Muay lerdrit also known as Lert rit and often referred to as military muay thai is a fighting system from Thailand that is taught and used by the Royal Thai Army.
The name muay lerd rit can be broken down into English to mean:
Muay – boxing as in Thai boxing or muay thai
Lerd – meaning superior/excellent
Rit – meaning powerful force
Muay lerdrit is taught and trained to all soldiers in the Royal Thai Army today and has it’s roots in the battlefields of the Siam Kingdom (Ancient Thailand) warring periods and muay boran.
Founders/Masters of Muay Lerdrit – Ajarn Wisit Lertrit
Ajarn Wisit Letrit is the man who invented/created the Letrit-Muay Khorat style.
By combining and integrating his own training in Muay Korat (a system of Muay Boran from the Khorat region in Thailand known for it’s punches) with other systems of military combat he learned on his travels with the Royal Thai Navy, Ajarn Wisrit developed this style mostly aboard a Naval ship.
General Tunwakon
General Tunwakom is the sole-surviving direct student of Ajarn Wisrit, the creator of Letrit Muay Khorat.
General Tunwakom is one of the last surviving masters of Letrit and he teaches lertrit at the Muay Thai Alliance in Thailand but is yet to find a student to pass on all of his knowledge and the lineage of his system.
Difference Between Muay Lerdrit and Muay Thai
Both muay lerdrit and muay thai originate from muay boran or the ancient battlefield combat systems used in the history of the Siam Kingdom.
But there are several key differences between these two formidable fighting styles.
Muay Thai is a Sport – Muay Lerdrit is not
Muay thai has developed into a very popular combat sport that operates under rules and regulations and with the use of timed rounds and protective gear such as gloves, groin guards and mouth guards.
Muay lerdrit, however is taught to be used in military combat where there are no rules and survival is key.
The main objective often is to severely harm and disable or kill your opponent in the fastest most efficient way possible.
Muay Thai Uses ‘8 Limbs’ – Lerdrit Uses ‘9 Natural Weapons’
Muay thai is known as the art of 8 Limbs, utilising 2 arms, 2 legs, both knees and 2 elbows to attack an opponent or to block an opponents attacks.
Muay lerdrit however is based on the muay boran battlefield art and in addition to the 8 limbs it also can use head butts and striking with the head.
Muay lerdrit makes use of all of the 9 Natural Weapons (Narwarthawooth).
Lerdrit Utilizes Joint Locks
While muay thai is probably the most advanced system of stand up grappling/clinching there is – muay thai rules prohibit joint locks and submissions like those found in MMA, Judo and BJJ.
Lerdrit has no such prohibitions and trains in joint locks (and specifically breaking of limbs).
In fact muay lerdrit also draws from the muay boran systems battlefield strategies of:
- Tum – throwing to the ground
- Tap – to crush
- Chap – to grab
- Hak – to break the joints
Open Palm Strikes vs Fists
As muay thai is a boxing system and is influenced by the Western Boxing Queensbury rules, only a closed fist is thrown in combat when it comes to striking with the hands (of course in gloves).
Lerdrit makes use of open palm strikes such as chops (knife-edge strikes), open palm strikes and slaps.
Lertrit is Close Distance Combat
While muay thai does focus heavily on clinching and close quarter strikes such as elbows and knees – letrit almost exclusively wants to get in close on an opponent and inflict damage.
Muay thai also includes evasiveness and long range strikes and distance control which is not favored in lertrit as the main approach is to enter in close the distance while blocking a strike and striking at the same time.
Where Can I Learn Muay Lerdrit?
Apart from joining the Royal Thai Army and learning as part of your training, there are other places where you can learn and train Muay Lerdrit without having to sign up for active military duty 🙂
World Muay Thai Alliance (WMA)
As stated above, the last remaining direct student of the founder/inventor of the Lerdrit Muay Khorat system, General Tunwakom still teaches at the Muay Thai Alliance in Thailand and this is probably the best place hands down to learn from the Master of Lerdrit.
World Muay Thai Alliance (WMA) is the only official Muay Thai entity officially endorsed by the Ministry of Culture of Thailand.
WMA was founded by General Tunwakom Tipayajan, a Muay Thai Lert Rit Grand Master and one of the few remaining direct apprentice of Ajarn Wisit Lerd Rit, the creator of Muay Thai Lerd Rit fighting style.
https://www.wmathailand.com/about-wma
World Muay Thai Alliance – YouTube
The WMA also has a very informative and useful YouTube channel that one can also begin to learn muay lerdrit from.
Of course it would be best to learn in person – General Tunwakom’s system has 24 elbows!
But learning and starting off with videos is a great starting point for anyone interested.
Link to WMA YouTube channel -> https://www.youtube.com/@MuaythaiLeartrit/videos
And taught on video directly by General Tunwakom also, this is a very important resource in preserving muay lerdrit and the lineage from Ajarn Wisit Lertrit.
While the videos are in Thai there are some with English subtitles and you can also learn by watching and performing the actions. And you can improve your Thai language skills at the same time!
International Muay Boran Academy (IMBA)
Over the past 20 years, IMBA, the International Academy that I lead, has concentrated all its efforts on the re-organization and dissemination of Thailand’s forgotten unarmed combat techniques.
The International Muay Boran Academy has teaching and curriculums available under different systems of muay boran.
The IMBA Lert Rit Certification Levels are:
- Level 5 – Master
- Level 4 – Senior Instructor
- Level 3 – Instructor
- Level 2 – Trainer
- Level 1 – Assistance Trainer
The teaching curriculum specifically for muay lerdrit can be found at the link below:
http://www.muaythai.it/muay-styles/muay-lert-rit%20/?lang=en
Documenting 3 Student Weeks with General Tunwakom
Through Patroen you can also learn a lot more of muay lerdrit thanks to Legacy Projects by female nak muay Sylvie-Von Douglas Ittu who has been living and fighting in Thailand for a number of years now with well over 200 fights.
Legacy projects was established to document and preserve the teaching of important figures in muay thai and many golden age fighters.
The ‘Documenting 3 Student Weeks with general Tunwakom’ video series is especially important.
This is because General Tunwakom has been searching for and is yet to find a student to whom he can pass on his teachings completely.
And as the last surviving direct student of Ajarn Wisit Lertrit it is important that his teachings are preserved.
Timothy is the student who’s journey you can follow – see Day 1 below:
Muay Lerdrit – Final Thoughts
In this post we have described what muay ledrit is in essence, it is the military and real world combat ‘cousin’ of muay thai.
We have also looked at the founders and masters of the system and also note that the last surviving direct student of Ajarn Wisit Lertrit is still alive and teaching today in Thailand.
We have also discussed the differences between muay thai and lerdrit, but also that they both come from the Muay Boran of Ancient Siam.
Lastly this post has provided excellent learning resources anyone can access and use to learn more and actually learn and train muay lerdrit.
