Damian Mavis
Master Black Belt
Oh my god. Well I just spent the past week at the Fairtex Muay Thai camp here in Thailand and it was pretty awesome. You wake up at about 6 am and run around 10k to 16k and then train for 2 hours with the fighters and the trainers from 8:30 to 10:30 am. After that it is breakfast (the food is really good) and then 5 hours of free time. They dont train during the hottest hours of the day. Then at 3:30 pm we run again and then do 2 more hours of training. Then it's dinner at about 6pm and then free time again. I was going to bed at about 8pm and waking up at about 6 am.
The hardest part of the training is the pad work for 4 or 5 rounds in a row with only 30 seconds rest between them (each round is 5 minutes long) If you push and like to hit hard like me it can kill you. By the 4 th round I'm ready to lie down and go to sleep but the trainer is still throwing kicks at you and commands for different strikes. The Thai fighters around me are machines..... they dont seem to tire and go full power nonstop for many rounds. If you saw them in action you would be awed. Every single trainer is an ex professional fighter with hundreds of fights under their belts and almost all of them are younger than me. They dont look any different from the current fighters. Other than pad drills there is focus mitt training, sparring, stand up grappling, heavy bag work, and all kinds of other fun and painful drills they come up with.
I'm sad to say I accidentally knocked out one of my trainers during a sparring session. He was being very careful not to hurt me (by not hurt I mean not break any bones or give me a concussion) and I was trying out the way they do the roundhouse kick at Fairtex and I caught him right on the temple. He went down on the canvas with his eyes rolling back into his head but he got up and shook it off within a few seconds. Tough guy. Normally I have great control for a Tae Kwon Do style roundhouse but the way they do theirs at Fairtex is a little trickier and sneaky..... so I was lacking a bit on the control.....
The compound at Fairtex is beautiful. There all kinds of exotic birds just wandering around the grounds and many tanks of interesting fish and little cages for small animals I have never seen before. There is even a wonderfully cool pool to lounge in during the afternoons. It's freaking hot there, but I like the heat.
I will hopefully have some pictures up on my website soon for those of you interested in seeing them. I will post again soon I hope, I think this upcoming week we are going to a different Muay Thai camp.
Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
The hardest part of the training is the pad work for 4 or 5 rounds in a row with only 30 seconds rest between them (each round is 5 minutes long) If you push and like to hit hard like me it can kill you. By the 4 th round I'm ready to lie down and go to sleep but the trainer is still throwing kicks at you and commands for different strikes. The Thai fighters around me are machines..... they dont seem to tire and go full power nonstop for many rounds. If you saw them in action you would be awed. Every single trainer is an ex professional fighter with hundreds of fights under their belts and almost all of them are younger than me. They dont look any different from the current fighters. Other than pad drills there is focus mitt training, sparring, stand up grappling, heavy bag work, and all kinds of other fun and painful drills they come up with.
I'm sad to say I accidentally knocked out one of my trainers during a sparring session. He was being very careful not to hurt me (by not hurt I mean not break any bones or give me a concussion) and I was trying out the way they do the roundhouse kick at Fairtex and I caught him right on the temple. He went down on the canvas with his eyes rolling back into his head but he got up and shook it off within a few seconds. Tough guy. Normally I have great control for a Tae Kwon Do style roundhouse but the way they do theirs at Fairtex is a little trickier and sneaky..... so I was lacking a bit on the control.....
The compound at Fairtex is beautiful. There all kinds of exotic birds just wandering around the grounds and many tanks of interesting fish and little cages for small animals I have never seen before. There is even a wonderfully cool pool to lounge in during the afternoons. It's freaking hot there, but I like the heat.
I will hopefully have some pictures up on my website soon for those of you interested in seeing them. I will post again soon I hope, I think this upcoming week we are going to a different Muay Thai camp.
Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
