really quiet, yet scenic road so I usually start my training sessions off with a run. I grabbed my camera the other day and filmed a bit so you guys can see. It was about to rain though and it looks much nicer when the sun is out – especially at the peak of one of the hills where you get a view of the Andaman Sea.

I was wearing my Ipod as I was filming that so I only noticed how hard I was breathing when I re-watched the video. Like I said, my cardio is embarrassing – which brings me to the next couple videos. My friend filmed these about a week and a half ago so I figured I’d post them up. Notice how neither of the videos elapses the .20 second mark? That’s because after that initial 20 seconds, I’m usually hunched over trying to catch my breath. Ah well, it’s a starting point.

The guy that’s holding the pads is the great trainer I was talking about above. He’s actually fighting one of the trainers from Tiger Muay Thai in a couple days so I’ll try to post up some video footage of that.

A Story in Development

Alright, so if you’ve been following these entries for a while, I’m sure you know by now that I tend to get myself into dramatic situations with some of the local girls. I mean, there was the “fatal attraction” entry where a girl named Fon threatened my life and balcony hopped into my room one night. Then of course there was the “trouble in paradise” entry, which is actually the most read entry of the entire training journal – but I won’t bother summarizing that one, you can just read it for yourself if you haven’t already.

Anyway, with this being my third trip here, I’ve finally come to understand how things work and I intend on using my knowledge to ensure that things go smoothly and I avoid the type of drama that I encountered during my first couple trips. After all, I like it here in Patong and I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder for vengeful girls whenever I leave my room.

Luckily for my readers there’s a Thailand rookie here with me who seems to be making all those highly entertaining mistakes so I won‘t have too. He’s from Canada as well (about a 2 hour drive from where I live) and he’s started what promises to be a long and meaningful relationship with a Thai bargirl (sense the sarcasm there?).

What was supposed to be a drunken one night stand on a Saturday night has, at the time of this writing, developed into a 12 day whirlwind romance – at least in his mind. What he doesn’t understand is that this girl has come to Patong from Issan to work, earn money and provide for her family. That’s where her priorities lye and those priorities aren’t going to change.

That being said, he’s not paying her and she’s not going into work. So, either she has a lot of money as it is (in which case she wouldn’t be working in the bars) or she’s “working” him in some way or another. When you first speak with the bargirls, they ask you a series of questions..

1) “What’s your name?”
2) “Where you from?”
3) “How long you stay?”
4) “You come Thailand before?”
5) “What you work in *insert country here*?”

Friendly conversation? Could be. But perhaps it’s more than that. Perhaps they’re sizing us up with these questions and what they really mean is..

1) Just asking your name, not important, but they won’t remember if you ask them 10 min. later.
2) Are you from a desirable country?
3) Is there enough time to make you fall in love OR How long can I get money out of you for?
4) Are you a newbie? Because newbie’s are easy pickings.
5) Do you have “big money”?

Now, he’s from Canada, he’s never been here before, he’s just arrived and he’s staying for half a year; that has got to be a quality score of at least 98/100 with the bargirls.

The first girl he picked up immediately tried to move herself into his room and came on pretty strong with her intentions. So strong in fact, that he had to kick her out of his room and at 4 in the morning, she was running around the camp, banging on peoples doors and causing a big scene.

His current girl pulled the same thing, and by day 3, she had moved her laptop and wardrobe up to his room. He’s kept her around, so I guess he likes her, but I just don’t see this ending well. Even on the off chance that her intentions are not in the least bit money oriented and she genuinely just wants to spend time with him without any monetary compensation, he has the intention of being a “butterfly” (term for a player here) behind her back, and I see the potential for that to blow up in his face – especially considering the fact that she has already told him straight up that if he wants to change girls she’ll cut his dick off and kill him (she said this while wielding a knife as she was cutting up some fruit).

All signs with this point to disaster and I’m not the only one to warm him about this sort of thing. He’s got all the right advice, but he just chooses not to listen. It’s like we’ve all touched a hot burner on an oven, got burnt, warned him not to touch it himself because it’s hot, and he’s ignoring our advice and reaching out for it anyway.

I guess there’s nothing else I can do now other than observe and report the seemingly inevitable, drama-filled conclusion to the story. He’s been missing a lot of training sessions as well, but while he’s been hurting his chances of making it to Lumpinee stadium, he’s been dramatically increasing his chances of becoming the welterweight champion of the USC – the ultimate snuggling championships.

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

RMB Gym Review

I needed to get at least a few workouts in during our classy week in Pattaya and I wanted to try something new. I had already visited Fairtex, Scorpion and Sityodtong during my last trip so I decided to check out the RMB gym since I had heard good things.

It was a little tough to find since the website says that it’s located on soi 7 and when we went there, we found nothing but bars and bargirls. After asking around a bit, we realized that we were on the “wrong” soi 7 so we hopped onto a baht bus and the driver brought us directly to the gym, which as it turns out, is located around the big C.

Anyway, we walked in, paid the 300 baht for the day (it’s 4000 baht per month) and started to warm up by skipping and hitting the bags. I was eventually called into the ring by one of the trainers and he said his name was “Ekapol”.

I didn’t recognize him at the time, but I was familiar with the name. “Juke Ekapol” used to work at Scorpion gym and he has an insane record of 317 wins and only 19 losses. He’s a former Lumpinee stadium champion as well – at least that’s what it says here anyway.

Aside from the fact that I’m out of shape and got tired so quickly, the workout itself was great. I would have been given a full 5 rounds of padwork (if I could handle it) and I would have had the option to either spar or do clinching after that as well.

I trained at RMB twice and got a different trainer each time – both of which were awesome pad holders. Here’s a short video of me hitting the pads on my second visit there..

As you can probably tell, I’m out of shape but that’s because I wasn’t training the past 6 months while I was back in Canada. So, I’ll consider that video to be “starting point documentation” so I can monitor my progress. I’ll put up a more detailed review of the RMB gym once I spend a little more time there and get a better feel for the place. So far so good though.

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