Kali/Escrima

[FarmerJim]

Hey Yall I had the chance to attend a pretty private Kali (Filipino Martial Art) class on Sunday and I greatly enjoyed it. Me, the Guru and 1 other (experienced) student. Anyone else had the chance to try it out? What did you think?

[The Professor]

After over 25 years in the Martial Arts studying primarily Korean and Japanese styles, I found FMA.  I've been studying various forms of it and even encouraged my wife to study some of the more modern derivations of it.

Considering where it originated and why, I think it's a great martial art as long as you don't get too deeply into some of the various mixtures of Kool-Aid that some practitioners whip up.  Stick with the basics and have fun with it.  You'll find it's a very adaptable and practical martial art.

The Professor

[FarmerJim]

Thanks! I agree fully. My local instructor prides himself on being a "normal guy" with a 9-5 who simply does this as a passion (mind you he's certified from both the Phillipines and the U.S.) he jokes about how US students have "ADHD" and so he changes weapon focus every 6 weeks (now is single stick and next is empty hand)

[Aceman]

I AM NOT a KAli/Escrima/Arnis practitioner.  I will say this though - I LOVE the idea of that art.

To me - it is essentially the fundamentals of hand held weapons taken to the extreme.  Whereas most styles go to specific techniques - they hit the basics until they are natural.

I would recommend it as a core art for anyone interested in ANY sort of weapons training.  (And I know it applies to more than just weapons)

30+ year Chinese internal Martial artist and Kobodu practitioner.   I'd hit Fillipino styles early if I had my life to live over.

[aggieprepper]

I am NOT a Kali/Escrima practitioner, but would love to find a place that teaches it and have the chance to learn. 

That being said, I have trained in various other arts that have a weapons focus within the art and love training with weapons.  Really though, weapons are just an extension of your body and are great to train with no matter what art you practice.

[island1]

I have practiced Kali-Kun Tao for about 2 years from a local instructor and practitioner of >35 years.

It is a very street level practical art form of fighting, unusually operating from a attacked to counter attack situation and dealing with the variables with techniques and when to employ them.

Our class comprises of open hand techniques, joint locks, some ground fighting ( but not much) and weaponry such as escrima stick, knife counter attacks and defence, as well as the karambit.
We drill these movements constantly, to develop the flow when countering an attack, and follow-up to make sure the attacker is severely disabled or has completely "stopped"..

If you can find a good local instructor well versed in FMA, I highly recommend it.
For females, I think it's a no non sense self defence for
the streets, and builds their confidence.

Besides, it's fun when practicing the techniques and you'll discover what techniques work and don't well work for you.
I'm a fairly short person, some techniques will not work on somebody way taller than me!

BUT you'll move to another technique that may work as you'll learn to flow around the attacker. Improvisation is encouraged in our class to develop instinctive memory to move away or to the threat if opportunity exist for counter attack.

[Soladaddy]

A 4 year student of Kali mixed in with, Muay Thia, TKD, and Haganah. We are taught Kali a bit backwards with double stick first, then stick and knife, followed by single stick, then knife, empty hand. His logic is to get both hands working early on so both sides will be effective. It is the most difficult discipline out of the 4 to get down and the most amazing one to see in action.

[DKdecay]

I find FMA interesting, but in most cases, many elements of it, falls into the same category as martial arts, while martial arrs can definitely enhance your overall had to hand fighting capabilities, it does not truely involve the chaotic nature of more real fighting. As Mick Coup once said, martial arts practitioners more often then not, drag the level of training and sparring down to a comfortable level, instead of raising up to it. My best learning experiences, even though FMA is among them, AMOK and urban combatives along with KALAH really rakes the cake. The intensity in Kalah is beyond believable, and will make or break you. But it works. Look it up, work with it 😊