Kaewsamrit Muay Thai

The training is always the same.  I've done it countless times but it's always tough just to get through it.  I just had dinner and my last training session was about 3 hours ago.

Yesterday I arrived in Bangkok after one of the most grueling flights of my life.  It was so long and tiring.  My first flight took about 13 hours from SFO to Hong Kong.  I had to wait in Hong Kong for about 2 hours before I caught my 2nd flight which was from Hong Kong to Singapore.  That flight was about 4 hours.  As soon as I landed I literally had only 10 minutes to catch my last flight to Bangkok.  Singapore to Bangkok is no big deal as it was only 2 hours this time.  But together I spent about 19 hours in a plane.

After going through customs and immigration I was picked up by Ken from Kaewsamrit Muay Thai.  Four years ago Ken picked me up on my first trip to Bankok.  Ken looked hard and cool and that time four years ago asked me point blank "how many fights have you had?"  I was little perplexed but I said 10.  I wasn't lying but I was counting my Tae Kwon Do and grappling tournaments.  I've never kickboxed competitively.

This time around Ken picked me up, had a smile on his face, and whisked me away from the Airport and back to the gym.

Sunday was uneventful as I just checked in, paid my dues, and waited for the next day for training to start.  Monday morning I woke up at 6 am and ran for 40 minutes.  The marathon training came in handy as I was able to complete the run with no incident.  Afterwards I checked back into the gym, stretched out, and I was then told to wrap my hands.

As I was sitting there wrapping my hands the fighters all started to trickle into the gym.  I was then ordered to shadow box and after throwing a few techniques Cheng, the head trainer, stated to me "you lost weight didn't you?"  I told him that I had and he smiled simply saying "I could tell."

I was then told to get in the ring and start training with Ong.  Ong was putting me through the paces known as pad work.  Your trainer is holding pads and you throw whatever technique he asks you to throw.  Whether it be a jab, cross, upper cut, kick to the leg, you have to throw it and you have to throw it 100%.  In Muay Thai everything is thrown at maximum strength.  Even the combinations have to be thrown with full force.  For example a combination would be a one two (for me since I'm left handed it would be a right jab and then a left cross), followed by a right hook, and then a kick to the body with my left leg.

The pad work, although grueling, wasn't so bad at first.  It gets difficult during the later rounds when you're dog tired and your trainer is throwing techniques at you.  So you may be throwing your moves but after you're finished your trainer would counter with a kick of his own.  You're supposed to either check it, block it, or evade it.  For some odd reason I just can't react fast enough to check the kick to the body.  Ong always gets me.

Pad work is 4 rounds with 5 minutes in duration per round.  After that I headed over to the heavy bag to work on my timing and power.  Again that took about 4 rounds.  Then the morning session finishes up with the extreme physical fitness of sit ups and push ups.  The exercises wouldn't have been so bad if I could just push them out but we're all supposed to do them in unison and count after every rep.

After breakfast I went to sleep so that I can rest up for the afternoon session.  The afternoon session is just like the first except it is a little harder and longer.  You do pretty much everything like the morning session except you add a 2 mile run AFTER the session.

Dinner sucked, well at least for me it did.  There was nothing wrong with the food but I was just dead tired and sweating profusely.  I had already taken a shower a few minutes earlier but my body was just hot and dripping sweat.  In laymen terms they call this the after burn in which your body is burning calories after the workout.  The food was so hot and spicy that it made it even worse.  I didn't eat much, told the guys I'd see them tomorrow, and now I'm here typing away.

One day down and I already lost 5 pounds.  Crazy to think how much I'd lose after I'm done with this trip.      

  

The Journey Never Ends

The Journey Never Ends

Another year another trip.  I just finished dinner at a local Japanese Restaurant here in SFO.  I checked in a few hours ago now I am just waiting to board my flight.  I spent almost a year planning for this.  A lot has happened and now I am just itching to get on that plane and head off.

A lot has happened since I flew out to the far east.  My co-worker John was quick to remind me that I screwed up last year and I did not update my blog.  Last year was a little different as I trained at a different gym and spent a good two weeks in a different part of Bangkok.

I did not enjoy my trip last year as I have in years past.  2010 was worse and last year I left Singapore with a lot more to be desired.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my stay at Kiatphontip Muay Thai and Evolve MMA in Singapore.  However, I went into those trips in the worse shape of my life.

From 2007 to 2010 I trained MMA (cage fighting) religiously 4- 5 times a week.  I spent days every week sparring hard and even thought about competing again.  I haven't fought since I took 4th at a submission tournament  back in 1998.  But I spent those days training hard and took pride every time I went in for a check up.

However last year I was just in the worse shape of my life.  Also, in the back of my mind I always knew that I could "just train in Thailand" to get  back in shape.  For my first 3 years I lost an average of about 25 lbs. in 3 weeks.  Two 6 mile runs a day, two 3 hour training sessions, and constant sparring will do that to you.  Add the clean diet of rice, chicken, and fish and your body becomes a metabolic machine.

But last year was different.  I couldn't train as hard as I could.  The gym was different and the routine was a little different as well.  I couldn't run as much I wanted because I feared that by the time I came back the training session would be finished.  In Thailand when you run you run.  Minimum distance is 5 miles.  After I did my pad rounds with my trainer I would be so exhausted to even commit to hitting the sandbag.  I sparred with Mas from Holland and he just beat the living shit out of me for 3 rounds.  After that happened I witness Mas getting his ass handed to him by a 15 year old Thai fighter.  Seeing that did not do any wonders for my confidence.

After spending two weeks at Kiatphontip Muay Thai (kiatphontipgym.com) I flew to Singapore to train at the world renowned Evolve MMA Gym (evolve-mma.com). The facilities are 2nd to none, training was great, but it lacked the edgy intensity you get training in Thailand.

When I was Seoul waiting for my plane to get back to SFO I decided then and there that being so out of shape wasn't going to happen to me again.  I enrolled in marathon training and I ran my first half marathon (13 miles) this past May.  I signed up for sports conditioning at pureform perfomance fitness training (pureformpft.com) this past August.  I lost 8 lbs. over the past two weeks.

So here I am at gate 96 in SFO waiting for my flight.  Waiting to get back to Kaewsamrit and train with multiple world champion Anuwat Kaewsamrit.

Waiting to train at Fairtex which is highly regarded as the most finest kickboxing training facility in the world.  And waiting to just let go and forget about everything else and just be selfish for myself the next few weeks.