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April 21, 2024

Keatkhamtorn Gym is located in the Khan Na Yao District of Bangkok, about a 30 min ride from the heart of the city. The gym sits on a quiet street alongside many small industrial buildings. Mr Teerawat Chukorn (nickname Jakae), an officer of the Royal Thai Police, runs the gym with his wife Nantana. If you've ever heard of the brand Sandee, Jakae is the official distributor in Thailand. The gym definitely has an authentic feel of raising children from a young age to be stadium fighters. The facility has housing attached where the fighters live and eat, and rooms for visitors who wish to stay there. When I arrived there was one other American, a French fighter, and 6-8 younger Thai fighters. One of the first things I noticed was the amount of roadwork they do here. The morning run was at least 10k run and the afternoons were around 5-10k. The runs were always before training, but also sometimes after. The kids probably ran 15-25 km a day. If you decide to train here, don't worry, like most gyms you can train at your own level. The morning runs started a little before 6am and spanned the side streets and alongside a main highway. Immediately after the run came 100-200 knees on the bag. Conditioning was obviously emphasized here. Next you would start some bagwork while you waited for a trainer to call you up for padwork. There were two trainers during my stay, both were pretty good padholders. They didn't speak much English but they would try to giving me technique tips throughout the rounds. Following padwork was clinching or light sparring. Keatkhamtorm is known for their strong clinch and Muay Khao style. The clinching sessions lasted at least half an hour each session. The training would sometimes end with more bag drills and a run. The afternoon sessions started around 4pm and were in similar fashion to the morning session. Jakae and his wife are very welcoming and hospitable. They would often let me stay after the sessions and eat with the fighters, even though I was staying elsewhere. They even offered to drive me to the airport for my return flight to the U.S. The surrounding area is pretty quiet and dull. There's some serviced apartments nearby and the closest food stalls are a 15-20 min walk from the gym. If you're thinking of training here, you may want to get the package deal which includes accommodations and food. Overall, I recommend this gym to smaller fighters (<60 kg) looking for an intense training regime who wishes to focus on improving their clinch game. Since most of the thai fighters were in their teen's and younger, you may find a better fit at another gym if you are a larger fighter. Pros -Intense training -Lots of clinchwork -Large clean facility Cons -Not much in surrounding area