Monday, January 26th, 2026
Writing to you from Chiang Mai, Thailand
I’ve climbed 14,000ft mountains, spent long days in the hot Nevada desert, worked cattle on horseback, and sailed through the South Atlantic — but none of those things come close to the physical intensity of training Muay Thai.
Now let me be clear…
The point is not to come here to mess around in a unique place, buy cheap stuff, train a little, and walk away with Muay Thai shorts to show off.
My intention is to become a competent fighter — not to build mastery or gain exceptional fighting ability — but to reach a foundational level of competency which would make me far more physically dangerous than the average person. In addition to that, I am training to (hopefully) fight in the ring before I leave Thailand.
All of this is for the Fighter Cycle of The Preparation.
The First Week
Back in December I said that I was preparing to come train in Thailand by hitting the bag for a few rounds and running a little…
As I write this I’m literally laughing at myself for thinking that would help me get in better shape for the training. I completely underestimated this. Each day of training is always different, but usually it’s a combination of jump rope/warm up, sparring, pad work, bag work, pushups, sit ups. It might not sound too bad, but keep in mind that a combination of all of these things is going on for 2 hours straight and few short breaks in between.
Mindless movement during any part of those 2 hours is frowned upon.
Each and every thing you do should be intentional no matter how tired or out of breath you are. You keep going through it all. And, if you do all of this consistently you’d be (as the Thai’s would say) “showing heart”. That is the most important thing to them.
Anyway…
The first few session were rough for me…enough to put me out of commission last Wednesday. I picked training back up on Thursday, but managed to get some minor scratches from a street dog on Friday and had to go to the hospital for the 1st of 5 rabies shots, which meant I missed my classes that day. Then, I went back for training on Saturday evening to finish off the week’s training.
All in all, I trained for a total of 10 hours last week.
My legs and arms are bruised, but I’m happy to see it.
The Hardest Part
Despite the fact that the training is wildly difficult it isn’t the hardest part of this experience.
When it comes to all of the Cycles of The Preparation that require you to envelope yourself in both a new pursuit and a new environment the most difficult part is that there is likely nothing familiar around you. Until you actually take a few days to dive head first into whatever you’re learning you’re going to feel like the walls are closing in on you whenever there’s a second for your mind to wander.
Oftentimes you’ll hear a voice in your head saying, “You don’t really have to be here. You can just leave if you don’t like it.”
Your family, friends, people you love, things you know and are familiar with — they aren’t with you. You have thrown yourself into the fray and the fight is to find enough meaning and fulfillment within your current pursuit that the fears and anxieties can be handled.
I miss my fiancée like crazy. I think about her every time my mind has a moment to wander…every time I’m not directly focused on something. The thought of seeing her (right now) makes me want to pack my bags and get on the next flight to see her. She is, to my unending delight, one of the things that makes it so hard to be away, in a strange place, doing something entirely new, all alone.
You probably have someone or something that’ll cause you pain to be away from it.
Good.
You have something good to come back to as a better man, a smarter man, a more physically capable man, a more virtuous man. So, take any pain or discomfort from these experiences and use them as fuel to do what you came to do.
As Wesley from The Princess Bride said, “Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
But, don’t let that great quote from a great movie bring you down. If you align with the view of the Stoic’s you’ll know that God sets difficulties before a man worthy of surmounting them. There isn’t a difficulty that life presents to you that isn’t meant for you to endure.
So focus on the task ahead of you and keep moving.
Academics and Activities
I just finished the Understanding the Human Body anatomy course by the Great Courses. Not easy to get through as there were 32 detailed lectures about the human body, but I certainly did learn a few things from it.
In addition to that I did 6 total hours of chess practice and learned a few basic Thai phrases.
Reading
Finished reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Started reading Fate is the Hunter by Ernest Gann
I’m only about 45 pages into this book about the wild stories from pilots and co-pilots in the days of early commercial aviation, but it is very entertaining.
Started reading The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
Things I Published
Are these updates informative? Are they useful? Entertaining?
Leave a comment below if you’ve got any suggestions or questions for me.
And don’t forget to send this to someone who might benefit.
I’ll see you next week.
-Maxim Benjamin Smith
I am acting as a guinea pig for a program which is meant to prepare young men for the future. This program is designed to be a replacement for the only three routes advertised to young men today - go to college, the military, or a dead-end job.
All of these typical routes of life are designed to shape us into cogs for a wheel that doesn’t serve us. Wasted time, debt, lack of skills, and a soul crushing job define many who follow the traditional route.
This program, which we can call “The Preparation”, is meant to guide young men on a path where they properly utilize their time to gain skills, build relationships, and reach a state of being truly educated. The Preparation is meant to set young men up for success.
What appeals to me about The Preparation is the idea of the type of man I could be. The path to becoming a skilled, dangerous, and competent man is much more clear now. I’ve always been impressed by characters like The Count of Monte Cristo, men who accumulated knowledge and skills over a long period of time and eventually became incredibly capable men.
Young men today do not have a guiding light. We have few mentors and no one to emulate. We have been told that there are only a few paths to success in this world. For intelligent and ambitious people - college is sold to us as the one true path. And yet that path seems completely uncertain today.
We desperately need something real to grab onto. I think this is it.
I’m putting the ideas into action. Will it work? I can’t be sure, but I’m doing my best. I’m more than 60 weeks into the program at this point. So far, so good.
You can follow me along as I follow the program. Each week, I summarize all that I did.
My objective in sharing this is three fold:
Documenting my progress holds me accountable.
I hope these updates will show other young men that there is another path we can take.
For the parents who stumble upon this log, I want to prove to you that telling your children that the conventional path - college, debt, and a job is not the foolproof path you think it is.
Thank you for sharing your experiences learning Muay Thai. And your comments on the unfamiliarity of the environment the bigger challenge. Imagine how you will grow and feel when you have seen this voluntary ordeal through....and the reunion with your beloved. This is the example young people (especially) are hungry to hear and observe. Leadership. Leading the way for growth and a self strengthening experience that will most probably help you more with your next challenge than anything else possibly could. My complete admiration for you....I will pray for you that your doubts vanish, your wondering mind ceases, time flashes by, and you are victorious over yourself and Muay Thai. Magnificent example of manhood.
Having spent time in Thailand watching Muay Thai bouts I have to say I’m impressed with what you’re doing. That has to be tough training. I doubt I would have taken on that challenge when I was your age. A description of what happens when you step into the ring unprepared in the book “Lords of Discipline” certainly would have reinforced my decision not to go there.
Stick with it. Looking back at most of the things I’ve been proud of doing in my life there was always a moment when I told myself I was going to quit but then stuck with it. That’s normal, and a good number of people in your situation would throw in the towel and later regret it. You’re on the right path.