Kem Kem Muaythai Gym - Mastering Everything In Between (80 min) (Patreon)

I really like training with Kem but, while watching this session for the voice recording, I was surprised by how good it was. Like really, really good. I’d enjoyed it while filming and actually doing the session, but rewatching it really revealed to me just how good he is as a teacher. Kem’s style is very slick. Every single thing he does is distinct and beautiful and balanced. He’s not a Muay Khao fighter but he doesn’t pull fighters who are away from it, instead he works to really clean it up and make it the highest form it can be. And, he’s responsible for turning Yodwicha, a co-Fighter of the Year phenom of modern stadium Muay Thai and at the time Thailand's best knee fighter, into a very well-rounded, heavy-handed superstar on the Top King stage, which is under international style scoring (with barely any clinch at all). In this session with Kem, I can see just how he went about doing that.A lot of what we want to learn from trainers in Thailand are strikes. Show me how to kick right, show me that awesome elbow, show me how to knee harder, etc. What Kem teaches me in this session is everything between strikes – everything – and how that makes all the strikes look good and land well. He even specifically works with me on how to take the dok jai (being startled, tense, flinchy) out of my head so that I look composed and can move more freely if the opponent changes direction. It is insanely hard to teach a student things like timing, faking, or IQ (there is an Attachai session in the library which I am reminded of also). That last one, IQ, might be the hardest, because it seems innate – either you’re a clever fighter or a dummy. Or so that’s how it’s often talked about and assumed. But just like Attachai figured out how to teach fakes by simply playing with me, Kem uses this entire session to teach me how to have IQ, how to think while you’re training so that you don’t have to think when you’re fighting.Some things to look out for:

1. Fakes: if you’re going to use fakes to set up your strikes, you have to fake something that you’ve actually thrown. If you never throw a right cross and then try to use the fake of one, nobody believes you. Kem tells me that as a knee fighter, a fake knee is a really believable choice.
2. Strikes before the one you actually want to land: as a knee fighter, everyone knows the moment I grab them in the clinch, I want to knee. So, they brace for the knee. Kem tells me to throw an elbow first, because they don’t expect that, so that one lands AND the knee that I’d originally wanted lands after because they’re still stunned off the knee.
3. Relax: only throw 70% power… ever.
4. Moving in space: so much of this is moving in space. Stepping on strikes, stepping back for dodges, pivoting off to the side, head-movement to land a knee. Footwork is 99% of everything. Balance is 100% of everything.
5. Openings: if you’re blocking on one side, there’s an opening on the other. That’s how it works. Learn how to multi-task, so you’re not missing openings by only blocking. Kem likes to elbow while blocking. It’s sick.
6. Changing it up: Kem is not the first and will not be the last to tell me this, but you want the opponent to land a shot a few times before you kill it. You want them to believe in it. Likewise, you want to set up your tricks a few times before you do the actual trick. Fake right and knee left a few times, then fake right and knee right to fake them out. You learn how to do this by playing a lot. Then you use repetition to make it natural and smooth.
7. Meditate. Kem told me the way to get tension out of my Muay – aside from just training high enough repetitions to get it close to automatic – is to meditate for 5 minutes after training. Every day. And if the Most Handsome Man in the World tells you to meditate, you do it.

Some stills from the session:

MORE in the Library

If you enjoyed this session, these are sessions in the Library you might also enjoy:

#13 Kem Sitsongpeenong - Building a System (52 min) watch it here 

Kem, one of the best fighters of his generation, shows me building blocks of his system. He teaching a firm, defensive frame, and especially likes an upward elbow that explodes out of blocks, checks and fake teeps.

#19 Attachai Fairtex - Timing and IQ (72 min) watch it here 

2x Lumpinee Champion Attachai Fairtex is one of the great femeu fighters of Thailand. Namsaknoi, himself an elite femeu fighter of legendary status called him his most difficult fight as he just was too hard to read. This is a window into that quality, and how to build it. 

#34 Samart Payakaroon - Balance, Balance, Balance! (81 min) watch it here 

Atop the tower of Muay Thai legends probably stands Samart. 3x Fighter of the Year, 4x Lumpinee Champion and WBC World Boxing Champion, no fighter more brilliantly showed what femeu fighting could do. In this session he shows the foundations of how to build true balance, the ultimate key to his fighting style.  

#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.

#51 Berneung Kem Muaythai Gym - Big Man Timing, Not Power (66 min) watch it here 

Berneung, despite being a power, Muay Khao fighter is a big advocate of timed pressure, and using timing to disrupt and ultimately dismantle your opponent. This session is full of teep tactics, switching into opposite stance, clinch trips and turns, and a thinking many's Muay Khao approach.

TIP BOX: if you are inspired by what you see and want to show added appreciation you can send gratuity directly to Kru Kem. Every time I send these extra donations and thank yous the Krus are really touched. Just message $5 or more via PayPal to the address sylvie@8limbs.us, please in the "add a note" section specify "for Kru Kem". I will transfer the funds.

KRU FUND: additionally, 5% of all Patreon pledges go into my Kru Fund, and is directed back to the Krus and ex-fighters who have helped make this documentary Library possible: http://8limbs.us/muay-thai-thailand/starting-the-kru-fund