Fighting fit at any age
My Muay Thai journey began in my fifties, during a trip to Singapore. I had discovered Evolve MMA through YouTube and was especially inspired by their Student of the Month videos — many of which featured older students. It was so encouraging to see how Muay Thai had positively transformed their lives.
At the time, I wasn’t in great shape. My fitness level was low, and I wasn’t leading the healthiest lifestyle. But I did have the mental strength and the desire to give Muay Thai a go. Above all else, it just looked like a lot of fun.
I joined classes at Evolve MMA (I attended their Far East Square branch), where sessions last around an hour. They even offer a special tourist membership, which is ideal for travellers. My first class was exhausting — but incredibly enjoyable. I quickly realized that I would need to set my own pace when it came to progress, but I was hooked from day one. I felt like a new person after just one session. It was amazing. One lesson to note that I learned the hard way, kick pads with your lower shin and not the top of your foot!
As it turns out, my first pad holder was Daorung Sityodtong, also known as “Papa Daorung,” a Muay Thai legend in his own right. Every member of staff I met at Evolve MMA was welcoming and helpful, and the atmosphere was genuinely positive. I’d highly recommend the gym to anyone visiting Singapore.
Of course, Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand — so when I returned from Singapore, I began researching places to train there. That’s when I came across Brad Newton’s YouTube channel, which promotes what he calls “Fitness Street” — Soi Taied in Phuket. His videos really sparked my interest and led me to dig deeper into the training options on Soi Taied. Before long, I was booking a trip to Phuket to continue my journey (more on that in an upcoming post!).
Further inspiration
I'm not sure how much of a YouTuber I plan to be, but I wanted to share this video featuring two great people who have inspired me on my journey so far. This is a short of Scott doing the pad holders course with Kru Marn, which I've posted on the YouTube channel @muaythai50plus. I'm going to attempt this course myself at Dragon in November (what could possibly go wrong!). Watch this space for updates on that story, and my other adventures on that trip.
Singapore to Soi Taied
Since then, I’ve travelled to Phuket to further my Muay Thai training and hope to return again later this year. Throughout this time, the idea for this blog took shape — a space for people over 50, who are often underrepresented in fitness content, to share their experiences and support one another.
In this age of instant and disposable content, I would like to preserve and perhaps promote more use of the written word. My aim will be to write as much as I can as well as sharing pictures and video content as I think they compliment each other well.
That’s why I created Muay Thai at 50 Plus. My goal is to share my own journey, but also to encourage others to share theirs. I never believed I could write anything let alone start blogging, but here I am giving it a go. If you have any questions or stories of your own, please get in touch — you’ll be most welcome.
During my first trip to Soi Taied I did not capture any content nor make any notes really. It was more about acclimatising and judging if it was the right place for me. It certainly was. I split my time across two gyms, Tiger Muay Thai for group classes in the morning (2 hrs), and then Phuket Dragon Muay Thai for private sessions in the afternoons (1 hr). Note: I haven't linked Dragon's website here as it does not use "https". My trainer for the privates at Dragon was Kru Marn (awesome guy!). It took about a week to get used to the training in Phuket and it was very hard to start with due to my lack of fitness (and age) and the fact that the camps are outdoors under tin roofs, with no aircon. There are some fans though if you're lucky enough to get near one. For me, this all added to the authenticity of training Muay Thai and really enhanced the experience.
I was very disciplined on this first trip and it was pretty much WAKE UP - HUSSLE - SLEEP - REPEAT, which was what I wanted. I stayed hydrated with my 2-3 litres of water every day, diluted with electrolytes of course (thanks Brad Newton!). I love Thai food so eating local cuisine was not a problem for me. I tend to find trying to eat western food when in Thailand usually ends in disappointment - which is understandable. I did bring a couple of creature comforts with me though, in the shape of Yorkshire Gold Tea, and my trusty laptop with HDMI cable to attach to the telly when needed. Actually, if you are interested in Thailand then I stumbled across a couple of YouTube channels I enjoyed watching during down time - Bangkok Pat (clue is in the name) and Grumpy Old Men (clue is) which is on Tim Newton's channel. One of these days I need to learn some Thai I think.
On this trip I stayed at the beautiful Coco Retreat Resort. Certainly not the most modest accommodation but I wanted to balance all the training with some zen style rest and recovery. I'd highly recommend this resort for anyone with the budget to cope. Now that I am a blogger though (I guess), I plan to go into more detail producing pics and vids as well as words for the places I visit on my Muay Thai journey. So I won't go into detail on anything right now, those blogs are yet to come. Stay tuned!
In future posts, I plan to review some of the gyms I’ve visited, always from the perspective of someone 50+, but if there’s anything specific you’d like me to write about just let me know.
Share Your Story
Everyone's journey is unique, and I invite you to share your experience with Muay Thai or any martial arts endeavour after 50. Together, we can create a supportive community.
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