Rob Lovett

This month Rob and Tom both tentatively put on boxing gloves and jumped in the ring with Rob Lovett from Lovett Muay Thai.

They discovered how a teenage boy with plenty of energy to burn, initially fell in love with martial arts movies and later became the owner of a successful Muay Thai gym right here in Albany.

So, you own a Muay Thai Gym, what is Muay Thai?

Muay Thai is sometimes referred to a Thai Boxing or Kick Boxing. It’s a martial art style and full contact sport that uses punches, kicks and elbows on your opponent. But outside of the competitive fights, it is an awesome full-body workout that promotes dynamic movement (definitely not standing still), cardio training and strength conditioning. It is becoming a sport for the whole family. We have classes where mum, dad and the kids are all training together. It makes for a great way for them to see each other in a different way outside the home environment.

Muay Thai has also just been accepted as an Olympic sport and will feature at the 2024 Olympics for the first time.

Obviously, you’re very passionate about Muay Thai. What attracted you to it in the beginning?

When I was young, I had plenty of energy to burn and loved martial arts movies. I wanted to be a ninja. I loved the idea of walking around silently and disappearing in a cloud of smoke. So my mum enrolled me in Taekwondo when I was 11. It became a great outlet for my energy and focus and I was pretty good at it, having over 30 fights as a junior. I then discovered Muay Thai whilst on a family holiday in Thailand when I was 20. On our first night of the holiday we went to a fight show and I was hooked. I spent the next 2 weeks of our holiday training with the Thai guys and had a first Muay Thai fight and win at the end of those 2 weeks.

When we got back to Australia, I spent the next 6 months trying to find a coach or training partner until I found my first coach on the mine site I was working at. We would work a 12-hour shift at the mine, then train together for another 2 hours after work each day. I had my first professional fight in Australia 4 months after that.

What did your professional fighting career look like?

Over my active fighting career, I’ve had 28 fights of which I won 18 and drew 2. Some of these were title fights for national championships, intercontinental titles and IKBF (International Kickboxing Federation) titles. In 2010 I had my last career fight against the current intercontinental champ which I won. I had to go out with a win!

I presume when you retired from competitive fights you never intended to setup your own Muay Thai business, how did you end up opening Lovett Muay Thai?

I was working as a landscape gardener in Albany and training at a local Brazilian Ju-Jitsu gym, where I assisted others prepare for their upcoming fights. A few others from the gym were interested in trying Muay Thai and I saw this as an opportunity initially just to have someone hold the pads for me so I could train! We started out in the garage at my house where we had 1 punching bag and almost no other equipment. As a few more people became interested, my fiance Suzie and I decided we needed more space and we moved to a small 60sqm shed in town which we outgrew again in about 6 months. We then made the move to a road fronting shed that was 160sqm and got our first ring and some more punching bags. At this stage we had about 60 members and it quickly became more than just having someone to hold the pads for me.

In 2019 the opportunity came up to move into our current gym which is a 200sqm area. It was a big financial commitment, and I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out but something in my gut told me to do it and of course I had Suzie and a few close friends supporting me all the way. We now have over 200 members, 2 coaches plus 4 junior coaches. We offer kids, women’s, and mixed level of experience classes every week.

You have mentioned your kids’ classes, but you also run a different type of kid’s class in the school holidays can you tell us about those?

I had heard from parents of some of our students, the emotional and physical impact that bullying had on their children. I thought “enough is enough” so we launched our school holiday Anti-Bullying Classes. These classes were free to everyone and were designed to teach kids how to stand up for themselves, not to get even and not to be the victim. We teach the kids the reasons why people bully others – which is more of a reflection on the bully than the target. We also try to equip them with some tools to use when they are being bullied to help open the lines of communication with parents and teachers.

We have run 3 rounds of these classes, our first round had over 160 kids come through. The feedback from parents and teachers has been incredible. We have heard things like the kids have become role models for others in their classes, they have more respect for their parents and teachers and some of the kids have been able to open up to talk about bullying instead of letting it eat them up.

Attention Albany parents!! This program is being run this coming school holidays from 29 September to 8 October. Spots are limited. Send Rob a message via his FaceBook page to secure a spot.

With Muay Thai being a contact sport, your business was severely affected by Covid and the restrictions that came with it. How did you adapt what you did?

 Covid was a huge platform of growth for us, and it taught us “Don’t do nothing”. When the restrictions on indoor activities were announced, we switched to online classes via Zoom. Suzie and I ran 3 adults’ classes a week and 3 kids’ classes a week live via Zoom from our living room. We became expert in filming, editing and delivery of videos for our workout routines which we still have available to our members when they are travelling now. We lent out our equipment to members so they could keep up with their fitness and the sport, rather than sit back and do nothing over this time. We realised very quickly though that no matter what we did, we had to keep our students moving, it was vital for both their physical and mental health.

What is your future vision for Lovett Muay Thai?

As the sport becomes more popular, I want to be able to provide more employment opportunities for athletes within the gym. I want Muay Thai to be seen like AFL, something you can do as a sport and enjoy but also making a living from it. We are working on a wider range of programs and classes for our students and, where we can, we want to bring a bit more harmony within the community and provide a positive influence.

Visit

129 Lockyer Avenue, Albany
https://www.facebook.com/LovettMuayThai/
0417 703 370