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.
