Muaythai training has a competely different meaning here. In Thailand, any kid wishing to escape poverty by becoming a professional nak muay just needs to introduce himself to a training camp and ask to be accepted. It won't be far away from home as there are hundreds of such schools throughout the country. Sometimes they are near the village's wat (Buddhist Temple), or nearby an army compound. Aspiring fighters enter muaythai training at a very young age, often as young as six or seven. Upcountry camps are populated by kids that don't go to school too often and instead train, eat, sleep and grow up together, like little warriors. This is perhas the reason why non-Thai fighters are still struggling to be really competitive against the Thais and beat them at their own game. Which kid in the West would stop going to primary school to take on muaythai instead? Sometimes orphaned children, or children from very poor families, may be taken into a camp instead of being sent to a monastery. Due to this social environment, training in Thailand is a competely different story than elsewhere. The instructors are much more important than the word implies: the kruu is a mentor, a fatherly-figure loved and respected by their pupils for life. In an atmosphere of a big, extended family, the young fighters grow up and train everyday, fighting aginst others from nearby camps, sharing victories and discomforts. With time, the  cash prizes (always shared with the camp's management) will grow, the sponsorships will increase and some will become professional fighters, earning a living in the ring. The ones who will reach the lights of Bangkok's Lumpini or Rajadamnern arenas will become quite wealthy by Thai standards. In the old days, a retired champion either opened a restaurant or a kruu in a trainng camp. Nowadays, there is a lot more money to be made by fighting outside Thailand, against non-Thai boxers. And after that, by teaching abroad. It is somewhat puzzling to meet ex-fighters, who fought at Lumpini durig their heydays, earning now a living as taxi drivers or gambling on muaythai fights. Whilst they would be respected in the West as ex-champions, their place in Thai society isn't so high. Thais are proud of muaythai and regard it as a part of their cultural heritage, but middle and upper classes families will be prety much horrified if a son wished to become a professional nak muay instead of going to college. Muaythai is not for the educated middle classes.

The life of a nak muay
The daily routine at a training camp varies from place to place. Professional fighters usually train from 6:30 am till 10:30 am, then again from 3:30 pm until 6:30 pm. It is common for everybody to wake up at sunrise to take advantage of the cool morning air and do a run of minimum 40 minutes. After, there is shadow boxing. Then it's personal schedule: some fighters work on rubber tires to reinforce legs and knees, others start sparring or do some combinations at the banana bag. Every activity is timed by a bell at five minutes intervals. As an extra exercise for strengthening the body, some athletes may work with weights, or do sit-ups and pull-ups. A classic old-style training is the reinforcement of the neck's back muscles (to avoid being knee-ed in the chin): holding a bucket of water in his teeth, the nak muay lifts it for a certain number of times, developing an unbendable neck. After the morning session the fighters shower, eat all together (Thai or Lao food), and go back to their rooms. Everyday duties, like washing clothes, cleaning the room and relaxing, too, have to be performed during these hot hours of non-training. In the early afternoon the same training routine is repeated but in a more intensive way. This is the main factor that separates beginners/amateurs fighters from professionals: the intensity of every muaythai training activity, especially sparring.

Below there is an example of a professional muaythai training schedule - not for amateurs! muaythai training

Morning muaythai training
06:00 - Warm up
06:15 - 1 hour jogging
07:20 - Drills (knees, kicks, punches, elbows with training bag)
07:30 - Shadow boxing (5 to 6 rounds) muaythai training
08:00 - Training bag techniques (4 to 5 rounds)
08:30 - Kickpads workout (2 to 5 rounds)
09:00 - Clinching/Sparring (up to 5 rounds, alternate days)
09:15 - Drills (knees, kicks, punches, elbows with training bag) 
09:35 - Exercises (sit ups, push ups, chin ups)
09:50 - Shadow boxing (2 to 3 rounds) muaythai training
10:05 - Cool down, end of morning session, rest 

Afternoon muaythai training
16:00 - Warm up
16:10 - 3 to 5 km jogging muaythai training
16:35 - Skip (4 rounds)
17:00 - Shadow boxing (5 to 6 rounds)
17:30 - Training bag (6 to 8 rounds)
18:10 - Kickpads workout (5 to 6 rounds)
18:45 - Clinching/Sparring (5 to 6 rounds, alternate days)
19:15 - Drills (as in the morning)
19:35 - Shadow boxing (3 to 4 rounds) muaythai training
19:45 - Cool down, end of the day

Boxer's diet
Thai food is extremely various, rich and very healthy. Thai people, including muaythai practictioners, eat 3-4 dishes of steamed rice per day with small portions of whatever they fancy with it: curries, meats, seafood, vegetables and fruits, too. Thais don't eat a lot, but eat often. Most food is prepared using fresh ingredients and is highly nutritious without adding fat. A typical Thai young man will have rice porridge with pork or seafood for breakfast and a few snacks in the morning. At noon, for lunch, a dish of rice with a few spoonfuls of spicy curries will be enough. In the Nort East of Thailand, boiled rice will be substituted by balls of glutinous rice dipped in ultra-spicy chilli sauces, accompanied by roasted chicken or catfish. In the afternoon, fruits dipped in sour sauces will be the snacks of choice. Dinner, usually eaten at about 7 pm, can be a more aboundant version of lunch, according to the occasion. 

So you want to train in Thailand? muaythai training
For a foreigner wishing to train in Thailand, the choice is nowadays quite large, but still limited to the varous camps where enough English is spoken. The training equipment provided is often more basic than in the West: training bags, pao teh (kick pads), gloves, and a ring.  muaythai training

In comparison to the well known and professional muaythai camps opened in the West, the ones in Thailand appear rustic and more open-air, obviously due to the hot and humid climate. Fairtex camps in Thailand instead mantain very high standards and sometimes appear like "fitness resorts" for well-off tourists. The places where English is spoken are populated by dozens of devoted, passionate nak muay farang, often training for months in Thailand in order to be able to fight and/or teach in their own countries. Some of such camps, like the one opposite Kao San Rd in Bangkok, have updated equipment from the top manufacturers and sell it, too.

Many foreign practitioners who became world champions spent years in such environments, training and fighting with other foreigners and Thais, too. But very few non-Thais have actually tried the small muaythai camps upcountry, the ones alive with poor kids and so far away from tourists areas that a farang is still a walking attraction for all the villagers. Such places don't have a website welcoming aspiring nak muay farang to train in Thailand and may be reluctant to take on foreign trainees because of the language barrier. Thais, from all walks of life, always feel shy if unable to speak English. Being naturally kind peope, they may also worry that the foreigner, even though well motivated and passionate, will not be able to endure the harsh living and training conditions of the camp. 

If you want to test your determination, your humbleness and your fighting spirit, you may try to be accepted. The best way to persuade the kruu to accept you is to learn the rudiments of the language first (it takes about 4 months studying hard in Thailand) and then persuade him with your eloquence. When a farang speaks Thai, all doors may open and Thais will surely respect you much more. 

However, be prepared for a culture-shock. Forget about the nice, beautiful first impressions you had about Thailand (the land of smiles!) and the kindness of the ever-smiling Thai people. Be prepared instead to be challenged and tested in every possible way, not only physically but also culturally, by everybody. For them, you'll be an intruder, an outsider with a lot of money not necessarily always welcome. Your muaythai training will be the hardest. But the unique experience is worth the struggle. Chok dee (good luck)!