Rawai Muay Thai Camp

Lockflow.com member Shane shares with us his training experiences at the Rawai Muay Thai Camp in Thailand.

Muay Thai Training at Rawai Muay Thai Camp in Thailand
by Shane Williams - C.T.E.T. Kickboxing Monroe WA

SHANE WILLIAMS, RICK MILLER & CURTIS GREINER FIND THEMSELVES IN THE LAND OF MUAY THAI

Everyone knows that Muay Thai Kickboxers in Thailand train hard. This is why C.T.E.T. wanted to send its Head Instructor and 2 Assistant Instructors to Thailand to experience Muay Thai, Thai Style.

We started off by researching Muay Thai training camps, we quickly discovered that there was many to choose from. We narrowed it down to about 3 camps, and then started looking deeper into each camps training and location. We finally decided on a camp located near Rawai Beach called Rawai Muay Thai Camp on the island of Phuket located in Southern Thailand. We chose this camp for 2 reasons, number 1 all of the trainers had a 100+ fights and experience as instructors with great reviews via several internet forums and number 2 the camp is located on a beautiful tropical island. About 3 months after we booked our trip the Head Trainer of the camp Tuk Rawai won a World Muay Thai Title, so this made us even more confident that we made the right decision by choosing this camp.

All 3 of us already were training 4 days a week prior to booking our trip, but now we knew we had to bump up all training. We Started by adding an additional day of kickboxing to our training so we were now training kickboxing 5 days a week. After about a month of adding the additional day we started weight training at J.B. Fitness in Sultan WA, the Owner and Head Personal Trainer Joe Blair put us on a specialized program to have us ready by our trip as far as weights go. On average we weight trained a minimum of 2 days a week sometimes 3. About 3 months after we booked our trip we started to add running into our routines this also was done about 2 - 3 times a week. The one thing that we were not able to train for was the Heat and Humidity, this made the training some of the hardest training any of us have ever experienced.

Landing in Thailand
We left Washingting State on a Wednesday night and arrived in Thailand on Friday around 6:00pm so you can imagine how tired we were. We had planned from the beginning to spend the first 2 nights in the city of Patong so that we could adjust to the time change and heat prior to checking into the camp on Sunday and starting training on Monday morning. In the city we discorverd a large variety of shops, food and nightlife. The food was amazing and the price was right, I tried as many different seafood dishes as possible and I basically lived on shrimp, squid and octopuss. The hotel we stayed at was owned by an American and he briefed us on how to act with with Thai People. Basically the Thai People are some of the nicest people we have ever met, but as we were told you do not want to ever show any sign of anger or irritation with them, they will have nothing to do with you if you do. We were also told "Dont ever insult Budda or the King, if you do you will be stabbed". So taking this advice we had a wonderful experience with the Thai People.

Training at Rawai Muay Thai Camp
Training is done twice a day once in the morning and once in the evening 6 days a week, Sunday being your day of rest. All training at the camp is done outdoors under a large cover, the camp has 2 full size rings, 16 heavy bags and small weight area and speed bag. We started our training at 7:00 on a Monday morning, the trainers immediately started us off shadow boxing and closley observed us, and coached us in the ways of proper Muay Thai. As soon as we finished 5 . 3 minute rounds we started another 5 rounds of bag work on a heavy bag. Once finished with the shadow boxing and the bag work we were directly put into the ring with a trainer for 5 rounds of pad work, by the end of this you are dead, the trainers will work you to that point no matter how good your conditioning is. The trainers are very hard on you and push you to your limits. Finally we had our first break, this lasted about 5 minutes and then we were told to go to the heavy bag and do 200 front teeps (kicks) and 200 knees. Once finished with this our time with the trainers was pretty much complete, if you had any energy left you could hit the weights.

Most of the training sessions were similar to whats listed above. Running is normally done prior to the morning session as is skipping rope. In the evening we wanted to get some sparring in so we would just ask one of the trainers, majority of the time they are more than happy to hop in the ring and spar with you. Sparring in Thailand is done very light, I have been told this is because a Thai Fighter cant afford to get hurt in training and miss a fight, to miss a fight means no money. The sparring is still very intense, realistic and of course fun.

At our camp Saturdays are the primary days for sparring, you still complete your rounds of shadow boxing and bag work but then you hop in the ring for 5 - 6 rounds of sparring with a trainer, during Saturdays evening sessions Clinch Sparring is the primary focus.

What else to do while in Thailand
Several of the students from the camp come to Thailand to compete with traditional Thai rules punches, kicks, knees, elbows and take overs, so we would go watch the fights, normally twice a week you could catch a mini bus at the camp to the fights in the city to support your fellow camp members. Not only did we experience Muay Thai, Thai Style. We also got out to see the island of Phuket. We went on a Elephant Safari, learned about local monkeys and the history of how the Thai people used them to help work in the past, worked in the rice paddies with the water buffalo, went scuba diving one of our guys even went bungy jumping. And while on a tropical island you have to hit the beaces, so we took time out of our busy training schedule to relax on the beach especially inbetween training sessions.

Money
From the time I hit the Seattle Airport to the time I returned to the Seattle Airport a total of 19 days I spent about $1700.00 U.S. not including my airline ticket that cost me $870.00 after taxes. Most people could spend a lot less than $1700.00 if they wanted. By no means did we rough it, we stayed in nice AC rooms at the camp with T.V., private bath and king size bed, rented a jeep, stayed in the city a total of 4 nights, took tours and I shopped like crazy. $450.00 of the 1700 was on new Muay Thai equipment for my Family members and I.

I would highly suggest Rawai Muay Thai Camp for anyone thinking of going to Thailand to experience Muay Thai, Thai Style. We are already planning on heading back in about 1 1/2 years but this time we will be taking a larger group from our school to share the experience.

For More Info on Rawai Muay Thai Camp
www.rawaimuaythai.com

Thank You
SHANE WILLIAMS
C.T.E.T. Head Instructor
selfdefense@trainctet.com
www.trainctet.com