round i: muay thai

I saw a pretty good deal for Muay Thai classes a couple of weeks back, since I knew my fiancé had been wanting to try it out for a while, I signed us up.

We had our first class last Saturday.  And wow.   It was tough.

It started off with skipping rope--no issue for me since I've always skipped rope as a child.  I remember learning to skip rope over one summer.  You get so used to skipping rope with friends that when you have to do it yourself, you're like oh okay, I need to be the one to get the rope under my feet and over my head using my wrists.  Teaching yourself how to skip rope takes a lot of awkward jumping and rope manipulation.  Good thing I did it when I was young as I'm not sure how many failed jumps I would commit to as an adult.

It is like riding a bike though, so while I wasn't that great the first few tries, my body just started doing it by itself after it had warmed up.  Endurance is another matter however.

We continued with some stretching--this was the easy part for me because compared to some yoga classes we attend, stretching exercises for muay thai were quite basic.

We did some cardio then it it was time for punches and kicks.

Note that I had NEVER attended a boxing class before, even the cute ones offered at local gyms.  So I had to consciously think about the shoulders--moving with it.  Putting it there with my punch.

The teacher would introduce some variation--adding an elbow, a foot switch, a knee here and there.

After doing it in place a few times, it was time for the bags.  We had to hit the bags in various combinations based on logical sequencing.

In between punches and kicks we were asked to do push ups and sit ups.  The sit ups I can manage.  The push ups--not so.  I would move up and down a range of 3 inches.  I still did my best to complete each set though.

There were a lot of leg raises too, which were tough but still feasible for me.

In the end, I was so tired, but happy that I tried it out.  I even looked forward to next Saturday.

I would have loved more stretching after the class, since my body was so warm from the exercises.

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I woke up sore on Sunday.

I COULD NOT WALK.

My calves were screaming every time I extend my legs.

Every step, my legs said hello.

Some pain in the hip flexors but it was okay, it was familiar as this is targeted by certain yoga poses.

But my calves.  Oh my.

I was not able to go to yoga class.

I am hoping I could go on Tuesday, just to stretch out these muscles.  As much as I want to practice some at home, I think I should listen to my body and stay put.

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Yes.  I am attending this Saturday.

numbers game

I had a blast watching fights last Friday--four hours of muay thai. Of course come Saturday, I wanted to watch some more!

It was so exciting. Unbelievable. Unlike boxing where I end up teary eyed, feeling for the losing contender, muay thai is just thrilling to watch. It is probably because there are shorter matches--five rounds of three minutes each. It is quite action packed that I didn't have time to get too emotional.

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Can I just add that I had discovered that I have a knack for picking the stronger fighter by inspection? As in before the fight begins. I would have made money if I placed bets.

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Why the numbers game?

Well, I looked at the programme for the profiles of the fighters and WOW. The numbers seemed to speak to me.

What do I mean?

At my heaviest, I weighed as much as the heaviest fighter.

At my current weight, I weighed the same as the actors... what we called the fighters who did an exhibition fight, not unlike wrestling to show the different moves that are aimed for by the fighters during matches.

At my lightest, I weighed as little as the lightest fighter.

Isn't that something?

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I'm definitely watching again the next time I fly in!