Yes my past few posts have been all about fitness and Thailand. I went as a traveler and was just smitten by the beautiful country. And i also got a chance to meet and interview the best freelance instructor of Phuket, Thailand.
Read the journey of this tough man from England and how he made Thailand his home.
Let’s start from your beginnings.
Q : Where are you from?
Krix : Born and bred in London, England since 1986.
Q : When did you come to Thailand? When you first got here, did you have in mind the idea of settling here, or did you come as a tourist, or just a student for Thai boxing?
Krix : I came to Phuket, Thailand in 2008 on a student visa to learn Thai boxing. I had fought a few times back home in the UK, and decided to come to Thailand to try it out in the place where the sport was born. Originally, I had planned to be here only for 3 months after quitting my job, but once you get here, things changed. I figured out quickly how to save money, such as cheaper and better accommodation, discounts on training if you are a fighter, cheaper and healthier places to eat etc., and then I stayed on.
Q : Have you stayed in other parts of Thailand as well, or just Phuket?
Krix : I haven’t stayed in other parts of Thailand; not for long periods of time anyway. When fighting for the Rawai Muay Thai gym, I had to travel all around the country to fight, but never stayed in any one place for more than a few days.
Q : How long have you been staying in Phuket? Have you noticed Phuket changing and developing as a city since you came here? Also, how has the fitness industry changed and evolved since when you arrived?
Krix : As I write this, it’s been more than 10 years since I have been living in Phuket. The development of this island has been monumental. Rawai, where I live, used to be quite a nice area, but now, the traffic is insane. The whole island has exploded because of tourism, and a new hotel or resort pops up every week. The problem, however, is that the island infrastructure hasn’t been updated to compensate for this increase, which you can see with all the traffic, trash, and different types of water pollution pumped into the oceans from the local hotels and businesses.
Q : Did the fitness industry mainly involve only kick boxing when you landed here? How have the bodybuilding and weightlifting scenes evolved? How do you see the fitness industry unfolding in Thailand in the near future?
Krix : 10 years ago, all one could see were Thai boxing gyms. There weren’t a lot of gyms, and only 2 that marketed themselves towards westerners coming over to Thailand to train. It wasn’t until Phuket Top Team started adding MMA classes to their schedule, followed by Tiger Muay Thai, who then went further and added Cross Fit Classes to their roster, creating an all-round fitness center.
Detoxing then became popular, and with a few already well-established detox centres in Phuket offering yoga and meditation, and emphasising hugely on the wellness side of the industry, soon there existed a complete yin and yang of health and fitness on this one island.
Q : What is your style of training – functional, bodyweight, weight training etc.? How many hours do you work out in a week?
Krix : I would class my style of teaching as ‘correctional training’. There are too many people with muscle imbalances, postural problems, and a lack of knowledge on form, who are just thrown into a ‘go hard or go home’ style workout. As the saying goes, ‘Any idiot can make you tired’, and if I saw a client in a fitness class too tired to keep form, I would take them aside to rest until they feel ready to jump back in. I would not get in their face and shout louder to give me more reps, which unfortunately, is an all-too-common occurrence.
Q : What should a person coming to train under Krix expect?
Krix : As a trainer, I am pretty personal. I believe that true health and wellbeing starts from the inside, and that that’s where the real and permanent changes come from. The program I developed is known as The Vitruvian Method. It will start you off with a blood test to find any hormonal imbalances that you might have, and then go on to a body and movement screening to find muscle and postural imbalances. Then we work on correcting them.
Q : When did you start the Clean The Beach Boot Camp? And what made you start the CBBC?
Krix : I started the Clean The Beach Boot Camp back in early 2013. I got inspired to do it when I saw the crazy amount of plastic pollution that was washing up on the beaches of Phuket, 90% of which was Single-Use Plastic. I also started it to give back to the community. I am a firm believer in giving back, creating, or becoming a positive movement or energy, to leave this world in a better shape than what I inherited it as.
Q : What do you enjoy about training people in Phuket, as opposed to doing it in your home country, that made you stay here?
Krix : I wouldn’t say that there was much difference in terms of the people per se. I guess in Phuket, I train people from all walks of life, who are from many different countries. People I would perhaps not have met training in just one place in the UK. What made me stay here is the island life, the sun, the sea, the sand and the awesome beaches. I like to be close to the ocean. The ocean gives me very positive energy.
Q : What advice would you give to other people planning to come to Thailand and following your footsteps of getting in the fitness industry?
Krix : The first and most important thing I would advise is to make sure you know your stuff. Phuket has become a health and wellness hub for most of South-East Asia, and you can’t come rocking into Phuket as your average ‘calorie is king’ trainer, hoping to become an independent or freelance trainer. You will eventually be eaten alive by some of the personal trainers here who are near scientists in their perfection towards their niche in the health and fitness industry.
The best thing would be to approach some of the detox centres, fitness centres, and gyms to see if they need an in-house trainer and make sure, in your negotiation, that they offer visas and work permits, or you could find yourself in a lot of trouble.