Saamag Muay

07/14/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16hHDhaUmU/?mibextid=wwXIfr

This is why we’ve been working speed kicks…lol

07/14/2025

Couldn’t have said it better. If you can’t concentrate long enough to maintain training discipline during a drill, you will never translate that skill to a fight. Plain and simple.

07/13/2025

Do you fear question mark kicks from non-flexible guys?

Do those sneaky knees got you clinching your cheeks as well as your opponent’s head?

Do those “special” australian teeps keep scoring down under?

Only one thing stands between you and singing hymns in falsetto: The War Locker A3. It’s like Fort Knox for your coconuts!

So whether you’re an old Nak Muay with balls so big that they hang out one side of your shorts; or your’re a BJJ guy about to do a 10-round Tuesday with a class full of white belts…this cup makes sure that not even a rabid squirrel is getting to your nuts.

All jokes aside, I’m going to be putting in an order for War Locker groin protectors. If anyone in the striking or BJJ group wants (or needs) one…let me so and I’ll keep some on hand locally, while the rest will be sold online through my amazon storefront.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CKg8NfZMa/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Shield of Choice for Champions

07/12/2025

07/11/2025

Many of you have heard me talk about getting into “beta mode” when sparring…the idea of getting your brain into more of a skill development modality.

But is what is actually happening in your brain between hard sparring and technical sparring?

During hard sparring, your striking at full contact. As such, your brain enters into a survival mode, activating your fight-or-flight response. Your brainwaves are in a “High Beta (20–35 Hz)” which is associated with stress, hypervigilance, anxiety, and narrowed focus. Your amygdala is highly active, which hijacks higher reasoning in favor of fast-reactive thinking. Lastly, your prefrontal cortex activity decreases, which limits decision-making, memory access, and creativity. The result? You may move fast and hit hard, but you’re not learning optimally—you’re surviving—and your development stalls.

In contrast…what happens when you engage in sharp, technical sparring?

When partners know that the intent isn’t to take your head off, it encourages a learning-friendly neural state. Your dominant brainwaves are now in an Alpha (8–12 Hz) AND a Low Beta (13–20 Hz). Together these two states produce a calm, relaxed alertness allowing you to be engaged and focused but not overly stressed. It’s ideal for motor learning, timing awareness, problem-solving and experimentation. If you’ve ever heard the phrases “flow state” or “in the zone”, these states occur in low Alpha/theta/low Beta blends, depending on the person. The result? You’re processing more information, exploring possibilities, making better decisions, and locking in refined technique.

All this said, I want to reiterate that both types of sparring are needed to get a well rounded education and exposure to what it’s actually like to fight. But I hope this provides added context as to why I espouse spending the most time under technical sparring, while using hard sparring and competition fighting to test yourself and gain valuable experience.

07/10/2025

Some photos from a past class

07/10/2025

Class highlights

07/07/2025

It often times feels overwhelming to try and figure out all the punching combinations. Not only do you have to think about your left and right sides, but target elevations and angles as well. To help you simplify things in your head let's break it down into a couple of concepts and then I'll give you a nice little system to use to come up with some combinations of your own.

1. The core of mechanics in boxing and muay thai, all striking really, can be summed up with your skill in shifting your weight from one foot to the other. All things come from this: punching, head movement, stepping, pivoting...everything...comes from how well you can shift weight from one foot to the other.

2. Striking in succession is then optimized when it's synergized with the first concept. So...when you punch, think about where your weight is after each punch lands, and then move or shift your weight to the other leg, using a punch that fits that movement. As an example, take the 1-2-3 staple. The jab is done with your weight in a rear bias, so then it then makes sense to follow with the 2 as you shift to a more front foot bias, following with a 3 as you shift again to a rear-bias orientation.

This is why I emphasize shadowboxing for several rounds, working on your stance, footwork, and being hyper-aware of what your body is doing. It's everything.

As I promised, I'm going to give you a guide that should help you along. To use this list: the first number is the leading punch, the ones in the parenthesis are individual follow ups. You leverage the entire list to come up with strings. I.e. If you’re looking for a 2-punch string, and you choose to lead with the 1, you could choose to follow with a 2 from the group. If you want to add in a third punch, you look at the 2 line and decide to follow with a 5. If you want to add another, look to the 5 line and grab something from that grouping…like the 4. etc. In this example the string would be 1-2-5-4. While the string could be endless, exchanges are typically 2,3, or 5 punches in-and-out.

1 – (1,2,3,4,5,6)
2 – (1,3,5)
3 – (2,3,4,6)
4 – (1,3,5)
5 – (2,3,4,6)
6 – (1,2,3,4,5)

*Adding “body” means last punch is a body shot

*Adding “Low Kick” “Mid Kick” “High Kick” or “Knee” means adding that at the end of the string, typically using the opposite leg of the last punch. E.g. 1-2-3b-RHK (jab, cross, lead hook to body, rear high kick)

Let me know if this helps! I even added a video of Vasily so that you can laugh at how easy it is for him to hit people....

Check out some of the best combinations from Vasiliy Lomachenko's career thus far. Three-division world champion Vasil...

07/07/2025

In muay thai, elbows are devastating close range weapons. When a nak muay specializes in them, he becomes known as a 'Muay Sok' fighter (Elbow boxer) or a 'Muay Khao' who specializes in both knees and elbows.

Like all other striking weapons, elbows generate power through torsion...which is achieved through proper kinetic linking of the body. Whether you are using a spear elbow or a spinning elbow, you're getting power initially from the ground, through the leg, hip, shoulder, and finally the tip of the elbow.

Because elbows are primarily used at punching and clinch range, the key to making these work is setting them up. At punching range, they're offensively used typically after punches as a way to safetly close distance while occupying your opponent's attention. E.g. "a 1-2-3-up elbow". Defensively, when at range, you could use them as an interception when someone comes in aggressively, for example using a quick up-elbow off a high defensive guard. As well....elbows are used all throughout clinch range whenever your opponent disengages in their connection or when you've pummeled into an advantageous position.

See below on the suite of elbows that we'll be using:

Vertical Elbows:
1. Sok Ngat (upward elbow)
2. Sok Sab (chopping elbow)

Straight Elbows:
3. Sok Poong (spear elbow)
4. Sok Kratung (reverse spear elbow)

Round Elbows:
5. Sok Ti / Sok Chiang (diagonal or cutting elbow)
6. Sok Tad (horizontal / side elbow)
7. Sok wiang klab (reverse horizontal elbow)
8. Sok Klab (spinning elbow)
9. Sok Kradot (jumping elbow)
9a. Jumping elbows can be more specifically described to be a jumping down elbow (Sok Kradot Sab) or a jumping side elbow (Sok Kradot Tad) or jumping diagonal (Sok Kradot Ti)...etc.

Feast your eyes on a collection of the most jaw-dropping elbow strikes in ONE history, featuring ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon, ...

07/06/2025

Thoughts on this? Should he have let it go?

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CyRjehY7t/?mibextid=wwXIfrve

07/06/2025

Inspiration for Monday.