Here’s how this writer found peace by doing Muay Thai

At first glance, MMA may come across as daunting and violent for some women out there — me included.

Going to the gym for your first Muay Thai class may imbue a sense of fear and anxiety, for obvious reasons. One of the most common problems: you’re one of the few women in the gym that’s filled with testosterone. I feel you.

And though I’ve overcome my fear of gymming in a room full of bros who look like they know what they’re doing, there’s something about Muay Thai that just gets me on edge.

However, I decided to spice up my workout routine and gave martial arts a go by signing up for a Muay Thai class at Evolve MMA. Here’s how it went.

What is MMA?

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Before diving into how my experience went at my first Muay Thai class, here’s an overview of MMA. For starters, MMA is a full-contact combat sport that incorporates a number of different kicks, from Thai-style round kicks to various Karate kicks (spin kicks, side kicks, etc).

It typically involves a few different types of combat arts: Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Judo, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

More specifically, for Muay Thai, it’s a sport that scores heavily on kicks. Hence, it emphasises strongly on attacking your opponent with kicks, knees and striking. It’s a complete martial art in its own right with a long history of development of techniques.

In this day, the sport has been considered an indispensable part of MMA and has grown in demand outside of Thailand — the land where it originated from.

Over at Evolve MMA, beginners are taught the basics and proper techniques of Muay Thai, while advanced students focus more on advancing their techniques to the next level. Since I had little to no experience of any form of martial arts, I took up the beginners class.

Benefits of MMA

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Even if you do not have any experience in martial arts, like me, it’s a great sport to pick up. Some key benefits of MMA are:

• Burn up to 1,000 calories an hour
• Strengthen and tone your whole body
• Pick up self-defense moves
• Build confidence and courage
• Develop mental strength, discipline and focus

My experience

My first class was held at Evolve MMA’s flagship outlet at Far East Square. At first, I imagined myself feeling overwhelmed — it’s their biggest outlet which meant more students and more pressure.

Besides, having known MMA as a male-dominated sport, I could only imagine a gym filled with sweaty men engrossed in punching, kicking and flipping one another over upon entering the gym. However, it was anything but.

After checking into the gym (read: Covid-19), I was warmly welcomed by the staff over at the reception. Then, I took a tour around the gym while waiting for my lesson to begin.

All I can say is, the space is HUGE. They are different training areas for various combat sports, equipped with medicine balls, wave ropes, kettlebells, TRX, and heavy bags. But, more notably, I noticed that there were a lot of women at the gym too — which made me feel more at ease.

I was then brought to one of the full-sized rings for my one-on-one Muay Thai class with instructor Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke, otherwise known by his moniker, Fierce Eyes. (And I could see why he was given the name.)

The coach

Dejdamrong was a force to be reckoned with. An award-winning MMA Champion, he’s earned the title of many competitions in his days, including ONE Strawweight World Champion and a 3x Lumpinee Muay Thai World Champion with a professional Muay Thai record of 282-65, just a few to name.

He’s been in the game for 25 years and counting, and I couldn’t be more honoured to learn the art of Muay Thai from him.

Getting into the basics

Before we got into the basics, we started the 30-minute class with a full-body stretch — from the neck, to the arms and the legs.

Shortly after, Dejdamrong taught me some of the basics of Muay Thai. Think — jabs, crosses, uppercuts, knees and kicks. It was all to get me into the groove of things. He was really patient, considering I had no clue about Muay Thai prior to this.

After a few rounds of practice, I was given a pair of gloves to protect my hands from the impact of the blows. It was definitely tiring, as I was panting by the 20-minute mark. But I also felt surprisingly felt good.

I threw a few punches and kicks, and went through different drills to learn how to block and defend myself from any opponent if I were to engage in a fight. We then rounded up the session with some strength moves such as sit-ups and push-ups to end the day with.

Overall verdict

All things considered, I would say Muay Thai is an underrated sport many women will love.

Once you overcome the fear of engaging in combat sports, you’ll find that the sport itself is engaging and enlightening – it equips you with self-defense skills and relieves stress even after a short 30-minute session.

In fact, the 30 minutes passed by pretty slowly for me because I was already exhausted midway through the class. I can definitely understand how one can burn up to 1,000 calories in an hour.

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After going through one Muay Thai class, it doesn’t feel as intimidating as I initially thought.

The instructor was really friendly and patient, and he was able to guide me through the steps and techniques in mastering the basics of Muay Thai.

And in case you associate Muay Thai with feelings of frustration or anger, let me tell you that it’s actually quite the opposite.

After my class, I felt calmer and more at peace with my body, mind and soul. It was a constructive outlet to vent my frustrations, too.

In short, I really enjoyed my first Muay Thai class, so much that I can see myself going back for more classes and convincing my friends to tag along to learn more about Muay Thai or even the other combat sports.

This article was first published in Her World Online.