Meet My Coach!! Or in Muay Thai language MY KRU—-
My Kru Doug Owens
My Muay Thai coach is a funny guy. It is 4:30 pm and I am on my way to my Japanese Language class and I see I have a voice mail on my iphone. I check that voice mail and its my coach. …. “Give me a call” -Ok I call him back and only a few words were said..”Doc I want you to fight next month”. I answer : “Ok coach no problem” , that means I have 6 weeks to really turn on the training….6 weeks plenty of time.
Coach : ” how much you weigh now? ” “I weigh 190 lbs coach”- at 5 feet 10 inches…..not bad, but I fight at 180lbs. Next thing he says is “ok doc lose ten pounds I want you to fight at 180” .
Thats easy I think, ten pounds in 6 weeks not hard ? Plenty of time , get ready for fight next month, June is 4 weeks away and the fight is about 6 weeks away. Right?
Now for the surprise. The inevitable twist in plot or the turn in events. I failed to notice one thing, today is April 31st !! So here it comes “Oh doc the fight is in 9 days , you know next month is May”–great great great—that is insane to get ready for a fight in 9 days. I mean when I was 20 maybe , but at my age now —-its going to be a challenge. I have to lose ten punds in 6 or 7 days. @#$%^&*()_+!!
Let me think. What is ten poiunds?
Well here are two pictures. which come to mind.
Fighting weight of 180 lbs
The above picture is what I look like when I am in fighting shape. The picture below is what I look when I am fat like now–So I think the idea is to look like the guy above rather that the guy below—all in less than 9 days according to my Kru. He is a funny guy indeed!!
Me now at 190lbs
That is why I say my Kru Doug Owens is a funny guy. I am sure he was joking, had to be ! I mean I am driving like happy boy to my Japanese language class, we had then had this 40 second conversation about me fighting in 9 days. So he had to be joking.
Yet look at this guy…..in the picture below.
Coach being patient-Mr Nice
Does this look like a happy joking easy going guy? The answer is a definitive NO!!! The scary fact is HE IS NOT JOKING! He never jokes, well at least not about Muay Thai. So if he says fight in 9 days at 180lbs I will do my best.
This is the essence of why I am at that Gym–Tiger Muay Thai Hawaii. Here is the link for that…
www.tigermuaythaihawaii.com . Kru Doug is a single minded, he disciplines his advanced students and he expects total compliance with what he wants from them. He trains fighters and his reputaion for such is well earned. That is good for me or bad for me depending on your perspective.
There are many gyms here and we lose a lot of people to them because he trains fighters not exercise buffs although there is a lower level class for that. Allow me to back track and tell you about me and how I came to this gym and a student of Doug . Also I want to explain to you further why I like this gym and why if your a serious stand up kick boxer why you will love this gym.
History of me and Muay Thai
I have done martial arts for many years, first it was the usual Karate then Kung Fu. I stopped for a long while because I was VERY BORED with these martial arts. I was also in the Army Special Forces, so I had plenty of exercise. They are good martial arts BUT the classes I took were all what may be called Temple Style. In other words they were not fighter classes, but more for style and exercise with no full contact fighting or sparring. I like martial arts but what is the use of learning such skills, if all you do is lightly kick someone for points or look cool it gets kinda boring . Very boring really.
So one day I ended up in Thailand and saw my first Muay Thai fight. Wow how exciting this was…real full contact and with a ritual to boot. I decided that this was the sport for me. I started training in Thailand. Upon my return to Hawaii I looked for a Muay Thai gymn. It took me weeks to find some good gyms , but none were True Muay Thai. Finally I settled on Harlin Lee’s –Muay Thai ( really semi muay thai) training in
China town at the Gee Yung dojo. The training was very intense more so than anything else I could find in Hawaii at the time,. However it was more American style kickboxing with some Muay Thai thrown in. It was still very good.
I have trained at many gyms around the world in past years, including three in Thailand, one in
London at KO gym,
Merijo in Amsterdam,
Master Toddy in Vegas and several kick boxing gyms in Japan. Everywhere, I travel I try to go to a new gym see what they offer. Without a doubt Tiger Muay Thai Hawaii is one of the most difficult I have trained at, in terms of fighter level gyms. Gee Yung Dojo is a close second and is actually better for the exercise enthusiast, but not enough in terms of fighter training. In many ways the exercise aspect is the most intense I have see anywhere.
The challenge at Tiger is to prepare for fighting and the instructor is almost brutal, but his training is some of the best of the best. However it is a pure Muay Thai and actually in Hawaii. There is one more Muay Thai School called Laupahoehoe which is held at the University of Hawaii but this is more Temple Style as well. I have trained there a few times. This is a good gym if your interested in Muay Thai style and tradition. They produce fighters as well.
For me , I have not found a better fighter training gym in Muay Thai style than Tiger Muay Thai, but its not for everyone. So my from my history with Muay Thai you can see simply that I do have a good basis in which to compare gyms, not just what I have heard, but what I have personally experienced.
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About Michael Pasquale
Dr. Michael Anthony Pasquale is one of Hawaii's top cosmetic plastic surgeons. Frequently an author of web information on plastic surgery, web development.
What do you mean I’m funny? I’m funny how, funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how?!! How am I funny?!!
haha!