Yodpitak Chor Nateetong - Femeu Knees & the Art of Spacing (80 min) (Patreon)

Kru Tak is one of these teachers who has a definite style, which is Femeu (Thai for "artful"), slick, playful but punishing, and supremely hard to stand in front of. And yet, the depth of his knowledge and keenness of insight into what your style is, allows him to improve any level, any style, any technique. He's very smart, very knowledgeable, and very personable, which makes working with him fun. If you find yourself in Pattaya, I 100% recommend taking the opportunity to train with him.

This is his second entry into the Muay Thai Library. I highly recommend you go and watch the first session (linked at bottom), either as an introduction to this session, or you can watch it after this one as a way to "fill in" with more tactics and techniques. This session focuses quite a bit on spacing, which is an important element in any style but as a Femeu stylist you have to be "juggling" your advancing opponent. As a "derning" fighter, or the one coming forward, you don't want to be snuffing your strikes and power by closing too fast, so his instruction is very helpful and important here, too. I say this in the voiceover but I cannot stress this enough: if you want to be a Femeu fighter, your number one priority is balance. Without it you have no rhythm, no timing, no faking, no finesse, and no chance evading more than one strike at a time. Balance is important for all styles, but it's the secret superpower that runs through all the best Femeu fighters. Kru Tak offers some really insightful and immediately helpful tips for balance.

What to Look Out For: 

1) Pacing: this is a huge part of what Kru Tak is focusing on in this session and it's something you just have to watch, as it's not verbally instructed. Watch the pace of how he's holding, how he's backing up; that' show he's guiding my pacing and that's what he's teaching. It's not rushed, but it's not slow either. You can stay at a pretty steady, pressuring pace for entire rounds. It's "slow" enough that you're not missing openings or seeing something coming at you, but it's consistent enough that it's very difficult for your opponent to interrupt or find a moment to post in order to launch a counter.

2) Balance = Power: this was a revelation for me, this little step out of the lead foot, just outside your opponent's stance. You're kind of squaring up, but not a whole lot. It's just a tiny step outside for your rear-side (power side) attack, which allows you balance, which gives you accuracy, which is power, and also takes you slightly off-line so you're not eating a counter. This was huge. This is huge.

3) Bit: this is a word in Thai that means to rotate or turn. You'll hear it when a trainer is commanding you to turn your hip or waist on kicks, but here Kru Tak is really emphasizing the turn on the knee strike. The standing leg is straight and slightly outside the opponent's foot (see the note above) and so the kneeing leg is super angled and ends up hitting the ribs or the side of the belly (not the side of the waist, the front of the body but outside the center line.) This makes it hard to guard or trip.

4) Organization of Strikes: this is Sagat's word, "organization," but it's the natural flow of strikes. Tak likes high and low, low and high, because he's Femeu and it confuses the opponent. But it also flows. There's a moment where I turn him and then punch him and he asks why I don't kick when he's bent over... because I didn't see it. But I don't need to, it should be a feeling, a flow. Organization. You organize your feet, your arms in guard. You'll see this over and over in this session, how the arms are guarding and then just kind of slip into an offensive movement of pushing down the opponent's guard, or turning them, or grabbing; the legs step out for a strike or step back at the right angle to be able to launch an offense while in reverse. Organization.

5) Clinch Defense: one of my favorite things is learning clinch from fighters who don't want to clinch. They have the best tricks. Kru Tak loves turns and off-balances, which he's able to do because he gets his opponent to lean on him. He keeps his weight very 50/50 and neutral, so he can feel where his opponent is and take advantage at a split second of their weight shifting. He has a very cool leg lock which is locking the standing leg in place and then is able to use the knee of that same leg to block any knees coming from the "free" leg of the opponent.

6) Clinch Offense: I lock, Kru Tak doesn't. But he feels this advantage of mine and decides to let me work with it while he embellishes around that strength with non-power moves, which are mostly turns and trips. These turns are all about timing, and timing is about feeling. So, these turns are hard to learn from just watching because  you have to feel it, but if you have a partner you can play with, just keeping doing it and you'll figure out the feeling pretty fast. He uses his knees to force the opponent's weight to shift, then turns as their weight goes. Grab the neck, grab the arms, grab the torso. You have lots of options but you have to play with them a lot in order to get the timing to be just automatic. I love these. As a smaller fighter being able to do something dramatic that requires no "power" is really helpful. If you're not small, being able to do dramatic moves that require no power means you can not look like you're just muscling your moves, which also looks really good on scorecards.

Sessions referenced in this voiceover: Karuhat, Silapathai, Yodwicha 3, Samart, Namsaknoi, Sagat, Kru Tak 1, Kru Gai, Wangchannoi (linked below).

If you enjoyed this session, these are sessions in the Library on related themes. Check them out:

#72  Yodpitak Chor Nateetong #1 - Art of Femeu Interruptions and Balance (73 min) watch it here

One of the most difficult things is to teach Muay Femeu timing and distance control, but Kru Tak is one of the great femeu instructors in Thailand. In this beautiful session he opens up his technique of tricks, feints and shifting deceptions, even in the clinch.

#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.

#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.

#66 Kru Gai Petchrungruang - Proper Dern and the Impossible Trip (63 min) watch it here

One of the great Muay Khao padmen of Thailand, Kru Gai teaches the proper, unabated but unhurried Dern (walking) attack of Muay Khao, and don't miss his incredible trip that feels almost impossible to defend. Not easy to master, but if you do it could make you unstoppable.

#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.

#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.

#69 Sagat Petchyindee 3 - Muay Maat Tigers & Snakes (67 min) watch it here

Sagat details his ferocious, hands-heavy style in this session, teaching perfect balance and very aggressive spacing. The secrets to his power, how everything flows out of his core and his organized stance are on full display. Nobody like him.

#38 Sagat Petchyindee (part 2) - Maximum Damage (61 min) watch it here

Such an anticipated session, part 2 of Sagat Petchyindee, the inspiration of the Sagat Street Fighter character. It's hard to believe, but he's even better in real life. In this session his continues to teach his "stay in your frame" method of bringing maximum efficiency and damage to striking.

#95 Wangchannoi Sor. Palangchai #2 - The Secret Powers of a Cool Heart (77 min) watch it here

The first session with one of the best fighters who ever lived was so good we went back right away and filmed a 2nd. This time his fighting style is put into more context, focus on angling off, the differences between boxing and Muay Thai & Wangchannoi's beautiful jumping knees.

#40  Gen Hongthonglek - Muay Femeu Tactics & Mindset (70 min) watch it here

The Muay Femeu (artful fighting) style is more than just a set of techniques, it's also a mindset and strategy of how to score, and how to score big. The warfare is not just in terms of damage, but of psychology, displaying dominance through skill and timing. Gen in this hour outlines how he likes to fight, and how he pulls off the biggest scores at the right time.

#50 Karuhat Sor. Supawan - Serpentine Knees & Flow  (62 min) watch it here

The legendary Karuhat teaches his winding, advancing style, a culmination of many, many hours of our training together. You get a glimpse into his advanced movements, and his philosophy on reading opponents.

you can see more of Karuhat's sessions in the Library linked in this Patreon Library forum post: All the Karuhat sessions?