YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR:
Alvin Seet
Alvin Seet is one of the very few Muay Thai trainers in Singapore who has not only trained in Thailand, but has fought there on a professional basis.
Alvin started training in Muay Thai at 16 and then moved to Thailand to pursue a professional fight career in 1998.
He then competed in the Asia Open Championships, Muay Thai World Cup, and the Prince's Cup winning several regional titles against Thai opponents.
He returned to Singapore in 2000 to work as a trainer before starting his own gym – AS Fitness, in 2002.
Alvin shares about his passion for Muay Thai with Mark Lim, JobsDB Campus Editor.
Alvin, what inspired you to learn Muay Thai?
When I was about 10 years old, I remembered being crazy about martial arts, and became amazed at how our body can become a powerful weapon when I watched a video of Bruce Lee in the movie, ‘Enter the dragon’.
Eager to pick up martial arts, I decided to learn Tae Kwan Do (A Korean martial art) at my neighbourhood community centre for 3 years. After that, I decided that I needed to move on and develop my interest further, and that’s when I discovered Muay Thai after watching some Hong Kong martial arts movies, which were very popular then. I also liked how Muay Thai techniques centered a lot on using one’s hands, knees, elbows and shins, which looked both effective and elegant at the same time.
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Muay Thai is literally Thai Boxing and is also known as “The Art of the Eight Limbs”. It is a form of hard martial art practiced in several Southeast Asian countries including Thailand.
Muay Thai is referred to as "The Science of Eight Limbs", as the hands, shins, elbows, and knees are all used extensively in this art. A practitioner of Muay Thai ("nak muay") has the ability to execute strikes using eight "points of contact," as opposed to "two points" (fists) in Western boxing and "four points" (fists, feet) used in the primarily sport-oriented forms of martial arts.
Historically, Thais have used Muay Thai to both protect themselves and to fight in the war between Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar).
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When I turned 14, my grandfather gave me $65 to buy a punching bag so that I could start practicing at home. With the money, I went and bought a green colour canvas punching bag from a fitness shop in Marina Square and carried it all the way home on the MRT. It didn’t matter that the punching bag was quite heavy as I was much too excited and elated!
Going with my Dad to Thailand for a holiday a year later was a real eye opener for me as I got to see actual Muay Thai fights there. I was really inspired by that and starting taking classes when I returned to Singapore.
After my National Service, I worked as a bartender to save money and travel to Thailand to train in Muay Thai. I lived in the Southern part of Thailand for a few months where I basically trained every day along with professional Thai Muay Thai fighters. It was an amazing experience that has definitely been useful in helping me to be a successful Muay Thai trainer now.
Was it challenging to start your own Muay Thai studio?
It was definitely hard in the beginning, as we didn’t have our own place and had to train in places like public parks and even multi-storey carparks sometimes. However, I am really blessed to have a strong group of dedicated students who have been with me since the beginning, and I’m glad to say that they have even progressed in their Muay Thai skills to become trainers at my studio now.
 Your new studio looks fantastic! Are you happy to have your own place?
Thanks, I’m really glad to have found this location that’s next to Central, as it’s really convenient for everyone to come here, and the rental is also within my budget. It was truly a team effort to set up the studio – my father-in-law did the renovations as he’s a contractor, my students helped to transport the training equipment and my wife takes care of the administration for me. So you can say that I’ve got a great team supporting me every step of the way!
My aim is to open another branch in the next 18 months and it is definitely a feasible idea as Muay Thai is getting very popular in Singapore and around the world.
What are the benefits of Muay Thai?
For starters, it’s really good in helping to build up your fitness and Muay Thai is also a great way to relieve stress especially when you’ve been working in the office all day. The training is safe as we always wear protective equipment like shin pads and head gear when we have sparring training. Most of all, it’s about having fun with fellow students and learning more about yourself in the process.
Here at AS Fitness, we have students from all walks of life and from all over the world - Japan, Korea, France, Singapore… all united by the passion to learn Muay Thai! We also have a lot of female students too, as they find Muay Thai useful for weight loss and it also gives them the confidence for self-defence. We also regularly organise internal Muay Thai matches for the female students in my classes and it is always very popular as they are eager to practice their Muay Thai skills through a match with other female students.
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www.asfitness.comAS Fitness
No.33D Hong Kong Street
(Opposite Clarke Quay MRT and Central riverfront Shopping) |
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