And so I did Muay Thai…

Just to give a little background, Muay Thai is referred to as "The Art of the Eight Limbs," as the hands, shins, elbows, and knees are all used extensively in this art. A practitioner of Muay Thai ("nak muay") thus has the ability to execute strikes using eight "points of contact," as opposed to "two points" (fists) in Western boxing and "four points" (fists, feet) used in the primarily sport-oriented forms of martial arts. Well that's how Wikipedia says it anyway.

I attended my first session last week without knowing anything about the sport. I arrived 15 or 20 minutes late (guess why) and donned my leggings and shirt ensemble. My first hurdle, I didn't know how to put on my hand wraps properly, much less doing it alone. It's a good thing the trainer offered to show me how. I don't think I was able to memorize the proper steps but I'm sure I'll get it in time.

The class was small, during that time we were only 7, two girls and five guys. I was there with my bestfriend and his wife.

As with any sport, we needed to do proper stretching. I didn't have much trouble catching up. Mostly we worked on flexibility and control. It's a good thing that I did yoga months before because the stretching exercises were a breeze for me. After stretching, since I was the newbie they had to assign a person to teach me one-on-one about the basics of muay thai. The first thing he showed me was the proper fighting stance. I tried to mimic how he looked as best as I could, sans the feeling that I looked ridiculous (which they assured I do not). I had trouble at first because I was so conscious with keeping the form but in the end I got used to it somehow. Next they taught me how to do straight and jab punches. Hooboy, my punches were weak during the first tries but it got stronger as I tried a few more. I also learned how to do left and right hooks and uppercuts. Whoopie! My arms were feeling stronger. Next I tried out some kicks. The kicking exercises were fun except that I was growing a blister on my big toe and I was having a hard time because it hurt a lot. I kicked high for a beginner. Yay!

There was a one-on-one review after the group exercises. I punched and kicked as hard as I could. They told me the trick was to channel my anger to my punches and kicks. Hahaha but it worked!

At the end of the session, my body wasn't surprisingly sore but I felt the effects a day after. It was a new and refreshing experience for me.I'm definitely going to keep this up. Next time I’m going take pics.

Time to buy purple gloves!!!