Thinking about Muay Thai
 

Well, I have been out of martial arts for a couple of years now and I am starting to get the itch again. I have a connection who teaches Muay Thai and I am very interested in starting. I also want to get my 10 year old into it as well.


Here is my question...I am 34. Am I too old to start out fresh? I am really athletic, in good shape, workout out 5 days a week already, etc....I don't feel my age but I don't want to be the "old man" in class either. I have a background in BJJ with just a beginning in Muay Thai in the past. What do you guys think? Is age really an issue? I'm not planning on any competitions....just fueling my interests in martial arts, love being healthy, and would be nice to have that for self defense.

I've been in Muay Thai now almost 1 year and am turning 32 this year.

Too old? Absolutely not.

The club I go to isn't overly large but I'd say the average age of the people who go is early-mid 20's. There have been times when i have been the oldest in class on a given day, but there are a few regulars in their mid-late 30's, and maybe even one or two who are 40 or over.

I wasn't used to being the "experienced" guy in a setting like that until I joined, and by that I mean some of the younger folks asking me questions about what they should do for a career and about things like moving out of their parents' house. That took me a bit unawares at first but I'm used to it now.

The guy who owns and runs the place is older than me but the other instructors are 10 years or more younger than I am.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it, but depending on the composition of your club, you might "realize" your age a bit at first, especially if you enter into a beginner's class.

One good thing though, I worked out fairly religiously most of my life, so once I got used to the types of workouts they do there, now I'm near the top of the advanced class in terms of strenght and cardio, and my technique has come an extremely long ways to.

Just take the plunge man, then you won't have any regrets. I love it and go about 5 hours a week.

Good luck!

Do it.

Thanks guy. I'm trying to get my step son to do it as well. He is 10 and I think it would really serve him well to get into martial arts. He says he wants to.

One other question...what is the going rate? This guy tells me that for me and my step son both, it would be 155 a month. It's 100 for adults and 80 for kids but you get a 25.00 discount for family. He has classes every day so it is basically unlimited. I will probably do it assuming I can afford it. The other bad thing is that it is a 45 minute drive one way.

Pretty much on par as long as its unlimited and classes are atleast 1 hr to 1 hr and a half.

If the gym doesn't have some heavy bags and he doesn't supply ropes and thai pads when in class go somewhere else.

Never too old to do something you enjoy doing. If anyone disagrees, roundhouse to the face!

avoid a term contract also.

Not too old at all man. We had a guy at our gym who was in his late 40's. He never just trained either, he would be on our fight cards too. So you certainly aren't too old

Why is that? Just curious because that is their preferred method. He says this helps keep the students coming on a regular basis and don't take a couple of classes and then quit. What I have asked him is if I can get a discount for paying like 6 months in advance instead of signing a contract.


Just a little update here...I started the class last week. I opted for a few private lessons to try and catch up with the class a little. With my background in boxing, I breezed right through the fundamentals and went straight into Muay Thai technique. He says I'm further along than a lot of the guys in the class, so I will start the regular classes probably in the next week or so. My cardio sucks!! I workout 3 days a week and (until I hurt my knee earlier this year) run quite a bit. But I quickly found out that I was not in as good of cardio shape as I thought. I'm sure this will be like BJJ though and it will force my cardio to catch up quickly.

Do it... muay thai is the best personal defense art in my mind...