Many people come to Thailand to learn Muay Thai, only to join the mega gyms. The reason why they join these gyms is obvious, of course. Those gyms have a big budget, plus they understand that you have to market yourself online now. So they hire an influencer with a lot of followers to promote the gym, either on Instagram or in a blog post.
Do these influencers know anything about Muay Thai? Absolutely not. But they have a lot of followers, so people assume they know what they’re talking about. The reality is that they just take the money, not caring about whether the gym is good or bad.
How can you judge how a gym works based on a 2-hour session where they serve you everything on a golden platter? They get the all-in-one experience for free. Of course, they’re going to make that session/stay as good as possible. In the end, they pay the influencers to promote the gym, not to think.
So people see this experience and go to these gyms, only to have a completely different experience. After losing tons of money, they all come to the same conclusion. They didn’t learn anything; the gym was definitely not worth the money or time. It basically always ends in frustration.
There is a good reason for this. You never took time to delve into the Muay Thai culture. But even after being frustrated, that is the last place they look. Most people probably just look at another influencer’s top 5 gym recommendations.
So now you pay the price for that, quite literally.
Not understanding how these gyms work is a big mistake; if you’d understand how they work, you’d never join them in the first place. Not because they’re bad gyms, but more so because you have no business being there.
Mega gyms in Thailand are a big business
The best way to describe how these gyms work is by comparing them to a big football team. They spot talent on the local circuit and buy these kids. They get a contract and fight under the gym’s name.
Once they sign that contract, they can’t train at other gyms unless
- They got permission from the gym. Some gyms do collaborate.
- They retire. But they have to return to the gym if they want to fight again.
- Another gym buys their contract.
- They get kicked out, which mostly means their career is over.
- Or they ask to leave the gym, and both parties split on good terms (this is more in the case of non-Thais).
Aside from that, they have housing and food provided by the gym. They live together with the trainers. Now this is quite the investment the gym is making, as you could have guessed.
So obviously, they want to make this investment back. They have a couple of ways of doing that.
The fighters pay.
A lot of westerners always envy the Thais for getting free training and food while they have to pay tons of money. This is obviously very shortsighted. Imagine being completely overtrained, and suddenly a trainer bangs on your door until you show up to do your morning training.
Training here is hard, has a high volume, and is highly underestimated by a lot of people. What most people don’t know or realize is that such a sponsorship comes with a price. Not being able to say no when they tell you you have to fight in two weeks is one of them.
But another one is that the gym takes a certain percentage from your fight purse. How much they take depends on the gym, but it’ll mostly be somewhere between 30 and 50%.
Note: People who are paying a monthly fee are not always required to pay a percentage to the gym. This depends on the gym. If they don’t ask for a percentage, it is advised to offer a percentage to the trainer who prepared you as a sign of respect.
But there is more…
There is obviously more to it than sponsorships and fighter pay. The big gyms are all known to be big gambling gyms. To people coming here for a couple of weeks or months, this mostly flies under the radar, but the people that have been here for a while know. The big names sometimes fight for big side bets.
Plus, the gamblers will give out bonuses if they make a lot of money on a fighter. In the newer promotions, they banned gamblers, so these promotions now hand out bonuses. How the gym handles this is similar to fighter pay; it’ll depend entirely on the gym if they take a percentage or not.
But, as you can see, there is a huge financial incentive behind all of this.
So that begs the question: Where do you fit into all of this?
Training in mega gyms in Thailand
If you’re a bigger name or well established, you might get a nice discount for a monthly fee. In some cases, you might have to cut a deal with them in order to fight for them, even if you’re a big name. Again, this depends on the gym. Some gyms here are still not open to the idea of sponsoring non-Thais or letting them train at the gym.
But what if you aren’t a big name?
The downside of training in big gyms
What many people seem to forget is that Muay Thai is an art, and an art has to be taught. How can you learn if you go to a gym with tons of fighters and tourists? There isn’t even enough time to teach their own fighters. You’ll get beasted on the pads, kick the bag, maybe do some sparring, clinching and conditioning, and then go home without any improvement…
Or even worse, you have actually gotten worse. So can we blame the trainers for this? You can’t.
Because why aren’t the trainers supervising you to see if you have good technique or holes in your game? They’re still holding pads for others. They simply do not have the time to teach you. partly because there is not enough time and also because you’re not at the top of the priority list.
In the end, you might be there for a short time, have no interest in fighting, or might fight, but not on a level that interests them.
There is simply no financial incentive to spend a lot of time teaching you. Not even if you pay a huge monthly fee. Plus, there are just too many people. The only way to get them to spend a lot of time with you is to take a private with them.
From the golden era until now…
During the golden era (the early 1980s to mid-1990s), my current trainer wouldn’t teach more than five students. The gym had way more fighters, but every trainer had a couple of students to supervise. That structure is gone in most gyms now.
This has happened because of the increase in interest in the sport. 30 years ago, during the golden age, a gym fee was nonexistent, and not a lot of fighters came to fight here. Over time, that changed, of course, so this is the end result of that increase in popularity.
In his words, “gyms that have many people on the mats don’t focus on improvement. They focus on making a lot of money.
So where does that bring us now?
The best gyms to go to are the smaller gyms run by golden era fighters. They were the most technical and teach way different than the generation that came after them.
Up North in Chiang Mai you have Sit Thailand gym and Manasak Muay Thai gym. Both coaches came from the Pinsinchai camp, a renowned camp back in the golden age. They have a simular style to teaching. I recommend both camps.
Another good camp is Rittisak Muay Thai. The head coach used to be the head coach at Phuket Top Team and is an amazing teacher.
All of these ex- fighters competed in the golden age. Training is very technical but also very hard.
There are more good camps of course. In the end, you want a camp where they teach you. So that means that there aren’t too many people on the mats. A gym with 50+ people on the mats won’t do anything for you.
On training and fighting in Thailand
Thinking about coming to train or fight in Thailand? Like mentioned before, not learning about the culture is one of the biggest mistake you could make.
That is why I wrote my e-book to prepare you fully for your upcoming trip. You can buy it here.
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram.
Until next time.
Alex
