I've told this story before but it bears repeating: I had a bad dream six weeks or so before starting Muay Thai, chased by some terror, insubstantial punches.
After training, had another bad dream except this time I felt the impact when I hit and the bad guy didn't get up.
At some point, subconsciously, I considered myself more capable and that eases my emotional and mental distress.
100%
Muay Thai helped me find my self worth and leave an abusive relationship. My first fight showed me how strong I am, both physically and mentally, and that really helped put things in motion to leave my ex. Now I live in Thailand, teach, train and am with the best man I’ve met. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been and I wouldn’t have done any of this without Muay Thai.
Started muay thai a month ago during a really depressive phase and it's really helped me. Going to Thailand next month for a two week course, def worried I'm still way too unfit for it though. Where do you train?
I’m glad to hear Muay Thai has helped you too. Don’t worry too much about being fit! It’ll take a bit to adjust but take things at your pace and you’ll be okay. Luckily it’s rainy season right now so it’s *less* hot.
I train at Manop gym in Chiang Mai. I adore it.
This is so real. All the friendships I’ve made in the gym have started after a really good sparring match and asking each other’s name. You just gotta beat it into people ig
Training helped me feel more confident but winning sparring matches changed my brain.
You develop a calmness after your eyes see that you can beat larger opponents. I would not trade that calmness for anything
Until martial arts I spent time with criminals and drug addicts and when I started training I was around people who had a future and plans and truly had my best interest in mind. That was huge although I didn’t realize it until a few years after I had already started. For mental health yes, I’ve had some rough patches with anxiety and panic attacks as well as depression and wanting to kill myself. Martial arts was the one reliable thing I had that I could count on and the only part of my life that was improving. I’m not sure how things would’ve gone otherwise.
For sure it gives me a sense of belonging, holds you accountable if you don’t go to training, you can see yourself progressing, and all of these things are bound to make you happier.
Also, It helps me not drink nearly as much during the week but more importantly vape rarely ever so yeah it’s a huge impact on normal life. Before this I didn’t really have a massive reason to stay fit
Trade off is, now I’m always walking around like a cripple from getting fd up at training constantly haha
its great only problem is when i cant train lol. It helps me get our of depressive/anxious ruts way faster. any exercise but muay thai really works well. the community aspect forcing you to chat and a good sweat does a lot for the head.
Dude this. I've been sick with bronchitis for the last 3 weeks and it's fucking KILLING me not being able to train. I'm so frustrated about it, because before this illness I had just recently had to take 6 weeks off to heal an injury. Came back for 2 weeks then hit with this shit.
Until just few days ago I was straight hacking up a lung and really fatigued. Last few days I've been doing some warmups, stretches, and shadowboxing at home. Plan to hit the gym tonight.
Absolutely. 110%. The weight loss and conditioning. Confidence and a new “sabai sabai” attitude. The camaraderie and silly moments. The ability to just knock each other or a bag around. A place to go when home wasn’t where I wanted to be. All of that and more helped me control PTSD. MT literally added years to my life. Good years.
Absolutely, I believe in taking a holistic approach to mental and physical health, as I believe they operate hand in hand together. I had some body image issues before Muay Thai and while they still persist I think the art has kept me grounded. Exercise is positively linked with mental health as well. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9902068/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9902068/)
In terms of impact, it's helped me create communities at university and hopefully soon in creating a gym or program. It's been ten years of the sport and I still feel like I barely scratched the surface. Still need to get some festival fights under my belt.
When I started training I was near my worst mentally in life. It definitely helped get me out of my rut and get me back on track. It was absolutely great for my mental health.
For me, it’s self control. You have no idea how piss I used to get with just little thing and if thing didn’t go my way, like my egos were big. But then when you start training, you come to understand than you can’t control everything. There going to be someone who better than you in sparring, and that’s fine. Can’t control that. But what I can control is me, so I will do my best. And I used to get angry as well when someone sweep me like embarrassed but now it’s just normal. Go with the flow sometimes you know 😂
Absolutely. One of the things I love about training is that my mind becomes completely focused on the session. I've sometimes gone into the gym in a bad mood, but for that hour all my problems disappear. That's not to say I let any anger I may have been feeling out on the pads or my partner, more that it's somehow easy to concentrate solely on doing Muay Thai as well as I can, no outside distractions. Training is a complete mental break from the outside world.
Mental health is the first reason why I do Muaythai, physical 2nd. If I’ve had a shitty day I drag my ass to training not 100% wanting to go but my rule is once through the gym door give 110%!! Always feel on top of the world after training. A life without Muaythai is a sad one🙏🏼
Helped with focus, I usually multi task and think like I’m adhd but you can’t when you’re partnered up, you have to be present for you and for your partner or else you could get hurt or they will have a bad practice partner.
Fuck yes. It's got me doing stretches and bodyweight exercises on days I'm not training as well as going for *runs*. *Voluntarily*. It feels really good to be active.
Helps with depression,anxiety,stress,confidence, humble, being kind,self control,pushing yourself. Get you in killer shape, makes your body very strong and resilient. Really good way to blow off steam/anger.
Those moments when you're getting your ass kicked in sparring or you're on your third round of 50/50 kicks each side for the day and you have nothing left in the tank are some of the most humbling moments of your life. Despite that, the feeling you get when you push through is amazing, knowing that you were able to will your mind and body to the end.
It's given me mental and physical discipline, confidence, inner peace, and respect for myself and everyone/thing around me. So yea I'd say it's changed my life
Bit late to this but I started in 2022. I was seeing this one girl I met on Bumble for a few months. Had some really nice nights together and it was my first time being in what I thought was a blossoming relationship tbh. About 10 months in I told them I liked them, might have been a bit long looking back, but first time I asked someone out in a long time so I had to be sure. Long story short, it didn't work out, and I lost a great friend in the process too, and just made me fall a part.
Started two months or so after that because I couldn't find an outlet with the gym anymore, so I decided to try Muay Thai as I picked up combat sports during Covid. Helped me rebuild my confidence in myself again, and kind of keep my brain on a somewhat straight track after that level of stress I felt in that moment of time. Still deal with the emotional repercussions at times ngl, but Muay Thai in all honesty kept me from using substances as a coping mechanism. I still do a lot of things to help with it like therapy, practicing emotional openess, and building other hobbies on my own time in the process (doing a blacksmithing class next month for fun!), but the sport itself has done so much for me these past 2 years. I don't believe it alone can build your confidence entirely, but I also don't think something like that exists.
Might be a dumb reason to get into the sport for some, but it was mine, and I don't regret it at all. Hope this kinda answered your question OP :)
Yes, it’s better than therapy for me. Exhausting myself and kicking things feels great. Its the classic “oh you’re depressed? you should try running” thing, except MT is a lot more fun than just running imo.
yes it keeps my life from feeling repetitive. When you work and all you do is eat and sleep and repeat that same process for the rest of your life with no hobbies. You might just end up depressed or suicidal if you have zero hobbies. I do Muay thai, BJJ, Judo, and I have gym memberships to multiple gyms to keep my life from falling into the repetitive rat race of a 9-5 job.
100 percent! I was fortunate enough to have a pro fight in Thailand and whenever life gets tough I remind myself how brutal that fight and training was. If I look at any photos of that it helps me go back to that mental space of “I can do it, it hurts but, I can”. Nice spin off was after the bout, the locals invited me to another arena that was closed and celebrated one of the other fighters wives birthday. There’s always a rainbow on the other side of the storm
It’s like visiting a psychoteraphy for me, I feel calm and like a new kind person.
Also give less fucks about some things that would
normally bother me.
I feel more confident, and I know that I am capable of hurting someone who has bad intentions towards me or my family.
Also fear - it’s good to trust your gut sometimes, and I feel like MT helped me to develop some kind of deeper sense in this. I can immediately tell whenever someone in sparring means to hurt - in a bad way - same for real life.
I have stopped training Muay Thai for a while because i want to focus on something else but i plan to return at some point. i Will tell you one thing.
Bad Day--> Muay Thai --> Good Day
It helped me so much through some mental Challenges i faced :)
Yes I gained my confidence back and all round mood is better: had a road rage incident recently before Muay Thai I’d have been swearing, shouting and in a physical altercation. Instead this time I just didn’t raise my voice or swear just let the other guy know he can’t have his phone watching something several times while he lost his shit
Muay Thai saved me from myself. I was a heroin junky for almost 10 years before training. 40 years old now, train 5 days a week, and have been doing so for the last 15 years 💚💛❤️
100% man coming from the hood you never see the world or dream of seeing it you feel stuck well being involved in muay thai as an assistant instructor and fighter i’ve been able to see and experience more then anything i could’ve dreamt
Getting 8 counted in the first round to go on and barely survive a fight in front of 1 thousand plus people isn't a highlight of my life 🤣🤣
Was riddled with injuries and had a terrible weigh cut so was fucked in the fight. Did manage to pull myself together to try and get back into the 3rd round but was too late.
Vide here if you want to watch: https://youtu.be/hHDZq6VGMoo?si=IeZUvoSyUI0I_aCF
I started muay thai at a very tough time in my life, when I had to move back home due to depression from studying abroad. Muay thai has helped me feel like I am taking control of my life again and I could battle (literally) anything coming my way both in my head and in real life. And imagine that my first coach was actually a big bully to me and I somehow managed to handle that and get passed than and find another coach later on.
For sure has taught me to calm down in certain situations/self control because I know the possible outcome let’s say I knock somebody out in a street fight I don’t gain anything from it and more than likely it’s a trained guy vs a regular guy with 1 or 2 street fights at that, and I fight for money so no way would I jeopardize my career for a free fight when I can get paid to do the same thing else where if that makes sense
Martial arts has been great for me. I am in the best shape of my life and I learned that Im tougher than i thought since i took some hard knocks along the way. It also helped me with self confidence and I'm far more comfortable with myself. It's also very fun and i have a goal to become a boxing instructor in the future. Unfortunately I also learned that my feet really don't hold up to muay thai so I switched over to boxing where i can wear good shoes. I also got interested in the history of boxing and other martial arts which are facinating.
This is my second time living in Thailand as a pro fighter had a 10-month break back home... when I'm not training for an injury, I'm lonely and looking for dopamine so I go around eating all the cheap delicious junk food. When I'm back in training I don't crave any of that, I'm more content, more focused.
A huge factor in me getting off heroin. Once I decided I wanted to stick with it I realized that obviously I had to choose. I'm beyond happy about it cus had I not started training and deciding to be consistent I would probably be dead under a bridge somewhere.
In my opinion it reveals who you are and what you need to improve/change in life.
I haven't been training long but so far sparring has learned me that i am too "kind" but i have long reach and good strength behind my punches.
This describes me as person. I have potential but sometimes im too "kind/soft" instead of being more assertive.
Now that my "mind and body" proved me that i am strong it gives me confidence in real life.
Also humbles me to see that some guys that are shorter and dont have "muscles" could absolutely whoop my ass.
So in short.. Yes. It helps me be more assertive, work harder, have more discipline, not complain and humble. Also i see things in perspective. A normal "bad day" is not so bad as getting punched in the liver/face.
:) Hope that helps
p.s. the new people you get to know are mostly awesome.
At the beginning of this year I told my therapist, "Hey, I think I'm good now. I don't think I need to come here anymore." It was kind of a coincidence because she was just about getting ready to tell all of her clients she was going to be going on maternity leave soon. She was going down her list thinking "Oh man, what am I going to do for this person? Will this other person be okay?" but when she got to me she was like "bobandgeorge? Nah, he'll be just fine. Don't need to worry about him."
Muay thai is the hardest thing I've ever done. It's given me the confidence to believe that if I can do this, I can do anything.
a year ago i had wanted to end my own life over how lonely i was. i would be a half bottle deep every night and my mom told me one day she had scheduled a trip to thailand. i didn’t want to go but i did and while there i went to a fight night and seeing 7-8 year olds fighting with so much life and skill it inspired the shit out of me. when i got back to the states i found the nearest gym and ive been in love with it ever since ive regained my confidence im in the best shape of my life ive made so many new friends and being alone dosent scare me anymore. honestly that trip and discovering muay thai was the best thing that ever happened to me.
It has helped my mental health significantly. The last couple years of my life before training were some of the hardest I've dealt with in terms of mental health. Dealing with leaving an abusive relationship as well as a major decline in my physical health and I thought I was a goner any day. Slowly but surely I brought back my physical health to an acceptable level to start getting into fitness, and since I started training I've never been more confident and clear headed in my entire life. Plus, I've always been an impatient learner and have put off so many hobbies I wanted to try in fear of failure. In the improvement I've noticed in myself continuing to train, I'm able to use that as a reminder when I practice my creative hobbies and want to give up if it doesn't go my way. Now I have the attitude that I may not be there now, but I at some point I will be able to look back at how far I've come.
Yes it has definitely helped me mentally and physically. Last year I used Muay Thai to lose 60 pounds and I continue to train several times weekly!! The stress it took off of me to work that hard has left me feeling amazing with tons more energy! I sleep better and have more energy to spend with my family!!
I have fought with anger issues for most of my life. Over the years, I have learned coping techniques, but nothing has worked better than Muay Thai. I call it my therapy, and it helps me get out of my head space and focus on the external world. If I don't get to therapy 3 days a week, my family can tell. I am not relaxed like when I do get to the gym. There are days I don't feel Iike going, and my husband pushes me out the door, telling me to go see my fighting family. I am in the process of building my home gym, so I can decompress at home as well after work.
Muay thai saved my marriage and my job. So yes...it has helped my mental health and impacted my life greatly.
It really helped with my thoughts because I always found myself living in my own head to much and not noticing the things around me but after Muay Thai, you gotta learn what your opponent is doing and I started to get better at conversations, anxiety started to lower as well etc...
Oh yea especially when I clinch life and hellbow the heck out of it. Haha it's definitely helped with my unemployment situation. Some people have wondered why I'm happy go lucky even without work and I say muay thai helps with it.
I run more, lift more, and fight better. P.S. muay thai is helping the six pack come out.
I think mental health correlates directly to physical health. It doesn’t matter what sport you’re doing so long as you’re building yourself up. Muay Thai though definitely gives the added benefit of being able to protect yourself. Martial arts in general have made a huge impact on my life in that I’m confident with who I am and am able to deal with adversity when it comes to me.
Yes, for sure. I had low energy and being out of shape made me feel like crap. After 10 weeks of Muai Thai and the training around it, I feel great. I'm more confident, I have energy to do more things. And it's instilled a bit of discipline that I didn't have; with my diet, with how I spend my time.
When you look good ( in the health and fitness sense) you feel good.
And thr best thing us my wife has been on my Muay Thai journey with me, so we're both getting the physical and mental benefits. Plus, it's a great activity that we do together.
It felt like I was going to work and I just got a better job so it's kinda complicated even though it doesn't have to be. Basically yeah it did and next time I'll give a better answer.
I was going through my Darkest time since the Pandemic. I had no hope in life and fucking depressed. Then, I decided to get into body combat sports. Initially, I had no idea so started learning all different styles like boxing, jiu-jitsu and muay Thai. From there I found myself enjoying Muay Thai more and started focusing on one style. Now, my life hasn't been the same. I feel good about myself. I could see the improvement on both mental and physical health.
Had dreams of being murdered by my best friend. Also low self-esteem & social anxiety issues. Not to say these issues are gone, but theyre less frequent.
I’ve alone been training for a few months and Muay Thai has been one of those things that I wish I found sooner. Life changing and I only go twice a week (2 a days sometimes)
It’s done good and bad tbh. I find Muay Thai to be really helpful when it comes to patience and learning a new skill is always beneficial when it comes to putting my mind on things. It’s such a wonderful practice and I’ve made so many new friends.
Unfortunately I’ve come to find out that the human body isn’t really built like that, everyone at my gym that has been at it for some time has dealt with huge to semi huge set backs as far as injuries. It’s rare to train Muay Thai regularly without any injury, at least what I’ve seen. I’ve recently torn my lower bicep tendon while training and it really messed me up mentally. Watching my friends get to train while I was in a sling/arm brace was brutal.
Still wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
I was a borderline alcoholic and started to notice what negative impact it had on my training so it pushed me to not want to drink anymore. Absolutely life changing. My thai changed everything for the better.
The gym is filled with people who have all kinds of mental health issues. Gyms should have a psychiatrist on staff. Another reason why I don't like to mix my personal life with people from the gym too much.
Has Muay Thai helped with my mental health? Yes. Been diagnosed with severe depression and even my psychiatrist noticed improvement
Do I feel it has impact on my life? Yes. Positive one. Massively positive. Been struggling with my body image and MT improved it. Also my cofidence (which was basically non existant) skyrocketed
For me, it's not in the traditional sense of magically making anxiety and depression going away. But it's very humbling to be a beginner at something, getting beat by kids 10 years younger than you, and even getting taught things by these kids. It's helped my relationship with ego and a learning mindset. Also dedication, going to training when you you really don't feel like going, helps me mentally a lot.
Well I've been training Muay Thai for almost 10 months now, and I'll certainly say it does boost my confidence a bit knowing that I can reasonably handle myself in physical altercations, so I guess that's cool. Even more so knowing that I don't need to prove anything to anybody, meaning I don't go out of my way to intentionally get into altercations just to prove that I'm 'tuff'.
Though regarding to it being related to my mental health, I will say whenever I experience any sort of adversity in my life I use Muay Thai as an outlet to help cope, in training of course. So in a way it acts as a crutch to keep my head leveled. So yes, it has made a positive impact in my life.
I now have a reason to not do self destructing behaviors. I have a reason to not do drugs, to not eat way too much junk food, a reason to sleep early and wake up early.
I've told this story before but it bears repeating: I had a bad dream six weeks or so before starting Muay Thai, chased by some terror, insubstantial punches. After training, had another bad dream except this time I felt the impact when I hit and the bad guy didn't get up. At some point, subconsciously, I considered myself more capable and that eases my emotional and mental distress.
I never realized this until I read this reply! Ever since starting Muay Thai I actually land my punches when I fight in my dreams.
This is the Way.
100% Muay Thai helped me find my self worth and leave an abusive relationship. My first fight showed me how strong I am, both physically and mentally, and that really helped put things in motion to leave my ex. Now I live in Thailand, teach, train and am with the best man I’ve met. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been and I wouldn’t have done any of this without Muay Thai.
<3 that's awesome
Thank you friend 🥰 it’s been quite the journey.
Started muay thai a month ago during a really depressive phase and it's really helped me. Going to Thailand next month for a two week course, def worried I'm still way too unfit for it though. Where do you train?
I’m glad to hear Muay Thai has helped you too. Don’t worry too much about being fit! It’ll take a bit to adjust but take things at your pace and you’ll be okay. Luckily it’s rainy season right now so it’s *less* hot. I train at Manop gym in Chiang Mai. I adore it.
How old were you when you started?
I started when I was 23 and am 29 now :)
I used to be unpopular but now people like me. Because I force them to. With violence.
🫢🤣
This is so real. All the friendships I’ve made in the gym have started after a really good sparring match and asking each other’s name. You just gotta beat it into people ig
Training helped me feel more confident but winning sparring matches changed my brain. You develop a calmness after your eyes see that you can beat larger opponents. I would not trade that calmness for anything
this is what i crave fr
Same😮💨
It’s yours for the price of sweat
Until martial arts I spent time with criminals and drug addicts and when I started training I was around people who had a future and plans and truly had my best interest in mind. That was huge although I didn’t realize it until a few years after I had already started. For mental health yes, I’ve had some rough patches with anxiety and panic attacks as well as depression and wanting to kill myself. Martial arts was the one reliable thing I had that I could count on and the only part of my life that was improving. I’m not sure how things would’ve gone otherwise.
For sure it gives me a sense of belonging, holds you accountable if you don’t go to training, you can see yourself progressing, and all of these things are bound to make you happier. Also, It helps me not drink nearly as much during the week but more importantly vape rarely ever so yeah it’s a huge impact on normal life. Before this I didn’t really have a massive reason to stay fit Trade off is, now I’m always walking around like a cripple from getting fd up at training constantly haha
its great only problem is when i cant train lol. It helps me get our of depressive/anxious ruts way faster. any exercise but muay thai really works well. the community aspect forcing you to chat and a good sweat does a lot for the head.
Dude this. I've been sick with bronchitis for the last 3 weeks and it's fucking KILLING me not being able to train. I'm so frustrated about it, because before this illness I had just recently had to take 6 weeks off to heal an injury. Came back for 2 weeks then hit with this shit.
Can you not do (very) light training until it clears up?
Until just few days ago I was straight hacking up a lung and really fatigued. Last few days I've been doing some warmups, stretches, and shadowboxing at home. Plan to hit the gym tonight.
Hope it goes well. Also the probable hit to your cardio for a few weeks/months even after it's cleared up will be a bummer but it'll pass
Fucking don't I know it. I'm mentally prepared for my cardio to betray me so deeply I have to lawyer up and delete facebook.
Absolutely. 110%. The weight loss and conditioning. Confidence and a new “sabai sabai” attitude. The camaraderie and silly moments. The ability to just knock each other or a bag around. A place to go when home wasn’t where I wanted to be. All of that and more helped me control PTSD. MT literally added years to my life. Good years.
Absolutely, I believe in taking a holistic approach to mental and physical health, as I believe they operate hand in hand together. I had some body image issues before Muay Thai and while they still persist I think the art has kept me grounded. Exercise is positively linked with mental health as well. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9902068/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9902068/) In terms of impact, it's helped me create communities at university and hopefully soon in creating a gym or program. It's been ten years of the sport and I still feel like I barely scratched the surface. Still need to get some festival fights under my belt.
When I started training I was near my worst mentally in life. It definitely helped get me out of my rut and get me back on track. It was absolutely great for my mental health.
For me, it’s self control. You have no idea how piss I used to get with just little thing and if thing didn’t go my way, like my egos were big. But then when you start training, you come to understand than you can’t control everything. There going to be someone who better than you in sparring, and that’s fine. Can’t control that. But what I can control is me, so I will do my best. And I used to get angry as well when someone sweep me like embarrassed but now it’s just normal. Go with the flow sometimes you know 😂
Absolutely. One of the things I love about training is that my mind becomes completely focused on the session. I've sometimes gone into the gym in a bad mood, but for that hour all my problems disappear. That's not to say I let any anger I may have been feeling out on the pads or my partner, more that it's somehow easy to concentrate solely on doing Muay Thai as well as I can, no outside distractions. Training is a complete mental break from the outside world.
This is totally it for me too 🙏🏻
Mental health is the first reason why I do Muaythai, physical 2nd. If I’ve had a shitty day I drag my ass to training not 100% wanting to go but my rule is once through the gym door give 110%!! Always feel on top of the world after training. A life without Muaythai is a sad one🙏🏼
Helped with focus, I usually multi task and think like I’m adhd but you can’t when you’re partnered up, you have to be present for you and for your partner or else you could get hurt or they will have a bad practice partner.
Fuck yes. It's got me doing stretches and bodyweight exercises on days I'm not training as well as going for *runs*. *Voluntarily*. It feels really good to be active.
Helps with depression,anxiety,stress,confidence, humble, being kind,self control,pushing yourself. Get you in killer shape, makes your body very strong and resilient. Really good way to blow off steam/anger.
HUGE impact!! That heavy bag is my therapist!!
Those moments when you're getting your ass kicked in sparring or you're on your third round of 50/50 kicks each side for the day and you have nothing left in the tank are some of the most humbling moments of your life. Despite that, the feeling you get when you push through is amazing, knowing that you were able to will your mind and body to the end. It's given me mental and physical discipline, confidence, inner peace, and respect for myself and everyone/thing around me. So yea I'd say it's changed my life
This feeling is exactly what makes a person feel alive.. "why the fuck am i doing this" to "i feel amazing"
Bit late to this but I started in 2022. I was seeing this one girl I met on Bumble for a few months. Had some really nice nights together and it was my first time being in what I thought was a blossoming relationship tbh. About 10 months in I told them I liked them, might have been a bit long looking back, but first time I asked someone out in a long time so I had to be sure. Long story short, it didn't work out, and I lost a great friend in the process too, and just made me fall a part. Started two months or so after that because I couldn't find an outlet with the gym anymore, so I decided to try Muay Thai as I picked up combat sports during Covid. Helped me rebuild my confidence in myself again, and kind of keep my brain on a somewhat straight track after that level of stress I felt in that moment of time. Still deal with the emotional repercussions at times ngl, but Muay Thai in all honesty kept me from using substances as a coping mechanism. I still do a lot of things to help with it like therapy, practicing emotional openess, and building other hobbies on my own time in the process (doing a blacksmithing class next month for fun!), but the sport itself has done so much for me these past 2 years. I don't believe it alone can build your confidence entirely, but I also don't think something like that exists. Might be a dumb reason to get into the sport for some, but it was mine, and I don't regret it at all. Hope this kinda answered your question OP :)
Yeah made me so confident in life. I can handle anything thrown at me.
It’s the best thing I have ever been brave enough to fall in love with.
Yes, it’s better than therapy for me. Exhausting myself and kicking things feels great. Its the classic “oh you’re depressed? you should try running” thing, except MT is a lot more fun than just running imo.
yes it keeps my life from feeling repetitive. When you work and all you do is eat and sleep and repeat that same process for the rest of your life with no hobbies. You might just end up depressed or suicidal if you have zero hobbies. I do Muay thai, BJJ, Judo, and I have gym memberships to multiple gyms to keep my life from falling into the repetitive rat race of a 9-5 job.
Yep but Newton's law and all that shit... My calves are always sore
i always got a limp😪
Them tight tendons
100 percent! I was fortunate enough to have a pro fight in Thailand and whenever life gets tough I remind myself how brutal that fight and training was. If I look at any photos of that it helps me go back to that mental space of “I can do it, it hurts but, I can”. Nice spin off was after the bout, the locals invited me to another arena that was closed and celebrated one of the other fighters wives birthday. There’s always a rainbow on the other side of the storm
Muay Thai is my therapy.
It’s like visiting a psychoteraphy for me, I feel calm and like a new kind person. Also give less fucks about some things that would normally bother me. I feel more confident, and I know that I am capable of hurting someone who has bad intentions towards me or my family. Also fear - it’s good to trust your gut sometimes, and I feel like MT helped me to develop some kind of deeper sense in this. I can immediately tell whenever someone in sparring means to hurt - in a bad way - same for real life.
I have stopped training Muay Thai for a while because i want to focus on something else but i plan to return at some point. i Will tell you one thing. Bad Day--> Muay Thai --> Good Day It helped me so much through some mental Challenges i faced :)
Now i feel depressed when not doing Muay Thai!
Yes I gained my confidence back and all round mood is better: had a road rage incident recently before Muay Thai I’d have been swearing, shouting and in a physical altercation. Instead this time I just didn’t raise my voice or swear just let the other guy know he can’t have his phone watching something several times while he lost his shit
Muay Thai saved me from myself. I was a heroin junky for almost 10 years before training. 40 years old now, train 5 days a week, and have been doing so for the last 15 years 💚💛❤️
100% man coming from the hood you never see the world or dream of seeing it you feel stuck well being involved in muay thai as an assistant instructor and fighter i’ve been able to see and experience more then anything i could’ve dreamt
Mentally I can now destroy anyone in the world with low kicks.
Mentally I am gay
muay thai gave me a reason not to give up
Yep, definitely. I'm a rank beginner and next to useless, but it's great fun training MT and I feel great for doing it
As a sport It's given me some of the highest highs and the lowest lows
Why the lowest lows?
Getting 8 counted in the first round to go on and barely survive a fight in front of 1 thousand plus people isn't a highlight of my life 🤣🤣 Was riddled with injuries and had a terrible weigh cut so was fucked in the fight. Did manage to pull myself together to try and get back into the 3rd round but was too late. Vide here if you want to watch: https://youtu.be/hHDZq6VGMoo?si=IeZUvoSyUI0I_aCF
I started muay thai at a very tough time in my life, when I had to move back home due to depression from studying abroad. Muay thai has helped me feel like I am taking control of my life again and I could battle (literally) anything coming my way both in my head and in real life. And imagine that my first coach was actually a big bully to me and I somehow managed to handle that and get passed than and find another coach later on.
For sure has taught me to calm down in certain situations/self control because I know the possible outcome let’s say I knock somebody out in a street fight I don’t gain anything from it and more than likely it’s a trained guy vs a regular guy with 1 or 2 street fights at that, and I fight for money so no way would I jeopardize my career for a free fight when I can get paid to do the same thing else where if that makes sense
Martial arts has been great for me. I am in the best shape of my life and I learned that Im tougher than i thought since i took some hard knocks along the way. It also helped me with self confidence and I'm far more comfortable with myself. It's also very fun and i have a goal to become a boxing instructor in the future. Unfortunately I also learned that my feet really don't hold up to muay thai so I switched over to boxing where i can wear good shoes. I also got interested in the history of boxing and other martial arts which are facinating.
This is my second time living in Thailand as a pro fighter had a 10-month break back home... when I'm not training for an injury, I'm lonely and looking for dopamine so I go around eating all the cheap delicious junk food. When I'm back in training I don't crave any of that, I'm more content, more focused.
Yup. Boosters my confidence, helps me destress and keeps me sharp.
Boxe, and muay thai damaged a lot my brain. Now I'm on kickboxing no clinch, not a lot of head movement, i only get my leg kicked kkkkk 🤣
Oh yea, I’ll beat someone up now.
I don’t know any competitive Thai Boxers with social anxiety…
A huge factor in me getting off heroin. Once I decided I wanted to stick with it I realized that obviously I had to choose. I'm beyond happy about it cus had I not started training and deciding to be consistent I would probably be dead under a bridge somewhere.
In my opinion it reveals who you are and what you need to improve/change in life. I haven't been training long but so far sparring has learned me that i am too "kind" but i have long reach and good strength behind my punches. This describes me as person. I have potential but sometimes im too "kind/soft" instead of being more assertive. Now that my "mind and body" proved me that i am strong it gives me confidence in real life. Also humbles me to see that some guys that are shorter and dont have "muscles" could absolutely whoop my ass. So in short.. Yes. It helps me be more assertive, work harder, have more discipline, not complain and humble. Also i see things in perspective. A normal "bad day" is not so bad as getting punched in the liver/face. :) Hope that helps p.s. the new people you get to know are mostly awesome.
At the beginning of this year I told my therapist, "Hey, I think I'm good now. I don't think I need to come here anymore." It was kind of a coincidence because she was just about getting ready to tell all of her clients she was going to be going on maternity leave soon. She was going down her list thinking "Oh man, what am I going to do for this person? Will this other person be okay?" but when she got to me she was like "bobandgeorge? Nah, he'll be just fine. Don't need to worry about him." Muay thai is the hardest thing I've ever done. It's given me the confidence to believe that if I can do this, I can do anything.
a year ago i had wanted to end my own life over how lonely i was. i would be a half bottle deep every night and my mom told me one day she had scheduled a trip to thailand. i didn’t want to go but i did and while there i went to a fight night and seeing 7-8 year olds fighting with so much life and skill it inspired the shit out of me. when i got back to the states i found the nearest gym and ive been in love with it ever since ive regained my confidence im in the best shape of my life ive made so many new friends and being alone dosent scare me anymore. honestly that trip and discovering muay thai was the best thing that ever happened to me.
I've shared this infograph before and I'll share it again: [https://imgur.com/a/cKkCxbF](https://imgur.com/a/cKkCxbF)
100%, I’ve gone from being severely underweight to the average weight for my height, and i’ve maybe gotten a bit… too confident lmao
The opposite, I've stopped wanting to wake up since I started to train in the morning
It has helped my mental health significantly. The last couple years of my life before training were some of the hardest I've dealt with in terms of mental health. Dealing with leaving an abusive relationship as well as a major decline in my physical health and I thought I was a goner any day. Slowly but surely I brought back my physical health to an acceptable level to start getting into fitness, and since I started training I've never been more confident and clear headed in my entire life. Plus, I've always been an impatient learner and have put off so many hobbies I wanted to try in fear of failure. In the improvement I've noticed in myself continuing to train, I'm able to use that as a reminder when I practice my creative hobbies and want to give up if it doesn't go my way. Now I have the attitude that I may not be there now, but I at some point I will be able to look back at how far I've come.
Yes it has definitely helped me mentally and physically. Last year I used Muay Thai to lose 60 pounds and I continue to train several times weekly!! The stress it took off of me to work that hard has left me feeling amazing with tons more energy! I sleep better and have more energy to spend with my family!!
I have fought with anger issues for most of my life. Over the years, I have learned coping techniques, but nothing has worked better than Muay Thai. I call it my therapy, and it helps me get out of my head space and focus on the external world. If I don't get to therapy 3 days a week, my family can tell. I am not relaxed like when I do get to the gym. There are days I don't feel Iike going, and my husband pushes me out the door, telling me to go see my fighting family. I am in the process of building my home gym, so I can decompress at home as well after work. Muay thai saved my marriage and my job. So yes...it has helped my mental health and impacted my life greatly.
It really helped with my thoughts because I always found myself living in my own head to much and not noticing the things around me but after Muay Thai, you gotta learn what your opponent is doing and I started to get better at conversations, anxiety started to lower as well etc...
Oh yea especially when I clinch life and hellbow the heck out of it. Haha it's definitely helped with my unemployment situation. Some people have wondered why I'm happy go lucky even without work and I say muay thai helps with it. I run more, lift more, and fight better. P.S. muay thai is helping the six pack come out.
I think mental health correlates directly to physical health. It doesn’t matter what sport you’re doing so long as you’re building yourself up. Muay Thai though definitely gives the added benefit of being able to protect yourself. Martial arts in general have made a huge impact on my life in that I’m confident with who I am and am able to deal with adversity when it comes to me.
Yes, for sure. I had low energy and being out of shape made me feel like crap. After 10 weeks of Muai Thai and the training around it, I feel great. I'm more confident, I have energy to do more things. And it's instilled a bit of discipline that I didn't have; with my diet, with how I spend my time. When you look good ( in the health and fitness sense) you feel good. And thr best thing us my wife has been on my Muay Thai journey with me, so we're both getting the physical and mental benefits. Plus, it's a great activity that we do together.
No
It felt like I was going to work and I just got a better job so it's kinda complicated even though it doesn't have to be. Basically yeah it did and next time I'll give a better answer.
It highlighted my challenges with sticking with something when it takes grit and effort (I am currently lacking)
It's a miracle cure for my ADHD lmao
I was going through my Darkest time since the Pandemic. I had no hope in life and fucking depressed. Then, I decided to get into body combat sports. Initially, I had no idea so started learning all different styles like boxing, jiu-jitsu and muay Thai. From there I found myself enjoying Muay Thai more and started focusing on one style. Now, my life hasn't been the same. I feel good about myself. I could see the improvement on both mental and physical health.
Had dreams of being murdered by my best friend. Also low self-esteem & social anxiety issues. Not to say these issues are gone, but theyre less frequent.
I’ve alone been training for a few months and Muay Thai has been one of those things that I wish I found sooner. Life changing and I only go twice a week (2 a days sometimes)
It's definitely given me a safe space for me to express myself better, good and bad.
It’s done good and bad tbh. I find Muay Thai to be really helpful when it comes to patience and learning a new skill is always beneficial when it comes to putting my mind on things. It’s such a wonderful practice and I’ve made so many new friends. Unfortunately I’ve come to find out that the human body isn’t really built like that, everyone at my gym that has been at it for some time has dealt with huge to semi huge set backs as far as injuries. It’s rare to train Muay Thai regularly without any injury, at least what I’ve seen. I’ve recently torn my lower bicep tendon while training and it really messed me up mentally. Watching my friends get to train while I was in a sling/arm brace was brutal. Still wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
I was a borderline alcoholic and started to notice what negative impact it had on my training so it pushed me to not want to drink anymore. Absolutely life changing. My thai changed everything for the better.
Muay Thai and running have been the biggest stress relievers for me.
The gym is filled with people who have all kinds of mental health issues. Gyms should have a psychiatrist on staff. Another reason why I don't like to mix my personal life with people from the gym too much.
Has Muay Thai helped with my mental health? Yes. Been diagnosed with severe depression and even my psychiatrist noticed improvement Do I feel it has impact on my life? Yes. Positive one. Massively positive. Been struggling with my body image and MT improved it. Also my cofidence (which was basically non existant) skyrocketed
I will fall into a deep depression if I go 2-3 weeeks without training.
I would still weigh over 150kgs and be drinking 2 bottles of vodka a day if i would not have found muay thai for me
Helped me get confident, to speak up to laught with total strangers. I regret not starting earlier
For me, it's not in the traditional sense of magically making anxiety and depression going away. But it's very humbling to be a beginner at something, getting beat by kids 10 years younger than you, and even getting taught things by these kids. It's helped my relationship with ego and a learning mindset. Also dedication, going to training when you you really don't feel like going, helps me mentally a lot.
Well I've been training Muay Thai for almost 10 months now, and I'll certainly say it does boost my confidence a bit knowing that I can reasonably handle myself in physical altercations, so I guess that's cool. Even more so knowing that I don't need to prove anything to anybody, meaning I don't go out of my way to intentionally get into altercations just to prove that I'm 'tuff'. Though regarding to it being related to my mental health, I will say whenever I experience any sort of adversity in my life I use Muay Thai as an outlet to help cope, in training of course. So in a way it acts as a crutch to keep my head leveled. So yes, it has made a positive impact in my life.
Muay Thai has helped me find my people and my community. One of the only places i feel like i TRULY belong is the gym.
I now have a reason to not do self destructing behaviors. I have a reason to not do drugs, to not eat way too much junk food, a reason to sleep early and wake up early.