Main Street Boxing & Muay Thai

I was excited to check this gym out for their Muay Thai program after moving to the area. I’ve trained Muay Thai for 5 years and had a handful of smokers. I’m by no means a pro but also not a beginner. A friend and I took one of the 7 AM Muay Thai classes taught by AK. The class was good with a standard format of skipping rope, shadow boxing, drilling, and then conditioning on the bag. Overall that was a pleasant experience. The real problem was when we attended the Muay Thai sparring on Saturday at 11 AM. Most of the people were pleasant. We informed the coach, Jacob Berry, that we were just trying out the class. He told us everyone spars very light here. Once sparring began, Jacob elected to use 10 oz. gloves. Anyone who has trained Muay Thai for any length of time knows that standard etiquette is to spar in 16 oz. gloves. It’s important to also note that I weigh about 150 pounds, my friend weighs about the same, and Jacob looks like he weighs closer to 190. When sparring my friend, Jacob proceeded to strike much harder than you would during light sparring. He also hit my friend after the bell. I watched him spar several others, hitting them with force in his small gloves. He would then take a few rounds off and go out again, going hard. The sparring class concluded with 2 rounds of clinching. After the class Jacob left quickly before we could confront him. We spoke to some of the other members who didn’t seem surprised by our experience and said, “That’s just how he is”. I find this to be reprehensible. The members we spoke to expressed that they were hobbyists but did not seem to understand that a coach should not be looking to hurt students and that sparring in 10 oz. gloves for Muay Thai goes against all sparring etiquette especially for a man weighing around 190. Some of these members seemed content to be bullied by Jacob while others stated that they were glad they didn’t have rounds with him that day. Others shared stories of being dropped by him in the past. As someone who has cross trained with at least 5 other gyms, I have never encountered a coach looking to hurt students. The job of a coach in Muay Thai is to educate and maintain a safe environment for people to train within. A coach should be professional enough to exercise control when sparring with the understanding that their skill set exceeds that of the students. Also, I know my money will not make or break the gym but I cannot recommend this gym to anyone. When a prospective customer pays money to try out a gym, the onus is on the employees to provide customer service that leaves a positive impact, a good experience, and hopefully leads to that prospect becoming a member. Myself and at least three of my friends have been searching for a gym and we will not be signing up at Main Street due to this experience. Lastly, I pity any complete novice who attempts to start sparring here only to be beat on by their coach. This behavior is abusive and should not be tolerated but many people new to the sport will not understand this and will continue to pay money to accumulate brain damage and injuries. If you are a hobbyist and not looking to be a professional fighter, I cannot in good faith recommend this gym. There are many other gyms in the Houston area. Be sure to look for a gym who will value your contribution as a member and respect you as a human. Just because someone is a professional fighter does not give them free rein to harm you.

Moved to the Houston area this past summer, been coming to Main Street ever since. Have thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I have been training muay thai, boxing and mma elsewhere across the country for some time, and can definitely say Main Street is one of my favorite places I have been, and came highly recommended. I drive a good bit to get to the gym (~50 minutes) its worth the drive. I mainly attend the afternoon muay thai due to my work schedule. Jacob Berry and Paul Garza run a great program. They push their students and are very knowledgeable. Training partners are very good. The facility is robust, I love that it doesnt have that corporate sterile feel that some other gyms have. The facility is great overall, makes me feel like im training in Mickeys gym from Rocky lol. Great place to train!!