Muay Thai Training in Bangkok

A shot with Tom, one of the Muay Thai instructors
at Chang Action in Bangkok,
who is also a TKD blackbelt. 

So in recent months I’ve been flying back and forth to Thailand to work on the pre-production side of an international Thai action film. 

While the work has been really cool, and I’m seriously digging it, I’m not actually moving all that much while I am there. That combined with the fact that I’m working with an incredibly generous producer who loves to share the richness of Thai delicacies, the fact of the matter is, these trips haven7t just been hard on the stamina, they have been hard on the waistline, haha. 

As I was out there and off diet for a full week this time, near the end, I was really starting to see it, so I thought it best to not just take in the local food cuisine, but the martial arts cuisine as well. 

The venue of choice was a Muay Thai gym called “Chang Action” near the place I was staying (at the suggestion of the producer). 

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. As I was pretty out of shape, and had never practiced Muay Thai before, on the first day, I tried to quietly come in to join the class in the back being as innocuous as I could. At which point my boss walked in and said in Thai. “Hey everyone. This is Chuck. He’s a big-time taekwondo champion from America.” There goes that. 

We started off with conditioning and light stamina work, which was totally manageable, and then after that, I was asked to go 4 rounds of target kicking. For anyone who has never fought before, even pro taekwondo fights are 3 3-minute rounds. 4 3-min  (especially when you are out of shape) was going to be exhausting as hell. To make matters worse, for whatever reason after all the conditioning was finished, everyone else left, leaving me alone with all of the coaches. 

Still, at that point, the challenge had been issued. And it was show my worth or look like a scrub, so I went full tilt. It was exhausting, but as I learned from TKD fighting, no matter how much it hurts, you have to show them you are in control, so I tried my best to do just that. Got through it and was just about to let out a big sigh of relief when the coach said “Hey you. One more round.” And damn did he push. By the knee drills at the end of the last round, I was completely exhausted. 

At that point though, I could tell that it was because he actually liked me, and it was that coaches “love tough” kinda thing, so it was actually really good. I quite liked the fact that they had the attitude of "This is how we train. Keep up." As opposed to sugar coating it or making it easier, the responsibility of being on top of your game stayed on your shoulders. Don't know if that is a Muay Thai thing, if that is because all the teachers are young guys, or if that is a Thai thing, but it seemed to be pervasive for everyone regardless of athletic background or age. And it was shocking to see regardless of the aforementioned factors, how people did just that. Made me think, "Damn, I need to push my TKD students way harder." haha. All the while remaining jovial, and lighthearted in a very Thai kind of way. 

During the session, I was also shocked at how many high kicks and spin kicks they asked me to do; but later on I found out why. The owner of the gym also ran a taekwondo club, and half of his fighters were also TKD blackbelts. 

Overall, I was really really happy to have been welcomed (and respectfully) put through the ringer at their gym, even though I was a foreigner, and from a different background. (By the end of my second session, they actually asked me to teach them some joint-locking) I remember listening to one fighter talk about fighting and training with Thais on their home turf, and he said it’s just like being a houseguest. If you are polite, and respectful, you are welcome. If you are obnoxious, arrogant, and self-righteous, you are not. I tried the former and completely found that to be the case. My gut feeling through, is that that is the same pretty much everywhere. :)