I'm Tadej, 17 years old, and I'm doing a three-month full-time internship at Fight2Win as part of my e-commerce studies. Of course, I train in martial arts myself. I boxed for a while, then switched to Thai boxing and also took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
My Thai boxing training sessions at Eagle Gym
I train in Thai boxing twice a week at Eagle Gym Sports Center.
A typical training session at Eagle Gym goes like this: when you arrive, you can get changed in the changing rooms, put on your cup and wrap your handwraps.
Warming up for Thai boxing training
Warming up: before you really start training, you obviously need to warm up. First, get moving: bounce around and alternate shadow Thai boxing with push-ups, squats and core exercises such as planks, sit-ups and mountain climbers. It's important to loosen up all your joints, including your neck, shoulders and hips, by rotating them. Finally, stretch your shoulders and legs.
Sometimes we then grab punching shields and do 25 low kicks, 25 power kicks and 25 teeps per leg. By then, you're well warmed up.
Combining punches and kicks
Once we're warmed up, we put on our shin guards and gloves and start working on combinations. We always begin the first round with a jab, right cross, left hook and low kick to get into punching and kicking before moving on to the combinations.
We usually spend about half an hour doing different combinations, such as jab, cross, hook, step out during the hook, low kick, then step out again and throw another low kick. My favorite combination is jab, cross, switch, power kick, jab, cross, switch, hook, power kick. We do the combinations in rounds of 2 or 3 minutes.
Sparren, mouthguard and cool-down
Then the trainer tells us to put in our mouthguards. I use the Shock Doctor double braces mouthguard because I have braces on both my upper and lower teeth. Once everyone has their mouthguard in, we start sparren, doing 2-minute rounds with half a minute's rest. We often sparren for 20-30 minutes, followed by a short cool-down. The cool-down consists of rotating our joints and doing a few stretches.
Extra practice: reflex ball and jump rope
Besides my training sessions at Eagle Gym, I do a few short exercises that complement my Thai boxing training. I try to practice with a reflex ball for 10 minutes five times a week. It's good for my hand-eye coordination.
Meanwhile, I practice moving and dodging punches by switching stances and using slips and rolls.
To stay light on my feet and build more explosive calves, I make sure to jump rope at least 2 times a week, usually for 3 rounds of 2 to 3 minutes each.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at BJJ Rotterdam
I train BJJ 3 times a week at BJJ Rotterdam.
Danny, the head instructor, learned his Jiu Jitsu from grandmaster Rickson Gracie, and he tries to share Rickson's vision with as many people as possible. That way, they can discover and experience the power of Jiu Jitsu. That power lies above all in problem-solving, something I find very appealing about Jiu Jitsu.
Before we start training, we lay out the mats, then put on our Gi, or a rash guard for No-Gi on Thursdays.
A Gi is the traditional uniform for BJJ, consisting of a heavy cotton jacket, reinforced drawstring trousers and a belt that indicates your rank - white, blue, purple, brown or black. Traditionally, a Gi is white, but nowadays we see many different colors used in BJJ.
Warming up and technique training in BJJ
Next, we warm up with jumping, butt kicks, high knees, joint rotations and lunges to warm up our knees and hips. If it's relevant to that day's training, we also warm up by walking on our shoulders and doing ebi movements or other important movements.
The positions we practice in BJJ
Once we've warmed up, we spend an hour training techniques, focusing on different positions in turn:
Mount: Here, you sit on top of your opponent as he lies on his back, controlling his upper body.
Back mount: You are behind your opponent with your legs around his waist, controlling his upper body.
Side control: In this position, you lie on top of your opponent, across his chest, using your weight to control him.
Guard: You lie on your back with your legs around your opponent to defend or attack.
These positions also have variations, such as half guard, open guard and the north-south position in side control, among many others.
Learning and rolling with a partner
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Watching and understanding
All the positions are covered thoroughly in turn: first, the instructor explains what we're going to do, then he demonstrates how to do it.
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Practicing with a training partner
You then practice these positions with a training partner while the instructor walks around to help. Every so often, he gives the whole class a few extra details that you can put into practice.
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Putting it into practice while rolling
After an hour of technique training, we can test ourselves against each other during sparren, with 6-minute rounds and a 30-second break between rounds to switch partners.
When you sparren, you and your partner can choose which position to start in, often one that one of you still struggles with or wants to work on.
After sparren, we do a short cool-down with movements such as standing mountain climbers, rotating our joints again and paying attention to our breathing.
Strength training alongside my martial arts
Before I started training in Thai boxing and BJJ, I went to the gym 5 times a week. At the gym, I mainly did exercises to build muscle. Examples include bench presses, hamstring curls, barbell rows, leg presses and various other exercises for my arms and shoulders.
Over the 2 years when I was fully focused on the gym, I gained about 17 kg. That was something I needed. The downside is that if you only train at the gym without doing mobility exercises and/or stretching alongside it, your muscles become tight and stiff.
I now approach my gym sessions differently: I still train with weights twice a week. I still focus on strength, but with BJJ and Thai boxing in mind.
Now I do more exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, medicine ball slams and cable rows. Although it's not popular in the martial arts world, I only do 2 sets per exercise unless the exercise is specifically for muscular endurance.
For me, 2 sets are enough to make progress without overworking my whole body; I do make sure that by the end of each set I reach failure or really can't do any more.
Finally: stand-up, groundwork and continuous learning
This personal account brings together three parts of Tadej's training week: punching and kicking in Thai boxing, working through positions in BJJ and the strength training he tailors to both. He describes not only what he does, but also what appeals to him about the different types of training. That personal perspective is what makes his story relatable.
The lessons, training frequency and internship at Fight2Win described here relate to October 2025. The photos, examples and favorite combination show how Tadej experienced that period. His curiosity about the different sides of martial arts is the common thread, from a punching combination to trying out a position on the mat.
