I trained at N1 for nearly a year before having to stop and it was a great experience. I walked…read moreinto the facility with no background in Muay Thai, or any other martial art experience except for a few karate lessons as a kid. By the time I left I'd learned a lot, met some great people, and found a new sport I love.
The building is located in Little Italy and parking is limited to street parking or a large private lot that is right next door. The private lot charges $3 while street parking is free after 5:30. I found if I'd get there early I could get a spot on the street the majority of the time. The facility itself is very nice with two large rooms for classes, male and female locker rooms, showers, and a full size ring. For beginners they provide all equipment you need including gloves and pads but it might be worth buying a pair of wrist wraps when you sign up.
The sign up procedure is very straight forward. Your first lesson is $20 and includes 20-30 minute one-on-one period with an instructor so you know the basics and can follow along with other level 1 students. After your first class, if you enjoyed it, you can pay month to month, or sign a six to twelve month contract. The longer contracts are cheaper on a per month basis and you get an additional discount if you prepay 6-12 months upfront. Plan on spending between $75 - $150 a month for unlimited Muay Thai, Boxing and BJJ classes depending on your contract length and any promotions they might have going on.
All new students (that haven't studied Muay Thai elsewhere) start in level 1 and remain there for about 2-3 months until they have the fundamentals down and pass a proficiency check with the owner of the school. The classes themselves follow a basic pattern. You start off by skipping rope and doing situps for about 5-10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of shadow boxing. You shadow box in both a western and thai boxing stance and the Kru (instructor) will go around making corrections to your stance, punches, kicks, knees etc during this time. After the warm up is finish you'll pair up and do some various drills. Different instructors like to focus on different aspects which works great since you get to work on a variety of things on different days of the week. You general work in pairs doing various drills with thai and focus pads for 30 minutes. After that for the remaining 15 minutes you either do conditioning drills or maybe touch sparring. By the time class is over you'll be dripping with sweat and have a smile on your face. Class size varies widely and I couldn't figure out why. Some nights there might be 6 people others there might be 16. The instructors do a good job of keeping an eye on everyone regardless of size and they make sure to check in with you on just about every drill.
When you're done level 1 classes you move on two level 2. Level 2 starts off the same way, skipping rope and occasionally shadow boxing but after that things start to change up. You are more likely to rotate partners throughout class and spar, or do complex drills. Everyone is expected to have a mouth guard, shin pads, and groin protector on for class as there is more contact between students than in the level 1 classes. While the level 1 classes were fun and did a great job of teaching the basic it was level 2 that i really loved.
All of the instructors and fellow students are very helpful. There are no attitudes and everyone really wants everyone else to succeed and have fun. The instructors were all very approachable and willing to stay with students after class if you have any questions or need some help. They also offer private training, something I wish I'd taken advantage of when I was there.
They also have Brazilian Ju Jiujitsu classes (gi and nogi) and western boxing. The BJJ classes were really fun but my enjoyment was hindered by my lack of flexibility. I'm sure it would have gotten easier had i gone to more than 10 classes but I was enjoying Muay Thai so much I always want to do that instead. The instructor, Pat, was really helpful in explaining the basics and since I was the only one in class with no previous grappling experience would often partner with me to help explain things better. Each class would include warm up, drills, and sparring and were always a good workout.
They also have "competitive" muay thai classes specifically for people who want to enter amateur fights around Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto etc. I never attended any but from talking to people who did they focus much more on ring technique, and what to do in a bout. Most people who attend these classes also go to the level 2 or level 3 Muay Thai classes.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time at N1, the instructors and fellow students were awesome and the quality of instruction was great. If I wasn't in and out of town so often these days I'd still be a member.
