Our first Jai Road Trip is happening this weekend when over 30 students head up with us to support Tommo Khunseg and Chelsea fight at the Spirit of Muay Thai 7 in Hawkes Bay. Tommo and Chelsea have been training hard, not only sparring with each other as well as students, but also going on conditioning runs and watching their diet. (This means Chelsea is cutting back on the 5 bowls of rice he usually devours in one sitting!)

Chelsea will be going up against a kiwi from SMAC gym in Auckland at 62kg, and it is billed as New Zealand vs Thailand. Our Thai student Orathai is set to lead the entrance carrying a Thai flag in Thailand’s national costume. It may be the first time Thailand has had so many kiwi supporters on home turf! Let’s hope Thailand takes this, but New Zealand takes the World Cup!

For those of you who will be staying overnight in Napier, we are planning to hold a celebration lunch – BBQ (if the weather is good). This will happen regardless of win or lose. It’s not about the overal result, which many be affected by many factors beyond the fighter’s control. It’s about the training and preparation that has gone in and both of our guys have definitely shown a lot of heart – Chelsea who has continued teaching classes while training himself sometimes at the end of a long day and Tommo who has had to juggle not only studies but also work and work training to fit his own training in. And that’s definitely worth celebrating.

The next Jai Road trip will hopefully be on November 12 up to Palmie. This time the focus will be on our students – we’re putting forward about 8 names and if we get at least 3 matchups, we’ll be making our way up there.

Chok Dee to our fighters this weekend.

See you at training!

Want to try your hand at sparring but feeling a little nervous about it?
Kick Tech Intro every Wednesday at 5.15pm is specially for people who would like to learn techniques used for sparring without full contact.
Two of our Thai fighters will demonstrate and teach drills during each one-hour session which students can practice in a supervised environment.
There will be no freestyle sparring – the focus is on practicing set drills and combos on one another.

Shinguards and sparring gloves will be provided for the first session. Bookings essential.

Thai trainers demonstrate techniques used in sparring

You guys asked for it – here it is.
Show us you’re serious about training – first step – putting on your own hand wraps!

Every Muay Thai student worth their salt should learn how to put on their own hand wraps if they are serious about training.

Not only does it protect their wrist and give them some knuckle protection – it helps to soak up some of that sweat.

Here it is – Sone Style

Here is Wimbledon’s Way

Helpful hand wrap tips:

Choose a length of at least 4 meters, which will allow you ample length to wrap around your wrist, fingers, knuckle and thumb. Bigger hands may need longer wraps.

Hand wraps come in all colours of the rainbow, but more important than the shade is the material it is made on. At Jai we like the nylon and cotton mix over the pure cotton because it contours better to your hand’s shape and is less likely to fall off – making it easier for beginners to put on.

Hand wraps absorb sweat inside your gloves, so throw them into the wash after a hard session (put them into a delicates bag or knot them up to avoid them twirling around your machine). If you need to reuse them for training or can’t get to a washing machine, putting them in the sun for a few hours will help to dry them out and kill some of the germs. Not washing but continually reusing wraps is not only unhygienic - it will stink up your gloves and hands.

Hand wraps in pink, black, blue, yellow, khaki, green and red are available at Jai from $18