Muay Boran is battle-tested so every technique works and if you fail to perform some it's your fault. it's a pretty common misconception found in the Muay Boran world first of all the history of Muay Boran is complex and not everything comes from war secondly are there concrete sources beyond that statement? did people use a time machine and went back there? What's the source? a statement like that generally comes from people who shouted down their critical thinking and believe in abstract statements fanboys who idealize Muay and think it's the definitive weapon practitioners full of ego believing they posses the ultimate truth people trying to sell you somethinng saying that a martial art is completely battle-tested is a great marketing move I've pointed out some mistakes which lead to the practice of ineffective technique in Muay Boran and many of you commented saying that it's the same for other traditional martial arts as well this made me reflect on the journey of Rokas a famous martial arts youtuber who trained in Aikido for 15 years eventually realizing that it doesn't work and ultimately started training in combat sports like MMA let's hear about his experience I was approached by five guys who demanded me to give them my cellphone one of the guys grabbed me by my collar at that time I was practicing Aikido intensively for about a year being grabbed seemed to be an ideal situation as an in Aikido you practice defending yourself against grabs all the time yet the only thing that came to my mind at that moment was to punch the guy in the head I threw out my punch, and as it was received, the guy collapsed on the ground that sent the rest of the guys into chaos luckily I was then smart enough to run away and I was able to do it when I aske my Aikido istruncture to comment on what happened he blamed me for not being able to use Aikido he told me that I needed to train more so I did.
A decade passed during that time I continued to train Aikido with devotion and commitment but then I asked myself another question what if it was not my personal fault but a problem of the system I was training in I discovered Wimp 2 Warrior a six months full time MMA program that teaches you all the basics but this program was not running in my country luckily I knew someone who organized it at their gym that someone was coach Matt Thornton Matt Thornton is well known as a key figure in explaining the difference between functional martial arts and fantasy-based martial arts as I got to know coach Matt Thornton personally he explained to me that my lack of confidence was not inherently my personal problem he told that it was actually a problem of the Aikido system that I was relying on and the way it is taught it's not the individual that makes the style effective or not if the style lacks functionality in some of its areas if you put in the work but you are not seeing the promised results then there is a problem with your training methods and or the tools you are training the situation of Aikido is a bit extreme Muay Boran is overall functional with only around 30% of the techniques being ineffective or trained wrong however, Aikido has some training mistakes also found in Muay Boran especially the freezing and over-collaborative opponent which let's you do things like grabbing a punch or creating a big angle before the arm is retracted in all the combat sports history a punch was grabbed only once because the fighter was tired and hurt, and threw a sloppy strike these things require an unrealistic speed and precision and are unreliable when facing someone that wants to rip your hed off but let's go back to the initial statement all Muay Boran techniques are battle-tested and effective what about climbing techniques? the oldest Muay Boran manuscript ever found shows techniques of military nature and there is not a single climbing or ground-grappling technique there are not even round kicks so the only evidence ever found was against the statement that every technique was battle-tested let's see what Kru Lek, a Muay Chaiya Grandmaster, has to say on it's official website there many different types of Look Mai in Muay Thai but there aren't as many existing ones that we actually want to practice and bring into use in a real life situation the trainee should carefully consider the validity and practicality of each Look Mai in a real life situation if the trainee doesn't take the time to think thing through carefully then the trainee will have wasted time needlessly Kru Lek talks about real life situations but it it not limited to self-defense and if you read the Thai version of this page it clearly states that you must select the techniques that you can train and apply effectively in general not only for self defense the kinds of Look Mai which are impractical or difficult to use in a real life situation include Khon Kao Phra Sumen Ruesee Hern or any kind of Look Mai which requires climbing on top of the other person which have been used in shows and demonstrations those particular Look Mai were primarly design to enhance the beauty, grace, style and entertainment value of each action and posture as seen in Natasin so I wonder why certain students of Kru Lek affirm that every Muay Boran technique is functional when someone critizices a technique, instead of saying "Muay Boran is battle tested so you are wrong" show some sparring footage against a truly uncollaborative opponent in which you use it and it does something useful there won't be anyone magically grabbing the opponent's straight punches or climbing the opponent in real sparring indeed there is nothing wrong with preserving art not everything has to be functional but you have to be aware of it, and more importantly, honest with other my approach, like many other martial artists, is like the one of Miyamoto Musashi the legendary samurai Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful so if you say that every Muay Boran technique is effective you will innevitably catch the attention of people who don't want to learn impractical techniques but your statement is a lie eventually if they have doubts you will say that it's their fault because they are not training enough that's akin to a form a manipulation known as gaslighting which is "the subjective experience of having one's reality repeatedly questioned by an authority figure gaslighting is tipically effective only where there is an unequal power dynamic or when the gaslighted has shown respect to the gaslighter this is evident in the master-student relationship when the master is seen as an absolute authority like the Thai one gaslighting is for the gaslighter a way to control the moment, stop conflict, easy anxiety, and feel in control however it often deflects responsability and when consisten it tears down the other person which may present symptomps like depression or low self-esteem I'm not saying that some Muay Boran masters voluntarely use a form of manipulation to protect their ego or for profit to the detriment of their students but as masters you have to be careful with what you say to your students which are under your guidance let's hear Rokas' opinion I'm sharing with you this story to present a personal experience and example of how easy it is to twist your understanding of martial arts and self-defence even after devoting dedicated years into it while watching a martial arts master presenting a demonstration of complex techniques or explaining his misguided understanding of fighting or self-defense to others for persons who really understands what these realms are about sometimes it may be difficult to comprehend weather his master believes his own tale of if he does it for business purpuses to convice peaople to pay for his teaching from my experince and observations of spending a decade in the traditional martial arts world almost being in that same situation myself I tend to believe that most of these cases are based on an elaborate "from generation to generatio passed on justification system" where a master ends up believing it because at the beggining there is nothing else for him to choose from then believing his own master and his tales given the authority and after years of dedication to the practice it would simply cause too much discomftort for the now master to admit to itself and others that what he invested so many years into is not really what he thought is as human beings we are creatures of comfort we will sometimes end up going incredible lenghts to justify something instead of facing the truth while in the long run it will be more beneficial for us to face the truth it will cause great discomfort to us in the present moment and thus we avoid it with everything we've got when considering all this, it is importat to take a step back and to double check ourselves to review our strong believes and everything we say to ourselves and to our students and to check why are we so sure about what we say to ourselves and others it is so easy to adapt thoughts of others as truths just because they were told us by authority it is so easy to believe an answer just because it is comfortable for us and fits our current believes if we do not critically consider all our believes and thoughts we may end up doing someone a big and even dangerous disfavor and even if you put life and death matters aside having a lack of critical and honest thinking may dramatically limit our personal growth and actual abilities it is important to respect and admit that some martial arts masters devoted years of sweat and training to develop the beautiful looking choreographed movements and skills that they posses all the energy and dedications they spent to reach their levels of achievements should not be taken lightly and disregarded even if it does not entirely fit the truth the students must keep their critical thinkig alive and question the master it is not disrespectful and not doing it can be more harmful that good for you in some cases like in Rokas one he just wanted to learn and effective martial art to fight and defend himself and it took him 15 years to do that as he was captured in false notions similarly before questioning Muay Boran I wasted some time following some of the wrong training practices and techniques and I mentioned time that would have benefited more if spent on optimal practices I don't do videos like this criticizing Muay Boran because I want to let others down but because I want practitioners to progress and ultimately improve their training and reach their goals I don't have anything against masters conserving impractical techniques but honesty with the self and the others are truly important better to face the truth before the truth comes facing you I want to thank Rokas for his work and I'm waiting for the Ultimate Self-Defense Championship it will be amazing to watch
