The above graphic represents 5 keys I’ve drawn out of our many years of filming the Muay Thai Library project (with probably over 100 Thai krus and legends of the sport), as well as being ringside for Sylvie’s close to a historic 300 fights within the country. The article below opens up thoughts on these five.
In the study of the traditional Muay Thai of Thailand again it is meaningful to return to two main analogies: those of music and of language. As we’ve surveyed across styles and its multitudenous techniques it is rather the material language and music of its fighting styles that not only determines the exquisite capacities of its best fighters, but also of the winners of its fights, even at the most basic level. While it is quite common for foreigners to study quite rigorously its techniques, in large measure because thinking about things in replicate able, especially biomechanical ways is amenable to the Western and Globalizing Mind – helping facilitate Thailand Muay Thai’s replication in classes and students in practice, in digital snippets and longer form demonstration, in highlights and other visual signatures – the secrets of traditional Muay Thai, if there are any, are found in its rhythms and tempos, the music and their language in how they distort and control Space and Time. And these are quite difficult to replicate, or even find, for the purposes of exportation or imitation.
This difficulty lies in a few places. For one, they were developed by the craft in a culture – here I’ll call it a kaimuay culture – which itself expressed the Thai culture, attendant to social hierarchies and Buddhistic affects of Self, symbolisms of how the Body should comport itself, and developed through boyhoods and social maturation in camps. All of this is intimate to the styles and rhythms of Thailand’s Muay Thai and cannot be replicated through the mechanical approximations of individual techniques. Further, kaimuay culture which created the stylistics and aesthetics of traditional Muay Thai itself no longer exists as it once did, or only exists in a fast eroding, highly fragmented, socially transformed state in Thailand itself. In short, the processes which created the height of Thailand’s traditional achievement of fighting prowess are not only almost impossible to approximate, they are also more or less gone.
Our mission, if we are to have one, isn’t necessarily to bring them back, but rather to trace out their hidden elements – hidden from “technique hunters” – such that we may draw their however thin threads forward into the future, to enrich the capacities but also the meaningfulness of Muay Thai’s praxis. So that it can remain an art, albeit an art whose beauty is proven through its potency to act and express itself in the ring, as the greatest fighting combat sport knowledge of the modern (and post-modern) era.
In this way I point toward the five keys or dimension of traditional Muay Thai upon which all the techniques of the sport/art rely for effectiveness. These five aspects are found in the individual fighting styles of legends of the sport, and in the regional histories and aesthetics of broader based styles, and are founded in the deeper principles of traditional scoring much neglected by the commercialization of the sport (ruup, balance, dominance over “damage”, narrative). In this way, returning to the analogies, techniques can be thought of as words or phrases, in the light of Language (or notes or phrases in the light of Music) which might be played or pronounced adroitly or not, but it is the weave of notes or work, phrases that actually proves the effectiveness of their prowess. It is the fabric of them.
I draw attention to these five because in the study of Muay Thai and in the development of a fighter these five are perpetual changes or choices that one can make at any moment in the display of techniques. They are the infinite variety of operations that open up any particular learning, or evolved capacities. And in them you will find the hidden capacities of any of the elite fighters you might imagine, in or out of the sport. These keys I’ve found in our filming of probably 100 Thai krus and countless legends of the Golden Age in the Muay Thai Library project, as well as lessons I’ve learned, so far, at the side of the ring in the approaching-300-fights of Sylvie’s career in Muay Thai. They are the things that win fights. They are the keys.
They are Spacing, Continue, Angles, Tempo and Rhythm.
Spacing may seem self-evident, but the spacing that one develops and which one chooses to change at any particular time is largely developed unconsciously. A great deal of it is conditioned by practice and training…how far partners stand apart from each other, how far padmen are positioned from fighters, the shapes of sparring habits. This builds up an invisible after image of a fighter, or really a fore-image, something that floats in front of them. Because we are visual creatures this is always being trained and always being conditioned. “Padwork range” in Thailand is something Sylvie and I talk about in terms of the conditioning of the comfortable range of the use of techniques. And Sylvie’s incredible success as a Muay Khao fighter against very outsized opponents largely has been the art of carefully denying “padwork range”, for instance. This is to say, a fighter has a maxtrix of spatial comfort zones, and so does their opponent. Much of fighting is placing oneself in spatial zones one feels akin to while depriving one’s opponent the same. In this sense having zones the opponent does not like is an advantage, a hidden advantage that will steal breath and effectiveness even from the most skilled opponents.
This larger point holds within itself the more narrow observation that at any time one can always change space, shrinking or expanding it. This may seem obvious, but in view of the above it isn’t something that is predominantly trained – except in traditional stylistics, and then not under this concept.
Continue is the Thai concept of “doh”. To continue. The West and its mechanical technical replications of techniques, the perfecting of “angles” and seeing weapons in terms of lines-of-force, the body as geometries largely misses the essence of techniques, and in that their use, their effectiveness. The West (and other globalizations) loves the “combo” which is a rehearsed phrasing of techniques such that one follows the other in a set. Often these are trained to be faster and stronger with great repetition. One then deploys combos in a fight, fast and hard. Its enough to see that the music of these is fairly wooden. (And in some Entertainment Muay Thai promotions which are designed for combo display this woodenness is encouraged.) And “combos” can be extended at great length. One can be placed upon another. But the secret of “continue” is much more like true language. You can in a conversation use common phrases but the test of language’s mastery is the “what comes next” after a word, after the phrase has ended. All of Thailand’s traditional Muay Thai techniques are like this. Any technique has – due to the syntax of Muay Thai and the capacities of the human Body – a number of possible “nexts”, a branching out. One may train techniques in limited sets, carving out grooves in the pathways between them, but the master of this language is being able to productive nexts, many of which may not be a technique at all, but rather a shifting of weight, a delay, a gesture, a posture change or any other “next” of a fighter’s expression. This is “continue” is made possible largely through balance and relaxation (which is one reason why these historically have developed as important elements in traditional Thai scoring, though now often shunned in its internationalization and commercialization. But, even more so it is made possible through its larger conception. The capacity is not made of act-reset-act-reset attack patterning, privileging offense as many are want to do. It is made through the concept of continuation itself, that fighting is a continuation, just as speaking is, or playing music is. There is no “end” or start over. Techniques are used like words or phrases or notes, but there is no expected cessation. Doh, doh, doh. It does not have to be fast, though it can be, but it is like breathing, it continues. One is engaged.
Fighters that train in dis-engagements and resets have a deep weakness in this. There are fissures in their techniques that can be continually – if even gently – attacked. Fissures that can be pried open. With very high level fighters these joining lines may be quiet hidden, and locating and opening them may be carried out in a very subtle way. You may see a big strike land, but it wasn’t that strike that did it.
Angles it will be admitted can be quite stunted in many styles of Thailand’s Muay Thai which have devolved to a linear fighting. I believe this is due now to Western Boxing’s waning influence on the sport – it was a major shaping factor for much of the 100 years of the 20th century – and also in the distance contemporary Muay Thai in the country has left behind some of its traditional martial roots. Angles are incredibly important, and ever a change that can be made by a fighter. And even in the more linear styles of Thailand’s Muay Thai mastering defensive angles in counter fighting, the control in retreat against the ropes, operates at a very high level. When you look closely enough at traditional Muay Thai you still see strong angular development, especially on defense. But here though, I bring the concept along with the other four as a vector of change, an element that at any time changes the composition of one’s muay, and features in the stylistics of great fighters. Angles change the “space” without necessarily changing the distance, and they open or close what techniques are possible, what can “doh” (be next). They also introduce a temporal element, in that they can impose a pause in the timing of the opponent, a fore-knowable pivot, which can be the foundation for what is possible. Turning your opponent is fundamental to the control of your opponent. A dimension of control. This is to leave behind, and not minimize, the importance of control over the central line of attack, itself a very important principle of traditional Muay Thai.
There can be some confusion over Tempo and Rhythm as I have used them. Tempo is here the rate at which rhythms occur, like tempo in music. You can play the same 1-2-3, 1-2-3 fast or slow. Tempo is important because its a dimension of stylistic choice that has immense physical effect. There is of course up-tempoing, which has a cardio impact on the fight, a cardio impact which can also include a mental impact, as the mind of your opponent may not respond in an ideal way over time. Tempo-ing in this way can break even highly skilled opponent rhythms – if one can keep rhythm well at that rate, as well as having a worthy rhythm – but, slow-tempoing can also break rhythms of opponents, forcing a pace they are not well suited to, breaking into their phrasing and their “doh”, creating fissures. Rhythm in this analogy is not the overall rate, but rather the pattern of rates within a duration. This may involve a change of speeds between techniques or other “doh” aspects, or may be composed of the timing differences involved in weapon (or defensive) choices. A teep has a temporal element (actually several, depending) which is different than that of an elbow, a jab different than an uppercut. The choices of weapons and various parries or evasions (not to mention delays or speedings) create their own rhythm, and fighters will have favored rhythms. If you study the fighter Karuhat Sor. Supawan you’ll find perhaps the ideal “rhythm” fighter. He is rhythmed without being patterned. These are not pure categories. Tempo choices can mix into rhythm choices, and visa versa, but I isolate them as choices, vectors of change a fighter can change. One can decide to change the tempo, you can decide to change the rhythm, and as a training and developing fighter you should think about changing both in your training, even if you are composing yourself through a great deal of combo training. (Combos are just much more rigid packets of tempo’d rhythm of very specific techniques, in kind of isolated “doh”, but as such they can be connected to larger principles discussed here.) In traditional kaimuay development all of these aspects are trained and heightened through stylistics, and the deeper cultural aspects of Thailand’s Muay Thai. They are not thought of as concepts, but here are pulled out as conceptual threads, in part though the hope of their preservation, along with the aim of an increased appreciation of traditional aesthetics as potent and perservation-worthy.
Within rhythm as a key indeed are many higher muay capacities, almost unnameable, because changing rhythms, along with the doh principle, touches almost every conceiveable aspect of fighting. If you change weapon choices, you change the rhythm (each weapon has its one temporal element). If you change angle, you change rhythm. If you change spacing you change potential rhythm. Once you enter the linguistic or musical concept of fighting aesthetics and their techniques you have entered a great complexity of expression, something that is quite bottomless. And in training, you should be exploring this…this is one reason why legends of the sport often emphasize shadowboxing. It’s not about muscle memory, its about muscle exploration. Even basic rhythms, even basic patterns can be opened out to great effect, which is one reason why Thai elite fighters repeatedly offer that the key to great fighting are the basics. An brilliant improvisational musician can play a basic waltz inspirationally. Its about those changes and choices, the flights of what can be.
This is one reason why we structured the Muay Thai Library documentary project the way we did, in long form (hour long or more) improvisational teaching sessions, filled with error and correction, but also filled with the personal character and quality of the kru – because the style of the kru, the legend, is what find itself expressed in the muay of the fighter. You need all those invisible pieces, the things very hard to convey and certainly impossible to copy, to see the reason and effect of individual techniques. We’ve stayed away from “demo” knowledge, the kinds of biomechanical replication that can skip through digital channels. It’s about all the things that can’t be replicated in that mechanical way. And, one singular reason for this is that Sylvie has composed this incredible record as a fighter, a historical fighter of immense achievement and development. The record is really of the search for the things that matter in Muay Thai, the things that can easily be lost, if we don’t pull those threads forward.
Hopefully this piece helps you see the things we have our eyes on and we keep exploring this incredible art and its honorific men of achievement. There is much more to say in this, more is coming.
Additional Notes on Rhythm and Tempo
The Thai traditional swaying rhythm is well-known. But lessor known is that it is used primarily as a device of deviation. It establishes a visual cue, a cue of regularity, which also is aimed at dictating the opponent and the fight, but this base rhythm is used to reveal the deviations from it, quite like a musical flight or subtle shifts from rhythm itself. As Jazz will leave the bass or drum, in the more extreme example, but featured in much of music. The pleasure comes from the deviation.
Understanding this helps one see what is possible in Thai padwork. First of all, the better padmen of Thailand will constantly be changing tempo or distance or rhythm, in a fighterly way, even if this is subtly done. The fighter is adjusting as she or he reads these changes, and its one reason that padmen who were experienced fighters have capacities others may not. They understand and manipulate the shape of fighting, nurturing its perception. Further though. Because fighting is best an act of dictation, that you are dictating the tempos, rhythms and space under struggle, the best padmen will also be able to absorb a student/fighter deviating from what is imposed as kru. This is to say, many do not realize that as they are training on the pads – often with great effort and commitment – is also the learning of being dictating “to” by the target. This passive reception and following of set rhythms, tempos and spacing (including angles) is not an aptitude one wants to bring into fights. Instead, you need to learn how to dictate all of these things. This requires a special relationship with a padman, and not all padmen are open to it, or capable of it. In Thailand’s traditional past padwork was much less instructive or developmental, and the capacities of dictation came through lots of light sparring at close range, without gloves or shin guards. In this way eyes and dictated rhythms were built. Today, the locus of this happens much more in padwork.
There is another aspect of rhythm and even tempo to speak of, the immanent power within techniques. As is the focus of a great deal of Muay Thai training, the mechanical exactness of techniques is often acutely pursued…and honed. And there is indeed great benefits which can be had in such focus – though often it can deadend in rhythmical culdesacs and traps, drawing one’s attention away from the structuring weave of the powers of these five higher principles. Here, in reference of the immanence within techniques, there is – just as there is within words and phrases, in musical notes and phrases – a discovery of just what rhythms are possible, such at techniques in their experiential specificity can spontaneously generate rhythms, new rhythms, as they are joined to other techniques (and here I speak not only of weapons, but techniques of balance and defense and timing). Like with language, as sense in generated word by word, so too it is with techniques, strung together in a natural grammar, guided also be Thai styles and their aesthetics. In this sense, one’s own Muay Thai is grown, experience by experience, expressed by the rhythms you inhabit. And, within Muay Thai, because perhaps the greatest achievement is the defeat of opponent rhythms at the level of rhythm itself, producing rhythms that counter and decompose opponent rhythms – such is the level of mastery of legends of the sport – the rhythms you can discover in this self-mastery and what can be called sense-making, makes it such that when you win exchanges, then rounds, then fights, it more and more is the whole of you that is winning, just as when in language or music one composes the whole of oneself leans into the listener. In this sense, the intimate connection with techniques, their particularity of timing and physical qualities, when under the principle of Doh (continue), a Muay Thai is waiting to be discovered in what you find natural to what is next.
Additional Reading Behind These Themes
Precision – A Basic Motivation Mistake in Some Western Training
Do not “pull” your strikes in sparring – and other proper techniques and Forms of Life in Thailand
From Nabokov to Karuhat: The Uses of Style to Overcome Difficulty
Karuhat’s Flower – The Essence of Muay Thai in Pruning Back, Restraint
Classic Muay Khao vs Size, how controlling distance is essential to the art of Muay Thai
Ruup – Why Should a Fighter’s Posture Matter? The Art in the Art of Muay Thai
Muay Thai Library Sessions Which Explore These Principles In Particular
#73 Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn 2 – Overcoming Distance (61 min) watch it here
The incredible Namsaknoi was one of the rare fighters who melded sheer physical power with femeu touch. In this session you learn how he exploited and explored angles, owned the edge, in a way that left him the king of Lumpinee at his weight in his day.
#65 Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn 1 – Sharking The Angles (67 min) watch it here
The Emperor. Fighter of the Year in 1996 and 6 years undefeated as Lumpinee Champion, one of the greatest fighters ever teaches his incredible edge-attacking style. He shows how he is always one step ahead of his opponent, setting them up in a constantly evolving attack.
#146 Wangchannoi Sor Palangchai #4 – Elite Timing & Impact and Shadowboxing (42 mins) watch it here
This session is pure gold. Wangchannoi, one of the most feared fighters of the Golden Age teaches the keys to his punishing, explosive style. It’s about building fight timing, and setting up the painful, impactful strike through timing and distance. One of the more difficult things to teach he artfully unfolds what his secret was to controlling and beating some of the best fighters in the world.
#132 Matee Jedeepitak – The Keys To Femeu Timing & Distance (66 min) watch it here
Some of the most difficult – but vital – things to learn in traditional Muay Thai is the trinity of Timing, Distance and how to incorporate the Basics. These form the core of what made Golden Age Muay Thai so very special as a fighting style. Lumpinee Champion Matee Jedeepitak has spent two decades perfecting his communication of these femeu qualities, unlocking them for everyone from beginning student to advanced fighter.
#124 Kru San Sitmonchai #2 – Muay Maat At The Right Pace (62 min) watch it here
Pace is one of the most important, but not always taught aspects of Thailand’s Muay Thai, and features heavily in its scoring. Through pace you set your narrative, you dictate the fight. Kru San is expert at teaching pace, and he brings forth his Muay Maat style. Learn the rhythm and distance which can take your Muay Thai to the next level.
#99 Yodwicha Por Boonsit 3 – Spearing the Middle, Fighting With Rhythm (66 min) watch it here
Yodwicha won (co) Fighter of the year in 2012 as one of the most dominant Muay Khao fighters Thailand has seen, and then made the transition to K1 style kickboxing oriented promotions and became a powerful Muay Maat puncher. In fact he has all the tools, all the distances, and is currently the WBC World Champion at 154 lbs. He teaches how to put knees and hands together was well as some very important bagwork insights.
#76 Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn 4 – How to Fight Tall (69 min) watch it here
There several sessions with the King of Knees in the Muay Thai Library, this is the fourth, but this is the first one where he gets the chance to teach a tall, long fighter like he was. If you are a tall fighter this is the session you don’t want to miss. He is arguably the GOAT, an in this session he unfolds his entire fighting system of knee fighting pressure and distance control.
#47 Silapathai Jockygym – Master of Teep Distance (64 min) watch it here
One of the great femeu fighters of the Golden Age unlocks the secret of his teep oriented dominance which made him one of the most difficult fighters to face in his day. The lessons here are precious as he unfolds the details of how to use the teep and tempo to always put the fight where you want it.
#33 Kru San Sitmonchai #1 – Control of Pace & Distance when Advancing (56 min) watch it here
Kru San is a big man but has incredible muay, a lightness to his movement that he transforms into a jai yen advancing Muay Thai style. In this session it’s all about. Creating pressure without rushing, using the teep to set up combinations to the body and head, raising ring awareness, and using weapons at the appropriate time in your opponent’s fatigue.
#8 Sangtiennoi Sor Rungroj – Advanced Clinch (52 min) watch it here
The Golden Age Lumpinee and Rajadamnern Champion, a legendary Muay Khao fighter who fought all the greats instructs on the finer points of clinch technique. Small differences that make big differences. Advanced tips on the swim-in and turn, and the importance of going from long distance techniques to short distance grab and lock.
#137 Kem Sitsongpeenong 3 – Balance, Fakes and Calm (102 mins) watch it here or podcast here
Kem goes right to the heart of his beautiful, explosive style. It’s all about calm and balance, and using that balance to create change of speed and direction, exposing your opponent to sudden attacks, set up by a mix of fakes & rhythm. What is being taught here can add to the effectiveness of any style fighter, filming at his beautiful gym in the Khao Yai mountains.
#124 Kru San Sitmonchai #2 – Muay Maat At The Right Pace (62 min) watch it here
Pace is one of the most important, but not always taught aspects of Thailand’s Muay Thai, and features heavily in its scoring. Through pace you set your narrative, you dictate the fight. Kru San is expert at teaching pace, and he brings forth his Muay Maat style. Learn the rhythm and distance which can take your Muay Thai to the next level.
#121 Learning from Namkabuan (public) – Explosive Off-Beat Rhythms (70 min) watch it here
This is a very special session with Namkabuan, one of the greatest who ever fought, undefeated for 6 years holding the prestigious 130 lb Lumpinee belt in the Golden Age. This is the first time I met him. He since has passed away, so this session is public and available to everyone. It’s a beautiful sharing of the secrets of one of the great fighting styles of Thailand.
#109 Chatchai Sasakul 3 – Developing Rhythm & Precision (1 hr, 46 min) watch it here
The best boxing coach in Thailand, former WBC World Champions Chatchai Sasakul, teaches the importance of rhythm and precision. Chatchai’s instruction brings western boxing technique to Thailand’s Muay Thai, as he was also a Golden Age stadium fighter.
#106 Phetdam Sor Suradet – Style, Rhythm, and Timing (61 min) watch it here
One of the best padmen in Thailand teaches all the important but hidden aspects of great fighting and training. How do you get spacing and rhythm right? Watch Phetdam mould me in the directions of his compact but relaxed, tempo’d pressuring style.
#96 Hippy Singmanee 3 – Basics of Balance, Rhythm & Footwork (75 min) watch it here
When a legend of the sport teaches you the core basics of Golden Age Muay Thai you stop and listen. These movements are essential for reaching higher levels of fighting, and Hippy – who was probably the best small fighter of his time, always fighting up – teaches these movements to his own young fighters. Build from the ground up.
#11 Karuhat Sor. Supawan 2 – Float and Shock (82 min) watch it here
In this session one of the greatest fighters who ever lived really digs into what must lie beneath techniques, a general state of relaxation and rhythm, the thing that made him one of the most dynamic fighters Lumpinee has ever seen.
