Mae Mai – Look Mai

Each Khru Muay (Master) had his own teaching style, however once the basic elements had been integrated, the student would begin to learn the real fighting strategies, the Mae Mai and Look Mai Muay Thai techniques. The former, Mae Mai which means fundamental techniques, are the founding principles of the Thai fighting style. They can also be defined as Mai Khru or Master techniques. Look Mai or Mai Kred are more advanced and sophisticated rationales of Muay and were revealed to students who were already so advanced in their Art that their Khru Muay felt they could be trusted.

The Mai Khru, (that always have to be learned as a starting point from which entering the study of Mai Kred) far from being merely offensive and defensive movements that are relatively simple in appearance, are the “distillation” of a complete system of Tha fighting which is enormously rich and sophisticated.
Each single technique has been developed over the centuries by warriors and teachers and is based upon concrete combat principles, proven “on the field” in times of war and peace and during the course of countless victorious encounters (in a real scientific process concluded with an accurate assessment of cause and effect) .
Wishing to deepen our knowledge further, we can say that every Mai Mae Technique itself represents a complete vision of combat and a complete fighting strategy. The real value, the beauty inherent in such actions, is that every Mae Mai is a universal movement that, if properly interpreted, can be developed through the existing variants, resulting in numerous martial applications all of which are equally effective. The Masters of the past that have codified these sequences of techniques possessed such a mastery of close combat techniques, through personal experience, managed to condense into 15, easy to copy actions, a huge quantity of combat principles. In the different fighting styles developed over centuries in Thailand, practically all the Khru Muay recognize the 15 Mae Mai principles as fundamental. This not being the same thing for the Look Mai.
The 30 Mae Mai and Look Mai forms that the members of the Academy practice are at present recognized by most Thai Masters. The 15 Look Mai, as ideal complement of the 15 basic techniques are generally approved by exponents of all styles; but this does not exclude the inclusion in the context of Mai Kred of other techniques considered by some Masters of such importance to be worthy of being part of that group. In Muay Korat, for example, it is claimed that there are 11 Look Mai, 21 Mae Mai Boran, 5 Basic Strategies (Mae Mai) which, together with the 5 basic standing attacks and 5 fundamental movements are combined in the so-called 47 Technical Portals.