One year ago, I discovered Muay Thai.It changed my life.

The story

How Muay Thai became part of my life

I found Muay Thai about a year ago, in Berlin, mostly out of curiosity. I had no background in martial arts and no plan beyond trying one class.

Training regularly changed that quickly. The sport turned out to be far more than physical exercise: it asks for consistency, patience with discomfort and fatigue, and a kind of attention that carries into the rest of the week.

Over time I became more interested in the techniques, the traditions and the culture behind the sport. That is why, in November 2026, I am moving to Thailand for six months to train full-time where Muay Thai developed.

1. Day 1

   Walking into a gym for the first time

   I walked into Super Jack Muay Thai's Mitte studio on a Monday evening in August 2025, after weeks of watching the windows light up on my way home from work. I borrowed gloves and wraps at the counter, stood at the back for the warm-up, and spent most of the class a beat behind everyone else. I left sore in muscles I didn't know I had, and I was back two days later.

2. First months

   Learning how little I knew

   The early weeks were mostly shins that bruised at the lightest contact with the bag, footwork that fell apart the moment I had to think about my hands too, and standing at the back copying whoever looked least lost. What kept me coming back wasn't progress — there wasn't much of it yet — it was that nobody in the room seemed to mind how new I was.

3. Finding my routine

   Training became part of the week

   By November, Tuesday and Thursday evenings plus a longer Saturday session had become fixed points I stopped negotiating with myself about. Other things moved around that — a standing dinner became a phone call instead — but training itself stopped feeling optional.

4. Learning the fundamentals

   Stance, guard, teep, roundhouse

   Over the winter the basics started to hold together: a stance I could actually move from, a guard that stayed up without thinking about it, a teep that did more than tap someone's hip. The roundhouse is still the kick I come back to most — the hip turn and the pivot on the standing foot change everything about how it lands.

5. Understanding the culture

   More than technique

   Around the six-month mark I started noticing things beyond technique: the wai kru before sparring, how trainers are addressed, the quiet way more experienced students correct a beginner without making it a moment. Nobody explained most of it directly — I picked it up by watching, and I'm still careful about claiming to understand more of it than I do.

6. November 2026

   Six months in Thailand

   Berlin gave me the fundamentals and a routine. In November 2026 I'm moving to Thailand for six months of immersive training — learning Muay Thai where it developed, and training every day instead of three times a week. This journal comes with me.