5 Principles of Higher Muay Thai – if I would select five

We’ve filmed with probably a hundred Thai krus and countless legends of the sport. Sylvie has fought nearly 300 fights in the country – being ringside has been a major path of understanding – and I’m constantly thinking about the things that distinguish fighters, that bring a fighter’s Muay Thai to another level, often a level that is very hard to teach or sometimes even talk about. What makes Karuhat “Karuhat” or Namsaknoi “Namsaknoi”? These 5 aspects really are what fighting is all about I suspect, what really is going on in fights and usually determines winners. And notably, they have very little to do with individual “techniques”, the kinds of things that students really concentrate on and work to perfect (techniques are much easier to work on because they can be thought of and taught biomechanically, and be somewhat replicated across students). Techniques are much more like “words” or “phrases” in a language, but its the weave of how they are put together. You can “win” with very simple techniques if they are put together in the right way. One of the most beautiful things about Thailand’s trad Muay Thai is that it is actually all about these five higher aspects, how to manipulate and express oneself, in so much of its muay that is often under appreciated. Its aesthetics, its ruup, timing and tempos. These to me are really the deeper things.