Belts define athletes.
Curriculums define teachers.
I want you to be proud of your Muay Thai. No matter your level, I want my students to be proud of their skills. When people see you, I want them to say ‘that’s Muay Thai.’ This is a tall order, both for you the student and I the teacher because we must deliver.
The following is my plan and method in delivering my half of the promise.
Fitness first.
Can’t make a sword out of wood.
Good skill begins with a strong physical state. We’ll be fighting all our lives against heart diseases and conditions that erode our vitality from being too sedentary. The foundation of our program, at all levels lies in possessing good physical condition no matter our age. All our classes cultivate basic athletics, energy systems, and core work.
Next, we build form.
To build form, build mechanical force.
Since Muay Thai is a form of pugilism, it contains many mechanics related to throwing. So when we talk about ‘fundamentals’, we are talking about the nuanced detailed of throwing your technique.
To learn ‘Muay Thai’ is to learn the Thai way of a particular technique. This is a nuanced thing rife with detail, like the difference between Thai Curry and Japanese curry.
Building fundamentals, is about ingraining nuanced detail that makes your technique a clear expression of Muay Thai.
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‘Anchoring’ has to do with setting your weight in the right place. Knowing which portion of your body to be heavy is what allows the throwing side to be light.
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To ‘gather’ is to use one’s anchor as leverage to generate momentum. Think of a swing set in a playground—the cross bars being dug deep into the ground is what allows the swing to gather momentum without being dislodged.
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Ninety percent of your power, is in the last 10% of the movement. To ‘throw’ is to use the anchor, and gathering phases to culminate into a release; with the correct portion of your body to the right surface area of the target.
Fundamental Learning Goals:
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Footwork, also including appropriate stance and posture refers to establishing sound starting (and finishing) position.
Oscillation
Standing (orthodox and southpaw)
Turning
Walking
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there are two types of punches; straight arm and bent arm:
Jab (straight)
Cross (straight)
Hook (bent)
Uppercut (bent)
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Low Kick
Mid Kick
High Kick
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Lead
Rear
Low
Mid
High
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Straight Knee
Side Knee
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Horizontal
Vertical
Diagonal
Learning Tools
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Shadow Boxing
Creates coordination. Since there is no object to hit, builds their sense of ‘feel’, how their balance helps or hinders the delivery of movement.
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Hand to Hand
Here we discover the interrelated relationship of offense and defense. Done through play, we expedite learning by tempering the amount of stress a drill yields. The goal is to learn and understand the relationship of offense and defense, not dominate your classmate.
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Pad Work
Pad work is employed as a cumulative effect in class as it trains both conditioning and coordination; you execute the appropriate technique based on what you see, while fatigue sets it. The most productive fun to have.
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Bag Work
A moving meditation. You execute maneuvers on a bag (albeit unobstructed) to allow one to memorize focused delivery of technique.
“Building fundamentals, is about ingraining nuanced detail that makes your technique a clear expression of Muay Thai.”
Next we build a repertoire.
Did you know that the entirety of music-the genres, songs, and its history all come from 12 notes?
Once you have a good understanding of basic moves, you can now move on to building a repertoire of technique(s).
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Feints
Opening moves
2 hit combination
3 hit combination
Long to Long
Short to Short
Long to Short
Short to Long
Change of level
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Vs. Punch
Vs. Kick
Vs. Knee
Vs. Elbow
…and all points under offensive repertoire above
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Clinching is standup grappling, the goal is to strike from the inside, and or dominate with throws. It can be an art in and of itself! We organize our clinch curriculum in several areas, organized from far to close:
Hand trapping
Striking
Sweeps and throws
Fighter Curriculum
To be honest, I’m not looking to create a fighter program, or fighters in general. I just don’t believe in recruiting fighters. Let me explain why:
Successful fighters are often the product of successful relationships.
And relationships can’t be forced anymore than it can be recruited. It has to happen organically. Both student and teacher have to love, respect and believe in one another. That part happens on its own.
The following is what I teach, when the relationship is correct.
Timing.
Timing beats speed
Opportunities and threats exist simultaneously. Timing is about recognizing when an opportunity becomes a threat, and when a threat becomes opportunity. It’s not just about being fast. It’s about vision, anticipation and seeing patterns where most cannot.
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Initial moves are entry movements that lead to follow up moves. Often originating from the lead side, they are meant to setup and or create momentum for several moves. Good initial moves should be simple, direct and easy to retract.
Jab
Lead push kick
Lead swing kick
Feints
Misdirection
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An opponent is most vulnerable during their attempt. To intercept is to recognize 1) The opportunity and 2) the appropriate technique to match the opportunity.
Here we explore how positioning (your position in relation to opponent) allows for a response in a small window of opportunity.
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Also predicated on positioning, another time an opponent is vulnerable is immediately after their attack. To counter is to recognize the opportunity that exists immediately after the threat.
Precision beats power
Your hardest surface area to their weakest surface area. Precision is about efficiency and not always about effort. It involves maximizing your vision so that your efforts do not go to waste by hitting an object as hard (or harder) than your own technique.
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‘Delivery’ is about economizing the means in which your technique is delivered. As we improve (in anything) it should take less effort, less motion and less noise to deliver power. Any wasted movement simply inhibits timing and power.
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Surface area of your weapon to target.
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To ‘finish’ a technique is to decide where the kinetic energy of your technique is delivered. Like golf, it is to deliver the energy to its intended destination and not merely make it a goal to throw.
Strategy.
I think ‘strategy’ in practice is improvisational; a spontaneous thing that happens in the moment from a flash of intuition—an inside view of the moment that provides an insight only the fighter can see.
Sometimes we think strategy is a 1:1 thing; that what you practice is what happens in real life. Not entirely true—your opponent is training to sabotage you, to make what your practice obsolete in real life. So, strategy is more than practicing.
Your repertoire must be readily available and effective.
You have to be able to see the fight
You have to have a good sense of feel
You have to be a little lucky
It’s with that said that I don’t necessarily ‘teach strategy’, because that is up to the fighter to recognize what needs to be done in the moment. My job is to give the elements that create good decisions at the right time.
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Your position in the ring tends to dictate a dominant or passive role in that moment, which therefore dictates your repertoire.
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Many factors influence a situation between two opponents: physical differences, internal state, style, stakes;
This is about discovering the different situations one may be placed in and organize their repertoire accordingly.
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Here we explore the different styles within Muay Thai through fighter study of different eras :
Muay Mat (puncher)
Muay Tae (kicker)
Muay Sok (elbow fighter)
Muay Femur (tactician)
The study of such fighters allow you to discover how they used their own repertoire to solve the varying situations they were placed in, so you can formulate your own style.
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Mae Mai
Look Mai
Look Len