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By Tatat Bunnag, Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb

Keep fit and healthy with martial arts

When anyone talks about martial arts, the first things that come to mind are fancy high kicks, somersault kicks and lots of jumping and flying around like we see on TV. It seems impossible to do anything like that in real life.

But Muay Thai is one martial art that has gained increasing popularity around the globe over the past few years. Films like Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong have certainly played their part by drawing more attention to the ancient art and attracting a new generation of Thais and foreigners to the sport.

If you want to get fit or find a new activity to do, you might want to visit Alex Berezovik at Bangkok Fight Club.

Bangkok Fight Club, located on Soi Asoke, has a pretty cool name and offers many kinds of martial arts courses. Whether you want to improve your skills as a martial artist or just want to get fit and learn a few bone-crunching techniques like those used by Tony Ja, Bangkok Fight Club could be the ideal place for you.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB

Ever since he was a kid, Alex said he has loved martial arts. He learned everything he could, from judo to wrestling to karate to boxing, in his hometown in Belarus before he moved to Thailand in 2000.

The idea for the Fight Club came six years ago when Alex met his friend Todd Barlow for the first time at the Thai-Japanese Judo Club. They both had shared ideas and the same goal: to find more people in Bangkok with the same interest in mixed martial arts and to teach people self-defence.

�At first there were just a few guys who wanted to train and wanted to get our skills to the next level,� Alex said. �And that�s the how Fight Club was born.�

At first the club only had six members. They met regularly for training sessions, sparred and exchanged techniques. Even though it never advertised, word got out and new guys started showing up asking if they could join.

�We didn�t charge anybody when we first started, so anyone could come and train with us for free,� he said. �But the group started to grow bigger every day, so we decided to open our own place. And because of electricity and rent, we have had to charge people since then.�

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

Bangkok Fight Club runs many different courses, such as street self-defence, combat fitness, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, women�s fitness and women�s self-defence. But the big draw is MMA (mixed martial arts) classes.

�People who come training with us are from high school students to adult age,� Alex said. �Our club is focused on teaching something that you can use in real life, such as self-defence or women�s rape prevention programmes.�

MMA offers realistic training in the combat systems popularised by no-holds-barred fighting competitions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship. MMA emphasises the importance of fighting effectively in realistic situations, be it standing up and striking or fighting on the ground.

�It�s more like freestyle fighting that you can really use to protect yourself and someone you love,� Alex said. �That�s why we don�t just teach straight karate, taekwondo or judo, which are way more difficult to use in reality.�

RULES OF FIGHT CLUB

Alex says the Fight Club isn�t the place for a bunch of adrenalin-fuelled psychos to beat the hell out of each other. And people shouldn�t head there looking to use the skills they learn to make problems outside.

�Well, both MMA and jiu-jitsu are meant to be more like self-defence systems than attacking systems,� he points out. �And the first rule of Fight Club is to respect one another. We�re all at different levels of skill and fitness, and the main thing that keeps us here is respect. We will never teach you skills and ask you to go and beat someone else.�

Alex says the Fight Club is perfect for beginners and those without any previous martial arts training.

�It�s like another way to exercise and not that difficult to learn, but it�s also not very easy,� he said.

He explained that learning anything new requires some time and effort, whether you�re learning how to salsa dance, learning to play the piano or learning a martial art.

�If anyone is still not sure or doesn�t have much confidence, I�d suggest they come over to the club first,� he said. �Take a look at the classes or talk to other students we have, both male and female, Thais and foreigners. Just come to see if you like it or not. If you feel that you like it, then you could join our class.�

	somersault (n): a movement in which somebody turns over completely, with their feet over their head, on the ground or in the air ancient (adj): very old crunch (v): to make or cause something to make a noise like something hard being crushed self-defence (n): something you say or do in order to protect yourself when you are being attacked or criticised spar (v): to make the movements used in boxing, either in training or to test the speed of your opponent�s reaction prevention (n): the act of stopping something bad from happening emphasise (v): to give special importance to something salsa (n): a type of Latin American dance music Idiom: no-holds-barred: with no rules