Su Lin Leong was working as a journalist for Cleo magazine when she interviewed a Muay Thai fighter as part of a feature on 50 of the most eligible bachelors. Leong talks to Juliette Sivertsen about how she became so hooked on the sport that she swapped the pen for the gloves to start her own Muay Thai studio in New Zealand.
If Muay Thai was embodied by an animal, it would be a big cat. Graceful and elegant, but at the same time untamed and lethal. Watch a skilled Muay Thai fighter work the pads and you'll witness blows that are both beautiful and devastating. There's a rhythm to the movement of Muay Thai and on a good training day, I feel like I'm dancing, and kicking arse at the same time.
Getting hit can sting, but controlled sparring isn't really violent and your body gets conditioned and can actually crave a little impact. After training for a while, I started to notice physical and mental changes. I was more alert and energetic - I'd race up instead of walking up stairs. I got a heck of a lot stronger. My friends noticed the change too – during nights out, they'd joke that I was their bodyguard and many asked to join me at training. I was working in media in Singapore at the time, and my colleagues in the beauty, fashion and entertainment industries swapped their ballet and yoga lessons for a go at Muay Thai.
While kicking and punching things makes you strong, the reason I got such good results was because I found it so fun and exciting. Finding something you enjoy is the key to getting continued results in any fitness regime. I'd found something that made exercise a social activity more than a chore. Training with friends was a bonus, and I'd joke that burning 800 calories an hour gave us more leeway to eat more afterwards. If Muay Thai was a drug, I was definitely addicted.