13. Only real men wear pink. You don’t need tons of flashy Muay Thai outfits to get good at Muay Thai, but eventually you’ll probably want to buy a couple pairs of Muay Thai shorts to train in. You can’t get them at local stores. You may find them at fight events or at your gym’s retail store but most likely you will want to get some online. Here are some things to note about purchasing Thai shorts. 1) Most of the cool designed shorts ship from Thailand, they will take forever to get to you, be patient 2) Thai sizes are different than American sizes, they run about 1-2 sizes up and are unisex. For example I wear a Thai “large” but am a size 6-7 in women’s. Most averaged sized guys will wear an XL. Check and re-check the sizing charts on the website you order from to see if you are ordering Thai or American sizes. 3) Most fighters fold their Thai shorts over at the top, but not all do. It’s just a matter of preference. 4) Only bad-ass fighters wear pink. Until you can throw down in the gym and at least school a few of your teammates don’t get the pink shorts. In Muay Thai you have to earn the right to wear pink.  I’m not exactly sure if this applies to women, but just to be safe I didn’t wear pink until I felt bad-ass too 

14. Stand up straight and do your rows. While an awesome workout, Muay Thai is not great for your posture. Coupled with a desk job and our faces in a smartphone all day you got yourself a recipe for a hunchback. If you don’t want to look like an osteoporosis-ridden eighty-year-old, then make posture a priority and do some other functional training besides Muay Thai. At my gym Function 5 Fitness we like the Concept2 rower, TRX or gymnastic ring rows, kettlebells and lots of recovery and mobility exercises. At the very least do way more rowing exercises than you think you need and chill on those push ups and your bench pressing, those will only make the hunch back worse and you’ll probably end up with some sort of shoulder injury down the road.

15. Support your team. To get the most out of your Muay Thai gym you have to be a part of the community. Go to your gyms events, parties, and especially go see your gym’s fighters compete. One of the best parts of Muay Thai is the community. If you just come to your 2-3 hours of class every week and keep to yourself you are missing a vital part of the experience.

16. No one likes a gym hopper. There is nothing wrong with checking out a few gyms when you decide to start training Muay Thai, that is a great idea, and I encourage it. You will find the right gym for you if you look around. There is also nothing wrong with changing gyms if your needs change or training at two gyms because you are bi-coastal, but “gym hopping” is not doing you any favors. As a beginner and even as an amateur fighter it is important to have a home, a team and one head coach you listen to. If you just pay drop in fees at various places and jump from gym to gym you will not make the improvements you could if you committed to one style and system, staying and training long enough with someone to actually work on your weaknesses. Learning a variety of different styles and approaches won’t help you in the beginning, it will only confuse you. Have the courage to trust one team and learn from them, if you need to move on later you can. Professional fighters may utilize different training partners and coaches, but those are professional athletes that have already honed their style and skills at a high level, that is entirely different.

17. Offer to help. I’m not the most traditional of coaches. I don’t ask students to Wai (bow) to me every time they see me. “Yes, sir!” or “No, sir!” just feels too formal to me. But I do want to believe that the classic martial arts concepts of respect, honor, and gratitude still exist. I believe that respect is earned and through my teaching students will respect me just as through their hard work I will respect them. One way to show your instructor you appreciate their time and dedication to your Muay Thai education is to offer to help with stuff. It could be as simple as mopping the floors after class or helping a new student wrap their hands. If you have a skill like design, baking, or music you can offer to help with a new logo, bring cookies to a gym party, or offer to DJ an event. Muay Thai coaches don’t teach because it makes the big bucks, we teach because we love it and when our students recognize that by offering their help be it big or small it makes us feel like a million bucks.

18. Invest in private lessons. Group classes are excellent but ask any great fighter how they got great, and they will tell you they had one on one coaching as well as team training. Even if you can’t afford privates every week, getting a private lesson once a month would do wonders for your progress. There is only so much individual instruction teachers can give in a class setting. Don’t think that private lessons are just for fighters or advanced students, anyone can benefit from them.

19. Don’t go on the mat with dirty feet. Anyone that goes to my gym knows this is a major pet peeve of mine. But let’s think about this: The mat should be a clean sacred place where Muay Thai magic happens. We all know to take our shoes off before going on the mat. Some schools make you Wai each time you enter the mat. In what world would it be okay to go to the bathroom (the dirtiest place in the gym) barefoot and then walk on the mat? I actually witnessed a girl one time run outside to get her gloves from her car with no shoes on and then walk back on the mat like it was nothing. I think my staff had to physically restrain me from strangling her. Okay, so I might be a little OCD, but really, you wouldn’t want to do push ups and stretching on a mat that someone just stepped on with their pee-infused or Los Angeles dirt-encrusted feet. Eww. Seriously, that’s so gross. If your gym doesn’t care about this sort of thing I question their sanitary practices in all other areas.

20. Get regular massages or chiropractic work. It’s unrealistic to think that you can train your body hard day after day and not give it some TLC. Don’t set yourself up for injury by ignoring this last tip. When you train in Muay Thai you are hitting things HARD and there is a lot of resistance coming back at you from that bag, pad (or person). If you spar you’ll be jacking up your alignment on a regular basis. A little monthly maintenance will go a long way to ensuring you train healthy & fit for a long time.