Muay Thai - beginner at 44

[TNJ]

I really want to get in shape. I have weights, punchbag, treadmill, spin bike etc at home and un regularly. However I love my food (i.e. Crap diet) and am a couple of stone overweight. There is a very good and quite well known Muay Thai gym local to me and I like the idea of joining - the level and intensity of training will inevitably be way beyond what I do now.

Has anyone got experience of starting such training as a middle aged office worker? Is it worthwhile or am I going to get spat out after a few weeks having been beaten senseless??

I will never want to fight but am happy to spar.

I am slightly nervous about jumping in at the deep end, but am quite disciplined when I set my mind to something.

Any feedback is appreciated

[warp9]

I did a couple of years of muay Thai in my late twenties, chubbie and unfit and loved it. I'm now in my mid forties and would love to get back into it, but don't have the opportunity.

Give it a go. What you got to lose?

Once were warriors.

[MurderousCrow]

TNJ said:

I really want to get in shape. I have weights, punchbag, treadmill, spin bike etc at home and un regularly. However I love my food (i.e. Crap diet) and am a couple of stone overweight. There is a very good and quite well known Muay Thai gym local to me and I like the idea of joining - the level and intensity of training will inevitably be way beyond what I do now.

Has anyone got experience of starting such training as a middle aged office worker? Is it worthwhile or am I going to get spat out after a few weeks having been beaten senseless??

I will never want to fight but am happy to spar.

I am slightly nervous about jumping in at the deep end, but am quite disciplined when I set my mind to something.

Any feedback is appreciated

MT is excellent training.

Hopefully the gym will take a progressive approach with beginners, and give you the kind of support in technique and conditioning you need. If your instructor is good, you will enjoy it.

Regards fat loss, it sounds like you're already aware that it's mostly down to diet. Activity helps but to a surprisingly limited degree. There are plenty of diet regimes that can work, it's just a question of picking one that suits you (i.e. that you can stick with). Really the thing to get your head around is simply diet change, rather than some kind of short term solution.

It doesn't have to be hard - I maintain between 10-14% body fat most of the year without too much effort. I mostly use an approach of flexible dieting combined with Intermittent Fasting. I have specific body composition goals, my training is oriented to this, and I try to consume at least 1.5g protein per kg bodyweight per day.

MT is a tough but fun road, I did it for a couple of years, and it really does take years of commitment (far more than I did) to get any good. As such it's a lifestyle change for you. Your diet can and should support this. You'll certainly need a good daily level of protein intake, and refuelling post-hard training is essential. But you can be in a calorie deficit through more moderate training and still make excellent progress both in fitness and body composition.

Don't go 100% to begin with: give yourself time to learn the movements before you add in significant power, and you'll reduce your chance of hurting yourself. Remember movement quality is the most important factor in learning good technique, and preventing unnecessary injury.

Because Thai boxing is so dynamic and powerful, you will also benefit from a thorough stretching regime - consider some daily yoga post-training.

If you do go ahead with it, update the thread too, I for one would certainly be interested to hear how you get on.

[kentmotorcompany]

TNJ said:

I really want to get in shape. I have weights, punchbag, treadmill, spin bike etc at home and un regularly. However I love my food (i.e. Crap diet) and am a couple of stone overweight. There is a very good and quite well known Muay Thai gym local to me and I like the idea of joining - the level and intensity of training will inevitably be way beyond what I do now.

Has anyone got experience of starting such training as a middle aged office worker? Is it worthwhile or am I going to get spat out after a few weeks having been beaten senseless??

I will never want to fight but am happy to spar.

I am slightly nervous about jumping in at the deep end, but am quite disciplined when I set my mind to something.

Any feedback is appreciated

Keddles? Ive boxed there for years.

Its a top gym with very experienced trainers who have trained many people in your situation before and know how make new people feel comfortable. After that initial first time walking in it'll be a very enjoyable experience.

If its not Keddles, but as you say good well known gym I guess the situation would be very similar.

My only advice would be to maybe go for a few runs before your first session just to blow the cobwebs off and get the heart rate going a couple of times before they do.

[Regiment]

Just getting back into Muay Thai now as well, not done it for about 8 years and currently 34.

Going to be doing 1 on 1 with a mate, not a good enough mate to give me free sessions lol, but he's ex-mma and kick boxer/Thai boxer so going to be having 2 hours with him a week and also a couple of sessions on my own with the bag.

Few things that I'd suggest as Muay Thai is a fantastic work out and if it's a good gym with a good coach, they'll treat you well and partner you up with someone similar, they won't have you sparring professional Thai boxers on day one or anything silly like that as no one would benefit from that.

1. Learn to skip, it's a fantastic exercise and it'll help with your footwork, it can be a bit embarrassing but get a good skipping rope and skip daily.
2. Stretch, stretch, stretch. Flexibility has always been my big issue, I never took it seriously before but I'm stretching for 25 minutes before bed every night now and I have a good warm up stretch and warm down stretch after each session.
3. Watch lots of videos to help motivate you. It's fantastic watching videos about how to punch, etc, and even round house kicks, just bare in mind that you won't be round house kicking with any finesse or power for a while.

One last thing, I know at the beginning, you're thinking that you're never going to fight, etc, but it can be a case that when you get into it and enjoying it, you can start to get dragged along and motivated by everyone else who's training, which is a great thing, but just keep in mind that if the gym has a lot of amateur and professionals, you might start to consider stepping into the ring yourself. Good luck though, just wish there was a fantastic Muay Thai gym near Grantham, my gyms tend to be Nottingham way.

[WolfAir]

Just parroting the above replies, but I also add, watch films like Ong bak, or the protector (ong bak 2) for epic muay thai fight choreography that gets you hyped up .
Good luck.
p.s I did muay thai myself on and off. Going to get my son involved so he has some sort of self defence and discipline.

[TNJ]

Thanks for all the encouraging replies. I will have a word with the gym and see what they say - I am enthusiastic but also realistic and may need to dedicate a bit of time to getting in better shape first and - particularly - getting a bit more supple as two decades of sitting behind a desk hasn't done me any favours.

If all is positive, then I will give it a good go and see whether I enjoy it. I like training but do find it a bit tedious without there being a reason for doing it. I go running fairly regularly but find it harder to motivate myself unless I have a race to train for. Hopefully, learning Muay Thai will be enough of a goal and focus to keep me disciplined.

The big question mark is whether I get fed up with being kneed in the head....!