Watch: Tawanchai takes a medicine ball to the gut to work his core

Becoming a world champion in ONE Championship requires hard work, dedication, and, at times, some crazy workout techniques. Tawanchai PK Saenchai can attest to all three – definitely the last – based on a recent Instagram story.

The ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion pushed his body to the limit at Bangkok’s PK Saenchai Gym yesterday as he prepares for a return to the global stage of ONE Championship against Davit Kiria at ONE Fight Night 13 on Friday, August 4.

Most of his workout routine seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, weightlifting, rowing, and sprinting. However, a modified version of a hanging leg raise workout with a medicine ball didn’t seem like a good idea at all.

The gym’s fitness coach, Weerayut Kongnok, slammed the heavy ball onto his student’s midsection after each rep, causing Tawanchai to grimace as if he took a cruel body shot from ONE featherweight kickboxing world champion Chingiz Allazov.

He didn’t show any signs of slowing down and continued to grind out the final few sets, while taking more shots to his abdominal section.

The ball, which typically weighs around 5 kg to 11 kg, might not have been used the way it was intended to be used. But truth be told, it is a pretty typical training scene in a Muay Thai gym anywhere in Thailand.

Fighters competing out of Thailand have long used ‘out of the box’ training methods to fortify their bodies ahead of fights. As such, Tawanchai’s rib-rattling core workout won’t come as a surprise to his peers.

Catch him back in action at ONE Fight Night 13 on Friday, August 4. The card is available live and free for North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.