New gym.. sort of a rant

[mnmcdonald]

I recently moved to a new area, and there is only one gym here that offers Muay Thai. The next nearest gym is an hour to an hour and a half away, and that's my old gym that I stopped going to for several reasons (of which a few are no longer issues, but where old ones fade new ones pop up). So I decided to try this gym near me and see how it goes. Right? Right.

 

I messed up the first time I went and accidentally showed up for BJJ. I stayed anyways because in my very limited experience BJJ was pretty fun. The people seemed good. The instructions pretty clear. People willing to help explain a little more in detail if something didn't feel right, etc. I thought that would have been a good indicator for how the other class would be. Certainly eased the incredible amount of anxiety I had managed to build up over trying a new gym.

 

So tonight was my second attempt at attending their Muay Thai class. And there was no clear time as to when class started. No clear idea who the instructor was going to be. No clear anything. The instructions weren't clear. I asked. And tried. I tried to take my time to learn and slow everything down a bit, and they became frustrated with me because I wasn't "flowing". I felt like I was flowing. They kept interrupting my attempts. Almost felt like I was being snapped at. Not instructed. Not taught. And it was a similar feeling as to what I experienced and eventually led me to stop attending my last gym. As I type this I'm realizing that.

 

I didn't voice my concerns. I didn't ask them to stop. I didn't tell them that I wasn't getting it. I didn't communicate. I see that. Now. I don't know if that's normally how a class is conducted. I don't know who all of the instructors are. There are a lot of unknowns and I recognize that that's no ones fault in particular. Yes there are things I could have done differently, and yes there are things they could have done differently.

 

Regarding the content of the class.. it was *soooo* different than other Muay Thai classes I've done. I can't currently figure out how to describe why it was so different. If I manage to figure that out I'll update this but as of right now.. it just felt so uncomfortable.

 

I can't begin to explain how much learning and practicing Muay Thai means to me, but do I want to try this place again? And if I go and its still not what I need out of a gym, do I continue to go out of sheer need to practice somewhere despite it not being what I need? Or do I try and do it on my own? (That doesn't seem likely.. I struggle enough to motivate myself to get out of bed most days.) or do I try and figure out how to financially make a commute to a gym I purposefully left to try and get practice in?

 

At what point does my level of discomfort become regressive instead of progressive? Is there such a thing?

 

I've tried to talk to and explain this to my family. But they don't get it. I don't know if I'm looking for answers or insight or what. Any input welcome.

[Micc]

First off, props to you for the courage to try out a new gym!

I can relate to your experience as I also have a gym close by, which is pretty nice and new, but the intructions and training is...just horrible. So I stopped going there and commute to a gym that's a bit far away, but I like the way we train there. But it's only half an hour for me, so not as bad.

If you felt bad already after the first training than it's probably not the right place for you. BUT. I am a fan of giving a new place time. Maybe there's a rotation of trainers and on a different day it would be better? Maybe go to BJJ more often and to MT when you feel you have it in you to keep up with the instructions there? It's hard to say for sure what you should do, because you know best what kind of training and instructions you need. But sometimes, out of doing something uncomfortable, something good comes about. 

If I were in your place, I'd give it a try and endure it for a month or two. And decide after I got some understanding of how this particular gym/trainer does his thing. If even after a few times you still feel bad about the training then...well...you need to look for other options :(

[bakpao]

I'd try a few more times, if it really isn't your thing then you can find an alternative. But that's just me personally.

[mnmcdonald]

Well, I went back.

 

The difference was astounding. Idk how exactly I ended up in the MMA style class instead of the striking class.. not even really sure they were going to have a striking class.. still figuring that out but that's beside the point. The point being that I went back and it was completely different. I've talked to a few people about this to kind of think out loud why I struggled so much with last weeks class and have come up with a few explanations. The largest explanation being that I was probably giving myself too high a threshold and expectation, and just ended up letting myself down. The next, and while not as large but still pretty important, is that one of the instructors and the way he treated me and his personality was reminiscent of my first coach.. the one who I did not in the end have a good experience with.. and an ex of mine. I think it really fucked with my head. Like, really fucked with my head. I'm glad I went back. Still going to give it another couple of go's I think before I fully commit to it though.

[dtrick924]

Glad you got a chance to go back and have a better experience.

[515]

I am happy to hear that it was a lot better this time, let's hope for some more good classes to come.