From: eskrima-digest-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: eskrima-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V8 #132 Reply-To: eskrima@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: eskrima-digest-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest Tues, 13 March 2001 Vol 08 : Num 132 In this issue: eskrima: Swords eskrima: NAAKESC STICK FIGHT IN MAY 27,2001(Sunday) eskrima: Balintawak fyi eskrima: whip article eskrima: Limbering eskrima: black belt in 5 lessons eskrima: Re:neck rotations eskrima: . ========================================================================== Eskrima-Digest, serving the Internet since June 1994. 1300 members strong! Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and Martial Arts Resource The premier internet discussion forum devoted to Filipino Martial Arts. Provided in memory of Mangisursuro Mike Inay (1944-2000), Founder of the Inayan System of Eskrima. Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe eskrima-digest" (no quotes) in the body (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. To send e-mail to this list use eskrima@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com See the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) FAQ and the online search engine for back issues of the Eskrima-Digest at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Mabuhay ang eskrima! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 9:25:45 PST Subject: eskrima: Swords Some interesting reading at this URL: http://swordhistory.com. Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: ARNISTE@aol.com Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 11:56:07 EST Subject: eskrima: NAAKESC STICK FIGHT IN MAY 27,2001(Sunday) Meownews to all, The Upcoming NAAKESC Stick Fight please go to: http://catsociety.freeservers.com Thanks, Nelson"PinoyKowboy"Trinidad CATSociety ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 9:58:55 PST Subject: eskrima: Balintawak fyi FYI... Ray ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Balintawak Arnis/Escrima Venancio Bacon or 'Anciong' as he was known by his Filipino nickname, was the first to call his school/club Balintawak, but he was not initially the major inspiration behind the Cebu Escrima movement. To find the beginning of the Balintawak school, you must look at the early twentieth century innovators and originators of the collective, Arnis/Escrima movement in Cebu. One of the first major Escrima schools in Cebu was the Labangon Fencing Club of the 1920's. The Saavedra family, especially Lorenzo Saavedra and his nephews Teodoro and Frederico Saavedra and the older Canete brothers were the main influence and force behind it. Venancio Bacon was one of the Saavedra's students and also, was a close family friend. During the 20's, because of what some say was due to political infighting between members and through a general lack of interest by some, the Labangon club folded. Later in 1932 the Saavedra's and Canete's became founding members of another Escrima club, the now famous, 'Doce Pares'. The new club being made up of some of the old Labangon club members are said to have wanted to try and forget the past and de-localise the name of their new club, by not using the old name of 'Labangon'. Labangon is a suburb of Cebu and it's loose translation into English is something akin to 'A bridge over running water'. The members wanted to give the club a more regional appearance with a more dramatic, recognisable name. Some older Escrimadors from Cebu, from their point of view, believe the older club simply evolved and adopted the new name 'Doce Pares'. In World War II the Saavedra family was all but wiped out by the Japanese and after the war the Escrima school was far from the remaining Saavedra family members minds. One family group developed the leading major role in the Doce Pares. A political division broke out, with this family and the deceased families instructors and students. Anciong Bacon, one of these disgruntled instructors, due to personal and political reasons, decided to break away and opened his own club. He opened his first gym in Balintawak street in Cebu City in 1951. The term Balintawak refers to an area in Luzon where in 1896 a successful revolt and battle took place against the Spanish. Balintawak was later used by other Filipinos during different battles as a war cry, so Venancio thought it fitting that his new club should be named after the street where his club was located and the patriotic symbol and battle cry of the warriors of his country. Venancio was expert in several styles of Escrima, and was also skilled in Boxing, Filipino grappling or Dumog and Jui Jitsu, which is referred to by some Filipinos as Combat Judo. He reasoned that by combining the theories and concepts of these different styles of fighting a very rough and effective form of Martial Art could be produced. His style of teaching however was quite different from the way some Balintawak schools teach today. Anciong's style had no clear lines of instruction, his students were taught techniques and fighting principles at random. One of Venancio's successors to Balintawak was a Lawyer called Attorney Jose Villasen. He set about to systemise and group the style into its various categories so that his students could master one set of related techniques and then move onto the next set of related techniques. This is the juncture where several distinct schools of Balintawak emerged. Many of Venancio's Balintawak students and some of Venancio's and the Saavedra's older Doce Pares students continued to teach in the old style of random instruction, while Attorney Villasen's family and close friends/students used his unique grouping method. Some instructors from the different instructional styles state the grouped method is modified Balintawak. This is not so. The techniques and principles of Grouped Balintawak have not been made different in form, restricted, varied, or limited in any matter and have been observed to be still, all the same. It is simply the method of teaching that has been examined and refined. Even some older Doce Pares Grandmasters (whom we have had the privilege to have trained with), whose lineage comes from Bacon and/or the Saavederas all have the same style and moves, (if their instructor had any length or high degree of training) but they simply do not have the same teaching system. Another Balintawak student of Venancio and then instructor for Venancio, Timoteo E. Marranga formed his own school of the 'Super Kuwentada Escrima System' ('Kuwentada' or 'Cuentada' or counting as it translates into English was a name Venancio sometimes called his style) and taught in the special regimen of his own school. Most of Attorney Villasen's family and close friends/students however used Jose's unique grouping method. One student of Attorney Villasen's was Teofilo A. Velez (Teovil or Filo). He formed his own club and began to teach but while Attorney Villasen only taught privately to close friends and relatives Teofilo opened his club to the general public. There are now a number of Balintawak schools scattered throughout the Philippines as well as Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the U.S.A. Some of these Balintawak schools are from both methods of random instruction and grouped instruction. All of these schools have the right to call themselves Balintawak, if they or their instructors can trace their instruction back to Venancio Bacon. ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 10:52:50 PST Subject: eskrima: whip article An old article by Marlo Brown, I think... Ray -------------------------------------------------------------------- Homemade Whips and Snakes from Rope DISCLAIMER: Using whips and snakes is potentially hazardous and should be approached with caution. The end of a whip is moving faster than sound and can raise huge welts, tear flesh and cause injury if used carelessly. I have no control over how you make a whip or snake and use it, and therefore I claim no responsibility for the use of this information. If you make a whip or snake, you do so at your own risk. Introduction: The main benefit of making a whip or snake from rope or clothesline is cost. For a tiny fraction of the price of a professionally-made whip, it's possible to make a whip that's adequate for practicing and learning basic skills. For those who've watched all the Indiana Jones movies and always wanted to try it, a low-priced, homemade whip is ideal. It also gives a person a chance to try a new length or style of whip with little investment of time or cash and should last at least long enough to let you know if you like this hobby and want to pay the higher cost of a professional leather whip. The materials: You need some form of sturdy rope or clothesline. My whip is nine feet long and was made with plastic-core, cotton-covered clothesline. You also need some strong thread (carpet thread is ideal), possibly some tape, and some leather thongs for the poppers. Boot laces work fine. Techniques: Two techniques are used in construction: a four-strand "macrame" and a three strand braid. Both are simple. The macrame is similar to closing the flaps of a cardboard box. Three strands overlap, either clockwise or counterclockwise, with the fourth strand tucking under the first. With both the macrame and the braid, you may want to experiment a bit with string or light rope before buying or cutting something more expensive. Starting the macrame's a little tricky. Cut however much rope you're going to use in half and cross the two parts at the midpoint. It should look like a big "plus" sign. For the sake of description, imagine the four parts pointing North, South, East and West. Arrange the ropes so that the North-South rope is the one on top. Let's start by taking the East rope and folding it back towards the West end. What you should have is a "U" shape with the N-S rope running through it. What *was* the East rope should be "above" or "North" of the West rope. Now take the North rope and fold it in half towards the South rope. It should end up lying next to the South rope, just to its "left" or "West" side. Now take the original West rope and fold it back toward the East side, so that the East-West rope looks like a big backwards "S." Finally, take the South rope and fold it toward the North. It will pass ON TOP of the West rope you just folded over toward the East, and THROUGH the loop formed by the first fold you made (folding the East rope toward the West). What you now have is two backward "S" shapes (one rotated 90 degrees) that interlock. Looking at it another way, we just folded all four ends over, working in a counterclockwise direction, much as we fold over the flaps of a box, as I mentioned earlier. Pull all the ends tight, and you have the basis for the macrame pattern. Repeat the steps above, but in reverse this time. That is, you started going counterclockwise, so this time go clockwise, folding over an end, then folding over the next one, then the next one, and tucking the last one in and pulling all the ends tight. The next layer is counterclock- wise, then another clockwise one, etc. Congratulations! You've learned the four-strand macrame, the only difficult part in making a whip! The three-strand braid is even easier. Lay the three strands out in front of you. One end of the three strands should be secured. When experimenting with string, just tie the three ends together or wrap a piece of tape around them. Now, take the right strand in put it between the other two. Then take the left strand and put it between the others. Then take the right strand and put it between the others, then take the left strand and place it between the other two. Continue alternating between the right and left strands. Simple, isn't it? The construction process: Whip construction using this method consists of four steps: -the handle -the macrame part -the braided part -the poppers The handle is simply a piece of wood, such as a 3/4" dowel, in the center of the first part of the macrame. Start the whip by crossing the two pieces of rope and placing the butt of the handle down onto the intersection. Do the macrame, but with the wood in the center of it. The handle of my whip is about 18" long. I used some electrical tape at the very end of the handle to stabilize the macrame and to form a grip. You could conceivably wrap the entire handle with tape. If it works for you, do it. When you reach the end of the handle, continue the macrame as you originally learned it. On my whip, this part is about 3.5 feet long. The next stage is the braid. To make the transition from macrame to braid a little less abrupt, I cut off one rope, leaving an end a few inches long. Placing it alongside another one of the three remaining ropes, I began a three-strand braid, with one strand being thicker than the other two. I didn't bother to finish the raw end of the fourth strand in any way, so it has frayed a bit over the years, but it's never come loose from the braid. To be neat, I could have tied the end to one of the other strands with carpet thread before braiding. The braided portion of my whip, by the way, is approximately 3.5 feet long, just about the same length as the macrame part. I finished off the braid by attaching one popper to each of the three strands in the braid. I then wrapped the last few inches of the braid with tape. It's not exactly elegant, but it allows me to replace the poppers when one breaks. I've done this once that I can remember. The poppers are 12" long, plus a few inches of overlap with the braided part. The poppers were originally leather boot laces, and they've become very soft and supple over the years from use. Dimensions of my whip: Handle: 15" Macrame: 3.5' Braid: 3.5' Poppers: 12" Total length: 9 feet, 3 inches That's it! I hope these instructions were clear enough to follow easily. Variations: To make a snake instead of a whip, simply omit the wooden handle. The whip which I examined before making mine was about 12-14 feet long. It used a double macrame to start off, then went to a single macrame (the four-strand type describe above), then to a braid, and finally to the poppers. The double macrame is nothing but a four-strand macrame, but each "rope" is now two pieces of rope treated as one strand. In other words, you would cut *FOUR* pieces of rope. Lay down two alongside one another, then lay down the other two perpendicular to the first two. Pretend you're doing a four-strand macrame, but with thicker ropes. I don't think the double macrame will be useful unless you want to make a *REALLY* long whip. As shorter whips and snakes are safer and easier to control, I don't recommend the long ones. ------------------------------ From: kalkiusa@netscape.net Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 13:30:51 -0500 Subject: eskrima: Limbering > Interesting as I was taught to go from head downwards. > My reading has taken this direction too. I do either, varying routines from one situation to another, e.g., teaching others I always work top-down, axis, then extremities, central to peripheral (e.g., shoulders, to elbows, wrists, fingers) ... but will usually work toes and ankles before knees, only straight-legged hip rotations if I do hips before knees/ankles. Top-down in my limited experience is closely associated with (oh no!) "energy" considerations :-) related to a preference for avoiding moving primal stuff upward, e.g., as in kundalini emphasizing moving from root to crown. I'm really abbreviating here, but the preference, per my limited experience, is for the electrical quality top-to-bottom in contrast to the heat/fire quality of bottom-to-top. > Not that it really matters but the toes, ankles, > wrists and fingers are areas a lot do overlook. Yah, both free movement and manipulation of shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers should be brought into play. A good manipulation to stimulate strengthening of finger ligaments is to -mildly- wring individual fingers as though twisting a cap off of a bottle (put finger in palm of hand, close hand around finger and twist with mild-to-moderate resistance (painfree). > How about neck rotations? Do you rotate the head right round > or just 180 degree? The reason is the rotation around the back > could compress the nerves at the top of the spine. I was warned > from this years ago but still see qualified systems using the > 360 method. Any thoughts here? Just a couple :-) The joints have characteristic ranges of motion (ROMs) per anatomical terms. I teach "limbering" and dynamic ROM based on these. The characteristic/generic ROMs are circumduction, rotation, lateral flexion, flexion, extension, and gliding. A good order to follow is to start with these simple ROMs in the order: circumduction, rotation, lateral flexion if possible, then flexion, and finishing with extension (realigning). Circumduction is the 360 degree thing you mentioned, rotation is looking side-to-side, lateral flexion is trying to touch your ear to your shoulder, flexion is dropping the head forward, extension is raising the head (hyperextension is dropping the head back). The main problem with circumduction of the neck is the vertebral arteries. In some people, moderate to hyper-extension of the neck either in circumduction or just by extending, can close the vertebral arteries and put the unsuspecting to sleep ... next stop is back of the head hits the floor ... not ! good. Some people can experience this in any posture just as a result of individual differences in the structure of the bones of their spine. In some, with atherosclerosis, moderate pressure can break off plaques which will then go straight into arteries in the brain ... next stop, stroke city ... a "brain attack". It might be difficult to injure the cord by controlled, voluntary extension. Unless the vertebrae of the neck are in bad position w.r.t. one another or there's some structural "thing" which encroaches on the spinal nerves of the neck I wouldn't be overly concerned about affecting nerves by the extension part of neck circumduction. The vertebral arteries pass through in a way that makes them very vulnerable though ("broken neck" can shear the vertebral arteries => death). Lateral flexion of the neck gets some people into trouble, especially if their approach is "gung ho." It's easy to move some of those bones into a painful sitchyation that way. If someone has difficulty with full circumduction, they can still do limited circumduction ... just don't drop the head back ... roll it forward, then from shoulder-to-shoulder instead ... still does good for the neck. Full circumduction of the neck is OK if the spinal structure is OK for full circumduction. Mitakeyo Oyasin, Mik __________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Webmail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/ ------------------------------ From: "Dale" Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 15:14:36 -0600 Subject: eskrima: black belt in 5 lessons Hi Y'all, I got this via e-mail. What the heck are we waisting all of our time for? There is no doubt however that the people that pay are in fact certifyable. - ---- Become a certified Kung Fu Blackbelt in five easylessons for just $499.00 !! "A $1000 Dollar Value" ------------------------------ From: GHSoto@aol.com Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 17:16:47 EST Subject: eskrima: Re:neck rotations I think anytime an individual has a injury or problem area then it is always best to go light and feel what is benefiting and what is not. Neck rotations are really no more harmful then hip rotations, if the area is healthy and not damaged. The cervical spine is designed for full movement and as long as you don't hold the position but move through the position it is fine. Again this is based on there being no prior damage to regiion. Sticks and Stones GHSoto ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 16:45:52 PST Subject: eskrima: . ------------------------------ End of Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V8 #132 **************************************** To unsubscribe from the eskrima-digest send the command: unsubscribe eskrima-digest -or- unsubscribe eskrima-digest your.old@address in the BODY (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com. Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and the Martial Arts Resource Standard disclaimers apply.