My name is Michael Alexander Moran and I have a mistress.
Her name is Muay Thai and what can I say, she fascinates me.
Now I would say most of the people I am acquainted with know this, yet the vast majority of them do not share my passion nor understand why I love Muay Thai so. Wherever I go whoever I mention anything about Muay Thai to, immediately gasp and automatically label me as a brute. I would like to take this time and confirm that I am neither of the following: a meat head, savage, nor am I suicidal or homicidal. My mother hugged me enough growing up and despite being picked on in middle school, I don’t harbor that rage and bring it into the ring.
Muay Thai has gathered a bad rap from even other martial arts that frown upon it as it being too brutal. In all actuality as deadly as the art is, it is still a sport and not a fight. In amateur competitions you wear head gear, gloves, shin pads, a cup, a mouth piece; you fight in rounds, and have a referee who arbitrates the match. Fighters don’t hop over the ropes with a 9mm or beer bottle and bite or claw there way to maim there opponent. I see my opponent as family we share one love and he is one of the few people who does understand me and my aspirations. Not only does he understand them, he shares them with me. Adversity makes us stronger and our challenges become stepping stones that will take us to the next level.
I love my opponent. We are a species derived from hunters and gatherers that the media would tell you are made of glass, but with the ebb and flow of time our bodies have evolved and are more than able to endure punishment. Lazy and weak minds spread their fear to others feeling as though a punch in the face is the end of the world, a simple paper cut necessitates copious amounts of Neosporin, or that bruises will last forever. I fight because I honestly believe we are all just product of our thoughts.
Muay Thai, exercise, and life in general is a mental game. I test my mettle in the gym and through the baptism of fire I see what I am truly made of. Muay Thai is one the most challenging quests you can set upon, and through your journey you expose truth and prepare yourself for life. Now if shin splints, black eyes, and muscle exertion scare you, then I invite you to please lock yourself up in your room, stick to video games, and obsessively use hand sanitizer because life is dirty and life is hard. Muay Thai is sweet. Muay Thai is power. Muay Thai takes a group of men who embrace life for its totality and who discover themselves together, thus establishing a bond created in the trenches of battle that becomes more than simple friendship, it becomes brotherhood.
Muay Thai isn’t simply a hobby or a pastime it is a commitment, it is a lifestyle. You can’t truly appreciate air until you have pushed yourself hard enough to where you can no longer catch your breathe. You can’t truly appreciate a gulp of water or a bite to eat until you have burnt out all of your reserves. You will never enjoy being able to move a muscle until you’ve worked it to the point in which it feels as though it is no longer there. You can’t experience pleasure till you have felt pain. Through constantly pushing and testing myself I’ve tried to find myself but all that I’ve found was that I didn’t find myself, I made myself. So yes I have a mistress, her name is Muay Thai, and she I am forever indebted to her. I am Mike Moran and this is why I do what I do.
Her name is Muay Thai and what can I say, she fascinates me.
Now I would say most of the people I am acquainted with know this, yet the vast majority of them do not share my passion nor understand why I love Muay Thai so. Wherever I go whoever I mention anything about Muay Thai to, immediately gasp and automatically label me as a brute. I would like to take this time and confirm that I am neither of the following: a meat head, savage, nor am I suicidal or homicidal. My mother hugged me enough growing up and despite being picked on in middle school, I don’t harbor that rage and bring it into the ring.
Muay Thai has gathered a bad rap from even other martial arts that frown upon it as it being too brutal. In all actuality as deadly as the art is, it is still a sport and not a fight. In amateur competitions you wear head gear, gloves, shin pads, a cup, a mouth piece; you fight in rounds, and have a referee who arbitrates the match. Fighters don’t hop over the ropes with a 9mm or beer bottle and bite or claw there way to maim there opponent. I see my opponent as family we share one love and he is one of the few people who does understand me and my aspirations. Not only does he understand them, he shares them with me. Adversity makes us stronger and our challenges become stepping stones that will take us to the next level.
I love my opponent. We are a species derived from hunters and gatherers that the media would tell you are made of glass, but with the ebb and flow of time our bodies have evolved and are more than able to endure punishment. Lazy and weak minds spread their fear to others feeling as though a punch in the face is the end of the world, a simple paper cut necessitates copious amounts of Neosporin, or that bruises will last forever. I fight because I honestly believe we are all just product of our thoughts.
Muay Thai, exercise, and life in general is a mental game. I test my mettle in the gym and through the baptism of fire I see what I am truly made of. Muay Thai is one the most challenging quests you can set upon, and through your journey you expose truth and prepare yourself for life. Now if shin splints, black eyes, and muscle exertion scare you, then I invite you to please lock yourself up in your room, stick to video games, and obsessively use hand sanitizer because life is dirty and life is hard. Muay Thai is sweet. Muay Thai is power. Muay Thai takes a group of men who embrace life for its totality and who discover themselves together, thus establishing a bond created in the trenches of battle that becomes more than simple friendship, it becomes brotherhood.
Muay Thai isn’t simply a hobby or a pastime it is a commitment, it is a lifestyle. You can’t truly appreciate air until you have pushed yourself hard enough to where you can no longer catch your breathe. You can’t truly appreciate a gulp of water or a bite to eat until you have burnt out all of your reserves. You will never enjoy being able to move a muscle until you’ve worked it to the point in which it feels as though it is no longer there. You can’t experience pleasure till you have felt pain. Through constantly pushing and testing myself I’ve tried to find myself but all that I’ve found was that I didn’t find myself, I made myself. So yes I have a mistress, her name is Muay Thai, and she I am forever indebted to her. I am Mike Moran and this is why I do what I do.
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