After attending fitness retreats at the Wanderlust Fitness Village in Bali and the Tiger Muay Thai camp in Phuket, I am ready to compare these two very sporty activities.
(Please check here my dedicated Tiger post)
Some facts:
Tiger Muay Thai is one of the world’s best-known Muay Thai and MMA training camps. It attracts everyone from beginners looking to learn the basics to professional fighters. Tiger Muay Thai offers a range of training programs suitable for all levels. You can focus on Muay Thai, MMA, fitness, or a combination of these. They also have specialty programs for weight loss and yoga.
Wanderlust has rapidly become one of Bali’s premier fitness destinations.
It’s known for its top-notch equipment, passionate instructors, and positive, transformative environment. Boxing and MMA are only minor approaches, as Wanderlust focuses more on functional fitness and cardio.
What do they have in common?
- They both offer a variety of classes; all coaches are educated well for their classes.
- Besides classes, they offer a cafe or restaurant with protein shakes and healthy food and a shop with equipment like shirts.
- Both also provide accommodation to stay.
- You can buy weekly or daily passes. Classes need not be signed up for; you go to them. Both might have around 70 people per class, which is OK. You can always train by yourself in Open Gym.
- Price-wise, the camps are pretty similar, and as both camps are on islands, traveling might be similarly cheap or expensive. If you are more into Thailand or Indonesia, it is a matter of personal preference.
Pro Tiger:
- The schedule is packed; from 6:30 until 20:00, you can choose between 4-5 classes running in parallel. The fun classes are for fighters, like “Combat Speed”, “Combat Strength”, or “Core”, but everyone can visit them. Most of the time I spent here 🙂
- The camp has two “offsite” weekly events: A beach workout and a hill run to the famous Buddha in Phuket.
- As the entire area around Tiger Camp is dedicated to sports rather than a major road for the city, it’s effortless there regarding traffic. In general, the surroundings are very sport-centric; you have many boxing gyms, CrossFit Phuket, the Tiger Camp, and many restaurants focussing on healthy and sports food, massage salons, and laundry services. The whole street feels like a sports camp, and after a week, you almost know everyone, and even if you do not do the same sport, it feels like a big community.
Cons Tiger:
- The equipment needs to be updated or improved. Moreover, I always had what I needed for my workout!
Pro Wanderlust:
- has a pool and can be used as a co-working space as well
- The variety and amount of equipment are massive, as well as the shape…
- The housing is better because it is more disconnected from the training area. You don’t hear the barbell droppings in your room.
Cons Wanderlust:
- The surroundings are pretty bad. Canggu is one of the busiest areas in Bali, traffic-wise. Crossing the street to get to your hotel or the supermarket is sometimes impossible or deadly…
- The schedule has a limited amount of variety. Maximum three classes running in parallel; in the morning, you have 4-5 options; in the afternoon, 2-3, the last class starts at 16:30
- The spirit could be improved. Sure, people cheer on each other, but it often happens that people are already cleaning up their equipment while others are still working or, worse, already leaving the class… The class never ends together at the board.
Conclusion
If you are an average athlete without a functional fitness profession (like attending competitions), I recommend Tiger Camp. You can try something new by taking fitness classes from MMA fighters.
If you are a competitive CrossFit athlete, you should go for Wanderlust, mainly due to the equipment.
I definitely will go to the Tiger Camp again.
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