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Because the General wasn’t available for training tonight, I ended up watching a lot of the video Kevin just posted of day 11. Just a view notes you might not be able to pick up from the video posted above: The first technique the General has me practice during out session, hook(ish) punch to a “back-hand”. Just about every art (including San Soo) has their variation of a back-hand, or back-fist, or any vernacular thereof, so here is the Lertrit variation. The General talked about throwing this back-hand after an opponent veers their head back to avoid a hooking punch. As their head returns to center, and to also regain your feet after missing, the idea is to step forward and narrow your stance and hit them with the back hand. A prime example of the kind of flow the General is always talking about. The kick the General has me practicing about 45 min into the night, he refers to as a half kick. As explained by General, this kick makes contact with the upper part of the shin and is a mid range kick. The General says it’s to be used when you opponent is close far for a standard shin kick, but also too far for a standard knee. It’s awaked as all be on a bag, but when someone is standing in front of you, it makes perfect sense. It felt wicked to just touch him with, let alone to someone who wouldn’t understand its being thrown. One of the last techniques of the night, about 1:25 min in, the General starts having me practice a straight, down elbow. Soon enough he has me jumping into the strike. Jumping into a strike is fun and I love when he asks me to do this. However, the thing he corrects me on every time I jump into a technique, is to land softly. “I don’t want to hear you”, the General insist. I really like this correction for two reasons: One, I love the way it comes out - I don’t want to hear you - it makes me smile. Two, this was a constant correction I received in ballet. And usually unless you’ve done both, there is often a gross misunderstanding how close ballet is to all martial arts. Land softly when jumping, it shows you have control over your body.

I like to stop at certain places to check my form. The main place I stop and look while doing hooks is as my body is torqued to one side just prior to throwing the hook. This allows me to make sure my weight is centered and balanced, my shoulder is over my opposite knee (if throwing a right hook, the left shoulder should be directly over and inline with the right knee). I do this both facing the mirror and from a side perspective to make sure I'm not leaning backwards or forwards. I also check my guard to make sure that my defense is solid (shoulder blocking my chin on one side, glove on the other) as many people get caught as they are beginning to throw the hook. I do the whole sequence very slowly and progressively move quicker to generate more power. I also stop at the end of the hook to again recheck balance and make sure I haven't over-extended (right shoulder should not be past the left knee at this point). There should be a ton of boxing videos that will break this down for you. I'm sure they can add more than what I can. Edit: Something I forgot to add is that it is really important to use your waist/hips to create power. I see a lot of people trying to "push" their hooks using hip on the same side (if throwing a right hook as described above, they will drive that right hip forward). I don't know that this is "wrong" but I've found it really helpful to instead "pull" using my opposite (left hip in this scenario). Makes my hooks much more snappy and keeps me balanced. Just something to try and see if it works for you. Would you mind posting some video of this? It sounds like you are simply off balance, but I'd like to see it before I put my foot in my mouth with ill-advice lol.

Hey everyone that added some advice I just want to say thank you and I appreciate it. It helps a lot in me doing my research and being sure what I would need and how much I would need. Thanks.

Hello! So I tried this the other day and I noticed how it quickly transitioned to pad work. At least, that is what my training partner noticed a few hours after working on the mirror. What I noticed was that I would be leaning too far forward on my crosses and not rotate my hip enough. I would also focus on my frame to make sure my elbows would not be fanning out while I throw a jab or cross. Hooks are proving a little troublesome for me, as I do not really know what to look out for in terms of correct/incorrect technique. I just know some hooks "feel" good while others "feel" bad. I want to try this but I do not know if my gym would allow it. I'll have to talk to my coach and see if we cannot try it. I noticed I would "break the frame" on knees and teeps with the mirror. But, I am not entirely sure how to correct these except trying to over-compensate with my hips and leaning back more on the teeps. Not entirely sure how to address the body leaning I observed in the mirror. Maybe it is simple conscious movement and making sure I do not lean one way or another while teeping or throwing knees? I dunno. Thanks so much for the advice, everyone! This really helped and made my life a whole lot better!

Tim's Day 11 Video Documentation:

Hiding strikes, yeah, but I know of no inside fighting style in any sport that feints much in inside fighting. Most of it is just defending well, intercepting, countering hard. Think of inside fighting in boxing. Zero feints. Unless maybe the deep rolls of inside boxing might be considered feints? Is there a lot of feinting in Muay Lertrit? By feint do you mean the twists and recoveries?

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.