muay thai & my hate for endurance training
Fair warning: This is three sessions worth of yap, so it might be a little long.
Is it considered impulsive if we've been talking about signing up for Muay Thai classes since senior year in uni, but only did so on a random Thursday night eight months after graduation?
Last Saturday, my friend 🫕 and I attended our first Muay Thai session. Having absolutely no hand-eye coordination and never stepping foot inside a gym before, we did the equally brave, ambitious, and stupid thing of signing up for the entire month's worth of Muay Thai sessions and gym membership.
Before going, my goal leaned more towards weight loss than learning the combat sport. But then we had our first Muay Thai session, and I thought, Hey, this isn't so bad. My mind is too busy thinking about the next move to feel fatigue1. The first session was all about the basic movements and footwork. What actually left an impression was how 3 minutes of jumping rope was what almost killed me.
Later that night, I had the worst body pain AND jaw pain (I have been clenching my jaw every time I exert power) that I had to take a painkiller. I could compare the bodyache to the one I usually get whenever we take the 6-hour hike to my grandpa's cabin in the middle of nowhere when I was a kid.
Two days later, we had our second session. Instead of 3 minutes, Coach made us do 10 minutes of jumping rope and stationary bike. That was the worst day of my life. We focused on punching and kicking techniques, at which point I think Coach realized that our endurance was 6 feet deep in hell. During this session, we had rounds of 3-minute simultaneous jab, straight punch, and jump kick. This was the time I experienced not feeling my limbs at all - like all my muscles just died. I was half pleading for my life and Coach just kept saying, "Concentrate!"
The bodyache after the second session wasn't as bad as the first. I didn't need to take a painkiller, and the muscle pain wasn't that extreme. But the problem was I was having both heat allergy and (probably) tonsillitis. By Wednesday, I caught a fever and could not attend the scheduled session (biggest mistake of my life).
Thursday and Friday, the gym was closed for the Holy Week. My muscle pain was almost nonexistent but I was fighting a mild fever and allergies. I couldn't even sleep with the AC on for two days (and it's dry season in the country!) because then I couldn't breathe through my nose.
We had our third session today, Saturday. Instead of the usual jumping rope and stationary bike warm-up, Coach made us do endurance training instead. Two rounds of 100 knee kicks, 90 jumping jacks, and 80 mountain climbers. Fork that. Jesus Christ, I almost died today. I was seeing spots and even at rest, I felt like my body was too heavy. I'll neber miss two consecutive sessions again, even with a fever2. After multiple pauses3, I finished it. At that point I already wanted to go home.
Afterwards, Coach made 🫕 and I do a light sparring. I don't know if we gave it any justice, but we did two rounds of 3-minute sparring. Weirdly, I felt more tired during the second round than the third. 🫕 was really good with kicks, and all I could do was spam punches. Only after this did Coach actually teach us blocking techniques for kicks and punches. We did some 1-on-1 practice with him, and I think the days of missing sessions made my footwork worse. I was kicking with my toes (I only realized now) which made my kicks awkward. We did more punches and elbow techniques.
Things I've learned after three Muay Thai sessions so far:
- Hit with power; Coach isn't joking around
- Again, Coach isn't joking around. Do not sheepishly laugh to cope with the inability to move your own limbs
- Tighter wraps (elastic cotton, not nylon) around the wrist have a massive effect on your punches
- No random resting and water breaks (I've been called out like twice)
It always feels so satisfying walking out of the gym knowing Coach pushed me beyond my limits, because I certainly would not if left unsupervised. It greatly helped with my mental health and I hate that people who kept saying that were right.
But honestly, I'm so happy that I'm doing this with 🫕. We've been catching up during our walks to and from the gym. We haven't really talked much after graduation and it feels nice to be connecting with a friend again after months of being locked down at home.
Also, regarding weight loss - I lost 1kg this week! I don't know if that's much or not, and I don't want to know. Some calorie-counting app told me that I could be losing 0.5kg per week so I guess that's okay? I haven't started any specific diet yet. I'm taking things easy. Right now I just feel really happy I'm doing mixed martial arts in the first place (can you believe it? Me from a year ago wouldn't) and being as consistent as I can.
I'm writing this after my third session and as I prepare for a scheduled therapy appointment. I think these are evidence that I'm doing so much better than last year.