Chicago Thai Boxing Academy

Good coaches, generally supportive/friendly environment. In sparring hit as hard as you wanna be hit. Has a mini gym with a bench, racks, dumbells, 🥊 bags, and more.

JJ The owner is the best coach and owner in Chicago of the best Muay Thai Gym. I learned how to destroy people and be a strong minded individual with the help of his coaches and programs and systems

I'm very happy here! As a beginner, the trainers have given me extra help even in a group setting. My experience so far is that, if you let them know about what's going on with you, they'll work with you. I'd wanted to learn about Thai boxing for years, and I was very happy to find CTBA from a simple web search. I read info on their website and then had a look at reviews on Google and elsewhere. I was very happy to sign up for a free initial class, no issues at all. I thought I would go home and think about it (joining), but I knew right away that I'd found a good fit. I really like the trainers. I like their focus on people finding their own rhythm. They also know how to motivate while keeping things light. Finally, JJ (owner) and his front desk staff set a very welcoming tone. They explained the terms and conditions (which I knew from reading their website), and they answered all my questions honestly. Looking forward to a great summer with the team!

Good coaches, generally supportive/friendly environment. In sparring hit as hard as you wanna be hit. Has a mini gym with a bench, racks, dumbells, 🥊 bags, and more.

Chicago Thai Boxing Academy has completely changed my life. I started training here back in 2022 when I weighed around 230 lbs and was in a very different place both mentally and physically. I originally joined just wanting to lose weight and learn Muay Thai, but this gym quickly became so much more than that. Through consistent training, discipline, and the guidance of the coaches, I’ve transformed in ways I never imagined. I’m now around 175 lbs, stronger, healthier, and more confident than ever. The coaching here is top tier they push you, support you, and truly care about your growth inside and outside the gym. This place feels like my second home. From day one, I was welcomed like family, and that sense of belonging has never changed. The community here is unmatched everyone pushes each other to be better, and no one gets left behind. I’m forever grateful for this gym and the people in it for helping shape the person I am today. Chicago Thai Boxing Academy isn’t just a gym, it’s a family. I’ll always be thankful for everything this place has given me.

Get ready for some EXTREMELY hard sparring under little to no supervision, not being partnered with if you’re a woman, and preferential treatment being doled out to veteran members in spite of the subsequent detriment to newcomer training and fight prospects that causes. Although the men (they currently have no women on the fight team) don’t like to partner with women and use brutality and intimidation when forced to pair up with them, they will still want to get your number after class and attempt to flirt. Maybe you’ll get as lucky as I did once and have your outfit insulted on your way out by a young man who the head coach had just reprimanded you for kicking in the head after he tried to land a spinning back-fist during drill work. Since he’s the favorite and on the fight team, you had better watch yourself and not be a bully to their special boys! I bet you wished you talked to me differently now. The weaponized incompetence of the coaches acting like there isn’t gender disparity happening at the gym is absolutely hideous and what I consider as the defining facet in my decision making process to quit Muay Thai. After two years of hard training at three different gyms I was hoping to find a the foundations of a fighting career at CTBA but left on account preserving my emotional and physiological well-being. I have nothing but contempt for this gym and the sport I once loved dearly and sacrificed much for. It’s an unhealthy, regressive, and hypocritical environment. Anyone who disagrees I hope I never meet with again.