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Muay Thai, the national sport of Thailand, is a predecessor of kickboxing. It's a full contact sport using hand, elbow, knee and leg strikes. There's an emphesis on conditioning and power; the Muay Thai strikes usually involve the entire body with full hip rotation.

Around mid-August 2006, I took it up and started hurting myself on a regular basis.

I should note; I don't have a history of martial arts... I took Judo and Kendo as a kid for a few months and my only prior boxing experience was painful...

  At the age of 14 or so, I went to a friends house to watch Live Aid on TV. At some point, a few of us decided to go box at the gym down the road (Catskil, NY... Mike Tyson was training there around the same time)

  So, I'm standing there in full head gear bouncing around like a five year old on crack.

     And then I get punched.   In the face.

  Suffice to say, the adolesecent male ego takes a hit when you cry like a baby in front of your peer group.

So when a coach I had at SUNY Albany showed up at my gym and asked if I wanted to box, I give it a shot. There was a Thai bag (a 6 foot long punching bag) next to the regular bag and one of my classmates had done Muay Thai, so I started working that as well.

As it turns out, there's something really addictive about hitting something really hard.

For the National Geographic special Fight Science, various martial arts techniques were measured. The most powerful punch was a boxer's overhand right, while the strongest kick was a Muay Thai knee strike.