Taking up the World's Most Violent sport at 58... BAD Idea?

Taking up the World’s Most Violent sport at 58… BAD Idea?

So as 2025 ended I was looking to change my focus for my hobby and also my holidays.

Let me explain.

In years gone by I found that the typical fly-and-flop holidays were OK, but a little boring and insular. You could be  by the resort pool, sipping on your cold beer, but you could be anywhere in the world. No cultural interaction with that country.

I wanted something more integrated with the country I was visiting. So, a few years ago I decided to do cycle tours, where you cycle from one resort to another, immersing yourself in country away from the tourist traps. My first cycling holiday was Bangkok to Phuket, around 1,000km over 10 days. I saw the real Thailand, met the real locals, and of course ate the real Thai food.

While I was in Phuket, I visited the famous Bangtao Gym and was impressed by how large-scale, professional and friendly it was. By comparison it would match or better any gym in New Zealand. It was full of tourists from all around the world doing the sports tourism holiday.

I thought it would be super cool to do a holiday training Muay Thai sometime. Muay Thai  if you didn’t know, is considered one of the most violent martial arts — it is called the art of eight limbs. Which is a polite way of saying you have boxing and kicking, but with the addition of elbows and knees. Just YouTube some of the professional fights to get a taste.  Nasty!

Not the sort of thing a 58-year-old typically takes up.

So late in 2025, inspired by a younger friend who had done exactly this, I decided to start training for a Muay Thai holiday in Thailand in 2026.

I asked my friend — who had spent 8 weeks training in Phuket — which gym he would recommend in Auckland. I was imagining the gym I would find would have expert Thai instructors from Thailand. Who better to teach you than a Thai expert who has been immersed in the art since childhood?

He recommended 789 Muay Thai in Mount Roskill. After a quick Google search, I found it was run by two guys — Stephen Lyons an American from the Mid-West in the USA, and Taras Barbashin from Russia. I went back to my mate and asked was he sure this was the best one? He said yup — in fact he said it was the best one in Auckland. I figured he should know; After all he had spent two months training Muay Thai in Phuket.

So, I popped in to meet Taras, the Russian guy. I explained that I would start training with his club in December 2025 with the plan of knowing the basics by September 2026 for my holiday.

So, at 58, while I was fit for distance exercise, I soon found out that Muay Thai is shorter, more intense exercise -- and it requires a flexibility that at 58 I simply didn’t have.

The first month was spent just trying to get my head around the basics, getting my fitness to a level where I could handle the hour sessions, and slowly making myself more flexible.

As it turns out, both Taras and Stephen are highly experienced Muay Thai instructors and genuinely excellent coaches. In fact, both have trained extensively in Muay Thai and other martial arts.

 So, we were at ground zero at the beginning of 2026. In cycling terms, I had my training wheels on — a complete beginner.

I started with the group classes at 789. As is typical in these classes, there is a wide range of skill levels. I found this a little challenging as I was more often than not paired with someone with far more experience or someone with even less skills than myself.

Just by chance, around this time 789 employed another trainer called Bahar — a young Thai guy, a professional instructor from Thailand. In fact, he’s been learning the art since the age of 8. But more importantly he is a gifted teacher of the art. This meant he was able to meet me at my level and help me upskill.

I ordered a banana punching bag for home, ditched the group classes in favour of home workouts, and combined this with one-on-one PT sessions with Bahar.

The goal is to be at a basic skill and fitness level for my holiday and spend a block of time focused on getting to the next level.

So, the plan is to head to Bangkok and train for one day at the famous PK Saenchai gym, then travel to Pattaya and train at one of the Muay Thai gyms there. In fact, some of the gyms are 5 minutes’ walk to Pattaya’s famous beaches, allowing for a holiday experience when not training.

789 Muay Thai has been very helpful in getting me up to speed on the basics, and patient with me as a beginner. Stephen encourages a friendly atmosphere in the club with a real sense of community.

The remarkable thing about Muay Thai in Thailand, is that even professional champions are expected to be humble and modest.  The instructors at 789 reflect this attitude with their club being welcoming and friendly but still offering top notch training.

So, was it a bad idea to train Muay Thai at 58? Maybe, let’s see how the Thailand training goes.

by Owen Stobart