Training Day 1

It didn't take long for my first screw up on this trip. Like the last two years I was under the impression that the fighters did their road work at around 6:30 or 6:45 am. They run about 4 to 5 miles daily. So I wake up around 6:15 am, drink my green tea, got myself limbered up, and I'm ready to go. The only problem is that when I came out of my room the fighters had already ran, stretched, and were ready for training. I apologized for my apparent gaffe and I was told to get ready for training.

For the morning session I was paired with Cheng. I couldn't believe that I would finally be able to work with him. I've been wanting to work with him for ages. Master Cheng, who also speaks English, is renowned in the kickboxing world as the trainer for K-1 Prodigy Hiroya. I did not get the chance to work with him in the past simply because he was training "fighters" and I did not bother to ask him to work with me. This time however I was given such an opportunity and I tried to make the most out of it.

At Kaewsamrit the first part of training is the pad work. The trainer holds pads for punching, kicking, knees, and elbow strikes. You pretty much shuffle around the ring, following your trainer, and you pretty much throw what your trainer tells you to throw. The pad rounds are 5 minutes in duration for a total of 4 rounds. Combine that with the heat and humidity and it becomes taxing. After the pad rounds I was told to do bag work and after 4 rounds of bag work I finished off with technical training. To add it all up it was 3 hours of punishment and my shirt and shorts were so drenched in sweat you would have thought I came out of a swimming pool.

After breakfast I went to the nearby 7/11 and purchased water, sports drinks, and canned green tea. The can for the green tea is awesome, I was pretty much sold on the design of the can.

After a quick nap it was time to go to lunch. For today I went to the nearby food stand by the gym and ordered traditional "Pad Thai" with a Pepsi. I am kind of cautious when it comes to drinking Pepsi in Thailand as it is so much more potent than the Pepsi back home in the States. The food was awesome and it only cost me 42 baht ($1.35 US). I've paid about $15 for the same thing back home and the food back home sucks.

When I got back to my room it was still only 1 pm and had 2 hours to burn before I head off for the 2nd training session of the day. I played the first episode of Pride which is one of my favorite Japanese Dramas. I've brought a few Japanese drama's with me to kill time.

The 2nd training of the day is a lot more strenuous than the previous training. Instead of running you skip rope and you do that for about 30 minutes. I did not get to work with Cheng this time as he was training a true pro that was going to fight next week. I ended up working with Ong who was known for his murderous kicks. Ong's pad work was not as strenuous as Cheng's but I did get a good workout and I learned a few techniques with my elbows. After four rounds of brutal Muay Thai bliss it was time to work the bag again. I worked the bag for about 5 rounds and then it was time to do clinch sparring which is worse than pad work. Luckily I was paired off with a fellow American who knew less than I did and was not in such a good shape thanI was. We went 10 out of the total 20 minutes and my neck was sore but I felt good. Then it was off to run with the boxers for about another 10 minutes before we closed the session with a cool down. My body is sore but I would not want to be anywhere else.

It's about 7:30 pm local time and I've got things to do. More to come tomorrow.