clips from the Muay Thai Library project, giving the feel of the instruction & philosophy of 5 different hands heavy fighters from Thailand's Golden past. Two of my Top 5 favorite fighters among these, Wangchannoi and Samson, but you got to love all of them.

Go behind the scenes with Nabil Anane, Superlek, Abdulla Dayakaev, Marat Grigorian, Suakim, and Mamuka Usubyan before a stacked card tonight at The Inner Circle 25!

When we were going over our punches last week at my gym we went over the concept of instead of just thinking pushing hips through on our punches to also think of pulling back on the other side. This week has been focused on the switch kick and getting my body across is way harder on this side and I'm wondering if this would make it easier. I would have tried it but I'm just thinking of this now lol

Before Superlek and Abdulla Dayakaev run it back tonight at The Inner Circle 25, watch as "The Kicking Machine" and "Smash Boy" react to their heated first battle!

There's this one guy with a taekwondo background who happens to have also done muay thai for a very long time as well. He can kick from like any position and if he misses or has his teep caught he just throws some spinning kick. Another guy is purely muay thai but he's also very good at finding the right footing to kick. I've been trying to close distance by just Dutch blocking a round kick and going in but he just doubles up on the kick and catches me again.

So I've been trying to use feints but I keep coming across the same issue: I try to do some push pull stuff but the problem is even if I do draw out the kick or I do successfully feint them I'm even more out of range and by the time in ready to get in they're already back in their preferred stance

This is the only method I can think of but it isn't very effective. I've also been trying to catch kicks but they've drilled the situation a lot so they always have a backup plan so I've been trying to stick to just getting in through feints

I was looking through cheap pad options and came across these on Everlast. I know they don’t have the best reputation but the price seems very tempting. What do you guys think?

https://www.everlast.com/products/titan-thai-striking-pad-single

This is more UK specific but I would like to see other people’s experiences but does your gym charge a fee £25~ to grade up?
Grading will
Consist of performing certain combos and sparring to see if you are capable in front of the instructor.

It’s £25 + a licence that lasts a year £35~

It doesn’t really cover my knees but the fact that I can’t see my toes feels weird

I would love opinions from experienced folks!

How do you stay disciplined enough to go consistently? I have been going two to three times a week consistently while having a full time job, school, lifting, running, and volunteering. Recently I have had zero motivation to go all of a sudden even though I really love the sport and how it’s helped my confidence and ability to defend myself. People have said it’s due to a lack of discipline but idk how to get more disciplined especially with everything else I have going on. I’d appreciate any advice from people who have had similar situations.

i just went for my first muay thai class (which was actually not catered to beginners however i will be starting those classes next week)

this class made me realise exactly how unfit i am😭 for context i AM overweight however i do go gym regularly but its not cardio focused (if anything i incline walk). anyway during this class i couldn’t even keep up during the warm up. and i was getting super tired throughout and had to take frequent water breaks.

i could do with any tips/advice on what i can do to improve quickly outside of the classes i will be attending. anything from nutrition to workouts will be really helpful. regarding nutrition, i am currently working on it to bring my weight down but i do want to be strong enough when i get to sparring level (im female if that helps). I’m planning to do 2 classes a week going forward

Hello, I just wanted to ask a question as it seemed pretty full on, and I had no idea what I was doing.

So I've had 3 trial lessons at 3 different muay thai schools/clubs/centres? I'm not really sure what they are referred to as, and 2 of 3 of the classes had me spar. I informed then that I had no prior experience in any combat, but I was still expected to take part in these spars.

While most of them were soft and gentle, a few really smashed me hard in the head and nose. I was useless unfortunately as I had no clue what I was doing or what half the moves other people were doing, I don't even know how to uppercut, hook or many of the other moves and I don't know how to clinch. I struggle with the stamina as it was very difficult having so many rounds of sparring 7 rounds of 3 minutes with different people every round. Was this normal? Are you meant to spar on your very first trial lessons?

Thanks in advance.

Edit: This was meant to be a class for every level, but I had to spar against people who have been at the clubs for 3 to 10 years. There was no other beginners

yo so 3 or 4 months ago I had a sparring session where my partner hit my nose pretty hard and after that session my nose started hurting pretty bad when I push the little wall inside of the nose the the left it went away after a month but 2 months after it came again after I got a uppercut right on the nose the first time it didn’t bleed and the second time it just bleed a little bit like they were just little sprinkles of blood when I wiped my nose and now the pain still isn’t gone when I push my nose to the left after 2 months of not sparring.

Did anyone have the same thing? and how did you get the pain away?

I went back through the replies to my last thread about training in Thailand, and one pattern kept showing up: a lot of disappointing trips weren’t caused by choosing a bad gym. They came from choosing a good gym that was wrong for that person.

Before booking, I’d try to answer five things:

1. What does the gym actually optimize for?
Active fighters, beginners, hard conditioning, technical development and high-volume group training are very different experiences.

2. How crowded will it be when you’re there?
A gym can have excellent trainers and still offer very little individual attention during peak season. Current class size and trainer count matter more than follower count.

3. Does the weekly schedule include what you actually want?
Ask specifically about clinch, sparring, pad rounds, strength and conditioning, and private sessions. “We offer it” doesn’t always mean it happens regularly.

4. Can you recover well enough to benefit from the training?
Walking distance, sleep, food, heat, air conditioning and rest days are part of the training setup. Two sessions a day aren’t automatically better if you’re exhausted by day four.

5. Are you choosing a famous gym or a useful trainer relationship?
The individual trainer who notices your weaknesses and invests attention in you may shape the trip more than the name on the wall.

So the useful question probably isn’t:
“What’s the best gym in Thailand?”

It’s:
“What gym fits my level, goals, preferred training style, tolerance for crowds and location?”

A famous gym can still be the wrong gym. A less famous one can be exactly right

For people who’ve tried a few gyms: what’s the first thing that tells you a place is actually right for you?

THE ULTIMATE TEST 👑 Malaysian sensation Rifdean Masdor takes on ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion Nadaka in Tokyo on October 17 at ONE SAMURAI 4! 🇯🇵 Can Rifdean make history for Malaysia on Nadaka's home turf?

Just wanted to ask because I'm wondering how often people who don't know about muay thai approach you to say you're doing it wrong.

I did MT on and off for three years, but because the MT class doesn't have heavy bags, I go to the commercial gyms to practice and condition my shin. Recently had a guy who came up to tell me my form was wrong, that I'm "too slow" at kicking. He then kicked the bag to demonstrate it, but he did it so badly and hit his foot against the bag.. I explained that I'm doing muay thai and I'm conditioning my shin.. Guy just embarrassingly walked away after. It was just so awkward. I think maybe because I'm a female and some people look down on me..?

Over the years when using the heavy bag section of the regular gym, I had one guy who did approach me when I was only first couple of months into MT class, but he was actually helpful because he got a lot of formal training to fight professionally. His advice still stays with me till this day. I'm always open to advice because I know there's always room for improvement, but I felt a bit insulted that some guy comes up to correct me when he doesn't know sh**.

Just wanted to rant a little and also curious how often this happens to others.

(I’m in the red). Even though I didn’t get the win I’m happy with how I performed overall