Fresh Start Monthly News Blog January 2017
January’s happenings at Fresh Start
Ringing in the New Year, January has been a busy month here in Northern, Thailand. The past month at Fresh Start has seen guests come from Taiwan, Jordan, Denmark, UAE, United States of America, The United Kingdom, Australia, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Thailand, Hong Kong and Germany. At Fresh Start we have such a diverse group that you are sure to meet people from all over the world and from all walks of life. With December and January being peak tourist season in Chiang Mai, on some weeks the step challenge was replaced by a hike up Doi Suthep Mountain as they have been too many people on the steps.
Now it’s time to show some of the past months achievements. This month’s biggest loser was Dorothee from Germany who managed to lose an impressive 4.6 kgs during her time with us. The biggest reduction in waist width was made by Annette from the UK who lost 10cms! While the biggest improvement in the cross fit test time (Burpees, Push ups and butterfly sit ups) was accomplished by Fygi from Taiwan who knocked off 7 minutes 30 seconds from her time within one week! Well done for the hard work everyone has put in, we hope you can continue to see improvements and reach goals along your health journeys 🙂
This month’s highlight of a Fresh Start activity is Muay Thai
One of the most popular activities among the guests at Fresh Start Holiday Bootcamp is Muay Thai, also known as Thai kick boxing. What would a boot camp in Thailand be without at least a few sessions of Muay Thai? Thailand is the birthplace of Muay Thai and the martial art is still deeply rooted in Thai culture as well as gaining popularity throughout the world. Muay Thai is often called “The Art of Eight Limbs” because the fighters have eight striking methods available to them which includes punches, elbows, knees and shins. Local fighters in Thailand start training seriously at a very young age. It is not uncommon for children to start training at the age of 6-8 years old and most begin fighting competitively at the age of 10. Many gyms in Thailand take on children from poor backgrounds, teaching them discipline and how to fight while also providing shelter and food.
Benefits of Muay Thai
Practicing Muay Thai can have substantial health benefits. The most obvious being improved cardiovascular endurance and conditioning. With it being both aerobic and anaerobic, Muay Thai places huge stress on your cardiopulmonary systems. Additional benefits include increased leg strength from all the kicking, improved core strength through the rotational nature of the movements, improved hip mobility and stress relief because let’s face it, when you are stressed out hitting something feels good.
Training with the professionals
Muay Thai at Fresh Start
At Fresh Start we are lucky to have numerous trainers that are previous fighters for example trainer Pong has over 350 fights to his name. For guests staying one week at Fresh Start you will get the opportunity to have three different Muay Thai sessions. During the first one we will prepare you with the basic techniques, the second session will build on the techniques and become more practical to prepare you for the final session where we take you to a gym in Chiang Mai city to train with professional fighters.
Website updated
Here at Fresh Start we are always looking for ways to improve and to make your browsing experience more secure we have now made the Fresh Start website (http://thailandfitnessbootcamp.com) SSL certified. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a transaction security protocol which confirms that we are a legitimate company and that no security issues for people visiting the domain.
Louise and Richard Thomas founders of Fresh Start
Our Fresh Start Fitness Boot camp incorporates the most effective workouts for your cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance and flexibility. We also want your holiday to be fun so there is an emphasis on enjoyment and enjoying the cultural delights of Chiang Mai. The Fresh Start programme is made up of many activities, including walking, cycling, orienteering, bleep test, aqua, yoga, pilates, Muay Thai, pool games, circuits, kettlebells, High Intensity Interval Training, strength and team games. We also want there to be an educational element, therefore, during your time with us we will be sending you blogs related to the activities you will be doing at our fitness bootcamp along with some ideas that will help keep you on track after you leave our fitness bootcamp holiday.
For more information on Muay Thai have a look at some of these useful links.
https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/the-top-5-benefits-of-muay-thai
http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/14877/1/The-Benefits-of-Muay-Thai.html
http://www.muaythai-fighting.com/the-history-of-muay-thai.html
http://www.beachrepublic.com/blog/30-facts-about-muay-thai-thailands-fighting-art-form/
