Muay thai boxers and schooling

In most Thai gyms they have a group of young boxers who live in the gym and go to school.  It varies from gym to gym what they do about schooling.
Some gyms let the boys decide if they go to school or not, some encourage it, some .... not so much
 I'm going to be talking about a gym called Galaxy and also Krungthep thonburi gym.( they are in one place for the meantime while a new gym is built)

One of my favorite boxers at this gym is Taksin Lek

He is 17 years old an amazing fighter has more than 200 fights, and has been fighting since he was 8 years old.

He has such a strong clinch on him .. he can out clinch the bigger guys.

I really like this boy, hes respectful, talented and smart too.. and he still goes to school . 

The van takes 3 or 4 or them to school every day... driven by the trainer.

They start training at 6 with a run and normal training, and they are finished in time to shower and go to school.

there are also guys that don't go to school anymore. when I ask them what they are going to do when they finish fighting they shrug their shoulders.

Life in Bangkok

I have been living in Bangkok for about 4 months now (after living in Phuket), I am enjoying the change, apart from one thing ...THE TRAFFIC.
..
Cars everywhere, motor bikes going left and right, buses speeding along, taxis looking for people to pick up, police looking to make money.. its exciting, and also so draining.

Parking in impossible, or expensive and the BTS (sky train) and MRT (underground) doesn't reach out of the city centre.

so I ride a motor bike , yes it may be dangerous but I am yet to have a bad accident, I think party because I've been hooning around on a motor bike for as long as i can remember in New Zealand.

Not much has been happening the last few weeks.. training BJJ and MMA with Ben stark and Emac and new trainer Dimitris Tsitos, and Muay Thai at galaxy.

I would like to say congrats to my friends  JJ ambrose for his win by way of Guillotine  choke over Brian Warren, also Adam kayom for his win in One fc this past weekend.

Its been a long couple of weeks getting back into muay thai training... this guy is one tough guy ..... even the big champions are scared when its time to hit pads with him. he also likes to be kicked in the head,

trainer from hell

Next is my friend Ekarit krungthepthonburi my favourite fighter at this gym.. his face is so serious when training.. out of training hes real funny.

So apart from Muay thai i been training bjj /mma at EMAC with  Ben Stark.

 Im still not loving the Gi.... but hating it less each day , and with the new schedule I get to do NO_GI straight after GI.

Back to Muay Thai

Firstly, New year I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday... for me i'm back into training Muay thai everyday at a gym called Galaxy but now its also known as kang gilar Thonburi, its about 30 mins from my home and ill train Pure muay Thai there every morning.

Its not the flashest of gyms, it doesn't have state of the art facilities, or fancy gear... or even decent changing rooms.. but it has awesome trainers and champions to train along side.
Yesterday i did some clinching.. got completely overpowered by a fighter with 150 fights.. current #2 Lumpini champ. Taksin Lek.

So its the normal drills, padwork, bagwork, knees and i do 2 rounds of boxing too. sparring and sit ups.. i dont do my running at the gym i do it on the treadmill in the gym in my apartment.

Then In the evening I do BJJ or MMA... with Ben at http://www.emacthailand.com/2009/

Muay Thai + ?? =MMA

Brazilian Jiu jitsu

So , after doing muay Thai .. and deciding to cross to the other side (being MMA) i had to include a new aspect to my training, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Brazillian Jiu Jitsu or BJJ
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (/dʒuːˈdʒɪtsuː/; Portuguese: [ˈʒiw ˈʒitsu], [ˈʒu ˈʒitsu], [dʒiˈu dʒiˈtsu]) (BJJ) is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was formed fromKosen Judo (newaza) ground fighting fundamentals that were taught to Carlos Gracie by Mitsuyo Maeda. Brazilian jiu-jitsu eventually came to be its own art through the experimentation's, practices, and adaption from the Judo knowledge of Carlos and Helio Gracie, who then passed their knowledge onto their family.

So I trained twice a day under Fernando Maccachero (4th degree Black belt) and wictor Svensson(purple belt)  at Tiger Muay Thai.

Wresting classes by Joe boxer and Roger Huerta

Rodger Huerta http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Roger-Huerta-10089

 Joe boxer (all american wrestler) 

And now I am in Bangkok im Training Bjj with Ben Stark (brown belt) at Emac 

So with all this combined cross training you get MMA.

What I actually do for a living.

Some friends have asked me what I actually do for a living, and what i do each day..... well I will explain and i'm sure my life isn't as easy as you think it is.

For the last 3 years of my life I have trained and fought professional Muay Thai, that is the hardest training I have ever done, the life is hard and to do well in this sport you need to live and train like a Thai fighter.

There is the running, running sux .... but if you want to fight Muay Thai, you gotta run.

The training, starts at 8am ( each gym varies) and usually starts with a run , pad work, rounds on the bag, sparring, clinching drills, sit ups and press ups and lots of other tortures. 

Then you go home shower, rest and do it all again in the afternoon.

Then there is the weight loss, sometimes you need to make weight for a fight, you have to starve yourself and dehydrate yourself , sometimes  even using an I.v to re hydrate in time to fight.

But then its the fun part, the fight... I cant explain the feeling of when I go into the ring.. its the most amazing high , its similar to going on a roller coaster.

After you have had many fights your body is kind of programmed to do what you need to do and that's where all the training pays off.

Sometimes you get bruised or cut, sometimes you fight your hardest and loose, you just have to get up brush your self off and get ready to go back to training to win the next fight.

I still love Muay Thai, but the money is poor, and the training is hard, and there is less opportunities for women to fight in Thailand.

 

The weight loss begins

Its been about 4 weeks since my last MMA fight, I am 9 kg up on what I weighed.... sigh.. so let the weight loss game begin.
So i start with lowering the amount of carbs going in and more cardio ( running or biking) .
Doing this really sux as i have enjoyed eating chocolate, cake ,sweet drinks ( my worst vice) and lots of anything i can get my hands on.