We Should All Get Humbled a Bit

by Michael Sahno, MS APK, TSAC-F

I got humbled. I thought that I was in shape, but knew that I needed to push a little harder and add to my training regimen, so that I could lose some of the nagging extra weight that I was carrying. To do this, I upped my training regimen and added a lot of active movement to my workout. Ruck marches with weight, sprints, knee raises to enhance hip mobility, a ton of stuff all packed into a week. A long, damn week.

While training I would up watching a video on YouTube. DAMN YOU You Tube!!! The video in my feed was of an MMA fighter named Dakota Ditcheva. She is a beast. Both in the ring and in the gym. What was most interesting was that most of her non fighting training was very similar to my routine. So… I, apparently, train like an MMA champion! Whoa there, buddy. You might want to pump the brakes a bit. Regardless, I was stoked that I had an insight into training that had me on a similar training path.

What this video showed me though, was that there was a HUGE hole in MY training. You see, Dakota Ditcheva, before she was an MMA champ, was a Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing) champ. To me, that was what I was missing. I NEED to learn Muay Thai! To be sure, I went down the rabbit hole of rabbit holes on YouTube and consumed an unhealthy amount of Muay Thai content. Everything from fights, to documentaries, to reviews of the best equipment. (GOD, I want a pair of orange boxing gloves!) In the end I realized that I needed to join a Muay Thai gym and take a class. I needed to start the journey.

So, that’s what I did. I went down (it is literally in a basement) and signed up. I have never been so nervous and anxious in my life. It took me a week to get myself to my first class. I think that I came up with every possible way to attempt to talk myself out of showing up. Ironically though, as these thoughts were pummeling my skull and trying their best to turn me around, my feet kept chugging along, taking me toward the direction of the gym.

Long story short, I got smoked. In the warm-up. I was NOT Dakota Ditcheva. I was not in the shape that I thought that I was. But, you know what. I was happy. I smiled through the whole class. Like an idiot. Grinning from ear-to-ear. This is going to be my new thing. I needed to get out of my safe zone and go back to being a learner. a student. And, I recommend that you do the same. I think being humbled is a good thing. You should try it some time.

Enjoy!