the foundry eir

A year ago, we ventured into the world of Muay Thai. At that time, I was a gym introvert and by introvert, I mean I wouldn’t go to the gym because there were other people there. I had spent several years in private lessons with karate and the idea of a group class made me stupid uncomfortable. Obviously, I am past that whole “I don’t want to look like an idiot in front of other people” phase, I mean I own unicorn thigh hugger shorts for crying out loud, but The Foundry in Beaufort, SC was the catalyst of our martial arts heading in a different direction.

I was there for a month last June and had signed up for twice a week Muay Thai private lessons with Abe Stem the owner of The Foundry. If you have ever been here you will quickly realize that if you are a gym introvert, this is literally the worst place for you. The building itself looks to be a white elephant former supermarket and is freaking huge. There is nowhere to hide, I walked in the front doors and freaked the heck out. A month into it I sort of got over it, went home, joined TCB, made plans to come back the following year, and here we are.

My gym crowd hurdle wasn’t enough to deter me from wanting to come back again, I truly enjoyed Abe as a teacher. I showed up for my first class and he asked if I had gloves, apparently hot pink MMA ones weren’t it. I have seen this commonly since with new people coming to TCB, so I don’t feel too awkward about it. Abe decided mine weren’t going to cut it, so he handed me a pair of 12 oz ones to borrow. I know I am rather girly, but if you have spent any time in boxing you learn very quickly that gloves just reek. It’s flat out awful. Even if they are your own personal reek it just permeates your skin and hand sanitizer doesn’t cut it. When it is several other unknown person’s reek…. well, I’m no germaphobe, but I had a hard time wearing borrowed boxing gloves. I loved the lesson though, knew right off I was going to keep this up, so immediately Amazoned some sparkly floral 12 ouncers to be delivered before my next lesson. I would have rather put my bare feet in old bowling shoes.

I am calling this one an Ego Injury Report instead of some cutesy title because at the heart of it that’s truly what this is. The bruises were aplenty, I angry cried a couple times in Jiu Jitsu, flipped out freaked over an eye injury, and spent the last week enjoying the awkward looks from everyone eyeing my shiner (see what I did there?) it was an epic trip.

Abe Stem and his wife Brittany own The Foundry Fitness and Fighting Center and to say they have it all would be quite the understatement. They offer everything from personal training, yoga, self-defense, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Jiu Jitsu, Gymnastics, Boxing, MMA, you name it, they probably do it. This time around Ryan and I joined for four nights a week the group classes Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu, threw our kids into Tae Kwon Do and boxing, and had a blast.

Abe is probably one of the best I have met in regard to taking a person’s personal strengths and giving them small things to work for an advantage in a fight. They are small, simple, and easy to pull off. After viewing video of how I resemble Gumby when I fight, which by the way is rather hard to do for a person that cannot even do the splits, I have found I am even more grateful for this simplicity. He has no ego and is actually kind of quiet until he is not. The first weekend we were there we drove up to Charleston to watch a couple of fighters from the gym compete in MMA. I was completely thrown through a loop at yelling version of Abe from the side of the cage. Although the fact that I even noticed this is impressive since I may or may not have spent the evening fangirling over Steven “Wonderboy” Thompson; he was there with his dad because Pitch Black MMA were one of the competitors. I debated several times about using my kids, saying he is one of their role models as an excuse to meet the NMF title holder, but ultimately just decided to stalk him from afar. I see you Steven, I see you.

Abe has some wonderful teachers on deck especially for the family. No joke, I have never seen a more family friendly MMA atmosphere. You will have several guys playing punch face while trying to watch their language simultaneously. This was an obvious struggle for me…..

And Ms. Tasha. she is the real MVP. This woman has cat herding down to an art. She can take a large group of 4–6-year old’s for Tae Kwon Do, reign them in to have fun, while learning when to respectfully kick someone in the groin. She holds a Black belt in Tae Kwon Do and started martial arts because her boys were enrolled, and she decided she wanted to be a part of it. She is an incredible person and a hands-on mama. You can witness the effects of that with her two now older boys by their respect to her and those around them. Honestly I spent a lot of time in awe of her control, if you have ever seen that Chinese zoo video of the zookeeper trying to keep all the baby pandas organized, that was this class. It was hilarious and exhausting to watch and she manages like a champ.

Coach Perez, a boxer since he was 15 as well as a black belt in MCMAP, was a family favorite. I think it’s because my kids are used to the yelling. Justin was apparently a drill sergeant prior to being a boxing coach and has that sweet way with the kids boxing class of driving the “don’t quit” point home. You know, via raised voice… raised military voice. The kids loved him for it, his class was always full, always boot camp style, and my progeny would talk of nothing else on the way home. What was funny is that you would hear his extremely loud, “LET’S GO, LET’S GO!!” clanging around the gym and knowing that screaming used to be part of his job description, when I asked him to do so for the video, it brought out a shyness that made me believe he is just a big teddy bear. Also, him giving my girls a hug goodbye instead of their normal fist bump on their last day solidified that.

Jeff was another instructor that I got to know as I attended his BJJ class on Mondays and Wednesday nights. Jeff is former Major in the Marines, a veteran (a point I will get to in a minute), BJJ and MCMAP Blackbelt, and all-around awesome teacher. I had a few in depth conversations about military, life, purpose, and self-defense with him. At one point I said something to the effect of, “I am not military…” and he said, “no kidding….” I had also heard him described as scary by one of the other students…. I apparently didn’t get that memo and thoroughly enjoyed our talks. His class could best be described from my perspective as more adulty. He wasn’t going to warm you up, that was your job, he is not in charge of your fitness, you are. You were there to learn the moves he was showing and that’s it. I very much appreciate that approach in jiu jitsu especially as an almost 40-year-old. Anthony Joseph at Fit to Fight in Charlotte was this way as well, I like it. Not saying the other way is the wrong way to go at all, this was just more my speed.

There were other teachers at The Foundry of many different things that I didn’t get to meet and pester. One being a man who will be representing the US Weightlifting Olympic Team. During one of my private lessons that month there was a news station that was interviewing this athlete at the gym. I was doing all I could to stay out of the background trying to keep my “not really at all private” lesson since we are in a giant open room from being “just aired for the world to see gumby in action” lesson that just lacked the meaning of the word private at all.

I also attended Abe’s BJJ classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it was all men and one woman, that I could tell from the few weeks I was there. Abe’s class will destroy you. There are usually around 20 there and you are an absolute nasty mess when finished. I attended one class where he didn’t teach one thing, just spent the entire hour of us daisy chaining rolls with whoever got the submission as staying in……yeah, that was never me. Ironically, I had to stop that particular one short when I got reamed in the eyeball, it was only five minutes till the end, but damn I was grateful for that one to be over. It was a good hour of understanding perseverance, and I am glad I did it; don’t need a repeat though for at least a year or so. This class was fun, we WERE warmed up, so less adulty, but to talk about a point from earlier, most were military.

Beaufort is home to Parris Island best known for Marine Boot camp; there is also a Marine Corps Air Station, and a Naval Hospital as well. It’s a giant war ready sandwich of a place being surrounded by sea and Military; that vibe resonates to the gym. Not in a bad way, but in a disciplined way. I have noticed that a lot of MMA fighters join to escape or prove something, whether it’s from themselves or to others, the demons they are fighting can be the driving force. With the Military aspect it seems that can be the case as well, but the way they go about it seems less chaotic. Obviously with fighting there is always chaos, but you can feel the militaristic rigmarole in the way people carry themselves. Every gym I have visited over the past year breeds a certain atmosphere due to the cultural influence of the community needs and this one is no different. It was just a stronger one that I thought unique.

It was sad to say goodbye to this beach town. My kids ran a golf ball side hustle, chased alligators, and made many friends. We loved on Beaufort again, ate ALL the seafood, I ate ALL the key lime pie, became a regular at @urban.brew.bft (seriously amazing Americano) Bricks On Boundary (Cheers vibe and kind bartenders), Johnson Creek Tavern and met so many amazing people at the gym as well as the community. Kelsey thanks for the dead leg, that was an impressive kick. Good luck with your July fight! Victoria Shea you are a bad a$$, if you can survive that one BJJ class I know you can conquer the world, your drive is impressive. Brittany thanks for putting up with my kiddos, they talked a lot about you! Josh, Lewis, and Will, looking forward to keeping track of your future fights! Sally Phillippi Dunford thanks for drinking with me on the porch so I could wind down and being a hands down awesome neighbor; I don’t know if you know this or not, but all our best friends were our neighbors at some point…. Jaxon and Alexis, we are so glad to have met you all and to be able to hang out, come visit us. Jeff, Ms. Tasha, Coach Perez, and Abe Stem thanks for being amazing teachers and representing your different styles with integrity and passion. It was an amazing month and we will see you all next year. If you are in the Beaufort, SC area check out The Foundry and tell them we said hi. Make it a family affair, you will not be disappointed. Also, eat some key lime pie for me.

#thefoundry #mma #muaythai #bjj #selfdefense #military #keylimepie #alltheseafood #didntjumpropeonce #familyfriendlymma #beaufort #southcarolina #frippisland #urbanbrewcoffee #thebrick #johnsoncreektavern #golfballsidehustle #stayoutofthelagoons