Muay Thai in Atlanta

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gardawamtu

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Anyone know of a good place to learn/train Muay Thai in Atlanta? Anyone heard of The Francis Fong MA Academy? I see that they do a large range of styles. Is this normal?

My fiancee and I watched "Fight Girls" on oxygen last night and she got inspired.
 
The Fong Academy is damn good, they teach a variety of systems. The Muay Thai they teach there is the T.B.A. Thai Boxing Assoc. of the USA. They teach to the standards of Ajarn Chai Sirisute. If you are close, get into it. JMHO. PEACE
 
Manu Ntoh of Alliance Martial Arts is the best Muay Thai Kru in the state of Georgia. Check out his website at http://www.manuntoh.com if you're serious about training, but ONLY if you're serious.

- Lyon
 
I'm trying to decide between taking MT classes at either velocity with Khunpon or Manu at Alliance and I can't seem to make up my mind. From reading the various posts about these schools online, it seems like there is a great bias against velocity, but I'm thinking that's because majority of people whose posts I've read train at Alliance.

Anyway, apparently I can take both BJJ and MT at velocity for 69 dollars a month and at Alliance it's going to cost me 180 dollars. Financially speaking, velocity obviously is the better deal. HOWEVER, I'm a firm believer in you get what you paid for. So, I have no problem paying the extra money if I knew that the training I'd be getting is far superior over the other school. In terms of BJJ training, I'm sold, but in terms of MT, I'm not sure yet.

Anyone have any experiences with either Manu and/or Khunpon in terms of how they are at teaching a complete "newbie" into the world of MT?

Thanks!
 
I'm also interested in the best place for a "newbie." I'm interested in MT for the health benefits, self-defense and because it just looks like fun--a great way to get in shape and work off stress and agression while still learning how to defend yourself--I'm not really interested in the competition aspect.
 
I recently got into Muay Thai myself and I've been all over trying to find a place to start learning. I've been in wrestling and my stand-up is dreadful. I barely know how to punch...

My girlfriend and I first started with Alliance and did a test session with them. Manu is VERY knowledgable and quite impressive. However, we didn't really like his teaching style. We told him that we were brand-new to this and on our test session we immediately got into multiple combinations and clinching without much footwork taught at all. As a matter of fact, I was so discombobulated during the "Warm-up Footwork" part that I was 2 laps (laps meaing, down the mat and back" behind everyone else. Instead of starting us off and saying "Ok, this is the jab. This is the cross. This is a hook, keep your elbow up..." or actually, starting off on just footwork itself, learning now to move while in a proper stance, etc... they immediately started off with "Ok, do a jab, jab, cross, hook, right kick, left kick, knee. Go!" My girlfriend is a blackbelt in Shito-Ryu so she picked it up much quicker than I did, but I was completely embarassed that I would get so far behind, but at the same time, not embarassed enough to just stop, start again and do it right.

Manu worked with me directly after he realized how amazingly bad I was, but he still threw SO many things at me I just didn't feel comfortable. I mean after me getting the combinations down only once, we immediately went on to kicks, then clinch knee's, then more combinations with the thai pads and then onto sparring! I totally was not ready for sparring. Even though I thought it was really fun, I didn't know what to do at all and spent most of my time just covering my face and throwing wild kicks.

That was another thing I didn't like about it... We didn't learn a SINGLE blocking technique! I honestly believe that learning footwork was the most important, then the basic punches (jab, cross, hook, uppercut), then some basic defense techniques and then the basic right and left kick. Even that seems excessive to me... Maybe I'm just a slow learner... But I mean, footwork is so obviously VERY important I would think you would want to work on this exclusively for a first timer.

Manu was helpful and extremely nice. However, I can't say much else for the rest of the Alliance team. We actually ended up going ahead and signing a contract but then canceled it within the 7 day cancellation period due to my girlfriend losing her job 2 days later! Alliance refused to refund any of the sign-up fee or down payment even though they never told us, nor did the contract state that the sign-up fee was non refundable. We called for 5 days straight asking about it, finally to get an answer of "No, we're not going to refund your money even thought you cancelled within the 7 day period." Fotunately, our credit card company agreed with us and we're in the process of getting the charges reversed.

After talking to some other guys, I came to find out Manu was the best if you were already somewhat knowledable. He can really bring you to that next level. Khunpon from KnuckleUp (velocity) and Francis Fong were the next suggested. As well as the Tiger Academy... However, once I called the Tiger Academy, it seemed like to me that it was kind of marketed towards Soccer moms. As a matter of fact the guy on the phone told me, without me asking "Our Muay Thai is geared more towards conditioning..." I think he knew right from the start that I wanted more than just conditioning.

I ended up at TripleBoxing in Woodstock, GA. Not only was this close to my house, my test session was great. Plus, the guys there are all very sincere. There was no "Sign-up Fee", all of their equipment is reasonably priced such as shorts, gloves, wraps, etc... They aren't trying to make a killing off of you like Alliance is. Alliance charged us $12 each for handwraps!! TripleBoxing charges $5. I was astonished at how Alliance is so money hungry... Plus, when you freeze your account with TripleBoxing, you don't pay a thing. It literally freezes your account. Unlike Alliance where you pay 30%. Another PLUS with TripleBoxing is that it's open from 10 AM - 9 PM. You can come in at any time and train either by yourself or with a class and not have to pay extra. They have Thai Boxing, Cardio Kickboxing, Olympic style boxing and Gracie Jiu Jitsu classes.

My test session was more my speed. The first thing we did was learn footwork! How to stand, how to move forward, backwards, left and right and how to advance, retreat, slide, etc... Then we got into some basic punches... Jab, Cross, hook. Then we got into how to apply those with the footwork and how to use your body to provide power into the punches using footwork. Then we got into simple kicks and did some bag work with kicks and punches and tried some combinations of just punches then kicks and then punches with kicks. Then we did some Thai pad work! I felt like I was getting a firmer grip on it all instead of when I was just thrown stuff and was told "Go!" Plus, I don't feel like I'm being ripped off at all. I like that feeling. It feels like they want me to learn all I can instead of "How much money can we get from you today?"

Don't get me wrong. Manu, himself... The guy was really cool. Very toughtful, absolutely knew his stuff (4 time world champ!!) and was very welcoming and knowledgable. I'm sure if I stayed longer, he would have worked with me more directly to get me up to speed. It's a shame he's associated with such a crappy and immoral organization such as Alliance BJJ. In the future, when I get better, I'm going to seek his personal training services, but I refuse to every do any business through Alliance even if it means limiting my skills. Those people are sharks and unethical.

Right now, I'm VERY happy with TripleBoxing and I feel that my skill's and technique will flurish here greatly. I'm sure I have YEARS of learning to do here before or even if I get to a point where I feel I need more, I will seek it. However, I can't see that being anywhere in the near future.

I hope this helped somewhat.
 
Thanks for all the pointers. Michelle (Bromipowjo) and I did visit Fong's school. We were very impressed with the facilities and the variety of training, but were a bit intimidated.

She filled out an information sheet the day we visited, but was never contacted. It was also pretty expensive.

She's started coming to my kenpo club as she continues Tai Chi training. Maybe we could do something like that in the future, but not now. It still looked like a lot of fun.
 
Bromipowjo and I decided to join Knuckleup (Gwinnett) two weeks ago and are very happy with the decision. The price was right for us and the facilities, schedule, and location have worked out really well. Everything else suggested was either in a bad location for us or was too expensive with a bad schedule.

So far she is doing the kickboxing classes and I am doing kickboxing and some K-1/Muay Thai classes to learn technique. We've been going early in the morning, so the class has been pretty small (no more than 4).

Right now we are concentrating on trimming down (I've lost about 2-4 pounds depending on water wieght) and may get more serious as we do so. After trimming down, I may concentrate more on the Muay Thai and even add the BJJ in the future. We probably won't want to get in the ring, but are really enjoying training as if we may some day.

Thanks for all of the input.
 
The absolute best place to train Muay Thai is at Bangkok Boxing. The head instructor/owner, Khunpon, left Knuckleup a while ago. Now Khunpon's the only trainer/fighter from Thailand with a gym in the southeast.

Videos of Khunpon fighting and class footage at Bangkok Boxing are up on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/BangkokBoxing

The next best is Manu at Alliance. Only problem is you gotta go through alliance to train with him, and they're kind of bastards. (They tried to hustle me into signing a contract while I was watching the class under the pretense that it was a waiver I needed to sign before jumping in to try it out.)

Francis Fong is good too, but they teach their class in a more westernized way with a ranking system and more static drills instead of moving with footwork while offense/defense. And when I last visited them they did no sparring whatsoever, not even light and controlled sparring.
 
My best friend just started with Khunpon. He's incredibly happy with the training he's getting there.
 
hey i'm glad i came across this thread!

my girlfriend will be graduating soon, and she's looking to move back to her hometown Atlanta. as a result, i have been looking for some credible Muay Thai and BJJ instructors there.

the posts that i've read so far are providing some extremely valuable information! thank you guys.

one of my main concerns are the fees, first and foremost. someone had already mentioned that Alliance (one of my first choices actually) charges something around 180...and what's funny is that that's what i'm paying for BOTH me AND my girlfriend here at GB Chicago.

i'm sure Manu provides excellent instruction, but i'm starting to have reservations about Alliance from what i've read so far.

i will also be looking into Khunpon at Adrenaline, but the problem is that they don't seem to offer any BJJ classes. i would kinda like to join a "one-stop shop" kinda gym.
 
I actually saw Khunpon talking to a BJJ instructor down at Bangkok Boxing last week. I asked him about it and he said he's gonna get the guy to start coming to teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays right after Muay Thai so that's gonna be pretty bad ***. I'll ask him when BJJ and MMA classes are gonna start.
 
ringenius said:
I actually saw Khunpon talking to a BJJ instructor down at Bangkok Boxing last week. I asked him about it and he said he's gonna get the guy to start coming to teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays right after Muay Thai so that's gonna be pretty bad ***. I'll ask him when BJJ and MMA classes are gonna start.
Click to expand...


ah, that would be excellent news!

keep us updated man! looks like that would definitely be the place for me once we move down there.

thanks for the info!
 
Ok, Khunpon told me BJJ is scheduled to start March 1st at Bangkok Boxing right after Tues and Thurs Muay Thai classes. I think the group MMA training will probably start around then too on Monday nights.
 
ringenius said:
Ok, Khunpon told me BJJ is scheduled to start March 1st at Bangkok Boxing right after Tues and Thurs Muay Thai classes. I think the group MMA training will probably start around then too on Monday nights.
Click to expand...

oh wow, that is EXCELLENT news!!!

well, looks like this place will be bumped up to our number one prospect for when we move down there.

thanks for sharing man!
 
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