DAGGER SKILLS AS PREREQUISITE TO FMA EMPTY HAND TRAINING

December 28, 2013 7:56 pm

By PERRY GIL S. MALLARI
FIGHT TIMES EDITOR

Nicolas (left) using a standard grip counters his opponents attack by cutting
the wrist.

The Filipino martial arts (FMA) are highly conceptual in nature. Understanding the
underlying concepts of the FMA is the key to mastering the transition from weapons
to empty hand fighting.
The dagger, being shorter than the sword or stick is a good tool to use in
understanding the transition between weapons and empty hand fighting. Take note
that the FMA being originally a battlefield art has a reversed progression of training
compared to other Asian martial arts. In arnis, escrima and kali, the student trains
with weapons first then later on progresses to empty hand fighting.
After taking away the daggers, the practitioner would realize that he could destroy
his enemys limbs even without a blade. The nerve-rich areas at the base of the
arms, the shoulders and the armpits are excellent targets for empty hand hits like
punches and elbow strikes. The armpit areas are so vulnerable that the improper
use of crutches could damage the nerve networks underneath it causing paralysis
to the triceps and wrist extensors. A grappling move that dislocated the shoulder
joint may press the arm bone on the nerve of the armpits paralyzing part of that
limb. Any hits on the various points of the arm could damage the median, ulnar and

radial nerves that run along its length. The effect may range from pins-and-needles
sensation to temporary motor dysfunction to permanent paralysis, depending on
the force of the blow.
The most common way of translating FMA weapon techniques into empty hand
applications is through the basic angles of attacks. This means you retain the angle
but substitute the blade or the stick with your limbs. Take for example angle number
one a downward diagonal blow from left to right common to many FMA styles. The
gist of the whole thing is it doesnt matter whether youre using a baseball bat, a
kitchen knife or your fist; a downward diagonal blow is a downward diagonal blow. It
wont take much practice to identify what empty hand technique would fit best a
particular angle of attack. Hooking punches and roundhouse kicks fit horizontal
angles while uppercuts and knee strikes fit upward angles.

Reference: Manila Times: http://www.manilatimes.net/dagger-skills-as-prerequisiteto-fma-empty-hand-training/63768/

Strength training for FMA practitioners

January 11, 2014 10:00 pm
By Perry Gil S. Mallari

The stronger you become the better martial artist you will be. In a weapon-oriented
system like the Filipino martial arts (FMA), the importance of strength training
cannot be over-emphasized. Strength is particularly important in stick fighting for
unlike in blade fighting where the weapons edge is the one creating damage; you
need power to inflict serious injury with a stick.
Strength training was not much of a concern for the early Filipinos who practiced
arnis, escrima and kali. For in those days, when much of the Philippines were
agricultural lands, hard labor was the norm of the day. Stick fighters in that bygone
era had very little need for specialized conditioning because their bodies were
toughened day in and day out through grueling farm labor. Not so for 21st century
FMA practitioners, which is the reason why I wrote this piece.
Throughout this article I will be mentioning specific exercises but my main focus will
be on the general principle of strength training and answering the question, How
can a martial artist become stronger?
In a nutshell, increasing your muscles capability to generate tension is the essence
of strength training. Because tension is the mechanism by which your muscles
generate force, says Russian strength expert Pavel Tsatsouline.
This ability to generate maximum muscular tension is the foundation of powerful
hitting not only in Filipino stick fighting but in other martial arts as well. This is
demonstrated when youre delivering a hit whether with a weapon or with your
limbsyou tensed up maximally at the point of impact. Your ability to inflict damage
on your opponent and escape injury would be dependent on how skilled you are in
generating muscular tension.

It was proven time in again that synergism produces better results than isolation as
far as physical training is concerned. Synergism within the context of this discussion
pertains to the collective efforts of several body parts as opposed to isolation that
concentrates on just one part.
In FMA for example, it seems logical to isolate the arms and the hands then
concentrate on strengthening them since at a glance, they are the ones that are
mainly used in wielding sticks and other weapons. But this is only partially correct.
Tsatsouline and many strength experts believe that hard abdominal muscles plus
strong hands result to a powerful body. On the importance of developing the
abdominal muscles, Tsatsouline in his book Power to the People, wrote, Maximally
tensed abs and obliques also elevate your intra-abdominal and intra-thoracic
pressure which fortifies any exertion. There is a positive relationship between your
inside pressure and your power, a so-called pnumo-muscular reflex.
Somehow this pressure potentiates muscle excitability. In non-geek words, it
amplifies your strength.
In conjunction with developed abs, another strength expert, Dr. Ken Leistner
stresses the importance of developing power in the hands and forearms, As
neuroanatomists know, the area of the brain that exerts control over the hand
muscles has a much higher representation relative to actual muscle size than other
muscle groups. Although it is strictly conjecture, perhaps intense forearm/hand work
heightens neural stimulation for all muscles worked during a particular movement.
My experience has shown that taking the time and energy to directly stimulate the
forearm musculature leads to increased ability to handle heavy weights in many
exercises.
Another anatomical part that need ample amount of training if you intend to
develop total body strength are the legs. For those with already strong hands,
training the legs may seem optional but there is solid science backing the advice
that intense leg training results to greater overall strength. John Wood, an advocate
of oldtime strongman training and owner of oldtimestrongman.com, explains how
the development of the lower extremities affect overall strength, Since the
musculature of the hips and legs is the largest in the body, training that area in the
most intense manner possible causes your own body to start producing even more
testosterone and growth hormone making further muscle growth possible. The end
result is a bigger, stronger, more powerful you. What I also find interesting about
Woods explanation is that it offers a sound scientific rationale for the age-old
practice of static stance training found in many martial arts.

After identifying the key parts to train, the next question to answer is what kind of
resistance is the best for developing strength. Excluding sophisticated machines,
the most practical choices available to martial artists are free weights (barbells and
dumbbells), body weight calisthenics (pushups and pull-ups) and dynamic tension
(fitting muscles against muscles). I personally use all three depending on the
situation. When I am home and have access to equipment, I train with weights.
When I was still a reporter travelling frequently locally and abroad, I rely on body
weight exercises and dynamic tension because I can do them in my hotel room.
Choose exercises that are multi-joint or employ the shoulder, elbow, hip and knee
(remember that the goal is synergy not isolation), Why are these four joints so
important? Because, again, these are the places where most of the movement
begins. From these four joints come flexibility and movement, wrote fitness expert
Marco Borges in his book Power Moves.
Examined through this principle, the deadlift is the No.1 free weights routine while
in body-weight callisthenics, pushup is the king. It is important to emphasize that
you will not get stronger by doing easy exercises. If the goal is explosive power, opt
for really heavy weights using low repetition when training with dumbbells and
barbells. If youre employing body weight calisthenics, increase the difficulty of an
exercise to amplify the resistance. For example, you can go for one-arm pushups or
handstand pushups instead of doing regular pushups.
When it comes to dynamic tension training, Tsatsouline offers some very interesting
findings, Maximally tensing the muscles in the absence of resistance or with light
weight is only possible when the subject ignores the feedback offered by his
muscles and tendons, namely, that there is no resistance to contract against. The
opposite of a normal feedback operation, the feed-forward tension technique of
maximally contracting the muscles regardless of the weight, should build
superhuman strength! Once the muscles are subjected to a very heavy load, they
will be able to successfully ignore the reality and lift the damn thing! Keep in mind
that you must lift real heavy weights at least some of the time.
In ending, I want to make clear that strength training should be regarded as a
means to an end and not the end itself. In sports science there is what you call
principle of specificity, which simply means you will become good at what you
practice. Someone said that if you want to become a good cyclist; ride a bike. I
would say that if you want to become a good escrimador then swing those sticks.

Reference: Manila Times: http://www.manilatimes.net/strength-training-for-fmapractitioners/67030/

Factors affecting speed in stick fighting
June 29, 2013 9:50 pm
By PERRY GIL S. MALLARI
MARTIAL TALK

Speed is perhaps the most sought-after attribute in the practice of arnis, escrima
and kali, collectively known as the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). But the truth is there
is more to speed than the mere acceleration of the business end of the stick from
point A to point B. The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of
speed and how to it within the framework of FMA practice.
Muscle speed and reaction time
Generally speaking, the shape of a persons body is the primary indicator of how
fast he can move but a heavier determinant is the dominant muscle type that an
individual possesses. The distribution of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers in the
body may dictate what kind of physical exertion a person may be good at. Simply
put, slow twitch muscles are efficient for continuous, extended muscle contractions
(the muscles of a marathoner) while fast twitch muscles are good at producing
quick bursts of strength or speed (the muscles of a sprinter).

Besides muscle speed, another crucial factor in attaining speed is reaction time, In
addition to muscle speedwhat physiologists refer to as movement timeeach of
us has a distinct reaction time, the interval that elapses from the instant we decide
to execute a movement until we are able to start doing so. In many sports
particularly those in which quick responses are important, reaction time is the
overriding element in overall speed, wrote James F. Fixx in Maximum Sports
Performance (1985).
Bruce Lee, known for his legendary speed, puts heavy emphasis on shortening
reaction timethe time spent sending a mental command to a muscle to execute a
particular move.
Physiologically, reaction time involves the interplay between motor neurons, muscle
fibers and the chemical called acetylcholine. The internal process is indeed complex
but improving reaction time demands a simple solutionrepeated practice, An
athletes reaction time, while governed principally by genetic endowment, can be
significantly enhanced by practice. Through repeated efforts, we can improve our
anticipationthe ability either to guess or to foresee what will happen and to decide
what response is likely to be appropriate, wrote Fixx.
In Filipino stick fighting, both movement speed and reaction time are honed by
doing drills like sumbrada and sinawali. The movements were practice slowly at first
for the student to learn the proper form but were practiced at high speed later, as
mastery of movement dynamics is attained.
Sumbrada and sinawali drills improve muscle speed and reaction time by
accustoming the practitioner to high-speed motions. Its like the experience of
getting used to driving a car at 90 mph and then suddenly lowering the speed at 55
mph. Fifty five mph is still fast, but if youre used to 90 mph, it seems to be a lot
slower.
Conditioning and relaxation
A stick fighters level of conditioning will affect his ability to generate speed. Fast
movements demand quick burst of strength attained through rapid contraction of
muscles. A martial artist with questionable level of conditioning is likely to strain or
tear a muscle if he attempts to deliver his techniques at maximum speed.
Relaxation is another premium attribute of elite martial artists and athletes.
Everyone knows that one cannot move fast while being tensed. Relaxation, besides

being the key to high-speed movements also helps reduce fatigue by eliminating
unnecessary tensions on muscle groups not used for a particular task.
The ability to relax affects both the physical and mental components of a fighter.
Mentally, relaxation results to keener perception and faster reaction time while
physically; it produces faster execution of movements.
Therefore, meditation or any practice that teaches relaxation should be an integral
part of a martial artists training regimen.
Economy of structure and motion
Age will definitely slow down a martial artist and an aging stick fighter would soon
realize that the best way to compensate for his loss speed is to practice economy of
motion and structure. Economy of motion results in greater speed because all
unnecessary movements are eradicated. Taking away needless motions would also
result to more reserve strength, and strength, as mentioned earlier is an important
component of speed. Economy of structure pertains to the fighters stance and
positioning in relation to his opponent. Paying attention to economy of structure
would allow a fighter to observe and react to his foes movements faster and more
efficiently.

Perception of time
Advance FMA practitioners wishing to further improve their speed could investigate
ways to slow down their perception of time.
Mind science researchers have gathered much data indicating that the key to
superior speed is mental not physical. Some experiments in hypnosis have shown
that altering a persons perception of time could have profound effects on physical
speed.
Richard Bandler, the co-founder of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) recalled an
interesting incident that occurred during the early founding days of NLP, in his book
Trance Formation, he wrote, One young girl even speeded up the way her eyes
worked, but not the rest of her, so she could see the world in slow motion. Without
any training at all, she was able to run rings around a martial artist friend of mine.

From her point of view, everything was slowed all the way down. To the observer,
she was moving twice as fast as the other guy.
In the same line of thought, Keith Floyd in his book Of Time and the Mind (19731974) hypothesize that the connection between time perception and brainwaves is
the reason behind certain superior athletic feats. Taking baseball players as an
example, he wrote, The baseball player firing alpha, for instance, might perceive
the ball at no more than half the speed perceived by his teammate firing beta. One
firing theta could carefully observe the approach and spin of the ball, examine the
stitches, read the label, and have up to four times as much time to regulate the
swing of the bat and make his moves.

Reference: Manila Times: http://www.manilatimes.net/factors-affecting-speed-instick-fighting/14184/

Arnisadors from Iloilo shine in PNG

May 21, 2014 9:40 pm
By FRANK CALAPRE

DENNES Dellones of Iloilo bagged four gold medals in the arnis competition of the
2014 Philippine Sports Commission-Philippine Olympic Committee (PSC-POC)
National Games at the SM Markinina City.

Dellones first won the individual double-weapon event followed by another victory
in the individual sword and dagger tilt. He later teamed up with Klisier Juanga to
grab the gold in the team single weapon and the team double weapon categories.
The Iloilo-native Dellones also won a silver medal in the team sword and dagger and
a bronze in the individual single weapon contest that was won by Ivan Villanueva of
Rizal Technological University.
In judo, at the Makati Coliseum, Bryan Quillotes and Dennis Lloyd Catipon won five
gold medals. Quillotes beat his fellow national team member Al Rolan Llamas in the
finals of the mens 60-kilogram class while Catipon bested Baguio Citys Francisco
Masnan in the 66-kilogram category.
Nancy Lucero Quillotes, also a member of the national pool dominated the womens
44-kilogram division while her teammate Helen Dawa ruled the 48-kilogram class.
Jenilou Mosquida dominated the 57-kilogram category while Annie Ramirez of
Muntinlupa won the womens open category by beating Jewel Ann de Castro in the
finals.

Reference: Manila Times: http://www.manilatimes.net/arnisadors-from-iloilo-shinein-png/98292/