Finding The Right Kickboxing/MMA/Muay Thai Gym | What You Need To Know 

My first gym for Muay Thai was a DISASTER. Some red flags: coach claiming he was World Champion (never mentioned any org), claimed he lived for 10 years in Thailand, full on sparring EVERY SINGLE DAY, injuries were a weekly thing, no mouthguard no problem lol I lasted there for 3 months then moved to a way better gym for almost 2 years now

My trainer is one of the scariest looking men ive seen, yet he is speaks in a low volume and is down to earth, he occassional makes jokes which stunned me at first, he is a weapon.

I've had many people messaging me with questions on finding the right gym. I hope this helps you if you are thinking of starting martial arts or are on the hunt for a new gym/instructor.

As a guy currently looking for a Gym this is spot on. Finding a coach and members you get along with is huge. The only thing I would add is to find a place that is close and where their schedule works for you. I loved a gym that was an hour away, but half the time I showed up, the class was canceled at the last minute.

When I first started training combat sports it was boxing. I loved boxing but I hated every boxing gym I went to. Lots of lone wolf's in every gym and sparring was life and death. Mma gyms were way more friendly and everyone was willing to teach you

First day I decided to start I messaged Liam Harrison and asked his advice on where to go in my area. Told me about two places. Started with one immediately and I have no regrets

Oh and also, something my coach told me the other day: regulars (not fighters) are the money pot for gyms so never EVER be afraid to respectfully speak up if there's anything going wrong (smelly bathrooms, more equipment). Gyms NEED regular white/blue collar trainees to reach the end of month

Thanks for this. Trying to figure out where to move as we speak. Since my mother’s death I want nothing… absolutely nothing other than to be world champion, & bring all the belts to her grave

Martial arts gyms have the best and chillest people compared to other sports academies/gyms i've attended

You really set the standard dude. Don’t pin or heart. Just want you to know you’re an inspiration

finding a gym is really not easy, the places ive been to always were good but also had big cons

Thank-you for this man!!

Great points here to consider before going to a fight gym, thanks for these kinds of videos, very informative!

This was a really good video!

Thx for the advice bro I'm currently looking for a gym to train at my first Muay Thai gym wasnt to say the least what I thought it was gonna be

After watching this I appreciate the time I had at my 1st boxing gym. The equipment was old except for a good 3-4 bags out of 12, there was a slippery spot on the ring, but the people, the coach, and the culture was very damn nice! This new gym I go to the equipment is very nice, but everyone is here to workout only and not learn about technique or fighting, just learn a good arm punching workout you can do with your mom. If you start throwing proper heavy punches everyone looks at you funny.

Great video! one of the points about my coach not giving me enough attention was one of the main reasons I left my first gym despite it being more famous and expensive. Visiting different gyms is fun and I highly encourage it to any beginners as well, you usually get a free lesson anyway

Really great advice! Especially that last one. I wish I had known that when I first started my kickboxing journey. Cuz I wasted my time with a lot of coaches & gyms thinking that they had the connections and sadly they didn't. But eventually I found the right gym for me later on.

Been watching your content and you deserve alot more Subs, subbed ty for your content I have found it so helpful 😊

Youre a great coach man i hope you open a gym here in BC!

Thanks Gabriel this was an interesting topic, Im sure it is useful for everyone.

Great post! 🎉 I just found a great gym.

6:00 I completely agree. There are exceptions but for the most part people in martial arts schools/gyms are very friendly. I’ve always been fine with martial arts schools but was a bit unsure about weight lifters when I started lifting. Turned out just like you said, very friendly and many are happy to share some workout tips.

Blessed to have found Tri-city boxing and muay thai. Love training with Pat White.

Watching these videos trying to decide what to do

Been loving your channel! Thanks for helping me stay motivated!

Thank you sir ❤️

Can you do a video on Mark Hunt and how he sets up power shots and what his techniques are in K-1 and MMA

Shoutout to VMA! Great video as usual.

Great video

This video is excellent 👌👍 been to many places, seen many things as well ....

You sound like you are an awesome coach

Im lucky. I live a quarter mile from a Gracie Barra gym with great instructors whose accomplishments you can google.

One thing I noticed is when you walk in the door how are greeted. Ive been to a few different gyms traveling and there were a few that had tough guy pretty much written on the door. Lets just say i didnt train there lol. It blows my mind that people run a business but dont want members who wont put up with there toxic nonsense. Lot of gyms build tough fighters but not good fighters. Find the place that smells like hard work but has a smile at the door.

My first gym was kinda bad experience... First off, the main coach wasn't constant of being present. He had like 4 kids which I can understand but as responsibility, it was inconstancy... And sometimes, since he was the "owner" of the gym which was a basement, when he couldn't show up the evenings, no classes, closed! And it happened more enough to piss me off. Plus, I wasn't in a good place because of the teammates that were either bullies or just having their "cliques" that weren't very welcome. After less than 2 months, I was out for a new gym where I was more happy. It was a wild area but at least, it was more fun.

seems like i got lucky with my gym :D

I'd love to hear if you have any advice on light contact kickboxing. I've dabbled in full contact, but I have decided it's too high risk for me, considering it's a hobby, but I love competing and sparring.

Spot on, once again. Especially Thailand with gyms in abundance is actually not easy to choose the right gym: Lazy pad-work, bad fight connections, ego-driven sparring, bad hygiene, gym politics,too strict and hard sessions when fighting, the list goes on. I became literally a gym 'slut' there lol.

I put a lot of weight of in the testomonials I find on Sherdog. I was wondering how many other people do too.

Gabriel, do you have an update on gyms to train at at Thailand?

Will you please make a video about what it takes to be a great coach? Specifically how, if there is any way, to become a great coach without ever having been a pro fighter?

Im currently training with joshua fabia

I think that you. Need to have instructors who care about the students and aren’t just there for the money. Its a tough sport but the coaches should be there to match ppl up w others that are at their level for sparring, and also supervise that the sparring is there to help Not people just trying to be tough guys and ahow each other up

Lucky I join a legit gym from the start

Most of the Gyms around my city suck because they're very hyped and they only want to hurry anyone in to becoming pro without having an amateur career i know that Because i been in boxing since i was kid and i know how it goes lol plus for being a trainer you need a fighting background and good education at least

It's very frustrating when you don't have many options in your area to change gym... My instructor has won everything with just 5 "real" fights which he lost all and trashes other gyms too... I'm the only female there and I only train and spar with guys . I give as good as I receive 😁💪🏻 but we are not giving the right training to know how to train well.

My gym coach is around my age(27) he is kind of a known fighter here in my little town (in Mexico) I've seen him fight (just one time but I know he has more experiences) and he beat the other dude. I don't think he has any type of championship right now but I know we live in a very shitty state near Guatemala wiithout too much oportunities. I did some sparring 2 weeks into my training(imma about to pay my 2nd month), 2 rounds, one with one dude we went kinda soft (because I saw videos of sparring and they said that u need not to be an asshole) but my 2nd sparing round was with another dude that was trying to kill me, that other dude was lighter than me and younger and I dont think he knows that in sparring u need to go lighter. The coach told him to be more technical and less savage but the mf tried to fucking ko me. He tag me but I took it (the coach told me that he thought I was going down because it was hard but I didnt even really felt it) and I didnt went nuts because i didnt wanted to bring that vibe. At the end I feel like he give me a good punch (swinging crazy hooks with the head down) but I punched in a more technical way. The other sparring sessions (I had 3) had been more cool (even I fight the coach who tags me but no so hard). I'm going to fight anoither supposedly noob the 25 of september because I told the coach I wanted to fight (not thinking that so early) and he told me that if I want to I could fight in september another noob and I say yes to dont look like a pussy. The gym is small and we have just 2 heavy bags that we dont use them so often because one is super fucking hard and the other one is like not hanged correctly. We train just one hour each day. We are very few so the attention is good. I hope I go well in my fight, I dont really care of winning or loosing I just wannt to go in and give it all so people in the crowd no matter if I win or I loose can notice that I gave my best. I feel like my training partners and my coach see that Im a little athletic, have some strenght and intensity and that I can be a lil good if I continue this path, but I dont know how im going to react in the fight, if im going to like it, if im going to perform well, if im going to get my ass whooped, i have so many questions but well, this shit is like this. This channel is helping me a lot through my MMA journey!!! Thanks for it and keep going even if u dont have millions and millions of views!! People like me really appreciate it and help us a lot with all our doubts!!! Thank you!!

Hello Gabriel. I am going to star my career as a amateur MMA fighter with no fighting background. There is a local gym, where the have won k1 titles and also, they won the national MMA tournament here in Peru. They have champion, amateur champions but there are only few pro fighters with less than 3 fights. Do you think it is a good idea to enter in that gym temporary?

I wish I could kickbox but there are no gyms near me 😪

How hard should you spar? When is it ok to step it up and tone it down

I wanna try Muay Thai but my city only has 3 gyms that offer it lol

Hi Gabriel, is the wkn belt a legit belt?

what about the evlove mma ?

I’d rather be sparring first month especially just light sparring. I was at boxing gym but want me one year of drills, padwork, heavy bag. It gets boring and I stopped going.

What gym do you train at varga

Pardon for bad English. So I went to one of the best MMA gym in my city India. entered and went straight up to the present coach( there are different coaches for striking and grappling) I introduced myself and told him I'm new and it's my first day at the gym and I'm new to MMA never played combat sports before. He in a very mean tone says "ok go and do" I said what to do. With the same tone he replied "Do what they are doing find a partner and perform techniques on them". I was speechless in front of 20 people.(they were doing ground work grappling techniques) I said ok bcz he is the coach he should know better than me. So he gave me a partner ( I am a beginner. Only knows how to do jab and cross. Average build but I played sports and have done a 2 week boxing camp and I know that warm-up is the most important thing before starting any sport). But no warm-up or introduction about the sports or basics to learn before. But i got a partner. My partner was also hesitant to train with me bcz i dont know abcd or any movement.(Its like giving a calculus equation to a history student before teaching him maths) so no student in the gym was ready to train or teach me any technique.(been 30 min of just standing there) So I again asked the coach that what should I do should I do warm-up or something else for basic. In a very mean tone he replied I can't do anything I will only teach techniques here and you will have to find partner own your own and perform them its not my fault that you are not getting any partner. I replied but coach I don't know anything about MMA or combat sports. He replied I can't do anything. and went away.( i was in a state of shock. Like what I'm doing here) but there were a few guys who helped me. But at the end of class I was clueless and in a depressed state.

*Coach has won major titles or produced fighters that have *Research how legit world titles and whether the organisation is just giving away belts *Warm and welcoming fellow students *Make sure your instructor doesn't just toss in spaaring in the first month without instruction (red flag) *Find a gym where the instructor makes time to go around and work with everybody, if an instructor doesn't come by at least 5-6 times and make corrections and give you pointers they are not doing their job, it should not be the star of the gyms the only one getting the attention *Make sure they have good fight connections (if competing )

Dude your tips are gold. you can hear the experience. I'm glad I got to this channel. Anybody curious about training in martial arts should come across this video and others on this channel. thank you.

What’s your opinion on kickboxing gyms giving belts?

The gym I go to has take a step on people’s stomach and right after they do crunches right after and they take like 10 or more steps on the person’s belly is this a bad gym?

My coach doesn’t even make us spar and we just focus on cardio at the beginning of class with exercises and all that and then near the end we start doing the boxing part, I don’t know if my gym is good or not??..

Jackson Wink Academy

👍👍👍

Who's the best mma striking coach in your opinion?

Varga plz help yesterday was my first mauy Thai class and I seen a post today which my partner was bloody and bruised along with multiple others the gym is victory mma and I need someone to give a bigger heads up before I end up getting abused along with other kids

The biggest red flag I saw is the "mandatory" hard sparring (because nobody knows how to go light and even if you tell them they do not to go light) every day. By 'mandatory,' I mean it's part of the day's program. Either you participate and sacrifice 20 minutes of a 60-minute session and spar randomly because that's what the coach wants or you just leave and lose 1/3. In Brazil most of the gyms do not have quality control but this was the worst one I have paid for.

What about your personal favorite or the best gyms in Thailand from what your circle says??

Does someone know good kick boxing classes in Dallas Texas

Is it a red flag if a gym doesnt have any bags to punch and kick?

I just wish my town had options... We've got tons of BJJ gyms, we've got a few boxing gyms, and a couple of cardio kickboxing places. but we don't have any place that does kickboxing and only one place that does Muay Thai. And even though they do Muay Thai, they're way more focused on MMA and BJJ, and I only do standup kickboxing or Muay Thai so I don't really have any place else to go.

Im bummed, i found a great gym with heaps of people i like and great coaches, but they dont clean the mats and ive just had to have a month off from ringworm. I went back yesterday toa class and there was still dirty towels from last nights class and some dudes sweaty GI just lying there. Just gross.

It's kind of funny that all of the things that make a bad striking gym, from being forced to spar when you can't even defend yourself to mat / ring bullies, are normal in most BJJ gyms. Must be why every BJJ channel has a "why do white belts quit" video, lol.

I had a problem the other day and still unsure what to do. A muay thai/ bjj gym I went to a trial session the other day, instructors were good and people were nice, but the space was so small it didnt feel like I could train properly? Litterally banging into people, etc. What do you think with that problem?

I’m so shitty, any gym will do

Okay but what about people who HAVE gone pro but still only teach punching and kick combinations? Like holy fucking shit, this one place I was there for quite a few months and I only received a single class teaching how to block punches. The rest of it was just punch/kick combos and getting bitched at about my footwork (that they didn't even teach).

First

I walked past my gym every single day for more than a year before I got the guts to go in... You can find me there 5 days a week now. Go in. People are nice. Support a local business.

Could I email you about my situation?