Help me pick a new MT school

**feral** · Posted On: 7/13/2009 6:20pm

So after a six month or so hiatus, I'm going back to training.

The problem is that the usual place is no more, and I'm stuck looking for a new place.

So far I've narrowed it down to three:
1. Oyama's
This place has my old instructors, but unfortunately the price has shot up to 120 a month, and they don't have an official muay thai class at useful timeslot anymore, so I'd be taking the cardio class, which because of the small class size and due to the sparring background of the particpants, actually spars now and then. They are moving to a bigger place this month, and are supposed to start up an actual muay thai class soon after. Also, no contract, or BS starting fees, just first and last. Instructors are proven fighters with good records, and are still fighting.

2. OCMuayThai
Not to be confused with OCKickboxing, which seemed a bit crap. Classes are two hours long, and seem to have a heavy focus on cardio. I'm not sure about the quality of instruction, seemed decent enough, not sure about fight records. Its also midlevel as far as pricing goes, with more reasonable prices, but a BS registration fee. Also, its the farthest from my work, so getting their on time can be a pain, but its a two hour class, missing 5 or 10 mins of cardio isn't going to kill me, and the instructor doesn't care. Classes are on contract basis, 3,6 month or year long contracts, with cheaper rates the longer the contract. Somewhere around 80-90 a month though.

3. Joker's
Closest to my work, has a strong emphasis on sparring, and good one on one time with an instructor, its also the cheapest. But class is only an hour long, seems lighter on cardio. Also has some stylistic differences which I'll have to overcome. (hands higher than eye level--as opposed to 'telephone call' height, and they don't believe in checking kicks by raising the leg, only in turning your leg towards the kick/ moving in) Also, the kickboxing instructor has a middling record on sherdog of 1-4, though I'm not sure how accurate sherdog is, nor does that mean he can't teach or is lacking in skill. Cheaper than either of the first two, though they were a bit wishy washy on price, as I only talked to the instructor about it, and i get the impression he doesn't deal with the monetary side.

I feel a bit of loyalty to school 1 since it has my old instructors, but thats a steep price, though it does also include BJJ / MMA classes as well (not that I have the time or inclination for it) The second school is an attractive choice because of its long class times, I can make it on time most of the time, but even being late five minutes a day, i'm still likely to get more actual class time there than any other school. And I liked getting to get padwork time in with an instructor at Joker's, and I find sparring more engaging than drills or padwork. What do people think?

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 7/13/2009 7:14pm

All these choices, from your description, sound less than ideal though I'd personally go with #2 and do the shortest contract. $120/month for a cardio kickboxing class is pretty steep, especially for crap facilities. The instruction from the third choice sounds pretty stupid if it's accurate. The longer drive sucks, but I'd rather do a more pain of a drive for better training then waste money on something sub par. If it sucks too much, switch to another gym after your 3 months is up.

***WhiteShark*** · Posted On: 7/13/2009 7:22pm

PET PEEVE: Fill out your GD profile. Then every time you post we will know where you live and what sorts of thing would make sense to suggest.

If that is the OC Muay Thai I'm thinking of with the WEC pros then OC Muay Thai.

**Neo Sigma** · Posted On: 7/13/2009 8:23pm

and they don't believe in checking kicks by raising the leg, only in turning your leg towards the kick/ moving in)

Somebody more advanced can tell me if I'm picturing this wrong, but that seems like a really fantastic way to seriously injure your leg.

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 7/13/2009 10:24pm

Originally Posted by Neo Sigma

Somebody more advanced can tell me if I'm picturing this wrong, but that seems like a really fantastic way to seriously injure your leg.

It's ok to do occasionally if you're taking the kick to counter with a hard shot of your own, but having it be your primary kicking defense is pretty stupid. Some people you can get away with that with, others not so much.

**feral** · Posted On: 7/14/2009 3:00pm

Bah, I'm in the OC in California. And I think I have to agree with KidSpatula, the training seems better and longer at OCMuayThai, with classes going well beyond the scheduled 2 hours, even if currently I'm gassing out too early to take advantage of it.

Also I've been twice now and they've put no pressure on getting me to sign up, which is cool. I hate the gyms that try to sign you up after one practice with high pressure tactics and incentives like waiving startup fees if you sign up right then and there.

Thanks for your help.

**Kru J** · Posted On: 9/21/2009 9:00am

Hope you went with OC Muay Thai. I visited there once with a promoter when I was fighting in Cali and I liked it a lot. Old school and hardcore.

:)

**feral** · Posted On: 10/01/2009 8:44pm

Yeah, it was great....but then it moved too far north for me to make it to realistically, it was already at the border of being too far. So I'm back to not training at all until I get the gumption to get off my ass and find yet another place. Or give up and train BJJ.

**Kru J** · Posted On: 10/02/2009 7:43am

Is there nowhere that you can train and get something out of it? I mean even a bad school can offer something? We have guys that don't ever take classes that just sign up and hit as bag, that may be better than nothing.

Stay in Muay Thai! lol

**thaiboxersp** · Posted On: 10/16/2009 1:21pm

oc muay thai is a VERY good school and they train high level fighters like WEC's Cub swanson. they have a well rounded program and train some good old school Muay Thai and do a damn good job of it..