My Trip to Thailand to Study Muay Thai Part 4 TRAINING BEGINS!

 "I have stick. If you are lazy or naughty in class, I will hit you with stick."

Signed Mr Miagi

This was written on a grease board just outside the beginner training area at Tiger Muay Thai when I arrived.

I am in Thailand in effort to sharpen my Muay Thai skills, and to improve my teaching methods for my students. I own a Muay Thai gym in Salt Lake City, Utah, and have been teaching for over 30 years. For some reason, my program has AVซับไทย grown to the degree that I have wanted it to.

I attended a Martial Arts business seminar last year, and something I heard there really resonated with me. One of the speakers said, 'If your programs are not growing, it isn't the part of town you are operating in, or the color of paint on your walls, or the size of your sign out front. While all of these things contribute to your success, the core reason you are failing is because of YOU. Look within, and ask yourself if you are delivering the product you are professing to offer.

This little personal kick in the ass, may have been exactly what I needed. Now I find myself, after journeying halfway around the globe to a jungle on an island waiting to walk into a room that has a sign that says I might get hit with a stick.

Had I taken the advice of the speaker too literally? At age 48, had I bitten off more than I can chew in coming to Thailand to learn Muay Thai from the masters? Should I explain to the Trainers that I am 48 years old, and that there is a distinct possibility that I might look like I am being lazy, when in reality, next to the 20 some-things I am standing next to, I am just plain tired? All of this was racing through my head as I entered the beginner training area at Tiger Muay Thai-until I saw the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look on the faces of the other participants in the class. For the most part, they were young, fit, budding fighters. Many of them looked like they could be dangerous in the ring. I soon realized I had one advantage over them. The advantage was what I had earlier deemed my shortcoming. I am older and wiser than they. I have been hit before. I survived being hit by a stick when I was a young martial artist, and I would survive it here too. I was in the beginner group, but I carry with me, decades of life experience.