So Ive been back from Melbourne over a week now. Finally had some time for myself so I thought I'd sit down and edit the pics for the blog update. I had an awesome time while in Melbourne!! Good friends, good food & a few good seminars!!
So I arrived in Melbourne on the 12th May and My scottish mate Keith Grant was there at the airport with his gf who arrived the same morning from the Philippines to pick me up. I haven't seen Keith in about 4 years! So it was good to see him and to catch up again.
The walk from the airport to the car was blooody FREEEZING!!!!! It was 9 degrees!! Before you start poking fun at me. Please note I come from tropical Singapore,where the lowest it will get is as low as I push on my air conditioning which is......16!! So yes I was freeezing my nuts off!!
We got to their studio apartment in Chapel Street and then later had a walk around there to get some lunch. It's been about 4 years since I've been back to Melbourne and it really hadn't changed much. Unlike Singapore where you leave for a week and it's like new buildings go up....buildings and shops go down. Whereas here I was in Chapel St,4 years later and it's still pretty much the same as it is,some of the shops I went to eat and buy stuff are all still exactly where they were!!!
After lunch they dropped me off at Dominance Gym. Here I met one of the owners of the gym who was very kindly housing me at his place, which was right across the road from the gym. Dominance Gym was a reaaaallly nice gym, big spacious , good facilities, clean and lovely people running it. =)
Off I was to settle in my room and a quick rest before I had to go catch up with another good friend and awesome trainer in Melbourne, Don Millar. Don is a really nice guy and has so much passion and love for Muaythai. He produces some of Melbourne's best fighters. I remember when I first trained with Don many years ago he was one of the few foreigner muaythai trainers that could do free style pad work with me. Meaning he doesn't have to give a comand and I just do as I please and he catches everything.
Don Millars Gym
Me and some of his fighters. Keith on the far right.Next day, woke up and it was fairly cold and I was dreading the thought of getting in the shower.... that 3 secs of being naked before I get in the hot water is gonna be painful...and then the reverse process of being naked drying myself in the cold and stumbling back in my clothes...Ugghhhhhhhhhhh!!! Hate the cold!!
Met up with my two buddies, Don & Keith for lunch and we went to have a meal fit for champions!!! Lamb Souvlaki with fat chips!!! =) OHHH YEAH!! Keith lives right next to my favourite Souvlaki place, Lambs on Chapel St. If you don't know what a Souvlaki is, it's pretty much like a kebab. But yeah I love Souvlakis!!! Ive had kebabs in Singapore and its just not the same......they are so stingy with the meat here...and it's dry and...bleegghhh..... So after 4 years of not having a souvlaki I had a DOUBLE Meat Lamb Souvlaki! Man was I stuffed after that!!!!
Diet for Champions! Look at the size of my Souvlaki!!
Met up with my two buddies, Don & Keith for lunch and we went to have a meal fit for champions!!! Lamb Souvlaki with fat chips!!! =) OHHH YEAH!! Keith lives right next to my favourite Souvlaki place, Lambs on Chapel St. If you don't know what a Souvlaki is, it's pretty much like a kebab. But yeah I love Souvlakis!!! Ive had kebabs in Singapore and its just not the same......they are so stingy with the meat here...and it's dry and...bleegghhh..... So after 4 years of not having a souvlaki I had a DOUBLE Meat Lamb Souvlaki! Man was I stuffed after that!!!!
Diet for Champions! Look at the size of my Souvlaki!!Had the rest of the day off and took time to walk around Chapel St again do some window shopping. I really like walking around in Melb, it's just a cool city. Got the right amount of hustle....but it's laidback enough the way you want it to be. Along Chapel there are loads of discount stores, some nice shoes and clothes shop. My favourite however are these nice bakeries with cakes,pies,cookies and all sorts tempting you as you walk along!! And of course even after the double meat lamb souvlaki I could find space for some yummy apple crumble and a coffee =)
Friday came and we left Melbourne city at Noon on a 4 and a half hour drive up to Swan Hill. That is alot of driving...!! 4 and half hours means you could drive probably 4 or 5 times around Singapore!! Keith packed up loads of awesome dance music cds in his car and off we went. Listening to old school rave music from 1990s right up to the more recent Minimal Techno sounds. It was a good drive up catching up with Keith too, 4 years went by and we had alot of stories and experiences to share. Along the way I mean there were all these small towns and I mean small and in the middle of nowhere...!! Man I could not imagine living in somewhere like that!! Guess I'm just used to the big city and hustle and bustle.
Arrived up in Swan Hill and the gym that organized the seminar had us staying up in a motorinn. It was a really simple and nice place. Funny thing was when we got there, we had to go to a phonebooth at the motorinn, pick it up, speak to someone and mention a password, dialed a code and the key would appear?!!? So we did exactly that....went to a phone,mentioned a password to someone, got a number,dialed it....and VOILA!!! Key appears!! =) hahah it was all a little 007 for me!!
The magic wall!!
Friday came and we left Melbourne city at Noon on a 4 and a half hour drive up to Swan Hill. That is alot of driving...!! 4 and half hours means you could drive probably 4 or 5 times around Singapore!! Keith packed up loads of awesome dance music cds in his car and off we went. Listening to old school rave music from 1990s right up to the more recent Minimal Techno sounds. It was a good drive up catching up with Keith too, 4 years went by and we had alot of stories and experiences to share. Along the way I mean there were all these small towns and I mean small and in the middle of nowhere...!! Man I could not imagine living in somewhere like that!! Guess I'm just used to the big city and hustle and bustle.
Arrived up in Swan Hill and the gym that organized the seminar had us staying up in a motorinn. It was a really simple and nice place. Funny thing was when we got there, we had to go to a phonebooth at the motorinn, pick it up, speak to someone and mention a password, dialed a code and the key would appear?!!? So we did exactly that....went to a phone,mentioned a password to someone, got a number,dialed it....and VOILA!!! Key appears!! =) hahah it was all a little 007 for me!!
The magic wall!!The first seminar at Swan Hill's Martial Arts Gym. Some people had driven 2 1/2 hours from another town to come up to attend this seminar. I was reallly flattered when I heard that. So I really wanted to make sure they enjoyed and benefited from this seminar. It was abit difficult for this seminar, as some trainees in the gym had some experience in striking and some had no experience at all in striking and some had mainly come from Jiu Jitsu background.
I tried to keep it simple but as informative and interesting as I could for everyone. Showing the class and explaining to them why or how a kick should look and how it works. Those that had already some background in striking and just worked on abit more to fine tune their technique. People dont realize but there is so much science and how changing a little bit of your stance or positioning of your legs could change the power of a kick/punch/elbow/knee. Im really glad I had a really good trainer like Bangman to correct me and help make me such a technical fighter/trainer. There is so much to show and to do in Muaythai I honestly could have talked and gone on for HOURS! but I dont think the students would have been able to! =) hahah
After seminar Keith had taken the initiative to get some certificates printed out for all the trainees attending the seminar. They were very cool certs I must say. The funny thing was the image was just randomly grabbed off the internet and it was actually an image from one of the Tuffboxing Tshirt I was going to give to Keith!! haha Great minds think alike! =) Ohhh speaking of Tuffboxing. Just to show you how impressive my sponsors Tuffboxing are.....They sent the brand new Tuffboxing shorts and tshirts I asked to be customized for me to wear during my seminar sent right to the gyms doorstep by DHL!! So I arrived that day on the 12th, and there it was waiting for me already!! Check the new shorts that they sent me on their site muaythaistuff.com! Thanks Oak. You guys ROCK!! =)
Very cool certificates that the trainees got !
The AWESOME shorts I got from my sponsors! =) I love them they are the best!!!
Swan Hill was a quiet town, so we just had an early night as we had to be up bright and early in the morning on another 2 and a half hour drive down to Shepparton! So we were up and on our way at 9am to Shepparton and made it there at in time for a drink and to catch up with G.V Martial Arts owner and a good friend of mine Matt Reid. Matt has been in the muaythai scene for a fair bit and has fought at prestigious events in Thailand like the Ifma championships and the Kings Birthday. Matt used to get on his bike twice a week and drive 2 hours down to Melb city to train there as Muaythai wasn't as big and popular in Shepparton. Now that's dedication. Here in Singapore if it takes 45 mins in a bus it's too fucking far.....pfffffffff... we are so spoilt here in Singapore sometimes.
Correcting their knee strikes and giving em more push and power behind it!
The seminar at G.V Martial Arts was abit easier to teach as most of them there and from another gym were already fighters or have been training for awhile now. Basically I just had to do abit of a touch up on some of their techniques and later got to show them one or two cool techniques. =)
Same thing again, I could have showed sooo many cool techniques and some muay boran moves but I really thing emphasis on the basics and practical stuff. Also I like making sure ppl know how things should be done properly! Which is so much more important!! Like Bangman always says,"even if I show the class all the beautiful muaythai techniques and tricks but they dont have the basic stance,punch,kick,elbow and knee moves right....it's no use!"
The G.V Martial Arts guys and some other trainees from a neighbouring town =)
I tried to keep it simple but as informative and interesting as I could for everyone. Showing the class and explaining to them why or how a kick should look and how it works. Those that had already some background in striking and just worked on abit more to fine tune their technique. People dont realize but there is so much science and how changing a little bit of your stance or positioning of your legs could change the power of a kick/punch/elbow/knee. Im really glad I had a really good trainer like Bangman to correct me and help make me such a technical fighter/trainer. There is so much to show and to do in Muaythai I honestly could have talked and gone on for HOURS! but I dont think the students would have been able to! =) hahah
After seminar Keith had taken the initiative to get some certificates printed out for all the trainees attending the seminar. They were very cool certs I must say. The funny thing was the image was just randomly grabbed off the internet and it was actually an image from one of the Tuffboxing Tshirt I was going to give to Keith!! haha Great minds think alike! =) Ohhh speaking of Tuffboxing. Just to show you how impressive my sponsors Tuffboxing are.....They sent the brand new Tuffboxing shorts and tshirts I asked to be customized for me to wear during my seminar sent right to the gyms doorstep by DHL!! So I arrived that day on the 12th, and there it was waiting for me already!! Check the new shorts that they sent me on their site muaythaistuff.com! Thanks Oak. You guys ROCK!! =)
Very cool certificates that the trainees got !
The AWESOME shorts I got from my sponsors! =) I love them they are the best!!!
Swan Hill was a quiet town, so we just had an early night as we had to be up bright and early in the morning on another 2 and a half hour drive down to Shepparton! So we were up and on our way at 9am to Shepparton and made it there at in time for a drink and to catch up with G.V Martial Arts owner and a good friend of mine Matt Reid. Matt has been in the muaythai scene for a fair bit and has fought at prestigious events in Thailand like the Ifma championships and the Kings Birthday. Matt used to get on his bike twice a week and drive 2 hours down to Melb city to train there as Muaythai wasn't as big and popular in Shepparton. Now that's dedication. Here in Singapore if it takes 45 mins in a bus it's too fucking far.....pfffffffff... we are so spoilt here in Singapore sometimes.
Correcting their knee strikes and giving em more push and power behind it!Same thing again, I could have showed sooo many cool techniques and some muay boran moves but I really thing emphasis on the basics and practical stuff. Also I like making sure ppl know how things should be done properly! Which is so much more important!! Like Bangman always says,"even if I show the class all the beautiful muaythai techniques and tricks but they dont have the basic stance,punch,kick,elbow and knee moves right....it's no use!"
The G.V Martial Arts guys and some other trainees from a neighbouring town =)After handing out the certs and taking a few pictures here and there with the guys, we headed to a nice thai restaurant for some yummy food and a drink before Keith was given the task of doing the last trip back into Melb City!! Another 2 hours of driving to go!! haha
The last seminar was held on a Sunday down at Dominance Gym. After the other 2 seminars this one felt alot easier to do and I was getting used to explaining and remembering alot of important stuff I needed to say or show to demonstrate the moves. I think the guys in Melb city have more variety of trainers to train with, where as in the country there isn't as many gyms or trainers to work with.
Also the class was a wee bit smaller than up in Swan Hill and Shepparton so it was much more easier for me to do stuff with em one on one and to walk around and hold pads for a few of em.
The last seminar was held on a Sunday down at Dominance Gym. After the other 2 seminars this one felt alot easier to do and I was getting used to explaining and remembering alot of important stuff I needed to say or show to demonstrate the moves. I think the guys in Melb city have more variety of trainers to train with, where as in the country there isn't as many gyms or trainers to work with.
Also the class was a wee bit smaller than up in Swan Hill and Shepparton so it was much more easier for me to do stuff with em one on one and to walk around and hold pads for a few of em.
Correcting them, Showing them how a kick should be done and then letting them do it =)
Showing them a proper knee and then practicing it with them =)
That was the last seminar for my trip and overall it was a really really enjoyable experience. The 3 Seminars were alot of fun, I got to catch up with some good friends and I got to meet a whole lot of people. What I was really so impressed by was the level of Muaythai and the enthusiasm of the trainees. I sometimes wonder if me not moving to train and fight in Oz a couple of years ago was the right thing?.... Well, no regrets and time to look frwd. I really hope to be back there soon. (Maybe when it's a little warmer!!!!) Also I might even consider doing a month or two stint while Im in Melbourne next time? Who knows? Fingers crossed guys!!
After the seminars I got a lot of good feedback from the trainees who attended my seminar. Some even went through the trouble of writing me an inbox msg on my facebook to tell me how much they really enjoyed my seminar and how much more knowledge and understanding they got from it. =) That was exactly what I set out to do when I was contacted to do the seminars...and I'm very very glad to have heard all that!!
Just wanna say a HUGE, THANK YOU to Keith Grant for making the seminar and the trip possible. Thank you to all the gyms who wanted me to come up and do the seminar. And also Thank You to all the trainees who drove a long way to attend the seminar. I really really appreciate it alot. Thank You!
Two Thumbs up for Zig Zach's seminar!! =)
So hopefully this is the start of something new for me?? Doing more seminars around the region or the world. So if you know any gyms that would love for me to come up and do a seminar drop me an email at contact@zigzach.com I think it would be heaps of fun and I would love to share my 2 cents worth on the sport I am so passionate and love so much. =)
LaterZ people!!
After the seminars I got a lot of good feedback from the trainees who attended my seminar. Some even went through the trouble of writing me an inbox msg on my facebook to tell me how much they really enjoyed my seminar and how much more knowledge and understanding they got from it. =) That was exactly what I set out to do when I was contacted to do the seminars...and I'm very very glad to have heard all that!!
Just wanna say a HUGE, THANK YOU to Keith Grant for making the seminar and the trip possible. Thank you to all the gyms who wanted me to come up and do the seminar. And also Thank You to all the trainees who drove a long way to attend the seminar. I really really appreciate it alot. Thank You!
Two Thumbs up for Zig Zach's seminar!! =)
So hopefully this is the start of something new for me?? Doing more seminars around the region or the world. So if you know any gyms that would love for me to come up and do a seminar drop me an email at contact@zigzach.com I think it would be heaps of fun and I would love to share my 2 cents worth on the sport I am so passionate and love so much. =)
LaterZ people!!
