Sitmonchai Overview by DirtyWhiteGi
Posted in Blog, Muay Thai Camps, Sitmonchai on March 5, 2011
I was first contacted by Greg through a few comment posts on my site (under the name DirtyWhiteGi), which then turned into a few emails and before we knew it, the love affair began. Greg owns a blog of his own at DirtyWhiteGi dot Com, which has followed him through his training camps at Gordo’s in Brazil and WMC Koh Samui Thailand. This trip Greg came down to Sitmonchai after my recommendation. Since returning home he’s been throwing up plenty of posts about his training trip to Sitmonchai. Here’s a nice overview he posted about the gym for those interested in going.
Sitmonchai Gym Overview
Location & Getting there
Pii Ae’s house and the Gym/accommodation area behind it
The gym address is 22/2 M.5 Sangchuto Road, Tha Maka, Kanchanaburi, Thailand 71120. The Kanchanaburi province is about 1.5-2hrs (depending on traffic) outside of Bangkok and there are a few ways to get out there. You can either catch a bus, minivan or arrange to be picked up from the airport.
The road in front of the gym and sugar cane fields we’d jog by every morning
I’ve only ever taken the minivan (with help from Michael and directions from Abigail) but I think they are the quickest and cheapest route and they leave from a minivan station near Victory Monument regularly (longest I would’ve waited would be 10-15mins). Costs around 90-110 baht one way.
I think the bus is about 100-120baht one way and leaves from somewhere in Pinklao. Also it would be best to get directions from Abigail before you leave for whichever mode of transport you choose.
The town of Tha Maka (also spelt Thamaka) is pretty small. There’s not too much in the way of entertainment there, a few internet cafes and a Tesco supermarket that everyone would visit almost everyday. But this makes for less distractions and therefore a great place if you want to focus on training. Plus the air in the countryside is heaps cleaner than in Bangkok. I found jogging in the mornings by the sugarcane fields watching the sunrise and the countryside wake up to be one of my highlights everyone morning, very zen.
There is a shopping mall and cinema about 15mins drive from Tha Maka, but everyone was pretty happy to just sleep in and chill everyday after morning trainings. The city of Kanchanaburi is about a 30-40min drive and has a few clubs and bars to go nightclubbing.
Facilities
While the gym has the most basic training facilities: a ring, rubber mats area covered by carpet, 6 heavy bags, sit up benches, some weights and chin up bar; they have everything you would need for Muay Thai training and they make use of what they got.
This place is like a Thai version of a Rocky Balboa gym that’s made to build champions and win fights: nothing fancy in here just the raw essentials to train with + the dedication, blood, sweat and tears of the nak muay that train there.
As for accommodation: Sitmonchai only recently opened their doors to farangs, after 20 years, and in anticipation they renovated and built 6 rooms for farangs to stay in. This can cater for up to 10 people, the cut off number of people allowed at the gym. The limit on numbers is to “ensure everyone’s needs are met and to preserve the familiar atmosphere at the gym.” I found this allowed for a good balance between the number of nak muay training and the trainers. No long lines to wait your turn to do pads!
The last time I was in Thailand for training, the gym I was at had about 3 groups of people (2 from Australian and 1 from Canada) plus individuals that came on their own. So the place was CROWDED and you were lucky to get any one on one time with a Thai trainer, if any at all. If you’ve ever trained in a gym when it’s crowded, then you would know how much BETTER it is having one on one time with trainers and beneficial to learning proper muay thai technique.
Training
Like most gyms in Thailand, training at Sitmonchai is: 6 days a week, 2 times a day (morning and afternoon sessions) with Sunday as the rest day.
This applies to all the training: You can go as hard or as soft as you want, no one will force you to train but they may encourage you to work on things e.g. leg kick rounds, knees on the bags etc. AND you may as well make full use of it all because you are paying for it! Of course there were a few days where I was feeling under the radar or a bit worse for wear, so skipped a run or a few sessions but still watched everyone train and even learned things from just watching.
Morning training 7am
- Starts with a run 6-12km
- Pad work with your trainer (up to 6 or 7 rounds)
- Weights & strength & abdominal exercises
- Warm down
Morning sessions are generally taken at a lighter pace than afternoons sessions. But the intensity you go at depends on you and even if you go at a lighter pace you’ll still work up a good sweat hitting the pads.
Almost every morning I was there Pii Bun would be the one knocking on the door at 6:30am waking everyone up to get ready for the run. *Knocks* “Geg, Geg… jogging!” And almost every morning I felt like rolling over and going back to sleep, which I did on a few occasions when I had a bad case of diarrhea.
Usually I would work with Kru Dam on the pads but got to work with Kru Jaa on a few occasions. When I first came I thought I’d be able to push out 5 or 6 rounds. But was surprised (well actually more disappointed) at how tired I got just in the 1st round and only managed pull out 3 rounds before conceding to Kru Dam’s subtle suggestion of “enough, ok?” Which to me may as well of been: “This farang’s tired already… LOL no0b”
I was happy to be able to push out 5 to 6 rounds consistently before I left though. This is after I fixed up my stance, footwork and found my rhythm in Muay Thai again.
After thai pads you can do some weights with the dumbells, chin ups, push ups and sit ups then warm down. Sometimes you might can do some leg kick rounds or technical sparring but usually everyone just does their pad rounds then some strength and conditioning.
Afternoon training 4pm-ish
- Run 4-6km, skipping
- Pad work with your trainer (up to 5 or 6 rounds)
- Clinching/technical sparring (very good time to learn techniques and tricks from the fighters)
- Weights & strength & abdominal exercises
- Warm down
The afternoon sessions are where everyone puts in a bit more oomph. Rounds on the Thai pads with your trainer are usually followed by a few rounds practicing low kicks (a Sitmonchai trademark) then finished with technical sparring or clinching with one of the fighters.
The technical sparring and clinching is the best opportunity to really learn and practice your Muay Thai. As the name suggests the focus ISN’T on bashing each other but practicing your technique and getting it right! Just politely asks one of the fighters your own size to spar or clinch with you and they’ll be more than happy to oblige.
More likely than not they’ll also point out your mistakes and happily show you some techniques in between making you feel slow, flat footed, robotic and in general just a baby compared to their crip and fluid techniques. It’s hard to explain but even though sparring is at a slow controlled pace the Thai’s are fast and oh so very tricky to read. Everyone has their own bag of tricks and if you don’t fall into any of them then I would be surprised and encourage you to fight in the big stadiums of Bangkok.
The same goes for clinch sparring which I really wanted to learn more of. Everyone has the ability to make you feel like a rag doll. Even one of the young nak muay, whom I’m sure I got at least 8-10kgs on, was moving me around with ease and pure skill and I was barely managing to hold and avoid being dumped on my butt by using a bit of my size and strength.
Below is a video of Pornsaneh (blue & white shorts) and Thepnimit Sitmonchai doing some work on the Thai pads. Last year Pornsaneh won ‘Lumpini Fighter of the year 2010′ and ‘Muay Thai fight of the year 2010′ for his fight against Pakorn Sakyothin, just check out the 4th round of their Fight of the Year and you’ll see what all the fuss was about.
Costs
Gym costs 900 baht a day for stays under 2 weeks and 800 baht a day for stays over 2 weeks. This includes accommodation, training 2x a day AND 2 delicious meals a day. Prices are current as of 2011.
Atmosphere
To say I love the atmosphere at Sitmonchai gym would be an understatement. Training here really did feel like being part of a family. I believe in part this has to do with the location and limit of number on people they allow to train. Not everyone wanting to train Muay Thai would like to be stuck out in the countryside far away from all the clubs and go go bars.
But that has the benefit of weeding out those that want to party sex tourist style and do a few training sessions then go back home telling everyone they trained Muay Thai in Thailand and won a fight against a Thai muay thai fighter (when really they fought a taxi driver that got paid to dive); and those that really want to train Muay Thai like real nak muay and experience the culture and lifestyle that goes with it.
