Some suggestions from a Nak Muay with a record of 90 matches

This article was made to complete the article “When i grow i want to be a Nak Muay and live in Thailand..” (Link) because it’s a very useful experience for those who want to follow this road.

Article written by Em Muay Farang – Sitjemam/MF North Thailand

As far as my personal experience, heaving been training in Thailand since 1999, I can say that the choice of the camp, although in recent years the situation evolved, must be based on some basic considerations bearing in mind that training and fighting in Thailand is completely different experience to those experienced in europe.

First of all I would say that the choice of camp is very subjective matter, in the sense that a camp that works for an athlete does not necessarily work for another: in fact I see the relationship with a camp very similar to a relationship you would have with a fiancee’, things should go well from the beginning or will inevitably get worse, the muay thai gym is in fact made of people (and therefore of interpersonal relationships) not from equipment.

So you can imagine the kai muay like a small country made up by a ‘president’ (manager), by a government ‘trainers’ and from a people ‘athletes who make up the team’.

There are few questions to necessarily ask themselves:

• A) who is the manager
• B) who are the trainers
• C) who is part of the team
• D) What am I willing to do to for the camp and what camp can do for me, obviously considering if I can stand the requested sacrifices in the face of what I hope to achieve.

Analyzing point by point.

A) Manager. The manager of the camp isone key figure, most of the time you see won’t see him around at all, but he is who actually makes a difference as match maker and basically decides who could or ‘MUST’ become somebody. From my personal experience the thai manager sees the athlete no more than as a sharecropper, asking to fight very often (Thai style) to recover from the camp’s expenses, often forcing the hand of the trainers on unorthodox practices (especially in the process of cutting and recovery).
Many times the manager of the camp, here in Thailand, is also a big gambler, so I leave the reader to draw conclusions.
Considering the cultural difference always opt for a farang manager, because, although and rightly wants to profit by the athlete, he does not just send him to the massacre without caring and counting on the arrival of fresh replacements, but always tends to aim at a more human relationship,trying to valorize the athlete in the sense less matches/ higher purses.

B) Trainers. The wrongest question that i always hear from people is: “How many trainers does the camp have?” .

The right question is instead WHO are the trainers at the camp ?.

In one camp, especially nowadays with the evolution seen in muay thai, here should be ideally always represented the three styles of muay thai: mat, khao and fimeu. The camps specialized in one style only represent nowadays a obsolete choice and will disappear motsly beacuse they drastically limit the abilities of the boxers. Possibly every camp should have an ajarn (a master / senior trainer), supported by Kru (asisstant trainers) and possibly (!!) someone skilled in athletic training (although most of experienced athletes actually prefer running the athletic preparion by themselves). Again be careful not to underestimate the cultural barrier: the farang athlete is always a visitor beside a possible competitor of local athletes; then consider that the thai trainers go much on sympathy, try then to show them as much respect as possible as they work with the boxer in two different ways: either they do not give anything and always positively comment about the boxer (as I call them ‘my fliend vely good, you win for sure 100% ‘ kind of trainers) or they give everything and they are never happy about the students ( these are especially ajarn who always have a half hour more’ available for the motivated athlete.) Possibly do not limit the workout with only one trainer (although of course everyone will have a favorite one), same as for cooking well you must know not only how to prepare the entree’ but also the other courses, so in muay thai is important to get as much knowledge as possible and every kru can give some extra hints.

C) Who is in the team. There is little to do, the gym is made up of individuals very different from each other, for culture, for extraction and then not to mention that for the farang athlete in Thailand the adaptation to the local customs and ways of doing especially in the early periods could seem an impossible barrier. I personally found myself more than once forced in leaving a camp because I could not find feeling with my mates … unfortunately sparring and work with a training partner is primary need for the development of the boxer … ‘good eyes’ and ring control always win against the brute force and they can both only be developed thru a productive sparring/clinching . We must therefore find a proper environment, made up of people who work consciously and feeling part of a group, giving you a hand in the difficult moments of the preparation that obviously all boxers encounter.
I then always try to find a team formed by a small mixed group (young and experienced, farang and Thai) avoiding like the plague “commercial gyms” with continuous change of people, polluted by “alpha males” always willing to perform their powerful hits during sparring because not able to show the same abilities on the ring. The characteristics of a heterogeneous environment guarantee the possibility of an exchange of skills with the other athletes, while a small lump (family environment) ensures those interpersonal relationships that makes exercising more pleasant and constructive.
Then I would open a dutiful parenthesis regarding gyms with ‘champions’: let us ask’ why the Thai champion should lose his limited time to train / form a farang who comes in his gym?’ ….. The answer is of course ‘for no reason ‘.
In fact well established champions train always in their close circle and the young farang is at most allowed to take picture with them at the end of the session.

D) expectations and obligations. Who is in Thailand to be a boxer must understand that it isn’t holiday time, but he is actually working with precise duties. Many times we do not realize that the 3-4000 baht that a farang takes at the beginiing of the carreer in a small stadium represents 50% of the minimum wage (perceived by the majority) of the Thai population.
The manager invests time and money in the boxer, so do the trainers.

The boxer must therefore keep word with the obligations he accepted while entering the camp, because this no longer a hobby but a real job. Many farang ‘nak muay wannabe’ have in fact ruined the reputation of the other farang boxers in the past years, causing them to be labelled the thai promoters as little serious and reliable and on the same side putting in a bad light the camp and manager for the mere fact that they did not realize the muay Thai in Thailand is not a hobby, but rather a source of income for many.
So, once you have chosen the camp first, before moving to the final step we must then ask ourselves seriously: Am I willing to go thru enormous sacrifices to chase a result difficult to achieve?

I believe in myself and in the people to whom I put my trust?

Remains always the fact that the boxer is a job like another.and as for all professions is not suitable for everyone ….. I could never be good as a gardener or as an accountant So first of all you should think if you really want to make the big step for becoming a pro or settle for being an amateur, obviously without necessarily having to collect just for showing off as very trendy in recent times, a number of ‘diplomas’ and ‘degrees’ in ‘Muay Thai’ that actually have no more value then the paper they are printed on.

Em Muay Farang – Sitjemam – Pai (Thailand)