Nak Muay Thai, Richmond VA

[lordbd]

Aliveness:

8 In my first class I was hitting the mits and getting hit back. From that point on sparring of some kind has been a part of each class esssentially. The gym started in january and one senior student already had an ammy MMA fight and won. The instructor is a muay thai boxer with a pro record (8-0) who has begun to dabble in MMA.

Equipment:

6 Nak Muay has jump ropes, three kicking bags, several punching bags, gloves, wraps, mitts, and a boxing ring. All the equipment is used and well-worn but functional. It also has a weight room with barbells, dumbbells and equipment for leg-press, squat, and bench-press.

Gym Size:

7 The gym is fairly large in a commercial/industrial building, with one large room with a boxing ring, and a smaller room with matts covering the floors for less "alive" practice like hitting bags and mitts.

Instructor/Student Ratio:

9 The gym is brand-new, and right now the class sizes are small and the head instructor is very involved


Atmosphere/Attitude:

9 Everyone I've met has been friendly and willing to work, a great combination. They also put up with a variety of skill levels and manage skill level differences well within a class

Striking Instruction:

7 it's a muay thai gym
Grappling Instruction:

6 ?

*The gym has wrestling instructors as well, and the ammy fighter/senior student at the gym fights MMA and is trained in grappling, but I have not attended a wrestling class. No BJJ though.

Weapons:

0

[lordbd]

I would also add that my only criticism of the gym thus far is that it tends toward being a little disorganized. Class times sometimes change, and if a class is going well, the instructor blends it into the next class instead of starting over. This is pretty cool if you come for the earlier class, as you get a longer seamless training experience, but if you can only make it to the later class, you might feel a little left out doing the warmups on your own. My thought is that these timing sort of issues will firm up as the classes grown.

[Phrost]

Good review, thanks!

[lordbd]

I might upgrade the striking to 8. They recently have a boxing coach coming in 1-2 times per week to teach about angles and punches. I have only interacted with him once and don't know anything about his background other than the fact that he knows more about the body mechanics of boxing than I do.

[lordbd]

Gym update:

They've added a tai Chi instructor. Once per week after Saturday class we're learning Yang 24 movement form. Instructors name is Sifu Eric. Kru says that it is to help us with balance and coordination and breath control. I enjoy it a lot because 1) I'm into meditation and 2) its a nice break after a hard class. Still pretty physically demanding though.