Stars Gym London

Walking into the gym experiencing the length of mirrored walkway my first thought was; “this is a fancy sort of place, but hey what do you expect in London?” As boxing gyms go this is a plush sort of gaff; no peeling paint, no gaffer tape around the bags and the gloves didn’t smell completely rank.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the staff and trainers. Hardcore boxing places in London can be just that and rough around the edges too but Stars Gym seems to have got the new breed of boxing gyms down to a fine tuned (approachable) sexy machine.

Who needs an old fashioned padlock when you can enter a code into your super duper locker or a metal ringside bell when the ipod fitted into the wall counts three minutes in it’s sleep. Impressive!

Boxing ring

The gym has a boxing ring and area adjacent used for the classes, the Thursday evening class I attended is taken by Mati Parks, the head coach and Muay Thai fighter/champion.

The warm up was a grueling no frills 20minutes of squats, jumps, press ups and due to my early onset exercise delirium I can’t remember much else. Mati then got us working with a partner swapping between pads and gloves. 40 minutes working on combinations and a lot of time spent on practicing left and right, very important before that elbow swoops across your face!

It became increasingly hard to hold the pads with shaking arms and there didn’t seem to be a lot of technique, more just hitting hard and fast. The clinching looked as though they were strangling each other, I didn’t take part.

We finished with a tour of the bags, practicing moves, abdominal floor work and a stretch. I came away smiling with bruises in all the wrong places from holding pads badly (it was my first time with Muay Thai)

Mati with legend Barry McGuigan

This class helps with conditioning and coordination, a beginner maybe better off with a private session with Mati to learn Muay Thai techniques. With a competitive edge this class motivated you to push your body to the limits and then some. But what else would we expect from Muay Thai?

Classes are £10, you can try your first one free.
Check out the website for more details, prices and more about the trainers www.starsgym.co.uk

I am Londoner born and bred. I came to Thailand six months ago for six weeks. I am mad about sports and training but unable to run stupid distances because of a bike accident. I needed a challenge and where better and what sport to do that is better than a kick ass Muay Thai session? I am now borderline obsessed. I am lucky to live at a Muay Thai gym in Thailand so I get up close with the quirks of the culture and also the array of trainers, each with their own twist on Muay. Most importantly I am a girl, not the traditional calling in Thailand! I could write a book of comments “you are strong, for a girl, you are like a man" or my favourite “Suzi you dress so pretty but you like to fight?” I could go on… http://gravatar.com/suzihallpt

Suzi

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