Question for the board

[Alex]

First off, thanks to everyone on this forum for all of the knowledge and advice you bring to the table. I have been a very long time lurker on the Muay Thai section of MT and have posted just a few times.

So down to business, I live in Kansas City and after months of searching, there is nowhere even close to me for Muay Thai training. A lot of people have told me to take Kickboxing or Kenpo, but I'm really not that interested in anything but Muay Thai. So here it is, what is you guys' recommendation for me, I don't want to train from books or videos (fear of developing bad habits), and I can't travel every month to a gym.

I guess I'm in a predicament and wanted o know if anyone else here has dealt with training long distance outside of a regular class setting and felt satisfied with their progression in the sport.

 

[bitesizemidgee]

I'm kind of in the same boat as you, the nearest Muay Thai school is quite a drive, about 135 miles one way, and I had thought I would try to learn things on my own as well at first. After doing so for a little bit, and deciding that I'd better go to the school to at least see if I am doing things correctly on my own, I found out that I had been developing quite a few bad habits on my own, thus I would've been better not doing it at all without having someone who knew what they were talking about telling me what I was doing wrong. As a result, I have been making that drive twice a week to attend class, and although it costs $20 in gas to go every time, (my car's addicted to gas), I still make that drive because I know I am being taught the correct way, and not only this, but my instructor will know when I have progressed enough to compete, rather than my own biased and unexperienced opinion. From my own experiece, I would definitely not recommend trying to learn on your own, you may be doing yourself more harm than good by convincing yourself you are progressing when your really not. Hope that helps.

 

[thaistyle]

What is available close to you? I know this must frustrate you, but don't put a limit or restrictions on your training. When I was in the military, I tried to train in what was available until I found a muay thai school. Have you looked in the KC area or in Lawrence? You may want to look into going and spending time on the weekends at a camp/school whenever you can.

 

[thaistyle]

I found one that might be of interest. It looks like they incorporate muay thai into their training. Crawford's MMA (816) 728-7360 www.crawfordsmma.com and it is in Overland Park. Check it out.