I will be releasing a chapter of my book–paraphrased–one section at a time, in 5 separate posts (excluding this one).
The reason I wrote the chapter: to break the Philippine Martial Artist out of the habit of taking another’s words as gospel and think for onesself. This is a major problem with the Philippine Martial Arts. In the last 20 years or so, the FMAs have undergone a major reconstruction (DEconstruction?) because of the introduction of FMAs into the media, the need to be “complete” as a martial arts style, the idol worship that began with the martial arts icon, Bruce Lee, and the chosen method of transmitting the art.
Philippine martial arts were nice and pure when they arrived to these shores in the early 20th century. Unadulterated, non-commercial, honest, and practical. In the last 30 years that the world began to learn that the Philippines even had a martial art, what happened? Why has the simple, practical and deadly arts of Arnis, Eskrima, Kuntaw and Silat become the new “McDojo”? How did we end up going from Southeast Asian Killers to the art of choice for middle -aged fat guys and has-been martial artists? Why have the FMAs become the recipe for monetary success with shopping center dojos–along with Tae Bo, Krav Maga, Tai Chi and After School Karate? Today, one can learn entire systems for a few hundred dollars, get certified with fewer than 10 seminars, and recognized as a blade/stick/street defense expert without fighting a single round?
The answer is that the Classical Filipino Martial Arts have become “classic” FMAs. Before I get into why I make this distinction, let’s define “classic”. When Bruce Lee wrote his famous article “Liberate Yourself from Classical Martial Arts”, I believe he had Wikipedia’s definition of the word “classic”:
The word classic has several meanings. In general, these meanings refer to some past time. Something that is classical is a classic, but the word classic has more meanings, often more closely associated with popular culture and mass-produced goods.
Basically, the Philippine Martial Arts have sold out. Too many generations of Filipino Martial Artists have learned impractical arts, incorrect and completely fabricated styles/histories/techniques/philosophies, and been told to look down on the rest of the martial arts community that doesn’t do their version of crap-maga. Excuse the bluntness, but the FMAs are failing most of you, and you are too blinded to see it. So a few of you step outside of the box and actually do some real fighting, and believe that this is giving your commercial, drills-based theoretic hodge-podge some credibility. So, actually engaging in fights gives the martial artist credibility for being a fighter, but connecting the fighter to the methods of training and other practices does not. The Philippine martial artist needs a functional, logical method of training and instruction that will build strong fighters by the merit of the system–not just the courage level of the fighter himself. Without the proper martial philosophy, the system is a failure and will continue to fail future adherents and proponents of the style.
The Filipino martial arts has become a mass-produced machine. An income-generating tool for shopping center dojos to add to their bottom line. A multi-level marketing business venture for Filipino masters to get rich. We certify the old, the young, the weak and uncommitted faster than a Tae-Bo certification course. We join Krav Maga and CQC as arts that you can be certified in a day, in masse, and you don’t even have to prove you can fight with it. It has been tailored so that anyone can learn… despite the fact that the real thing in the Philippines is not for just anyone. Arnis masters at home would put money on any of their advanced students any day, anytime. Does your FMA grandmaster have that kind of confidence in every Black Belt certificate he signs? I don’t think so. Half of your grandmasters can’t even name every damned certified instructor he’s taught.
So, why did the Philippine martial arts of today fail? Let’s take a look:
Influence of the Media onto the FMAs
So little was known about the Filipino Martial Arts, that even most Filipinos were unaware that their country even had arts. I will spare you the myths about secret family arts and techniques hidden in dances, but limited information allowed most of the knowledge we had about the FMAs to come from mainly one source: Dan Inosanto’s The Filipino Martial Arts. From this book came waves of stories and magazine articles that aligned their “facts” with the “facts” presented in his book. The problem here is that most of the history and traditions passed down through the martial arts are oral traditions, and that Master Inosanto’s book presented inaccurate information that he was given–inaccurate information he acquired through oral tradition. When Remy Presas arrived in America to bring his Modern Arnis, he used Inosanto’s book as a springboard to build his organization, along with the misinformation. This pattern repeated itself over and over, as each new FMA leader arrived, he read “facts” about the Filipino martial arts that he most likely did not have in his own style–and added them to his own style and story in order to look more “authentic”.
The truth is, that Dan Inosanto was, at first a Kenpo Black Belt. Later, as Bruce Lee’s partner and co-founder of his Jeet Kune Do, Master Inosanto saw and expressed his FMA through Kenpo eyes and JKD hands. Future generations of FMA teachers would mimic Inosanto’s template and style, until this became the “accepted, authentic” FMA history and curriculum. Those who dissented were seen as jealous or less knowledgeable… or even–dare I say it–frauds.
The 1970s and 1980s saw the martial arts magazine become the second most influential force in the spread of information about the martial arts. Reputations as credible martial arts masters were built in these magazines. Teachers who appeared in them were seen to this day as “experts” regardless of their level of skill. New systems and ideas in the martial arts needed only to be seen in the magazines to be accepted as authentic. Almost no attempts were made by the magazine editors to verify claims, as frauds such as Ashida Kim and Maung Gyi were able to carve a place for themselves simply by being seen regularly in the magazines. The same applied to claims about the FMAs. As articles such as Paul Vunak’s “How to Recognize Authentic FMA” circulated, authentic FMA teachers from the Philippines who knew nothing of Inosanto’s version of FMA scrambled to add the qualities the article (and similar articles) claimed they must have:
All phases of the FMA: Single Stick, Double Stick, Knife, Sword and Dagger, and Empty Hand
Limb Destructions/Gunting (which does not mean “limb destructions” in Tagalog, btw)
Dumog grappling
Kinomutai / Biting and scratching (Does not exist in the FMAs from the Philippines)
Empty Hand “translates” to stick, which “translates” to knife, etc.
Other FMA groups and authors contributed to the misinformation; however, as the most influential character in American FMA history, Guro Inosanto certainly led the pack as the originator of most of the information presented. I will add this: Inosanto has not been to the Philippines and received his information from other older masters who were from the Philippines. The information is not to be blamed on him; he was merely the messenger. But as the presenter of this information, and the teacher of most of the people who presented more in the future, he is seen as the “Father of American FMA” and must be seen as responsible for its growth–the good and the bad.
Is Your FMA Complete?
During the Golden Years of the Martial Arts in America–1960s through the 1980s–”authentic” became the word of the day. No martial artist wanted to be seen as unqualified and anything but the real deal. Few martial artists dared to venture into the world of creating new styles and presenting new ideas. Perhaps because Americans were the foreigners to the arts and Asians were the gatekeepers, instructors in America would strive to appear as Oriental and connected to the Orient as possible, to authenticate his position in the martial arts community. In the Filipino martial arts community, waves of Philippine-trained American military members arrived home with their new skills and began teaching their martial arts. Most learned from small schools and relatively unknown Filipino masters. Without a doubt, after reading about some unique biting style among other training methods they had not even seen in the Philippines, many of these American arnisadors connected with a more popular American FMA group. Most abandoned what was learned earlier for the more seductive, sophisticated style packaged so well in America. Most likely, the ex-Navy or ex-Air Force member learned a single stick Arnis style that consisted of not much more than a few drills and fighting techniques. Perhaps after seeing the “complete” arts presented in our FMA community–stick, knife, stick and knife, and empty hand–the GI felt the art he learned in the Philippines was inferior to the simple, single stick art learned from the guy in the province…
Now enters that Filipino guy from the province. However he did it–daughter marries an American, saves his money to come to the US on his own, he is sponsored by a relative–the Filipino arnisador arrives and shortly thereafter reads that “every FMA style must have these characteristics…” He begins to believe his art is baduy (country, unsophisticated) and feels he needs to take on the characteristics he sees in the magazine. Rather than teaching in an actual school, he compacts all his information into several two-hour seminars and certifies new arnisadors in a short amount of time. Hey, he may even start calling his art “Kali” to make it sound more “authentic”…
After twenty years of magazine articles fantacizing about a version of Filipino Martial Arts that does not exists in the Philippines, there is a terrible division between those who accept the alternate reality of the FMAs and those who know the truth. Much of this has damaged the integrity of the arts and those who were misled by the misinformation–causing them to choose between standing by the inaccuracies or turning one’s martial world upside down. The poison has spread to even the Philippines, where Filipino masters who want to capitalize on the Western market will assume and adopt these traits and practices in order to play the part for unsuspecting foreign students looking to validate their version of FMA. A good example is the great Master Leo Gaje, who has capitalized off the image drawn by Inosanto’s book of the “mother art”. Take a look at this video:
Yes, I’m sure Filipinos back home are laughing, saying, “WTF?”
I apologize in advance, my PTK brothers (many are friends of mine), but let’s call a spade a spade….
Idol Worship in the Martial Arts
One of the main principles of the Philippine Martial Arts is that the fighter can only stand on the exploits of his own experiences. Where teachers of other cultures tend to speak about lineages and tell stories of past generations, in the FMA the teacher pays homage to his teacher but possesses a wealth of experiences of his own. Because of the Chinese connection to Dan Inosanto’s JKD/Kali (these two arts are often paired, as is Kali and Silat), the practice of quoting Bruce Lee as one quotes biblical verses is commonplace in Western FMA. While JKD/Kali members tend to worship Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto and their philosophies, FMA people today give this same level of idolatry to their masters.
FMA were taught hand-in-hand with JKD for so long, their principles leaked over into each other to the point that Jeet Kune Do technique is almost synonymous with Filipino Martial Arts, and non-Dan Inosanto FMA is often dressed up to look like his version of FMAs.
Question: Is this a bad thing?
Not necessarily. Dan Inosanto was the boyhood hero to many a young Filipino martial artist. He is still one of the most skilled martial artists around–of any style. However, he has made some inaccurate claims and generalizations about the Filipino arts that actually hurt public opinion about many authentic Filipino arts that do not resemble the arts he describes. In addition, many of the aspects of his art and tradition have actually hurt the growth and effectiveness of the Filipino arts. And finally, his influence has changed the arts to the point that FMA teachers can no longer guarantee potential student that their arts will make them a force to be reckoned with on the street. AND he is not alone. The late Master Remy Presas and his practices had contributed almost as much to the detriment of the Philippine martial arts, and to fix these problems will take a major revolution and overhaul of the FMA community. The emphasis on drills and quick certifications, and the motto “the perfect” add-on art, has pushed the Filipino arts over the edge of the cliff of instant, just-add-water “partial” arts. Students and teachers today hold their teachers in such high regard, many are not capable of improving their art–even when faced with the brutal reality of how their arts have failed.
How the Art Is Passed On
Finally, we reach the worst problem plaguing the Philippine Martial Arts–the preferred method of obtaining the art: video and seminar.
The explanation 20 years ago why we did not see Philippine-only style schools was that there was not enough interest in the FMA to warrant the opening of a school dedicated to the FMAs. The students’ excuse was that there were no full-time schools around to study full time. The answer was that teachers would teach by seminar. It was the “logical” thing to do:
No overhead expenses
Reach a large audience
We just want to introduce the art to people; they can search out a full-time master
Spreading a little-known art to the masses
Teachers passed on trying to open a school, hang his shingle and accept students. Students could then pick and choose who to study with and what arts to add to his or her resume in a one-day class. A teacher could hit a city, teach two or three seminars in a weekend, make $1,000 or more, and move on to the next city. HERE’S THE PROBLEM: Who is training these students in the art full time? At what point during these periodic, one-day seminars does a student advance his level of knowledge and his rank? How many seminars do you suppose will be attended before this student becomes a certified teacher of the art?
Come on, you know!
Student of the seminar arts learn bits and pieces of the FMAs, and most of the time, the teacher is performing a song-and-dance in order to entertain students and maintain their attention, classes are generally pretty easy in order to make students want to return, and very little serious training is taking place! The learning, then, become academic learning, and students are simply learning a few tricks to add to their collection, and everyone from the teacher to the students to the students who become teachers–to their students–become drill masters and master demonstrators of the art. That’s right, exhibitionists. It becomes such commonplace, that when one or two students breaks away from the mold and (God forbid) fights with his sticks, he is seen as different!
Okay, I am getting emotional.
So, the bottom line is that the Classic Philippine Martial Arts have become commercial–yet those who study them believe they are (lol) hardcore. Hardcore posers. They are bypassing striking power to see who has enough coordination to ad-lib a pre-arranged drill. Who has the neatest, coolest way to disarm an opponent. Who talks the toughest on the internet, strikes the toughest poses on his video cover and magazine articles and websites. Who has the biggest muscles, can take the most licks during sparring. Who has the most students, the biggest organizations. Who lookest the cutest in those army fatigues/traditional moro costumes/streetfighting gear. Who has the best connections with prison guards, military units, and law enforcement agencies. Who gets into movies and magazines. Who has the most articles and videos out. Who has the grandest titles, the best whoppers about knife fights and secret family secrets and special ops missions. Who had the ear of the dead grandmaster, his wife, his successor. Who has the most complete, unadulterated pure art passed down from generation to generation and only I have it. Who has the balls to fight to the death… or at least till one of us has broken a bone or requires stitches.
The Philippine arts have become this generation’s Ninjitsu. So bad, that even the McDojo Tae Kwon Do guy down the street requires more training out of his 9 year-old brown belts to qualify for instructorship than the 10th degree Punong Guro who is teaching the secret art of Kali Take Yer Do Jitsu in this weekend’s seminar at the same Tae Kwon Do school.
Liberate yourself from this classical mess, FMA people. Your art is failing.
I have been asked many times about my stance on the Instructional Martial Arts Video industry.
It would appear, by reading the surface of what I’ve written over the years, that I am completely opposed to producing, buying, even learning by video. I am not. I understand that the video/DVD industry allows for quick glimpses into another’s training methods and style; one can even learn from a well-put together video! I am not denying the usefulness of video. But what I am opposed to is the fact that most of some teachers’ learning comes from the video market and seminars. Fine if you want to learn that way, but I believe it is irresponsible to teach others “self defense” if this has been your primary method of learning.
Let me qualify that first.
If you have spent the last 5 years learning karate/tkd/kung fu/etc., but your FMA training has been mostly from video and seminar, you cannot call yourself a Guro and teach… I don’t care who signed the certificate.
If you spent the last 5 years learning karate/tkd/kung fu/etc., and you trained with a group of guys who learned from video and seminar, you cannot call yourself a Guro and teach… I don’t care how much “experience” you consider this might be.
(FMA people, it is time to put our foot down and stand for what’s right. Yes, it will hurt some feelings and even offend some of our friends.)
Video training and especially video certification does not make one “qualified” to learn an art. So you don’t have a Guro near you… travel! So you don’t have the money to travel to a teacher…. you are not being trained properly. It’s not a matter of “this is your path” or “this is our culture”! Just as you cannot get an MD through a correspondence course–I certainly wouldn’t want a self-taught (which is what that is!) heart surgeon working on me or my mom… would you?
Back to the video thing, it all starts with a knowledgeable and ethical teacher. You cannot have a good video/dvd if the teacher is bogus. When people buy videos, they usually look as how popular a guy is, or how exotic the art is packaged or marketed. Put these clowns in traditional Moro costumes, Kulintang music, new fangled Tagalog terminology, pose on the cover with neat chokes and threatening poses and BAM! We’ve got ourselves the next thing in the FMA. Now flip to the back, and make up some BS history about where the art came from…. “Pacific secret combatives from the Archipelago” , Navy Seal washouts, MMA wannabes, survivor of death matches, revamped-practical-combat FMA repackaged! You too can look like the guy from Ong Bak! If the teacher on the video is looking to make money first, teach second, it’ll be obvious (though it may not be as obvious to the customer). An ethical teacher will tell you exactly what the hell he’s teaching you, and not try to rename it. For example, the big trend right now is to teach Pa Kua/Hsing Yi but call it “Silat”.
But you wanna see what Silat looks like IN INDONESIA?
not quite what you see in those videos, huh? But you can’t get more real that Indonesians, at an Indonesian Championship tournament.
How about Silat in the Philippines?
Sorry, but that’s not exactly put on video either. I once referred a gentleman to the INDONESIAN EMBASSY, where Silat classes have been going on (in Washington DC) for almost 15 years, and you know what he told me? Those guys don’t know Silat, they’re doing Karate. Poor guy, he doesn’t wants Silat, he wants BaGua/HsingYi dressed up by some Dutch guy who use to live in Indonesia. He wants to look “exotic”…
Back to videos (again).
The second thing is that a video has to have practical technique on there. Is this information useful? Is it something you believe the instructor has actually used? Can he use it? A well-produced video by a well-known master is pointless if the stuff he’s teaching is crap. There are very few tapes out there giving good information. Most of the people are doing what the next guy teaches: disarms, the same stupid drills, the same give and take drills, the same neat take downs and chokes with the stick, and the same Wally Jay Jujitsu techniques with a stick. Then you have the all blade guys… we don’t do stick we do only the blade. No wait, we do do stick, and empty hand. Okay, I’m digressing again. But now, we have blade “experts” who have never fought with a blade. Oh then there’s the prison guys, ex correctional officers, and ex cons, teaching their techniques. Hmm…. minus the cussing and the sloppy bellies, it looks like the same stuff on my FMA video. Oh, but this is real streetfighting, not FMA. Come on! I just want to learn some technique, good, practical technique!
After all of that, you need to practice. And here is my big beef with the video industry: it has created a generation or two of arm chair martial artists, who can demo the hell out of techniques, but still don’t know how to fight. So much that they won’t travel across town to train. So much that they can hide behind knowledge (too deadly… yes they are still saying that!) and cliches, like tournament fighting is not real fighting. We have guys who have learned so much through Youtube, that they think they know more than the ones teaching. Yuck.
Videos have their place. Those who learn by videos have their place too. As long as they don’t cross over the boundaries we’re all good. Just remember that they are not a substitute for training, and training is the key, not the side dish, to learning. I will be adding a video review section to this blog, as students and friends are always asking my opinion about youtube clips and videos they have purchased. So I thought, why not? I am negotiating with the folks over at Goldstar Video to get a deal. Soon I will be reviewing instructionals based on three things:
Is the information practical?
Is the guy teaching legit?
Is this good overall information, or just rehashed garbage for some guy’s ego and resume?
As always, I promise to give only the truth, never sell out to commercialism (even if it offends), not to sugar coat anything, and give you pure thekuntawman.
I’ve written a small book, which my editor calls a “mini-book” because it’s only 22 pages long. I wrote it for the Masters of small, independant martial arts schools who would like to feed their families with their schools. These are not men who want hundreds of students and million-dollar high-tech dojos. They are true to tradition, in both skill and business practice, and the most they want is to open a humble commercial location that pays the bills and puts food on the table and their kids through college.
I have invested thousands of dollars trying to learn the business side of the martial arts. I’ve been talked into offering a belt system, utilizing contracts, teaching in day care centers (seriously), teaching seminars on tour, even opening satellite classes across the country. I have taught in the middle east, in central america, as well as in sober living homes. All this, in pursuit of wanting nothing more than to afford teaching the real art to my most dedicated students while these other ventures paid my bills. My ultimate goal back then was to offer my training for free. I learned a lot about business, and learned a lot about how I can market and run my business without doing what everyone else does.
Anyway, the one thing I noticed was that I could not find business information that was directed at a guy like me–who teaches full contact; who uses profanity in my classes; who yells at students; who has ex-cons and gang bangers in my classes; a man whose students (including children) leave the school bruised, banged up, bloodied, and sometimes in need of stitches. Yes, I have insurance. Yes, I pay taxes. And yes, there is a market for my type of martial arts. I have a website, I’m in the Yellow Pages, occasionally I am on the radio and on cable TV, and I don’t promise good grades.
I have seen many good friends and good martial artists who have closed shop because they did not have the business tools to stay in business. One of the painful reminders of this, was last year, when I had refused several students of a friend’s dojo who attempted to join when they saw the writing on the wall. 6 months later, they were there after his school closed, and then he stopped teaching out of his garage. I’ll say this here, and some of those students read this blog, but I thought as traditional Karate teachers in Sacramento go, he was absolutely the best… even better than me.
So I wrote this book for you guys. The guy who surfs the net looking for ways to keep his school going while his wife urges him to “get a real job”. The guy (who, like I once was) working for minimum wage on a graveyard shift job in order to keep a school. The guy (like I was) who used money from tournament winnings to pay bills because his enrollment was too low to pay rent and eat.
I was asked to make it at least 40 pages, but I had a message to give, and it came out to 22 pages. Sorry Mike! I didn’t want to fluff it up or pad with filler just to make it seem “worth the money”… I know people who teach their martial arts that way. You’ll find that the other books I write will be the same way: short, to the point, but full of good, useful information. And I am not some young, wet-behind-the-ears MBA who knows nothing about what the real business world is like. Just like I am not some 50-something millionaire Karate clown trying to convince you that you’re not legit unless you’re selling belt exams and birthday parties. If you want to really put bread on the table with good, quality martial arts, this book is for you.
Look at our “Offerings” page off the main page, and you’ll see ordering information there. Please, leave comments or at least email me to give me feedback after you’ve read it!
The main reason most people say they come to the Filipino Martial Arts is for practical fighting skills. But are you really getting that through your FMA? I don’t think so. On the surface, the way FMAs are practiced today are somewhat more practical than the more traditional, mainstream martial arts. But FMAs today have evolved to the point there are mainstream FMAs too! Let’s look at the characteristics of a mainstream martial art, and you tell me if the arts have become this way:
nothing unique, styles all seem to look the same. teachers do not stand out from one another
a high number of poorly skilled teachers and certified “experts”
“found on every corner”, a style so popular almost every city has a certified teacher
easy to get certification
teacher cannot name every black belter he promoted from memory
you can find the same style being taught in its entirety on video
the commercial version of these styles become the majority
Now let’s look at some mainstream martial arts!
Tae Kwon Do
Wing Chun
Jeet Kune Do
Kenpo
BJJ
MMA
Krav Maga/the rest of the Israeli arts
Ninjitsu
CQC and the like
Modern Arnis
Doce Pares
Now this isn’t to say that there aren’t good fighters representing these styles. Of course, every style has members at the top of the food chain. But they certainly fit into the above defintion. When you are not nearly guaranteed a well-skilled fighter each time you walk in a dojo, I’d have to say that style has become mainstream. The cause of this phenomenon is that a good style and its Master can become so popular and demand so high, that everyone flocks to it and the teacher and his organization is not disciplined enough to keep up with the influx, or to turn unworthy students away.
I had a similar experience when I was in my mid-20s. I was just starting to get out on to the Lumpia Circuit, the FMA circuit, and had invitations to teach seminars. My first seminar was in Sterling, VA, at a Tae Kwon Do school run by a Vietnamese friend (whose name I’ve forgotten). In exchange for me teaching him to spar (he was an Arnis teacher already, but didn’t know how to fight), he set up these seminars and let me keep 100% of the fees collected. After only a few, he started bugging me about issuing certificates, and one day just made some and asked me to sign them. I never returned to that school again until years later, for a scrimmage, but I never taught for him again. I had a similar experience with almost every “seminar” I’ve ever taught.
So, what can you do when you are in a mainstream art? You are in a commercial FMA, and you want to break the mold? I have been asked this privately by many forum members who never speak up out of face, and I can understand. Here is my advice how:
learn how to attack. most FMA styles only focus on defense and countering, and this is not learning how to beat people up. if you want to learn to impress people, stick with the defense, but it isnt much good for fighting. you will need to change your method of training to something more combative, not just to do what the heck everyone else is doing
develop a practical striking system and think about what damage you are actually capable of inflicting on an opponent. for example, a modern arnis strike #5 to the top of the head? you must be kidding! this is the hardest part of the body to injure and you want to strike it with a stick! LOL! change the target to the collarbone, everytime you practice, and you’re doing practical Arnis for fighting.
don’t teach beginners disarms. these guys are learning to try and take a stick and their forearms are too slender to generate any striking power! beginners should be focusing on building a foundation, not learning neat stuff to show the guys at work. one thing at a time, teach them to move their feet, build their strength and power, teach them to hit, and how to evade. once they have the skills to spar and the physical ability to inflict damage, then we can start learning to do all that fancy shmancy stuff!
work bodyweight conditioning into your training. i am not talking about weight lifting, i am talking about developing strength. see arnisadors and eskrimadors are some of the weakest, poor fighters I know. they like to talk tough, get tatoos and body build, and look the part, but most of the people doing all the fighting are the young, little skinny guys. yeah there are a select few who really get out there and bang, but most are really afraid. if you develop your destructive power and your body, this will help build your courage to really do something. your workouts are too soft; too much stick tapping, too much dancing around a triangle, too much concept (well if you strike me here, i can… do this… or i can do that…)
spar. yes the tournaments have a lot of flailing going on, but that’s what you’re seeing on the surface. once you get involved you’ll see that there is a science to what they are doing, and its much more difficult than it looks, and its much more combative than you realize
and speaking of tournaments, STOP MAKING EXCUSES ABOUT WHY TOURNAMENTS ARE BAD!!! all you do when you blurt those excuses… yes, excuses, is showing how scared you are of fighting. of course it’s similated, Herman, all fighting is simulated. if you’re agreeing to fight, neither of you is trying to kill the other, there are rules, and people will stop you if one gets a bad injury, you’re in a simulated fight. MMA is simulated. full contact stickfighting is simulated. your argument is weak, and shows your cowardly side. if you want fighting skill, you need to (simulate) fight. i supposed sparring is bad, so the better thing to do is drills? you’re kidding
the next time you are tempted to do a seminar in another style you think is cool, fight with some folks from that style. if you don’t do well, find a weakness and a way to beat them with the knowledge you have. if you really believe there aren’t superior styles out there, just superior fighters, prove it. make yourself superior. adding more techniques to your arsenal won’t help you beat them, increasing your skill will. the worst fighters i know, have resume’s long as a convict rap sheet. too much adding salt, sugar, betchin, bay leaf, not enough simmering…
Well, there you have it. There is more to it, but I need to send this off and get to bed. Ramadan is coming in tomorrow! All praises to God!
Thank you for reading my blog, and please! Leave comments!
That is the question. Banging sticks, stick-tapping, cross sticks, whatever. To me, they’re nothing more than code words for those ”stick guys” who are not interested in really learning how to kick someone’s butt with their sticks.
I grew up without Sinawali. Yeah, I learned what is commonly known as “Heaven and Earth 6 count”, or simply “Double Sinawali” when I was about 9 years old, but my Eskrima training did not involve them. In fact, I did not learn Sinawali from my grandpa until I was 20 years old, after learning 10 Sinawali drills from Ernesto Presas in the Philippines. I came home thirsty for more, and then my Papa taught me the ones he knew, never to repeat them again minus a few conversations when I asked about them. You don’t need them, he use to say. But stupid me, reading the magazines and exchanging ideas with martial artists who mostly couldn’t “hold a stick” to my fighting ability…. I was convinced that “complete” FMA must have them. Why? Well, the experts say that Sinawali drills give you coordination to weave your hand in intricate patterns for fighting. As if you couldn’t learn how to deliver a knockout punch without using Sinawali drills. As if you would never have the speed and timing to stop a punch without them. As if you could never grapple, clinch, take a guy down without them.
Hey, just like forms… the only form you need is perfect form. Likewise, the only punching ability you need is punching ability. The only blocking ability you need is blocking ability. You get it.
If you recall, I understand the saying, that when a martial artist can’t fight, he will spend all his time emphasizing the importance of everything else to distract you from the realization that he can’t fight. So, he’ll talk about how fighting isn’t real fighting. WHAT? That’s right. He will confuse you with theories and demonstrations and explanations about how the MMA guy’s ability won’t “translate” to streetfighting ability. He will give you a very convincing and scientific argument about why Eskrima knife fighting isn’t real knife fighting and will get you killed on the street. He will show you all these demonstrations and lectures about how to stop a punch, how to immobilize an opponent, and basically how dangerous he is without actually fighting. The sad thing is that most martial artists will eat this stuff up. Not just eat it up and believe it, but adopt these ideas and drop his own, and start repeating this stuff to his own students.
Honestly, have you ever really seen Sinawali used in a fight? I’m not just talking about some dude wailing away in padded sparring with a stick in each hand, but someone seriously sparring using Sinawali? I don’t deny that one can use the patterns as striking patterns in fighting–let’s not be stupid–but I’m talking about the way those sticks are swung, but in a serious stickfight? How about Sinawali while empty handed? Of all the things that turn my stomach about commercial, watered-down FMA, empty handed FMA is one of the most embarassing innovations. Even white belts at McDojos are looking at Youtube laughing their pants off, it’s disgusting.
You see, we have gotten so far into making FMAs look exotic and different, that we are now trying to force-fit logic into our FMA in order for everything to tie together (the stick is a knife, is a machete, is the empty hand and everything is preparation for everything else). I’ve even had a well-known Grandmaster (friend) try to convince me that the Sinawali develops staff sparring skill. But you know me, I’m a “hands-on” kinda guy, and we shut down that argument real quick. But guess what, he is still teaching that garbage in his classes! The bottom line is that Sinawali–the way they are practiced–do nothing for fighting ability. The best fighters in the Philippines do not train them for their fighting ability. Beginners do not need them to learn how to hit or defend. They don’t even do a good job developing forearm, wrist, and hand strength like plain old striking practice does! They don’t “translate” well to empty hand. And if you ever tried to use those techniques against a guy determined to knock your head off your shoulders, well, he’s going to knock your head off your shoulders! The way most of you are taught to practice them, the distance is wrong (sticks usually meet in the middle of you and your opponent, so the distance is unrealistic), you don’t practice with any amount of power (striking power, that is), and once you “get” the rhythm down, it is no longer beneficial for you to practice it other than just having more coordination to do it faster or ad lib your drills. The only benefit I see is that it kills time during class when you don’t have much practical shit to teach. Oh, and some people like to decorate their school with frayed up sticks and the smell of burning rattan… Makes you guys look like you’ve been kicking some ass in there.
The bottom line, Sinawali are a waste of time, and a waste of valuable training space. On top of all that, a waste money from busting up all those $10 sticks.
If you want to learn how to fight–really learn how to fight–hang around; I’ll teach you the secrets….
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One of the strongest images I have of my maternal grandfather is his claim of being a martial arts “hermit”. Those who have met him walk away with the impression that he is unfriendly and introverted. Not just because he didn’t speak English, but surprisingly he was a walking contradiction: my Grandfather was a very giving man, but when it came to his martial arts he was very selfish; he was fiercely patriotic, but didn’t seem to like many Filipinos (just like my mom, more on this later); was a lifelong martial artist, but really disliked martial artists. When I speak of old-school martial artists looking another up and down, thinking “I can take this guy”, my Lolo takes the cake. As a young man, he taught me to train hard and out do my peers and to look down on them as inferior martial artists. Does this make you uncomfortable? Good. That’s what warriors do. If you’re looking to get along with someone, go hold hands in some seminar somewhere…
I begrudgingly complied with many of his requests to keep my distance from most other martial artists. After attending a few FMA seminars with my old friend Billy Bryant, I stopped going when my grandfather objected. Although I was somewhat rebellious and independent thinking as a youth, I was obedient when it came to martial arts, because I really did look up to him and I truly believed that my grandfather was better skilled, more knowledgeable, and could make me into a superior fighter if I followed his lead. Now in my 40s, I am a spitting image of my Lolo in looks, build (he was actually leaner), lifestyle, and outlook. I hope that in the next 30 years, I am equal to who he was as a Master and as a man.
At the heart of this old man’s philosophy was his belief that in order to gain martial arts mastery, one needed to become a martial arts “hermit” in order to grow–even if only for a short period of time.
The hermit is one who has isolated himself from the rest of his community. For whatever reasons–religion, art, intense self-reflection–a man who lives this lifestyle is destined for wisdom or insanity. Our greatest human minds have lived the life of a hermit at some point in their lives. By disallowing distractions and frivolous activity to enter our lives, we enable ourselves to develop, reflect and perfect whatever it is we focus on during our solitude. Many of the things martial artists do, such as rub elbows with other teachers in the political world, put on demonstrations, write meaningless “look-who-I-am-and-what-I-know” articles for the magazines–do nothing at all for one’s skill in the martial arts. The true martial artist has no interest in such things, which has no place in one’s martial arts path. You want respect in the martial arts? Then make your skill unrivaled by most, and then you will earn respect. This is the old-fashioned way of building one’s reputation: standing on the merits of actual ability.
I consider myself an “Eskrima” hermit because I did not have classmates, family or friends in Eskrima while I was learning (besides my brother). In Kung Fu and Karate training, I had schools full of classmates, friends on the tournament circuit, and other school owners as friends. Even in Kuntaw, I had friends from all over the world who practiced Kuntaw and Silat; but my Eskrima experience is all to myself. This would seem odd, because my grandfather was not an “eskrima guy”, he was an empty hands guy, and his second weapon of choice was a bolo. But I took to the stick because this was the weapon we sparred with, and it was also the weapon I had the most difficulty learning. As I started to get out and meet other arnisadors and eskrimadors, I learned that–like my grandfather–I found most of them weak, sheepish, into politics, poorly skilled and I simply tended not to like them. In fact, most of my friends in the martial arts are Tae Kwon Do practitioners and boxers. I find martial artists egotistic, insecure, poorly skilled and undisciplined. This is not say that I am a monk either; but I treat my martial arts with much more respect than most martial artists. Confidence and antagonism seem to frighten most FMA people, so they seek strength in numbers or to simply avoid any forms of in-person confrontation. This is very disappointing because I know that back home, Arnis practitioners are not this way. Most have no rank and are happy with that. But most Filipino Arnis fighters are highly capable of defending themselves and will try you out at the drop of a dime, and you have to respect that. I consider anything less than that to be a weak representation of our arts. What I see of Filipino FMA people in America is that most of us have bought into the commercialization of the West–we like money, nice cars, rank and things to show off. This is what my mother and grandfather never let us become… coconuts. It is no wonder that we find that many Filipino FMA people look down on FOB Filipinos and many FOB Filipinos look down on western Filipinos. There is a lot lost in these arts when you lose the culture. The practice of isolating oneself–the training and the secrets we hold–is a very old-school, cultural thing for Filipino masters. Many of the benefits from practicing the art of seclusion cannot be duplicated in a classroom or seminar.
If you look at my school, I have the windows boarded up and covered with a mural. We do not allow visitors during class times. We only attend tournaments and scrimmages, rarely social events. I do not put on demonstrations for strangers; in fact, I rarely even demonstrate for my own students. My personal training sessions are alone–as they were when I was younger–and I am usually only seen in uniform when I am fighting. If I ask another martial artist to train with him, I am only planning to spar (not show, explain or hang out). My martial arts are for my students, so I rarely guest-teach in other Guros’ schools… even in those schools owned by my friends. I do not post Youtube videos. My skill and my reputation are all I care about; I could care less whether I am a popular teacher, or if people like me in this community. To be known for skill, knowledge and teaching ability if all I care about. In my community, you will find three groups of martial artists who know me: those who have seen me fight or teach (competitors or former students), those who have never seen me but have only seen my students fight, or–the majority–those who have heard of me but never seen me or my students; you would be hard pressed to find folks in my martial arts community who do not know who I am. And of those people, they either admire me (whether or not they’ve met me or seen me), or they loathe me (whether or not they’ve met me or seen me). Me and my school’s reputation have traveled long and far, without the use of magazine articles or advertising. And this is with me being isolated from this local community.
I once ate with my family in a restaurant in San Francisco, when the waiter noticed my school’s name on my credit card. He returned with three fellow employees (all FMA students), asking to take pictures, sign an autograph and promising to visit my school 100 miles away. As usual, they commented on how young I was, thinking I was some old man with along beard, lol. I get that a lot, because my ideas are old school and my attitude came from old men. But I tell you, I would not be the man I was had I joined the rest of the community.
Being a hermit does not require you to go live in a mountain or in the marshes. All it does is have you focus on yourself and your martial arts 99% of the time, and reject everything that lends nothing to your skill and knowledge: publicity, rank and ego, affiliations, unnecessary attention. My students fight in tournaments every month, but I am almost never in attendance. Why? Because I am at the school teaching, and that is most important. It’s not even necessary for me to attend and coach, because the preparation was done in the gym. When I am in attendance, I am sitting with my family and school, not walking around passing out business cards. You must keep your arts in your school and keep to yourself when you are away. The time to get with other people is when it’s time to test out what you’ve been doing. My students are allowed to attend seminars and train in other schools, but we keep our information in the house. As a teacher, I cannot focus my attention outside our circle because it takes away from them.
I have rejected several offers to write articles about my school. We attempted to get some articles published years ago through Black Belt and Inside Kung Fu magazine, and all were rejected because my views either offended or were contradictory to what the rest of the community believed. While I originally thought my philosophy could help some in the community, I realized that most of them do not want to listen. I still have an email forwarded from my old student that he received from Inside Kung Fu magazine:
articles
Sunday, January 4, 2002 3:10 AM
From:
“Xxxx Xxxxx” <XXXXXXXX@cfwenterprises.com>
To:
“Xxx XXXXXXXXXX” <XXXXXXX@xxxx.com>
Xxx,
After reading your articles several times, I find that “I Am Now FMA”
would be too harsh for our magazine. While the points made may be true,
they are presented in a way that probably would offend many of the
Filipino styists. I still have not made a decision on the other article,
but I’m leaning toward not printing that one also. Sorry for the delay.
xxxx xxxxx
ikf
I guess as they say that the truth hurts. But what probably hurts more is if you piss off some their most consistent advertisers. Some folks really don’t want to know the truth, and this is why they don’t fight… it is better to sit back and think you can protect yourself than to throw on the gloves to see if you are right. After I had experienced this treatment from the magazines and even some of the forums, I decided that it was time to keep my martial arts close to home. I realize now that the magazines are not there to share knowledge or teach, but to advertise and brag.
But I digress.
The same way a husband is only here for his family, a teacher is only here for his students. I think back to when Bruce Lee was acting, his students must have felt neglected. Perhaps many of them were there just because he was Bruce Lee the actor, they are certainly benefiting from being able to say, “Bruce Lee was my Sifu” when in fact their Sifu was Dan Inosanto. And excuse me for making this observation, many of those students couldn’t hold a candle up to Masutatsu Oyama’s students. But Mas was there for his guys all his life, and there you have the difference. Did Oyama go out and politic? Sure he did, after a lifetime of hermitage. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a lifetime, but he preceded his teaching career with perfecting the art himself by training in the woods. By the time he was ready to take Kyokushinkai to the world, he had focused on himself and his art enough that it was perhaps the “strongest Karate” on the planet. And how many people around can argue with that?
So, my question to you is, are you in pursuit of making your martial art the “strongest” of the styles? Are you attempting to make yourself the “strongest” teacher? Training your students the “strongest” fighters?
I have once heard that if you can’t be the best, get out of the business. We should all be striving to be the best; at least if we are serious martial artists. Casual training should not be in the vocabulary of the Guro… we are training people to be able to defend themselves and their families. You can’t promise them protection with mediocre, unambitious martial arts training. But it all starts with you, the Master. This has nothing to do with who has abs, who can run a 3-minute mile, who holds the highest degree Black Belt, who is world-famous or not. All that matters is the knowledge, skill, and experience level of the teacher, and how he passes that down to his students. Isolating yourself from all that does not matter in the effort to perfect oneself is a good way to get started on that path.
Thank you for reading my blog. Please come and visit us again!
I would just like to give everyone an update on the progress of the book. The book is complete, and is being edited for the second time. Within the next week, it will be sent out for printing, and returned to me within 5 business days of receipt. As soon as I receive the books, I will send them to the folks who have pre-ordered.
Simultaneously, we are working on a training DVD for building power and strength for martial artists. This project will take a little longer, and I estimate that we should be done by summer 2010.
Thank you for all your emails, comments and support!
This is what I’d like you to do… please go to your personal email and send the link, www.filipinofightingsecretslive.com, to your martial arts friends and associates! Invite them down to take a look at what we’re doing here, because if you like it they’re sure to love it!
Then again, if what I write about pisses you off… still send them! I am not above being corrected and have been persuaded of the “other” view plenty of time–just through a good debate, I’m not hard-headed! But, don’t be one of those guys who just get mad and talk trash from the safety of your dojos, websites and Facebook pages. Come on over, leave me a comment (or send email like most of you do) and let’s engage!
I have some books and other products coming, so stay tuned. And if you haven’t gotten a chance to read my book, get a copy! It’s a lot better information than this stuff you’ve purchased through Panther or one of the “if-you-seen-one-you-seen-it-all” DVDs.
Well, for a limited time, you can purchase my books as a PDF file at an affordable price!
You may have already heard about these two:
Make a Living with Your Backyard/Garage/Community Center Dojo
Mustafa Gatdula’s How to Build a Dominant Fighter in 12 Months
Well, here are two more!
Eight Tips to Boosting Your School’s Income
In this book, I share 8 simple steps (note: I say that they are simple, I did not say they were easy…) to making more money out of your school. You update your knowledge base by purchasing books, attending workshops, classes and seminars–why haven’t you pursued any education to help your school become more profitable?
If you are planning to open a school, then why wait? Get this book now, and have your plan in place when you’re ready to hang your shingle!
Filipino Fighting Secrets Live: Philosophy of the Martial Arts
This book is a collection of articles from this blog and a few essays I wrote addressing my ideas about the philosophy of the martial arts. Many of you have said that you agree with much of what I say. While it may seem that we are a tiny minority in this difference, there are actually many, many more like you and me. Here is one place that you will be able to go and read thousands of words about this unique approach to the martial arts.
Face it, these seminars that make up the bulk of the learning in the FMA community do not dig deep into the traditions and mindset of the FMA man. They are mostly technical classes on how to strike with a stick, slash and stab with a blade, and take a weapon away. This book deals with how you interact with the martial arts community, how you live as a modern-day warrior, and how this art affects you as a practitioner and community trainer of warriors. This book will talk about things your Guro does not have time to talk about in his classes.
Philosophy is the first in the series “Filipino Fighting Secrets Live on Hardcopy”. Don’t wait until the price increases to get your copy–you won’t regret it!
“So, how much is it?” You may be wondering…
Ready?
Soft copies of “Backyard Dojo” and “Eight Tips” are $7.
Soft copies of “Dominant Fighter” and “Philosophy” are $15.
If you check out the Offerings page, you will see that my books are considerably more. But if you purchase them now, you will get them before the prices double!
More books coming soon, we are editing as we speak!
I recently received a visit from an old friend I hadn’t seen in almost ten years. He was a training partner/sparring partner, and very good fighter. We use to get together once a week for sparring, and sometimes the sessions became a trading session–where we taught each other the systems we come from–and sometimes we simply worked independantly on the heavy bag or held the pads for each other.
In the last ten years, he and I both went from looking young for our age to him graying and me losing my hair. We laugh because neither of us is from Sacramento and we were fighting teachers (most teachers in Sacramento do not fight) and now, in our 40s, we both are shadows of who we once were and want to return to the ring. Jermaine, who is a descendant of John Keehan (yes, that Keehan), is preparing for a cage match while I am on a running regimen to fight in point fighting matches. We committed to working out once a week and sparring at least once a week.
I thought back to our sessions ten years ago and remembered the competition between us. We were both over 30 but still looked in our 20s. We were both still competing. We both had our own “groupies” who thought of us as the top dog in town. And when we first met, were constantly trying to outdo each other. The competition between us when we were younger was almost hostile, although we became friends because of it. When he fights in March, I will be in his corner, but before then I will do my best to kick his ass every opportunity I get.
Ah, the true martial arts training partner!
Let me give you the Filipino idea of a training partner.
In the Philippine fighting arts you will find many masters who referred to each other as a “training partner”, but it is not a partner in the way many of you think. Filipino teacher-fighters are very selfish with their systems and knowledge. When they train, they actually prefer to train alone, and the offer to “train together” is a coded way of saying “I want to see if I can whip you, and I also want to see what you do when you train.” LOL–yes, I am laughing as I type, because I am guilty of that even now. Jay spent a good portion of the last decade in Yemen, where he taught a private group of family members–mostly for fitness, but he had plenty of time to develop and modify his art. What he didn’t have was a guy like me, who would do my best to make him leave the dojo with three shoes–two on his feet, one in his ass–to see if his self-development has been in vain. It is very likely that your Masters and Grandmasters were like this as young men… They came up with an idea, they trained like a madman to see that idea manifest itself into physical skill, then they get with their “training partner” to see if they could beat him with it. The training partner, on the other hand, was there to try and decode it in the course of the match as well as beat it with his own technique.
And there you have the ongoing cycle of the martial arts friendship: Two guys getting together, not so much to share as they endeavor to use each other’s skill to fine tune their own skill. Sometimes, they would actually share knowledge. Most of the time, they do not. But do not be discouraged by the refusal to share, as training partners are working individually to develop their own systems and really are helping the other develop his own style by being a rival. For the fighter must find the hardest stone to sharpen his blade, and someone softer will not afford him that opportunity to temper his skills. The better the skill of the partner, the harder you must work to beat him, and the better your own skill will be. On the other hand, a training partner who is too easy on you, too friendly, or too complimenting to is not going to do much to force you to work harder. This is very different from a workout partner who is simply trying to get you to push out a few extra reps; we are talking about a guy who is actively trying to outdo you, prove you wrong, and beat you. Few martial artists will actually do this and remain your friend. He isn’t trying to hurt you, but he isn’t going to make it easy for you either. He has a genuine interest in defeating you, and every victory you got while sparring with him is bitterly earned. He is a rare find; most martial artists are either too selfish, too shy, or too afraid to maintain a relationship like this.
As a martial artist, you would want to find and keep these types of training partners. These aren’t men you are trying to learn from, they are men you are trying to learn on. And this type of learning is difficult to come by.
This subject is a little deeper than just beating the jab. The tips I will give you will also help you beat the taller fighter or fighter with better use of his reach, the faster fighter, and the fighter who fights on the outside.
First I would like to clarify something I said: fighter with better use of his reach… Often, the taller fighters does not have good use of his reach as a advantage. A few good examples of this would be tall power punchers, or fighters who are tall but prefer to use short punches like the hook and uppercut. Or worse–taller fighters who like to clinch, fight inside or do not have the ability to keep shorter fighters away. Sometimes the taller fighter does not have longer arms, while a shorter fighter may have longer reach. If anyone has ever fought with a reach disadvantage, this can be a frustrating experience whether or not you are quicker than your opponent.
Ditto that for fighting a guy who is faster than you are. Just as frustrating as that is a fighter who fights you on the outside (meaning from outside your front foot), when you can’t seem to reach him with your rear hand. The ironic thing about this article is that I am about to show you how to beat me. For those who know me as a fighter, my strengths are that I fight from the outside, I use my reach well despite being only 5’7″, and I have a speed advantage over my opponents. Where possible, these are the things I teach my fighters to use as well as the advice I am about to give you to beat this strategy.
First, you have the choice of trying to beat an outside moving opponent to the button versus fighting him on the inside. The outside firing position has many advantages, but it also has it’s disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that whatever you throw will not come down the centerline. If your opponent is a master of the centerline, he will intersect you at whatever you decide to use. (Side note, this is the primary principle behind a famous Eagle Claw form called Jeet Chune. You guys may know the rest) When you fight your opponent on the inside, shorter arms are actually a plus. Speed is secondary also.
Go open. In this, I mean that if your opponent has his left foot in front, put your right foot forward. It will change much of what your opponent may have planned for you. The dynamics of the change of angle will confuse many opponents who have not prepared for this position. Then instead of fighting for the outside position, circle in the same direction he is going. This will put him right in firing range of your rear hand, which is now in the power punching position.
Attack him in 2s and 3s. This is a universal fighting strategy for me and my style, yet you would be surprise how many fighters have no answer for it. Punching in combination is not natural for many fighters and they don’t do it well… let alone defend against it.
Give him your head. As he moves drive forward with the top of your head. If he’s smart, he will uppercut you but that will leave his own face open and vulnerable to attack. He could also attack with a hook, but since he is lateral moving he will not have good power or timing to make it meaningful. If this is a streetfight, drive forward until you have headbutted him. A great fight strategy. Anyone who tells you otherwise can just put the gloves on and prove it to you. I know this technique well and will stand by it should we ever meet in person. If you use it, someone’s getting hurt–point blank.
Break away and put yourself out of firing range to break up his rhythm. Break away from his punching, not straight back. He will be forced to stop what he is doing and re-engage you. When you come back together, initiate the attack. But this time, attack the position you know he is moving to, not where he is standing. Another good fight strategy for faster opponents.
Counter hit. Even if your opponent is faster than you are, you can still gauge when he will be open to get hit. This will take some guts to do and toughness on your part, as you must accept that you might get hit while doing it. The beautiful thing is, you will make him pay for hitting you too. After he has taken a few good shots your opponent may be more careful and hesitate when he fires, and this will give you an opportunity to come out on top. The way this works is that when you know he is planning to hit–most of the time you do, just too slow to stop it–brace yourself, cover and attack at the same time he attacks. While you may get hit in this strategy, if this is a faster fighter you are up against, he will likely be using quick punches rather than power punches (especially if they are off the front hand). You, on the other hand, will attack with power punches. So he jabbed you in the forehead–you power-punched to the nose. Who comes out on top?
Hopefully I have presented this information in simple language and made it easy to understand. If you have questions, please post them and I will do my best to answer. If you are in the Sacramento area, email me and make an appointment to stop by the gym! I’ll even go a round with you to demonstrate if you need more detail. Thanks for visiting my blog.
Oh, I just love true wisdom, and I’m sure you’ve heard this one. How can one not agree with it?
The idea is that we can keep spoonfeeding the needy, but if you teach the needy to feed himself he will be able to feed himself and be independant of you and handouts. The martial arts and development within the arts are very similar to this philosophy. No, I am not speaking of teaching men to teach themselves; that idea is proposterous. What I am referring to is teaching your martial arts students the most valuable skill you could ever give them. This is the skill, that if they never took another lesson in their life from where they are in their training from this point forward… that in time, they will be skilled enough to defend themselves, physically fit, and ready for combat as if they had been studying the martial arts all this time.
Allow me to break from this to inject another point. This is something that can never be taught in a seminar or video. It is something that I am positive that 100% of the seminar guys out there (yes, even your Grandmaster) is missing. It is the reason why my students will always beat your students, unless your students have developed a foundation elsewhere, besides those seminars. It explains one of the main reasons I am anti-learning by seminar. And even if I taught it to you right here, right now–any attempt to impart this in a seminar will fail.
The most valuable thing you can teach a martial arts student is not a technique or fight strategy. It is not a particular weapon. It is not a shortcut to proficiency in the art. In fact, it is the opposite to the shortcut to proficiency:
The most valuable thing you can teach a martial arts student is how to train.
Easy enough concept to understand, right? No. It isn’t that easy. One of the clichès I hear martial artist regurgitate over and over, and they think they are making profound sense when they utter it is the too-simple-to-deny-but-more-complicated-than-you-realize “Practice, Practice, Practice“. Babies, we are not talking about the damned Piano. Martial arts is not something that we simply practice to get. Sure, when we are infants in the art or learn a brand new technique, practice may suffice. But when you are serious about fighting and you have the goal of dominance, you must TRAIN. Big difference. “Practice” refers to the repeating of something over and over until you “get it”. Can you practice beyond mere “ability”? Can you practice your way to perfection?
Yes, you can “practice” beyond simply the ability to perform a technique or skill. You can even practice your way to “pretty good”. But if you wish for perfection or dominance–you want to reach your potential in the art and on the street–you must train.
So, what’s the difference, Mustafa? Let’s see what Google has to say about “practice“:
Perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain one’s proficiency.
Teach (a person or animal) a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction over a period of time.
If you look at the definition of “train” (yes I know, it also says that “train” is a series of railroad cars, but we are referring to fighting, smarty pants) there are two important factors here. First, it includes “practice”. Secondly, there is the element of “instruction”. In practicing something, you assume that you already know it. With training, you are in the pursuit of more knowledge. Yes, you already “know” the skill because you must practice it. Yet, you are continuing to learn through more instruction. The martial artist assumes that he knows everything. Sure, the fake humility we find in the martial arts requires him to say that he doesn’t know everything. Yet the martial artist really does think he knows everything because he determines that his teacher’s classes are not complete enough, so he supplements with seminar and video. He prowls Youtube for more info to add to his repertoire. He attempts to teach himself through books. He believes in making his own path. The martial artist who “practices” his art believes that this alone will make him improve. Take a seminar to learn new stuff in one day, spend a lot of time “practicing”, and one day he will slap on the title of “Master”. Learn>>Practice>>Master. That is the idea behind this false philosophy in the art.
Where the fighter who trains is not just practicing. He is in the constant process of improving and learning more about what he is doing. When he trains, simply knowing how is insufficient–he wants to be able to do and dobetter. When we envision a man practicing, we see him alone, casually doing what he knows, over and over. When we picture a man training, he is not alone–he is with a trainer. The trainer is counting cadence, he is calling the shots, he is asking the man to perform more–and faster, stronger, more accurately. The man practicing may have learned his skill from someone else, but he is not adding more instruction and certainly not doing so under stress. Yet the man being trained is continuing to learn, and not only is it assumed that he does not know all, and he is not good enough and being pushed to do better. The action of the word “to train” involves two people: The trainer and the trained. The word “practice” has no practicer or practicee… not only does this fail to make sense, it is also very arrogant and is as false as the level of the humility of the guy saying that “practice makes perfect”.
When you train someone, you make them do more than they think they are capable of doing. You find a way for him to fail in his attempts to practice. He must defeat something–a clock, a previous level of performance, an opponent. He is too slow. He is too weak. He is not good enough. Yet he continues, until he is satisfied with the results–and then he tests himself on someone else and concludes that again… he is not good enough. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
The most valuable thing you can impart to your students is the notion that in the gym, you are never good enough. Yesterday you were pretty good, today you suck, and you are in competition with that jerk who came to the gym yesterday. The saying of the Eskrimador is that skill is not what you are able to do–but how high your limit and potential are, and what you can do when you have exhausted yourself at that limit. In the martial arts, Eskrimadors practice too fresh. They do not put themselves under pressure enough. They surround themselves with friends. For them, practice is rehearsing a skill of coordination. The Eskrimador who trains is running a marathon against himself, and the sooner he learns to push himself to his limit and fight when he is scared, fatigued and in pain–the sooner he will be on his way to teaching and learning from himself. This is not something that will be easily learned. It will take about six months of being trained–understanding, accepting and expecting that concept as normal–before training replaces practicing in his vocabulary. This is the way of the Filipino Fighting Arts.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 34,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 13 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Many martial artists consider the “next level” for them after learning is teaching. Some—like me—believe the “next level” is having a fighting career and then teaching. But what comes after teaching? Mastery? Teaching the teachers?
I believe that the “next level” of the martial arts after taking students is developing your ability to make teachers. Teaching the technical side of the art is not enough; and the faux existence of martial arts “philosophy” that many teachers pretend to have doesn’t even deserve room for discussion in this article. (I will say this: merely putting up “tenets” on the walls of your dojo and in flyers and those silly creeds is not “philosophy”. Heck, it’s not even traditional for most of your systems) The fighting philosophy of the art, which is vastly different from martial arts philosophy, is something that should be included under teaching the art. Technical martial arts should also include fighting philosophy, although many teachers neither know both nor understand what the differences are. Yet learning the technical side of the art is a world difference from the art of teaching the martial arts. Few martial arts systems and genres other than the Japanese have a treatise on this subject. In the Filipino martial arts, I have only seen rules and by laws of corporations governing what monetary business Guros should abide by when they do undertake teaching. Rarely do FMA teachers actually receive instructions on how to teach the art. We have re-certification seminars and processes that are more money-grubbing than anything else, and they have nothing to do with producing the best martial arts student possible—which should be the fueling goal of any martial arts teacher and his organization. We have all sorts of goals, like “furthering the system”, “reaching the masses”, “showing the world our master’s art”, and “promoting the FMAs”: and none of them address making those FMA students better than the Tae Kwon Do guys, Kung fu guys, Jujitsu guys… When I read those words, I hear “turning my school into a world-wide, money-making endeavor”. Sorry if you’re offended by my opinion. Perhaps you should change your motto.
25 years ago, many of the Arnis and Eskrima masters in thePhilippinesI have met—even the Filipino Karate masters—would brag that they had the best fighters in town. In the effort to recruit me as a student, or at least impress me as a visiting Arnisador, teachers would arrange sparring matches and demonstrations. Some of them spent a lot of energy trying to convince me that my fighting would improve as a student of their gym. Somewhere in all this “promoting” of the FMAs, we have lost this wonderful piece of the Filipino martial character. Our classes and gyms have given way to the seminar and crash-course, student-to-teacher turnover is occurring faster than recruits at a barber college. Filipino martial arts have become the seminar that businessmen who want to “add to their bottom line” can take to, well, add to their bottom line. We have ranking structures such as “Novice > Advanced > Associate Instructor > Apprentice Instructor > Junior Instructor > Full Instructor > Master Instructor” and they all take place with less time and effort than a McDojo Brown Belt at the shopping center.
That said, with the rush to turn our novices into instructors as quickly and painlessly as possible—we have lost the mission, the traditional mission, of the Filipino martial artist: to produce superior and dominant fighters. As soon as the student can hold his own in a drill or sinawali, as soon as he can remember and his hands can regurgitate a memorized disarm (or to adlib and “pimp” that drill or disarm)—we certify him and send him on his way to “building” our worldwide organization.
Let me inject something. As a young man in thePhilippines, I recall meeting several well-known grandmasters who bragged to me that their systems were so famous they had students abroad that wanted to bring them to their countries to teach. On the few occasions that I met and even trained with some of these foreign ambassadors, I can honestly say that not a single one was impressive as a fighter. Sad to say, but not one could hold a candle to the intermediates I knew. It was disgusting, and I vowed never to do that. On the other hand, I met some fighters of the Yaw Yan gym while atSantoTomasUniversitywho bragged that they did not take any of these foreign students, unless they stayed inManila. When I trained with them, not a single one of them was anything short of impressive. And that gym promoted not a ton of students abroad or at home—but simply that their fighters could lick any man in town. You gotta respect that.
Back to the state of modern FMA, we absolutely must include as part of the learning curriculum for our students the art of developing skill through their students. They must study how to lead a class, how to build strengths and counter weaknesses, how to help students overcome fear and shyness, how to coach a fighter, how to explain concepts, how to motivate insecure students. We should give them opportunities to try out their ideas on their junior classmates (under supervision, of course), and monitor their teaching styles. We should help them develop their own twist on our twist on the FMAs, as creativity is one of the keys to mastery (not imitation). We must lead them through the winding and new path of “FMA Guro”, as we did for “FMA student”. And when they have satisfactorily completed this level, they should then graduate from FMA student to FMA Guro.
And we graduate to that “Next Level”, as well.
Soo…. What is the next level for the Guro who has trained Guros of his own? We will look into it another day, but the next level of train the trainers is “train the protectors”. It has nothing to do with making money, growing schools, or becoming famous; it has all to do with giving back to the community that gave us income. But we’ll discuss that later. Thanks for visiting my blog.
What can a fighter do to make himself a “Debater” rather than a “Shouter”? (You’ll have to see the first article in this series to understand the difference)
I can’t teach this concept by blog. To be honest, you would have to study under a teacher who understands fight strategy in order to accomplish it. Many teachers are only passing down techniques from their system with minimal instruction in strategy and fight science. It is difficult to find a teacher that has the right answer. Doing so is as easy as choosing your parents; it’s really luck that some end up with a truly knowledgeable teacher. It would be foolish for a beginner to think he can recognize a “quality” teacher, therefore martial arts students judge by whether a teacher’s bio is well-written or if he is well-known, well-spoken, etc. Yet you can become a student of fight strategy and the art of fighting and learn these things on your own. Yes, it would be difficult, but it is possible to train under a teacher while studying fighting science on your own.
I would like to offer some advice that may help you get on your way:
First, in sparring, you should focus more on trying to land techniques, not hurt your opponents. The mistake would be to try and use your sparring sessions to dominate your opponents. But sparring during training is the inappropriate time to try and dominate; it is the time to learn, develop and test theories and techniques. If you are focusing on kicking your opponent’s butt, you’re missing the opportunity to develop skills in practice. Save the butt-kicking for the ring, and use sparring sessions to test out techniques and try the techniques you’re not very good at.
At the same time—make your opponent’s attacks fail. “Fail” means his attack will either be blocked, avoided, intercepted and countered. Fight training is often too focused on attacking the opponent because it is the easiest, most painless way to train. Anyone can stand in front of the punching bag and wail on it like you were the next “Rocky”, but it is not that easy to have a guy attack us and we have to stop those attacks. If you were to spend an entire month on learning how to be attacked, I bet you’d see a nice jump in sparring success. To practice this, you can either do attacker-defender sparring sessions, or simply spar with the intention not to get hit.
Lose the “take a hit to give a hit” mentality. Even hits that don’t hurt much can add up and lead to your demise later in the fight. The best way to fight is to make sure your opponent lands as little as possible. Not only does it result in a fresher, more confident you—it also takes away some of your opponent’s confidence in himself.
Try to find techniques that allow you to counter your opponent’s attacks without the use of blocks. When you can eliminate blocking, you make your fighting more efficient, as your hands are free to hit since they are no longer occupied blocking.
Learn to use the counter-to-the-counter strategy. I attack my opponent with a hook to the body. My opponent can utilize one of three basic counters to this attack (drop the elbow and block with the arm, block with the front hand, and the rare block with the back hand). When he does so, I should have a counter in anticipation of those three counters that are automatic. Do this for everything in your arsenal.
Have a pre-planned set of counters for everything your opponent can do to you. Many fighters train their attacks intensely, and then leave defense up to chance and reflex. As a fighter, you want to have a good defensive and strategy plan. When you have them figured out, make them a vital part of your training plan and fight strategy.
Perhaps we will revisit this topic in better detail, but I am more inclined to write a book about it (lol). If you use these simple rules, I guarantee you will see more success in fighting.
Fighting is much like debating. Most fighters would disagree with this statement and probably liken fighting to a shouting match.
First Scenario (The Debate): Opponent #1 attacks Opponent #2 by stating Fact A. Fact A is a good point and shakes Opponent #2’s confidence. Opponent #2 states random Facts to keep Opponent #1 at bay until he realizes the problem with Fact A. In fact, Fact A has a few holes in the theory, although it sounds good, it can easily be countered by Fact D. Once Opponent #2 states Fact D, Opponent #1 cannot come up with a retort because Fact D covers all the bases. Opponent #1 finally yields to Opponent #2’s argument as being superior. Opponent #2 wins the debate.
Second Scenario (The Shouting Match): Opponent #1 attacks Opponent #2 by stating Fact A. Fact A is a good point and shakes Opponent #2’s confidence. He cannot think of random Facts, nor can he figure out any problems with Fact A’s primary idea. Opponent #2’s answer is to yell and scream an obviously faulty idea at Opponent #1. Opponent #1 yells and screams Fact A louder. Opponents 1 and 2 take turns yelling at each other, louder and louder. Onlookers cannot determine who is winning the argument because the yelling has become the focus of the discussion. Finally, Opponent #1’s voice gives out and he cannot yell any longer. Opponent #2 walks away the victor, not because of a superior argument, but because of his voice being louder and having more mileage.
There are many who believe that being stronger and fighting with more power counters superior technique and strategy. This notion is true, but it has limitations:
Some opponents are stronger than you
Some opponents cannot easily be hurt
Some opponents have superior defensive skills and are difficult to hit
Some opponents are faster than you and can hit you three times for every attack you throw
Some opponents have superior footwork, so you will not be able to catch them, nor can you evade their attacks
The fighter then, needs to have a better method of landing his attacks as well as have a good set of defensive skills. I find that fighters tend to limit themselves to just knowing basics and combinations, and then they work to get bigger and stronger. The argument is when they catch you, they will hurt you. The counter argument is that you must first catch me—and be able to avoid my bombs. The counter to the counter is you can run, but you can’t hide. The counter to the counter to the counter is “oh yeah? Watch me!”
This can go on for days.
But we save time by developing our landing skills as well as our stopping and evading skills. Have the bigger guns, but make sure you also have better aim and faster reloading ability. If you have an opponent who cannot get away from you and he can’t overpower you AND he does not have superior strategy—he doesn’t have a chance. Learn how to make sure that this combination of scenarios happen, and I guarantee you fighting dominance. One needs more than just bigger arms these days, and you also need to have more than just the same old combination of techniques that everyone else is using. If you want to be a superior fighter, the work is done at the gym as well as the drawing board.
The martial artist is supposed to be a perfectionist, but for some reason we convince ourselves that perfection is impossible and being ambitious is unbecoming of the martial artist. How foolish.
The Ultimate in combat is taking another man’s life, and it’s inverse is stopping a man determined to take your life. We cannot be complacent when in pursuit of the ultimate, unless your training does not have this goal in mind. It appears to me that most martial artists are in fact searching for mediocrity while ignoring–no: shunning–the Ultimate. We speak of preferring to focus on “real” combat, whatever that is, over sport/practice/simulated combat, yet we never engage in “real” combat in practice. After all, if we claim to be training for fighting to the finish yet never actually “fight to the finish”–isn’t what you do simulated anyway? We talk of testing our skill, yet we never allow ourselves to be tested by doubters. In fact, we claim to dislike our doubters and avoid them like a rabid dog; who is “testing” your skill? You? Classmates? Friends? Could an 11th grader honestly test his own Algebra skills? Can a football team ever prove their superiority as a team without a rival or opposing team? Why do we insist on isolating ourselves to friends and friendly martial artists, when the first part of what we call ourselves refer to enemies? Why look down on those who seek to achieve greatness and think it’s okay to just be “good” in the arts?
When a martial artist does not engage in “martial” activities, he is guilty of being just an “artist”. An artist, my friends, is not a warrior but a guy who simulates reality. Fighting, war, killing–these things are about as real as it gets. Artists? I think of painters, sculptors, musicians, dancers. Artists are people who imitate life and reality, while the warrior either preserves or destroys reality.
And in life, what can be more “real” than living or dying? Living and dying, my friends are the first and last things a man does. Everything in between are less important than those two things. The martial artist engages in an activity that will determine when and if those two things will happen. We control nothing in our lives more important than whether we live or die. The only factor more in control of our life and death is the Creator of the Heavens and Earth. So if we are to be a deciding factor in life and death, should we treat our skill that depends greatly on whether we can defend our lives as a hobby? Should we treat it lightly and just believe that we actually can defend ourselves without actually checking? Are you the kind of guy who checks your car’s fluids regularly, or do you just hop in and drive all the time?
If we are martial artists who are serious about keeping ourselves alive should a conflict occur, doesn’t it make sense to keep our blade sharp, keep ourselves armed and ready at all time? One would think so, but too many martial artists approach this subject too lightly. They train casually, they treat martial arts training as social events, and they almost never allow a doubter to test them. They leave dojos if the learning stage is too slow, the training is too hard, or the fees too high. Rather than search for the best school to learn to fight, they look for gyms that are comfortable and welcoming. They look for big names and smiling faces. They cruise Facebook and MyFMA.net looking for new friends and neat video clips and seminars to go to and hold hands some more. And when they think of their martial arts skill, they think of themselves as “good” (or even refuse to admit that they think they are good) and then put down the guys who “think they are better than everyone else”.
Um, you’re a warrior. If you don’t think you’re the best in the business, you must be in the wrong business. Men who fight for their lives don’t cloak themselves in modesty. They aren’t afraid to be seen as “arrogant” or a braggart. They aren’t bothered by some guy saying he’s better than you or some dude walking around with his chest swelled up. Warriors have prepared themselves for the Ultimate and aren’t afraid to show you how well-prepared they are. This isn’t to say that warriors go around fighting to the finish at the drop of a dime. What I am saying is that warrior will show you, simulated or real, that he thinks he’s better and will welcome the chance to check his skill every now and again.
And when he has proven himself to be “pretty good”, he doesn’t rush out and start posting his shingle all over the internet hoping to hawk some videos and seminar attendance fees. He wants to prove it again and again, until he finds a weakness in his armor so that he can strenthen it again. He is not satisfied with being pretty strong, pretty quick, learning new and complicated tricks. His life is a constant battle to improve and testing himself and his skill. He does not fear defeat, as the only defeat that matters is the one when he dies–if he is ever fatefully destined to be tested in the Ultimate test. Until that day, he will test and train and modify, test and train and modify, and so forth, until he truly feels like he can lick any man in the room.
And when he feels that way… wash, rinse, repeat. Greatness is objective. It is only abstract in the minds of men who do not pursue it. If you are not endeavoring for greatness–for the ultimate level of skill and ability in the art–you are not a martial artist, but a hobbyist, who is at most striving to be “good”. Thus, you will never achieve the Ultimate in the warrior arts.
In my new location, I meet potential students all the time. I am next door to a very popular Chinese restaurant in South Sacramento, and since I am there all day most days, passers-by peek in to see what is going on. I’m sure that as a business owner, this happens to you as well.
I want you to listen well; what I am going to share with you will help you increase your enrollment–if you’re a martial arts teacher. I originally wanted to post this under “Martial Arts Philosophy”. But after thinking about who is to benefit from the article itself (and not who the article is about–it’s your job to pass the message on to the right people)–I decided to put it under “Business” instead. My sincere desire for this blog is more than just attracting business to my school. I want to see more FMA schools and traditional martial arts schools to be able to say that they stayed in business for two decades, just like a crummy old cranky Guro like me.
So, listen good.
Every man who enters your school, whether he expresses a true desire to study or not, is a potential student. If he says he wants to study or not, he could potentially use your services. If there was enough of an interest or curiosity that a man walks into a dojo, he has enough interest to need or want the martial arts. Perhaps he once studied the martial arts. Maybe he wanted to study the martial arts and procrastinated until he thought he was too old. He may have once been mugged or robbed. Every man has once experienced the burn of fear when he thought he might be attacked, or the threat of having to defend himself or his family. Most adult males would like to get into shape. All men want to feel that his family will look to him for protection–and very few men really, really feel like they can.
Let’s chew on that for a minute.
I restate: FEW MEN TRULY FEEL LIKE THEY CAN PROVIDE AMPLE PROTECTION FOR THEIR FAMILIES AGAINST ALL THREATS.
Yes, most men don’t feel adequate. So they avoid the bad neighborhoods and shady-looking characters. They move to the suburbs where they feel like their kids won’t get bullied, their wives won’t be accosted or gawked at blatantly. They pick up their children from school because they aren’t sure their children know how to defend themselves. They will pretend that they feel safe. But the truth is, they don’t. And denying that fact makes them ignore the reality that they don’t know how to defend themselves and they are too cowardly to learn how and arm themselves.
Yes, I said it. They are too cowardly to go and study. So they work out, thinking this will help. Much safer to build muscle on your own than go and do any serious training. They watch MMA hoping to pick up a few moves instead of going to a gym and really learn those moves. They walk into martial arts schools looking for lessons for their 4 year old boys, when their real desire is to ask if you accept fat ass middle aged yuppie men.
And here we arrive at my point. When that yuppie male is broken down on the side of the street waiting on AAA, and some trouble maker thugs approach. EVERY man’s wife will turn to him and say the words he fears hearing, because he knows he has no answer for it:
DO something.
That’s right, John–DO something. What’s so sad about this, is that John is just as scared as his wife. He is just as helpless as his wife. And he is just as dependent as his wife is for someone to “DO something”. Except for John, that someone is the police, a pedestrian or good Samaritan, or maybe fate or luck by hoping that this will never happen. John, unlike his wife, has an abstract helper–besides God Himself–he is relying on the right person to be there to protect him and his family because he hasn’t done anything to prepare for that day when his wife will call on him to protect him. If she goes hungry, he is blamed for not bringing home the (turkey) bacon. If she is cold, it’s his fault for not heating the home. When she is unloved, he is to blame for not showing his wife affection. Yet for some reason, most men bury their heads in the sand when it comes to protection. You can’t buy protection with money, and real protection is something that takes blood, sweat and tears to have.
Let me say it again: Most men are afraid to prepare themselves for self-protection and arming themselves to protect loved ones. ALL men really want to prepare themselves. When they walk into your gym, they are secretly hoping that there is an affordable, SAFE, easy, pain-free way to get this protection.
Now you and I both know that “affordable” is up to perception. But safe, easy and pain-free? Feel free to laugh out loud… But regardless of the risks, it is a man’s DUTY to protect his family, and anything that happens to that family if he fails to arm himself will be his fault. Not only will he feel guilty, but his wife and children will no longer look at him as a man–because he cannot provide one of the most basic things a man should be giving his family. The community won’t even accept him as a man. How can he be respected when his family must look elsewhere for protection? It’s a terrible place to be, but for some reason most men are there. So when trouble arrives, he will just be a victim and his family will be victimized.
Unless, of course, he understands how important this skill is and how it is relevant to his role as head of the household. And that’s where you come in.
So, Mr. Visitor–if you go home, and your family are bound and gagged, and there are 3 thugs in your home looking for cash–are you prepared to do something about it? (Don’t let that dude leave your dojo until you two have had that talk) I’ll leave the rest up to you.
Earlier today I received a visit from a gentleman who was an FMA practitioner many years ago. He mistook me for a part time FMAer, as many do, because I run a full-time school. Most full-time martial artists are more businessmen than martial artists, and most of those who do the Filipino arts in a commercial dojo are doing the FMAs part time as a side hustle to some other art. It’s understandable and also an honest mistake.
I am actually thinking of a few other subjects I’d like to address as I write this (note to self: address later! I digress), but something he did in our conversation sparked this article.
First I’d like to apologize for forgetting the man’s name. I asked him a few times, but he dropped so many names in our conversation I must have either forgotten while trying to remember exactly what his lineage was–or I was looking down on the floor trying to count how many he dropped. Apparently, in all of this research of who’s who in the FMAs, he obviously skipped over me and, in addition to thinking I was a part time guy, mistook me for someone who gave a damn.
Digressing some more…. when visiting a martial arts school you know nothing about folks, take some advice from me. Never go in trying to one-up the guy in front of you. Especially if you only plan on doing so verbally. If you are a martial arts expert, then introduce yourself as one and treat the conversation as if you were meeting a peer. If you are not looking for lessons, don’t act like you are. If you are curious about how they do business, then be forthright and ask the questions you want answers to. Like “how much do you guys charge a month?” and “where do you get most of your students from?” and “what are your classes like?” And always, always–never try to impress or diminish the guy in front of you, especially if you know nothing about him.
Back to the conversation. So, he begins by telling me he was originally a Serrada student back in the 70s, then he met a Master in Vallejo who was so impressed with his Eskrima that he took him as a personal student, then this guy, then that guy…. zzzzzzz.
I realized the gentleman was not interested in lessons, he was not a teacher, and he was not planning to buy equipment from me. Not a problem. But sometimes I have interesting conversations with visiting martial artists, expert or not. So I listen–and that’s all I really get to do because the gentleman talked so much I doubt he even inhaled. Then he said something significant.
“In the Filipino arts, lineage means nothing.”
Um, no. See, in the Filipino arts, lineage does mean nothing–but it also means everything. Anyone in the Filipino arts as a fighting art form–not a business–knows this.
Lineage is more than just a reference point for braggarts and ego. It is knowing where your training, knowledge and skill originated. It is understanding the logic behind why your art is the way that it is. It is knowing why you have no forms, or knowing where the forms in your style came from. It explains why you do things the way that you do, and it gives legitimacy to everything you do. For a man with no lineage must work harder to validate his skill and respect (which have to do with more than just fighting skill), and a man with good lineage must work even harder than HIM to validate his art. Lineage tells those whom you encounter that you most likely know your stuff, and it can also tell those same people you probably don’t know crap. Lineage, depending on who’s in it, speaks loudly to the expectations of those around you.
And there is a saying in the martial arts, “You don’t take those masters into the ring with you.”
Idiots. Shows how much they know about the martial arts; or perhaps I should rephrase that to “how little they know…”
Little do you realize, you do take those masters into the ring with you. When a man sees you fight, he is looking at the manifestation of your master and all of his lessons he imparted to you, his experiences, his theories, and his training regimen–and the master before him, and all those things–and the master before him. With your 3-minute match, you either validate everything they’ve worked for, or you shame it. You stand for them and all they hoped for with the art. Whether you win or lose, you represent not just yourself and your teachers, but you represent all others from your art. Anyone remotely close to what you do: Your teacher’s classmates and their students, their training partners and their students, even foreign styles who are not connected to you by lineage–but perhaps from the same country or only a similar ideology to yours. When you fight, they are proud of you and they share in your glory, even if you lose (just lose graciously and not like a coward). They are pulling for you, and if you look good, they look good. And finally, your own students. They and their pride originates from you and how well you represent them. Train hard, do your best, excel, and prove your superiority. What more is there to the martial arts?
Trust me, lineage is not for us to use when we want brownie points. It does nothing for our skill. Name-dropping is meaningless without the skills to back it up. But without knowing, respecting, representing and having a duty to serve our lineage–our martial arts and our accomplishments become very self-centered and isolated. In this case, lineage does mean nothing. It is not here for us to use as a calling card or a substitute for excelling in the art. It is not a weapon to use to try and make some random Guro you encounter to feel inferior. Especially when that Guro you encountered just finished performing a thousand strikes, 100 pushups, and thinks your ego needs a bone-snapping wake-up call. If I were to name-drop who I had conversations with just this morning, he’d think I was lying.
Yet that’s not important. Who you learned from means nothing if you don’t make him look good when you step out on the floor. For this, lineage is a very unselfish gift we receive from our martial ancestors. It is our martial arts, and we honor them by giving them credit and by being the best representative of them as possible.
Can you imagine Neil Armstrong saying something like, “I am the first man on the moon. My Air Force unit, my science teachers, my pilot instructors, my family, my President, my country, my fellow astronauts, NASA–have nothing to do with it!”??
Yeah, whether a martial artist plays down his lineage, or he exploits it, he sounds a little like that. When he gives full credit to those who taught him, and devotes himself to being an example to the ones to follow him–he is honoring his lineage and therefore honoring himself.
But you know me, I’m a “hands-on” kinda guy, and we shut down that argument real quick. But guess what, he is still teaching that garbage in his classes! The bottom line is that Sinawali–the way they are practiced–do nothing for fighting ability. The best fighters in the Philippines do not train them for their fighting ability. Beginners do not need them to learn how to hit or defend. They don’t even do a good job developing forearm, wrist, and hand strength like plain old striking practice does! They don’t “translate” well to empty hand. And if you ever tried to use those techniques against a guy determined to knock your head off your shoulders, well, he’s going to knock your head off your shoulders! The way most of you are taught to practice them, the distance is wrong (sticks usually meet in the middle of you and your opponent, so the distance is unrealistic), you don’t practice with any amount of power (striking power, that is), and once you “get” the rhythm down, it is no longer beneficial for you to practice it other than just having more coordination to do it faster or ad lib your drills. The only benefit I see is that it kills time during class when you don’t have much practical shit to teach. Oh, and some people like to decorate their school with frayed up sticks and the smell of burning rattan… Makes you guys look like you’ve been kicking some ass in there.
