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Mission: Getting my kicks
by Paul R Taylor25/ 8/2005
THERE'S a new Nike advert on TV at the moment about feet.
You might have seen it. It has a catchy tune and shows the
wondrously different things feet can do when they're attached to an
ultra fit person.
These feet aren't bored; wasting away the hours perched on the arm
of a sofa or scrunching sand between their toes on the beach.
They're running and kicking and propelling their owners along
gymnastics beams.
A pair of them belong to Thai-boxing mentor Master A, who runs a
martial arts school on Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter, where
a section of the advert was filmed.
Born in Bangkok in 1968, he began martial arts when just five years
old and at 12 took up Thai boxing - a traditional but brutal art
that uses the fists, elbows, shins, feet and knees to strike.
Now my feet aren't much like Master A's or the other athletes' in
the advert. They don't complain much on the bi-annual trip to the
monthly-membership gym or on long walks but that's about their
limit, so I know both of us are in for a shock as I stand at the
bottom of a narrow staircase on Thomas Street.
The staircase leads straight off the street up to the second-floor
gym, and when I arrive for the Thai boxing class for beginners it
is already busy.
It's a sunny Saturday afternoon outside and the gym is a small, hot
room with two make-shift boxing rings crammed under low ceilings;
three punch bags; and walls adorned with pictures of past champions
and current students.
I meet compact and stocky Master A and his wife Janet, who as her
name suggests is British, and they both explain the history of the
school and a bit about the classes. Perhaps surprisingly for such a
vicious sport, about 25 per cent of the students are women and the
oldest member is 68.
Two of the women, Michelle Grizzel, 25, and Raechal Jones, 25, will
become the first European females to compete in a bare-knuckle
event in Thailand in December this year, so they're in the gym
training as well. There are also some other very fit people who I'm
relieved to discover are training for upcoming bouts, rather than
part of my class as I originally thought.
We begin with some warm-up exercises and stretches, jogging on the
spot while punching in front, and then shadow boxing for a few
minutes. Master A's assistant Leroy, who I'm told is in his forties
but looks about 25, shows me the stance and some basic punches,
jabs, right straights, hooks and uppercuts, and shows me how to
throw the shoulder into the punch to give it more oomph.
I'm not a particularly sweaty person but with the heat and the
exercise I already have triangles on my T-shirt and I haven't even
thrown a kick yet.
Thai boxing places a lot of emphasis on physical fitness and is a
great way to tone up and increase aerobic capability. Muay Thai
competitions are similar to boxing matches and fighters train for
the ring, although Janet tells me only about 30 per cent of the
Thomas Street students ever compete with the other 70 per cent
attending the classes to improve fitness and learn self
defence.
Muay Thai heavily influenced the development of kickboxing, which
is usually a watered down version. In Thailand the fighters will
use both elbow and knee strikes in the ring, but fights are often
restricted in the UK to punches and kicks.
After shadow boxing the training groups divide up into the
beginners and the more experienced students and Leroy shows me how
to throw front kicks into a punch bag, using the balls of my feet
and always keeping my guard up.
Five minutes later and I'm ready for a break, but everyone else
gets on the floor and starts doing press-ups and sit-ups so I
reluctantly join them.
I'm then given a pair of boxing mitts and paired up with another
fighter, who tells me he's been training on and off for about 13
years but doesn't compete because he has a broken bone in his back.
Fair enough.
This round we're training kicks and I'm shown the various types in
the Thai boxer's arsenal, all thrown without any power behind them
while training with another person.
The roundhouse kick uses a rotational movement of the entire body
to hit the opponent's outer thigh with the shin. When not properly
defended against, this powerful technique can leave opponents with
a super dead leg and can lead to the end of a fight. The kicks are
also defended with the shins, which are conditioned to take the
pain.
There are also kicks to the inside of the calves and thighs, all
thrown while looking into the opponent's eyes rather than at the
feet so you don't get knocked out.
We do this for three or four rounds and I'm starting to flag a bit,
especially with the press-ups and sit-ups in between, even though
the small amount of exercise I've done is incomparable to the
training needed before you step in the ring.
There are also kicks to the head, which look spectacular, but the
most destructive blows tend to be elbow and knee strikes. We
practice knees, which can be thrown from distance or up close in a
clinch - grabbing the opponent around the neck before launching a
knee into the head or just under the rib cage.
The beginners' class runs on a Saturday from 1.30pm until 3pm, and
after a few more rounds I glance at the clock as I'm catching my
breath and see it's about half-past two. I'm a sweaty mess and I've
still got half an hour to go.
Master A then comes over and shows me how to use what I've learned
on the punch bag, explaining that there are three distances, long
range, middle and up close. I spend the next few rounds working on
the bag, throwing one-two punch combinations and then knees and
kicks. I'm dripping with sweat and my strikes don't worry the punch
bag too much - it seems welcome for the break from its usual
pounding - and I'm so tired it would probably floor me if it swung
back too vigorously.
As 3pm approaches, I'm tired but I've enjoyed the class so much I'd
consider taking Muay Thai up for fitness. Everyone there was
friendly; far less macho than I'd imagined.
Membership is £55 a year, but this can be a one-off payment if the
student agrees to pay a monthly direct debit of £35. This allows
them to attend any of the classes, which are held every night and
on Saturdays. It's not too expensive when you consider it's like a
gym, but far more interesting. After four or five months you'll be
fitter, more able to defend yourself and may even look like one of
those glamorously sporty people in a Nike advert.
0161 834 1127
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