Learning To Fight

I am a big advocate for fighting for your dreams and making your goals come true while you have the life to do so. But, this title is not metaphorical. If you’ve been following along on my life outside the maze, you know that learning to fight is on my list of adventures and has been a part of a daily routine that has made me happy to get up each morning for the past 6 months.

The Karate Kid

When I was super little, every martial art was lumped together under the banner of “karate” and it was portrayed in movies like some super power where ancient wisdom of the east gave you the ability to break bricks, kill people with one finger, and defeat a room full of faceless ninjas.  “The Karate Kid” became a fighting machine with the help of the crane kick and a 4 foot tall 200 year old Mr Miyagi.  Jean Claude Van Damme learned how to fight with his eyes closed and underwater from a silent old monk in “Kickboxer.”  Today, these are slightly more enlightened times in which we live and the world of MMA has really winnowed down the hype and zeroed in on what actually works in hand to hand fighting.  The general trend seems to be to learn good striking technique for when you are on your feet and learn a take down and ground technique for when you are not.  Big trends for winners recently have been Muay Thai for striking and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu for take downs and grappling.  Since I have always wanted to learn how to fight, I tried both of these and decided to start with Muay Thai.  It looks cooler and there is less grabbing of other very sweaty dudes.

Why Learn To Fight?

This is a good question.  Violence is generally stupid and dangerous.  However, ever since I was little I wanted to know how to defend myself in case I had to or in case someone needed saving.  Maybe I watched too many of those old movies.  I have been in some sketchy situations in my life and most of the time there is a route to de-escalation or an escape from fighting but what if there is not?  I also, do quite a bit of cardio but I hate lifting weights and figured that fighting might be a good core workout.  

Getting Beat Up

I used to laugh at Yoga until I tried it.  Similarly, kickboxing had me collapsing to the mat on the first day.  I learned that my fighting stance had been backwards for 30 years, I didn’t know anything, and everything you see in the movies is pretty much wrong.  At first I bruised my knees, shins and elbows just trying to hit a stationary bag:

I learned how fragile we all are when it comes to getting hit.  Even my coach who just qualified for the Olympic team snapped his achilles a couple weeks later by just stepping into a crack in the floor mats wrong while sparring.  Imagine, he has taken thousands of kicks and punches to get here and then gets taken down by some squishy foam.  Life is not fair sometimes.

In time, I found that I liked kickboxing.  It proved to be super motivating and a great stress reliever to pound on a bag.  After a couple of months I earned my white shirt to which my brother proudly replied “don’t they just give you that one for signing up?”  Later I earned my yellow shirt which allowed me to join actual Muay Thai classes instead of just kickboxing.  Muay Thai also known as the art of 8 limbs (I just wanted to say that) is like kickboxing but with sparring pads and partners instead of a bag that doesn’t move or hit back.  When I showed up for my first Muay Thai class it turned out to be the advanced class.  My instructor gently reminded the class that Muay Thai requires paying respect to the tradition of the sport by wearing traditional shorts and rank shirt as I stood there the only guy wearing basketball shorts and a pink t-shirt with palm trees on it.

I quickly got myself some traditional Muay Thai shorts which are actually pretty flashy.  

I guess this makes sense because if you’ve ever been to Thailand, you know that they like things flashy:

It has now been just over 6 months since I started and I am starting to get this a bit:

I am also getting used to washing and rolling hand wraps which is like putting a bunch of ropes into your washing machine that have velcro on the ends and hoping that they don’t tangle.  Each 12 foot wrap then has to be flattened and rolled:

Learning how to fight is something on my list of adventures and this one has been really fun so far.  I love the workout, I know a few things to protect myself in a pinch, and I have perhaps the best balance and flexibility that I’ve ever had. I am certainly still a total amateur and don’t know yet how far I will take it but I do know that I am happy to have taken it this far and grateful for the opportunity.