Muay Thai.. the perfect martial art

 

Muay Thai (Thai: มวยไทย, RTGS: Muai Thai, pronounced [mūa̯j tʰāj] (About this sound listen)) or Thai boxing is a combat sport of Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques.[1][2][3][4] This physical and mental discipline which includes combat on shins is known as "the art of eight limbs" because it is characterized by the combined use of fists, elbows, knees, shins, being associated with a good physical preparation that makes a full-contact fighter very efficient.[5] Muay Thai became widespread internationally in the twentieth century, when practitioners defeated notable practitioners of other martial arts. The professional league is governed by The Professional Boxing Association of Thailand (P.A.T) sanctioned by The Sport Authority of Thailand (S.A.T.), and World Muaythai Federation (WMF) overseas.

It is similar to related styles in other parts of the Indian cultural sphere, namely Lethwei from Myanmar, Pradal Serey from Cambodia, Muay Lao from Laos, Tomoi from Malaysia.

The history of Muay Thai can also be traced to the middle of the 18th century. During the battles between the Burmese of the Konbaung Dynasty and Siam, the famous fighter Nai Khanomtom was captured in the year 1767. The Burmese knew of his expertise in hand-to-hand combat and gave him an opportunity to fight for his freedom. Soon after winning the match, he was freed by his captors and allowed to return to Siam. He was acknowledged as a hero, and his fighting style became known as Siamese-Style boxing, later to be known as Muay Thai. This fighting style was soon to be recognized as a national sport.[7]

Muay boran, and therefore Muay Thai, was originally called by more generic names such as Toi muay or simply muay. As well as being a practical fighting technique for use in actual warfare, muay became a sport in which the opponents fought in front of spectators who went to watch for entertainment. These muay contests gradually became an integral part of local festivals and celebrations, especially those held at temples. Eventually, the previously bare-fisted fighters started wearing lengths of hemp rope around their hands and forearms. This type of match was called muay khat chueak (มวยคาดเชือก). Kickboxing was also a component of military training and gained prominence during the reign of King Naresuan in 1560 CE.

Muay Thai is referred to as the "Art of Eight Limbs" or the "Science of Eight Limbs", because it makes use of punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes, thus using eight "points of contact", as opposed to "two points" (fists) in boxing and "four points" (hands and feet) used in other more regulated combat sports, such as kickboxing and savate.[5] A practitioner of muay Thai is known as a nak muay. Western practitioners are sometimes called Nak Muay Farang, meaning "foreign boxer.

According to Thai folklore at the time of the fall of the ancient Siamese capital of Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1767, the invading Burmese troops rounded up thousands of Siamese and took them to Burma as prisoners. Among them were a large number of Thai boxers, who were taken to the city of Ava.

In 1774, in the Burmese city of Rangoon, the Burmese King Hsinbyushin (known in Thai as "King Mangra") decided to organize a seven-day, seven-night religious festival in honor of Buddha's relics. The festivities included many forms of entertainment, such as the costume plays called likay, comedies and farces, and sword-fighting matches. At one point, King Hsinbyushin wanted to see how Muay Boran would compare to the Lethwei (Burmese Boxing). Nai Khanomtom was selected to fight against the Burmese champion. The boxing ring was set up in front of the throne and Nai Khanomtom did a traditional Wai Kru pre-fight dance, to pay his respects to his teachers and ancestors, as well as the spectators, dancing around his opponent. This amazed and perplexed the Burmese people, who thought it was black magic. When the fight began, Nai Khanomtom charged out, using punches, kicks, elbows, and knees to pummel his opponent until he collapsed.

However the Burmese referee said the Burmese champion was too distracted by the dance, and declared the knockout invalid. The King then asked if Nai Khanomtom would fight nine other Burmese champions to prove himself. He agreed and fought them all, one after the other with no rest periods in between. His last opponent was a great kickboxing teacher from Rakhine. Nai Khanomtom mangled him by his kicks and no one else dared to challenge him.

King Mangra was so impressed that he allegedly remarked, "Every part of the Siamese is blessed with venom. Even with his bare hands, he can fell nine or ten opponents. But his Lord was incompetent and lost the country to the enemy. If he had been any good, there was no way the City of Ayutthaya would ever have fallen."

King Mangra granted Nai Khanomtom freedom along with either riches or two beautiful Burmese wives. Nai Khanomtom chose the wives as he said that money was easier to find. He then departed with his wives for Siam. Other variations of this story had him also winning the release of his fellow Thai prisoners. His feat is celebrated every March 17 as Boxer's Day or National Muay Boran Day in his honor and that of muay boran's.[11]

Today, some have wrongly attributed the legend of Nai Khanomtom to King Naresuan, who spent his youth as a royal hostage in Burma while Ayutthaya was a Burmese vassal. However, Nai Khanomtom and King Naresuan lived almost two centuries apart.

Techniques

Formal muay Thai techniques are divided into two groups: mae mai or major techniques and luk mai or minor techniques. Muay Thai is often a fighting art of attrition, where opponents exchange blows with one another. This is certainly the case with traditional stylists in Thailand, but is a less popular form of fighting in the contemporary world fighting circuit where the Thai style of exchanging blow for blow is no longer favorable. Almost all techniques in Muay Thai use the entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch, elbow and block.

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Can a person learn martial arts from books alone?

It depends on exactly what your goals are and how good you want to be at whatever it is you think you can achieve.

If by martial arts you mean fighting: no, you can’t learn fighting of any kind from a book. You need a coach to correct the faults in your moves; then you need partners of different kinds and a coach to constantly correct your faults. The word ‘constantly’ is relevant.

If you mean learn a set of moves: yes you can learn some moves. You’ll be doing them badly, but you will be able to learn the moves. I know someone who did this with a book on karate in 1965. When they finally made it to a karate club, at least they knew the names of the moves. Everything else was wrong.

This, then, is the same question as, “Can I learn brain surgery from a book?”. Of course you can. You will be the least competent and most ignorant brain surgeon around, but you will know everything that can be learned from a book. That would be about 3% of it, probably.

Or - thinking about it - “Can I learn dancing from a book?”. Or singing. Or anything that involves skills that cannot be learned except by doing it with a teacher. How can you learn to sing from a book? Answer - it is completely and utterly impossible.

Books on martial arts have tremendous value to the experienced student, the researcher, the historian, the seeker after more information, and the student who would like to widen their horizons. For a beginner they are a nice introduction that hints at what can be learned from a good instructor, and no more.

What can I do to get fitter before starting to learn a martial art?

Now this is a great question. It is sensible, and logical.

If you want to ask it, as a separate question, you’ll get plenty of good answers. They will mention things like strength, suppleness, stamina. Things like working up to doing 3x3’s: a 30–40–50 tri-set of press-ups, sit-ups and squats, then repeat, x3. Some basic stretching. Work up to a half-decent time for 3 miles (run 3 miles in a good time).

These things are worth their weight in gold when you start in a gym as a newbie.

Learning brain surgery, singing, or fighting, out of a book?

No.

You can learn some aspects of certain martial arts alone, but you cant ever be good at martial arts without at the very least a sparring partner in my humble opinion.

Traditionally, you can't learn an "art" except with a Sensei or other Instructor, because having an instructor is part of learning an "art" in the formal sense.