My Empty Hand Paradigm

Given the amount of time martial artists spend training for the unarmed combat situation, it is frightening how little time is spent on considering the circumstances surrounding those situations themselves. As with most issues in the martial arts, specific styles have a tendency to create a scenario that their skill set is best suited for, and then choose to believe that all scenarios will happen in that manner. This not only cheats them out of a variety of training opportunities, it is downright dangerous for the student. Instead of imagining combat as we wish it would be, let’s try to look at it as it really is.

Rory Miller’s book “Meditations On Violence”, does a very good job of describing the fact that violence is a very large concept that is difficult to easily define for every situation. Along those lines, let’s be clear that for the purposes of this article we are only discussing a one on one confrontation between two adults. Further, we are going to be talking about three distinct scenarios which we will define and then show how those scenarios both overlap and how training for each can better prepare you for the other. Those three scenarios are “The Duel”, “The Fight”, and “The Assault”.

The Duel

Whether we chose to admit it or not, this is the paradigm that most martial arts spend a majority of their time preparing for. What defines a duel in the context of unarmed combat? For our purposes we shall define it as: “A contest between two individuals who have both agreed to engage in combat under the guidance of a set of rules with a clear structure to determine a winner. The duel will take place at a designated time and location and civil and criminal charges will not be pursued for any injuries incurred by the participants.”

So what are we describing when we consider the Duel? It encompasses everything from a light sparring session, to a point tournament, to a randori session in Judo or wrestling match, all the way up to a mixed martial art contest. Every one of these situations involves participants who have a clear structure of the conditions they must compete in, what tactics they are allowed to use, what the possible outcomes are, and the maximum time limits the encounter can last.

We can note, that on the basis of these criteria alone, there is seems to be little similarity between the Duel and, let’s say, a street fight (which will be defined in our next section). The Duel is little more than an athletic contest between people who for the most part will be utilizing the same skill set and tactics to gain victory. This is largely the type of training most martial artists engage in. A judoka does not spend hour after hour in the dojo learning how to slip a boxer’s jab in order to execute a perfect O-goshi, nor does a Wing Chun stylist spend time learning to defend the single leg takedown of a skilled wrestler. Instead, most stylists spend an inordinate amount of time learning to defend themselves from someone attacking them with the exact same tactics they would use themselves.

This is one of the key drawbacks of the Duel mentality when we apply it to practical self defense. In creates in the practioner a set expectation of what combat will look like, an expectation where we impose our own ideas into the tactics our attacker will use. This delusion leaves many practioners unable to think outside the box and adapt to something unexpected. A fine example of this was the early Ultimate Fighting Championships when stand up fighters who’d never considered the ground game were being defeated left and right by wrestlers and BJJ stylists.
This brings us to a second danger of the Duel mentality and that is how the Duel deals with “Range”.

More often than not, the arts best suited for a Duel have a particular range of combat they are best suited for. Boxers fight in punching and clinch range, Tae Kwon Do stylists fight at kicking range, and BJJ practioners fight on the ground. They are able to specialize in these ranges because the rules of their contest are designed to keep the battle specifically in those ranges. Put a TKD or BJJ stylist in a closet where there is no room to kick or get a takedown and you will quickly see them revert to the most basic concepts of defense that are totally outside the guidelines of their art. This problem does not affect all Dueling arts to the same degree as both MMA and Muay Thai attempt to address a variety of ranges within the context of their competition.

Finally, the tactics that one might use in a dueling context could be completely inappropriate for situation you are dealing with, or might simply not be able to be applied in the same manner. Let’s take the concept of a boxer’s jab. In the ring, this is one of the boxer’s most effective and important tools than can be used to create distance, inflict damage, and set up combinations. However outside the Duel, your jab might strike the attacker in the skull and result in the breaking of your knuckles. Or you might immediately end up in a wrestling type encounter and not be able to use the jab. The same can be said for a double leg takedown. Perhaps your altercation is taking place in a crowded bar where there simply isn’t room to execute the maneuver or when you try to do so on the street; you slam your knee into the pavement and injure yourself (something that Renzo Gracie once told me happened to him in a street fight).

All of this is not to say that the Dueling paradigm does not have many benefits. Actually, there are a number of positive benefits that you can honestly only learn in the context of a competition. Matt Thornton of the Straight Blast Gym speaks often of the concept of “Aliveness” in your training. This means that once a technique or tactic has been learned by the practioner, it comes to be trained in a way that develops an understanding of timing, distance, power, and how to utilize that technique against a fully resisting uncooperative opponent.

This is one thing that is often missing in the non sport specific martial arts and its absence becomes obvious when practioners of these styles have to deal with practioners who train in a more “alive” manner. Realistic sparring (which is essentially Dueling) should include some degree of hard contact and movement where the goal is not so much to gain points but rather to stop your opponent. This hard contact teaches you both to strike with real power and timing but it also serves a callusing for your own body. Once you have had your bell rung a few times, you won’t be afraid of it anymore and can learn to deal with it in a more effective manner.

By this same token, to some degree your training should include the “unmatched” Duel. That means you are competing against someone who is fighting outside your preferred tactics. If you have good boxing skills, you should spar someone who is going to try to take you down or is going to work leg kicks against you. This will keep you from being stuck in a mindset of only using your favorite skill.

You can also make your Duel training more realistic by adding variables to the environment such as forcing yourself to fight with your back to the wall or in a smaller area, or if you favor ground fighting, force yourself to work for takedowns that are more “throwing” oriented as opposed to level change oriented.
If you add these concepts to your practice and also keep your mind open to the fact that the Duel is not the only vision of combat, you are creating an effective training methodology that will span across all three of our paradigms.

The Fight

When most people think of the situations where they are most likely to use “self defense”, what they are really thinking of is the scenario of “The Fight”. The Fight, defined, is: “A violent encounter between two willing individuals that is most often predicated by a verbal altercation and some degree of posturing. No rules or tactics are established, nor is there a clear criterion for what will end the encounter. There is no telling if both, one of, or neither of the participants has any training. Further, both participants may face civil or criminal charges for their role in the encounter”.

When many people say they want to learn how to defend themselves, they are usually saying they want to learn how to handle “The Fight”. Throughout our training, we often fail to realize that while we think we are training for “The Fighting”, we are in actuality training for “The Duel”. On the surface, it is easy to believe that the two are closely related but they are more like second cousins.

Our first difference is in the fact that unlike the duel, which takes places at a set time and place that allows for some degree of preparation, the Fight takes places more on the spur of the moment and can happen anywhere at all. Locations could include a bar, in the home, on the street, or anywhere else you can imagine. This element of surprise is important for two reasons. One, you do not know what type of opponent you are dealing with. He could be a random dude of the street who is more bark than bite, or he could be a five time Dutch Kickboxing Champion. Your only indicators of his ability will be gleaned in the build up to the fight, a period of time that Rory Miller refers to as “The Monkey Dance”, a time frame where both participants tend to posture and talk in order to both psych out their opponent and psych up themselves.

The second reason is the adrenaline rush that comes from conflict. In a Duel, you have forehand knowledge of what is about to occur and you have had the opportunity to mentally prepare for it. While you are bound to be nervous, you have already considered the possible outcomes for the situation. In the Fight, you are forced to deal with a great deal of stimuli in a short amount of time. The “Fight or Flight” instinct is going to be in full effect and you are going to be faced with all the physiological changes that come with adrenal stress, to include auditory exclusion, tunnel vision, and tremors. More than likely these factors are going to keep you from performing anything but gross motor functions, especially if you have never participated in good hard sparring and wrestling to prepare yourself for them.

Another difference from the Duel is that in the Fight there are no set rules or tactics. You do not have foreknowledge of what types of attacks you will have to defend against and common “illegal” maneuvers such as groin strikes, head butting, and eye gouges might be used (either by yourself or your attacker). Additionally, where as many Duels begin with the participants separated in such a way that they have the opportunity to use movement and tactics to control distance to their advantage, many fights begin with the participants no further than arms length apart and not in a prearranged fighting stance. This set up precludes many of the techniques utilized in the Duel, such as kicking and effective boxing. When grapplers make the unsupported claim “90% of fights end up on the ground”, they do not add the qualifier that it happens becomes many people do not know how to fight at this close of a range. Lacking this knowledge, then end up in a FUT (what we refer to as a “fucked up tangle”) and fall to the ground.

Knowing that we will not be able to dictate our range in a Fight the same way we will in a Duel, this calls for us to alter both our tactics and techniques accordingly. This is why some things that do not work very well in the context of the Duel can still be effective in the context of the Fight. Take the Jeet Kune Do Straight Blast for example. Essentially a version of Wing Chun vertical fist chain-punching, the Straight Blast can be a difficult tactic to employ in an unmatched Duel. When the opponent has the foreknowledge of your skill set, the ability to control range, and knowledge of takedowns, it is not that hard for them to counter the Straight Blast immediately with a double leg takedown level change. This has led to many MMA enthusiasts to claim that the Straight Blast is useless.

If we place the tactic in the context of the Fight however, things change. Since you are already at close range with your opponent, you have a very good chance of landing the first strike if you engage preemptively. After this first contact you do not let up and fire punch after punch until the opponent is backing up, and then you can move into clinching range. It is at this point in the altercation, where you have gained the upper hand, that you then might be able to employ tactics such as wrist or arm locks, foot sweeps, and other maneuvers that you cannot often make use of in a Duel.

Since I made mention of engaging preemptively, we have to consider the final major difference between the Duel and the Fight, and that is legal ramifications. We live in a litigious society where violence is punishable not just in a criminal context but where you may also be liable for the injuries you inflict on the person you Fight with. It seldom matters who threw the first punch or if you feel you were engaging in self defense. Engaging in a Fight is a slippery slope of legal problems that should be considered very deeply and in much more detail than I am going to address here. There is a reason why people say the best way to win a Fight is to not get in one.

This is where the Fight is unique from both the Duel and the Assault. In the Duel, both participants are free from legal action for their involvement and as such they both choose to participant. A Fight can only occur if both people are willing to engage in it. If you chose not to, and both make these intentions clear and try to escape the situation, the Fight transforms into “The Assault” and now we are faced with different considerations.

How do we as martial artists prepare for the Fight? The greatest aspect of preparation is psychological and mental. Learning to defuse potentially violent situations, if not avoid them completely, is a key component. This can be combined with scenario based training that includes verbal interaction that simulates the “Monkey Dance” in order to at least attempt to replicate the adrenaline rush that comes with conflict as well as hard contact sparring so that you can see which tactics work better at this range versus the ones you may normally utilize in a Duel context.

The Assault

Now we come to what we should most be preparing for if we are considered with self defense, yet what we spend the least amount of time truly learning about. An Assault is: “An act of violence perpetrated on one individual (the attacker) on another (the victim) without the victim’s consent or prior knowledge. This act of violence has no governing rules and the severity of the violence could range from a minor injury to attempted murder. While the victim has an inherent right to defend themselves from their attacker, they must exercise due regard to their own use of force as it relates to the law.”

This is the real deal folks. When we talk about assault we are getting down to the most ancient and basic interactions of human beings, the primal nature that has not changed for millennia, no matter how much we may like to think society has changed us and civilized us. At the core, assault is about one individual trying to impose their will upon another for their own gratification. That gratification could be monetary as in a mugging, sadistic as in a thrill kill, or sexual/power based as in a rape.

If we look at our three paradigms as a progression from most civilized to least civilized it is clear why we talk about the Assault last. We also do this because it is an extension, emotionally and mentally, of the Fight. As with the Fight, we are going to be forced to deal with adrenal conditions, a lack of rules, and no clear outcome or time frame for the violence to last. The Assault is the most dangerous of violent encounters because it is the one in which the Victim has the least amount of warning and control over the situation. You may have no notice of it prior to it occurring and you may not, initially at least, have the opportunity to escape it.

It is almost impossible to truly prepare for an Assault. Scenario based training, both in a Dueling and Fighting context, can provide some preparation but there are too many other variables that are impossible to replicate. The best things you can do outside of your scenario training is use awareness and avoidance to minimize your vulnerability, while also accepting the fact that Assault is something that CAN happen. When you train, train for the worst case scenario and work on your weaknesses more than your strengths.

Regarding your tactics, the Assault is the scenario where you must truly be able to think outside of the box. When your life is truly in danger, concepts of fair play are no longer valid. Eye gouges, ear slaps, and groin strikes become primary weapons. Your attacker has already gained an advantage over you due to the circumstances of the attack and the fact that he has probably landed the first series of strikes or gained some control of your body. We need to circumvent those advantages in the simplest way possible. We have to be more ruthless and mean spirited than the attacker. Essentially we have to want to survive and escape this Assault more than he wants to complete it.

Which leads us to the most misunderstood and difficult aspect of the Assault, the responsible use of force. Many instructors do not address legal considerations as they relate to an Assault scenario, choosing instead to go the macho route of “It’s better to be judged by twelve than carried by six”. While it is very true that you must do everything in your power to keep yourself alive, it is a very fine line between appropriate use of force and excessive force.

It is important to remember, that many situations that would fall under the criteria of an Assault such as mugging or home invasion are most often perpetrated with a weapon. Once we throw a weapon in the scenario, we are no longer in the Empty Hand Paradigm and will have to adjust both our own use of force and the legal ramifications as such.

where does the art begin? where does it end?

Musashi wrote "When you have attained the Way of strategy there will be not one thing that you cannot understand" and "You will see the Way in everything".

As a little thought experiment, Paul and I decided to put together a clip illustrating how martial arts footwork can be used in "other martial" pursuits like pistolcraft.



The trick is in figuring out what "fits" into what you are doing. As in this case, simple side-step and cover-and-turn step blend in quite nicely. Doing somersaults, jump spin kicks and cartwheels with a pistol is Hollywood fantasy.

A favorite empty hand drill.

To DocB,

Wow! That's a very powerful piece of prose and everyone contends that you are retired; that's a
very big crock of bad smelling stuff. The only thing you've done is found time to compose and post. I love it, Doc, telling it exactly as you see it.

I love your final 3 paragraphs in particular. If there is some disagreement with your positions, people had better get up to speed, do some very serious research and "man-up" with their opposition, because name calling, shouting and character attacks ain't gonna cut the mustard.
You've just made it show and tell time!

To Guro Tom Kashino:

Thank you, Guro Kashino, for your insights. You post got me thinking about some things
that my dad and uncle have been trying to tell me for years... but what the hell do they know? Quite a bit actually and your post made their points harder for me to ignore. Thanks.

Jamie Binjara

New Stuff

I'm new to this blogging thing, so please forgive any errors that I might make.
This is a great blog. Dr. Barber was kind enough to accept my request to be
an author and I truely value his trust in me.

DocB didn't pull any punches with is latest post on mobility and blades in
Modern Arnis, I love his passion and use of quotes to support his contentions.

His post on teaching within Modern Arnis has appeared on myfma.net and has
beeen very well received.

Guro Tom Gerace's video comparison was magnificent and highly informative.
It doesn't get much better than that because the videos are the proof in the
final analysis.

Personally, I am looking forward to more posts from different authors on this blog.
I will have to complete my own draft this week and submit my posting. Hopefully
I can meet the high standards that DocB, Tim Kashino and Tom Gerace have set.

Binjara, Jr.

Speaking strictly for myself, I believe that mobility, footwork and body-shifting needs to be emphasized more in the training of most Modern Arnis students in the United States.  If there is one constant that I have observed in my 30 years of training within the Modern Arnis System, it is that most practitioners do not demonstrate a mastery of good footwork.  They typically ‘plant’ their feet, thereby ‘rooting’ themselves in one spot as they practice their striking and/or defending techniques in the required drills.  These people tend to rely heavily on their stick and free hand in defending themselves against an attack.  Many of my fellow Modern Arnis instructors talk about mobility and movement, but in reality they fail to execute the very behaviors that they have said were so integral to their instructional formats.

I have found that most of my fellow Modern Arnis instructors, regardless of current ranking, have failed to establish any sort of definitive pattern of triangulation stepping as described by the late system Grandmaster Remy A. Presas in his three (3) books.  Without that essential footwork foundation these instructors can not establish any sort of alternate supplemental patterns of evasive footwork to augment the primary triangulation steps that Professor shows in his books, particularly the Ohara Publications version of Modern Arnis ((Modern Arnis: The Filipino Art of Stick Fighting.  Remy Presas. 1983).  Merely talking about footwork and mobility is not enough.  One actually has to use it in their training sessions and then drill it into their students until it is a reflexive habit.

If one were to closely examine Modern Arnis stick strikes 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11 it would be readily apparent that these attacks can be evaded and neutralized by merely shifting your body off the line of attack with either a single step or rotation of upper body.  

The integrated transitional concepts which are inherent within the logical philosophy of blade avoidance in Professor Presas’ system should be readily apparent to anyone who has studied Modern Arnis in depth.  The thing that makes the Modern Arnis System so effective, efficient and logical is the built-in economy of motion that establishes the foundation of the system.  At the very core of the system is the reality that Modern Arnis is built on the principles of the long blade, such as the bolo, intake, kris, barong, machete and kampilan among many other blade types that one can still find being used in the rural jungle areas of the Philippines.

Blocking incoming bladed strikes is simply not practical in many cases.  Evasion and counter-striking are the better defensive actions.  In Modern Arnis as conceived by Professor Presas, the 12 stick strikes are “…the life and soul of arnis.  They are the things around which all other techniques revolve.”  (Modern Arnis: Philippine Martial Art “Stick Fighting”.  Remy Amador Presas, Founder of Modern Arnis.  1974, p. 32).  With that idea in mind, blocking, whether with a stick or empty hands must be seen as a secondary behavior which compliments body shifting and evasive footwork.

In his books Professor always included information about stances and body shifting. Professor believed that “… your body shifts almost automatically into the proper stances as you execute each strike.”  (Modern Arnis: The Filipino Art of Stick Fighting.  Remy Presas. 1983, p. 31).   

How can someone learn to step and shift effectively if they are not taught the correct methods of doing so?  Learning to shift is tied to striking and striking relies on footwork to move into the proper position and effectively execute the strike.

When Professor taught seminars and camps he often skipped right past any references to body shifting and stances. He would immediately begin teaching the 12 angles of stick attacks, plus the single stick with empty hand translations, joint-locking, double stick usage and disarming techniques that were based on the 12 angles of stick attack.  Professor Presas made the following statement regarding the importance of the 12 stick striking techniques:

“In the twelve striking techniques, the learner is taught how and where to deliver a strike in order to achieve the maximum power and efficacy.”

(Remy Amador Presas, 1974, p.32).

Combine the above quote with the following statements that Professor wrote in his 1983 version of his Modern Arnis book:

“Notice that your body will shift almost automatically into the proper stances as you execute each strike”.  (Remy Presas, 1983, page 31.). 

 “You must stay loose and move quickly, always pivoting to face the strike and keep your balance.”  (Presas, page 45, 1983.).

It appears to be the case that Professor Presas always assumed that his Modern Arnis students would automatically find and use as well as understand the proper positioning and body shifting without his formal input.  Unfortunately this assumption and instructional omission on Professor’s part may be the major contributing factor to the tendency of many of his certified Modern Arnis system instructors (and their own students) to stand-in-place, relying on their hand and stick skills when practicing the art.   

Professor Presas was a strong, powerful man with good upper body strength.  He was also a very good counter-fighter who could effectively stand his ground and prevail in a confrontation.  Therefore he was prone to say one thing yet actually do another when it came to evasive footwork and body shifting.  A large number of Modern Arnis students, have followed his physical example rather than his spoken or written words when it comes to evasion and footwork.

In the Kenpo-Modern Arnis curriculum that I developed for the Erie Community College self defense program, I included 4 basic methods of footwork and body-shifting.  These methods of stepping are based on the traditional premise that Modern Arnis is a bladed art and the primary striking tool is an 18 to 24 inch blade.  My own choice for a training tool to replicate the long blade was a wooden replica of the Negrito Bolo, which is quite common and still used on Professor’s home island of Negros. 

Professor Presas wrote that:

“What should be emphasized, however, is the fact that the cane is only for practice purposes for its basically less lethal in nature.  For in actual combat, the standard weapon is still the bolo or any bladed weapon which is more stable and convenient for this kind of combat technique."

(Remy Amador Presas, 1973, page 9.).

With this statement alone there shouldn’t be any doubt that Professor Presas clearly saw bladed weapons as being at the heart of arnis as he understood it.  Then as if to remove any lingering doubts Professor added the names of some of the blades that were featured in the arnis art as he understood it:

“… kris, bolo, kalis, laring, barong, gunong, kampilan, gayang,pira, punal, itak banjal, bangkcon, lahot and the panabas.”  (Remy Amador Presas, 1973, page 10).

In conjunction with footwork one should have a firm foundation in terms of stances and Professor mentioned this as well in his publications.  Professor wrote:

"There are only a few specific stances or ready positions in Modern Arnis, but learning them is essential before they become a part of your automatic response in a self defense situation.  Effective balance and the ability to move swiftly backward and forward to facilitate blocking and striking are the backbone of arnis or any martial art."

"Stances or ready positions are not static things to be assumed and then maintained throughout practice.  The body flows into each appropriate stance as the situation demands."  (Remy Presas, page 21, 1983.).

Perhaps one of the reasons that Professor Presas skipped right over the stance training and footwork when he first began teaching in the United States, Canada and Europe is because he was initially teaching accomplished black belt martial artists who were adding Modern Arnis as an add-on or secondary art to their original karate or kung fu systems.  Most of the first generation Modern Arnis people were already instructors within their ‘mother arts’ and were well beyond the need for any significant training in the basics.  As time advanced and a good number of Professor’s first generation students became Modern Arnis instructors, the absence of footwork and stance training became more pronounced within the art because these instructors were concentrating on teaching the arnis stick-work.

Consequently the emphasis on footwork fell by the wayside and Professor apparently assumed these instructors were teaching footwork when in reality they were not.  Many of the 2^nd and 3^rd generations of Modern Arnis students who I have worked with and trained beside at camps or seminars do not appear to fully understand the importance of footwork.  In addition, the concept of Modern Arnis as a bladed fighting art has been lost, in part because Professor did not want to teach that aspect of the art.  He wanted people to see the grace and beauty of the art not the carnage that someone create with a long blade. 

The 12 zone stick striking system is mirrored by the 12 zone stick blocking system. A very important aspect of the blocking system requires the defender to move to a safe zone while defending against the incoming strikes.  The blocks are supposed “…to be executed in one smooth and swift motion with no distinct pauses between the block, check and counterstrike motions.” (Remy Presas, 1983, p. 45).

Immediately after learning the basic striking and blocking patterns with the stick, the student must learn how to defend against random, non-sequenced strikes to different areas of their body. The empty hand translation defenses are most often taught right along with the stick training. The necessity to reflexively move, step and body shift are critical parts of Modern Arnis training strategy and should become very apparent to the student at this juncture of their training. The basic training ideas noted above sets the stage for the next level of intermediate Modern Arnis skills which should also be acquired and mastered.

Professor Presas was not the only FMA system leader or GM who espoused the importance of body shifting, footwork and mobility.

According to Steven K. Dowd:

“Stances are the foundation to any style of fighting.  For without the proper stance, attacking, defending, or countering an attack will not have the power, coordination, timing, or balance required for success.  Proper stances with the proper body alignment give mobility and the ability for executing blocks and strikes with confidence.” 

“Shifting from one stance to another with agility and strong footwork is an art within itself.  This is essential in combat for without it balance and timing will not be correct and failure is assured.”  (Arnis Balite: The Filipino Art of Hand, Foot & Stick Fighting; as taught by pundador Manuel M. Aguillon.  Steven K. Dowd.  Page 4.)

I believe that Punong Guro Dowd, as the certified inheritor of the Arnis Balite System, must know a thing or two about the FMA as taught and practiced in the Philippines, where he studied under the founder of the Balite Arnis System, Manual M. Aguillon.  I have had the opportunity to work with as well as observe PG Dowd and I can attest to his applicative skills as an arnisador.

Another FMA system leader who advocates the importance of footwork and evasion was the late GM Leo Giron.  GM Giron was one of the FMA masters who helped Guro Dan Inosanto arrive at some of his understandings regarding the FMA.  GM Giron was a scout for the Filipino Army which battled the Japanese troops in WWII.  His understanding of the importance of evasion is battle-tested in the field of actual combat not some imaginative paper-printed constructions of what ‘might be’ effective.  GM Giron stated:

“To evade is to move out of the path of an incoming blow.  This does not require the assistance of a weapon, although for maximum protection an evasion is best done in conjunction with a deflection.  Evasion is the most graceful motion in the art of escrima, for this movement reveals the amount of training a player has.”  (The Secrets of Giron Arnis Escrima.  Antonio E. Somera.  Page 52, 2003.).

The late GM Antonio Ilustrisimo, a highly celebrate escrimador from Cebu, Philippines, stated that:

“Any weapons-based fighting art must employ the skills of footwork and evasion to a high degree.”  (The Secrets of Kalis Ilustrisimo: The Filipino Fighting Art Explained.  Antonio Diego & Christopher Ricketts. Page 61, 1999.).

If any doubts the skills of the late GM Ilustrisimo, talk with the author of numerous FMA books, Guro Mark Wiley.  He studies with the GM in the Philippines and believes that the late was absolutely the best escrimador that he studied under.

I am a firm supporter of the idea that Modern Arnis is a ‘living conceptual martial arts system’ that should never be relegated to, considered or in any way treated as a “traditional system”.  As far as I am concerned Modern Arnis, in reality, has to evolve as it is moved from one culture to another.  Furthermore, it is critical that practitioners of the art adjust to the changing times where- ever the art is practiced.  As Professor Presas stated in various ways: 

“Arnis today has experienced changes in the weapons used.  Although the art still makes use of the itak or bolo now and then, it has relied considerably on the use of the cane as a self defense weapon.  This is not because the cane is less deadly than the bladed weapons but mainly because in the later years, Arnis is engaged in more as a sport.”

(Remy Amador Presas, page 12, 1973.).

“Body shifting is very important.  An eskrima player should be shifty in positioning his body at a vantage point so that he can strike with utmost power.  Proper body positioning will also enable him to be outside the effective range of an opponent’s blow or strike.  Body shifting consists of stepping, sliding, turning or (a) combination of these movements.”  (The Practical Art of Eskrima: 2nd Edition.  The Filipino Martial Art of Attack and Defense with cane or barehands, otherwise known as Arnis.  Remy Amador Presas, “Father of Modern Arnis”.  Page 26, 1994.)

“Learning to employ body shifting in arnis is extremely important. Virtually all the techniques in this book employ some degree of body shifting to move your body away from the opponent’s angle of attack, yet close the distance so that an effective defense can be used (counterstrike, disarm, takedown).”  (Presas, page 26, 1983.).

“Imagine that your stick is a sword and that you are “slicing” your opponent’s arm.”  (Presas, page 83, 1983.).

All of the above statements by Professor Remy Presas, the founder and Grand Master of Modern Arnis points toward one compelling concept, Modern Arnis is based on flexibility, mobility, footwork, body-shifting and was developed from a long blade orientation.  If anyone ignores or denies these truths then they are practicing a mere facsimile of the full art as developed by the founder.  I have based this conclusion on the written statements of the founder of Modern Arnis and not my own opinions or unsupported beliefs about how the art should be viewed.

I fully recognize and expect a number of so-called leaders and authorities to disagree with my conclusions in the above document.  They are entitled to their opinions and positions, however, in the final analysis these people have a deeply profound argument with Professor Remy Presas and not me, because I am merely quoting his statements, as published in three (3) books under his name.

Since these books are currently in print and readily available to the public, I will let the public decide whether or not I have fully and correctly understood what Professor meant when he wrote the various statements that I have quoted.  It is up to those who disagree with my positions to find written or some recorded video/audio documentation, that is easily accessible to others and use that data in their opposing documents.  Talk is cheap.  I am on record and stand by everything that I have written above until I am proven to be factually wrong.

Modern Arnis is a long blade oriented Filipino Martial Art that requires the practitioner to utilize mobility, body shifting, good footwork, with both physical and mental flexibility.  That is my professional instructional position and I am sticking to it!

Jerome Barber, Ed. D.

January 14, 2012

Hamburg, NY 14075

The Value of FMA Methodologies.

As a 26 year student of the Filipino martial arts (FMA), I’ve had my fair share of people question me about the practicality of training with weapons. Most of the time the question comes from a genuine desire to know more about and understand the methodologies found in the FMA, but other times the question comes in the form of a challenge to the validity of the training methodologies used in the FMA. The former comes from an “open” or innocent form of ignorance while the latter comes from a “closed” and malignant form. Usually the source of this malignant ignorance comes from someone who with a narrow frame of reference with varying degrees of training and varying degrees of functional skill in another martial art or with wrestling or mixed martial arts (MMA) in their background. The methodologies of the FMA are lost to them because they don’t understand the paradigm. I generally don’t fault them for that unless they’re really pushing the issue, and more often than not the guys that want to push the issue with me won’t get on the mat with me, even without a stick in my hand. That last statement isn’t me bragging about my skills, but rather it is a statement of how pusillanimous my past detractors have been.

I’ve known a fair number of people that are MMA enthusiasts. Some are just fans of the sport, as am I, and others are (or have been) competitors. They are often quick to dismiss any martial art that isn’t represented in one-on-one completion. In the last few decades, mixed martial arts has dominated the minds of a generation of martial arts enthusiasts, and has done so to the degree that many people involved in MMA equate combative sport with all-out combat or self defense under exigent circumstances. They often fail to see the difference between mutual combat in a ring and everything else, and they often discount the practicality of everything that isn’t used in the ring. Now, in my opinion, MMA is great training. It is great for fitness and functional skill, but where it falls short is that it is a sport with rules, weight divisions and controls and restrictions in place for the safety of the fighters. That’s great. It all has its place and I would be the last person to declare what goes on in the ring as invalid of not practical. However, there are certain aspects of the combat sport mentality that are problematic outside of competition. For the sake of brevity, this won’t be addressed here but may be the subject of a future article.

Unlike “traditional” martial arts (TMA), the FMA begins with weapons training and them transitions to empty hand. The weapon is an extension of the body, and when the transition is made from armed to unarmed methods, the motions and skills gained from working with weapons are essentially the same. In fact, the motions learned from training with weapons are mechanically more natural than the methodologies of other martial arts, as such they are easier to perfect because they are gross motor skills employing natural lines of body mechanics and motion. The FMA paradigm allows for the same skill set to be used with or without a weapon in your hand as opposed to TMA, where new skill sets are learned to accommodate the introduction of weapons. Additionally, weapons training found in the FMA imparts a certain flow that is not found in many TMA methodologies.

One of my students, who happens to be quite close to my age, related an experience to me where, on two separate occasions, he ran into an old friend from his youth. While they played catch-up on what they had been doing over the years, the conversation turned to their study of martial arts. His friends were practitioners of Brazilian jujitsu and began to espouse the merits of BJJ and proving oneself in tournaments and questioned my student’s choice of martial art. They asked questions like: What would you do without a stick? How would you use that if somebody took you down? It was clear to him that his friends were trying to raise their own self esteem by trying to drag his down, so he gave way in the conversation and let them say their piece. From what had been related to me, it seemed to me that his friends probably were young men trapped in middle-aged bodies with unresolved “manly man” self-esteem issues. To me, their innate need for competition at their age demonstrates a certain degree of immaturity. Why else would a guy who is well on his way to 40 and works for a living (i.e., not a professional athlete) need test himself in a one on one combat sport competition? Anyway, when my student asked his friends how they would handle and armed assailant, they said they would back away or run. When he asked them about dealing with multiple assailants and the possibility of getting curb stomped while grappling on the ground, they were dumbfounded and could not muster an answer due to their narrow frame of reference and malignant ignorance.

In contrast, one of my oldest students (and closest friends) had studied MMA and JKD for a few years before I met him and had already attained a blue belt in BJJ. By his admission, prior to getting onto the training floor with me he thought that I was either full of shit or somebody that really knows something. I suppose he found out one way or another as he still calls himself my student, even when I refer to him as my training partner. His prior experience with FMA was limited and rooted in his attendance at a McDojo that claimed to teach Eskrima, but really offered a watered down “sporty” (not sport, but sporty) version on FMA. After hearing the tales for what passed for training at the place I understood where he was coming from. He saw the value of what I was teaching from day one and in the weeks that followed, he began making connections between what I was teaching him and his prior BJJ/MMA training. He took the FMA concepts I was teaching and applied it what he already knew, in the true spirit of “mixed” martial arts.

"It is difficult to understand the universe if you study only one planet." – Miyamoto Musashi (The Book of Five Rings)

I have often said that at its core, any martial art is nothing more than geometry (arcs and angles), and an understanding of spatial relationships and timing. All martial arts in all cultures have that in common. Once you understand these things it is possible to dissect and gain understanding of any system of martial arts.

The core of my training and teaching regimen incorporates 18 classical methods or “styles” of FMA and five basic drills, each with several variations as well as numerous empty hand applications. The training paradigm used in our training sessions is geared toward exposing students to a broad spectrum of methodologies and guiding them to discover the connections between them. We use a series of striking patterns and drills to address concepts regarding geometry, range and timing. Through various drills, with and without weapons, students are exposed to appropriate responses to various arcs and angles of attack at various ranges. The focus of all of this variation is to train students to learn the dynamics of circular and linear motions and the mechanics that make them applicable in various situations. After being exposed to all of this, it becomes apparent that what seems to be an expansive curriculum is in fact built around a core of basic concepts and simple movements that are interrelated and universal.

“… it’s not just the hits, it the motion in between.” Neil Peart (Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage)

The importance of spatial relationships is also imparted and students learn how to affect and control spatial relationships through footwork and body shifting in order to move to a position of advantage over an opponent. Combat is not just fluid, it’s dynamic. Striking and blocking is only as good as how you get there. Being aware of your body, where your weapon is in relation you your opponent and where his is in relation to your position and how your body is aligned at a given moment seems like minutia, but when playing a game of fractions it is everything. Taking a small step forward or backward, displacing to the side or weaving and rolling while attacking and defending not only makes you elusive, but by moving it is also opens and closes windows of opportunity for attacks and counterattacks. Look at any fighter of any consequence - past or present. You will see that they have developed impeccable footwork and positioning due to their high degree of awareness and mastery of spatial relationships.

"The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment." Bruce Lee (The Tao of Jeet Kune Do)

Lastly, but probably most important of all, students are taught about timing and rhythm. In terms of timing, there are only three paradigms. You are either behind, matched with or ahead of your opponent. Each carries with it certain nuances that both limit and create opportunities, and each is heavily influenced by the rhythm or tempo of the engagement. Rhythm is either fluid or broken and it is rhythm that determines where you are in the regards to timing. One must have at least a functional understanding of rhythm in order to make any martial art work. We often strive to always be one step ahead of our opponents by overwhelming them with explosive barrages of fluid attacks and counter attacks. However, it is through the use of broken rhythm that we can really gain the advantage. Fluid motions create fluid rhythms that can be predictable and disrupted by broken rhythm, and it is by slowing down or being still where it is possible to bait your opponent, fooling him into thinking he has the initiative of superior timing and then stealing the initiative when he makes an anticipated move.

“… learn to forget..” Jim Morrison and the Doors (Soul Kitchen)

All three of these core concepts are pulled together not just through drills, but through “breaking” the drills to which they have been exposed. The purpose of drills is to isolate concepts, develop attributes and impart strategy. However, no matter how many movements a drill has in its structure, it is nothing more than repetition. Memorizing and mastering the movements in sequence is perhaps the lowest stage of learning. Learning a drill is not the end of the learning process. The desired end state to learning drills is that you forget pattern, forsake the drill and simply act. Yes - ACT, not react. In order to spontaneously flow you have to dissect the drill and extract the essence and then discard it. If you do not, the pattern will become habit and you become slave to your routine and will fail to act in an appropriate manner when the time presents itself. The highest level of development is where you have internalized everything you have learned and have transcended the superficiality of patterns and the dogma of style and system.

These concepts are not evident to those who don’t train in the FMA even though they are universal to all martial arts, and sadly they are often overlooked by those that do. Many just can’t see past the superficial and spend their time and energy simply mimicking their instructor and trying to be just like them. I can only suppose that they do so because it is easier to copy excellence than to be excellent. The late Remy A. Presas had been known for encouraging those he taught to find the connections and “make the art for yourself”. He was also known for saying “it’s all the same” referring to the motion of hand and weapon as well as and concepts surrounding the FMA. I have embraced this idea. I feel that my teachers have helped guide me toward doing just that and feel that I must pay all of that forward to those who come to me for training.