Sitsongpeenong Muay Thai Camp Review

Sitsongpeenong Muay Thai Camp is a Professional Muay Thai Fighters Camp meaning it makes most of it's money from it's Thai Fighters winnings. It is owned by a half Thai, half Australian gentleman named Tim who speaks perfect English and Thai.

Sitsongpeenong is a relatively new Muay Thai Camp (less than 1 year old) in Thailand but it is gaining fast notoriety in Thailand for producing top fighters. One of the main reasons for this is Tim (the owner, who used to be the manager of Fairtex) brought two of the top trainers in Thailand (Ajarn Monlit and Ajarn Leam) to head the training and... he is constantly recruiting young fighters from all over Thailand who have a lot of heart, who will train hard and love fighting. The kids he has at this camp are truly talented and will one day be the future champions of Muay Thai in Thailand.

They currently have 9 young fighters in their stable with their most notable obviously being Kem Sitsongpeenong (formerly Kem Fairtex). But they have a strong group of up and coming champions such as Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong, Jomhod Sitsongpeenong (Most exciting Young Thai Fighter in Thailand to watch), Tewarith Sitsongpeenong (Sitthichai's Younger Brother) and Dechsakda Sitsongpeenong (who is fighting for the Thailand Championship Title this friday)

Everything about Sitsongpeenong is professional; from the facility, to the owner, to the trainers, to the fighters, to the food they serve you and to the staff that maintain the facilities. Sitsongpeenong is centrally located in Bangkok in a semi private well to do residential estate area. Because it is in a more well to do residential area of Bangkok you are away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok life such as; the sounds of traffic, smog and all the noise associated with city life. But you are just a cheap taxi drive or bicycle ride away from anything you could want.

The facility is a 3 story building. The training area is on the second floor, the Thai Fighters Dorms are on the 3rd floor and on the 1st floor is the kitchen, dining room, foreigners dorms, trainers dorms and the pool table room.

Sitsongpeenong's Facility is a modern, super very clean (I am trying to stress how clean this facility is compared to other camps) facility. It includes...

• 2 Full Size Boxing Rings
• 6 Trainers (All of whom, when combined have produced more than 20 Lumpinee, Thailand and Rajadamnerm Champions)
• 10 Punching Bags with a Fully Matted Floor
• Full Weight Set
• 3 Chin Up Bars,
• Plenty of Gloves and Shinguards (to use if you don't have any)
• Purified Water System
• 10 Dorm Rooms for Foreigners
• Pool Table
• Full Kitchen

When you stay at Sitsongpeenong you have two choices in rooms, you can either pay for your own room or you can share a room, and if you stay for an extended period of time you will receive a discount. Whichever option you choose your fees include 2 group training sessions per day and 2 meals per day (breakfast and dinner). Depending on how many foreigners are at the camp at the time will determine if they offer a buffet style meal or individual plate style meal. Either way you are fed plenty of great tasting fresh cooked food, albeit sometimes weird combinations (by western standards) especially for breakfast. Like today for breakfast they had eggs, bacon, sausages, fried chicken, rice, soup and some sort of shrimp dish. Also, there is plenty of fresh fruit.

If you are a professional or complete beginner at Muay Thai, Sitsongpeenong is the perfect place to learn and train Muay Thai in Thailand. They will train with you at your level. The only person who might not benefit from Sitsongpeenong would be a Professional Heavy Weight Fighter over 200 pounds, as there are no Thai's over 160 pounds here to spar with. But if you are 200 pounds or less and need to spar with someone then you can do that with Kem who will give you all you can take. But if sparring is not important to you than it doesn't matter.

I would highly recommend Sitsongpeenong, if you are looking for World Class Muay Thai Training at the cleanest Muay Thai Camp I have seen in Thailand so far. But if you are looking to party, want to train at an old dirty camp or just want to hang out then this camp will not be right for you. I hope this helps!

Overall Grade - A++

Best and Worst Training Today!

My morning training session today with Ajarn Monlit was very good. Every time I train with him he teaches me a new move or an improvement on something I already do. Training with him is fun and frustrating at the same time. He always smiles and laughs when working with me but at the same time he is always on top of me about my basics he NEVER lets me slide and he never goes easy with me. Even when I am tired and want to stop he keeps going like I was one of his fighters (which I am not).

I appreciate his belief in me but at the same time I am not in the condition like his young fighters (they are little endurance machines) and I am out of shape! Being out of shape (meaning NOT in fight shape) SUCKS!!!

Anyhow Ajarn Monlit also went over his Wai Kru with me. For those of you who don't know what a Wai Kru is, it is a ceremonial dance before a fight paying respect to your teacher (Wai means bow and Kru means teacher). Every school has there own Wai Kru. They are all similar in look but with a lot of little differences. Some schools have very long, elaborate and beautiful Wai Kru's, some schools have short and simple Wai Kru's and other schools are somewhere in between.

Today I went to Kaewsamrit Muay Thai Gym to get some equipment for my school. I really like their equipment. I got back to Sitsongpeenongs afternoon training session a little late. When I went upstairs they were doing clinching. I saw Kem and Sitthichai doing clinching together and with another Farang. My goal when coming to Thailand was to clinch with them and throw them at least once.

I started with Sitthichai and I was able to throw him, I was feeling awesome inside. But the truth is I am a lot heavier than him BUT... I was able to throw him with clean technique. Well my feeling of awesomeness quickly faded when I did clinching with Kem. He threw me a few times (OK, alot!) He wasn't mean to me but I know it was retribution for me throwing Sitthichai. I kept switching between Sitthichai and Kem for about 4 rounds. I went with Sitthichai and I was able to throw Sitthichai again, BUT right afterwards I clinched Kem and threw me around. I was able to "hang" with Kem but he is definitely in a class by himself.

The cool thing was after we did clinching it was like I earned their respect and Kem actually came up and spoke to me telling me that "I was strong", I am not sure if he meant physically strong or strong in the clinch (Either way I don't care it was a compliment from a great Muay Thai Fighter)Now just so I can put this in perspective Kem has not said one to me since I have been here (probably because he doesn't speak much english) but the fact that he said anything to me was awesome.

Anyhow, if I were not to do any more training before I went home on friday I would be ok with that because I was able to hang with two of the top Muay Thai Fighters in Thailand doing clinching.

My afternoon private was right after I did clinching with Kem and Sitthichai so I was pretty tired. It did not go so good I could hardly do any pad work quite honestly I was exhausted. I was pulling out every trick in the book to stahl during the rounds and between rounds. But Ajarn Monlit was not having it! He kept pushing me and making me kick the pads more, he kept saying "more, more" and all I wanted to do was lay down and rest. Finally he showed mercy on me and slowed down the pace. At the end of the private he went over some more details when clinching (which I forgot to use when I was clinching with Kem).

Tomorrow I am going to only do one private lesson for hard training and a private with another instructor named Jack on the Wai Kru. I have seen him teaching the Wai Kru and he is really good at it.

Hard Training!

It has been a couple of days since I wrote a blog. I have been very busy training and watching the Thai Fighters train. My whole body is sore BUT it is a good sore. I love the training, it is very simple but very effective. I feel my Muay Thai, my understanding of Muay Thai and my understanding of Thai Culture has improved so much since being here.

One thing I have noticed at Sitsongpeenong is how much the trainers really care about the fighters. Yeah, they have to push the kids, train them very hard and throw them around a bit but it is so they are prepared for the reality of fighting in the ring. These kids are professional fighters and there is no room for softness when it comes to their training. One thing I have noticed though is the trainers smile a lot at the kids and try to break up the monotony of training with humor every once in a while. One trainer Muangfalek is hilarious when he holds the pads, he is very animated and humorous when the kids kick or knee the thai pads. He either falls or stumbles when kicked and the kids love it.

My trainer Ajarn (Master) Monlit is very hard on me and picks apart my technique and movement. He told me in Thailand a lot of trainers tell the Farang (foreigners) that they are doing a good job during training when they aren't doing a good job. He says he won't do that with me and I appreciate that, if my technique is not good enough I want to make it better. Sometimes it is hard mentally to have my technique picked apart, but I can see and feel my technique getting sharper and cleaner.

One thing that is really funny is the fighters at Sitsongpeenong love watching American Wrestling (WWE), playing pool, watching themselves and each other fight on video.

My First Day of Training!

Well I woke up in the morning to the sound of all the Thai Fighters coming down the stairs to go running. So I slowly woke up still getting used to the time difference and went upstairs to the gym to stretch out. My body was a little slow, so I stretched out and then hit the bags for a little bit. Eventually the trainers came up stairs to start rolling the fighters handwraps, when they were done one of the smallest trainer here asked me if I was ready. I was as ready as I was going to be so I put my gloves on and got in the ring.

I did 4 rounds on the Thai Pads. Before I came to Thailand I was doing Thai Pad work 3 times a week and sparring twice a week. The only difference was I was doing 4 - 3 minute rounds with a 45 second rest period, here at Sitsongpeenong they do 4 minute rounds with a 30 second rest period and the pace is a lot faster then I was doing back home. But, I was able to maintain a high pace for the first 2.5 half rounds but that last round in a half made me dig down inside.

I felt kinda bad for the trainer I was working with because I have teens in my school that are bigger than him and he was taking my kicks and I was dropping some pretty heavy bombs on him. But he took the kicks and smiled, even though I saw the look of shock in his face. After that training session I went to go have breakfast because I was going to do a private lesson with Ajarn Monlit who is a legendary Muay Thai Trainer. He has trained many Muay Thai Champions like Jongsanan Fairtex, Bunkerd Fairtex and Yoknoi Fairtex and now he is training his next group of champions. So I was pretty psyched about doing this private lesson.

My morning private was rescheduled to the afternoon because the Gym Owner Tim and Ajarn Monlit had to go and do a press conference. When my private lesson rolled around at 2pm I was excited. Ajarn Monlit said because I am a teacher he wants to start with the basics and build from there so I can take it back to the USA to teach. So my training started with doing Jab, Crosses focusing on my stance, footwork and how my hands were positioned while in my guarding stance. Half way through the private my left shoulder was shot. I could barely hold it up, so Ajarn Monlit started pouring the COLDEST water on my shoulders and started to massage my shoulders so I could keep going. That cold water shocked my body but it reinvigorated me after each round and massaging my whole body between each round definitely helped.

By the time I had 15 minutes left to go in the private I was completely soaked from sweat and water, literally you could wring my Muay Thai shorts out and fill a cup of water. Those last 15 minutes seemed like an eternity because by that time, I had done literally hundreds of Jab, Crosses in the air and on the Focus Mitts. I think Ajarn Monlit could see I was spent so he took me over to the punching bag to do flying rounds knees and front kicks on the bag. I guess he thought since I was working a different group of muscles that it would help and it did! But since I was so wet it made it very hard to do front kicks on the punching bag, my feet kept slipping off and I was slipping on the floor too.

By the end of the private lesson he said my Jab, Crosses looked much better and that tomorrow we would work on kicks and knees. I am excited! It's amazing how many details a great teacher can correct by watching you train. I really do feel like my Jab, Crosses improved a lot because of that training session. I can't wait until tomorrow.

Normal Day of Training for a Professional Muay Thai Fighter

Everyday the morning training session for the Thai Fighters starts off at 6am with a light 1.5 hour run (no joke this is everyday) then they come in and do 5 rounds of 4 minutes on the Thai Pads and endless rounds on the bag. Depending on where the fighters are in their training will determine if they do clinching in the morning.

While the fighters are running the trainers will come into the gym and roll up all the fighters handwraps and get ready for the morning training session. If a fighter is getting really close to a fight the trainers will oil the fighters up with a training liniment and massage their whole body with an emphasis on their legs. These fighters are treated really good because this is a serious business, if a fighter is injured and can't fight to their full potential then they won't win and make money for the gym or themselves. All of the money a gym makes to pay for food, facilities and trainers comes from the fighters winnings.

One thing I have noticed about these kids is they are extremely humble and they really work together as a team. What is unbelievable is sometimes the fighter that is serving you water while you are doing pad work with a trainer can sometimes be a...Champion!

After the morning run, the fighters will either go in the ring to work with a trainer on the Thai Pads or go hit the punching bag. Normally, there are 2 -3 fighters in each ring at a time working with a trainer on the Thai Pads where they will do (depending on who they are and if they are getting ready for a fight) between 4-6 rounds of 4 minutes with 30 second rest periods. This may not sound like a lot but these fighters work at an extremely high pace, a pace that most foreigners can't keep up with (they are like machines) and 1 other fighter is outside of the ring getting the water ready to give to them in between rounds.

Like clock work when one fighter finishes their training with a trainer they go hit the bags and another fighter comes in to do Thai Pad Work. This is a normal morning training session, the really hard training happens in the afternoon. The morning session will finish up around 9am.

The afternoon session begins at about 3pm. They start off with 30 minutes of jumping rope (again this is everyday) afterwards they line up and do pull ups. Then they do a few rounds of just doing jab, crosses with weights in their hands. After that it is back to doing Thai Pads and hitting the punching bags. But after they do that they will do either clinching for 40 minutes or light sparring. One thing is the Thai Fighters when sparring never go very hard they save that for the ring. This mentality is very different than western fighters where they feel it is necessary to spar full contact all the time. In fact I haven't seen much sparring at all. The afternoon training sessions are a lot more intense than the mornings. After training the fighters will hit the weights but again they don't go very heavy mostly light weights just to keep their bodies strong.

One thing I can say at least for this camp Sitsongpeenong is the trainers and the owner of the gym really care about their fighters. To them these fighters which are kids between the ages of 13-18 years old are like prized race horses. They look at the long term investment of training the fighters into....CHAMPIONS!

Watched First Training Session

The afternoon training session started at 3pm with 30 minutes of jumping rope. Then part of the group goes to work on the punching bags and 4 people go into the rings to work with a trainer on the Thai Pads. There are about 6-8 trainers per session.

Kem Sitsongpeenong was working on the Thai Pads and his Muay Thai is beautiful. His roundhouse kick is a work of art it is fast, powerful, intense and fluid all in one. I hope I can get my kicks to look like that one day.

Sitsongpeenong has two fighters right now preparing to fight at the end of the month. The first is this small 13 year old kid name Jomhod. He is a machine that never quits. When you watch him train you can tell he is something special. He loves training and loves fighting even more! After two hours of training that would make most Americans throw up, he did like 40 minutes of clinching with a kid his size and adult trainer. He was just awesome!

The other fighter who is fighting is called Dechsakda and he is fighting for a title belt on July 30th. He is also a workhorse and animal. He has great spirit and heart. I was watching him do Thai Pad work and spar today. I learned so much just by watching him train.

It is just amazing to watch these kids train, it is really inspiring to see how hard they train and how hard the trainers work at trying to turn them into champions. It is truly a team effort to make a Champion!

Tomorrow, I am doing a Private Lesson with Monlit who is supposedly going to win "trainer of the year" this year in Thailand. He has trained Jongsanan Fairtex, Bunkerd Fairtex, Yoknoi Fairtex and now Kem Sitsongpeenong, Sittichai Sitsongpeenong, Maphicit Sitsongpenong, Jomhod Sitsongpeenong and Dechsakda Sitsongpeenong.

Arrived Safely into Thailand

Got into Thailand safely! Anyone who wonders if flying business class makes a difference, I can say without a doubt, "YES!" For the first time since flying to asia I was able to sleep the whole flight (Thank god for frequent flyer miles).

One thing that always make me laugh is when a female worker comes into the mens airport restroom to clean.

I took a cab from the airport to Sitsongpeenong Muay Thai Camp. This camp is very clean, professional and has awesome Muay Thai trainers and fighters. A lot of the new young up and coming fighters are coming from this camp. I am so excited to start training!