Arjan Net Saknarong - The Art of Proximity (47 min)

3 ways to study and think this material:

• You can watch the Net Saknarong Muay Thai Library session video, above
• You can listen to the session audio and our coversation as a podcast, here 
• You can watch our conversation about the session, here 

With this Muay Thai Library session we are bringing some new things to the Library, just experimenting with what we can add to make the Library even better. For one, with the new GoPro we have added a little footage of the surrounding area of the gym where we train. We want to give a better sense of location. It's a small thing, but I like sharing the extra bits of Thailand and context. 

Secondly, we've made an audio version of the session for those that want to follow the Library in podcast form, which many people have requested. The podcast version not only has the complete audio, but also an additional Muay Thai Bones conversation about the session, and bigger lessons that can be taken from it. 

You can get the podcast version here, in audio: MTB Library Coffee Podcast #1 - Arjan Net Saknarong (iTunes)  

You can also watch the conversation on YouTube, something we are calling Library Coffee:

 watch MTB Library Coffee #1 the video here 

We hope adding these really cool additions are more than welcome, and give us all more ways of enjoying and learning from these very cool session.

winning vs legend and yodmuay Pudpadnoi

Arjan Net Saknarong 

One of the incredible things that my work for the Muay Thai Library - Preserve the Legacy has revealed to me, is how much Muay Thai history is still largely an oral history. There are videos now, with Youtube and some old VHS or DVD footage, but those only go back so far. Even when I talk to my own trainer, Kru Nu, who is only in his mid-40s, he had never seen video of Dieselnoi but knew who he was like he was a thing of lore - he'd seen pictures in magazines, he'd heard about him. Famously, Jack Dempsey said of himself, "I was a good fighter, it was the writers who made me great." What this documentary project has revealed to me is that it's other fighters who are carrying on the history and legacy of the fighters who were just barely before themselves. When I went to train with Krongsak, his breath would catch every time he mentioned Net Saknarong; as he flipped through the book of the 123 All-Time Greatest Fighters of Thailand, he paused on Net's photo, letting his eyes gaze on it for extended stretches while he talked about what an idol Net was for him. That's not a small thing. Ask Dieselnoi about Wichannoi some time; it's the same thing. It's who Legends see as Legends. That's how I learned about Net Saknarong at all, but then looking into his career, he was incredible. He fought the best of the best in the Silver Age, the giants just before the Golden Age, and held top rank at both Lumpinee and Rajadamnern without ever having the chance for a belt. When he retired he moved to Normandy, France, where he's been a master of Muay Thai for more than 3 decades. That, in and of itself, is a piece of Muay Thai history: the diaspora of the Greats, the expansion of pedagogy outside of Thailand.

And meeting men like Arjan Net, they're like time capsules in some ways. You can feel their "other time"-ness in how they move, in what they teach and see and focus on. And it's still very much alive. That's why the long-form training videos are so important to me, because the Muay Thai Library isn't just about preserving technique (although that's paramount), it's about archiving the men who carry it. Kevin and I started a new project with this Library Session, which we're tentatively calling "Library Coffee," in which we do a podcast format discussion about the session, what we see or felt or experienced in a larger picture. Doing the voiceover for this session, I noted something that was seemingly such a small detail but actually has incredible impact on the whole of Net's style. It's where his front foot is at any given moment. And watching the session, it's where my foot is that makes all the difference between what he's showing me and what I'm doing. It's centimeters that make worlds of difference.

Some things to look out for:

1) Bite Size Closing of Distance: a lot of what Arjan Net has me doing is these progressions of strikes that are like a caterpillar chomping away at a leaf, one bite at a time, but if the leaf were distance toward your opponent and each bite was a strike. Jab (chomp), elbow (chomp), knee (gulp).

2) Front Foot: I make a big deal about this, because it's a big deal. I did this session in Southpaw stance, because Arjan Net is Southpaw and I thought it would be instructive. Indeed, he told me, "teaching you will be easy because you are Southpaw like me." And he stood in Orthodox in order to teach these things, which means it was something he often used. He puts his front foot right next to the front foot of his opponent in their opposite stance. This allows him to be close enough for close-range weapons to have contact and impact (elbows and knees), but it also allows him to constantly pivot off into the blind-side of his opponent as he comes off of his own strikes. It makes the opponent constantly have to chase him by turning.

3) Uppercuts: his uppercuts are beautiful. I don't ever get them properly, so watch when he demonstrates for me and watch carefully how he steps out with his stance, almost square and his weight transfers as the fist comes up.

4) Slipping: not a lot of Thai fighters have taught me slips, but a few stand out, like Kaensak, Kem, and Chatchai (who is a world champion boxer). What's interesting about Net's slip is not that it's unique in any way, but that he chooses to slip instead of parry because it allows him to land a hook to the open ribs of the opponent. It's open for kicks, but that's a different distance. Net was a Femeu fighter, which is what we often translate as "technical" and tend to associate with a lot of evasiveness - he teaches me that, too - but the Femeu of older Muay Thai still stayed in very close. A lot of why I obsess about that front foot is because it's what allows you to never give any ground but still have flexibility in your movement. This slip is like that, too. Evade, but stay close to land your own strike.

5) Catching Kicks: this is another one that I didn't quite "get" during the session, but noted as I was voicing it. Arjan Net shows me a few different options for catching the kick - an overhook, an underhook, and a scoop. What's missing from my attempts in the session are his attitude and how he tosses the legs away in order to counter. He doesn't toss them hard, as some do, as a way to off-balance and spin the opponent. He kind of just flicks it to the side like a cigarette but or piece of trash, which is just enough to off-balance the opponent anyway. But they kind of drop into your range and allow your counter to have a double-impact as they fall into you.

6) Landing Off of a Strike: this is the opposite and yet the same coin as what I just wrote about above. Instead of plopping your opponent down into your range, you're landing off of your own strike into a cross. In the version Net teaches, I'm kicking the leg with my front leg and as that leg comes down off of the kick I'm using the transfer of weight to bring my full power with the cross. It requires balance, which requires me to know where my front foot is landing... which should be right next to his foot with the toes pointed straight back. Mine point out and my foot lands to short, which is why I'm off balance each time I try this. That kills my power. It's the foot.

7) Eye Contact: this is a new focus for me. Different trainers will offer different advice on where to look when you're fighting. Most look at the chest or hips, but those who look in the eyes insist you look in the eyes. Net is one of these. He demonstrates why you don't look at your target (if you stare at the leg before you kick it, the opponent is wise to it and moves before you can land it), but when he looks into my eyes and does the exact same thing, it almost changes everything about his movement without him literally changing any of his movements. It's incredible. Again, seems like a small thing but it makes huge differences. 

Some Stills from the Session         

Arjan Net signing the 123 Greatest Muay Thai Fighters book, aboveDiscover more about Arjan Net by reading Serge Trefeu's interview with him.   

Net Saknarong Fighting in California in 1977

Rare Footage of Net Saknarong fighting a kickboxing fight vs Ernest Hart, giving up what looks like substantial weight. The rules were apparently changed at the last minute, not only taking away elbows, but also knees. The kickboxers on the card were also permitted to wear shinpads under their kickboxing pants:

 watch the fight clips here 

Saying Thank You

If you enjoyed and learned from this session consider sending Arjan Net a thank you donation or gift of appreciation. I know every time the legends and krus in the Library get this kind of extra thank you they definitely are touched.   Just message $5 or more via PayPal to the address sylvie@8limbs.us, please in the "add a note" section specify "for Arjan Net". I will transfer the funds, and cover any extra fees.KRU FUND: additionally, 5% of all Patreon pledges go into my Kru Fund, and is directed back to the Krus and ex-fighters who have helped make this documentary Library possible: http://8limbs.us/muay-thai-thailand/starting-the-kru-fund

More From the Library

If you got a lot out of this session here are other Muay Thai Library sessions along the same themes or styles that you might like:

#52 Krongsak Prakong-Boranrat - That Shoving Energy (56 min) watch it here Legendary Krongsak, a man who beat Sagat 3x, and fought Dieselnoi to a draw, gives a session that is all about the right fight energy in training. He places great importance on eye-contact, and making sure your strikes really finish, as well as focusing on the back foot in stance, the rudder of the boat. 

#54 The Late Sirimongkol and Lertrit Master General Tunwakom (81 min) watch it here This session is a big part of what the Muay Thai Library project is all about. It's likely the last substantive video of the 1972 Fighter of the Year Sirimonkol Looksiripat, including a lengthy interview telling of his remarkable career. He also goes through the basics of his southpaw fighting approach. As an added bonus, Muay Lertrit (military Muay Thai) master General Tunwakom jumps in and teaches the unique strikes of his art. 

#61 Arjan Surat at Dejrat Gym - Old School Master (37 min) watch it here Arjan Surat stands as a tower in the pantheon of great coaches of Thailand. Coach of the Thai National Team, Kru of legends since the Golden Age, there is nobody like him. Learn the basics of his technique, but what is more look into the eyes of the one of the great coaches ever, training legends in his garage for decades.

#57 Boonlai Sor. Thanikul - Kicking Excellence (66 min) watch it here One of the most asked for sessions by patrons, and it took well over a year to find and arrange filming with Boonlai. A legendary fighter of the Golden Age who beat some of the greatest fighters of his day (Karuhat, Namkabuan, Langsuan, etc), with such a beautiful kicking attack. Learn the secrets of his head kick, along with some beautiful slow-motion capture. 

#37 Kongtoranee Payakaroon - Power In The Hands (89 min) watch it here 5x Lumpinee Champion, 2x Fighter of the Year, Kongtoranee teaches the fundamental grounding of strikes that made him one of the most feared heavy-handed fighters in Thailand. Such economy of movement expresses the true beauty in his style, quite different than - but no less admirable - that of his young brother Samart. 

#22 Singdam Kiatmoo9 - Making the Basics Beautiful (71 min) watch it here Singdam provides perhaps the best progression through the basics I've yet filmed, the blueprint of his beautiful, effective style. This instruction is bottomless. Even after 5 years in Thailand there is a ton for me in this very close examination of powerful technique essentials. 

Remember, you can check out the entire content of the Muay Thai Library project archive here. You are helping preserve the legacy.