watch the full Kru Pot Library session here
Kru Pot is relaxed, confident in himself, but I wouldn’t describe him as “laid back.” He has an energy just under the surface, which sparks through in the way he moves and the expression he holds on his face most of the time, which is a little bit like he’s continually amused or surprised by what he’s looking at. But relaxed about it. This energy, this just-under-the-surface wiring, sparks and erupts with complete power and economy when he demonstrates a knee, turn, or punch. It’s incredible. And he’s totally not trying to impress anybody with it, he just looks at you with that same semi-amused facial expression that seems to ask, “did you see it?” Yeah… I saw it. The back row saw it, his movements are so dynamic.
watch the full Kru Pot Library session here
In the full 1 hour session, Kru Pot works through a series of solutions to different types of fighters. It’s not an “if A, then B” kind of thing in the way that some western coaches like to pretend Muay Thai strikes are a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, but more like “if the roads are icy, drive like this; if they’re wet from rain, drive like this.” Same car, same road, but skills to be prepared for every condition. It’s really beautiful, actually. Kru Pot is a Muay Khao specialist, which of course I love, but because he focuses on solving for your opponent’s strengths or weaknesses, you don’t have to be a knee fighter for his tactics and techniques to apply. But it’s pretty sweet if that is what you are, because his depth of knowledge and skill is one you can just keep diving into. Train with Kru Pot at PhuketKing gym, contact them here.
Some of the great elements from the full session, excerpted from the Patreon Library post:
- 1) Balance: this is a major and primary focus in Muay Thai scoring and aesthetic. If you’re off balance on a strike, or after a strike, it detracts from it in a significant way. Kru Pot immediately sees that I’m twisting on my standing foot, which is making my knees lose control on their impact point and makes it so I don’t come back to start ready to fire again. This is a big thing for Muay Khao. In a forward style, you never throw just one strike, so coming back on balance and being ready to strike again is really important. How high up you go on your toe is one part of it, but not twisting is a bigger part.
- 2) “Yab Num, Teep Num”: jabbing and teeping as a means to close distance for your knees is a huge part of how to separate the wheat from the chaff among knee fighters. The kind of dumb, kwai, “bull” fighters just run forward and try to knee, getting teeped off or countered or hooked or dodged. A thinking fighter teeps and jabs first, closing the opponents eyes, off-balancing them, forcing them to fire their shot first and countering. Kru Pot is the smart fighter, not the bull.
- 3) Trailer Hitch: I came up with this name from training with Yodkhunpon, who uses his hand on the back of your head or neck like he’s “hitched a trailer” and you cannot – cannot – get away from him. Kru Pot does the same and shows how this is not only a way to measure your distance (if you can touch the head or neck, you’re close enough for your knee to land), but it also keeps your opponent from getting away from you while you want to keep kneeing.
- 4) Timing as a Backwards Fighter: I loved this. At some point my own trainer, Kru Nu, specified to me that when someone raises their leg in a block to stop you from striking, you just wait for the leg to come down and then fire your shot as a leg kick. People who know this trick, it’s harder…read the full Patreon post here
More on Kru Pot and the Gym
watch the full Kru Pot Library session here
