Muay Thai!

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I just finished my first muay thai lesson, and it kicked ass! Both literally and figuratively, that is. For those not familiar with it, muay thai is kickboxing Thai style. A sort of no-holds-barred version of the Western variety where the best of the best hardly ever have both their feet on the ring floor at once in a fight and to the naked eye, it would seem neither feet.

Three practically non-stop hours of stretching, cardio warm-ups, sparring and toning is what my “lesson” consists of. My coaches, muay thai fighers on the international circuit, show little mercy for not so athletic squealing females like myself. Actually, when I squawk in pain my trainer Chai who speaks just a handful of English words, finds it hilariously funny and laughs his head off. At least Mr. Miyagi kept a pretty good poker face. Perhaps I should just keep quiet, I realized. Why let a sadist enjoy my misery?

So I grinned and bore it so as not to do shame to the kickboxing conditioning classes I took for a year at Third Power Fitness in DC. (Boy does that now seem like a walk in the park) When Chai asked me to do a roundhouse kick, which happens to be my best kick, I thought, ok, now I’ll show him what I’m made of. So I throw out my leg to really whack him one and he grabs it before I make contact and with a partially toothless grin, bounces me against the ring’s ropes. Foiled again! This sport is definitely not for the weak or the weary.

By the end of my lesson, I was drenched in sweat and the water poured on me by my trainers between sparring rounds. No air-conditioning at this gym, folks. This is as real as it gets: a semi-open air ring with just a metal roof to protect you from the elements. And in 90 degree weather, you can imagine how sweaty one can get while boxing.

I was, however, surprised with a nice treat at the end: a Thai traditional massage performed by my trainer. Yet this is not without its pain. It involves my trainer actually standing on me, as I lay flat on the ground, in order to “relax” my muscles. But I didn’t care. Exhausted and panting as I lay on the sweat-stained and smelly ring floor, I thought, “This is awesome! I really am living out my dreams.” After all, how many people can say they were personally trained by muay thai champions? Maybe I’ll just spend the next year training to be the next Million Dollar Baby in Thailand---hahahha!

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Comments

[Roma]

Ciao bella
hey myra.. Good to see and hear from you. After reading all these wonderful tales, I'm still lost as to what are you doing work wise if anything... no pressure but I thought you were doing some consulting while traveling... anyhow., keep living it up. I miss that part of Thailand and Manila that i knew un baccio

[Donavan]

Kick Ass Muay Thai
Damn Myra, I'm jealous. Yo, hang in there and kick ass for me yo. Damn, I wish I was there with you and going through that. Aaaahhhh! Stick with it, ok. Blessings.

[Aurora]

You made my day Lexie
Opening your travel blog and reading the older ones which I was'nt able to do due to my busy schedule had helped during times like this when I miss you. I had the greatest laugh esp. when you said about becoming the million dollar babe in Bangkok.