I'm beginning to find, as I get older, that experiences that have the ability to completely…read moretransform your life become more rare. When you are young, you are constantly trying and learning new things, figuring out for yourself what you love to do and eliminating those you don't. You start to find a passion for things like soccer or piano, and stick with them, loving to play. Then you grow up, responsibilities kick in, and time becomes more limited. Most of the time, I find myself trying to recreate the fun I had as a kid by re-experiencing situations with new people or joining an adult sports league with random people, which is not at all the same feeling you get from being on a real, dedicated team.
The art of Muay Thai is one of the only sports or activities that has unexpectedly thrilled me in a way that is brand new, and leaves me craving more and more. The only other sport that does it for me is scuba diving.
There are some similarities between the two: family, fear facing, fitness, and fun.
1. FAMILY: When you join 8 Venoms Muay Thai, you become a family. You are there to support and help each other. You may find that if you sign up for a free trial that you become addicted in more ways than one, to the class and to the people. Your new teammates will be the ones asking if they'll see you next class, and part of the reason you say yes is because you don't want to disappoint them, and it happens in that split second after they ask the question when their face is bright with pure joy from the class and the suspense for your answer. You can't make new friends like this in a typical gym atmosphere and you sure as hell will never find the strength of a family like 8 Venoms Muay Thai.
2. FEAR FACING: "Do one thing every day that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt
Muay Thai is a fighting sport. You will hit and get hit. 8 Venoms gets its name because Muay Thai is known as the Art of 8 Limbs: 2 fists, 2 elbows, 2 knees, and 2 shins. You will learn to use all of them. I'm a fear facer and a big believer in it. Do I get nervous? Yes. But that's the only way to get stronger.
3. FITNESS: One aspect of Muay Thai among many that you can't get from a regular gym is that it's both a mental and physical exercise. I consider myself a forever student. If I'm not constantly learning something new, I start to get bored. I never would have dreamed that discovering Muay Thai would have been the absolute best gift I could have given myself for my recent birthday (Thanks Skylar B. who turned me onto it).
I have been to many gyms: oldschool average joe's gyms, giant gym chains, boxing gyms, etc. Before this class, I considered myself to be healthy, very active, and pretty athletic, but damn, did I get a wake up call. The class starts with jump roping... Who knew that jump roping could be so hard?! I thought I was going to die the first few times. My legs were sore as hell. I guess lifting just can't get you there. Then there's cardio, core, and flexibility, which is awesome. I'm not too too bad on the cardio and core front, but I def. struggle and need improvement. I honestly thought I was a flexible human until now...wooweee, not so much. I think part of the reason I have trouble doing certain skills sometimes is because my hips are not at all used to turning over in such a way while the balls of my feet do something else and my arm is outstretched at the same time. I swear, at the least, Muay Thai will keep my body from getting old and decrepit. Then there's the lessons on different Muay Thai skills and techniques: boxing, kicks, defense, etc, which is really...
4. FUN: Omg it's so much fun. Instructor Gian is extremely knowledgeable and cares about his students. His analogies and descriptions make everything really easy to understand. I partner with my sister sometimes and we have laughing fits. It's just fun to learn something new, practice it, and eventually get it right. I guess I should say it's funnier when you get it wrong and more rewarding when you get it right. I find myself even daydreaming about it, replaying skills I've learned in my head, and hoping that by thinking about it my body will react how I want it to (so far it doesn't, but I'm trying!). All skill levels are welcome. I am a giant newb right now. I hate it lol, and I'm determined to get better. There was a little kid in the class too and he could really hang with the rest of us. Then, there are also those who are really advanced.
8 Venoms is located in the FMA Center and the storefront is really deceiving. If you enter in the front, you go down the stairs and the place is huge. There's the front desk area, and a large viewing room, for anyone there who needs to wait. If you park in the back lot, you can enter that way and walk past the koi fish tank. The actual training space is very large with ample space to move around, and the 7:30 pm class times are also really convenient for me to make after work w/the option of the 1 class on Sat. Try it!
