Customer Reviews

Muay Thai: The most distinguished art of fighting

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Anyone who is interested in martial arts is amazed by the reputation of the Muay Thai fighters(Muay Thai is the Thai word for Thai Boxing) . This book is not only an attempt to highlight the most common used techniques of Muay Thai which most books do but gives a very good all round understanding of the history, spirituals, mistiques, training aspects and rules and regulation of Muay Thai. Of course almost all common fighting techniques are well explained and illustrated with numerous pictures. Well set-up are the chapters of the use of arms, legs, elbows and knees (including different attacks and parry's on these attacks). Furthermore real fighting stories of Thai fighters are connected with the techniques which make this book a must for the real fan.

This book is one of the best I've ever seen on the subject of Muay Thai (Thai Boxing). It is well written and illustrated throughout. This book covers not only the basic Muay Thai strategies, but also history, cultural significance, pre-fight rituals, training and the author's own personal experience in Muay Thai and in writing this book. I've seen only one Muay Thai book that rivals this one and that is "Muay Thai: A Living Legacy". Although I recommend that book very highly, I must also recommend this one equally as it is just as good. Anybody in any martial art would do themselves a favor by reading this book and for anybody who trains in Muay Thai, this book is one you cannot afford to go without. Muay Thai is becomming very popular worldwide due to its effectiveness in fighting and self defense as well as its simple techniques. It is a fighting style that anyone can learn, regardless of age, gender, physical status, etc. The Thai police and military all learn Muay Thai as part of their training and it is this art that helped Thailand resist the Burmese during many battles. Should one ever decide to take up Muay Thai, he/she will clearly see why it is often called one of the "kings of martial arts". Muay Thai is definitely one of the better fighting/self defense systems out there. This book will also benefit ANY martial arts coach/trainer with its valuable information on how to make their students' training a rewarding experience.

I saw this book at the gym (Fairtex) a few weeks ago, but only had a few minutes to flip thru it. Although the writing was grammatically and structurally poor, it contained tons of content, and included lots of photos. The photos were of "techniques" done with a partner, similar to what you'd find in other martial arts-type books. Also detailed were the less-frequent moves (flying elbows, etc). Great book, I gotta find a copy!

This is the best book I have ever seen on ANY fighting art. It is laid out in a very understandable format, and the author gets the information of the techniques across very well.

Well written book by ones that teach Muay Thai. Great details into defense and offense. Any martial artist or beginner will get a tremendous insight into the real deal of Muay Thai. Highly recommended.

This book is basic at best and over rated. How it became as popular as it is and considered a Bible of Muay Thai is beyond me. Then again theres a lot of cowboys and suckers in the scene.

"The most distinguished art of fighting" is written in incomprehensible english complete with bad spelling (the "MASSAE" chapter is a favourite spelling error of mine), poor grammar and more than a little embellishment and exaggeration. No big deal when you get past it but the advice is amateur at best and blatantly wrong in some cases. Read the chapter on Diet if you don't believe me. Any decent nutritionist would put that chapter through the paper shredder. Any decent fighter would put the rest of the book in a furnace.

Some of what Panya writes is damned hard to understand and I found myself wondering "what the f**k is this guy on about?!" I believe he lacked the clarity of proper understanding of what he was writing about rather than limited english skills.

Much of the techniques Panya writes about are very traditional and outdated and probably will end up in Kickboxer Part 12 starring Don Wilson. Try doing some of them in the ring and see what happens:)

To his credit he did describe some of the basic strikes correctly such a straight knees and sapping knees even if he did the rest of it wrong. If you look hard you'll find one or two decent useful bits of information but nothing more.

Sadly Panya's understanding of boxing is shallow at best and you need good punching skills to get anywhere in this game.

I doubt the author's integrity also. How he could fight full time and became a doctor is beyond me. If he is a real doctor as I refer to his Diet chapter once again. Then again you never know.... Good for him if he did make it through but in my personal experience every thai I've met in a boxing camp was from Isaan or a Hill Tribe, born into poverty and illiterate.

I think "Dr" Panya was more an observer of Muay Thai than a serious particpant. That's not a crime but pretending youre a specialist and writing a book is.

In summary it is a book that appeals to the naïve who don't know any better and impressionable idiots who believe that because a Thai writes a book about Muay Thai it must be right-WRONG!

"Truth is what it is, not what you want it to be. You must bend to its will or live a lie."