Muay Thai Fit at ATT Altitude

People want to be in shape but are bored with regular exercise. Mainly, because many people just don’t know how to exercise, which workout routines to follow, how to cycle them, which ones will meet their specific needs or possible restrictions etc.

Machines make it easier, but not effortless. Weight loss plateaus do to a lack of understanding. People don’t know enough routines to change things up and they simply get on the same machines day after day. Exercise becomes mundane rather quickly, weight loss stalls, and people just quit.

The biggest successes come from people who find something active they love to do. When someone discovers they love to run, love to bike, or hike this makes a transition to a healthier lifestyle much easier. These are things that could be done daily. Other activities include basketball, tennis, and other such games that require a high physical output.

Combat training in any form is arduous and you can get you in the best shape of your life. There is a reason people gravitate to these forms of exercise in lieu of the traditional forms of conditioning. They’re just more fun and you feel as if you are learning something. It beats spending a half hour an elliptical reading US Magazine.

I’ve trained in most combat sports and still do. I currently train and complete in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I train in boxing, MMA, and now more specifically Muay Thai. Every single one of these combat forms puts your body through a different kind of conditioning. I went into BJJ and grappling from competing in Olympic length Triathlons. I figured, “I’ve gotta be in the best shape compared to all these guys.” I’ve never been more wrong. Grappling conditioning is a completely different type of conditioning. For 3 years I’ve trained and successfully competed in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Training has kept me in what I thought was peak condition. It was peak condition for BJJ. Then I went to a Muay Thai class hosted by Master Hung Tran in Longmont. 

I showed up for a regular Muay Thai class at Master Tran’s invitation. The group was extremely diverse. When we were split up into lines I had a woman who was in her late fifties and a young woman who was about twenty. As class went on and we paired up for various drills, I saw that we had people of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds. They all had one thing in common…they all had better Muay Thai conditioning than me. These people were having a great time and were blowing through kicking drills that would have professional fighters hunched over sucking air. Master Tran has created a Muay Thai program that is safe for any person at any fitness level and age. His program is based around the principles of teaching the technical aspects of Muay Thai while getting people in the best shape of their lives. Most of these people have no desire to compete in professional combat sports (although some fighters are mixed in the class) they are just average people who wanted to do something fun and different to get in shape, and in great shape is what they are. These people have also committed themselves to learning the art of Muay Thai. Through a great belt system based on both technique and fitness requirements, these people ascend the ranks. Now their devotion has become about more than just meeting their fitness/weight loss goals.

If you are interested in Master Tran's Academy in Longmont Click here

After my visit, I invited Master Tran to our gym, American Top Team Altitude to do a seminar. Bobby Lashley was so impressed with Master Tran’s program that we have opted to work hard to implement his program in our gym. This is where we are today. In the coming year we will work with Master Tran to get officially certified under his association, but in the meantime we will be starting a Muay Thai Fit program at ATT Altitude using the exact curriculum Master Tran uses at his academy.

This program is for people of all ages and fitness levels. The goal is to help you reach your fitness and health goals through Muay Thai training. This is also a class that will offer technical training for people who wish to learn the true art of Muay Thai. I can promise you a few things if you come down and try our Muay Thai fit class, a great time, a great workout, and a great learning environment for Muay Thai.

Many women come into our gym and are understandably afraid to try our combat classes such as boxing, MMA, and BJJ. They see the men training and feel they have no place in those classes. This is completely wrong, women are more than welcome and encourages to try every class we offer. Until Muay Thai, Most of our female members stuck to our cardio classes. Now we have a technical combat class that is also a conditioning class that is filling up with women. This is a very exciting for us all. 

Since implementing the program we have a great class going with a lot of fun energy and desire to improve both physically and technically. Our class is 60% female with three married couples attending class together. They support each other both in class and outside of it. I often joke that my class has become a form of couple’s therapy. More than that, many of the members who came in with specific fitness and weight loss goals, now have specific Muay Thai goals. What are your goals and what will they become once you begin your journey?

 Come down to ATT Altitude and try our class, let's see where it takes you. 

Fit kids ARE smarter!

I’m a very active person. With my first child, I didn’t consider how my fitness habits impacted him. I just exercised regularly and whether my son noticed or not…I really didn’t give it much thought. When he was coordinated enough to join sports, he did without hesitation, soccer, football, baseball, whatever. He was a very physically apt child.

This didn’t strike me as unique because when I was growing up, all kids were physical. We all loved to be outside with our friends wearing ourselves out for hours doing just about anything that required energy. The worse thing that could possibly happen to us was getting “grounded”. Nobody wanted that. Not being able to go outside and play with your friends was a death sentence.  This isn’t the case nowadays. Just take a drive around a few neighborhoods…where the heck are all the kids? Back in the day, you could bump into a group of kids every block playing sports, skating, biking, chasing each other, just moving. Kids aren’t out and about nowadays, they’re indoors, living a sedentary existence during the most crucial time of their lives. The time in which healthy active habits can be formed and carried through their entire lives. A time where balance and coordination is honed during awkward growth spurts.

When my son was in elementary school I learned that he didn’t have physical education class until sixth grade. This was never more evident then when my wife asked him to show us jumping jacks when he was ten…he couldn’t do them, didn’t have the coordination, was never taught. Are you serious? I was in P.E. in first grade and I worked hard to get my Presidential Physical Education patch every single year through all of elementary school.

I kept my son active in sports and soon we enrolled him in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing. This was just around the time his hormones were raging and so was he. It was in an effort to help him learn humility. What he got was so much more. My son is a baseball fanatic, he loves to play it, watch it, dream about it. He was always “okay” but never the best player. After ramping up his physical fitness to include martial arts, baseball, basketball, and even tennis, his skills on the field began to blossom. The last two years he made the all star team and this year he won every award for his league, best batting average, fastest runner, most bases stolen, fastest throw, and on and on. On top of all this, his grades increased to perfection. My son has maintained a 4.0 GPA from 6^th to 8^th grade and this earned him admission and a scholarship to Regis High School.

I never attempted to put it all together. The physical fitness he engaged in and his grades. I just thanked God for blessing me with such an intelligent and driven child. But after reading Fit kids are smarter in the Huffington Post by former Olympian Jeff Galloway, I started to understand the direct connection between my son’s physical prowess and intellectual achievements. I continued to read and found another article in the New York Times, and another on active.com.

When my second child, my little princess Janessa, came along. I started to realize that my fit lifestyle directly influenced my children. My daughter could barely stand on her own before she was trying to exercise like me. Just like my son, my daughter became physical the moment she was coordinated enough. Much to my wife’s dismay, Janessa took to boxing at the age of five. My wife wanted a gymnast, now she’s got a six-year-old girl who can throw crisp punch combinations and jump rope for five minutes straight. No joke.

I am a trainer myself and I train in cross fit, kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and anything else that gets my heart rate up. My entire family trains at one place…American Top Team Altitude. My daughter is part of the youth boxing program. My son and I compete regularly in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions and we kickbox together.

Don’t let your children be part of the 17% that are currently obese, or the almost 30% that are completely sedentary. Make physical fitness a family affair. Come check out our Family fitness center and let’s get the entire family where they should be…happy and healthy!