Athlon Rub – Enhanced Thai Oil
To practitioners of Muay Thai (Nak Muay’s), Thai Oil aka Boxing Liniment is their secret weapon. It is used in a wide-range of occasions from as a Warmup enhancer before a hard training session or a long run, as part of the weight cutting process, to the pre-fight massage, or as part of an athlete’s selfcare regime to help them recover and push their limits over and over again. The properties of this formula helps to warmup muscles and joints for better performance, injury avoidance, and over all faster recouperation. Swelling and inflammation is reduced while blood flow is enhanced allowing oxygen to be carried throughout the blood stream to all areas. In addition, it’s unique scent helps to open nasal passages which in-turn allows for athletes to breath better and take in more air. Some users would also state that it temporarily desensitizes their body for hard impacts.
Athlon Rub Origins
Athlon Rub was founded in 2016 by Anthony Salcedo, a lifelong fan of martial arts and combat sports. Prior to launching Athlon Rub, Mr. Salcedo worked for years with the main Boxing Liniment brand from Thailand starting in 2008 and is believed to be the only western to have had access to their production lab. Through those years, he presented insights on how to enhance the product and packaging which fell on deaf ears. The rejections motivated Mr. Salcedo to create Athlon Rub’s “All Sport Formula”. With his years of experience and knowledge, he was confident of producing a superior product which would help athletes from all sports. “Although we are in the same product category as other Thai Oil’s / Boxing Liniment, our differences are considerable”, says Mr. Salcedo.
Athlon Rub was launched in conjunction with an Athlon Rub Muay Thai & kickboxing tournament in Los Angles, Ca. Since then, the product has been used in countless fight promotions including tournaments containing hundreds of fights a weekend without ever an incident.
IFMA World Championships, Dec 2021 Bangkok Thailand || Team USA Gold Medal Winner, Aaron Ortiz receiving the traditional Pre-Fight Massage by Head Coach Kru Patrick Valor assisted by Team Members Henry Lee KCF and Nahom Demissie. Photo Credit: Pari Aryafar
Formula Enhancements
Right from the start, you will notice that Athlon Rub has no color; there is no artificial yellow added like other Thai Oils. The formula is designed to be more transdermal so it penetrates your skin faster and more completely, not leaving oil residue on your skin nor yellow to stain your towels or clothes. The ingredients have also been enhanced to improve healing with Arnica for bruising and pain, Turmeric for inflammation, and Thai Plai for overall recovery. Thai Plai is a species of ginger found in traditional Thai Herbal Compression Balls (Luk Pra Kob ) used for recovery; Athlon Rub is the only Thai Oil with it in the formula
Packaging Enhancements
From the outside, the bottles shapes and sizes are clearly different. For one, the bottles come in shatter-proof, BPA-Free containers to avoid the common glass and oil clean-ups most Thai Oil customers have to endure. The bottles are all dark amber similar to what you would see in essential oil or certain liquor packaging. This is intended to protect the formula’s shelf life by blocking UVA & UVB light. The label is of a matte finish to improve grip hold during applications, it’s stays intact when the product is opened, and the ink does not bleed when coming in contact with the formula. The bottles are also shrink-wrapped straight from the lab to ensure there is minimal opportunity for tampering.
Athlete Travel bottle 100ML / 3.4 Fl oz
The Athlete Travel bottle (100ML / 3.4 Fl oz) is flag ship bottle. It is intentionally this size so as to be the largest liquid bottle an airline passenger can legally carry-on through Airport Security checkpoints. This allows users to avoid having to check in their luggage in and be able to carry Athlon Rub inside their carry-on bag. This bottle comes with a spray dispenser which spreads fluid evening and in a controlled direction to avoid product spillage seen from other brands that involve pouring from the top. The Spray cap is an usually long neck which provides an extra snapping lock in order to reduce the chance of spills and for travel convenience.
Available Accessory: Carry Vessel, an optional clear container with screw cap used to secure bottle inside. The purpose is to protect belongings from coming in contact with your bottle inside any bag.
Pro-Bottle (250ML / 8.5 Fl
The Pro-Bottle (250ML / 8.5 Fl) oz is the next bottle up in the size. The Pro bottle has a taller, slim shape similar to containers used by professional therapists. The dispenser top is a treatment pump which directs more product out in a concentrated area for more liberal applications.
Available Accessory: A custom Athlon Rub holster is available. It allows users to carry the bottle on their sides and easily dispense product onto their hands from the short nose of the Treatment pump. The holster has an embroidered logo and a unique mesh pocket to allow the bottle to breath and dry if the bottle has product on it from handling.