From: eskrima-digest-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: eskrima-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V6 #48 Reply-To: eskrima@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: eskrima-digest-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest Wed, 3 Feb 1999 Vol 06 : Num 048 In this issue: eskrima: Coming to Portland eskrima: Capital District Instructors eskrima: Festival of Kings eskrima: Re: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V6 #46 eskrima: Re: decrement Re: eskrima: internal power and FMA Re: eskrima: Re: decrement eskrima: Re: padded sticks eskrima: Re: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V6 #47 eskrima: training eskrima: More discussion on armor eskrima: padded sticks and disarms eskrima: . .......................................................................... Eskrima-Digest, serving the Internet since June 1994. 1000+ members strong! Copyright 1994-99: Ray Terry, Inayan System of Eskrima, Martial Arts Resource To send e-mail to this list use eskrima@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe eskrima-digest" (no quotes) in the body of an e-mail (top line, left justified) addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. See the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) FAQ and online search the last two years worth of digest issues at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Mabuhay ang eskrima! Ray Terry, PO Box 110841, Campbell, CA 95011 FMA@MartialArtsResource.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 11:52:59 EST Subject: eskrima: Coming to Portland Woof! I am coming to Matt Thornton's Straight Blast Gym on Valentines Day weekend for a training camp featuring Burton Richardson, Egan Inouie, and Randy Couture. I would love to meet any list members while I am there. Before any women get on me about training on Valentines Day, this trip is a gift from my wife. So let me know if you are going to be there, my email address is awsolis@aol.com or solismai@aol.com. Look forward to meeting some net friends. Woof! Alvis Hound Dog! ------------------------------ From: Thomas Paul Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 12:00:15 -0500 (EST) Subject: eskrima: Capital District Instructors Hi all I have been enjoying the discussions in this forum for a short while now, but have nowhere to really try any of the ideas presented. Does anyone know of any instructors/practicioners in the Albany, NY area who are open to new students? I have a few freinds who would probably also be willing to train as well. Thanks in advance - --Thom ------------------------------ From: "Tom Meadows" Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 09:05:16 -0800 Subject: eskrima: Festival of Kings Greetings, Does anyone on the list know: (1) If there is a Festival of Kings in Hawaii this year? (2) When it is? (3) and which Island it is on? Tommy the whip wants to go... Tom Meadows tmeadows@fix.net ------------------------------ From: Lonnie Pollard Date: Wed, 03 Feb 1999 12:11:39 -0500 Subject: eskrima: Re: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V6 #46 >I respect the idea of your first instructor. > >So do I. His technique is really ugly, but he's had a horrific amount of >experience and survived more bad shit than I care to even contemplate. For whatever it's worth, Gat Puno Abon has survived numerous knife attacks in the Philippines, in everyday life in Paete and as the personal body guard of the mayor. He speaks very much from personal experience. The issue of the small blade has partially to do with it being more difficult to disarm a small blade. In the instance of .22 vs. .45 handgun, the chances of disarm are about the same from one to another, and it is not a good comparison between handgun bullet size and blade size, or atleast that's my belief. Gat Puno Abon's father was famous for taking knives away from attackers, including well regarded knife fighters. His preference for the small blade came much from his own knowledge of the extra difficulty of disarming a small blade, and also the reduced predictability. Knowledge of the body gained through learning Hilot plays into this also, and the body has many vulnerabilities that aren't well known. Something else that must be considered is something that conceptually I must credit Marc MacYoung for bringing to light, and that is with the approach that various martial arts take. Some focus on what will work against 90% of the attackers one might come across, and there is nothing wrong with that for learning self-defense, but then there is the rare art that is more concerned with that other 10%. The "Garimot" system does not like to assume that ones attacker will be sloppy, but rather that ones attacker will be a highly skilled fighter, and it takes that as its starting point. It avoids many common defenses that although would work in most self defense situations would leave one highly vulnerable if they tried it with highly skilled fighters. I'm not arguing any relative superiority of one approach or another, but rather I think it worthy to remember to look at the context of a systems approach. GM Felipe Baet knew too well how much easier it was for him to defend against a large blade than a small blade, and as such he assumed that anyone he came up against would be just as skilled as him and thus the small blade would give an advantage. I know that there is the easy argument that there are extremely few who are skilled enough to disarm a blade of any size in a real encounter, and as such why use a small blade when it is unlikely that you are going to come up against anyone that can take a knife away from you. Choose for yourself according to the art you are studying. A long blade will probably serve you well. The "Garimot" system has numerous reasons for preferring a short knife, and to study the system is to learn why. Lonnie Pollard, student of the "Garimot" system ------------------------------ From: "Randall M. Brannan" Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 09:21:15 -0800 (PST) Subject: eskrima: Re: decrement "Marc Denny" wrote: >> Age has been shown to decrement 3 components of physical ability: >> endurance, strength and speed in that order. > >"Decrement?" I'm not familiar with this term. Is it related to excrement, >e.g. one is no longer full of excrement, one is decremented? Or is this a >college educated term for "decrease"? ;-) Although I'm not the person who used the word, I have used it before so I figured I'd look it up anyway. From Webster's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary: "decrement ...(1610)(1) a gradual decrease in quality or quantity (2)..." Sounds like a pretty appropriate word to use for what the original writer was describing. After all, the decrease is "gradual." Randy B. ------------------------------ From: dale cordes Date: Wed, 03 Feb 1999 11:25:34 -0500 Subject: Re: eskrima: internal power and FMA > Serious and authentic Tai Chi people have > specialized strength training, and some have very unusual muscular > development, over the body and out to the extremities. > Mike Dayton (the famous body builder) used to teach a Chi system that was quite good. In his younger days he used to do some pretty impresive demonstrations busting handcuffs and the such (not my goal mind you). Does anyone know if he's still teaching and or how to reach him? Thanks, DC ------------------------------ From: Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 09:40:38 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: eskrima: Re: decrement > >"Decrement?" I'm not familiar with this term. Is it related to excrement, > >e.g. one is no longer full of excrement, one is decremented? Or is this a > >college educated term for "decrease"? ;-) > > Although I'm not the person who used the word, I have used it before > so I figured I'd look it up anyway. > >From Webster's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary: > "decrement ...(1610)(1) a gradual decrease in quality or quantity (2)..." > > Sounds like a pretty appropriate word to use for what the original > writer was describing. After all, the decrease is "gradual." I think that Crafty was just -trying- to be funny... :) As we know, decrement/increment are very commonly used words. Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 12:54:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: eskrima: Re: padded sticks I'm baffled at the number of people who have mentioned breaking padded training sticks, so I'd like to pass along a few things that have worked for my group. ***First - don't buy the "padded escrimas" from your local MA dealer - these usualy suck big time. They break quite easily and have no significant padding; you might as well just use a piece of pvc pipe! ***Second - make them with a core of 1/2" or 3/4" pvc. If you want them more solid either double up the core (ie. a 1/2" piece glued inside a 3/4" piece) or use a wooden dowl core glued inside the pipe. Thin rattan will work fine, also. We have done experiments with fiberglass cores, and these are lighter than pvc ones and not as whippy with the 1/2" core and seem to last just as long. Rattan is the strongest, obviously. ***Third - use the GOOD pipe insulation that is 5/8" - NOT the more common 3/8" insulation. Frost King is one brand of the 5/8" type. This makes all the difference in the world. ***Fourth - Leave the handle area unpadded but built up with tape / rope / etc. to give a grip. Cover the butt of the weapon with a cap and more foam - you want these so the edges of the pipe won't poce through and cut anyone. ***Fifth - Cover the end of the pipe with a cap so it doesn't cut into the foam and also makes thrusting safer. Using a tip piece of open cell foam will also make the thrust safer. About 2" of foam is fine, just don't compact it too much when taping it in place. ***Sixth - In taping the weapon be carefull to not compact the rest of the stick either. Use strips of tape long-ways. The sticks we made with these methods have lasted us for years of crashing and bashing with only a few breaks. Though sparring with these doesn't have the "reality" like using rattan, they can be very usefull and are great for getting new people to try stick fighting - and without a helmet can still do a good bit of damage. Pete Kautz Arnis-Kali Ithaca ------------------------------ From: jmfrankl Date: Wed, 3 Feb 99 13:53:53 -0400 Subject: eskrima: Re: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V6 #47 >We always teach our students to realize is that you will fight according to >how you train. And since you won't use padding in a real fight....... > First let me say if you are having success with this strategy, great. But, this sort of logic breaks down on several levels. For a graphic example, according to it, how should gunfighters train? For a more quotidian example (inserted this word for Crafty), Thai Boxers almost never spar the way Western boxers do, and never throw elbows even when doing their slow motion sparring. Yet they perform quite well in the ring (perhaps because they are not injured beforehand?). >One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that your hands get pretty >tough from getting hit repeatedly. Maybe, although this has not been my experience, but if hit hard they get injured too. Also, does this approach apply to full-power head shots? >It hurts, and you bruise, etc. But >that's what dit da jow and other linaments are for, right? Not exactly. With dit da jow, often, the practitioner conditions his own body parts and so has control over the slowly increasing intensity of the impact(s). This certainly is not the case with sparring. >Besides building >toughness you also build up pain tolerance as well. For me, glancing blows >don't have the same effect, and wounds tend to heal faster than when I first >started. This makes sense. Just like any sort of gradual body conditioning. But it does not really apply to the original assertion of sparring without protection. Finally, and Crafty or someone with more time than I at the Inosanto Academy may remember this better, I remember Guru Inosanto saying that the many "hammer" type blows in Panantukan/Pangamut came from the fact that many of the older fighters had had their knuckles so banged up in stick fights that they couldn't/wouldn't punch with them. Ring a bell anyone? >Jun Galicha >IESA John Frankl ------------------------------ From: Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 12:07:17 -0800 (PST) Subject: eskrima: training > >We always teach our students to realize is that you will fight according to > >how you train. And since you won't use padding in a real fight....... > > First let me say if you are having success with this strategy, great. > But, this sort of logic breaks down on several levels. For a graphic > example, according to it, how should gunfighters train? Still works fine. We train by always doing tactical reloads, engaging multiple targets, moving while firing, engaging targets under stress (i.e. after being hit with a stun gun, or having people firing blank guns over your head, etc), by scanning to the left and right after firing to hopefully compensate for the tunnel vision you will encounter, practicing 'wounded officer' techniques, firing from unusual positions, etc. Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: "Al \"Got This Fish On The Move\" Sardinas" Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 15:47:45 -0500 Subject: eskrima: More discussion on armor Steve Wolk and Jon Howard made some good points about padding and I agree with them. Better to wear padding and train another day. But again my original problem with armor is that wearing it will not build courage. As far as building fighting skills, I recommend unpadded controlled sparring on gradual levels as each participant is ready to turn it up a notch. And if readers don't mind I like to repeat Guro Galicha's (edited) wisdom - "One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that your hands get pretty tough from getting hit repeatedly. .....Besides building toughness you also build up pain tolerance as well." My instructor, Gat Puno Abon "Garimot" Baet, echoes these thoughts as well. And using my instructor as a reference, the ultimate skill would be not to get hit at all (that's what 25 years of full contact unpadded sparring will do for you!) Respectfully, Al Sardinas Student of Garimot System of Arnis ------------------------------ From: "Al \"Got This Fish On The Move\" Sardinas" Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 16:15:12 -0500 Subject: eskrima: padded sticks and disarms Mr. Greg McFerren wrote that he believed there are two types of disarms, incidental and accidental. I would like to add another term - lucky. He also wrote that when hitting a person, especially in the torso, that the stick stops for a sec before you can withdraw it enabling the other person to " trap" your stick with his/her arm/or hand. I like to add that when striking if you execute only one strike yes you might be disarmed but if you execute 3 or more strikes the chances for being disarmed is less. The greater the chance for being disarmed is when the stick comes to a rest. Also, regarding the torso hit keep in mind when striking that no more than 2 inches of the stick should make contact. The smaller the stick hit the faster it will travel. Respectfully, Al Sardinas Student of Garimot System of Arnis ------------------------------ From: Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 14:19:19 -0800 (PST) Subject: eskrima: . ------------------------------ End of Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V6 #48 *************************************** To unsubscribe from this digest, eskrima-digest, send the command: unsubscribe eskrima-digest -or- unsubscribe eskrima-digest your.old@address in the BODY of email (top line, left justified) addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com, directory pub/eskrima/digests. All digest files have the suffix '.txt' Copyright 1994-99: Ray Terry, Inayan System of Eskrima, Martial Arts Resource Standard disclaimers apply.