✦ Soi Ta-iad, also known as ‘Fitness Street’, is one of the world’s most densely packed areas dedicated to fitness training ✦ The 1.5km stretch in Phuket is packed with Muay Thai and MMA gyms, fitness studios, health cafes and recovery centres ✦ This is a community dedicated to training, and visitors can stay in no-frills boutique accommodation along the street ✦ The street has become a hub for women in combat sports and is also home to champion fighters
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PHUKET HAS A reputation for partying, beaches and massages. But not when it comes to Soi Ta-iad. Located in Chalong, away from the beach resorts, this 1.5km stretch – also known as Fitness Street – is built around one thing: training.
I come here a few times a year to get punched in the face.
Photos: Liv Arnold
In this neighbourhood – one of the world’s most densely packed with fitness spaces – Muay Thai and MMA gyms sit alongside fitness studios, health cafés and recovery centres, from ice baths to saunas.
By sunrise, groups are running up the hill to the Big Buddha and back. Scooters weave between runners in sweat-darkened T-shirts; blenders whir incessantly at protein shake stands.
Training sessions typically run from 8am to 10am and again from 4pm to 6pm. In between, the street slows and its characters come in focus: shirtless men, abs carved into their bodies. Women in crop tops, gloves hooked over gym bags. People here to lose weight, rebuild or prove something to themselves. Older bodies. Families. Digital nomads working from cafés between sessions. Professional fighters preparing for their next bout.
At the health cafés, I eat whole grains and whatever's been steamed into submission, alongside the occasional Thai dish. Every meal comes with calories and grams of protein listed. You know exactly what goes back in, whether you want to or not.
Most people stay at their gym or in one of the many boutique-style hotels along the street. There are no big luxury resorts here, where life is built around health, not room service.
Photos: Liv Arnold
A growing female shift
I first started Muay Thai training in Australia in 2023. With generalised anxiety disorder, my mind keeps running long after everything else stops. Meditation couldn’t quieten it, but Muay Thai did, dragging me to the present.
A chance to similarly regain this sense of control is part of the draw for many women. Australian ONE Championship fighter Kim ‘The Runaway’ Tran started learning the sport during Melbourne’s lockdowns. She hit pads in the park with a friend, learning from YouTube. Now, after a year’s training in Phuket, she coaches a women-only MMA class that fills quickly.
“Soi Ta-iad is a hub for all things fitness,” she says. “There are more female-led spaces now. You see other women doing combat sports and think, if she can do it, I can too.
“There’s a universal craving to do something hard.”
Photos: Liv Arnold
Inside the gyms: family, discipline, sweat
There are nearly 20 gyms along Soi Ta-iad, but at Rattachai Muay Thai, I found my place. Like most, I tried several gyms before settling in here – first drawn by the feeling, then the people.
Rattachai is run by Kru Nai, a three-time Lumpinee Boxing Stadium champion, and his wife Nit. It’s a close-knit place where the couple’s kids run around between sessions, and the kru, or coach, will tap your guard into place, nod when something finally clicks, or correct you with a ruthless “no”.
Tense up and someone will come shake you out. “Sabai sabai.” Relax.
The training space is open on all sides so the heat clings to your clothes. Heavy bags hang from a metal frame, swaying between rounds. Worn black mats are slick with sweat. In one corner, there’s a low boxing ring with frayed ropes, while spin bikes and gear are piled nearby.
Behind the gym, the krus live together in simple quarters. Members and tourists who want training to make up their whole itinerary can stay at rooms in the front.
“Beginners, intermediates and professional fighters come to train," says Kru Nai. “I treat them like family and teach everyone the same way.”
Photos: Liv Arnold
A community with common bonds
It’s not rare for someone to find their place here in a more permanent way. Take Veronica Galparoli. Two years ago, she arrived from Italy as a tourist. Now she’s a fitness coach at Tiger Muay Thai – the largest gym on the street, known for training ONE Championship and UFC fighters – where she works alongside elite athletes, including Vero ‘The Kayan Leopard’ Nika. She got her first sak yant, a tattoo believed to ward off danger during a fight, within two months of starting here and now has 13 fights to her name.
As I ride down Soi Ta-iad with Veronica on her scooter, a shop owner calls her name and a fighter waves from outside a café.
“On this street, you see new faces and familiar ones,” she says. “It becomes a community.”
Photos: Liv Arnold
From the street to the stage
There is something quite special about being part of this place, which explains why fitness fans from all around the world gather here. Its pull is perhaps summed up best by ONE Championship fighter Vero, who grew up in a small village in Myanmar and began striking young. Now Soi Ta-iad offers her more than a location to train.
“There are great gyms and fighters here, so I’m learning and improving every day,” she says.
“It’s not just relaxing like a spa – you learn discipline and meet people from all over the world who share the same passion. Fighting helped me believe in myself and stay strong through difficult times.”
I can vouch for that. Soi Ta-iad is not a traditional holiday. You wake up sore, train anyway, eat, recover and do it again. Somewhere in that cycle, you change. You come for fitness and often, you stay longer than planned. Then you leave with the knowledge of how to take up space – and how not to give it back.
Photos: Liv Arnold
