The story so far
How Muay Thai became part of my life
Written as it happened: curiosity first, then routine, then something closer to a practice — and next, six months in Thailand.
Beginning
I discovered Muay Thai around a year ago while living in Berlin. It started as curiosity — one class, no expectations, no background in martial arts.
Training regularly turned out to be the difficult part, and the valuable part. Showing up on cold evenings when nothing about it felt convenient taught me more about discipline than any single technique did.
Learning to work with discomfort and fatigue changed how I approach other things too: I am more focused, and my week has a shape it did not have before.
The longer I train, the more interested I become in the techniques, the traditions and the culture behind the sport — and in learning it properly. That is why, in November 2026, I am leaving Berlin for six months of immersive training in Thailand.
Timeline
Milestones, in order
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.