User:Usanexve1970

Muay Thai

So this is sort of about Muay Thai. But it's more about Bryant Santowski, and the importance of finding the right personal trainer.

Bryant, who teaches Muay Thai at Muay Thai Camp has taught Muay Thai for about four years. Muay Thai is great fun. It's sort of like a collection of mean bar-fight moves (there are a lot of elbows and knees flying around in Muay Thai). But it still emphasizes a lot of control and strength. It's the national sport of Thailand. So, make a note: Don't bar fight in Thailand.

One of our first lessons was "No farm-boy haymakers." That is no big, frantic right hooks. They're sloppy, slow, and weak. Punches require strength and control. A proper right cross will do more damage faster, and with less energy, than a sloppy right hook. That's the power of strength and control.

Truth is, I've had issues with strength and control lately. My head has been a little fuzzy with self-doubt for the past couple weeks. Less mental power, less control... less strong. But the right trainer can patch that right up.

And this is what makes Bryant Santowski an awesome personal trainer: He deals with our training in such a calm, matter-of-fact manner that it alleviates my doubts. He's sobering and believable. And everything was better right from the start. I banged out 25 warm-up push-ups with my elbows close to my body (our first time together, a few weeks ago, I could barely do 15). I swam through sets of sumo squats -- which didn't even hurt as much as they usually do.

I started to bonk a little from under-eating, but I ate a banana and we kept it moving.

And a lot of had to do with the non-chalant way Bryant presents the tasks at hand. When I screwed up, he didn't stare at me, vexed, as if wondering if I needed an IV drip. He just calmly, helpfully told me to do something a little different and kept things moving.

By the end, I was hopeful, and my head was screwed on better than when we started. And I knew how to choke somebody unconscious. What a great night.