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There aren't a lot of books or films directly about Muay Thai, the mental game for Muay Thai, the fighter's journey or all that. There are more options for other sports that have either been around for longer (Golf, Tennis, Running), or that have an English-speaking target audience (ultra-running, rock climbing). However, I find some sports very, very inspiring for Muay Thai and what the mental side of it feels like - to me anyway. Here's my running list of books and films: Rock Climbing: Free Solo: Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei: Momentum Generation The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance A Wrestling Life: the Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable

The original Khmer style is lost. What we see now, I believe (especially with this "Bokator" AKA Hapkido/Muay Boran/Tony Jaa mixed stuff) is a modern recreation, with obvious influence from Muay Boran and the Tony Jaa fictional style he created for the movies. The creator was a Hapkido teacher primarily, and in the U.S. at that, after living in Thai refugee camps. The Khmer (not all Cambodians are Khmer) had their greatness 1000 years ago. But then Thailand was in control of the region and their country for 100's of years until modern times, after Western intervention. A lot of Thai culture was transferred to Cambodia during this time (and the other way around), and Muay Kadcheuk or BKB was in fashion. The entire region is influenced by Indian Kick-boxing (Malla-Yudh) so they are all similar anyway. There was also some exchange between Thailand and Myanmar. The stories mention Thai fighters beating champions in Myanmar (and the other way around), and both adapting their own styles. But how much? Muay Boran also includes head butting and used to be a lot rougher before the sport rules. Again, the entire region is similar. Even in Thailand alone, there are many different styles, especially with the Muay Boran and Jeurng. From my own research (I live, study and train in SE Asia and have been to many temples with martial art images in each of these countries) the older style of Cambodia was most similar to the Tamil style Varma. Varman was a title for a martial expert. ("Varman or its variants, Varma, Verma, Varman, Burman or Barman, are surnames that are used in India & South-East Asia. According to Radhakanta Deb, the surname is derived from the Sanskrit word for "Shield, Defensive armour". (Wiki) There are Tamil websites discussing this in great detail. And you can see this title in many of Cambodian Kings names. There is quite a lot of Tamil influence in Cambodia during the Khmer time of greatness. There are also many similarities when you compare the Tamil and Cambodian temple images especially. And most of it is grappling, not kick-boxing. There are even Cambodian teachers in YouTube videos showing the grappling interpretations of the images, but not kickboxing. Cambodia has preserved its traditional wrestling, but the kickboxing seems to be more modern, with some Thai influence. At least, this is what I have noticed so far. Doesn't matter. There was a lot of influence back and forth for a long time. Consider, All of SE Asia is smaller than the U.S. Not so difficult for fashions and styles to spread in such an area. And also we can find people playing guitar all around the world. Similar instrument, but each region has their own way of playing too. Now the entire regions kickboxing is similar. But there are many local kick-boxing traditions that are similar, but still unique to each local area.

Hey there, love the gyms shown here. Great thread idea! just wanted to share our little living room gym. When the lockdown got real, I spent a little cash so Ina and I could continue training. I feel very lucky and thankful to have her by my side and to have the opportunity for a home gym like this. This jump rope is not used indoors btw., but in our driveway. It’s brutal and rips your arms out after 30 seconds.

Hey all, I thought I would share my recent rescue (I rescue Australian wildlife in my spare time) We got a call last night about an Echidna who was hit by a car and who needed to be be taken to the hospital (Steve Irwin's Wildlife hospital if anyone is a fan) Anyway, this little animal was tough as nails! it decided to burrow itself into the dirt (this is how they defend themselves) It took my partner and I over an hour of digging and manoeuvring to pick her up and to take her for treatment and to be checked over by the doctors. This little creature had "clinched" itself into the ground so strongly it was like trying to lift a tree stump out of the ground!!!!! As rescuers we get to name the animal... I decided to call it Sylvie! I think It's only fitting... it's little, very strong and good at clinching LOL So, little Sylvie has now been cleared with just minor injuries, a few scratches and small damage to the spikes, so so lucky. She will be released back into the wild in the next few days!

I love Spiky Sylvie. Thank you for sharing

Totally agree with your points. It seems that Western MT gyms having to compete with other Martial Arts that provided belts to show seniority/experience level (not to mention to make money and massage the ego) had to follow the "Martial Arts School" model. What's also interesting is that the guy who introduced the MT band grading system was a Thai immigrant to California Chai Sirisute, the founder of the World Thai Boxing Association. Sirisute claims to be the first to actively teach MT in the US in 1968. I'm guessing he surveyed the landscape and realized every other martial art awarded a belt or other symbol to signify rank and decided to copy them to be competitive.

Legend of cus D’Amato Legendary nights- Mikey ward vs Arturo gatti story Rickson Gracie documentary “Notorious” - Conor mcgregor documentary on netflix (im sure u have seen it) Also I love this documentary called “breaking 2” about marathon running, I believe it is a Nat geo movie but I couldn’t find link thank you for your share sylvie, appreciate you for all that is YOU!

Just leaving this here, Emma Thomas's rather complete list of Muay Thai documentaries and shows: https://undertheropes.com/2014/07/08/muay-thai-documentaries-and-tv-shows-the-directory/

The Khmers didn't leave any written history behind, only what was carved on the temples of Ankor. Some foreigners who lived there at Ankor's height left detailed writings of their time there, which is how historians are able to have some understanding of what life was like there. Back to regional fighting styles - Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and Laos have all been fighting each other and occupying each others territory for centuries. There definitely will have been cross over between styles at various points in history.