Training in Phuket

When we arrived to Phuket we started to look for gyms right away. Luckily the area we chose to stay is where all the gyms are located. Tiger, Dragon and Top Team are all in the same road not to far from our hotel (although we still needed a taxi to get there). Not so far from that road there is the Suwit Stadium which also has a gym.

We decided to go for Dragon, and I was very happy with this choice. All trainers are thai and some of them are fighters too. All the gyms have two classes a day except for Sunday in which people rest. Classes are a good deal, they are cheap, you get a full training and you get to meet people, but we went for one-to-one session.

In Dragon when they assign you a trainer is going to be permanent, unless they are not available. My kruu was Petsila, which is also a fighter and he was awesome. The training however is only on pads and light sparring, no warming up or conditioning, but you can do that in your own time, which is good, because then you pay 1 hour of personal training instead of half.

The first day the trainer tested us a bit to understand our level, and each of them established a different pace. During the training they focused 100% on technique, correcting us every single time, and then let us flow on pads until the next thing came up.

It appears to me that gyms here don't have a style, but the style of training and fighting is different with every kruu. In a way is good to learn different styles, but for I am taught the style is reflected on the way I fight, and the style we fight in my gym is very tactical. This happened in Banchamek as well, and I believe is true for most other gyms too.

On the other hand Petsila gave me really good advice, and helped me a lot technically. Minor things that I wouldn't know in by training with westerners, but very important. I would like to go train again there, and if you have a chance to train in Phuket I would like to recommend you to go to Dragon.