Got 2 mins for a noob?

[Cuchulain82]

I am trying to find a good place to train a MA in New York City, and I think I've found a gym I like. It is a Muay Thai Gym named 5 Points Fitness (http://www.5pointsfitness.com/). The school is associated with Master Toddy. I wanted to post here in the kickboxing forum for a few reasons:

(1) Generally, what should I expect as I start training? I lift weights religously and love going to the gym. However, Muay Thai is going to be really different- should I expect to still be able to lift? Should I worry about getting hurt right away? Any little pieces of advice...?

(2) I don't know anything specific about Muay Thai or Kickboxing, so I was hoping a few people here could take a quick look at the website and tell me anything they notice- I don't know enought to know a good school from a bad one, so any help is appreciated.

(3) Does anyone have personal experience with the school? Are the teachers known to be good/bad teachers? There is a chance that some one here has some experience, so I thought I should ask before committing to a membership.

As ever, thanks for any help. All feedback is much appreciated.

[jabcrosshook]

I am trying to find a good place to train a MA in New York City, and I think I've found a gym I like. It is a Muy Thai Gym named 5 Points Fitness (http://www.5pointsfitness.com/). The school is associated with Master Toddy. I wanted to post here in the kickboxing forum for a few reasons:

(1) Generally, what should I expect as I start training? I lift weights religously and love going to the gym. However, Muy Thai is going to be really different- should I expect to still be able to lift? Should I worry about getting hurt right away? Any little pieces of advice...?

You should still lift. Many others do, too. You will, however, need to ease of lifting a bit once you get into your Muay Thai. Do you mean hurt from the lifting & training, or the Muay Thai? You won't be sparring for a while, and if you're really worried about lifting, check the H & F forum

(2) I don't know anything specific about Muy Thai or Kickboxing, so I was hoping a few people here could take a quick look at the website and tell me anything they notice- I don't know enought to know a good school from a bad one, so any help is appreciated.

I will look at your site later. All I can say `till I've read it is that Master Toddy is very respected in the Muay Thai world. I'll tel you what I think of the gym later when I've looked through the site.

[Cuchulain82]

Norm, thanks for your response- I really appreciate it. The site isn't terribly different from most gym sites so I don't think it will take you long. I just want to make sure nothing is there that would jump out at an experienced Kickboxer.

You should still lift <snip> Do you mean hurt from the lifting & training, or the Muay Thai?
I lift 5 days a week. I do abs 3-4 times a week. I lift all my muscles in 3 days and then either superset for the other 2 or just do lower impact stuff (stretching, sauna, etc.) Basically, I just love to go crazy at the gym, but I am worried about trying to do the same lifting routine while still training MT. When I mentioned getting hurt, I just thought there might be an injuryt that a lot of people get when they first start training. If so, I would be careful about it.

Basically, what you're saying is that I will be able to lift, but that is about it- nothing too excessive, right? That sounds okay to me...

[DangerMouse]

The website looks pretty good.

The alarm bells started to go off a bit when I read "kickboxing can transform your physique through intensive training techniques", which gave the impression they were erring on the side of "boxercise" or "aerokick", but as you read on they do seem to take the art seriously. I understand that the gym is a commercial fitness centre as well as kickboxing gym, which I've never encounterd here in the UK. As long as they are seriously dedicated on the kickboxing, and not doing it as a bit of a sideline, it shouldn't be a problem.

You mention that you want to get as much info before you commit to a membership. Good thinking on your part :) , but do they ask you to enter into commitment before trying it out? Most reputable places should let you have at least one free lesson to get an idea of what you'll be doing, and I'd be very cautious of anywhere that tries to sign you up on a contract early on.

As far as the teacher's reputations are concerned, I'm afraid that I'm not that experienced in Muay Thai, but there are plenty of people here on MAP that should be able to help.

[Cuchulain82]

Thanks for your reply Danger Mouse.

I actually went and took a class yesterday. It was at 6 pm, so it was jammed with people. Most of the people there seemed serious about training. There was a lot of kicking bags, pads, posts, and each other (in Muay Thai these are good things, right ;) ). All in all, I am pretty happy with the place and will probably sign up. It has a serious Muay Thai program, Kali, yoga/pilates (who knows?), and a full gym facility, and all this will only be about $35 more/month than what I pay now. If anyone sees a proberbial red flag, I would like to know now, before I give them the money.

[Jamo2]

Seriously, post in the Thai boxing section too. A lot of the people there know a bit more about Toddy.