Training Videos from Nongnapat and Footage from Rajadamnern Stadium

I'm now back in Raleigh, after getting in on Wednesday around 11am. I barely made my connecting flight in Philly due to a mistagged bag and backups at security. For the first time, I got to be that person running through the terminal at a full clip. I made it to the gate just as the woman was announcing the final boarding call for my flight. Unfortunately, one of my two checked bags did not make it to the flight, but the airline was nice enough to deliver it to my house when it finally arrived.

Below is a video edit of some of my pad work with trainer Banglee from Saturday morning. The rounds at Nongnapat are around 5 minutes long with a 1 minute rest. Like a lot of gyms, there is no round timer. Here, the trainers just watch a clock that is posted over the ring. This means that rounds can end up being anywhere from 3-5 minutes long. Banglee is pretty accurate in his round timings though, and when I reviewed the video, I was surprised at how close each round was to five minutes. Watching these videos makes me realize how much I need to work on turning my hip over when I kick. Banglee was constantly telling me 'more hip.' I think my technique is generally better on the bag, but during pads I get tired and lazy and resort to punting my kicks in.

 I also got some footage of sparring. As is typical in many Thai gyms, sparring is very light and playful. You can tell we are having a lot of fun in the video. The good thing about sparring with Banglee, or you padholder in general, is that they can find your weak points in sparring and work them on the pads. For example, I had a terrible time with checking back leg kicks from Banglee who is a southpaw. He noticed this in sparring and would drill this a lot during padwork.

I really enjoyed my week of training with Banglee who held pads, sparred, and clinched with me about 90% of the time I was at Nongnapat. Banglee seems to have a passion for teaching Muay Thai, and being a trainer and holding pads is not just a job for him, it is something he loves to do.

On Monday night before leaving Thailand to return to the states, Linda and I decided to watch some Muay Thai at Rajadamnern stadium. We took the BTS skytrain from Sukhumvit to Ratchathewi and from there grabbed a Tuk Tuk to the stadium.

Linda's first Tuk-Tuk ride.

There wasn't a big event at the stadium, so it was only about half full, but there were still some great fights. Most of them were among the lower weight classes from 103 to 120 pounds. The main even was between Superjek So Yophinda and Ritthikrai Kaewsamrit. It was an exciting fight and I filmed the 4th round which was a clinch battle. The stadium was pretty loud during this bout and I wanted to capture the atmosphere, but my camera didn't pick up the sound all that well. Superjek (red) was laying in tons of knees from the clinch and dropped Rittikrai and one point, but Rittikrai later responded with some nice uppercuts.

Linda and I with Superjek