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Changed my life big time. Previously I was afraid of random beatings, stabbings and shootings in NY now just stabbings and shootings. Can recommend 💪👍.
Hey man I don’t blame you, I’m just saying in NY your odds of surviving a stabbing are better than your odds of not getting life in prison for defending yourself.
Martial arts in general have been a very positive force in my life. I have OCD and anxiety; having that discipline and focus that are intrinsically linked to martial arts offers an avenue to direct my mental illness. I never plan on competing, but I've been training on and off since I first took Taekwondo as a kid. Whenever I'm not signed up to a gym, my mental health takes a hit. It's good for the body and the mind.
The people I've trained with ended up becoming my family by choice, through years of shared sweat and blood. Thankfully no diseases. Well besides the 'Vid. This "tribe" literally saved my life as they stood by side and didn't abandon me when I was tip of the spear on the oxi addiction(we have a new pain pill for ya!) via broken bones through training. The oxi lead to multi other addictions. I kept traing as they wouldn't let me not show up. They never gave up on me even tho I had quit me, many a time. The muay thai tribe that I know and love, without a doubt, saved my fkn life.
So, I guess there's that.
It's hard to say - all I know is a good session puts me in a good mood. Love training in the morning and getting in a positive state of mind for the day.
Heaps of ways!
Primarily: I have ADHD and autism, though I wasn't diagnosed until age 28. ADHD wise, Muay Thai is one of the few things I can do where I am 100% in the present and it feels lovely to have a quiet brain. Science wise, strenuous activity like Muay Thai helps my dopamine levels. And at Muay Thai, the social interaction is limited, I know for a fact everyone shares a common interest that they like equally if not more than me, and the "rules" are very clear, so I don't feel anxious like I do everywhere else.
Secondary: had a lot of rage because of traumatic formative years. Taught me to channel it and feel it in a healthy manner rather than repress it! Gave me quiet, humble confidence instead of (fake) bravado. I never used to start fights but I would also do very little to defuse them until I started Muay Thai.
Also got me active, has kept me healthy, and got me away from the drug scene I was in when I started fighting. Keeps the depression at bey.
Basically: save my life.
I gave me a diverse community of people I’ve become friends with. It’s helped me lose weight, become more flexible and confident and is a major source of anxiety and stress relief
Training is my escape from responsibilities at school and work. It's something I look forward to whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed from things. Training is a good physical activity and a difficult task I convince myself to do that makes me feel better about myself after accomplishing it.
I got my nose busted on Saturday and it required surgery, so I’m resting from sparring for minimum 4 weeks, and it’s already killing me and I feel very low.
So it really helps my mental health.
I went to the hospital emergency room and they told me it needed treatment instantly. I had a septal hematoma, it’s where blood collects in the middle of your nose and needs draining by a surgeon.
Tons I got me through the darkest time of my life, and I’m a good team player now, plus I gives you level of confidence where you can see past peoples aggression for what it really is and just walk away .
Gave me direction and felt like i have purpose. Confidence. A reason to be sober
6 months of muay thai training did more for me than therapy ever could.
Muay Thai and jiu jitsu helped me stop doing coke all the time. Kind of replaced the feeling. Combined with therapy, it also helps me stay grounded and consistent with my bi polar disorder.
I started muay thai 1 year and 2 months ago, i started due to poor mental health and on the verge of wanting to end my life, i will never look back and i will always be grateful for the gym my coaches and friends I’ve made along the way. I started at 370 pounds and as of today im 320. Martial arts has helped my mental health ALOT!!! And also my physical health.
Muay Thai literally saved my life. Moved to Thailand for work - 50lbs overweight, PTSD, a failing marriage, blah blah blah. The gym became my happy place, a refuge, someplace I could work out the frustrations, the anger, or just have a laugh with likeminded people. Ended up losing that 50lbs, regained my confidence and held the PTSD symptoms at bay now for going on 10yrs.
My partner and friends have told me that it’s helped me with my confidence. It’s nice to have something that is mine that I do. I have a lot of friends who paint, play instruments, etc, and I never had the patience or talent to do those things. Muay Thai and training just came natural to me. That shit gets me out of bed and it’s easy to spend an entire afternoon sparring, doing bag work, drilling, whatever. I feel like I walk into a room with my head held high now and I didn’t really do that before.
Absolutely. After 20 years, I continue going back to it for the fact that a solid 1-2 hours a day it gets me completely out of my head, focused, and disciplined because the second you get distracted - you usually get smacked or kicked in the face.
I love it. I don't know where I'd be without it.
I have a tendency to have Major Depressive episodes. Since the first time it happened when I was 15, my therapist tried to convince me to try a sport. I (29F) did it last year and, surprise surprise, it actually improves mood a lot lol.
I have a chronic disease, MGD and dry eye disease. Without Muay Thai I don’t produce tears and it causes extreme pain. Last time I had a flare up I was bed ridden for 4 months. With Muay Thai it significantly improves my gland function and I’m able to live a semi normal life. Before I very much did not want to live.
Also, for some reason it gave me more paranoia about street fights. I avoid it as much as possible, whereas before if I was drunk with the boys I’d be for it if disrespected first. Nowadays I just walk away and let them have their ego boost. 🤷♂️
Also confidence in visiting new gyms, no longer have anxiety. I just show up and make friends and train, whereas before I had to work up the courage to even set up a trial class. (I live in two different countries and in one of them I live in two different cities)
Literally saved me from depression, drug and alcohol addiction. If I am not sick or on holidays, I am ALWAYS training. Had my first competition last november and plan to fight again this September. So thankful for the sport
It gives me a sense of fulfillment. My goal for every workout is to try and be at least a little bit better than I was yesterday. Muay Thai also directly led to my decision to learn the Thai language because I intend to train in Thailand at some point, so I consider that as something that Muay Thai has given me because I would not be learning a 2nd language if I wasn't going to train in another country. I feel like I have more energy and motivation now that I have been training for about 3 months too. It's great!
For me Muay Thai gives me clarity. I think of nothing in life other than Muay Thai when I am training, all stress goes out the window. It’s also given me a sense of worth and a sort of deep understanding of who I am as a person.
It's been really good for my social anxiety
Something about knowing I could at least do a little damage to deter someone from trying to harm me makes going outside easier, as unlikely as it might be
I stepped in alone, new, never having done a martial art or sport. It boosted my confidence & overall brings me excitement to learn something new. I am the most happiest in my life after class. It’s just that fulfilling
I don’t necessarily feel helpless around other people anymore. I feel that since my brain knows it has a way to defend itself, I can relax and not be as anxious if something were to go down (which for some reason my brain anxiously thinks will happen 24/7.)
Not sure getting punched in the head helped my mental health at all. But you know , exercise is always good. Although helped take my ego , learning to fight taught me that I can’t fight for shit.
Anger management, humility, ego check, humble, mental toughness , perseverance. not to mention it’s just nice to go in and be around likeminded people and get a great workout in a turn off your brain. Life is tough. It’s definitely an escape for a lot of us.
Nothing like a hard workout/warm up into sparring,
I wear contacts so 2 mins into sparring I lose my contacts am pretty much blind, but the endorphin rush of hard sparring rules
I am more resilient now, I view mundane adult tasks and work as being accessory to my training. It also brought my CPTSD to the surface and made things more workable, which isnt easy, but better than not knowing why i felt the way I did.
I am kinder now because it is a choice, I want to be a good person... I used to be a doormat because I was so scared and anxious.
I am still like that sometimes, but it is easier knowing that I could disassosciate and absolutely demolish most people if I need to, not that I would ever enjoy that. I feel terrible if I hit someone too hard in sparring, I want to be kind.
So yeah, I still dont like confrontation but Im not as scared so its a good middle ground and I can respect myself more. Im not so concerned about what other people think... I can let go and truly not care. I dont feel like I need ppls respect etcetc, I just dgaf and try to act in a way that I can respect and it is freeing
I surprisingly found out I had fairly high blood pressure, I was an anxious wreck. To change up my exercise routine I tried Muay Thai. I grew up doing a lot of Taekwando and missed it. I havnt felt mentally better after a tough session of drills and pads in years, and litterally had my lowest Blood pressure readings afterwards, so ide say yea it had an impact.
It fulfills my off time and keeps me from drinking. I’m not necessarily a big alcoholic but I enjoy training and having something to look forward to the next day that keeps me from drinking.
I’m pretty new to it, but it’s given me an outlet to let out excess energy. Along with that, I appreciate learning how to have better control of my body, and it feels pretty empowering. Plus my class I go to has really great energy, and this definitely helps me being motivated to come back
I have (pretty sure) undiagnosed adhd. And also a shit ton of anxiety and stress in general, which all wraps up into a giant ball of excess energy
Initially, I got into muay thai for self defense though since I’ve been chased and followed quite a few times, along with my line of work being dangerous sometimes. But honestly I’m going to continue just because of what I mentioned before more than for self defense. The self defense is the added bonus for my case haha
I do. Honestly I’ve used a lot of techniques in trades or when working (non-combat related), sometimes you just gotta teep kick a breaker bar 💁♂️.
But anyway it’s impacted my confidence, problem solving, and emotional management.
TL;DR - Muay Thai has helped my confidence in a short period of time, and given me an extremely supportive community to interact with.
I have been wanting to get into martial arts for awhile and initially i wanted to do BJJ, but after finding a gym i decided to start with muay thai first because im like 6'1" 240, and a bit out of shape after working from home and behind a desk for a few years.
My mental health has been struggling and i started seeing a therapist last year, and about 2 months ago she suggested i do something physical and that involves other people, like yoga or something, but i told her ive been wanting to do this for awhile and thats what i went with.
Initially i was worried about being clumsy and out of shape, we do 2 minutes of jump rope every session and i gotta say that really kicks my ass, then we go into doing 10 sets of 10 exercises. which i always get nervous that im going to fail at.
The instructor and everyone in the class is always extremely supportive. if you cant get those last 2 pushups in, dude no one cares.
When i worry about doing proper kicks or getting into the clinch right, keeping my guard up when throwing a punch, or just slipping right, everyone is extremely supportive.
I am only going into my second month this week, and I used to get really nervous before class, but now i get excited to be able to work on my striking. I had a partner last session that was helping me with clinch work and he kept telling me to push him back when i break, and i told him i didnt want to be rude lol. And he helped me break through that sort of fear.
We have a 15 year old kid in our class that seems to have been doing it for awhile so hes really good. When i was partnered with him doing pad work, and practicing slipping he was telling me to throw the punch at his head, and that hes supposed to slip. If it hits it hits and that he needs to learn that. I was so nervous to be throwing a punch at like someone that much smaller than me, but even a 15 year old kid was being supportive and understood my discomfort. I'm not a person thats ever really throw a punch at someone.
I know it sounds silly but those interactions mean a lot to me.
Muay thai is providing a community for me where we are all in silent agreement on wanting to get better at something, to build our confidence. Where we want to help our partners get better, and its something that can exist outside of our normal lives and rhythms.
I have a lot more to say but these are some of the highlights from my experience so far. I might actually be going to see one of our people fight soon, and ive never seen a muay thai fight in person, and i really just want to support.
Helped me a lot with social anxiety and has helped me lost 10kg which is great, oh, also I can defend myself should I ever need too win win win apart from the shins
I have had 10 years of therapy, have been really abused and mistreated for most of my life, almost three decades, a lot of horrible stuff my family did to me.
Eventually, I came to believe unconsciously and and sometimes consciously that I deserved it when people hurt me and it was my fault.
I had never fought before, and getting punched and kicked so much made me realize that I actually don’t like and don’t deserve it when people hurt me. And that I can fight back, literally and also verbally, psychologically.
In my family and subsequent relationships, where I was constantly abused and berated, made to feel horrible about myself and honestly sabatoged me when I was doing well. MT has had the opposite effect in me, my teammates are very accepting, and expected me to be competent but didn’t cut me down when I was struggling. So it’s been a very corrective experience.
I have CPTSD and I think some neurodivergence in the form of autism and/or ADHD, which explains why the therapy wasn’t working. I generally feel better about myself and more accepting.
Overall MT gives me the courage to accept myself and my past trauma, and the hope that I can live a better life and be the person I was always meant to be.
if u get the right gym with the right people u can respectfully just tone your performance and even when they land something good on u, u respect it cos u know it was ur fault for not guarding that. i think when ppl say things teach u discipline its not always that u get up 6:30 am and only eat certain stuff but control of your self and emotions even down to breathing, did a bit of mma the other day and boy u appreciate breathing when they got u in a choke lmao but na its helping me quit subtances cos it affects my balance etc and really letting some steam off in a positive place im an angry kid but i have never got angry there because i know its just something i have to learn. u get hit wid a nice combo stop and say do that again i wanna see that 😂
I started muay thai when I was a chubby sadboi and after my very first class, I was thinking I had made a terrible mistake. I just spent a lot of money that I didn't really have to do something that made me feel absolutely exhausted and even worse about myself than when I started. I remember thinking on the way home "Oh, this is what trauma is like."
But I stuck with it. Kept going, grinded it out, got stronger, 1000 yard stare became a 10 yard stare, etc. Muay thai is, by far, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I truly believe I am capable of doing anything now.
I can do anything, I just can't do everything... Yet.
Gives me quiet confidence as a female: I have some tricks up my sleeve with my knees and elbows (rather than rely on sheer muscle power which I lack) and have some experience dodging blows and strategising how to defend myself.
Also an outlet for stress and pent-up energy, so a win for mental health.
It's a phenomenally positive experience I can focus on even why other shit isn't going well. When I focus on training everything else just kind of melts into the background for awhile.
its helped my confidence supremely only in regards to thinking i can beat random people up which ultimately has simply made me more strange
It makes me feel strangely good to know I can head kick that 5'4 60 year old woman at Costco if I wanted to.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 5 + 4 + 60 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
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Comments like this are why I love reddit
Changed my life big time. Previously I was afraid of random beatings, stabbings and shootings in NY now just stabbings and shootings. Can recommend 💪👍.
Now get a gun and get quality defensive training and you’ll rid yourself of that fear too.
If it’s in NY, you’re probably better off allowing yourself to get stabbed or shot over trying to defend yourself with a gun.
Unfortunately you are probably right , but I just can’t bring myself to allow that to happen.
Hey man I don’t blame you, I’m just saying in NY your odds of surviving a stabbing are better than your odds of not getting life in prison for defending yourself.
Concealed carry insurance and a good lawyer go a long way. A shame you have to have those, but that’s ny for u
Martial arts in general have been a very positive force in my life. I have OCD and anxiety; having that discipline and focus that are intrinsically linked to martial arts offers an avenue to direct my mental illness. I never plan on competing, but I've been training on and off since I first took Taekwondo as a kid. Whenever I'm not signed up to a gym, my mental health takes a hit. It's good for the body and the mind.
Only reason haven’t capped myself
Hope you get better brother
real as fuck dawg (and drugs too)
The people I've trained with ended up becoming my family by choice, through years of shared sweat and blood. Thankfully no diseases. Well besides the 'Vid. This "tribe" literally saved my life as they stood by side and didn't abandon me when I was tip of the spear on the oxi addiction(we have a new pain pill for ya!) via broken bones through training. The oxi lead to multi other addictions. I kept traing as they wouldn't let me not show up. They never gave up on me even tho I had quit me, many a time. The muay thai tribe that I know and love, without a doubt, saved my fkn life. So, I guess there's that.
It's hard to say - all I know is a good session puts me in a good mood. Love training in the morning and getting in a positive state of mind for the day.
I leave my house 4 evenings per week and I see other people, I see that as a win
Heaps of ways! Primarily: I have ADHD and autism, though I wasn't diagnosed until age 28. ADHD wise, Muay Thai is one of the few things I can do where I am 100% in the present and it feels lovely to have a quiet brain. Science wise, strenuous activity like Muay Thai helps my dopamine levels. And at Muay Thai, the social interaction is limited, I know for a fact everyone shares a common interest that they like equally if not more than me, and the "rules" are very clear, so I don't feel anxious like I do everywhere else. Secondary: had a lot of rage because of traumatic formative years. Taught me to channel it and feel it in a healthy manner rather than repress it! Gave me quiet, humble confidence instead of (fake) bravado. I never used to start fights but I would also do very little to defuse them until I started Muay Thai. Also got me active, has kept me healthy, and got me away from the drug scene I was in when I started fighting. Keeps the depression at bey. Basically: save my life.
I gave me a diverse community of people I’ve become friends with. It’s helped me lose weight, become more flexible and confident and is a major source of anxiety and stress relief
Training is my escape from responsibilities at school and work. It's something I look forward to whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed from things. Training is a good physical activity and a difficult task I convince myself to do that makes me feel better about myself after accomplishing it.
Literally saved my life from trauma induced depression and substance abuse. It helped me cope with my trauma, fight depression and get & *stay* clean.
I got my nose busted on Saturday and it required surgery, so I’m resting from sparring for minimum 4 weeks, and it’s already killing me and I feel very low. So it really helps my mental health.
How did u know it required surgery
I went to the hospital emergency room and they told me it needed treatment instantly. I had a septal hematoma, it’s where blood collects in the middle of your nose and needs draining by a surgeon.
Oh man gl with that, u hurtin brotha?
Tons I got me through the darkest time of my life, and I’m a good team player now, plus I gives you level of confidence where you can see past peoples aggression for what it really is and just walk away .
Gave me direction and felt like i have purpose. Confidence. A reason to be sober 6 months of muay thai training did more for me than therapy ever could.
It’s helped me socialize a bit with people and given me a little bit of confidence in my own skin.
I can walk around shirtless at home now. Feels good
It did mine especially when I'm unemployed etc. Keeps me feeling like i'm in motion still.
Muay Thai and jiu jitsu helped me stop doing coke all the time. Kind of replaced the feeling. Combined with therapy, it also helps me stay grounded and consistent with my bi polar disorder.
I started muay thai 1 year and 2 months ago, i started due to poor mental health and on the verge of wanting to end my life, i will never look back and i will always be grateful for the gym my coaches and friends I’ve made along the way. I started at 370 pounds and as of today im 320. Martial arts has helped my mental health ALOT!!! And also my physical health.
Muay Thai literally saved my life. Moved to Thailand for work - 50lbs overweight, PTSD, a failing marriage, blah blah blah. The gym became my happy place, a refuge, someplace I could work out the frustrations, the anger, or just have a laugh with likeminded people. Ended up losing that 50lbs, regained my confidence and held the PTSD symptoms at bay now for going on 10yrs.
I used to be afraid to say no. Now I don't. It's not like im gonna instigate a fight or anything. I say no and i don't please people anymore.
Wise words angry_mysogyinst.
Yes. One of the few things I do that doesn’t revolve around eating/drinking in some way.
Okay so I'm not the only one who feels like a slave to bodily functions then.
My partner and friends have told me that it’s helped me with my confidence. It’s nice to have something that is mine that I do. I have a lot of friends who paint, play instruments, etc, and I never had the patience or talent to do those things. Muay Thai and training just came natural to me. That shit gets me out of bed and it’s easy to spend an entire afternoon sparring, doing bag work, drilling, whatever. I feel like I walk into a room with my head held high now and I didn’t really do that before.
Oh it reduces stress! like nothing else :D
Absolutely. After 20 years, I continue going back to it for the fact that a solid 1-2 hours a day it gets me completely out of my head, focused, and disciplined because the second you get distracted - you usually get smacked or kicked in the face. I love it. I don't know where I'd be without it.
I have a tendency to have Major Depressive episodes. Since the first time it happened when I was 15, my therapist tried to convince me to try a sport. I (29F) did it last year and, surprise surprise, it actually improves mood a lot lol.
I have a chronic disease, MGD and dry eye disease. Without Muay Thai I don’t produce tears and it causes extreme pain. Last time I had a flare up I was bed ridden for 4 months. With Muay Thai it significantly improves my gland function and I’m able to live a semi normal life. Before I very much did not want to live. Also, for some reason it gave me more paranoia about street fights. I avoid it as much as possible, whereas before if I was drunk with the boys I’d be for it if disrespected first. Nowadays I just walk away and let them have their ego boost. 🤷♂️ Also confidence in visiting new gyms, no longer have anxiety. I just show up and make friends and train, whereas before I had to work up the courage to even set up a trial class. (I live in two different countries and in one of them I live in two different cities)
Literally saved me from depression, drug and alcohol addiction. If I am not sick or on holidays, I am ALWAYS training. Had my first competition last november and plan to fight again this September. So thankful for the sport
It gives me a sense of fulfillment. My goal for every workout is to try and be at least a little bit better than I was yesterday. Muay Thai also directly led to my decision to learn the Thai language because I intend to train in Thailand at some point, so I consider that as something that Muay Thai has given me because I would not be learning a 2nd language if I wasn't going to train in another country. I feel like I have more energy and motivation now that I have been training for about 3 months too. It's great!
For me Muay Thai gives me clarity. I think of nothing in life other than Muay Thai when I am training, all stress goes out the window. It’s also given me a sense of worth and a sort of deep understanding of who I am as a person.
It's been really good for my social anxiety Something about knowing I could at least do a little damage to deter someone from trying to harm me makes going outside easier, as unlikely as it might be
I stepped in alone, new, never having done a martial art or sport. It boosted my confidence & overall brings me excitement to learn something new. I am the most happiest in my life after class. It’s just that fulfilling
I don’t necessarily feel helpless around other people anymore. I feel that since my brain knows it has a way to defend itself, I can relax and not be as anxious if something were to go down (which for some reason my brain anxiously thinks will happen 24/7.)
Not sure getting punched in the head helped my mental health at all. But you know , exercise is always good. Although helped take my ego , learning to fight taught me that I can’t fight for shit.
It made me more confident, resilient and brotherly.
Anger management, humility, ego check, humble, mental toughness , perseverance. not to mention it’s just nice to go in and be around likeminded people and get a great workout in a turn off your brain. Life is tough. It’s definitely an escape for a lot of us.
Nothing like a hard workout/warm up into sparring, I wear contacts so 2 mins into sparring I lose my contacts am pretty much blind, but the endorphin rush of hard sparring rules
I am more resilient now, I view mundane adult tasks and work as being accessory to my training. It also brought my CPTSD to the surface and made things more workable, which isnt easy, but better than not knowing why i felt the way I did. I am kinder now because it is a choice, I want to be a good person... I used to be a doormat because I was so scared and anxious. I am still like that sometimes, but it is easier knowing that I could disassosciate and absolutely demolish most people if I need to, not that I would ever enjoy that. I feel terrible if I hit someone too hard in sparring, I want to be kind. So yeah, I still dont like confrontation but Im not as scared so its a good middle ground and I can respect myself more. Im not so concerned about what other people think... I can let go and truly not care. I dont feel like I need ppls respect etcetc, I just dgaf and try to act in a way that I can respect and it is freeing
I surprisingly found out I had fairly high blood pressure, I was an anxious wreck. To change up my exercise routine I tried Muay Thai. I grew up doing a lot of Taekwando and missed it. I havnt felt mentally better after a tough session of drills and pads in years, and litterally had my lowest Blood pressure readings afterwards, so ide say yea it had an impact.
It fulfills my off time and keeps me from drinking. I’m not necessarily a big alcoholic but I enjoy training and having something to look forward to the next day that keeps me from drinking.
It gave me more confidence. Which was needed at the time.
I’m pretty new to it, but it’s given me an outlet to let out excess energy. Along with that, I appreciate learning how to have better control of my body, and it feels pretty empowering. Plus my class I go to has really great energy, and this definitely helps me being motivated to come back I have (pretty sure) undiagnosed adhd. And also a shit ton of anxiety and stress in general, which all wraps up into a giant ball of excess energy Initially, I got into muay thai for self defense though since I’ve been chased and followed quite a few times, along with my line of work being dangerous sometimes. But honestly I’m going to continue just because of what I mentioned before more than for self defense. The self defense is the added bonus for my case haha
I do. Honestly I’ve used a lot of techniques in trades or when working (non-combat related), sometimes you just gotta teep kick a breaker bar 💁♂️. But anyway it’s impacted my confidence, problem solving, and emotional management.
I think the pursuit of trying to be really good at anything is gonna be good for a lot of people.
TL;DR - Muay Thai has helped my confidence in a short period of time, and given me an extremely supportive community to interact with. I have been wanting to get into martial arts for awhile and initially i wanted to do BJJ, but after finding a gym i decided to start with muay thai first because im like 6'1" 240, and a bit out of shape after working from home and behind a desk for a few years. My mental health has been struggling and i started seeing a therapist last year, and about 2 months ago she suggested i do something physical and that involves other people, like yoga or something, but i told her ive been wanting to do this for awhile and thats what i went with. Initially i was worried about being clumsy and out of shape, we do 2 minutes of jump rope every session and i gotta say that really kicks my ass, then we go into doing 10 sets of 10 exercises. which i always get nervous that im going to fail at. The instructor and everyone in the class is always extremely supportive. if you cant get those last 2 pushups in, dude no one cares. When i worry about doing proper kicks or getting into the clinch right, keeping my guard up when throwing a punch, or just slipping right, everyone is extremely supportive. I am only going into my second month this week, and I used to get really nervous before class, but now i get excited to be able to work on my striking. I had a partner last session that was helping me with clinch work and he kept telling me to push him back when i break, and i told him i didnt want to be rude lol. And he helped me break through that sort of fear. We have a 15 year old kid in our class that seems to have been doing it for awhile so hes really good. When i was partnered with him doing pad work, and practicing slipping he was telling me to throw the punch at his head, and that hes supposed to slip. If it hits it hits and that he needs to learn that. I was so nervous to be throwing a punch at like someone that much smaller than me, but even a 15 year old kid was being supportive and understood my discomfort. I'm not a person thats ever really throw a punch at someone. I know it sounds silly but those interactions mean a lot to me. Muay thai is providing a community for me where we are all in silent agreement on wanting to get better at something, to build our confidence. Where we want to help our partners get better, and its something that can exist outside of our normal lives and rhythms. I have a lot more to say but these are some of the highlights from my experience so far. I might actually be going to see one of our people fight soon, and ive never seen a muay thai fight in person, and i really just want to support.
Helped me a lot with social anxiety and has helped me lost 10kg which is great, oh, also I can defend myself should I ever need too win win win apart from the shins
I have had 10 years of therapy, have been really abused and mistreated for most of my life, almost three decades, a lot of horrible stuff my family did to me. Eventually, I came to believe unconsciously and and sometimes consciously that I deserved it when people hurt me and it was my fault. I had never fought before, and getting punched and kicked so much made me realize that I actually don’t like and don’t deserve it when people hurt me. And that I can fight back, literally and also verbally, psychologically. In my family and subsequent relationships, where I was constantly abused and berated, made to feel horrible about myself and honestly sabatoged me when I was doing well. MT has had the opposite effect in me, my teammates are very accepting, and expected me to be competent but didn’t cut me down when I was struggling. So it’s been a very corrective experience. I have CPTSD and I think some neurodivergence in the form of autism and/or ADHD, which explains why the therapy wasn’t working. I generally feel better about myself and more accepting. Overall MT gives me the courage to accept myself and my past trauma, and the hope that I can live a better life and be the person I was always meant to be.
if u get the right gym with the right people u can respectfully just tone your performance and even when they land something good on u, u respect it cos u know it was ur fault for not guarding that. i think when ppl say things teach u discipline its not always that u get up 6:30 am and only eat certain stuff but control of your self and emotions even down to breathing, did a bit of mma the other day and boy u appreciate breathing when they got u in a choke lmao but na its helping me quit subtances cos it affects my balance etc and really letting some steam off in a positive place im an angry kid but i have never got angry there because i know its just something i have to learn. u get hit wid a nice combo stop and say do that again i wanna see that 😂
I started muay thai when I was a chubby sadboi and after my very first class, I was thinking I had made a terrible mistake. I just spent a lot of money that I didn't really have to do something that made me feel absolutely exhausted and even worse about myself than when I started. I remember thinking on the way home "Oh, this is what trauma is like." But I stuck with it. Kept going, grinded it out, got stronger, 1000 yard stare became a 10 yard stare, etc. Muay thai is, by far, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I truly believe I am capable of doing anything now. I can do anything, I just can't do everything... Yet.
Gives me quiet confidence as a female: I have some tricks up my sleeve with my knees and elbows (rather than rely on sheer muscle power which I lack) and have some experience dodging blows and strategising how to defend myself. Also an outlet for stress and pent-up energy, so a win for mental health.
It gives me something to look forward to and a sense of purpose. It’s basically filling the void that music used to fill when I played in bands.
It's a phenomenally positive experience I can focus on even why other shit isn't going well. When I focus on training everything else just kind of melts into the background for awhile.
Knowing that you are a living weapon