Most practitioners discovering a camp for the first time are surprised by the intensity and the regularity of the rhythm. It is not a holiday week "with some sport in it". It is a transformation, framed by a routine inherited from traditional Thai camps. Here is what a day really looks like.
7:30am: Wake up
Roosters crowing. The smell of Thai coffee starting to drift through the air. At Old School Boxing the day starts at 8:10: you get up around 7:30, time for a coffee and a piece of fruit. It is still the right hour: the air is cool (25°C instead of 35°C), and your brain has not had time to negotiate.
8:10am: Group run + warm-up
First session: an organised group run, 5 to 8 km at a moderate pace. In Hua Hin, we run along the beach, it is one of the best moments of the day. Some add a few sprints at the end.
Back at the camp, joint mobility warm-up and skipping rope for 10 to 15 minutes to raise the body temperature.
9:00 – 11:00am: Session 1: technique + bag + pad work
This is the most "technical" session of the day. It lasts around 2 hours and is generally structured like this:
- 10-15 minutes of shadow boxing (imaginary fighting to work on fluidity)
- 3 to 5 rounds on the heavy bag (power, combinations)
- 3 to 5 rounds of pad work with a coach (the heart of your progress)
- 10 min of clinch (grips, knees, sweeps)
- Abs, conditioning, stretching
The pad work rounds are the main reason foreigners come to train in Thailand. A good Thai coach sees your mistakes, corrects them in real time, and pushes you to a level you will never reach hitting a bag.
11:00am: Breakfast + shower
Once the session is over, you head back, take a shower (cold, most of the time, and you will be glad), and eat. Thai breakfast is generally hearty: eggs, fruit, rice, coffee.
12:00pm: Free time / nap
This slot is essential and often underestimated. After a 2-hour session, your body needs to recover before the next one. Thai fighters literally sleep 1 to 1.5 hours in the morning. Do the same: napping is invisible training.
Alternatives: read, call your family, go drink a coconut, do your laundry, do some light stretching, or go for a walk (not too far, the second session is coming up soon).
1:00pm: Lunch
Classic Thai meal: basil chicken, rice, vegetables. Sometimes a buffet at the camp, sometimes at a small local canteen. You eat your fill, but you avoid the huge plate that would leave you in "coma" mode for the afternoon session.
3:00 – 5:00pm: Session 2: sparring + conditioning
This is the hardest session of the day, because it is hot and you have already worn your body out in the morning. On the menu:
- Warm-up (skipping rope, shadow)
- Bag or pad rounds (depending on the day)
- Sparring (controlled fighting with a partner): 3 to 5 rounds of 3 minutes. At Old School Boxing as in most serious camps, sparring is done at controlled intensity, never to hurt each other.
- Clinch work: 10 to 20 minutes of close-range grappling. This is where you understand just how technical Thai Muay Thai is, and just how tired you are.
- Conditioning: push-ups, core work, pull-ups.
5:00pm: Shower, stretching, recovery
Session over. You are drained, but with a good kind of tiredness, the kind that wipes away all the mental junk of the past week. Shower. Stretching. Some do 10-15 minutes of mobility work, others prefer to collapse into a hammock.
7:00pm: Dinner
The big evening meal. It is often the most convivial moment: everyone eats together, you debrief the session, you laugh. Thai food is excellent for a fighter: rice, chicken, fish, stir-fried vegetables, soups, fruit.
8:30pm: Evening (quiet)
In a serious camp, there are no late nights. Thai fighters are asleep by 9-10pm. For you, that means: a stroll into town, a Thai massage (€25-35 for 1h, extraordinary for recovery), streaming, reading, calling family, writing, resting.
At the weekend, camps often give you a free eveningto go watch a real fight (in Hua Hin, there are local fights 1 to 2 evenings a week) or rest in town.
10:00pm: Bedtime
Non-negotiable. If you want to sustain 2 weeks of this rhythm without getting injured, you sleep 8 hours minimum. The next day, wake-up at 7:30am, run at 8:10. And it starts all over again.
The weekly schedule
- Monday to Saturday morning: two sessions per day (6 days out of 7).
- Saturday afternoon + Sunday: complete rest. Beach, excursion, night market, temple visit, massage.
- 1 to 2 evenings per week: the chance to attend a real fight in a local stadium.
What you need to understand
A camp is physically hard, but above all it is the immersion in a routine that changes everything. You no longer negotiate with your alarm clock. You no longer choose your meal based on your emotions. You do not scroll Instagram until 1am. You live by a rhythm that is simple, ancient, effective.
Many practitioners coming back from a camp say the same thing: "I did not just improve at Muay Thai, I also relearned how to live". It is probably the most precious part of the experience, and the hardest to explain to those who have never been.
