Of course you should train all the time to be in a state of basic fitness and have a good foundation in general conditioning. But when you are training for a fight, you better train hard. Unless you want to have a very hard fight. This slogan is also applicable on the rest of life, whether it is in business, sports or whatever. It actually says that your preparation determines the outcome. So prepare very hard and the thing you are practising for will eventually be easier than you thought because you went to a very thorough preparation.

There are several aspects in training hard that will make the fight easy. First of all, you train hard, so you become strong physically what prepares you for the hard fight. Secondly, you learn in the hard training to endure hardship and overcome difficulties mentally. Don’t quit in the training, take the punches, the moaning of your tired muscles, the aching bruises that you have all over your body.

If you quit in your preparation or take it easy, there is almost a certainty that you will not go all the way when it is time for the fight. Make the training so hardcore that the fight will feel like a walk in the park. Metaphorically that is. I never been in a fight that felt like a walk in the park.

That’s why it is essential for you to give everything you got in your preparation phase. Take this as a guideline through your life, preparation is half the result. And if you will not succeed, you know that you did everything in your power but at that moment in your life, it wasn’t enough.

So you will come back, train even harder, prepare better, give even more than you did last time. Never give in, never give up. Endure the pain, it is only temporary. Train hard and the guarantee is that your fight will be much easier than if you train a little. Better to have trained so much that you win easy and then move on to bigger events. There is never waste in hard training.

There is also never a guarantee for you to win, but wouldn’t you rather go out giving everything you got, until the last drop of energy in your body gets pushed into the last punch so you can honestly say that you fought until you were completely empty? Let me finish with an inspiring quote from an inspirational man, named Jim Rohn: “Don’t join an easy crowd, you won’t grow. Go where the expectations are high and where you have to stretch to reach your goals. Set your goals high, for what it will make of you to achieve it”.

In strenght and peace my friends,

Signing off,

MTD

I myself have got some pretty nasty experiences with injuries. I bruised my ribs once in the first round of a 8 men tournament, I did won the fight but in the fight after that, I got a knee strike on the same ribs so I couldn’t continue. I think I bruised my toes like a hundred times during training, not even to say anything about my shins! But this must all sound very familiair to you. For a long time the worst injury I ever faced was the time I seriously bruised my ribs. This caused me to do nothing for six weeks, or at least do nothing for three weeks and train easy for another three.

It’s no good sitting at home doing nothing, even when you know you have to do nothing or face more time doing nothing. When I had a fight in Eindhoven, somewhere in the southern part of Holland, I broke my forearm in the first round. I suspect there was already a little tear in it from my friend from the gym. He likes to do jumping spinning  kicks to the rib section and I tend to block it with my forearm. By the way, the guy weighs abiut 110 kg. That’s right.

Anyway, when I just started the first round, the other guy, who was a southpaw, kicked a lot with his left leg to my body. As I used to do, I caught the kick on my arm and countered with a right straight punch. This worked out a couple of times. But at one point I noticed that I punched him straight to the temple and nothing happened. Further examing myself, I noticed I couldn’t make a fist, I was hitting him with something that can only be described as a hand like a dead fish. Feeling no pain at the time, I could not figure out why my hand did not obey my command to clench to a fist. I fought a half minute more but was only occupied in my mind with my hand, I thought it could be broken. I signaled my trainer and pointed at my arm. At that point the referee asked what was going on. I explained my hand wasn’t working and he gave a time out to have it checked out by the doctor. He said probably nothing was broken but I could better go to the hospital to be sure. My hand was still not reacting very much. The fight was stopped in the first round.

That sucked real hard. I was the main event of the evening, waited whole day for this and after two minutes, it was over. Damn! We decided to go by the hospital to be sure and have some photos taken from the right forearm. After the first results came back, they told me my arm was broken in half. It wasn’t a ‘clean break’ so it got worse. They had to perform chirurgy to set the bone and put some piece of metal in it attached with screws. And so they did. Finally when I was home after staying a day in the hospital, my cast was really tight til the point I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore. Time to call the doctor, who oreder me straight back into the hospital, cut open my cast and told me my arm was swollen so much that they might have to perform another operation, just to release the fluid. Luckily it did not got this point. I stayed with my forearm high in the sky hoping the fluid would come down by itself and every half hour the doctors would come and check just to see if they need to cut the arm open again.

The following days I sat at home with my arm in bandages and feeling sorry for myself. I never had to face this before. When you are used to training almost every day and suddenly do nothing at all anymore, you fall into a hole. I love to work out, go to the gym, sweat like a pig and come home all beat (sometimes literally). Muay Thai is fighting in the ring according to certain rules. Mentally it is a challenge as well as it is physically. The training process you put your body through prepares it for the upcoming fight. Due to hard training you can strengthen your body, sharpen your reflexes and improve your skills. In fact it is through hard training that you damage your body and because of good rest and nutrition you become stronger.

It is harder to become stronger mentally. There is no such thing is a mental gym. The only way you can achieve mental toughness is through overcoming obstacles and suffer disappointments. When you get a rough time mentally and overcome this, your mind has just become stronger. A certain test for your mental strength is when you suffer an injury. Expecially if you have to get a lot of rest and you are used to exercising on a daily basis, it can be hard on you.

Let me return to the story I was telling. I was sitting at home every day cursing my arm and feeling sad. This was hard on me and I got more and more restless. Now was time to show mental toughness and it was sure I could use it. However, I got very impatient and couldn’t wait to get back to fighting or at least to training. This led to me going to train earlier than I was supposed to. I went to France for a while to do some training and as this was planned for months already, I didn’t wanted to change it. Now I got to training there and even when I felt pain in my arm, I didn’t stop. I was really forcing it, thinking the pain would pass.

But it didn’t. When I got back in Holland and went to the Hospital for another checkup, they saw that it was broken again and I had to go with my arm in the cast again. This time six weeks straight while using a device called a bone stimulator. This worked and after this time I learned to be a bit more patient. My arm is back in shape but the scar remains and it always remebers me that I have to take my periods of rest to get stronger. You rest to come back and fight even harder. Remember that.

In strenght and peace,

Signing off,

MTD

An other example is that if you throw a middle kick that your opponent block with his arms, in Holland, you would not get any points for this. In Thailand this only counts when you block it with your leg, if you get kicked on your arms, it is a point for your adversary. Furthermore, clinching gets a lot more points in Thailand (after all, it is called Thai clinch).

This are just some of the differences in the game and a reason for me to change my style. I always blocked kicks with my arms, but besides the obvious reasons to block with your leg looking at the scoring system, it is an improvement in your fighting game. I broke my forearm in a fight in 2008 because I blocked all the body kicks with it and it snapped. This led to a long period of recovering and several medical interventions. But this you can read in the post about mental toughness when injured.

This was actually one of the hardest part to master. In order to be able to lift my leg up high enough to block incoming kicks to the body, I had to change my whole stand. By holding my feet apart a little more and putting my right foot somewhat more to the back I could shift my weight more to the front foot. Doing this meant less weight leaning on the leg I use to block most of the kicks to my ribs and liver. However, the natural reflex is to still put my arm in front of a kick. Not the same way as I used to do it, now I used to block with one arm close to my body and the other one in front of it. After seeing the way the boxers train here (and especially how hard they kick), I see the advantage of blocking with your leg. However, it is very hard to unlearn something that has been in your system for many years. When I focus on it a lot, I can block very well with my leg up, but when the opponent surprises me with a kick and I have to react fast, it is automatically going back on the same old reflexes. Do you also experience something like this? Having to unlearn something because it just isn’t pratical anymore?

In my opinion it is not easy, but if you persist it should be possible. Only time will tell how I will act in the fight. Usually I tend to fall back to my old habits and fight instinctively. We will see.

Another thing I am training on a lot is the Thai clinch. In Holland, it is not often used like here (makes sense right) so it is a weak spot for me. I notice that even when I am heavier than most of my fellow boxers, it still is very hard for me to push them around or let them fall on the ground. Actually, it is more the other way around.  Technique is vitally important when clinching. It is a feeling that you have to grasp and it is only possible by doing it very often.

Now that I am training 6 days in the week, I have to make sure that I take my day of rest. Every Saturday when I am done with the afternoon session, which lasts from 3.30 til 6 PM, I go home by taxi. The first thing I do is prepare a nice cold ice bath. I have my freezer filled with many bottles with ice as can possibly fit into it and throw everything in my bathtub.

I always sit in it for twelve minutes (normal time is 10 – 15), with the water up to my abs and my arms also in the water. It is very cold and you are sitting still, that’s why I reccomend to put on a sweater. So, nothing else, onlyt a sweater, no boxers or short or anything. The sweater makes sure that your upper body stays warm while your legs and arms get the much needed treatment. Especially my shins need this after a week of kicking pads and kicking bags. Make sure you have something to do while sitting there because else it will seem like forever. For me, I put on loud music and try to relax until the buzzer tell me that twelve minutes have passed.

After this, and is important, do not rush into the hot shower. This will minimize the effect of the ice bath and you will have sat there and suffered coldness for nothing. Wait for 30 minutes til one hour to really let the colling effect be maximally effective and then take a nice shower. After that, you will feel very good, even rested. Now it is time to go and eat a lot of food, something that is always nice to do and very simple and cheap in Thailand.

The next day, I make sure it is really a day of complete rest, everything I do, I do it very relaxed and no rush at all. This is not only good for your body, because it needs to recover, but also mentally it is very good. I just go out to the marketplace and meet with some friends, hang around the appartment and watch TV and SKype with my family. At one time in my life I approached training very simple, as many people still do these days. I thought: “If I want to be strong I need to train,m so just train every day, as hard as you can”. This is agood way to get over-trained. Rest is imperative for your training. You can read more about it in my other post.

For now, I am getting ready for an other week of hard training since the fight is approaching rapidly. I am really looking forward to it and plan to give it my all. Hopefully it will be a good fight against a worthy opponent. Any remarks, questions or other feedback are always welcome.

In strenght and peace my friends,

Signing off,

MTD

Everything I have learned, whether it is in terms of offensive or defending techniques, stance, footwork, nutrition, mental attitude, conditioning and much more I have documented and I will process it in a book for those interested to get practical knowledge from really good trainers, fighters and promoters that I experienced myself so I can tell you from firsthand how to move in certain situations or how to develop the correct mind state. One thing I am always been obsessed about is the small details; they can make such a huge difference! Did you know that when you make a right kick, you swing your arm to the side to give extra power to the swing and make it easier to totally put your hip into it? This you might know right? But did you also know that it makes a big difference in power if you make sure your palm is pointing outwards, you stand on your toes with your left leg and keep your back straight? You can try it out for yourself and feel the difference. There are many details like this that helped me improve my skills. So keep on the outlook for the book that will, by putting your attention on many small things, build your power, increase your speed and improve your fighting game in every aspect. Now I am training at Pinsinchai Gym, at first because it fit my time schedule pretty good, but now I wouldn’t want to change to another gym if I could. Here I train with only Thai fighters, I am the only foreigner. They are obsessive about the little details because it is in those things that the difference is between a good and a great fighter.

The owner asked me if I would be interested in fighting in the ring. It would be a great experience and a perfect conclusion of my stay in Thailand. Actually, I have been thinking about for quite some time, but not knowing when exactly to plan it. Now he just said: “Ok, you want to fight, we will prepare you and July 31 you will fight”. Simple as that. The only thing he said besides that is that I should “train serious, no lazy! You can or not?” I said I can do that and we agreed. Now, before my training was primarily focused on learning new techniques, so I would not be present every day. Sometimes I had plans the evening before and got home late and then the next day I decided to sleep some more. However, now I have a fight scheduled, either in Rachadamnoen Stadium or Asawindum Stadium, there is no more slacking allowed. I get up at 5.25 AM every morning, eat a banana and some muesli and go out to the gym. Let me draw you a typical training schedule on a Saturday. As I said I get up and go to the gym, I arrive around 6 am, when the sun has just risen. I meet the other boxers who live there, put on my running shoes, and we take off, usually with my eyes half closed because I’m still really sleepy. This means 45 to 60 minutes running, starting at slow pace, but eventually running too fast to run comfortably, in the final few rounds we really pick up the pace so I feel my heart pounding. I love it. Now I started to train more seriously, I can see the difference in how the training is for me. Before I got some attention and actually learned a whole lot already, but now they stepped it up.

After the morning run, we shadowbox for a couple of rounds and then I go one on one on the pads for three rounds. This is one of the best things of the training; the pad holder corrects me whenever I make a mistake, which is often. They correct every technique I make to have it adjusted to their style of fighting, which is real Muay Thai. After three rounds of pounding on the pads while putting attention on the details, I step out of the ring and walk towards the kicking bags. Here I spend some more rounds, practicing the technique and building up strength and conditioning. I know I am not ready yet, I have been in serious training for two weeks now, but I am confident that I will be ready for the fight in time. After the kicking bags, it is time for clinching. We spent around 5 rounds clinching in the ring, meanwhile scrutinized by the trainer and corrected when necessary. When this is finished, sometimes we go a few more rounds on the kicking bags, or we spend some time form general fitness. Think pushups, sit-ups, chin-ups and more. There are weights available and the Thai fighters use them, although a little bit, but the only ones I use are the 5 pound weights, I use them in Shadowboxing. This was the morning training. In the afternoon, we run 30 minutes or more, I will go on the pads again for three rounds, although sometimes it will be on the boxing pads, thses are smaller and only suitablr for boxing. Following are more rounds on the kicking bags. After this we do more clinching and then I am pretty much done. This was on a Saturday, I have to say that normally during the week I only do the morning session, which is the hardest, because my other obligations take up the rest of my day.

Now it has been 14 days of serious training, including 14 morning and 2 afternoon sessions. It is really paying off and I still have more weeks to go. As I will progress in my training, I will keep you updated on how it is going. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me, I will answer it or find a way how to. Thanks for visiting the site, let me know what you think! In strength and peace my friends, Signing off, MTD

At Pinsinchai Gym, occasionally, a friend of the owner visits and makes pictures and videos from the fighters. He uses them as footage to promote his own organization, Naksu. As I talked with him many times, I asked him about this organization. What they do is organize Mixed Martial Arts fights in Thailand. I believe it is unique in his kind. Although MMA is not really big here, like it is in the US, they do have it in Thailand. On Saturday the 18^th of June 2011 was the latest tournament of Naksu. It was held in the Asawindum Stadium, and the entrance was free. I got an invitation to join and come see the fights. Naturally I accepted the invite and I was there at 1.30 PM. The fights started around 2 PM. They told me there are 70(!) fighters from 7 different nationalities all stepping in the ring this day. At first I felt this was quite a lot, but the fights are 2 rounds of 2 minutes, so they will be short and explosive. The typical MMA gloves were already put on for some fighters, but they also wear headgear.

The first fight proved to be real entertaining as two huge guys got ready to fight. I always love to see heavyweight fights at this sort of events, especially because in Thailand there are not much heavyweights. They did not let me down and the referee had to stop the fight because one of them got heavily punched in the face and headgear or not, he got it bad! At this point I would like to give props to the referees of the evening. There were three of them of I recall correctly, one Thai and two foreigners. They were really focused and always stepped in at the right times and although some fighters protested when they lost because the referee had to step in, in my opinion the calls were very accurate.

The fights quickly followed one after another, keeping it interesting for me to watch. Whenever I did not like a fight, it was no problem because it was over before you knew it. There were several more heavyweight fights and some really put on a show, stamping real hard on the canvas as they jumped in the ring in an attempt to intimidate their opponent. One thing what stood out was that the heavyweights all tried to keep the fight standing and not go to the ground with their adversary. The fighters were from all different weight classes you could imagine and the lighter weight classes also put their mark on the event. There the styles were much more mixed and you could see the fights going to the ground many times and I have to admit I saw some beautiful takedowns, slams, but especially submissions.

The level of the fighters varied enormously, some were clearly just not very experienced and some had a definite background in Muay Thai, grappling or other martial arts. There were some good Muay Thai fighters who stepped into the ring to test their game at a different ballgame. The results were varying. Some fighters totally over classed their opponents, particularly when the fight remained in a standing fashion. I believe Muay Thai is the strongest martial arts standing and in the ring I doubt that there are better styles. However, this being said, some fighters showed an excellent display of fighting intelligence. This were the most interesting fights to me, when a Muay Tahi fighter faced a grappler you never know what to expect. If the grappler has him on the ground, it will be very hard for the nak muay, but before it gets to that, try to remain active while hard kicks and knees rain down your body. Unfortunately, there were no elbows allowed so the fights could have been different because of this. Nonetheless, I recall a fight in which the grappler was waiting in his corner as the Thai boxer performed the wai kru, staying true to his tradition. When the fight started, the grappler quickly closed the distance, meanwhile catching a kick to his ribs on the way, and literally climbed in his opponent, putting him in what I can only describe as a hanging guillotine choke. He forced him to the ground with this and seconds later, the nak muay tapped out.     

Off course the opposite happended as well, when somebody tried to make it into a grappling match, he got a good kick on his head and the referee stopped the fight. One fight that stood out was when a Japanese fighter who clearly practiced Aikido, judging by the way he was dressed got into the ring. I had real high expectations and even though he did not meet them, his nose was broken in the second round, he put on a great display of fighting spirit as did many other fighters that day. All together it was very entertaining event and the next time you get the chance to visit an event of them, you should. It has nothing of the allure and spectacle of the show they put on in the US, but you will see some entertaining fights. You can look them up on Facebook, there they will probably announce their next event. Most of it is in Thai, but you can see some promotion coming up before the tournament in English. If you would like to know more, you can send them a message or visit their website www.naksufight.com

As always, thanks for visiting the site, let me know what you think.

In strength and peace my friends,

Signing off,

MTD

Copyright pictures : By BaSuKeTtO-bOrU

On a very hot and sunny Sunday, I was invited to watch as three of my fellow boxers had been scheduled to fight. It was 10 am when we left for the stadium. The boxers all prayed to an altar standing next to the gym and we were of. As we were with a lot of people and we went in a pick up truck, I was put in the trunk together with three other supporters. The fighters got the best seats, as it should be. On arrival it was dead quiet, like a ghost building. Only a few members of staff were setting up the cameras and preparing the boxing gear. However, more and more fighters and their coaches came in and installing themselves in a giant space functioning as dressing room. It is a great experience to watch how this all goes down behind the scenes in preparation for a fight. Especially because I have been to the process several times in Holland, it gives me the chance to compare and at the same time learn from the process.

A really big difference is the way the fighters do their warm-up. In Holland, we get massaged a little bit, stretch and make your muscles loose and afterwards your trainer will put you through some light to medium pad work. Sometimes I see fighters being pushed a lot by their trainer in this pad work, with as a result that the fighters spends an enormous amount of energy on the pads. Not such a good idea in my opinion. My trainer in Holland, Said Ahrazi, always let me go on the pads until I was sweating, but not tired. I owe a great deal to him for his patience, knowledge and guidance. After this, you are ready to go. In Thailand, you will get a very thorough massage, and I mean really thorough. Because of this, your muscles are warm and you are ready to go, but you haven’t wasted any energy. When the massage is finished, you feel relaxed and ready because you have been lying on a bench with a shirt over your face so you can focus as you are being massaged. Plus, they use the really good boxing oil and they put it on the fighter’s body together with Vaseline. Can you see the advantages of this? Then the fighter enters the hall but has to wait some time in the back of the room. Here you see your opponent face to face, as you both sit next to each other, waiting to enter the ring. Finally the fighters got up, after ten minutes or so. Then they were put on the camera with a commercial image in their hands, as they will be introduced on TV. After this whole circus, they get into the ring, where they first will start the Wai Kru.

The first fighter of Pinsinchai got in the ring and I have to say that I did not quite know what to expect. I had seen him on the training and he has a very good technique, like all the fighters here. He actually met my expectations and rose far above them. He kept really cool, watching his opponent’s every and used his technique at the right time. I was amazed and also kind of proud. The whole crowd went nuts for him. No doubt many people probably had placed a bet on him. He impressed me particularly with his guard, keeping his chin tucked in and his arms up. His clinching game was also superb and his opponent was not a bad fighter, but it was clear who won the fight.

Next was another fighter from Pinsinchai. The funny thing is that these  guys are very sweet and shy when you know them outside the ring. However, in the ring, they mean serious business! Sen, the fighter from the gym that was up next, had not had a fight over three months, so he was a little rusty, the trainer said. He did not look rusty at all, showing a clear and threatening ring presence. He was putting pressure on the other fighter without actually doing anything. Soon was clear that the other boxer hand the really good hands, he threw some good punches, although, a little wild. In the second round, Sen got hit by a wild swing on the jaw, leading hem to fall unto the canvas. He did not stay there, in fact, he barely touched it. He sprung back up and got a standing 8 count. After this, there was still one minute left in the round. The other boxer thought he could finish Sen and went all out. This did not cause any serious problems and then the bell rang to signal the end of the round.

The third round began and I was anxious to see whether he had recovered from the knock down. Now I don’t know what they said to him in the break between the rounds, but he ran towards his opponent, grabbing him in the Thai clinch and let it rain knees on him. This was so ferociously done that the other boxer went down, after Sen had gave a perfect demonstration of the Thai clinch as it should be. What a turnaround! I was stunned and more than a little impressed. As the third boxer from Pinsinchai made his way to the ring, I was still thinking about these knees. The third boxer was apparently a little less important, while he was fighting, they already started cleaning the room, putting away all the cameras and leave the building. He fought a good fight, but made the mistake to go for the Thai clinch and his opponent knew this and caught him with many elbows and punches on the way in.

After that, we went back to the gym where some of the fighters went to bed or just played with their telephone. I had a cup of coffee with the owner of the gym and the manager of the boxers and after that, I thanked them wholeheartedly for a great experience and said goodbye. This was an awesome day…

This is a gym that was also on my list of places to visit. Jaroenthong is a well known Thai fighter who fought against Ramon Dekkers, Samart Payakaroon (who is considered to be the all time best Thai fighter by many) and more. At first I visited them once, but the training was just finished and they asked me a fee of 1,000 Baht for one training. This seemed a bit extreme. Now it is a fact that you will pay a whole lot more as a farang (foreigner) to train at a gym, but even this amount is something I haven’t seen before. This was for me a reason to respectfully decline. Off course I do respect the fact the gyms need to make a little money of tourists and foreign fighters, but the feeling I was being ripped of just kept coming back to me. The offered me a package deal in where you would pay 6,000 Baht for 30 hours of training, but as you know, I am already training at different gyms and don’t like to be tied down to one place before I know the gym.

However, I decided to give it another shot on a later date. This time I was determined to get the price as low as possible, because I want to try many different kind of gyms to learn and absorb many different techniques. Finally I bargained it to 700 Baht for a single training session, which is still really expensive. When you decide to train here, you should choose the package deal. All together it was not a truly good first impression. The trainer told me he could not go lower with the price, after all, it was not his gym.

There were three pad holders, all three not really old, but former Nak Muays (professional boxers). The afternoon training lasts from 3 till 5 pm. In this case we did not start with running laps, but skipping rope. Just as I was used from other Thai gyms, there is no central training. The people present at the training were all people training for leisure purpose. The gym does not have any fighters competing in the ring. This means a different kind of training. After the warm up, you start on the kicking bag, until one of the trainers calls you to do a round on the pads. The good thing here is that they let you do one round on small boxing pads and after one round one Thai pads. I like the variety. In addition, you do only one round on the pads per time. This means you can do more rounds in total. Normally, I do three round on the Thai pads and maybe one or two on the boxing pads and that’s it. This training I did 5 rounds on Thai pads and 6 on boxing pads, simply because it is spread out.

The reason for this is obvious. In the first example you prepare for an actual fight and that’s why you train in a certain pattern. Because there is nobody training in this gym for a fight, there is no need to follow this pattern and by  doing more rounds in total, you create a good general fitness. And since this is the goal for the people training here, it works out perfectly like this. For me personal, I prefer the old school hardcore way of simulating the fight on the Thai pads. Still, the trainers here might have different ways of approaching the training, I got some good tips from them, especially on the side of boxing they could explain me about evasion, counterpunches and more. All together I had a really good training, but it is not my kind of gym, simply because I like to train together with other fighters who train for a fight. The atmosphere in a gym like that is different from here. Jaroenthong Gym is a really good place to go if you want to get in good shape doing Muay Thai, but don’t expect to be it the same as gyms like Sasiprapa or Pinsinchai. Off course, keep in mind that I have been here only one day, so maybe other days it could be different, this is just my personal experience. Please leave a comment about what you think about the site and what you think should be different. In strength and peace my friends,

Signing off,

MTD

Lumpini Stadium

The Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok is the best known Muay Thai stadium in the world. Located in the middle of Bangkok, and super easy to reach with the MIT, the Thai underground. Just get out at Lumpini Station (makes sense doesn’t it). Luckily, the personnel working in the subway is quite capable of speaking English. Off course taking a taxi is another option but a little more expensive.

The stadium itself is surrounded by shops where you can buy a lot of Muay Thai related products.
For more details about this check out my post on buying supplies in bangkok

From all the plans I had before going to Thailand, this was one of the top priorities. To visit the Lumpini, where people like Ramon Dekkers fought legendary fights, people like Buakaw Por Pramuk established their reputation, Rob Kaman, Samkor, and I can go on and on about how many great fighters there have been fighting here.

When you arrive with the MIT and surface out of the station, you can see the stadium across the street. I believe I almost ran to the bridge crossing the road. Now this might come across as a little bit exaggerated but this is been a life long wish of me.

I was here with my brother Rafael and my sister Kim, and especially Rafael shares my opinion about being here.

When you arrive at the stadium, take your time to look around and absorb everything. Right away certain ‘promoters’ tried to sell us tickets for a good price, but my friend warned me not to do this, so I politely passed. We bought a ticket for the 3rd floor because we decided to experience it like all Thai people do. Ringside are usually foreigners and I like to walk around and have some space, so this was perfect. For foreigners the ticket was 1,000 Baht and I imagine that Thai pay far less than that. But after all, it is their stadium and this price is more than reasonable I think.

One thing that immediately stood out when entering the stadium, was the fact that on the right side of the stadium it was really crowded while the left side, it was almost empty. The right side is the side where the gamblers reside, a spectacle on itself. These people have such an energy and are gambling with such an enthusiasm that you would think they are putting their life savings on the line. Something that probably could be true. They are shouting and waving their hands like they are waving at their favorite celebrity. From the third floor we had a perfect view. The ambiance is something inexplicable, but something well worth enjoying when you are in the area, even when you are not really a fan of Muay Thai.

We came this evening for my friend who had a fight scheduled. It was rally awesome to see him fight and even though he did not win, he put up a hell of a fight. I can only imagine how crazy it must be to fight in this place, what an experience must this be!

Just outside the arena are several restaurants where you can buy all kind of food, but all Thai food, which is not a problem for me. I love Thai food! You can just go out and get a stamp so you can reenter the building without any problems. One thing about Thailand is the fact that there are more insects that also grow bigger than in Holland. At one time we saw some huge cockroaches, however, they don’t do anything, just annoy you. This doesn’t distracted me too much, the fights were of such a high level that I was focused on the ring and what happened in it. I believe there could have been someone screaming in my ear to make appoint and I wouldn’t have heard a word.

When the main event took place, the crowd went wild. It seemed like almost everybody had placed a bet on one of the fighters. So when their fighter did something, you could hear a couple hundred people screaming. Not randomly, but think for one kick, everybody screams “HEY!”. This goes on and on and in the clinch they are screaming for knees. It is a surreal experience, but Oh So Awesome.

Like I said, even if you’re not particular a fan of Muay Thai, you should go and visit Lumpini once.

If you have been here or just want to drop me a message, leave a comment or use the contact form.

Thanks for visiting the site.

In strength and peace my friends,

signing off,

MTD

You might have already figured out that I love to go to the MBK Fight Night. The fights are always very diverse, so you never know what to expect, but there are always good fights to watch and…it is free! Actually I should get paid to write this, as I am creating lots of publicity for them.

Anyway, this night was advertised as the night of the champions, a much promising event. As I arrived, it was clear to see that the marketing department had done their work properly, as it was crowded with people. One thing that I always like is, besides the always good atmosphere, the perfect mix of foreigners of all kind cheering side by side with the nationals.

The night started for me with a demonstration of classic Muay Thai. I am always fascinated by styles like this, where they use techniques that really effective and in some cases can be lethal. I am determined to learn this and will in the near future take lessons in Muay Thai Chaiya, an ancient form of Muay Thai. But you will undoubtedly read about that later.

This night was really in the theme of foreign vs Thai, as there were many fighters from China, a fighter from Brasil, one from France and more. Since there were many Chinese, let me cover that first. It was soon clear to me that the Chinese fighters have a different style from the Thai. My guess is that they come from a Xanda school. This is Chinese kickboxing, in which you can throw each other out of the ring and can not use elbows, however I am not sure they come from such an academy. One thing they have in common though, is they have a very good frontkick. It is a real fast kick that lets them put their entire bodyweight into it. When a Thai fighter makes a ‘teap’, he makes sure he keeps his balance. If he might miss, he doesn’t fall behind his kick. Thai fighters make a snapping kick, it snaps out and back in. The Chinese however, make this kick in such a way, that if they miss, they fall behind their kick. One is not necessarily better than the other in my opinion. It is always good to see different styles meet each other in the ring.

One thing the Chinese boxers did not excel in,was the clinch, but what do you expect, it is after all called the Thai clinch. They did lose a lot of points here and in several fights it was the reason the Thai won. The fight that really stood out of the Thai vs Chinese series, was one of two fighters that were a little heavier than regular thai fighters. I am guessing they are around 85 kilograms. The Chinese fighter looked really impressive and physically fit. The Thai did not look bad, but not as bulky as the other. But when the fight started, I was really impressed by the Thai, his reflexes were awesome and he had a perfect timing. I really enjoyed this fight and although they were both good fighters, the Thai rightfully won.

An other fight that I really enjoyed was the Brazilian fighter who faced a Thai champion in the ring. The Thai entered the ring with three ring girls carrying his titles, so I suspected him to be of some quality. As his opponent entered the ring calmly, without titles, I know that a title is not everything and it is all about that moment in the ring between you and the other guy. Those titles will not help you when you have to go toe to toe.

Both fighters started out carefully and calmly in the tradition of Muay Thai. As the second round began, they both really stepped it up. They were well matched in my opinion and showed some excellent Thai boxing. At one point, the Brazilian fighter kicked and the Thai held his leg, sweeping him om the floor. As he fell to the floor, he received a hard kick to the body, while he was basically already on the floor. This caused him to get angry. When he got back up, you could see his face turned a bit more grim. Now he was really putting the pressure on the Thai, but due to his anger, he did not think of his technique. His defense got sloppy as he only thought about attacking. This resulted in a huge elbow to his chin, causing the guy from Brazil to go down. Miraculously, he stood up, but only to get put down again by a straight punch, high kick combination. It was a spectacular finish to a most entertaining fight and a most enjoyable night.

They will see some more of me at MBK, that I can promise you…

Photos made by the organization of MBK Fight Night

Pinsinchai Gym

Currently I am training at this gym. A guy from Holland recommended it to me, so I think let’s check it out. They train from 6 until 8.30 am, and again from 3 until 5 pm. This actually fits right in my time schedule. Let me sketch you a regular morning training at the gym.

At 5.45 am I arrive, it is just getting day, so usually it is still dark. There is a goat walking around the gym at night, probably it functions as some sort of watch-goat. I have already met this goat at the first time I arrived here. For the whole story, check this link: http://muaythaidiary.com/2011/attack-of-the-goat/

When I am writing this, I have already been training at Pinsinchai for a while and got used to his presence. I just never, ever turn my back on him again…

As I arrive in sleep walking mode, I take my running shoes from the shelf and put on my shorts and shirt. A great deal of the fighters live at the gym, there is a small house next to the gym where a few of them sleep. They start to wake up around the time I arrive, putting on their shorts and shoes. Sometimes you see them putting on a sweat suit, as if Bangkok isn’t hot enough. Even in the morning it is like 30 ˚ Celsius. After putting some boxing oil on my legs and rubbing them, we start the running.

We run between 46 to 60 minutes, not too fast, but really jogging. Back at the gym, we put on our wraps and start with shadowboxing for a couple of rounds. After that we go on the Thai pads, or on the kicking bags. This is really the same every day. Next, sometimes they start clinching, or doing techniques, it depends on what the head coach says. This is good for the variety I think. The other day, I was simply doing the same techniques over and over again, while a more experienced fighter was watching me constantly and corrected my technique.

Something I really notice here, is that they really focus on technique. As I am doing my pad work routine, I get corrected all the time. They are true perfectionists. I love it. And it is noticeable too, when I just step a little more in like this, or turn more like that, I can really feel the difference. I will train here for a long time, because I feel like they can teach me many things and bring my fighting game to the next level. If I can synergize this style with the style from Holland, then add some personal flavor into it, I would have a really powerful style.

The owner is a former fighter and has his own Muay Thai stadium in Bangkok. At the same time, it is a TV studio for Channel 9, so all the fights are being broadcasted. Maybe one day, I will fight here. Like I already said, the owner is a true perfectionist and this can be seen from his fighters. They are really skilled and even the young guys have such good technique.

At the moment I am training with a very good and experienced fighter who is preparing himself to fight at Lumpini the 6^th of May. You can read the report about it later on this site. Something else I really like about this gym is that, even though it is located in Bangkok, it is in a quiet area and the gym itself is surrounded by plants and it is really open, so basically you are training outside.

There are still many more gyms I am going to visit in Bangkok, but this one I will keep training. Not only for the perfect fit in my time schedule, but more for the training itself. There are no foreigners training here, so there is a really different vibe from other gyms. It took a while for the boxers here and I got used to each other, but now, they give me tips and even are really happy when I am doing good. I will visit the stadium the next time when some of the fighters here will fight and go to Lumpini the 6^th of May. Off course you will read all about it on Muaythaidiary.com. And there are many more activities planned, so stay tuned. Thank you for visiting the site and please let me know what you think.