Phetdam Sor Suradet - Style, Rhythm, and Timing (61 min) (Patreon)

I first met Phetdam at Kem's gym a few years ago in Khao Yai, where I saw his awesome padstyle and he was still fighting occasionally. The last time I saw him there he had stitches in his eyebrow from the night before, the deep eggplant purple of his eyelid hanging slightly low as the swelling began to subside. I also had stitches in my face from a recent fight. We pointed at each other's wounds, exchanged how many stitches we each had received, then laughed and nodded in understanding. You can see him in my first session with Kem in the Muay Thai Library. He held pads while Kem instructed me. He's a great padman, but it wasn't until a few years later, at Yodwicha's new gym in Bangkok where Phetdam had moved to be a trainer there that I got to work with him. In this session I got to learn his vision of Muay Thai, and how he likes to shape fighters.  See the most recent Yodwicha session for more on this as well.

Here's the thing about padmen: they are not all created equal. They all serve a purpose and they all have benefits - even the lame ones - but truly great padmen are who shape fighters. In the hierarchy of a Thai gym they can very often be just "workers," even very well known padmen, not very high on the social ladder, but if you fill your gym with very good padmen, you will have an output of great fighters. Phetdam is one of these great padmen and a large part of what makes him so is his proximity to fighting. Ex-fighters make the best padmen because they move like fighters, they make you move like a fighter. Not necessarily through what they call for or what they focus on - although that can be part of it - but unconscious things like where they stand and how they change angle and shape space. Phetdam, because he was fighting up until very recently, he's got this by the bucketload. He is teaching the fight, his vision of the fight, not something everyone can do.

What To Look Out For:

1) Jang Wa - this means "rhythm" and "timing" in Thai, but more specifically it has a meaning in Thai concepts of fortune and luck as "the right time." So knowing the "right time" to throw a strike rather than just "timing a strike" is more accurate for what is meant, as well as more accurate for how Phetdam means it when he keeps commanding me to be mindful of it.

2) Ya Reep - I hear this a lot. A LOT. And I'm only now starting to see and feel what that is for me. It means "don't rush," and it doesn't mean be slow. It means be deliberate. It means jang wa in that you find the right time. If you watch Phetdam's cadence and rhythm all throughout this session, just watching him with me as a kind of shadow in the periphary, you'll see what "not rushing" looks like. He's not slow, but goddamn is he distinct.

3) Don't Dern too Much, Don't Retreat too Much: Phetdam's style is basically standing your ground and going forward or backward to create an aesthetic of control. He instructs me on using weapons to close space, not just simply walking in, and how to bend back to snap back in with punishment. He eats space with strikes, and he never loses space when he toei, or goes backwards. 

4) Flexibility: this goes with the one above, it's the flexibility of a dodge or a lean back, a slight step but the front foot never loses ground. You can't strike and stand in the hole, it's dangerous. You need flexibility. He also uses a side step as a method of flexibility, to pivot around an oncoming opponent.

5) Switch Step on a Lead Kick: I don't always switch for a lead kick, but when I'm sparring that means I often pull that kick. Phetdam wanted me to use a quick, not deep but quick, switch step to put power into that lead kick. It makes sense because if you're the same stance as your opponent, that's the open side and therefore the big score. So make it hurt. You can also use that switch step as a fake.

6) Wide Base in Clinch: we finish with the clinch and, previous to this session, Phetdam had given me a scolding for "gooming" too much in my clinching, meaning kind of crouching or hunching. It doesn't look good for scoring, so stand upright, keep your head up, and base out with your legs to avoid being turned.

7) Aesthetic and Narrative: the unspoken but nevertheless reiterated theme in all of what Phetdam is teaching me in this session has to do with aesthetics and the narrative scoring in Thailand. This is PhD level instruction, even though it's basic in the movements and technique. People like to say "it's chess not checkers," well, the way a lot of combinations and use-this-to-defeat-that ways of teaching strikes in the West is tic-tac-to in comparison to the nuanced lesson in aesthetic and narrative for scoring that Phetdam is laying out here... which is complex, maybe like Go. "The back leg teep is powerful but it's slow, so if a fight is close in the later rounds you fire it to force your opponent to keep coming forward and it looks like you're controlling." That's the jang wa "right time" for a technique that's way beyond "use it after a jab."

Edited Stills from the Session

Other Sessions Referenced in this session:

#86  Rambaa Somdet M16 and the Art of the Stinging Attack - Session 3 (67 min) watch it here

Rambaa, whose name means "lunatic" in Thai, was one of the most colorful fighters in Thailand's history. In this session you learn the method to his madness, the way in which a constant stinging attack can lead to big shots and fight enders. This session is full of art and wisdom, from Thailand's first MMA World Champion and Golden Age Lumpinee fighter.

#62 Rambaa Somdet M16 - His Stinging Attack | Session 2 (83 min) watch it here

Rambaa known for his stinging attack, teaches speed and precision in this more than hour long session. Thailand's first MMA world champion, Rambaa draws from various disciplines, fusing techniques together is still a very traditional, stadium-oriented Muay Thai. Here elbows from various angles, switching attacks, and balanced energy come together to produce high-tempo pressure on an opponent.

#53 Kem Kem Muaythai Gym - Mastering Everything In Between (80 min) watch it here

With one of the great technique krus of Thailand, Kem Kem Muaythai Gym, in his gym in the mountains just below Khorat. A special session that details how to work on all the things in-between strikes. So much to learn in this 80 minutes. He's a special teacher.

#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.

Yodwicha Por Boonsit 3 - Spearing the Middle, Fighting With Rhythm (66 min) watch it here 

#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.

#27 Karuhat Sor. Supawan - Tension & Kicking Dynamics (104 min) watch it here

Karuhat, a fighter with perhaps the slickest style of any Golden Age great, shows the importance of tension, and patiently goes through correcting the kick, making it quicker and much harder to read.

#9 Yodkhunpon "The Elbow Hunter" pt 1  - Slicing Elbow (37 min) watch it here

Simultaneous Raja and Luminee title holder at 118 lbs, Yodkhunpon was one of the most feared elbow fighters in Thailand, and in this session he teaches the looseness and spacing that made his lead elbow such a viscious weapon. He also shuns the traditional rocking chair knee, and instead teaches a powerful stand-in crossing, open-hipped knee that compliments his elbows up top.

#84 Yodkhunpon Special Intensive - The Whole Elbow Style (70 min) watch it here

No other fighter in all of Thailand has developed so complete and pressuring a style based on the weapon of elbows. In this session the Elbow Hunter of 100 Stitches presents his whole galloping style, revealing how he opens up windows for his elbows, and uses those windows to then open up attack with other weapons.

#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.

#65 Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn - Sharking The Angles (67 min) watch it here

The Emperor. Fighter of the Year in 1996 and 6 years undefeated as Lumpinee Champion, one of the greatest fighters ever teaches his incredible edge-attacking style. He shows how he is always one step ahead of his opponent, setting them up in a constantly evolving attack.