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**Abe** · 11-14-2005, 11:45 AM

well you're a lucky guy! i'd love to go to thailand.

from my limited personal experience with MT, i'd say you should be expecting alot of cardio, and bruised shins. and the only advise i'm qualified to give is not to quit or get cocky. seen alot of my mates who used to come to training with me not turning up after a few exhausting lessons or getting ahead of themselves after knowing a few good moves. always remember there's someone better than you, but never give up hope on becoming better than them.

goodluck

**Stitch** · 11-14-2005, 04:21 PM

Thanks Abe I really appreciate it!
Honestly Ive never been as excited about getting involved in something as I have with this, so I will not let myself quit!
As far as being cocky thats not my character at all, I know very little about MT and will welcome all advice from anyone.
I guess loadsa running and rowing etc are the best bet then, and hopefully they will sort the rest out over there.

I have started Pilates though, to help with core strength and stretching.

**Ryukyu Damashi** · 11-14-2005, 08:13 PM

Be sure to get some medical insurance, even the bug bites can turn septic in Thailand.

Do lots of running/sprinting, skip rope, do tons of bodyweight conditioning like push ups, pull ups, squats, sit ups, ect...

Check out www.kaewsamrit.com

Kaewsamrit is one of the best gyms in Thailand. They have a Brit on staff who speaks fluent Thai and will help you with anything you need. His name is Rob Cox.

Email him at: kaewsamritgym@yahoo.com

**seppuku** · 11-15-2005, 12:18 PM

only one suggestion. have you ever tried kicking things with your shins? its not nice when you start. dont go kicking lamposts and stuff, but if you can find a punch bag hitting it with your shins is a good idea before you go... like do it from now until you leave. if you can find a thread describving the mechanics of the main kick thatll help, but its mostly the contact thatll help you. otherwise you may want to kick but wont be able to at the start cos your shins hurt like hell whenever they contact something

**Stitch** · 11-16-2005, 06:48 AM

Thanks Ryukyu and seppuku this is great advice. Im gonna go and buy a skip rope today and hopefully a good punch bag at weekend.As you say I will be able to get more out of my time there if Im able to concentrate on technique rather than pain and lack of fitness!
I got a book by Chad Boykin on Muay Thai and it includes conditioning excercises that should be useful.
I dunno about Lanna anymore though, reading some of the threads here I got the impression that it is more suited to fighters looking to hone their techniques rather than start from scratch.I guess Id need more time concentrating on actually learning and being taught the MA than training with already pro/semi pro boxers!That site you posted could be the job Ryukyu!
At the end of the day though it's a great problem to be faced with.....where abouts in Thailand do I want to learn Muay Thai!?

Thanks again!
Stitch.

**EmptyneSs** · 11-16-2005, 07:54 AM

i actually dont reccoment u try hitting bags and whatnot for now. u might develope some bad habits without proper guidance. i say just exercise and do lots of cardio to get in shape for when u go over there.

**seppuku** · 11-17-2005, 11:55 AM

could be merit to that. dont try an techniques at full power either, too easy to hurt yourself if you dont know exactly what youre doing. conditioning of the shins should be taken slow according to almost everyone on here. of course, being hit in the gut lots does help stomach conditioning a lot... ideally you dont want to be winded each hit, but should be feeling it... find someone you trust to help with that one tho. and dont suggest it in public (get weird looks otherwise)
is learning from scratch in thai land a good idea? dont know about the others here, but personally id rather spend a few months in a local gym (if you can find a good one)

also run up hills a lot

**Stitch** · 11-17-2005, 04:05 PM

Thanks for the replies guys!
Going on from EmptyneSs' advice I figured maybe just kicking a bag and bashing my shins a bit with pads and whatnot would be better than trying to actually execute any kind of techniques?
regarding being hit in the stomach, im thinkin maybe get a medicine ball and ask my brother or someone to "gently" swing it into my stomach for a period of time a few nights a week?
Unfortunately seppuku we have no muay thai gyms here and no basic kickboxing gyms either.the best i could find would probably be a weekly 1 hour "cardio" kickboxing class

what a joke lol!
I dont expect to be fighting at any kind of pro or amateur level after only 6 months there, no way no how!It would be insulting to you guys if I did expect that lol!But id love to take part in maybe one or two semi-serious "fights" with my bro or any other beginners over there-that would be a nice highlight on the trip

But to be honest going away for 6 months to concentrate on fitness and as a bonus a MA as impressive as MT is a dream, I gotta do it

Thanks again for the advice guys, it is truely helpful getting any input!

**seppuku** · 11-17-2005, 05:43 PM

good idea with regard to emptyness. try to get your brother to do the same with his shins, itll help no end. find a thread on thigh conditioning as well, its the legs that will hurt the most by far.

medicine balls are so much heavier than i expected... swinging may work, but the dropping onto the stomach from heights could be unwise. im going to try it, but i expect to only try it once this year.

do sit ups... lots of them. properly... imo that means you hook your toes under something, then start off slightly above the ground, pull all the way up, then lean back until your just off the ground. fingers by your temples, arms bent. a line drawn between elbows should be parallel to floor at all times, dont put your hand in front of your ears.

by all means anyone correct the above, but its how i do them and it works for me. just do lots of them

a trip to thailand sounds amazing.. any hope you could give me some idea of the cost? its something i want to do before i leave uni

**Stitch** · 11-19-2005, 09:05 AM

Hey seppuku, i've figured that if I manage to save £400 to live on each month there I could live like a king!Thats all accomodation + food + training with more than enough left over to travel or cover any unexpected costs, i.e. medical needs or new equipment etc.
Therefore I'll probably aim at saving at least £300 per month.
However, this doesn't include the costs of flights there and back-which are the mose expensive part for me.Although depending where you live might be cheaper.£500 return for me roughly.
Try going to http://www.xe.com/ to see how many baht you can get from your currency.Im thinking of bringing over some US dollars though, as these guys really go for it!
To get to the point

I plan to save at least £2100 but ideally £3000.It sounds a lot but for half a year in another country but it works out cheaper than living here!
I hope you get to go though!Good luck and start saving!

BTW-re: the situps, I do a fair few, but Ive started this Pilates class and Ive found the results to be fantastic for my stomach and core strength.You guys ever tried it?

**seppuku** · 11-19-2005, 03:12 PM

that really doesnt sound so bad. damn... that seems like a good idea. spend a while there between terms at uni perhaps. something to save towards...

what exercises do you do in the Pilates class? no classes near me but im always open to new ideas

cheers

**Stitch** · 11-21-2005, 02:32 PM

Hey seppuku sorry for late reply.
Saving for Thailand has really gotten me really excited and I can't wait to go!I suppose I cant recommend it yet cuz I havn't been yet!
Anywho, Pilates has loads of different stretching positions and excercises. Im sure there are a million and one other types of class or whatever that offer the same results but the techniques used in Pilates are very easy to remember and practice anywhere-and very hard work!

If you go to www.menshealth.com or just search for it on google or somethin there are loads of instructions and pictures-all very simple and effective.But as I say, you might already have a similar routine just as effective, but otherwise I hope this helps!Great for core strength!

**seppuku** · 11-21-2005, 03:19 PM

cheers man. no worries about late reply, im not too good at replying rapidly most of the time so i really cant object

ill run the search... anything that helps is a good thing. maybe ill find something to help me survive hooks to the ribs thrown by someone rather stronger than me lol... possible...

im sure it'll be amazing in thailand. ill look into that in detail as soon as im done sorting out various university stuff which seems to be taking up all my time atm.
best of luck to you friend

**aseepish** · 11-21-2005, 06:34 PM

I was at Lanna this summer for two months. I definitely recommend it! There isn't very much new information there (Andy doesn't have time to update the site), but Dave Tew's page http://muaythailand.com has a TON of info. He has a forum dedicated to people planning on going to Thailand (and to Lanna specifically) to train.

The reason why people say that Lanna is a place for more seasoned fighters is that no-one is going to hold your hand throughout your training. It's up to you to get up in the morning and go running, it's up to you to do the bag work. You have to be a bit aggressive to get hold of a trainer to work the pads with you. No-one will scold you for standing around doing nothing.

That said, for your first week or so, Andy (the manager-trainer) will help you a lot. Just tell him you want to work the pads with him.

Don't worry about shin-conditioning - I'd work on cardio before going. You'll wear shin-guards when sparring. The heavy bags you'll be kicking vary in their hardness. Some are quite soft, others feel like concrete. After a couple of months your shins will be conditioned.

As far as fighting is concerned, I'm sure you'll be in a better position to decide what you want to do a couple of months into your training. There aren't any amateur fights though. But if you're interested, Andy can set up a fight for you.

400 Pounds a month??? 400 Pounds would probably last you three months. I guess it depends how poshly you want to live. I don't think you need to bring US dollars. None of the British boxers had any trouble changing money in Chiang Mai. I guess if you budget for it you'll be happy when you have a ton of money left at the end of your trip.

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