- Hey everybody, welcome to Life in Motion.
I am here with the head coach and owner
of F5 Strength and Muay Thai, Miss Roxy "Balboa" Richardson!
Give it up. Ahhh, I'm gonna have applause affects in there.
Ya-yah (laughs) (applause)
(energetic, bouncy music)
I am such a fan of mixed martial arts and Muay Thai.
To be honest with you, I don't know much about Muay Thai,
which is fascinating to me.
I want to learn. I'm so curious about it.
So what's the difference between kickboxing and Muay Thai?
- That's a really good question.
So the difference between the two
in the most basic sense is that Muay Thai
involves punches, kicks, elbows, and knees.
Whereas kickboxing is mostly just punches and kicks.
- Do we have a safe word? That's what I want to know.
(laughs) The safe word is...
"Help!"
So just real fast, tell me a little bit about yourself.
- I'm a former professional fighter.
So I fought for 10 years and I was the first
female fighter in the US to fight a
full rules professional Muay Thai fight
that was five, three minute rounds.
- [Derek] Wow.
- It was like love at first kick.
- So I'm in the company of a badass basically.
I'm a little nervous now (laughs).
Just kidding. Well, listen, I'm super excited.
I'm coming in here as a student.
Oh! And also, I brought my assistant, my friend
who I have been working with, Michelle.
Hey everybody, give it up for Michelle Micks, everybody.
(applause) Yeah!
She's also slash body guard.
I'm just kidding. But she-
- She looks like a body guard. (laughs)
- She used to fight as well. Right?
So she's going to take it with me as well.
Let's go. Alright!
- Let's do this.
- Let's go ladies. Let's rock and roll.
- Alright, so I'm gonna put your hand wraps on,
and these are to protect your hand, knuckles, your wrists.
- Yeah, usually when I'm doing street Muay Thai fighting-
- You just go bare knuckle? - That's it.
- Alright, there we go. How's that feel?
- It feels fantastic.
Ready to go. There's something about just punching.
It's visceral.
Let's do it.
- Okay, now when you're punching
you wanna make a tight fist at the end of the punch
and also use your breath in sync.
So you're gonna make a sound like "hush"
each time you punch.
(bouncy, bass thumping music) (hushes)
- Good. Nice work! - Alright!
- Yeah, you did pick up quick. (laughs)
Switch. - Get in there Michelle.
- It's your turn.
- I'm going to start break dancing (mumbling) back here.
(bouncy, bass thumping music) (hushes)
- Good. Nice work. I can see why she's your body guard.
- Seriously, right?
We're going on tour and she just started
boxing and I was like, "Michelle, what the heck.
"You're a ninja."
- So I'm gonna teach you an elbow.
Okay. With your guard up like this,
we're gonna do your right elbow first.
What I want you to do is you're going to be turning
your palm out underneath and then you're going to do
that same hip twist like you did with the cross
that's going to go across like that.
- Whoa (laughs), we getting the blades out.
(bouncy, bass thumping music) (hushes)
- There's something so satisfying about
hitting something with your elbow. (laughs)
- This is doing a lot of damage.
- Your elbows are- - Very pointy elbows.
- They're like knives!
- If it grazes, it cuts.
If you get a solid hit, it will definitely
knock someone out in the right place.
Yeah. So we are going to go right elbow, left elbow now.
Bop, bop. (elbow smacks)
Good and as you do, think L shapes, not helicopters.
- What do you mean not helicopters?
- So, not this. - Oh!
- Wait, so that's not Muay Thai? This isn't Muay Thai?
You sure about that? 'Cause from my studying ...
You need to try this, people.
This is so fun. This is awesome.
(bouncy, bass thumping music)
- Good. Nice work.
- Yo! Give me that, Michelle. Give me that!
Or I should say, give me that! (laughs)
- So we're going to move on and do some kicks.
- I love it.
- You guys have seen Muay Thai kicks right?
Okay, step number 1 is distance, so before
you start your kick just make sure you're about
your lead hand's reach away from the bag or the pad.
Hush.
- Ugh.
- Okay, so I'm hitting with my shin.
Which is the lower two thirds of the shin, not my foot.
So when I come over, I have to turn
and pivot as well as swipe this hand to get my hip
and shoulder to move that way.
There's a lot going on,
but I kind of think of it in three steps;
distance, cutting the angle,
turning and pivoting the kick.
- Hush. (kick thuds)
- One more.
- Hush. (kick thuds)
- Good.
- Hush. (kick thuds)
- Cool.
- (hushes) (kicks thud)
- And this is the first time
you've ever done a Muay Thai kick?
- Yes.
- And that's the first time you've ever
pivoted like that on a kick? - Is that good?
- 'Cause I normally never see people get it that fast.
- Yes!
- That was great. - I'm the best. I'm the best.
- [Roxy] Alright, let's have you try your right kick.
(confident, rhythmic rock music)
- So what we're gonna do now,
is we're gonna do a little Thai Pad Work.
You're a pretty flexible guy so I'm sure
you can just hit the center of the pad. (laughs)
So, we're gonna start out with a jab.
Hush.
And then you're gonna step a little bit out,
cut the angle, and throw that kick.
Good. Again. (hushes)
(confident, rhythmic rock music)
- You know what I'm not doing? Hushin'.
- [Roxy] Hush. You gotta breathe-
I just caught myself. I was going ... (grunts)
- [Roxy] Holding your breath.
- Alright, I gotta hush it.
- Got a lot more power when you breathe.
So when you say hush, you actually get
a little bit of a inhale before you exhale.
Hush. Right? Inhale, exhale. Hush.
So that means you're not gonna forget to breathe.
(bright electronic music)
Good. Nice job.
- Whoo- - Alright.
- Alright, as you can tell...
I'm a little out of breath.
It's an incredible workout. Just by the way,
it's something so...
just like, primal.
It feels so good just to kinda hit something
but to, in a safe way (laughs).
You know what I mean? In this environment, I should say.
- In a controlled sport. - Controlled sport.
But when you feel that connection,
something just like surges through
your body like it's a release.
Ah, I love it. I love it.
If you're feeling like a little like tense or upset,
go to a Muay Thai class, man. This is amazing.
- We all have angry feelings. We all get upset sometimes
and this is a really healthy way to do it
in an environment that's really positive.
- You know for a long time I used to think
of anger as like a weakness.
And you know I used to think well I'm not angry,
I'm not an angry person.
But there's like this pendulum of emotion I feel like
you feel good and then I think
it's equally important to also honor those emotions.
And I feel like, for me at least, honor it in
a physical safe environment like this.
But also to release it and to let it go.
- Alright, so I'm gonna teach you a knee.
Pretty easy to learn,
so we're just gonna mix it into the pad work.
You're gonna make your leg into kinda like an arrow
and you're gonna go up onto the ball of your foot as
you thrust your hips in.
- So I'm gonna actually grab my belly pad
because I find it is a lot more satisfying to knee
where you actually would be kneeing.
- Let me do it softly.
- Give it a shot. It's fine, this a really thick pad.
- Here? - Yup.
- Now we getting in Muay Thai territory right now.
Here we go.
(bright electronic music) (hushes)
- Hush. - Psych! (laughs)
(bright electronic music)
- You guys wanna learn one more strike?
- Let's do it. - [Michelle] Yes.
- Okay. It's called the Teep.
It's the Thai word for push kick or front kick.
So using the ball of your foot,
you typically would be timing an opponent
so as they're coming toward you.
(bouncy, bass thumping beat)
- Good. Alright. Left one's a little different-
- That's what I was like ...
I'm gonna miss your foot. I'm gonna miss you completely.
- So I'm gonna demo really quick
but I'm not gonna really hit you.
It's just gonna go like that. - Oh.
- And you go down. So it's like pop.
Alright? Some people call it a foot jab.
It's like a jab with your foot.
- Okay. Hush. - Yup.
(intense, bass thumping beat) Hush.
- Yeah, she's got that one down.
- Want to show us the spinning back one? (laughs)
- Sure.
- So what we have in Muay Thai is a spinning back elbow.
So if you know that footwork.
Yeah, what you're gonna do is you take the front foot
and you step across and you'd step to about
there and then turn to there and keeping that other one up.
Yup. Let's give it a try.
- Hush. - Yup.
- Hush. - Good.
- Hush. - Good.
Alright, we'll swap you out with him.
- Ding, ding, ding, ding.
Okay, I want to do this slowly.
- [Michelle] Tag team.
(intense, bass thumping music) (hushes)
- One more. One more. One, two.
(hushes) Good.
- Nice work (laughs). That was great.
Did you guys have any questions?
- When are your classes? - Yeah, right?
- (laughs) When are your classes?
You know one thing I loved about
what you were talking about earlier was,
that you have people who come that just want
to feel better about themselves.
I love that.
Why do you think they feel better
about themselves when they learn?
- When they train, I think it's a really rewarding thing
like we are talking about the mental aspect of fitness.
So, you know we really, we tell people
that by coming here we promise them
that we're gonna help them get strong and confident.
We try not to focus on weight loss
because we find upon focusing on that,
it makes people pretty neurotic
and they're just not enjoying the experience as much.
So we focus on learning things,
practicing them, getting good at that.
And when you train like that as an athlete, you know,
you're gonna get a body that you like.
We find that really makes our students a lot more
confident because they feel accomplished.
- Yeah, yeah. And I feel like as well
it's not just moving, it's you're learning.
I feel like progress equals happiness, you know what I mean?
When you're progressing in something,
when you get better at something.
You feel good about yourself, right?
And even just honestly myself, right now,
I'm like I just learned something new,
I've never done it before, and I feel like wow,
I'm walking away feeling really good.
Like really, really good
because I'm walking away with a new skill.
A new thing I've never done before in my life.
I love it. Thank you so much!
- Yeah! - Oh my gosh.
- Yeah, thank you for coming.
- Yeah, I'm like I went to go shake your hand and
I was like hello.
- Yeah, thank you.
- What do we do here?
- So it's here and then Wai and then we Wai to the altar.
You say sawatdi khrap, which is thank you.
- Sawatdi khrap?
- Sawatdi khrap. It's kinda like Sweaty Cup.
- I was just gonna say.
- Our pronunciation isn't the best, but-
- Wasn't gonna say that.
- I assure you that's how you say it. Yup.
- I certainly might have one right now.
(laughs) I'm just kidding.
Alright, guys thank you so much
for joining me once again.
Thank you so much Roxy for showing Michelle
and I the ropes in Muay Thai.
So much fun. Loved it.
Just the release of energy.
The satisfaction of hitting a pad, hitting a mitt.
I highly, highly recommend it.
Anybody out there just remember,
just stay physical, stay active.
It's part of who we are.
Please don't forget to comment.
I wanna hear about how you release stress.
Whether it be positive for fun, or anger, or stress.
Whatever it might be, I wanna hear about it.
See ya next time and don't forget to subscribe.
See you soon.
(slow, steady beat)
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