Arjan Surat - His Old School Tough & Defensive Style (94 min) (Patreon)

Arjan Surat is an amazing figure in Thailand's Muay Thai. He has been a trainer, manager of fighters, since the Golden Age. You'll see him in the corner of Legends, wrapping Boonlai's hands, Karuhat apparently ran away from him after only 1 time hitting pads - and yet when Karuhat was cornering me for a fight in Bangkok and the decision went to my opponent in a result that left many scratching their heads, Karuhat ran directly to Arjan Surat in that instance as an authority - and he's in charge of training the Thai National Muay Thai Team that fights every year in IFMA. He now has 2 entries into the Library and both are wonderful, but this one is special to me. We really, really want to capture the men and their particular charisma, personalities, attitudes, energies, in addition to their Muay. In truth, they are inseparable from each other. Arjan Surat has proven himself difficult to capture on film, but this session is him, for sure. He likes me a lot, so he doesn't put me into the fire the way he would if I were one of his fighters with no camera on us - he's one of the most feared trainers in Thailand, but he's absolutely generous in how he gives that intensity and his fighters are tough as sh*t because of it. So, just know that Arjan "goes to 11," but this ride is an easy-listening level of maybe 5.

One of the greatest reasons to preserve Arjan Surat in the Muay Thai Library is that he is himself a living history of Muay Thai. Because he's trained fighters for 50 years, he's had to adapt to the changes in rules, scoring, gambling, attitudes, and of course the adjustment for international and amateur brands of scoring. This is something I love about my own trainer, Kru Nu, in that because he's actively training fighters for the stadia of Bangkok, whatever hemming hawing there is about how Muay Thai is changing, there's also a "se la vie" understanding that Muay Thai is a living legacy, it will and does change, and you have to train your fighters to win within the changing system. I don't personally love a lot of the changes, but I do love that it's alive. Arjan Surat has some very strong attitudes and opinions about what "real" Muay Thai is, but he's also like a cowboy in his acceptance of changes. One of my favorite things he repeats, in English, is that some of these shows are not a "Gentleman's Muay Thai." He's talking about honor and ring etiquette. He's talking about masculinity. He and I draw blood from the same vein on that point.

All that said, Arjan Surat allows his fighters to have their own "style," but insists on particulars: 1) be f***ing tough; 2) don't only have heart, show it; and 3) protect yourself at all times. The distinguishing visual mark of Arjan Surat's style is this protection, and he dives into it in this session.

Some Things to Look Out For: 

1) The Pinsinchai Arm Swing: we call it this because the Pinsinchai Gym pushed this into its fighters, but it's not distinct to or originating from there. Most teachers tell you to swing your arm down on kicks to generate power and looseness in the leg, but some will teach you to keep the arm up in your opponent's face as a guard. Neither is wrong. But you can really see the advantage of keeping the guard up when Arjan Surat launches punches at you while you're kicking. I had it wrong, actually, and had practiced putting my hand at the center of the opponent's face, but Arjan shows me how to put it to the outside of the opponent's face, mainly because it closes my shoulder against my chin so tight that there's no way to get hurt by punches. No way.

2) If you get counted, you lose. Period..: In Thailand, being counted is a big deal in normal stadium fighting. So Arjan says, "if you get counted, you lose." So never, ever get rung. Never get knocked down, never get counted. Always defend your jaw. 

3) Look for the Moon/Stars:  Arjan demonstrates this as part of the Ram Muay, but the forearms move and cover the face in a beautiful rhythm that does, in fact, look like you're looking up at the moon or the stars. That's your guard. And it moves.

4) Lean Forward: keeping your arm up on the kick allows you to not lean back; on knees, too. Staying upright makes it harder to throw you off-balance or have that stupid lean-back problem that I have, which kills your power, too. It's for balance and power, lean in, but keep your guard up.

5) Caught Kick: if someone catches your kick you can punch them as they hold it, and he shows me different angles for the punches; you can do anything. If they lift your leg you can hop to take the pressure off. Or, if they're slow you can bend your knee and jump onto them. Again, your weight has to be forward for that to work.

6) Caught Teep: Arjan changes his guard on a caught teep. He does a tight "11 Guard," in that case as the opponent's options are pretty limited. If they pull your foot to the side you can press down (great for short fighters), if they catch in front of their body you can teep them again.

7) Mixed Stance: if you're in a mixed-stance fight, teep the front leg of your opponent a lot. Then fake a kick and launch a back-leg teep with power, but jump on it. Again, knocking your opponent down is a huge point of dominance.

8) Ripping Down: if you keep your arm long and up on the kick, if you happen to land down close you can grab the neck and wrench the opponent down (this is like Karuhat's "push turn" in the clinch) for a knee. Even if they don't fall, the breaking of the Ruup is a huge point.

9) Low Kicks: I love Arjan's low kicks. Important points are how he keeps the guard the same as for higher kicks, but he also grabs the opponent's punches in his hand like a catcher's mitt. These are close range and you do a lot of them. 

Kevin's edited stills from the session, giving an artistic perspective on the work:

More Arjan Surat Goodness

Kevin put together this 30 second beautiful clip capturing Arjan Surat's padwork intensity, check that out on YouTube here.

Be sure to watch my first Muay Thai Library session with Arjan Surat, here.  In this session he took it upon himself to just show different techniques of great variety, rather than teach his own particular style:

watch that session as a patron here.

And, we even filmed with him 4 years ago, this was the first time I got acquainted with him.  We put the whole hour of for the public to see. In the video you can see his engaged padwork style:

watch the full hour available to the public here 

Closing the Door

This technique vlog incorporates Arjan Surat's arm swing into a larger concept of closing the door in long guard, check it out:

watch this patron only technique vlog here 

Don't Lean Back

Arjan Surat's style is part of a stiff, closed defensive pressure style, that is all about keeping your opponent in front of you, and staying in the fight space. It is related to things Yodkhunpon The Elbow Hunter teaches (you can find his sessions in the Library here). In particular Yodkhunpon's Don't Lean Back on Knees is connected to Arjan Surat's arm swing on the kick, as a style. Yodkhunpon also was a Pinsinchai fighter at one point. You can see Yodkhunpon teaching his Don't Lean Back knee, and read more about the style in my 8limbsus.com post:

Muay Thai Knee | Don’t Lean Back – Yodkhunpon The Elbow Hunter 

If you enjoyed this session you might like these sessions in the Library that develop similar themes. 

#61 Arjan Surat at Dejrat Gym - Old School Master (37 min) watch it here 

Arjan Surat stands as a tower in the pantheon of great coaches of Thailand. Coach of the Thai National Team, Kru of legends since the Golden Age, there is nobody like him. Learn the basics of his technique, but what is more look into the eyes of the one of the great coaches ever, training legends in his garage for decades.

#32 Visiting with Arjan Prahmod and Golden Age Nongkipahuyut Gym  (26 min) watch it here 

Not the usual Muay Thai Library session, but a treat for those who love historic Muay Thai. Arjan Prahmod created the 2nd most champions in the Golden Age after Arjan Yodtong, and all of them came out of the famed Nongkipahuyut gym in Nongki, Thailand. In this session Arjan along with a prized student shows techniques that not only won big stadium belt, but are more more rare these days. I also walk through the gym's Hall of Fame room. 

#17 Burklerk PInsinchai - Dynamic Symmetry (82 min) watch it here 

Arjan Burklerk is a unique master of Muay Thai from the Golden Age, boasting one the highest win percentages in Thai history, and possessing a beautiful craft that harkens back to older styles of fighting with powerful, dynamic symmetry and control of space. 

#16 Thailand Pinsinchai - Attacking Shell (62 min) watch it here 

Former Lumpinee and Rajadamnern champion Thailand Pinsinchai teaches the beautiful framework for his attacking, elbowing style. Lots of minute corrections, small vital details that turn working techniques into dominance. You get the entire picture of a Muay Buek fighter out of the legendary Pinsinchai gym .

#36 General Tunwakom - Lertrit Military Muay (46 min) watch it here 

General Tunwakom is the last living direct student of the grandmaster who developed this Lertrit/Muay Khorat military style of fighting, designed to end exchanges quickly. Much can be learned from the foundations of these techniques, and these are definitely techniques that could be effective in the ring with proper timing.

#43  Kongsamut Sor. Thanikul - Muay Mat Style (74 min) watch it here

This Lumpinee champion is perhaps most notable for when he lost a fight for the 102 lb Lumpinee belt, against famed Samart. Samart winning his first belt of many. Kongsamut has a beautiful Muay Mat (punchers) style that he mixes with low kicks, very differently than the Pornsanae style. He fights in close, and is constantly twisting, hitting high and low. Any Muay Thai puncher would benefit from the principles in his style.