Health
Mad About Muay Thai
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I JANUARY 2018 37
BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM
A new gym is offering Queens resi-dents
a less traditional way to get fit.
Rego Park resident Kit Yeung opened
Hinds Combat Sports at 10-25 48th
Ave. in Long Island City on Jan. 3. The
3,000-square-foot gym provides Muay
Thai classes for people as young as 4
years old and those looking to receive
stress after work.
Yeung, who has been practicing Muay
Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu for 15 years,
also owns a muay thai gym in Rego Park
and Midtown Manhattan. A former IT
manager for NYU Langone, Yeung said
he took a jiu-jitsu one day after work
and became enamored with the sport.
“After a long day of work I would try the
traditional gym route, and one day I took a
Brazilian jiu-jitsu class at a martial arts gym,”
he said. “My hobby turned into a career.”
Classes, which are offered from Mon-day
through Saturday, will be taught by
Sean Hinds. A London native, Hinds
moved to the United States in the 90s
and began his professional fighting
career.
Muay Thai is the most popular sport
in Thailand and combines traditional
boxing moves with hand, elbow, shin
and knee strikes. Though the sport
has a reputation for being “brutal” and
“savage” Yeung hopes to change that
perception.
“I think the benefits of practicing
Muay Thai is high self-esteem and
confidence,” he said. “Members start
losing weight, they start getting fit,
they have a new sense of confidence.
That’s probably the most exciting thing
to see.”
The gym is also offering a Bull Dogs
Program — classes for children 4 and up
that will be taught by Dave Moy. Children
will learn the basics of kickboxing and
grappling.
Hinds Combat Sports is offering an
early bird special where members can
purchase a monthly membership for
$149 and receive boxing gloves and
other equipment. The $99 enrollment
fee is also waived.
The gym also has a 500 square foot
space with treadmills and bikes for those
who want to work out before or after a
class. Yeung said local residents are ex-cited
to see a Muay Thai gym in the area.
“Tons of emails have come in and
we signed a bunch of people up from
the neighborhood,” he said. “We keep
hearing that a lot of people have been
waiting for an authentic Muay Thai and
Brazilian jiu-jitsu place to come to Long
Island City.”
Photos courtesy of Hinds Combat Sports
