Filipino Martial Arts

The Arnis Law

2011-04-13T13:30:00.001+08:00

Last year the Filipino Martial Arts got a much needed shot in the arm with the passing of the Arnis. Here's more about it, in case you missed it.

The law will definitely help FMA to finally get the official recognition and support that it needs from the government and non-government institutions as well as the general public. However, my optimism is a bit tempered by what I see as potential problems along the way to FMA's truly benefiting from this law.

The Arnis Law promotes the practice of Arnis as a sport, to be taught in schools. I'm fine with that even if, in my opinion, Pekiti Tirsia won't participate in this aspect of the law. I'm sure kids will really get into whacking at each other with padded sticks, decked in padding from head to toe. I may have misgivings about the lack of realism with a lot of padded stick sparring I've seen, but I see kids and teens enjoying arnis as a sport, as long as it's safe and well officiated. Hopefully the kids will look further than the padded sparring they do and delve deeper into the systems and help the preservation of our martial heritage.

One of the problema I see with Arnis as a school sports or activity will be in just getting the program off the ground. For a sport to be taught in schools, I'm sure the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) will require that the sport be standardized, with clearly defined rules and techniques to be used. Of course Modern Arnis' sparring rules can be use (or some other system with well developed and defined padded stick rules) , but then other systems will also want to have a say in how these standards are to be developed. If a particular system's preference is corto and uses the punyo as one of its primary weapons at that range, then they will want to include that into the standards. Naturally others may oppose that idea and then we're now into that neverending round of proposals and arguments. The school Arnis sports programs will have some degree of funding, from the government or otherwise, and that possibility will not escape the attention of those who will participate in the programs.

I'm still crossing my fingers and hopefully my worst fears will be unfounded and arnis teams in schools will spark new interest in FMA. This law is the opening that FMA's been waiting for, and we should take full advantage of this, without the usual bickering and politics.

Missing the point

2010-11-26T17:13:00.011+08:00

I’m usually very diplomatic toward other Filipino Martial Arts practitioner from other systems and don’t criticize other groups and organizations but I’ll make an exception with this post. It’s not every day when someone comes up with an idea so dangerous and illogical that I’m driven to give my two cents on the matter. A particular FMA system is promoting a radically different approach to knife training. They train the knife as a less-than-lethal weapon, used with locking and trapping techniques, avoiding cutting or stabbing the attacker if at all possible. According to them, they would like to have the option of selecting whether to use the knife or not in a lethal manner. They demonstrate applying locks and takedowns using the spine of a fixed blade knife, applying the weapon as a tool for leverage and pain compliance.

At first glance, this strategy would seem to be intriguing and worth exploring further. But if you take time to consider exactly what is being proposed, it’ll soon be apparent to anyone who knows and understands weapon use in self-defense that this strategy is, to put it as nicely as I can, extremely dangerous, naïve and ill-advised. The strategy displays flawed rules of engagement (ROE) and a lack of understanding of the nature of knife use in self-defense.

I’m not a lawyer but I know that deploying a knife in a self-defense situation is already an application of deadly force. Maybe a very good lawyer can get me off of a serious assault charge if I used a knife in a fight without actually cutting or stabbing my attacker, but it’s more likely that I’ll be charged for using a knife as a deadly weapon even if never even opened it (for a folding knife) or stabbed or cut with it. If I ever deploy a knife to defend myself, it will be because I truly fear for my life or those of my loved ones and I’m forced to resort to deadly force by the circumstances I’m in. Bringing a knife into play when it’s not legally warranted and relying on the courts to see your actions as benevolent and non-lethal is highly unrealistic. A more rational ROE is to only resort to using a knife when your actions can be legally and morally justified.

Deploying a knife in a fight should be considered as a deadly escalation of counterattacking options in response to a threat, and that escalation can only be interpreted as the use of lethal force. Training to use the knife for anything other than stabbing and slashing in self-defense will instill hesitation to use the weapon properly. Hesitating to use the weapon fully for just a fraction of a second could mean the difference between surviving the attack or not.

Those who are serious about training to use knives in self-defense consider how to deploy their weapon under stress and train to get their weapon into play in a short a time as possible, precisely because they know that time and distance are vital elements in self-defense that they need to be gained and exploited, not to be squandered going the less-than-lethal route when immediate lethal force is needed. A life-or-death struggle against an attacker or attackers who are probably armed as well isn’t the time to play games with pacifist strategies and hoping to protect your attackers from harming themselves with your knife.

The nature of knives used in self-defense is that if you have to use one, it’s probably under very dire circumstances and you need to stop the attacks immediately, not after a few seconds of locking and taking down the attacker. You don’t use a knife to stop an unarmed drunken uncle making a scene at a family reunion; you use empty-handed skills for that. If your attacker also has a knife and is obvious determined on killing you, you need to strike to stop him dead in his tracks, literally and figuratively, or else the fight becomes a drawn out battle with edged weapons, a worst case scenario for the both of you. At that point, the decision on whether to potentially kill him or not has already been made by him and the circumstances he brought about. You as the victim need to protect yourself and everything else are all secondary considerations.

A closed folding knife can certainly be used as impact weapon or pain compliance tool if circumstances demanded it. But what circumstances are these? The only situation I can think about that might allow me to use this strategy is if I’m suddenly forced to use a folding knife immediately after I get to it, having to respond to an attack and I haven’t had the opportunity to open it yet. Even then I’ll probably be using the knife to gain time and space so I can finish the deployment, opening the knife and immediately using the blade’s point and edge. Knife use in self-defense is more than just having extremely effective technique and tactics; it’s also understanding the circumstances that make it morally and legally acceptable and having a sound, reality-based strategy.

Training to use a knife as a less-than-lethal tool for join locking, taking down and pinning an attacker is pointless and unnecessary, and will only teach habits and instincts that will get you killed. If you’re going to use a knife, it better be for only one reason: to make sure your attacker stops attacking you and you survive, period.

Scary live blade demo

2010-11-21T22:09:00.000+08:00

Here's a video of Madala Nonoy Garrucho (in the white shirt) and Mandala Rommel Tortal (camo shirt) doing a live blade demonstration at the end of the seminar conducted by Mandala Garrucho at Pekiti Tirsia Kali Manila in July of 2010. Both of them were using razor-sharp ginunting swords brought over by Mandala Garrucho from Bacolod.

Every since I started training in Pekiti Tirsia Kali I've always wanted to see a demonstration of the system by these two legends in PTK. I know that they haven't done a demo together in years and this would be a historical event for Pekiti Tirsia Kali Manila. I promised myself that someday I'd do my best to arrange a demonstration by the both of them.

What I witnessed surpassed any of my expectations. Everyone who was there, myself included, held our breath throughout the demonstration. It was that fast and scary. The video doesn't do justice to the spectacular skills displayed by two of the most talented Pekiti Tirsia Kali instructors in the world.

Milestones

2010-11-21T20:57:00.000+08:00

Three leaders in the Filipino Martial Arts recently left us. Grandmaster Ben Largusa from Villabrille-Largusa Kali passed away on October 3rd. Christopher “Topher” Ricketts succumbed to cancer on October 5th and Ernesto Presas, the founder of Kombatan, died in his sleep on November 1st.

Their passing has again reminded me of the need for more Filipinos to value their own martial culture. The remaining grandmasters, founder of systems and other pillars of the Filipino Martial Arts aren’t getting any younger. Many have passed away in relative obscurity, ignored by Filipinos who prefer to study and support foreign martial arts. How many teachers of little-known systems have died without passing on their knowledge to their heirs? How many more of the FMA leaders will die of old age before Filipinos snap out of their colonial mentality and begin to value the knowledge and skills that our forefathers have used to fight for freedom and their lives, the very same martial heritage that foreigners consider as some of the deadliest in the world?

It’s a free country and anyone has the right to study what martial art they want to learn. But when a Filipino who is studying a foreign system is asked if he has also studied a Filipino martial art, he’d better answer in the affirmative. Anything less than is a disgrace.

Let’s talk about sticks

2010-01-07T16:04:00.000+08:00

Unlike Tuhon Gaje, who’ll pick up any stick in class and proceed to amaze everyone with it, I prefer to switch among the wide variety I keep in my stick bag.

For me, sticks are like golf clubs. I have about a dozen at one time in my bag, and they range from the garden variety 2.5 cm diameter to a forearm-abusing 3.2 cm monster that look more like a rattan table leg than a weapon. At the thinner end of the scale, my skinniest stick is a little over 2 cm. I consider that my personal limit for practical training use; any thinner and lighter and it’s more of a whip than a stick. A stick that thin will sting on contact but for true shock and awe you need more mass.

I used to have two bahi stick but they got smashed by Doug during the filming of the Fight Quest FMA episode and I never replaced them. Bahi sticks are excellent, since they’re almost as heavy and hard as kamagong but don’t crack and shatter as abruptly as the latter. I only have one kamagong stick right now, which is my heaviest weapon.

Each stick I have is just the right weight, length and diameter I like for a specific kind of training. For example, I use the biggest sticks for working my forearms but I don’t try power shots with them. The same for my kamagong stick; I used that for wrist rotations and low and medium power training but I never use it for power striking. My thinnest sticks are for some drills when I’ll be using medium power. I prefer an average sized stick, around 2.5 cm, for power striking and general practice. As for length, I’m comfortable with a 28 inch stick, but I do have a pair of 31 inch sticks for when I have to feed a training partner for some forms of doble baston training. Those extra inches give me that much needed standoff distance.

Almost all my students have sticks they use specifically for hard contact. Those are the one they don’t mind bashing to bits by the end of the class. I have my own set of “contact sticks” and they get replaced regularly, or as soon as they’re no longer fun to use. At the end of their training days, my sticks get recycled as dagger-length pieces for tire contact knife training or off-sized training tools. For example, I have a 21” stick which is the same length as my collapsible baton.

I seldom put duct tape on my sticks. I just love that crisp sound and feel of rattan to rattan contact. Taped sticks feel and sound “dead”. Sure they’ll last longer but you lose the auditory and tactile experience that’s part of FMA training. I do use tape on sticks that are coming apart on one end and use it by gripping on the taped end. My tire contact sticks are usually the ones that are nearing the end of their useful lives, and I use duct tape to make them last a little bit more.

Close node sticks are widely regarded are being more resistant to impact and, depending on the number of nodes and the quality of the rattan, they are quite tough. But “close node” doesn’t mean “indestructible”. At the end of the day, no stick will last very long with hard use. Close node sticks last longer than usual, and you can save money in the long run, but they will still come apart once you go heavy on the contact. If I have close node sticks with rough spots at the nodes, I grind them smooth with a rotary hand tool. It doesn’t make sense to needlessly mess up my hands when I can make the weapon easier to use. I always chamfer new sticks on a belt grinder so they don’t splinter along the ends

Some of the sticks I’ve seen being sold at sporting good shops are really disgusting; the varnish and the finish are hideous. I’m not looking for fancy burn marks or carvings on them; I consider sticks as disposable training tools and weapons, made to be used and tossed away when they’re bashed beyond use. One of the great benefits of training in the Philippines is cheap sticks. The goal is finding cheap, good quality sticks.

Elaborate carvings and finishes aren’t going to make the weapon any better. This is why I prefer a natural finish on sticks, rather than a questionable coating that will get sticky and grab my palm, causing blisters. Some of the best sticks I’ve seen locally are found in the shops downtown, along Quezon Boulevard in Manila. I’m sure there are other good sources in Metro Manila.

I avoid going fast and hard with anything kamagong, bahi or anything much heavier than an average rattan stick. I had a terrible case of tendonitis in my first year of PTK training when my training partners and I got it into our heads to “fast track” our training by using metal pipes and bars. It took me months to heal enough to train effectively. I learned the hard way that you need enough training time to build up tendon strength in the forearms.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not too picky about what I may have in my hand at the start of a class. If Tuhon Gaje starts the class, and I’m using a thicker stick than I prefer, I have no problem using it. But if had a choice, I’ll switch to something that I feel meets the needs for that particular class, and in the case of a session with Tuhon Gaje, it may entail a lot of full power strikes and long repetitions.

Arnis is now officially the national sport of the Philippines

2009-12-18T13:29:00.003+08:00

President Gloria Arroyo recently signed into law Senate Bill 1424, authored by Majority Leader Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Here’s are some PDFs on the bill.

According to the documents I’ve seen, the bill dictates that:

1) April will henceforth be “Arnis and Kali month”, and will require all educational institutions and public offices throughout all the provinces of the country to support the celebrations through related activities. Among these institutions is the Philippine Sports Commission and the Department of Education.

2) Arnis will be integration in the Physical Education curriculum of schools all over the country, in primary, secondary, and tertiary public and private schools.

This bill is long overdue, a much needed boost to the Filipino Martial Arts. It’s about time that we finally get official recognition for our martial culture. This will undoubtedly help make Filipinos more aware of their heritage, one that they should be as proud of as the boxing excellence of Manny Pacquiao.

I contacted Senator Zubiri to suggest that the "Arnis and Kali" month be changed to "Filipino Martial Arts" month. This is so those who use the word "escrima" won't feel left out, and it deflects another potential cause of debate. This way the cause of promoting and reviving FMA here keeps going forward instead of being bogged down by arguments and politics.

I’m certain that some systems will not want to participate in any sport form of FMA. That’s fine and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Like all martial arts that have a sport version, certain changes will surely be made in the transition from traditional fighting systems to a sport and some will rather not change the way they train.

What’s important is that there’s now a law dictating that arnis is the national sport. This should have a favorable effect on all the systems. I’m just hoping that the Modern Arnis and the different systems that will take part in meeting the sudden demand for instructors in schools will have enough qualified teachers.

This is a huge step forward for FMA and I'm hoping that it's followed by action to make the most of this opportunity.

Knife Review: Spyderco Endura 4 with the Emerson opener

2009-04-27T00:11:00.013+08:00

I’ve recently added to my knife collection and I’ll start posting knife reviews here. First off, I’d like to make clear that I always consider knives as both tools and weapons, as they have always been since our hirsute ancestors discovered sharp flint. So my reviews will touch on both uses. I realize that my readers might want to go straight to the weapon usage info but I like to present all the information and let the reader decide on what they need. Please check your local laws on knife carrying in public and blade length limitations.

I’ll start with the Spyderco Endura 4 with the Emerson opener.

To begin with, here are some numbers. At 97 mm, the blade length of an Endura 4 with the Emerson opener is just 1 mm longer than the same knife without the opener. The blade thickness for both knives is 3mm. The overall length of the Emerson opener model is 224 mm, 2mm longer than the “simpler” Endura. A 97 mm blade is in my opinion a suitable blade length for most of what people will use this knife for, including self-defense.

The VG-10 steel of the blade is excellent, and sharpens to hair shaving sharpness easily and quickly. I did a few strokes on my Spyderco Sharpmaker’s fine rods and it brought the already impressive factory edge to my preferred hair-splitting sharpness. One thing I can say about Spydercos, the edge geometry on their knives is outstanding, even out of the box. The edge retention of the VG-10 steel is also quite good; the blade keeps its sharpness more or less even after moderately heavy use such as cutting up cardboard. Cardboard is notorious for dulling blades and my experience with VG-10 is that it only requires a touch-up to get the edge back after using the blade on this material.

For my hands – which are 9.5 cm across the palm - the handle length of 125 mm offers a full and stable grip. The FRN (fiberglass reinforced nylon) handle is tough and I’m confident it can take massive amounts of abuse. The FRN makes this knife quite light and yet you feel confident that the handle can take whatever stress the blade will put it through in regular use. The Endura 4 with the Emerson opener has skeletonized stainless steel liners that further reinforces the strength of the FRN handle. The Bi-Directional Texturing on the FRN handle ensured a good grip on the knife, even with wet hands.

The well made gimping right behind the hole and opener hook on the blade gives my thumb secure purchase for thrusts or cutting actions. The gimping, coupled with the graceful curve of the handle that follows the natural arc of the palm and the base of the thumb, gives this knife great ergonomics and feels really good in the hand. It feels just as comfortable when held in reverse grip, with the edge out.

The lockback locking mechanism engages solidly, with absolutely no blade play when the blade is locked in position. I’m not thrilled about the possibility of having a folding knife accidentally close on my fingers, God forbid when I have to use it to save my life, and the lockback on this knife really inspires confidence. The Boye dent on the lock bar lever minimizes the risk of accidentally releasing the lock when gripping the handle hard. Nevertheless, the lock has to be kept clear of lint or dirt at the pivot point, which may prevent the lock from fully engaging. There’s no excuse for not maintaining critical gear like a folding knife.

As far as I know, this knife and the smaller Delica are two of the only knives on the market that sell for about USD 70 with the patented Emerson opener. Spyderco also offers a model of their Rescue knife with an Emerson opener. If you don’t know what the opener does, here’s a video that demonstrates it. If that's too fast to figure out, Spyderco has a set of pics that show how this useful feature works. The opener hook on the knife is larger than what you’ll find on an Emerson knife and it really grabs securely on just about every pocket I’ve tested this on – slacks, jeans, shorts, etc. – and it opens the knife smoothly coming out of the pocket. The opener was my primary reason for buying this knife and it always performs flawlessly. The opener catches so easily that I have to make an effort to put my index finger over the spine of the blade to prevent the opener from engaging when someone asks me to take it out of my pocket.

Using the Emerson opener does need to be practiced for it to become an instinctive gross motor movement. The user needs to experience opening the knife from a variety of positions. It doesn’t work well while the user is seated. Unless the seat is a stool or something narrower than the user’s hips, the knife will run into the cushion of the chair if it’s deployed with the opener. Using the opener forces the user to hold the knife with the fingers away from the path of the blade’s opening, so the grip on the knife isn’t completely secure until the user adjusts his or her grip on the knife after the blade has deployed. When used properly the opener allows for very quick deployment, probably faster than a switchblade since it opens the knife as it exits the pocket. The phosphor bronze washers make the deployment of this knife silky smooth.

One other drawback of the opener is that it juts out from the blade and prevents the knife from being held completely, to be used as palm stick or fist load. Either way you hold it, the opener will either smash against the inside of your index finger or the meat of your palm if you do punch with the knife unopened in your hand. The bottom of the handle isn’t pointed enough to deliver crippling blows but it will still ruin someone’s day, if applied with the right technique and power. I advocate using empty handed skills first before going for a defensive weapon and I would have wanted this knife to work well in a less-than-lethal role. But nothing’s perfect and this one disadvantage does not in any way overshadow the knife’s excellent advantages.

I really like the light weight of this knife. It’s only 1 cm thick and when I carry it as an EDC (every day carry) I almost forget it’s in my pocket. The clip is a discrete flat black and I particularly like how the tension of the clip on the handle is just right so it doesn’t damage my pants when I have to carry it daily. Some other folding knives I own have clips that are so tight it’s almost a struggle to take the knife out of my pocket. The clip is also cleverly designed to allow a lanyard to pass through it, and the clip can be position for a tip-up or tip-down carry, for either left or right hand carry.

I highly recommend this knife as an EDC. It’s light, compact, feels secure in the hand, features the Emerson opener, a very well made and sturdy lock and has an excellent blade of VG-10 steel. That pretty much covers what most people will want in an EDC knife. You can’t go wrong with this knife.

Dueling and Self-Defense

2009-04-25T14:00:00.004+08:00

Lately I’ve been considering the differences between how edged weapons are used in a duel as compared to a self-defense scenario, and the inherent differences in training for either of the two situations.

First, let’s define the two scenarios. Personally, I understand dueling as two individuals facing off with weapons and the duelists have them already in hand, and are preparing to attack each other. This scenario is common to a lot of knife training I’ve seen and in FMA it harks back to the age when disputes and challenges were settled through duels. Some would say that age has never actually left the Philippines, but that’s another discussion altogether. This kind of training – for duels - introduces the student to a good foundation of techniques and strategies for knife fighting. FMA knife training in general is well known for its effectiveness and the training is done mostly in the dueling scenario. The student learns how to use the weapon, how to avoid getting hit and how to use strategies such as feints to win the duel.

In such an engagement, the duelists may be aware of each others’ skill and will likely NOT initiate or completely commit to an attack. Usually in knife sparring – if done with an appreciation of the realities surrounding edged weapons - the dueling scenario is played out and very often the participants resort to “sniping” with quick cuts and jabs to the nearest target, which will be the arms or the weapon hand specifically.

In my opinion self-defense with edged weapons, in a modern context, has its unique requirements and thus self-defense-specific edged weapons training must address these needs. The training will be related to the more familiar FMA dueling scenario, in the sense that the weapon and how it will be used will remain the same. The differences in training will be on range, initial action and intent.

The defender in a paired self-defense edged weapon exercise must have his training knife either in a concealed sheath or folded, as he would in every day carry. In contrast with the dueling scenario which will have the two duelists standing out of range of jabs and slashes with weapons drawn, the defender in the self-defense training scenario must prepare to engage the attacker with empty handed tactics first, to allow him to create that reactive gap of time and space which plays a vital role in just about any self-defense situation. You need to create time and distance that will allow you to detect and “read” the attack, determine its type and direction and react to it. Creating the reactive gap is also meant to allow the defender to access his weapon.

In self-defense knife training the defender must accept that the attack might be initiated at closer range than dueling. He must then act quickly and decisively to create the reactive gap to allow for deploying the weapon. Single-mindedly going for a weapon in the face on an attack at close range without dealing with the initial attack first is extremely dangerous. My own personal strategy is to use my empty handed skills to allow me to go for my weapon. if I can end the fight empty handed and the situation doesn't warrant deadly force, then my weapons stays in my pocket. Which is why I consider empty handed skills just as important to the armed defender as the weapon itself.

In such a self-defense scenario, the defender has the odds already stacked against him, as compared to the relative “equality” granted to both parties in a duel. The attacker may or may not have his weapon drawn, but as anyone with good knife training experience knows, being within range of an edge weapon is not good at all. As I said, the odds are not in favor of the defender. The creation of that critical reactive gap of time and distance is very much a product of good training – and to some extent, favorable circumstances - which will include using the non-weapon hand to strike quickly and effectively, parry and deflect incoming strikes, footwork and body angling to protect the vital points and highly instinctive deployment of the weapon.

The third difference is intent and I feel this is the biggest difference between dueling and self-defense training. In dueling, the element of surprise is absent. The duelists are prepared to fight and are well aware of each others capability and are equally aware of the risk of engaging the opponent. Which is why knife sparring almost always starts with the cautious and probing sniping and slashing and will only progress to close range tactics once one of the duelists decides to initiate and remain within contact range. On the other hand I feel that an attack in a self-defense situation will be initiated in earnest. The attacker will probably not know of the defender’s skill or weapon so he’ll take the initiative and commit to the attack, whether it’s by accosting the defender and threatening him with the weapon, or worse, as a sudden slash to stab to kill or disable the defender right away. Although they can sometimes appear to be duels, prison stabbings are somewhat different because the weapons used, improvised knives called “shanks”, are often short and don’t have the effective edge or blade length to make dueling practical. To compensate, inmates often stab for the head and neck since these provide the most accessible vital points for their makeshift weapons. Thus a prison "shanking" is more of an ambush than a duel.

On the street, the attacker has likely already selected the victim based on his assessment of the situation and the victim’s self-defense capability. So if the attacker is initially robbing the victim and decides to escalate the situation to murder, the edged weapon attack will not be encumbered by any consideration of the possibility that the defender will have a weapon as well and the skill to use it. Thus any self-defense training must have the attacker promptly initiating the edged weapon assault on the defender, without the cautious regard that a duelist will have.

Depending on various circumstances, this full and committed attack can be both a blessing and a curse for the defender. A committed attack by the unskilled will most probably be slower and more telegraphic than what the defender is used to in practice, depending of course on the quality and quantity of the defender’s training. However, a committed attack will not be a simple stab or slash but rather a series of quick thrust, which the defender has to deal very quickly and decisively. At that point the choice of whether to be simply robbed or killed has already been made for the defender. The defender must use the sum total of his training in what will be a fight for his life. The response must be swift and violent, the skilled response of a trained fighter with the savage will to survive.

A story of survival

2009-04-10T21:59:00.007+08:00

Recently a friend of mine survived being assaulted by several attackers, one of whom tried to stab him. He was able to draw a folding knife and use it to survive the assault. Naturally I interviewed him to gain as much valuable information on the attack and how the folding knife worked in a multiple attacker scenario. It’s sobering and somewhat gruesome information, but it’s extremely useful to discuss the details of a life-or-death knife fight with someone who’s experienced it, and if one wants to stack the odds in his or her favor for surviving edged weapon attacks, facts gleaned from actual experience should be used to develop better skills and training.

For a number of reasons, I can’t go into detail on some aspects of the incident, but here are some interesting points and the lessons that can be learned from them.

Practice to draw quickly under stress - The attacker with the knife didn’t know the defender had a similar weapon. The attacker drew and opened a balisong and lunged with a stab to the abdomen of the defender. Apparently the deployment of the balisong wasn’t quick, and this gave the defender enough time to detect the attack and draw his own weapon. He deflected the attack and responded with two strikes to the chest of the attacker. The entire sequence happened in a blink of an eye.

Two skills were crucial for the defender surviving this knife attack: the ability to sense and deflect the strike and the ability to draw the weapon for a counterattack, both actions accomplished almost simultaneously. It’s been said that you can’t do a gross motor movement – in this case deflecting the knife strike – and a fine motor movement like opening a folding knife at the same time, but this situation is a good example of having the ability to do both under stress. Lucky for my friend, his Pekiti Tirsia training paid off and he was able to draw the weapon and successful responded to the lethal attack.

Blade finish is a key consideration – After stabbing the knife wielding attacker, two of the other assailants friends sucker punched the defender. On the verge of collapsing from the punches to the head, the defender spun around and responded with two strikes to each of the attackers, immediately stopping their assault. One assailant staggered away and the other ran from the scene.

Now consider this: why would two unarmed assailants chose to attack someone with a knife? It doesn’t make sense. Unless they didn’t know the defender was armed.

The attack occurred on a dimly lit street. The defender used a folding knife with a liner lock and a black coated blade (which closed on his fingers in the midst of the attack, but that’s for another blog post). It’s not difficult to imagine that his initial defensive strikes - to the chest of the knife attacker – did not look like knife thrusts to anyone watching the assault. A blackened blade moving rapidly in low light is very hard to spot, much less if you’re not expecting it. I think the most likely scenario is that the two empty handed attackers did not know the defender had a knife and probably thought their fellow assailant was merely being punched in the chest.

This brings me to what I consider the pros and cons of blackened knife blades. A lot of tactical folding and fixed blade knives have coatings on the blade to provide stealth and low visibility. It’s gotten to the point that anything labeled as a tactical blade virtually requires that the blade be coated. I can understand the need for stealth in some situations. I make Ginunting swords for the Philippine Force Recon Marines and we Parkerize the blades to provide the low visibility the unit requires.

But is stealth really that important for a self-defense knife? Realistically, a knife drawn in a self-defense situation will not benefit much from a stealthy finish. The weapon is drawn because the owner felt his life was in danger and he had to use the weapon ASAP. There’s no need to hide or disguise the fact that a knife has been drawn and is going to be used. I believe a self-defense knife needs to be seen. There’s the considerable intimidation factor of seeing a gleaming blade, one that can be quite useful in such a situation.

If I draw a knife and defensively strike at an attacker, and his companions see that I have a knife, there’s a good chance they’ll back off. If they don’t, I already have a weapon in hand and I’ll very soon find out if I survive the attack or not, depending on what other weapons and circumstances come into play and if they’ll improve or worsen my odds. By then the color of my defensive blade will have absolutely not bearing at all. Any reasonable and unimpaired person will not want to risk being cut or stabbed by someone else with a knife, once he sees the weapon is now in the hands of his “victim” and has already demonstrated skill in using it (unless of course the attacker is a skilled and experienced knife fighter, a nightmarishly worse scenario) .

This incident reinforces my preference for uncoated blades in my EDC (every day carry) knives. I would prefer to have the option of stopping the attack if I can without further violence, and if the sight of a knife does that, then so much the better.

Stab and slash, repeat as often as needed – Among the three who were stabbed by the defender, one died on the scene, the other died a few days later at a hospital and the other survived. Between them, they received a total of 5 stab wounds and 1 deep slash.

These facts can be appreciated from two points of view:

a) The strikes were directed to the upper torso and were apparently well placed and effective. It only took two strikes on each attacker to make them stop the assault.

b) The 6 counterattacks were effective but they were not immediately fatal as most people would prefer in such a situation.

The ideal self-defense situation with a knife will be to do a single, precise counterattack that will drop the attacker immediately. Given the extremely dynamic and chaotic nature of a physical assault and the actions used to defend against it, I think it’s highly unlikely that a defender with a knife will get that golden opportunity to end it all with one thrust. It has happened but I wouldn’t bet on it. I won’t go into detail as to what and where the “kill switches” are, for obvious reasons.

Adrenaline is flowing all around, drugs or alcohol maybe be present to block out pain and shock so the most likely scenario is that the defender may have to counterattack numerous times just to create the opportunity to flee the scene. Notice that I said “flee the scene”. Unless circumstances prevent fleeing (like having a loved one with you who cannot run), there’s absolutely no reason to engage in a drawn out battle with multiple attacker, who may themselves be scrabbling for their weapons as the fight starts.

In this particular case the defender did the right thing. He did the knife equivalent of a “double tap”, making sure the attacker he engaged had more than one wound to deal with. Multiple strikes by edged weapons even in self-defense situations have been questioned in numerous court cases, often by judges and prosecutors who fail to understand and appreciate the need for multiple disabling knife stabs or slashes in the midst of a fight for survival. For the defender, the goal is simply to survive. There’s no time to study the legalities and moral quandaries of stabbing an attacker more than once. To survive, the defender must make sure he’s causing enough immediate and disabling damage to stop the attack, and very often more than one counterattack will do the job.

In my opinion questioning someone who had to do that to prevent from getting killed from the comfort of a courtroom is in itself unfair and unjust.

Easier said than done

2008-12-04T19:12:00.004+08:00

One of the most commonly suggested tactics regarding defending against a knife attack is to gain control of the weapon and retain that control. That makes sense and is in fact sound advice. It’s a common knife defense strategy for many martial arts. But that strategy does not reveal the complexity and reality of being empty handed and defending against someone with a knife. It’s somewhat like being advised to avoid hitting the ground at high velocity when you find yourself thrown out of a plane without a parachute. Good advice nonetheless but hardly provides a suitable solution.

Getting hold of the hand or arm holding the knife is much easier said than done against a knife attack. It presumes that the attacker isn’t trained to use that weapon efficiently or he will allow you to get hold of his weapon hand. Never assume that the attack doesn’t know what he’s doing. Making such a false assumption against a knife attacker is fatal.

Someone trained to use a knife already knows that the defender will try to control the knife. If he’s properly trained and highly skilled, he may even use the hand holding the weapon as bait to cause the attacker to lunge or commit to grabbing it, leading him to a trap that ends with multiple slashes and stabs on the defender. Even the untrained know that his weapon gives him the advantage over the empty handed and you will literally have to take the knife out of his cold and dead finger to get full and final control of the weapon. Just by watching a few videos of prison stabbings will make one realize that the rapid and repeated thrusts to the head and neck by the average inmate will be difficult to stop if the strategy is to simply grab the weapon hand and control it.

I’ve seen a number of videos of realistic knife defense training done by different systems that don’t practice using the knife realistically. The result is almost the same every time; the defender tries to grab the weapon hand right away and apply a lock to disarm or to restrain the attacker. The defender gets cuts and stabbed as the single-mindedly focuses on going for the weapon, mesmerized by the thought of controlling the weapon.

One common misconception is that stab or slash to the forearm is an acceptable and bearable injury in a knife attack. Some even advocate leading with one forearm out as a “shield”, allowing the limb to be attacked as the defender closes the gap, and attempt to grapple with the attacker. This is a dangerous assumption. Even a short reflexive slash with a small folding knife will create large and gaping wounds, on a forearm or on anything that’s in the way of the edge. Paul Vunak demonstrated this in one of his videos, where he slashed a hanging slab of beef with a knife. The resulting deep cuts should be enough to convince anyone that it’s not a good idea to lead with a limb.

I do respect those who try to go out of the box, for practicing their system outside of its usual set forms and dealing with realistic knife attacks, but the problem is more strategic rather than technical. Controlling the weapon indeed works but only after you’ve made it possible to get hold of it without getting yourself badly cut and stabbed while doing so. Chasing after the knife in the hands of someone trained to use it won’t work because the knife will always be in motion. No one attacks and leaves the knife out in midair, for the defender to deftly grab and apply a wrist lock on to. In reality the knife will be zipping from one slash and stab to another, too fast for the defender to track and follow and if he tried to do that, he will have already been stabbed and cut to shreds without actually getting full control of the weapon.

The attacker’s other hand is not going to be motionless and paralyzed either; it will be grabbing the defender when the opportunity presents itself, parrying defenses in the path of the weapon or even applying hand or elbow strikes when the opportunity presents itself. When blocked or deflected, the trained knife attacker will redirect his attack immediately, either moving from a stab to slash or vice versa, with his other hand clearing obstacles for the weapon to finally land on its target. This reality of knife attack will only dawn on most martial artists after they themselves learn to use the knife effectively.

Most people will argue that it’s illegal to carry a knife in their city or country, so training to use one is impractical. That’s a valid point, but in my opinion one that only considers half of the benefits of knife training. Learning to use the weapon teaches the weapon’s capabilities from the point of view of the user and that insight will help immensely with forming a realistic knife defense strategy.

A visitor's guide to practicing FMA in the Philippines

2008-04-23T11:32:00.017+08:00

It really warms my heart to see foreigners coming over to learn my country's fighting systems. I'm not just talking about Pekiti Tirsia but Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) in general. The Internet has triggered a "rebirth" of sorts in FMA, making information available to more people and getting students to visit the country to learn it at its source. Of course the Internet has also brought its own set of irritant to the martial arts in general and to FMA.

I won't go through the details on the usually travel tips on coming over and staying in the country. You can get that from Lonely Planet and countless other sources. Instead, I'll give info on what those source don't tell you about coming to the Philippines to study Filipino Martial Arts.

First, let's get a myth out of the way. Filipino Martial Arts is not available at every street corner over here. The systems are still a bit underground, mostly unappreciated by the general public and one has to know precisely where to look for it. Tae Kwon Do and other foreign arts are more accessible to the average Filipino than their own martial arts. That's sad but it's the unvarnished truth. For many Filipinos, the only exposure that they have had to FMA is probably a class or two in high school or college and that may have perpetuated the myth that FMA is only practiced with sticks. So going around Manila looking for FMA by asking cab drivers is not the most efficient way to get the training you're looking for. The cabbie may know a school or two, but the quality of training will be up to you to determine. It may be different in Cebu though but I'm not sure. Strangely, I've traveled all over this country and the one city I haven't visited is Cebu. I should though; it's a hotbed for FMA and I hear the food is delicious.

I suggest you visit some online FMA sites to get contact details. The internet is full of FMA messageboards and there are hardly any systems nowadays without a website of their organization or style.

If you're already studying a particular system, contact the national organization for your style and they can give you contact information of clubs and teachers here. If you're a new to FMA and want to learn it here, I suggest you do research on what system interests you and then plan your visit. Arriving in Manila looking for something to learn is not a plan I would recommend.
For training the best time to visit, weather-wise, is around January to March. That's among the coolest months of the year and is right before the brutally hot summer months of April and May. The monsoon or rainy season is from July to November and can be uncomfortable if your not use to tropical downpours and high humidity.

If you use a stick longer than 28 inches, I suggest you bring your own training weapons. Getting good quality sticks at custom lengths here is not going to be easy. Ironically really good quality sticks are already somewhat hard to come by so I suggest you bring your own. As you practice here you'll find the sources of suitable sticks and you can always hoard a batch for your return flight. If you're new to FMA, the school can refer you to their source of sticks.

Obviously you need to check in your FMA weapons for the flight but call the airline first to make sure there won't be any problems. For God's sake do not travel with edged weapons, especially balisongs. If your instructor tells you to bring one, make sure you're not breaking any laws by traveling with them. For that, I suggest you call the Philippine embassy or consulate in your country.

Humility is an absolute requirement. Don't come over and try to impress the locals with what you know, what you do, what you've done or who you've train with. I've seen that from some visitors and it irritates me and it's safe to assume other Filipino FMA practitioners find it annoying as well. Instead, visit with a willingness to experience FMA from a different perspective, to learn it from the land that created it. A know-it-all attitude will just make you unwelcome to the people you train with, at the very least.

Relax and don't live by a rigid schedule. We Filipinos have an often irritating habit of not being too particular about time, schedules and plans. The same applies to bus and ferry schedules, travel agendas and yes even FMA. If your instructor decides to be a little late to class or changes the training curriculum without prior notice, don't be offended and alarmed. I for one don't tolerate "Filipino Time" i.e. failure to understand the concept of punctuality. But I do understand it as part of how we are and so should you. So kick back and let things slide a bit.

We Filipinos are a social bunch so take time to socialize with your fellow students after class. A few drinks, a little karaoke and some strange food made from animal parts you never considered edible will go a long way toward moving from "visiting foreigner" to "one of the guys". Avoid getting stinking drunk but always be willing to lose some dignity by singing some cheesy tunes. More Filipinos have gotten beaten, shot and stabbed after drunkenly crooning "My Way" than many other causes of death so avoid that little ditty.

One popular method of drinking here is the infamous "tagay". Everyone drinks from the same glass, which is refilled continuously and passed around to be emptied by everyone involved. It guarantees that everyone gets totally hammered at the same time and helps break the ice between you and your fellow students. San Miguel beer in its many forms is popular in the cities and large towns but in the provinces and in smaller towns gin and rum are their preferred intoxicants.

Try to finalize your training fees and other details before coming over. Expect to pay more than the locals. You may find that unfair but realize that you're coming over to train may mean being personally taught by the club's instructor or have changes done to the club's practice to accommodate you. It's up to you to determine if the training fee is fair or worth what you paid for.

Be smart about staying healthy. The Philippines is a third world Asian country so prepare for the nasties. Only drink bottled water and only have drinks with ice when dining at decent restaurants. Get all your shots and get ready for mosquitoes. Street food is delicious and popular with a lot of FMA practitioners I know but be aware that double dipping in the sauces exposes you to the risk of disease. If you want to try street food, choose the vendors that serve them on little cardboard trays. Usually they have the sauces in jars with spoons and discourage dipping the food in them. What exactly is this street food? Let me put it to you this way: not a single part of a chicken is thrown away in this country as garbage.

But don’t let me discourage you. Eating is an important part of our culture and you’ll discover that we have a delicious culinary tradition to match. Try the local food in restaurants and you’ll discover the delights of traditional Filipino cooking. I recommend “kare kare” and “crispy pata”.

There’s no other way around this next tip so here goes..
Bathe and bathe often, once in the morning and again before sleeping. It may be ludicrous and insulting for me to advise you on personal hygiene but there’s a good reason for it. Caucasians and “Westerners” (Americans, Europeans, etc.) in general have a reputation among Filipinos for body odor and that reputation is not completely unfounded. I’m not saying that all foreigners will start to smell halfway through a class – I’ve trained with a few Caucasians and only one or two were “ripe” - but it’s happened often enough to become a familiar problem for Filipinos who have trained with foreigners.

You may be offended by this insinuation if you think you don’t smell but Filipinos have learned the hard way that Westerner men and women often exude an…interesting…odor regardless of race, gender, nationality, body weight or any other physical attribute once they arrive here. It’s probably the humidity, and which is probably why we Filipinos have this obsession with bathing.

Take it from me, unless you prefer to practice alone, bath as often as possible, don’t wear the same training clothes twice in a row without washing them and use deodorant. If your practice partners advise you to bathe with “tawas” (alum), they’re telling you something you need to deal with.

As with all cities, Metropolitan Manila has safe areas and places which you must avoid. Your fellow students can tell you the parts of town you should stay away from. If your school happens to be in those parts, then I suggest you make it a habit to travel to and from the training venue with your fellow students, as many of you as possible. Strength in numbers, I always say. Most probably the school is known in the area and the local thugs will leave you alone.

If you do travel to the provinces to train or just to see the sights, I suggest you don’t wear anything remotely military looking like olive drab cargo pants. Trust me, you don’t want your jeepney stopped by a rebel checkpoint while heading out to see an obscure style in the middle of nowhere and have to explain that you’re a tourist and not an American military agent.

Metropolitan Manila is a city of 11 million people and covers 636 square kilometers. Depending on where you’ll be staying, the experience of staying in this metropolis can range from thrilling to ghastly, which is why I suggest you take time out to travel outside of the city to see the best of the country. Don’t take a trip to the countryside to seek out more FMA styles, but rather just to take in the essence of our culture and understand it. Be a tourist but see it from the eyes of someone who already studies a part of the culture, a part that remains hidden and misunderstood by many Filipinos. Go off the beaten path and see the rest of the country that isn’t in the tourist maps. For example, experience village life among the mountain tribes of the Cordillera. Or take a boat ride around Northern Palawan, and chose an island to explore. Watch how they gather tuba (coconut wine) and taste it fresh from the tree. Attend a town fiesta and discover why we are known for our hospitality and home cooking.

The county has so much to over, so many facets to experience. If you’re already studying Filipino Martial Arts, consider yourself lucky. You’re already seeing our culture from a perspective many of us do not understand.

A tool for edge awareness

2008-04-21T01:03:00.005+08:00

A few months ago one of the Force Recon Marines who makes training weapons dropped by our club with some plastic ginuntings. I got two of them right away.

Each one is 60 cm long and weighs about 250 grams. I’m not sure what plastic it’s made from, but I can tell you its extremely tough. Tuhon Gaje used my pair in a class at our club recently, when he demonstrated florete with lots of weapon to weapon contact. Needless to say, if it can take getting whacked against each other by the heavy hands of Tuhon Gaje, its tough enough for me.

I instantly realized the training potential this tool presents, despite its light weight. I’ve long suspected that practicing with an edged training tool will make me more precise with my strikes and it has done that. The difference between using this and a stick is that when I practice with a stick I have to continuously remind myself how the weapon will contact the target and how I need to keep it aligned, edge-wise, toward it to make a hack or slash. This problem is most pronounced in panastas (upward slash), because I have to twist my wrist to get the “edge” of the stick to face forward, perpendicularly to the target. With the training ginunting, I know exactly how I need to position the weapon to get the edge forward. The training ginunting also gives me feedback as to how the weapon is tracking throughout the strike.

I for one don’t mind the light weight. I’m going to develop a dulled ginunting for training anyway and this plastic practice weapon already serves its purpose, as a tool for developing edge awareness. I’ve had my share of tendonitis after training with pipes early in my PTK education and I’m a little wary of making the same mistake, of going crazy with heavy sticks and pipes in training. So for now, this is the tool of choice of getting edge aware for blade use.

Defanging the snake

2008-03-11T13:22:00.002+08:00

The concept of “defanging the snake” - striking the arm of the attacker to disable it and make him drop the weapon – is found all over the Filipino Martial Arts. It’s been described as a merciful strategy of sparing the opponent’s life, but it is also a brutal tactic which quickly ends the fight and leaves the victim helpless to the coup de grace that will surely follow.

At largo and media range in PTK it’s called “non weapon contact”, a direct strike to the opponent’s body, which at those ranges will be the opponent’s arms. Lately the defanging the snake concept has also taken a bit of beating (pun intended) from by those who can’t appreciate its practicality. The skepticism of the concept often originates from the viewpoint of MMA or the grappling systems. In that light, defanging the snake seems to be just another traditional martial art concept or myth that has been disproven under the grounding and pounding of octagon matches. Ironically the concept does exist in MMA; probably the best example of defanging the snake for them would be leg kicks, a tactic derived from Muay Thai. In the context of empty handed combat, it has been argued that defanging the snake is not practical or worthwhile, since the body and all the points to hit on it are within easy reach.

Personally I think that defanging the snake makes perfect sense with the use of weapons, particularly in FMA. Keeping out of range of the attack is a wise strategy in edged weapon combat. As the gap between opponents is strategically bridged in combat, the first body parts that will most probably come into range of the weapons first are the arms. It’s easier to cut an arm at a distance than to close in and try for a neck or head strike, and having to contend with the opponent’s response in the process. The arms are vulnerable to fight-finishing cuts, if tendons and nerves are shredded and arteries are sliced open.

Applying the concept to empty handed combat, particularly for hand strikes, can be tricky to do but not at all impossible to pull off. A well directed strike to a nerve point can numb an arm enough to make it unusable. Recently during practice I was hit on my right hand by my partner's stick and it went completely numb. The strike wasn’t particularly powerful or fast, but it obviously hit the right spot. I could barely hold the stick and if it was a fight to the death, I know I would be in deep trouble. That same spot is easily accessible in a fight, either by accident or by design.

Defanging the snake is self evident when practicing with knives. An oft quoted bit of wisdom concerning knife dueling is that one gets badly hurt and the other dies. Practice with knives long enough and you’ll realize that the arms will be the first to be nicked and cut, and in so many gruesome angles. It’s not because of some exotic knife design or technique, but rather simple proximity: the arm extending the weapon to attack will the closest in range to the opposing weapon. With blades zipping all over the place, it’s not difficult to understand that the arm holding the weapon will be a target.

This is a simple enough concept and one that was surely arrived at by other cultures. To dismiss the concept in light of the current popularity of controlled empty handed combat is myopic at best or worse, extremely dangerous. An empty handed defender will be expecting a direct attack to the body and will fail to consider defending his arms from the blade. A devastating slash to key tendons or an artery will mean death to the defender. With edged weapons, one cannot make slight mistakes.

The nature of knife wounds 2

2007-10-26T12:18:00.003+08:00

One of the most common misconceptions I noticed regarding most knife training is the continued belief in the one stab – one kill myth. One attacker thrusts toward the defender, who respond by either evading or deflecting the knife while replying with a stab or slash to the attacker, who simply stands in place while the knife is planted cleanly onto the targeted spot on his body.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, people hardly die instantly from a single knife wound. I can think of less than 5 spots on the body that will instantly stop an attacker when hit with a knife. Those target points are not easy to get to, which is actually a testament to how well our bodies have evolved to protect these vital points.

To get to those targets without getting your own vital points attacked requires considerable skill and finesse. So that leaves a whole range of secondary targets that are worthwhile points to hit in a knife fight but will not result in an instant kill. What I mean by “instant kill” is the immediate cessation of the attacker’s ability to attack again, regardless of is mental state, adrenaline or “recreational pharmaceuticals” in his body.

A stab to the heart is a good example; doing this will certainly result in immediate shutdown on the part of the attacker. But getting to the heart, driving the knife passed the ribcage puts the defender well within range of the attacker’s arms, legs and weapons.

Which is why there’s a lot of truth in the axiom that there are only two outcomes in a knife fight: one side gets badly cut and the other dies. There’s just no other way around it. The best one can hope for is that proper training, which will drill the use of the other hand - the one without the weapon - and proper positioning that opens up the opponent’s vital points while shielding the defenders’, will keep the damage down and end the fight quickly in favor of the attacker.

One exception to my disbelief in the one stab – one kill mindset is strategic; the defender may be better off just getting a clean shot in and running from the altercation. Although running from a fight is a great option – one that makes a lot of sense against people with knives – one has to be prepared to the absolute worst case scenario, which is a drawn out knife fight, a duel. Especially when running is not an option, My current knife training has been for the “cut and run” scenario, as well as learning to deal with the dueling scenario that is prevalent in FMA. The choice is clear cut (pardon the pun): why stick around when all I want to do is create an opening for me to escape?

It’s a lot like Lego

2007-10-26T11:55:00.004+08:00

When I explain my understanding of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) to those studying other systems, the best way to illustrate the differences is to describe FMA as Lego.

If you examine FMA as compared to a vastly different system like Aikido, FMA is from another world. The way FMA has been taught to me lacks the ordered structure of a Japanese system. There are no ranks or belts to strive for, no “techniques” to perfect at well defined skill levels. Instead, you’re driven to work on skills or attributes. Ranks in my system are not that important. What does matter is your ability to use what you’ve learned.

In Aikido, you are given a set of attacks and the techniques to neutralize them, and you practice them until you’re able to perform them well enough to move on to a new rank. In FMA – again, as it’s taught to me – you learn angles and the bits and pieces needed to address attacks from those angles. The instrument of attack can be a knife, stick, machete, spear, an arm or leg; it doesn’t really matter since you consider direction and range first rather than the instrument of attack. The response can range from the simplest slip or tap to a series of joint breaks, strikes and a takedown.

An Aikidoka is trained to respond with a choice of techniques, but here lies the key word: techniques. In Aikido, you’re not specifically instructed to take the choice of responses to an attack and break them down and assemble them to make your own response. Whereas in FMA, that’s precisely how you’re trained to think in combat. Instead of responding in a preset pattern, you need to be flexible enough to make your own strategy and technical responses on the fly.

The best way to understand this is to think of FMA skills as Lego bricks. The abilities and attributes you pick up are the bricks and as you progress you pick up more bricks to add to your collection. As you get more bricks, you also learn to assemble them. Rather than play with a complete toy, literally with all the bells and whistles, you need to make you own toy from bits and pieces you’ve gathered.

This is why there are so many different FMA systems, and yet all have some similarities and address similar threats. Each of those systems are made by people who picks up their own Lego bricks and made their own “toy”, based on what they prefer and what they felt suited them. Give children a whole box of Lego pieces, have them build a house, and you’ll see that each of them already has individual ideas on what a house should look like. Yet by and large they are all "functional
" houses.

In comparison to FMA’s “technical flexibility” (for lack of a better word at the moment), an Aikido technique like shihonage ( four corner throw) is an entire “toy”, much like a Tonka truck which works well with other Tonka toys. It’s a neat and workable toy, but I can’t take it apart to make a new one. In FMA, a simple parrying deflection is just one piece of a grand puzzle. That in itself works but it will work even better in combination with other pieces. Only after years of Aikido does the practitioner appreciate techniques as components; as a student you simply do the techniques and master them, you’re not encouraged to be creative with what you’ve learned. In comparison, FMA encourages creativity even at the basic levels. You learn fundamental responses to attacks and you already see that they are in fact simply pieces. I myself was seeking structure in FMA when I began studying it and only after a lot of struggling did I finally understand the futility of searching for something that just isn’t there.

This seemingly madding method of martial study is in fact the best way to deal with the wide variety of threats FMA throws at the student. From sticks you transition to knives and empty hands. By considering angles instead of instrument or method of attack, the problem of using a single counterattacking movement is somewhat easier to dealt with. However, this approach is in itself not easy. It precludes that the FMA student have the technical and mental flexibility to adapt to the circumstances. That adaptability is accomplished by having the technical repertoire that will allow the student to fluently translate a knife evasion into deflection of a punch. You can’t respond with what you think is the best choice if you don’t have a lot of options to choose from. FMA may present an excellent solution for weapon and empty handed attack and counterattack, but it’s not an easy path by far.

Ironically the Samurai had the same attitude toward combat. The most highly skilled among them were able to use more than just their swords. In battle they would be able to pick up any weapon and use it to slaughter their enemies. I’m seen more than a few similarities between classical jujitsu and some of their weapons techniques that hint that they also practiced a similar “Swiss Army knife” approach to fighting.

But the samurai were a dedicated warrior class, having no other responsibilities in that society but to wage war, their weapons now as relevant to the modern age as medieval halberds are to assault rifles. On the other hand, the Filipino warrior was a farmer or fisherman in peace and a guerrilla fighter in times of war, with weapons and fighting methods that are still highly relevant, in the hands of World War II guerrillas and Philippine Special Forces fighting in the jungles of Mindanao today.

A weapon with an image problem

2007-08-27T22:09:00.003+08:00

Among the many weapons used by Filipinos, none is as controversial and shrouded in infamy as the balisong. The history of the knife is well known to Filipino Martial Art (FMA) people and I won’t bother going through the well worn facts.

What may surprise foreign FMA practitioners, especially those who have never been to the Philippines, is just how common and reviled this weapon has become. Because of its common use as a mugger’s weapon, getting caught with one by the police is a guaranteed trip to the nearest police outpost for further questioning and probable arrest. It’s fair to say that it easier to get away with having a conventional folding knife than it is to be caught with a balisong.

The notoriety of the balisong is unfortunate, since it detracts from the weapon’s many excellent attributes. By design, the knife’s blade is held in place by both sides of the handles clamping onto the blade's tang, making the balisong one of the sturdiest folding knife designs ever made. The only way the blade will ever collapse onto the hand holding it is if the handle completely shatters or the blade breaks at the tang, which is highly unlike given the metal construction of balisong handles and the hard steel used for the blades.

The knife folds into its own handle. This makes the folded balisong quite compact. It also allows the weapon to be used as a pasak (dulo dulo, tabak maalit). A folded balisong can do damage as a weapon even before it’s used as originally intended. A skilled balisong user can even use one side of the handle as a whip if he’s caught in a bind before fully opening the knife.

Nothing is perfect and the balisong does have its drawbacks. It takes some practice to open one under the stress of an actual self-defense situation. I’m not even talking about learning fancy ways of deploying the knife. Under extreme stress fine motor skills are quickly dumped in favor of gross motor skills, and flipping open a balisong when attacked requires a degree of finesse.

Of course we end up at negative image of the balisong and how it deters the FMA practitioner from carrying one in the Philippines. The decision to carry one in the face of the risk it entails is really up to the user. The risk of being arrested just can’t be disregarded; it’s a reality that has to be taken seriously.

This is all too bad for what is an excellent knife design, one that will always be identified with the Filipino Martial Arts.

The nature of knife wounds

2007-04-02T11:03:00.001+08:00

I recently took part in a personal protection seminar for women and I used the case of “Mike”, my wife’s former coworker, as an example of the true nature of knife wounds.

Mike surprised their male servant ransacking their home. The assailant killed Mike with 36 stab wounds. A lot of them were defensive, on this forearms, but the frightening number of wounds would naturally make the average person conclude that the attacker was either crazed by extreme hate toward Mike or was so stoned out of his gourd that he went into a demonic killing frenzy.

As far as I know, the attacker – who later gave up to the police – was neither. He was close to Mike and his family and wasn’t on drugs. So why stab someone so many times?

I think the answer lies in how people think of stab wounds. We naturally think of them as instantly fatal, which isn’t always the case. It matters more where you get stabbed, not how many times you got wounded. A series of stabs that avoid arteries and major organs will do damage and will case shock and pain but it won’t be instantly fatal.

The wounds have to– as Kuya Doug of Rochester Kali puts it – “hit the body’s plumbing”. Hitting a major artery is more or less a fatal hit, and I’m not going to discuss precisely where these spots are on the body. As they say, a little knowledge can be dangerous. Suffice to say getting a major artery cut is serious. But people have recovered from them, if they get to a hospital emergency room in time. Unless you hit the body’s “main switches” (which will turn off the lights very quickly), the person stabbed has a chance to survive the attack.

Mike’s attacker obviously didn’t want him to live, choosing to add murder to a robbery charge. Understanding the nature of stab wounds, it’s now apparent that Mike’s killer kept stabbing until he got the result he wanted: Mike’s death. The first 5 stab wounds might not have dropped Mike and more were needed. Unfortunately for Mike, none of his first wounds were instantly fatal.

Mike’s death is more than an academic topic for me. I met him and he was a good friend of my wife. It’s tempting to go through the whole “what-ifs” on how he should have defended himself but that would be unfair to him. But I can use his example to teach people the nature of violence, and hopefully save lives.

Knowledge paid for in blood

2006-11-21T13:30:00.003+08:00

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to train and hang out with the Pekiti Tirsia Kali instructors of the Philippine Force Recon Marines. Despite my family’s long history of military services going back to my grandfather’s Death March ordeal and guerilla fighting, I’m a civilian and there’s really little that I and a battle-hardened Marine have in common, except of course the common obsession with Pekiti Tirsia Kali and the Filipino Martial Arts.

As I got to know them, I heard war stories from the front lines, in the jungles of Mindanao and in other parts of this country that only the military dares to venture into. It took some time to get them to talk about their experiences; it’s usually kept among themselves and away from the easily shocked and offended civilians.

The stories I heard were familiar, and merely confirmed the details of the tales that I’ve picked up from the PTK Marine grapevine. But when you hear about the details, as told first hand from the person involved, it gives the story flesh and blood. An anecdote told from second hand sources becomes a story of a fight to the death between a Marine and a Muslim insurgent. Black and white becomes living color.

When you’re sitting across someone who has killed men with his knife and machete in battle and discusses what he’s done with the same quiet, matter-of-fact detachment as one has pouring a cup of coffee, it’s impossible to be jaded and uninterested. To these soldiers, the stories are not for bragging or even open discussion with outsiders. It’s plain and simple reality for them, devoid of the plastic bravado of the self made, training-available-on-DVD “knife fighters”.

The stories are of heroism and desperation, having to kill with knives and machetes in urban ambushes and jungle trails. There are no car bombs or IEDs here; death is at the hands of men, edged weapons and guns the tools of their trade. There is no push button war here, no precision bombing; killing is a personal matter, done in more hand-to-hand encounters than most other armies care to imagine.

The Internet is full of Martial Arts discussions and opinions. Grappling beats everything, striking is the best, this knife fighting style is superior and so forth. Students argue what works and what doesn’t. Even the Filipino Martial Arts are not spared the endless scrutiny. People teach their watered down interpretation and claim to be the last name in fighting. All that talk is totally meaningless to people who have dealt death at the sharp end of a knife in the jungles of Mindanao.

So if one needs affirmation and confirmation that the Filipino Martial Arts in general and Pekiti Tirsia Kali in particular works, simply ask the Force Recon Marines. They know the truth, revealed to them in blood.

New pics in my Flickr account.

2006-11-21T13:27:00.000+08:00

I’ve decided to dump most of the images I have of the recent training camp with Tuhon Gaje at San Mateo, Rizal and those I took during the local shoot of “Fight Quest” (a Discovery Channel series on martial arts), to my Flickr account.

I just realized that I didn’t calibrate my monitor so I’ll be uploading newly corrected pics as soon as I can finish the color correction.

Yes, I have footage of the final match between the 2 hosts and the Marine Recon Marine Pekiti Tirsia Kali instructors but I promised to keep them from Youtube until the series airs.

Be careful what you wish for

2006-10-18T12:24:00.000+08:00

When people find out that I train under Rommel Tortal, the Pekiti Tirsia Kali instructor for the Marines and Special Operations forces, and that Grand Tuhon Leo Gaje drops by regularly to teach us, the most common comment is “Wow, I would give my (body part) to train under your teachers”. Yup, it does sound like a PTK dream come true doesn’t it. You have one of the style’s leading teachers and PTK’s headmaster teaching you the ways of the ginunting, knife, stick and empty hand.

But having these two as teachers comes with a serious price. You have to realize that the expectations from you as a student will be incredibly high. As a member of the only civilian PTK group in the Philippines, those expectations are par for the course. You have to be as good as these two teachers expect you to be and boy will they squeeze it out of you.

Training under Guro Mel is already a supreme test of will and stamina. A class is about 3 hours long and the “warm up” alone – what an oxymoron – is a near death experience. To those who do PTK, try doing all the footwork you know – including squats and weaving – for half an hour straight. Yes, that means you don’t stop to change footwork, you just shift to what Mel says. Prepare to do 50 to 100 squats aka ducking. And that doesn't even include the hundreds of strikes you'll be doing in the class. It takes time to get used to the agony, believe me. The classes just get harder and harder; the last class was only preparation for what’s coming up soon.

When GT Gaje visits, the intensity just goes off the scale. He’ll start his first class when he visits with an over-the-top warm up that will leave you and everyone else sore for days, regardless of how fit you are. Words can’t describe how nasty these can be but if you’ve attended one of his seminars you know what I mean. It doesn’t matter if you do marathons or you served as a Navy Seal. You will do exercises and drills that your body has no way of preparing for. That’s one of GT Gaje’s gifts, finding training methods that teach skills and attributes and also tax the body and mind in new and vicious ways.

But surviving the classes rewards you with technical training that’s second to none. And that alone is worth the pain and effort. :)

The vicious Pasak

2006-07-29T23:50:00.001+08:00

This nasty little toy goes by a variety of names in the Filipino Martial Arts. In Pekiti Tirsia Kali, it’s called a pasak. In other styles it’s called Olisi Palad or Dulo - Dulo. It’s popularly called a palm stick, and to Japanese martial artists it’s a koppo or a yawara. Whichever way you want to call it, its simplicity and size hides its brutal combat effectiveness.

The concept of using small non-edged instruments for attacking the human body is widespread in Asian martial arts. The Japanese consider the use of such weapons part of jujitsu, similar to the use of the iron fan. My understanding of the koppo comes from “Stickfighting” by Masaaki Hatsumi and Quintin Chamber. The use of the koppo illustrated in the text is more for joint manipulation, since the weapon shown is a foot long stick and is suitable for that application.

In the Filipino Martial Arts, the use of the pasak / olisi palad / dulo - dulo needs no explanation. Just using the weapon to strike vital points with the same speed, angle of attack and power as a stick strike can be devastating. In the hands of someone trained in FMA, the pasak can be driven quickly and accurately at vital points all over the body. For safety and legal reasons, I’m not going to illustrate what these points are and how best to attack them.

The Filipino version of this weapon is generally shorter, just large enough to protrude past a closed fist. I have yet to study joint manipulation techniques for this but it’s not that important to learn to use this weapon effectively.

Just a quick, snapping strike to a vital point will generate enough force, focused on a small area, to either kill or disable an attacker. The ease of application of this weapon for the Filipino martial artist can’t be emphasized enough. It’s a great direct byproduct of stick and knife training, requiring no change in body mechanics or muscle memory whatsoever.

Here’s an example of a traditional pasak, of kamagong (native hardwood). This one is straight, while other examples are slightly curved. Some pasak are even made from carabao (water buffalo) horn and are incredibly tough.

Now here’s my daily “less-than-lethal” weapon. I had it crafted out of one of my warped kamagong sticks. The ends are carved to short points. I tied a finger cord with a barrel wrap (here’s how to tie the knot) so I can still retain the weapon even if I have to open my hand to grab the attacker. It’s small enough to fit into my pocket and doesn’t trigger metal detectors.

The pasak is definitely worth considering as a serious weapon. But its true power and effectiveness can only be tapped by serious martial arts training. I'm sure an untrained individual can put can seriously hurt an attacker with this but with proper FMA skills you can get the job done more efficiently.

Please don’t flame me if you get arrested with one of these where you live. It's your responsibility to be aware of your legal limitations.

A Weapon Culture

2006-07-02T21:06:00.001+08:00

In my study of Pekiti Tirsia Kali and FMA in general, a term I keep hearing is “knife culture”. The term was used numerous times in the police training video “Surviving Edged Weapons”, which I highly recommend to anyone training with edged weapons and martial artists in general.

I never really paid much attention to this term, maybe because in the back of my mind the idea that I live in a “knife culture” didn’t have to be stated. When I gave it some thought, it occurred to me that the term should be changed to “weapon culture”, which I believe best describes the Filipino fighting psyche.

Open a typical tabloid in this country and it will be filled with gory crime stories. Almost all of them involve a weapon of some sort. Knife attacks are so common here they hardly grab your attention when you happen to see the words “stabbed to death” on some of the headlines.

Burglaries gone horribly bad, a group of friends having one too many bottles of gin, a jealous husband suspicious of his best friend getting too close to his wife and other such tales will almost always involve a knife. The ease of which to go for a blade at the smallest provocation makes it quite possible for someone getting stabbed over something as trivial as staring too long at someone; a deadly brawl can be sparked by “what the hell are you looking at?” But of course such violence is very much dependent on where you are. The typical Yuppie in cosmopolitan Makati (the business district) will generally be more even-tempered than some of the denizens of Metro Manila’s slums.

But the risk of dying from a vicious stabbing is still very real in this society. A colleague of my wife was fatally stabbed 34 times by a burglar he surprised when he got home a little earlier than usual.

I’m not saying that Filipinos are all cold blooded killers. In fact we are known throughout the world as a nation of very friendly and accommodating people. It’s just that stabbing each other in anger, frustration or passion is almost a natural act. Unlike shooting someone, stabbing another human being means that you get up close to do the deed. The mindset that allows people to do that would be a great topic for sociological research.

Knife fans in the US talk about their cultural aversion to blades. In their society, guns are the preferred weapon of the protagonist, while the “villains” use knives, the dashing cowboy shooting his revolver at the Native American armed with a tomahawk.

But the “blade culture” does not stop at just knives. That term should be changed to “weapon culture”, the Filipino penchant of picking up anything to use as a weapon. The same tabloids often have stories of people getting hit by pipes and other blunt instruments. To pick up something in a fight, “pumulot”, is so common that I doubt that Filipinos realize it. A typical bar fight here will always involve chairs, bottles, pool cues, ashtrays and anything else that can be used as a weapon.

Filipinos love guns. There’s a thriving gun culture here as well and local movies always show the protagonist blasting away at villains with almost every imaginable firearm. There are thousands of unlicensed firearms in the country and this continues to become a problem for law enforcement and the military.

Thus, to call what we have a “blade culture” only reveals part of the Filipino fighting mentality.

To Filipinos, picking up a blade or any weapon is not about fighting fairly or not. It’s simply about surviving, nothing more. The idea of heroically fighting empty handed is somewhat alien. We apparently have a societal and cultural understanding that it’s acceptable to pick up anything and use it as a weapon. To a foreigner this may seem underhanded but to a Filipino it’s being “matalino” (smart) and “magulang” (shrewd). Filipinos regard cunning and shrewdness in battle something to strive for, a trait that often separates the living from the dead.

There’s a world of difference between cunning and treachery. Filipinos understand this and look down on the former as cowardice and deceit. Cunning and smart tactics on the other hand are nothing but necessities for survival.

Pekiti Tirsia Kali after 40

2006-06-12T18:48:00.000+08:00

My body is starting to come to terms with my return to FMA training. Slowly, old muscle memories are being recalled. What surprised me is that I’ve retained so much of the core skills such as the footwork, basic strikes and drills. All these just clicked back into place the moment I took my first swing with the sticks. It’s amazing to see all of these reflexes still there, just waiting for me to use.

What I do have to get used to is my longer recovery time. Back then, a hard training session would barely make itself felt the next day. Now there’s lingering soreness and some dull aches here and there 2 days after the last session. Not good. Maybe some of it is also because my body is slowly waking up to the harsh reality of Pekiti Tirsia training. Of course I also chalk it up to plain old age. But I mustn’t let my age got to me that much; the last thing I need is to start convincing myself that I’m over the hill.

The familiar blistering on my palms are not as bad as when I first started Pekiti Tirsia and maybe it’s because I’m either not holding the stick in a death grip anymore or maybe we’re no longer doing the 500 strikes like we used to do back then. My shoulders are no longer feeling tight and my arms and wrists are starting to loosen up as well. Now, if only my gut will start shrinking..

I’ve also been adding some weekday session on my own, until our group can find a new venue for weekday classes. Nothing too bad, just a few hundred basics strikes with footwork. Until my brother gets good at contradas, I’ll have to practice solo for now.

Overall, it’s not been too bad. Just have to hang in there and wake up more of those dormant warrior skills.

The sad truth about FMA in the Philippines

2006-05-25T16:47:00.001+08:00

I’m a member of several martial arts message boards and it’s heartwarming to see foreigners so interested in FMA. So many practice the martila art and a lot are obsessed with it, seeking out the nearest FMA teacher or traveling miles from home just to practice.

Unfortunately there’s a sad reality to FMA in the Philippines. Most foreigner FMA students think that traveling to the Philippines is the equivalent to going to the Shaolin Temple for kung fu, that there’s an FMA school at every street in Manila. But the truth is that FMA is not popular in the Philippines. Other martial arts are far more popular. Judging by the number of foreign FMA practioners at martial arts forums, they apparently appreciate FMA more than Filipino themselves.

It’s painful to hear and truly shocking to realize but it’s quite true. Mention “martial arts” in Manila and anywhere else in the country and people think you mean Tae Kwon Do, Karate, MMA (mixed martial arts), Jujitsu, Aikido, etc. Hardly anyone will assume that you mean FMA.

That’s how screwed FMA is in the country. The Filipino FMA community is truly a subculture, kept alive by a handful of great instructors and loyal students. But it certainly does not have the same popularity of other martial arts.

One can write a book on the dwindling support for FMA in the country. There are societal, cultural and certainly economic aspects which account for the exodus of FMA’s best teachers to other countries and its current status vis-à-vis other martial arts in the country.

But don’t get me wrong. FMA is not dead in the Philippines. It’ just not as common as one might think and finding the schools and clubs requires one to delve into the subculture and ask the right people. It’s far easier to find a Tae Kwon Do dojang (training hall) in Manila than a good arnis club. All you need is to open a telephone directory. Nevertheless FMA is alive and kicking, but it’s definitely below the radar.

Before I’m misunderstood, I’m certainly not bashing other martial arts for easing out FMA. That’s not the case at all. Nor am I bashing other martial arts to promote FMA. I have an extensive aikido background and I was already interested in FMA and studying an obscure form of it even when I was heavily into the Japanese style. I just couldn’t find the right teacher or club. Ironically I found my Pekiti Tirsia Kali teacher, Rommel, on the internet; I just happen to chat with some of his students and I soon found myself swimming in FMA heaven.

But how many Filipino students of other martial arts are like me, interested in learning their own country’s deadly systems? And if they are looking for FMA, do they know where to look? Personally I don’t think many young Filipinos are interested in FMA at all, or even any physical activity for that matter. Many are deep into serious internet gaming and video game addictions and won’t contemplate doing anything remotely physical. Those who want to study martial arts are or are urged to do so by their parents are going to be more exposed to what’s available closer to home or more conveniently available as an after-work activity, and that will be either be tae kwon do or anything else except FMA. After all it’s a free world and anyone should study what they find interesting. Those who do want FMA will not be able to find it as readily as the other styles.

FMA is taught in schools but this isn’t going to reverse the trend. Students will be exposed to it and probably in a negative manner, since it’s become a requirement. The last thing that will be on their minds is to study FMA more deeply, to go beyond the sticks and simple drills, to the very heart of the style. To the average student, FMA is all about just swinging sticks, which is just the tip of the iceberg with FMA. The average Filipino is probably quite ignorant of FMA’s lethal effectiveness, which is ironic considering its reputation in martial arts circles.

I feel very strongly that every Filipino who studies a foreign martial art must have some exposure to FMA. It’s tempting for me to state some practical reason for doing so, such as creating an economic climate that will keep the best teachers from emigrating.

But by far the best reason for studying FMA is to help revive the arts as part of our cultural heritage. You can move to any country and learn their language but deep inside you're still a Filipino and our ancestors were warriors. We were and still are a blade culture. Our grandfathers were cutting Japanese troops into fist-sized chunks in jungle ambushes. We are the reason why Marines are called leathernecks. Magellan and his men were slaughtered on our shores. The Colt . 45 pistol was invented to stop us. That’s a wonderful martial heritage that needs to be remembered and cherished.

Texas Kali video

2006-05-23T17:37:00.000+08:00

A nice Pekiti Tirsia Kali demo by Leslie Buck and the folks at Texas Kali. Guaranteed to motivate any lazy Pekiti Tirsia Kali student!

Poisoned blades

2006-05-23T17:21:00.000+08:00

Here's a great segment. Tuhon Gaje takes the host (forgot his name) to his bladesmith. I should drop by Bacolod one of these days and see this process for myself. Maybe make it a family trip to the provinces and take my wife and my daugther along. :)

I have to get one of those blades for my collection.

Pekiti Tirsia BBC Video

2006-05-23T17:19:00.000+08:00

Someone finally uploaded part of the BBC documentary on FMA, featuring Pekiti Tirsia. I was at the police camp segment and I was looking for myself in the background, among the killer police recruits. Those guys were hard as nails and probably crack coconuts with their foreheads as a form of amusement. It was hot as hell that day and I remember looking into the prison next door. The police recruits said they got back at the convicts who jeer them or played their karaoke too loud by burning the tires and have the wind do the rest.

Next, Tuhon Gaje and Rommel do knife drills. Seems a little slow for me but then maybe it's better that way; if those two go full speed, you won't see most of the action.

The oracion was really interesting. I've seen Tuhon Gaje's anting anting and it does look like a rock with eyes on them. Somewhat creepy but very fascinating.

I wish I can get the rest of this video. I'm sure there was a lot of amazing footage from Negros that didn't make the final edit. Would be great to see those.

Painkillers needed

2006-05-23T16:34:00.000+08:00

The soreness from the practice session on Saturday is just starting to wear off. Instead of enumerating what parts of me hurt, it would be simpler to just list down what doesn't hurt. Rommel was being kind to me I guess, for not practicing for months. He could have done the old "Marine Corps Pekiti Tirsia" format but he was nicer this time around. Still had to swing the sticks in multiples of a hundred LOL.

I was surprised how much of it I still remember. My swing may be a little slower but it's still somewhat accurate. The tracking is still ok but I have to work on the wrist flexibility and of course the power.

It's refreshing to be back to studying FMA. I always wanted to get back and maybe I was a little apprehensive about how I'd cope with being so out of shape. But now that I got over that little mental hurdle, I do want to keep this up. My blood pressure is still a little high and getting in shape is no longer a choice, it's a priority.

Back to the sticks

2006-05-12T09:19:00.000+08:00

Unless my office pulls another one of their dirty tricks and calls for weekend overtime, I'll be attending my first Pekiti Tirsia class in over a year. I've started to buy painkillers in anticipation of the agony that I will gladly attribute to sitting on my ass for months. Ever since my last ad agency stint, exercise has been a distant memory. But creeping hypertension and, shall we say "horizontal growth", is tell me I don't really have a choice anymore. Tired or not, terrible schedule be damned, I need to get some exercise!

Actually the term "Filipino Martial Arts" has a nice, "politically correct" ring to it. It's a handy little phrase that gracefully skirts all the vicious politics and pissing distance contests that curse FMA, beginning with whether it should be called escrima, arnis or kali. Actually, it doesn't really matter to the layperson and probably means even less when you're at the receiving end of a rattan stick. You're not going to get struck on the brow with a stick and staunch the gushing blood, wondering if that was an arnis, escrima or kali technique that is ruining your day. Thus that great generic brand name, FMA.

Discussing FMA opens up a whole Pandora's box of rants and insight for me. I'll save that for later. Lots of good stress-busting venting there, I don't want to waste it.