I spent one month at Kombat Group in July 2015. I wanted to train Western Boxing only and there just isn’t another camp in Thailand that can offer that.
Laura
I’ve stayed at another Muay Thai camp twice before but I wasn’t fully happy with my Western Boxing experience there. I wanted to try something different and I got the feeling that Kombat Group really cares about what they do instead of just running a business. I wasn’t wrong.
I loved my experience. First of all I loved the trainers and I loved our little group of boxing people. And all the other people from all over the world too! Obviously training was really hard when I first started, but once I got adjusted to the heat and the training itself, I truly loved every second of it. There were days when I felt like I was far too tired or too much in pain to go and train but those were often the best training sessions. It is an amazing feeling to overcome tiredness and just keep on going. And I love a good sweat too!
I also enjoyed staying at the camp. I really liked Barbara and Christian. It’s nice that they are farangs running the camp. Being Italians they love their espressos and olive oil, which is obviously a bonus. They were also very straightforward and honest, which I appreciate. Basically this is a place where you come and train and give it your everything for however long you decide to stay. The staff will do their best to make sure that’s really all you have to do. The food, laundry, cleaning… everything else is being taken care of.
What I think made my experience successful was that I committed myself to the training programme. I missed a few sessions because I was ill but other than that I was always there and I always gave it my all. But even if it sounds like hard work – which it is – training was actually a lot of fun. It was my purpose for being there.
I also decided that I wasn’t going to focus on results – like losing weight or being better than someone else – but to just do my best every day and trust that it will naturally result in good things. Which it did; I got stronger, faster, fitter and dropped a dress size.
For me the month of training wasn’t just a physical but definitely a mental experience. I learned about commitment, pushing myself, and about not giving up. I also really enjoyed the simple life that Thailand has to offer: beautiful nature, happy and friendly people, gorgeous food, the sun and the sea.
Oh and it was amazing to watch Christian train, prepare for his fights and then actually fight and win. It really made me respect professional boxers for all they go through for the love of their sport.
I felt like one month was a perfect length for my stay. It wasn’t too long to keep it very intense but it was long enough to make great progress. I know it can be a big decision to travel across the world and do something like this but all I would say is: Just do it. You know you want to.
