Mad Scientist of Muay Thai | Andy Thomson - 56 min (Patreon)

There are incredible trainers and mentors all over Thailand. Part of  what I'm trying to do with the Muay Thai Library is to archive the teachings, styles, and techniques of these masters and legends, but also to capture something of the men themselves. In the case of Andy Thomson, he has been a mentor to hundreds of westerners who have come to train and fight in Thailand. Andy and his partner Pom started one of  the most famous gyms in the North of Thailand, Lanna Muay Thai (Giat Busaba  in Thai) over 20 years ago, which was home to the famous "Beautiful Boxer," Nong Toom;  many of the current gym owners/trainers currently in Chiang Mai spent some part of their upbringing at Lanna; and many of the young western men who have fought on the Thai circuit since the late 90's got their start at Lanna, under the remarkable guidance of Andy Thomson. He has an amazing mind, the way he thinks about Muay Thai and fitness for fighters is very much alive and changing all the time. He is a father figure to countless Thai boys and western boys and men, as well as a good number of western female  fighters and novices - for decades people who Andy affected have circled back to see him. No list of the great instructors of Thailand would be complete without Andy Thomson.
    
During my time at Lanna, Andy just so happened to be separating from the gym. He and Pom had a split and he retreated  to the Doi Modt "Hill Camp," which for years was kind of a hard-core "Muay Thai in the jungle" boot camp for the fighters at Lanna; a way to get away from the distractions (for young men) of the city and just live  in a hut and train under a thatched roof, running up the winding, steep dirt roads to develop the strongest legs ever. By moving up to the Hill Camp more permanently, Andy's mad scientist method of reading, experimenting, learning from students who come from all over the world accelerated - taking bits and pieces here and there - and using himself and his dedicated students as a kind of test-kitchen on the mountain. Andy has continued to grow and develop his training. He was the first person to ever tell me that "everyone has  their own Muay Thai." He adamantly believes that technique comes  out of you, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all way of doing a kick, a knee, a  punch... whatever. If you're off balance, he'll show you a few different options for how to do what you're trying to do and your body will naturally click with at least one. That's your technique. Now hone it.
In this private session with Andy you get a taste of his methods. Thais are very dedicated to repetition in training, which is how you get movements to become muscle memory and increase speed, power and balance, but Andy comes from an adaptive western mindset, so the way he breaks things down and puts them into drills is very compatible to western minds, eager to learn but struggling with the "slow cook" way that many Thai kids learn. Andy will develop a drill that at its surface looks like a combination. But, while you are using a set of strikes on repeat,  it's not meant for you to memorize the pattern but rather that the pattern becomes the tool by which you are learning balance, speed, power, and how to be less predictable. He is creating a flexible, thinking, balanced, explosive fighter. In this session Andy lays it plain that you have to make yourself uncomfortable in order to  train that discomfort, ultimately being able to strike out of being slightly off-balance, after being hit, while you're trying to be evasive or when you need to drive  forward. It's the same as kinesthetics to train balance or explosive  movements, or how doing curls isn't ultimately meant to make you good at  curls but is a method by which you increase strength and stability in those muscles so that the next time you need to pick up a heavy log  you've got the appropriate strength and balance to get that done.
One  of my favorite drills that Andy puts me through is stepping backwards  and striking in a variety of patterns. All of them are meant to get me more comfortable with striking while moving backwards, but they also teach me balance on any of those strikes from any angle at all. The progression of footwork, from a simple step back and kick to a step-step-switch and kick leads to a kind of symmetry, being able to strike from either side instead of having to land on the right foot before I can throw anything. Everything Andy preaches is about balancing the body and he's always hounded me for not doing enough Southpaw stance work (I'm Orthodox), because why wouldn't you work on your weak side?  He also shows me around his gym and we get to see his improvised equipment, and he gives me a wonderful talk about why he has started  implementing sparring without shinguards for his fighters - a point  which was reiterated by the great Chatchai Sasakul just last week when I trained and filmed with him again (will be up in a few months).
For those of you who are trainers there is a ton to take from this. His padwork is like no one else I've encountered. His pad holding is incredibly close to his body, and he does everything he can to simulate fight distances. And aside from the exercises he does on pads to test you, he is always trying to screw with your balance, because that is what fighting does. If you aren't a trainer, you can take these same principles into your own work, your shadow, etc. to expand your horizons as a fighter or a student. 
This is perhaps an unexpected addition to  the library, since Andy isn't Thai or a former fighter from the Golden Age. But he's a legend and mentor in his own rite and to many fighters,  including me. His methods have shaped countless fighters and archiving  him and trainers who may not be known but are nonetheless incredible minds is an important part of my mission for the Muay Thai Library.

 This session was filmed at Doi Modt Hill Camp in Chiang Rai, Thailand, last year. Currently, and the time of posting, Andy was a trainer down in Hua Hin at Cong Carter Gym . 

In a very sad update: Andy Thomson passed away, leaving behind hundreds if not 1,000s of students who were inspired and informed by him.