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The General is doing his best to do two things. Hold us accountable for what he is teaching. But at the same time, he wants to show as much as possible because I am only in Bangkok for a short while. You can tell when the General is teaching that to former is more his style than the latter. Especially because Lertrit is so detail oriented. Rushing the process only short changes the next technique after. Much like I talked about yesterday, everything for the General comes down to the basics. Accordingly, if one of your basics is lacking or incomplete, then the rest of your technique will be less effective. The General is giving me a lot of credit because of my background, but you can tell it's a struggle for him deciding rather or not I understand enough of one concept to move on to the next. While I usually understand, this is not the same thing as getting by body to do it. The General often speaks in terms of making thing happen naturally. He often uses this idea interchangeably with flow. I like the concept of flow much better. This is something close to my heart and was cemented into my brain in San Soo. Much like San Soo each move - each punch, elbow and/ or knee - should flow effortlessly into the next. Rather I missed my target, my opponent moved away or I am fighting multiple opponents, I should be able to recall anyone of my techniques and pick the one which is most appropriate for the situation. It's much like freestyle rapping versus writing out your bars for a song or performance - think like improve. Similar in dance: choreography is much easier to me than to social dance, where I have to come up with the right step in order to let my partner know what I am doing. This ability to flow is something I have when I practice San Soo, bit of course I have been practicing for that flow for more than decade. Flow to me, is the mastery of your style. There is no thinking involved. It has become natural, as the General will say. This is why the basics are so important for him, because if your basics are not good, you can not flow.

We haven't been shown any feints yet but I think we aren't even near that point. We are still working on the basic techniques and not even really drilling or sparring yet. I think when you are that close, it is mostly slight/nuanced movement based feinting (acting like are going to pivot one direction, then going another), or feinting when you are an outside in attempt to keep them guessing so you can get back into that mid-range. I'm having a hard time putting into words what I am thinking, hahaha very likely I am still figuring it out myself. I'm kind of getting a double dose of learning/re-learning as I realize how many of the ideals behind Muay Lertit are similar to things I was taught at Toddy's. I'm guessing these similarities are all in the Muay Korat base, but I'm not certain exactly what techniques are classified in that style other than the use of a lot of elbows and knees. The Muay Korat terminology is pretty recent for me so I'm still connecting things if that makes sense? I have the feeling a lot of this stuff will begin to click a lot more if I can start sparring and trying to work it in more of a live setting, that's just kind of how my brain works. I've definitely had the most trouble with the "traditional" martial arts movements, though that makes sense considering I have never done anything other than Thai boxing (General Tunwakom is pretty insistent that Thai boxing is very different than Muay Thai). We've just had a ton of information thrown at us very quickly on top of trying to change existing styles and movements. Realistically it's only been a couple of weeks so there is a LOOOOONNNGG way to go still Hahaha honestly I feel like Tim is getting it worse than I am, I at least get told not to worry about stuff since I have a bunch of time to learn.

I know you've tried a million things, so just another one to throw out there. This is for shoulder injury, and has really worked for Sylvie, but if its theory is correct it might help across all neck and back issues (the idea is that we are built to hang and swing): Hanging Theory. The good thing about it is that it is only a couple of minutes a day and is pretty basic (no learning curve). Other things we've tried is blue light filter glasses on sundown (it's a bitch to remember to do this) to get the sleep cycle started, and Sylvie's got some very good sleep mask thing that kept being advertised on Facebook, locking out light. Sorry if these were discussed above, just popping into the discussion.

I love that you brought Kali into this conversation! I have been exposed to Kali on a number of occasions while training San Soo and while training with some in Humboldt. Both my Master San Soo instructor and our Humboldt self-defense instructor have trained in Kali and with Danny Inosanto, as well as some of his students, now teachers. I was happy to watch the video you included, as many of those patters look familiar. Dare I say, I can replicate one or two of them. I really relate to you observation concerning drills. This is how I learned much of the martial art I know - San Soo, BJJ, Western Boxing - as well as many of the sports I grew up playing. The drill teaches you all of the prerequisite muscle control one will need to execute a technique properly. The General does have some drills, although I don't think he imagines them this way, also, we haven't quite gotten to the point of understanding the basics to be able to move forward into drilling. If you look at some of the padded work Tyler and I do on Day 5, I think you'll see how the General likes to drill. Thank you for bringing this up and showing support!

This is actually one of the few things I have done that does really help. I do it every time I go to Virgin Active for as long as my grip strength allows it. I try to do it at home too in kind of a modified position (I'll use the sides of a door frame and kind of sit my hips down). The decompression in general really helps. I'd like to get something for my neck too, but this definitely helps both my shoulders and mid back a lot. Great resource! Edit: Forgot to add something else that I have found really helps is using a pole or broom stick to do rotations around my torso and also from back to front. This guys has a pretty good video here:

This is actually what I like best about it so far, and is yet another comparison to my old style. I used to live in that mid-range because I found it makes people really uncomfortable and leaves them trying to choose between moving or attacking. As the pressuring fighter (or at least the one trying to eat/maintain that space) you can still see quite well and therefore counter really well since you aren't actually leading the dance. Feinting/hiding your strikes is really important here I think, it increases the sense of panic in your opponent and makes them open up even more.

Here's a photo of the said punch, the moment just before the General rolls the hand, arm and shoulder over. A kind of Rolling Back Fist:

Just adjust and use his elbow strikes to the thigh to interrupt, right? hahaha. Yes, if you just take kicks to the arms all day, you lose. But that isn't really the Muay Lertrit style, it's invading of space more. Kickers will be okay for the first 2 rounds, but by round 3 and 4 their kicks will start to fall, pretty soon they'll all be below the waist and hesitant, leading to great narrative for you. Powerful weapons that degrade over time in a fight are a big negative. At least this is what Sylvie's encountered with her own pressuring style versus kickers. She blocks a few head kicks early (which score), but by the end of the fight the kicks are dead. Yeah, it's just fighting with the Muay Khao ethic (minus the clinch). There is a recipe for Muay Khao fighting vs Muay Femeu. Every judge knows it. You have to just follow that recipe I think, for Muay Lertrit inspired action. What is really interesting about Muay Lertrit, as far as I've been able to witness, is that the entire fighting style is organized around invading the no-mans-land between fighters, and fighting there. Even Muay Khao fighters sometimes ignore this zone, rushing in for the clinch. This is, in some Muay Thai, a neglected area of attack and defense, and for that reason your opponent is probably uncomfortable in this zone. We don't have the time, but I really would love for Sylvie to develop these twisting, intercepting no-mans-land habits and techniques. As a clinch fighter, if one became fluent in them, it would make you kind of undefeatable.

Mostly worried about how mid-kicks will be viewed. I'm worried that judges won't see the block for what it is and instead look at it as taking the kick on the forearms as opposed to being blocked by the elbow. Also the style isn't the prettiest thing in the world (compared to femeur), but hopefully the sheer dominance of it will shine through. I think if I can get some real sparring time in that will give me a better picture of everything.

Absolutely mate, if I don't train I am in way worse pain than if I do. I'd do just about anything for a decent nights sleep.

Tim's Vlog from Day 10

Why would you think that his Muay Lertrit would score lightly in Thailand's sport Muay Thai? It seems the opposite. It seems like fighting in the pocket with a very strong defensive core would ensure not only entertaining (action-oriented) fighting, but due to it's strong defensive principles would shut out the opponent's scoring opportunities. I think the bread and butter of Thailand's Muay Thai, the mid-kick, would not last very long vs the General (ideally speaking). It really reads like Muay Khao fighting, but without knees, like as you say, maybe how Yodkhunpon or maybe Samson Isaan fought in terms of temp and spacing. Just with interceptive defensive pressure. It seems like it would score well vs contemporary Muay Thai.

Actually a lot of people will tell you the opposite. That muscle repair requires some oxidation, especially if you try to build muscles. I take buffered vit C in the morning though.

Interesting. I wonder if I'll be one of the first Western's to take this style into the ring then. My plan is to try and use parts of Muay Lertit (the footwork, waist rotation, and some of the defense) and put it together with the bit of Thai boxing I have learned. I want to keep it mostly defensive as that is the base of the style and try to counter attack instead of being offensive. I probably won't kick hardly at all unless it is one of these short front kicks the General has taught us, or the heel thrust. Hahaha should be interesting as I am pretty much guaranteed to lose on points if I can't get a stoppage. Maybe I'll see what they think about doing a Kard Cheuk fight instead of a Thai boxing match. That might allows me to represent the style a bit better (hahaha they are worried how it will look if I lose and since I'm 35 there is already a lot of pushback).

That would be interesting! If they do use drills I'd like to see what they are and how they compare to what we did in Kali! On the second part: I would not really say that I've studied Muay Thai. I'm just a beginner actually who hasn't been training consistently and probably will never take it further than the sparring ring. I'm just the kind of guy who likes to obsess about his hobbies I used to practice Kali for some 8 years or so but that's also like 6 years or so ago so not everything is fresh to say the least. I would have gone back to kali when I wanted to do martial arts again but somehow I just felt like going more into the sports direction this time and thats where muay thai came in. When I saw Sylvie's session with the general it made me happy because I saw so many things and concepts that seemed familiar from Kali. I do think the non-weapon portions of Kali are practical (even though they are fundamentally connected to the weapon portions). Also you have to take into account that Kali/Escrima/Arnis describe a general art that's split into hundreds of different systems (styles if you will) that have different focuses. Some are more geared towards actual combat or self defence while others are more sportified if you know what I mean. Practical in a ring setting.... I'd probably say to a degree. What parts you could use of course would depend a lot on the rules but its definitely not meant as an art for sport competition (at least the style I practiced). We did full contact stick sparring (with protective gear) and that works fine, also a bit of knives sparing, rolling on the ground trying to submit each other (a jiu jitsu practitioner would of course be more expert in this aspect) and other empty hand practice in varying degrees of freedom and contact. How does it translate to a ring setting? Well it's kind of difficult to translate. We did a lot of open hand slaps for example which dont really work well when gloves are used. A lot of the stuff is also geared towards specifically attacking joints and other vulnerable parts like you wouldn't do in a ring setting. Ring martial arts usually seem more based on... an exchange of being hit (of course avoiding as much damage as possible), finding holes in your opponents game and hitting them back. In Kali you typically dont want that. You mostly want to end things quickly and dont give your opponent any chance if possible. IF you even have to be there in the first place. You dont want to get hit AT ALL really, which gets priority over landing shots yourself because you're taught that an opponent could always carry/use a weapon even if you dont see it (there is this saying that "knives are meant to be felt, not seen") and every hit could be dangerous. That being said though, we did practice stuff like lowkicks, elbows, knees, also some punches (though that's the part I'm lacking in the most when it comes to Muay Thai I think). As far as I know my Kali trainer actually has Muay Thai experience of his own from before his Kali days so that might be another factor in finding parallels.

I actually think this is kind of my main issue as well. I've got all sort of stuff wrong with two different sections of my back and then also my neck. Staying in shape definitely helps though. If I haven't worked out in a while (which is where I am at right now), it seems to be worse and harder to sleep for any real length of time.

Ever considered the chili pad? A mattress thing you can use to either cool bed down or make it warmer. Obviously expensive but might be worth the investment. Available on Amazon. I've been lucky to have worked with some great European sleep scientists and you might be familiar already, but only things that are scientifically proven (or where's there supporting evidence) to work longterm is either sleep reduction therapy (ideally combined with group CBT) and/or SSRIs. You need a proper health insurance for this though. And of course, best case scenario: sleep lab first to rule out any physical reasons for bad sleep like sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome etc. But sleep reduction therapy can be done alone without doc. It's about correcting circadian rhythms and increase sleep pressure and make sure time spent in bed is spent sleeping. Nothing needed but pen and paper and a lot of discipline. Hoping I'm not telling you things you already know now. Happy to provide links if needed.

His privates are 1,000 baht an hour, and he is a really cool instructor. What he really wants to do is just move with you, get relaxation going. We are going to try and film another session with him this week and put it up in the Library.

The General is a very busy man, with a lot on his plate. It’s quite impressive. Being said, we did not have him teaching us today. Rather, the assistants working with him at the WMA (World Muay Thai Alliance) told Tyler and I to practice with each other in a separate room from the community class. This gave Tyler and I time to compare notes and elaborate on our learning processes. What came out today while Tyler and I were comparing our notes, was how similar so many aspects of Lertrit feel to my style of Kung Fu (San Soo). This comes back to an earlier point I tried to make about things being similar, but different. A saying that has become popular between the General and I. In the past I’ve used language as an analogy for learning martial arts. In the early stages of learning an art, one learns the alphabet. Latter, they learn words. So enough how to put together sentences. And before long, conversation is possible. In some instances some martial arts are as different as Thai and English. Other times, martial art styles feel like the same language, but spoken in a different dialect. San Soo and Lertrit feel how I’ve heard others compare Portuguese and Spanish. Please keep in mind I speak neither of these language, only bad California English and am going of what I’ve heard from those who do speak these languages. Both San Soo and Lertrit are true martial styles. There is no sporting application to them. They are meant to incapacitate someone. Also, they flow from once strike to the next. Similar to dancing, once you know how each move can lead to another, there is no break between any two motions. You can simply move from one strike or manipulation to the next from any position you find yourself in. While there are time when my San Soo habits are not helpful in Lertrit, what is helpful is understanding how to flow. The General uses both the word flow and natural. The move should be natural, is what the General will say, it should flow. It's like learning to speak a fluently, rather than in a broken sentence structure. In San Soo and Jiujitsu we talk about flow. Flowing from one move to the next as seamlessly as possible. If you mess up, you just keep going, flow to the next thing you know. The General will talk about a missed punch flowing into an elbow. In jiujitsu, a failed arm lock can flow into a choke. Similar, but different.

I wish I could contribute to this breathing conversation in the manner which I think you all want me to. But, one: there are sweeping generalizations being made, and two: I have no idea. A thing I’ve noticed about training, is the vague generalization of all other arts, except the one being engaged in. For example, in just being in Thailand, there is an insistence of the endless styles of Muay Thai, but when discussing other arts, there is the reduction of all other styles into one, generalized practice. As if there is only one Karate, Taekwondo or Kung Fu. My style of Kung Fu is an obscure sub-branch of another sub-branch, both of which have few similarities to what was portrayed in Kung Fu movies popularized in the 60’s and 70’s. I can not speak for all of Kung Fu, just my horse hair thin piece of it. And really I have no idea why the breathing patterns occur the way they do. I accept all the above notions. There are considerations for protecting ones organs, as well as energetically moving through a technique. Truth be told, I breath the way I do, because it’s what I was instructed to do. I have only been practicing for 13 years. This is only a small fraction of the lifetime others have been practicing. My instructor for example has been training longer than Bruce Lee was even alive; and the General has been practicing for longer then my instructor as been alive! I have not yet reached the understanding of any one concept to be able to question it. My job at this adolescent stage in my martial arts study, is to do what I am told. Maybe in 40 or 50 years, I'll be able to question things. What all of this makes me thing about is this idea that a black belt is one’s culmination of training and learning. Rather, I support the idea from a Jiujitsu black belt; a black belt is your qualification to begin learning. Similarly, Jimmy H Woo, who is the head of my San Soo lineage, said, a Master of Kung Fu is two things: a master of themselves and a master of covering their mistakes. I see this this last point in the General every now and then. Not often, but one or twice in a session, the General losses his balance ever so slightly. What the General, or any Master for that matter, is the best at, is not letting you know. And what the General has consistently talked about as a strength of Lertrit, is it’s ability to recover. If you miss a strike, or an opponent moves on you first, you can recover and make the best out of a situation.