Which kickboxing gym should I train at?

[K1ngMe]

I've been training at 2 different places, and I now only have time to train at 1 due to my new work schedule. I plan on competing in Kickboxing in the future but I'm having a hard time picking which gym to stick with. I'm short and muscular, and I tend to use my hands more (if that makes a difference).

Gym A)

American Kickboxing gym that focuses mainly on Boxing, footwork/head movement, roundhouses, sidekicks, and flashy spinning sh*t. The coach was a boxing coach in the past, and emphasizes a lot on the boxing aspect. There's hardly any training partners, so I have almost no sparring time, but that means I get a lot of 1 on 1 time with the coach. We supplement the lack of sparring by sparring at other gyms against their fighters. Me and the coach have a strong connection because I have been training with him for a while, and I can tell he genuinely cares about my progression. But my main concern is the lack of sparring/training partners, and that we don't train leg kicks, elbows, knees, or clinch.

Gym B)

Traditional Muay Thai gym that focuses mainly on kicks, knees, elbows, and clinch. This gym has a lot of good quality fighters/training partners, and they win a lot of Muay Thai tournaments. The coach is solid and used to be a Muay Thai fighter himself with a good record. My main concerns with this gym is that the coach seems not to care too much about me individually, and the super good fighters overshadow me and take up most of his attention. I also dont like the lack of boxing training because I tend to use my hands more.

If I can only invest my time into 1 gym, which gym should I train at?

 

[Relentless chase]

I would say get to a gym that combines boxing, karate, and authentic Muay Thai all in one which is primarily called Dutch kickboxing.

For example:
*Duane Ludwig's system of striking known as Bang Muay Thai (BMT) which is Dutch kickboxing, is one of the most successful striking systems in kickboxing/ or MMA. Ludwig Martial Arts is his gym he currently owns and runs.

*Henri Hooft is a former Dutch kickboxer. H-KickBoxing is what he names his style of teaching. Hard knocks 365 is the gym he currently owns and runs. another great successful style of kickboxing.

both of those are gyms I would recommend going to and training at if you want to learn from the best and be a successful kickboxer.
they will transform you into a kickboxing wizard.

 

[j123]

Sounds like gym B has a pecking order, having been through that, that is a fuck you big time. Getting fed as a body to their fighters is no good. Basically getting set up for an injury

I'm at a gym similar to A, in terms of going to other sister gyms. The difference is we spar at ours. Its not a bad arrangement, I feel this type of gym is good if you're more exp'd . What's your exp level in striking?

In terms of skill sounds like B is better, but overall A you can grow. Sounds like the coach genuinely cares for you, and thats something thats hard to come by. Too many gyms are looking for the bottom line and have you as just nothing more than a number. The thing about the fight game is that you don't have to stay forever, if your coach isn't providing, you can move on, there's no incentive to stay. I've been burned before and I've moved on, its not much. Like a career, your first job will teach you alot, but if you have to go to survive and grow, then by all means. Funny thing about this game is that as long as the basic principles are taught it doesnt matter who's teaching. If a 'merican KB coach can teach well despite its system being laughable in this day and age, go with it. Be the judge of how it is.

I would say get to a gym that combines boxing, karate, and authentic Muay Thai all in one which is primarily called Dutch kickboxing.

For example:
*Duane Ludwig's system of striking known as Bang Muay Thai (BMT) which is Dutch kickboxing, is one of the most successful striking systems in kickboxing/ or MMA. Ludwig Martial Arts is his gym he currently owns and runs.

*Henri Hooft is a former Dutch kickboxer. H-KickBoxing is what he names his style of teaching. Hard knocks 365 is the gym he currently owns and runs. another great successful style of kickboxing.

both of those are gyms I would recommend going to and training at if you want to learn from the best and be a successful kickboxer.
they will transform you into a kickboxing wizard.

We used to have a HH student who opened his own gym to teach alongside our gym (they came in and paid our gym rent while they taught, very green in the business side), not a fan personally, they do quite a bit of stuff that's red flag-ish imo. One was blocking full force body kicks with leaving their arm out. Having been in this game for a bit, that shit will get you a broken arm.

 

[K1ngMe]

Sounds like gym B has a pecking order, having been through that, that is a fuck you big time. Getting fed as a body to their fighters is no good. Basically getting set up for an injury

I'm at a gym similar to A, in terms of going to other sister gyms. The difference is we spar at ours. Its not a bad arrangement, I feel this type of gym is good if you're more exp'd . What's your exp level in striking?

In terms of skill sounds like B is better, but overall A you can grow. Sounds like the coach genuinely cares for you, and thats something thats hard to come by. Too many gyms are looking for the bottom line and have you as just nothing more than a number. The thing about the fight game is that you don't have to stay forever, if your coach isn't providing, you can move on, there's no incentive to stay. I've been burned before and I've moved on, its not much. Like a career, your first job will teach you alot, but if you have to go to survive and grow, then by all means. Funny thing about this game is that as long as the basic principles are taught it doesnt matter who's teaching. If a 'merican KB coach can teach well despite its system being laughable in this day and age, go with it. Be the judge of how it is.



We used to have a HH student who opened his own gym to teach alongside our gym (they came in and paid our gym rent while they taught, very green in the business side), not a fan personally, they do quite a bit of stuff that's red flag-ish imo. One was blocking full force body kicks with leaving their arm out. Having been in this game for a bit, that shit will get you a broken arm.

I've been training for about 4 years now. I'd say I'm decent, but I never had any fight/competition experience. Do you think training both American kickboxing, as well as Boxing at a different gym will be good enough to hang with Muay Thai fighters?

 

[j123]

I've been training for about 4 years now. I'd say I'm decent, but I never had any fight/competition experience. Do you think training both American kickboxing, as well as Boxing at a different gym will be good enough to hang with Muay Thai fighters?

Have you trained at a MT or at least MMA gym with 'MT' before?

If not, you're gonna get mauled in the clinch against a camp that's decent therr. #1 main problem I've seen across camps. And at novice level fights, it will be spent in the clinch most of the time. Both guys press forward, don't want to back out, and they're in the clinch within 10-20 seconds. After a bit, ref breaks. Then it repeats for the rest of the fight.

People always say its leg kicks that is the deciding factor, but from my oen exp. Its the clinch. If you don't know how to work there then you'll gas like a mustang on regular. Worse case you try to block knees and your forearms are in for a bad night.

 

[Tayski]

Try 1 month only at Gym A, then 1 month only at Gym B and see which one you prefer after those 2 months. The important factor has a lot to do with the instructor rather than the style, so if you get on better with the instructor from Gym A maybe stay there.

Also at some gyms with high level fighters you can't just expect to come in and take all the instructors' attention and sparr with their top fighters right away, you need to show some dedication and training before that. It's not necessarily because they don't care about you, but why would they focus time on you if you end up leaving after a few days or a few weeks like 80% of people who turn up there?

 

[j123]

Try 1 month only at Gym A, then 1 month only at Gym B and see which one you prefer after those 2 months. The important factor has a lot to do with the instructor rather than the style, so if you get on better with the instructor from Gym A maybe stay there.

Also at some gyms with high level fighters you can't just expect to come in and take all the instructors' attention and sparr with their top fighters right away, you need to show some dedication and training before that. It's not necessarily because they don't care about you, but why would they focus time on you if you end up leaving after a few days or a few weeks like 80% of people who turn up there?

I've never liked this approach. One here took it a bit much imo. A close friend of mine got a job the next city over so he had to switch gyms. He's a fighter, and a good one at that also; So he goes to the new gym, they go rough house in sparring, and he tunes up most of the guys on the fight team, except the exp'd pros. Then they decided to not let him with the inner circle and he ends up having to spar with gym warriors and get not so great training. They did "let" him train with the better partners later on, but they basicslly made him ass kiss for it. In that sense it was that he had to like, share, and borderline spam their social media stuff online. At first I thought it was odd because this is a dude who barely does socisl media stuff, then out of nowhere it was that.

I asked why they never gave him the green light at first given he would be a great addition to the team, and its because they didn't want to invest in him thinking he might leave. The other one we all know is, it looks bad when a new guy walks in and cleans house of your local team