Drenched in sweat and more sweat trickling from my head along my face, I was bent with my padded elbows in front, trying to protect my belly and ribs. He was in front of me with his hands at the back of my head, shoving my head down to meet his fast rising right knee. This brilliant idea struck me. Wanna go to Phuket in Thailand on a 3 month break to learn Muay Thai. Yes, I want to go for an intensive Muay Thai camp in Thailand. Thud, his heavy knee smashed my padded elbows, sending out a puff of air through my mouth.
It’s been 10 weeks since I started Muay Thai – the art of eight limbs (Thai KickBoxing). Started out as a junk time pass. But the whole training soon turned out to be very close to my beliefs. The training place is a garage which was leased out by a boxer. Anyone passionate about Kickboxing of boxing is free to come in and train. The training is almost free with just a nominal charge to cover the rent. Patrick, the trainer is an international level ex-fighter. He trains Muay Thai because it’s his passion and does not expect anything from you. You are not obligated to go every day. But if you wanna learn, you’ll be there.
Everything in Muay Thai is logical and simple. That is very important to me. Tried learning Karate earlier, but its so much orthodox and theoretical, that it takes almost 4 months just getting your body movements and motions right. Gave up after 2 weeks, because it did not make sense. In Muay Thai, my first class itself involved getting my kicks right and logical stuff to defend myself. I peppered him with questions about every move, defense for every move and he had a logical explanation ready. Hahahaa..as usual, a logical reason always satisfies me.
So the interest is rising by the day. Long way ahead. Was holding pads for a senior guy last week. Each kick was like a bomb delivered crashing into the rib cage. Thanks to the extra cushion pads that I was holding, I was alive at the end of the session. Need to reach his level, according to Patrick, could take me another 6 months or so.
About the Muay Thai scene in Thailand, Muay Thai is their road to money or career. You join a training camp, which is far away from the city and then you live and breathe Muay Thai. Get up at 4:30 in the morning, train for 10 hours with breaks in between. Six days a week with one off day. In 3 months , you’ll develop your body into a lean mean kicking machine. These training camps charge very very nominally and then you factor in the currency conversion.
Patrick said that a 3 month intensive camp would be enough to condition you and ingrain all the movements into your muscle memory. Been trying to figure out ways of how I could squeeze this 3 month time in the next one and a half year before my MBA. I wanna do this even before I apply for my MBA, so that I could brag about it a little in my application.
Its not that I am very aggressive and wanna pickup a fight everytime, but for the silent confidence it gives me in myself, both mentally and physically. Young years are crucial, wanna do it soon.
Like the line in the song I was listening this morning,
“ But right now, I wanna be all I can be….!!!!”
Kudos brother!!!