Sabai, Sabai - let´s start easy

When I enter the Team Quest site for the afternoon class I already have the feeling that it will be hard today to follow my own plan to start easy into the training. Of course I did not take part in the morning session today, but I do not think I would have survived this day if I did. There are just three guys preparing for the training: Piak – a seventeen year old thai with more than 30 fights on his record -, an American and me. Basically a small class is good because it is easier for the coaches to concentrate on everyone´s needs. The problem: There are four coaches.

Four on three. That sounds like paradise, but there is something worth mentioning about the character of many trainers (at least this fits for many combat sports teachers, I think). They have the tendency to become cruel when they feel unchallenged. Not cruel in a way like beating you up in sparring or hitting you with the pads harder than necessary, but they use you to get rid of their boredom. Trying new drills, motivating students more than ever or simply losing the ability to count the push-ups correctly are just some of the common habits. Than you have to do 30 push-ups. Or 40? Maybe 50. Depending on the trainer´s mood.

In my head there starts a fight: The beliver against the disbeliever. Ending with the disbeliever getting beaten up badly and the believer starting to whisper in my ear: "This will be a good training. Enough to challenge you, but not too much. Trust me! More than 30 hours passed since your last training. You are well rested. You will have fun."

It´s right. Since my arrival, the last night was the first I slept quite well, it appears as if the jetlag has been defeated. The class takes its course and it is a really good one: Without feeling dizzy or sick I survive all three rounds on the pads. Satisfaction drips from my forehead, happiness trickles down my back. While Piak is doing his fourth round of pad-work I get a one-on-one sidekick lesson and get sent to the bags for practice.

"How many?" - "Nueng rawy" (100) I answer, stopping to kick the now wet shiny bag – "Fine." The atmosphere becomes more relaxed, I concentrate on my breathing, loosen up my legs and pour cold water on my neck. A look on the clock confirms my guess: Two hours since the beginning, the class is over.

After a few minutes of silence, it is over. Piak starts to shoot vicious kicks into the pads: 50 on each side. This is nothing special since the gym´s fighters got additional training last year too.

While I am still wondering why the American is not here anymore, the pad holder invites me to do another round too. Maybe I could become suspicious now but the subconsciousness (or the right mind?) is already blocked by all the dopamine in my body.

With a “are you able to do that, too?" - smile on his face, the trainer pushes down the ropes and I climb over them. I smile back, he sends me to the corner, places the pads right over his belly pad and leans into them. "Twenty" he asks with raised eyebrows... Your ambition does not offer "No" as an option sometimes.

I raise my hands to the sides of my head, find the right distance, shift my weight from one foot to the other, find my balance … and decide to leave you hanging here until the next post.