After spending one month at the Charnchai camp in Pai training Muay Thai, I've discovered a whole new level of respect for the sport and the fighters that train and compete.

My time with the Charnchai team has been nothing but amazing. The trainers are able to get every ounce of energy out of you and leave you in a giant puddle of your own sweat with ease. I definitely haven't been perfect with my training, missing classes here and there due to injuries and sometimes pure exhaustion.

## **Week 1**

On my first day, we had a group run to the White Buddha, a 3km run there followed by a short break before heading back to camp, easy enough I thought. These thoughts changed to horror after remembering my lack of ability to run, making it to the base of the White Buddha only to stare up in awe at the 353 steps up to the top. I didn't want to let this defeat me however I couldn't do more than walk up these steps without my heart exploding. Once reaching the top, the group (who had absolutely slapped me getting to the top at least 10 minutes before me) looked like they hadn't even broken a sweat! giving me a few minutes to recover, we set off back but like on the way there, they quickly left my line of sight due to my poor conditioning.

From this experience, I had a pretty good understanding of how hard the training was going to be, and I hadn't even done any Muay Thai training yet! Arriving back at the camp, we got into our wraps and gloves and proceeded to complete the usual Saturday morning routine which is dedicated to sparring and some additional pad and bag work.

### **My First Injury**

At the end of the first session, I was struggling to walk properly as I had torn the skin on both of my big toes. This was caused by the friction between my feet, the mat and my sweat making my feet extra soft and ripe for tearing. This injury actually had me off for most of the first week as even just walking to the bathroom was a struggle. I hobbled down to town Thursday morning and got myself some plasters, bandages and sports tape ready for the afternoon session. The bandages didn't work out well as they were re-usable elastic bandages which ended up not being able to stay in place to cover the plasters and tape. This however was thankfully the worst of it as the plasters and tape held in place enough for the session even with the amount of sweat that was getting into them.

## **Week 2 - 3**

I was injury-free during most of the middle weeks of training, so I was able to go to most of the sessions, skipping a few morning sessions where I had accidentally stayed up late the night before playing games or working on my site. Overall I did almost all of the afternoon sessions and around half of the morning sessions, opting to not do the Buddha Runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays and instead, doing the usual afternoon warm-up of 3 rounds of skipping.

### **My Second Injury**

During one of the sessions in the latter half of week 3, I opened a cut on a different toe on my right foot, causing it to be difficult to walk and twist on my foot as the pressure from my toenail would be quite extreme. This caused me to take the last few days of the week off, ready to get back into it for the last week.

## **Week 4**

Wanting to make the most of my last week at camp, I knew I had to make some changes to how I trained to make sure I stay injury-free before I left. My plan for this? Go for an easy run in the morning and go to training in the afternoon. This split allowed me to still advance and improve my technique and skills whilst giving me time to improve my cardio conditioning which has been sorely lacking during my time here as I missed almost all of the previous Buddha Runs due to opting for the rounds of skipping.

## **The Food**

When I originally arrived I paid for the meals as well as training and accommodation, which I made sure to utilise the best I could. After every training session (Morning: 8-10 am, Afternoon: 3-5 pm) you are given a plate of rice and a choice of two dishes served by the staff, one usually a chicken-based option, the other usually varying between tofu, omelette or a vegetable base. As chicken is my go-to choice of meat, this worked out perfectly for me. These meals change each session, with the rotation having around 5 or so different meals so you don't eat the same thing twice for a couple of days.

## **Final Thoughts**

Throughout my training with the team at Charnchai, I have been pushed harder than any training I've previously completed, both whilst I've been in the camp training or hyping me up and giving me advice on how to get back to training quicker whilst recovering from injuries and laziness. Whilst the style of training is very full-on and hard to get used to as an untrained beginner, I would choose to come back to this gym 1000x over if given the choice between Charnchai or somewhere else in Thailand. The people I've met and the friends I've made here have been another great positive to the experience.

Whilst Pai itself doesn't have too much to offer in terms of activities outside of eating, drinking and smoking, I believe that if you want the true experience of training like a real fighter, there's no better place than Charnchai.

Training Muay Thai In Thailand

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