Kali and Silat Notes

A semi complete synopsis of blended Filipino Martial Arts, Silat, and

other Malaysian area martial arts.

For all intents and purposes (unless stated otherwise), Kali refers to all
Filipino Martial Arts including Kali, Arnis de Mano, Eskrima and
Balintawak. Although these arts have many differences, it is for ease of
reading and writing that I use Kali.

This is meant to be supplemental material to the videos that will be

coming out as to avoid very lengthy explanations during filming.

Throughout this synopsis it is assumed that you are the defender. A

reference to the opponent is often called “the Attacker”. Don’t look for
fights and always avoid a fight if you can. Weapons can and do kill.

Stance

Stance varies much from system to system and style to style. Most Kali and Silat
arts will take a lead leg the same as the weapon hand. This is not always the
dominant hand of the user, but is just the hand that the weapon is located in. For
example, you may be right hand dominant, but during a struggle you take a baton
away from an attacker with your left hand. It is common practice to adopt a left
lead to match the weapon. You will most likely not have time to switch hands.

In an open-handed or hand to hand situation, the practitioner often takes the lead
they are most comfortable with. In most Kali and Silat practitioners this will be the
right leg lead, but in other Malaysian arts, such as Thai or Bando the left lead is
more common. I personally use a left lead that I am more comfortable with, but as
I move in the close range(covered later), I often prefer a right lead.

The height of the stance can also vary widely in between systems and styles. Most
of you are familiar with the Thai leg-hang stance and the Thai leg –planted stance
as well as horse stance common in Korean martial arts and Karate. Kali uses a
more upright stance similar to a boxing stance(See Kali Hand to Hand for more
info), but much of Silat uses a low stance very similar to a horse stance. This is due
to the nature of the environment and fighting style. Silat warriors would often fight
in the tall grasses and would use the stance to cover their movements until they
could close the gap with missile weapon armed troops. It also allowed them to
cover their movement in a war/combat situation where flanking became important.
Much of the traditional Silat follows animalistic styles similar in nature to Bando,
but more modern styles tend to blend systems and stances. In the low Silat stance
the weight is put 50/50 and center of gravity is stressed through the spine and into
the ground creating a three point platform(your two legs and your center of
gravity). This will be talked about more later.

The Kali stance can be stressed as 50/50(lead/rear), 60/40, or 70/30(similar to

Thai leg-hang, however do not hang the leg directly). This often depends on the
situation and Kali practitioners will often change weight distribution to fit. For
example, if you are unarmed and the opponent has a blade it is often wise to go
with the 60/40 or 70/30 lead so you can sweep your lead leg back as he strikes.
This serves many purposes such as protecting the leg (and in turn your, femoral
artery; located in your inner thigh) as well as creating a sweeping angle to get out
of the way of the attacker. You cannot hope to win squared up against a weapon
carrying attacker.

Anatomy of Weapon and its Application

Weapons can be largely divided into two separate sections and then two more
further sections. Short vs. Long and Edged vs. Blunt. Each has a benefit and
purpose distinct of the other two. Often you will hear Kali and Silat practitioners
refer to weapons as “tools” because to a Kali or Silat student, anything can be used
as a weapon, they are simply tools until put to use as a weapon. I will continue to
use the term weapon to avoid confusion. The exact angles for use will be talked
about in the next section, this section will handle the details of the weapons
themselves.
Griping. The griping a stick is four areas.

1. 3inch grip or Punyo grip. This is exactly how it sounds. You grip the stick
approximately 3 inches from the end and swing it like a machete. This leave the
punyo(butt-end of the stick) available for striking at close range, but shortening
the range and power.
2. NoPunyo. Griping the stick all the way at the end. Best range and power, but
easy to lose and has no punyo striking available.

3. Central Baston. This is the middle of the stick. Although the least practical of all
the grips it does serve a purpose. This trains someone to be able to use a weapon
no matter how the weapon is picked up or taken from an attacker. For example,
perhaps you manage to get into a grappling match with an attacker and take a
baton away by grabbing the middle and forcing it out of their hands. Now you have
a central baston grip. It’d be a good idea to know how to use it effectively.

4. Reverse Grip. This is a grip with only 2-3 inches of stick forward of the hand with
the rest behind. Again, most of the practicality of this is situational, but it its
extremely effective in the knife grip covered next.

A knife uses 2 grips:

1. Foreward or “Hammer” Grip. This grip is widely used as an offense grip due to
its better flexability and reach. Has limited trapping abilities but is hard to disarm.
Often used by muggers to elicit a fear response.

2. Backhand or “Ice Pick” Grip. The grip is more common for defensive use, but
can also be seen in ‘hits’(a la Prison Yard Rush). The grip has less reach and
flexability around the wrist but allows for much more trapping and defensive
guarding. A common use is to keep it concealed behind the wrist until the attacker
makes a move such as a punch, where the defender can use the knife like he
would an elbow block by slicing the knife into the punching hand or deflecting and
stabbing down into the arm of the attacker.

As a point, the blade should face away from your body when in either grip.

A note on the Punyo: This is the back end of the stick and used as a sharp
back-handed punch or as a trapping implement.

Weapon Striking
There are many systems of weapon striking and I will be using the Inosanto
numbering system and striking style because of its widespread use and common
angles with other systems. Below is a numbering system used for weapons of all
sorts, although some variation will help efficiency. I know its crowded, but I will try
to explain it all out.

1. Forehand Ear/Temple(For bladed weapons: Jugular)

2. Backhand Ear/Temple(Again, jugular)
3. Forehand to Elbow/Ribs(Bladed: Across the gut)
4. Backhand to Elbow/Ribs(Bladed: Across the gut)
5. Thrust to the Groin/Stomach(Bladed often attacks the perineum or gut)
6. Thrust to the solar plexuses.(Bladed: Attacking into the diaphragm.)
7. Thrust to the heart.(Not common in bladed fighting, I usually attack under the
clavicle)
8. Down on the collarbone(Bladed: Burying downward into clavicle space)
9. Forehand Down on the knee(Bladed: Femoral artery)
10. Backhand Down on the knee(Bladed: Femoral)
11. Forehand Up on the knee(Bladed: Knee disk)
12. Backhand Up on the knee(Bladed: knee disk)
13. Forehand across the throat(Bladed: Same)
14. Forehand across the throat(Bladed: Same)
15. Downward on the crown of the head(Bladed: Down in where the clavicles meet.
Brutal)
16. Downward on other collarbone(Bladed: Burying into clavicle space)
17. Thrust to Throat or Face(Bladed: Same)

This diagram is part of the cinco teros drills, which you can most likely Google
more information on.

This follows the same style of striking, but has been simplified and streamlined for
bladed arts.
1. Forehand Across the jugular
2. Backhand across the gut
3. Forehand across the gut
4. Backhand across the throat
5. Thrust to the gut or groin

This should be practiced for fluid motion and not as a staggered attack. All one
motion, moving from one point to the next.

Now on to the actual striking ideas. Striking with a longer stick(Or similar object,
such as a baton or machete(lawl)) should be practiced as striking with the farthest
3 inches of the object similar to the idea of striking with the elbow in Muay Thai. It
should scrape along the edge of the target in hopes of cutting the opponent open
as well as keeping the attacker from closing the distance as easily. Fluid motion
should always be stressed in Kali and Silat and is the foundation of the styles. With
short weapons such as knives or kubatons the striking is obviously closer and as
such does not rely on the tip attack principle. The mass of contact is more
important than the distance at this range.

Additional notes: Kali also uses a drill similar to a kata called a Contra Sumbrata
cycle. There are 36 of these cycles without variations in the Inosanto system, most
of you will not need, nor understand this, but for those of you who may have prior
Kali experience or who want to try and work through it here are the first 10(I can
supply all 36 via PM to those interested, I don’t want to simply post them because
they took a lot of effort to get):

1) 15-Roof-15-Rood-15-Roof-1-2
2) 15-Roof-1-Inside Deflection-4-Dropstick
3) 15-Roof-1-Inside D-4-Low Wing
4) 15-Roof-1-Gunt-2-Outside D
5) 15-Roof-3-Gunt-2-Outside D
6) 15-Roof-5-Gunt-2-Outside D
7) 15-Roof-7-Inside Gunt-2-Outside D
8) 15-Roof-7-Gunt-6-Gunt
9) 15-Roof-1-Inside-4-Dropstick-5-wing-2-Outside D (Similar to Punyo
Sumbrata(numbers 14-16)
10) 15-Roof-1-2-5-Vert Gunt(Redando)

Weapon Blocking
Weapon to Weapon blocking. This is literally the weapon meeting the other
weapon and is common during competition. It is similar to the sword style blocking.
I will attempt to explain the blocks in text:

1. Roof Block. This is a block used in conjunction with a stick and the empty
hand(also called the ‘live’ hand). The stick is held over and slightly in front of the
head with the stick running horizontal to the ground. The empty arm is then placed
behind the stick to support it also parallel to the ground……….You know what?
Fuck this. I’mma find Google: The Martialist: The Magazine For Those Who Fight
Unfairly (This covers 7 blocks, which is not all of them, but is a good start)

These are used at long or mid range and are used in a stick vs. stick situation. You
will note in the link that the live hand is used on all the strikes. This is used to grab
the attackers weapon as it makes contact and slows, or to disarm, or ,as is very
common in Balintawak, support the blocking stick/arm.

Weapon to Empty Hand blocking: You are obviously not Super Man and cannot
stop a swinging weapon with your bare hands. Instead it is broken down into two
basic ideas focused around “Defanging the Snake”. For ease of reference I’ll call
them Meeting the Force and Following the Force.

1. Meeting the Force. This can be described as charging in and stopping the attack
before it can reach a high velocity. The basic principle of this follows the idea that
the closer an object(stick, knife, arm, etc) is to your body the slower it moves. To
show this theory swing an object like a bat and compare the amount of distance
the tip of the bat traveled and the speed of the motion vs. the distance and speed
of your shoulder. It is much easier to stop a weapon by attacking the bicep or
shoulder of the attacker. This serves two purposes. First, it stops the attack.
Second, it closes the range down and greatly reduces the power of weapons that
require speed to do damage such as batons and sticks as well as the
maneuverability of the attackers arm in the case of a knife. From this point, you
should be ‘inside’ the box of the attack, that is to say, in between their two arms.
As such clinch style techniques should be applied against stick weapons in order to
protect yourself and deal damage. Also, grabbing the clavicle and/or throat will
work extremely well. Boxing the ears may also make an opponent let go of his
weapon. Eye gouges work particularly well. Just think when a bug flew in your eye,
how you reacted. Hands straight to the eyes. It is at this moment, you finish the
fight.

2. Following the Force. Following the Force uses the same basic principle as
Meeting the Force, but acts similar to a wrestling shoot in MMA. After a jab or big
cross has been thrown it is common for wrestlers to shoot in on the person before
they can recover. The same applies with weapon defense. After the attack has
passed (out of range, missed, etc) immediately shoot in on the person’s side to
attack the shoulder joint of the attacker. Simply press your body or push with your
arm to keep them moving backwards while striking the head with punches with
your free hand. Do not let them get away. The punches should open up the head
from an inexperienced person and will allow you to then follow up with one-arm
clinches, takedowns, or standing submission depending on your Martial Art
experience.

A good drill for combating empty hands vs. a blade is called Higot Hubud Lubud,
which you can see here in its simplest form:
I will have a lot more on the application of Hubud Lubud with the videos that will
be coming out later.

Disarms
After much thought I have decided NOT to include information of disarms because
of the exact nature and lack of trainability from text. I will, however, talk about
some tips and tricks that can help you should you ever find yourself in a situation
against a knife. Without extensive proper training(and even then), its best to
remember K.I.S.S; Keep. It. Simple. Stupid!

1.Defanging the Snake. Normally this would be disarm work, but as I said, I’m
going to focus on tips here. The idea here is that a weapon is only as dangerous as
the person wielding it. An unconscious man can’t swing a stick very fast. If you
attack the person’s ability to use a weapon, you remove the threat of the weapon.
A good Kali drill known as Tapi Tapi(YouTube might get you something) focuses
on this point. A solid punch or strike to the exposed bone of the radius will often
get an opponent to drop their weapon. On the picture, this is the green area. But
remember, don’t forget that this does not always work and not to use it solo like a
lot of “self defense” teaches. You’ll get stabbed. A lot.

Also useful in the defanging the snake is striking nerve points on the arm(circled in
blue). This should NOT be a priority because focusing on the weapon too much
can get you punched by the live hand and then stabbed. I’ll go over the best
combo for success next.

2.Attack the computer. This is simple, hit him in the head and body to shut him
down. Just like boxing you need to destroy his means of attacking you. In the case
of bladed or stick armed attackers this becomes paramount. Often punching the
jaw line like boxing will have a good stunning effect, as well as kneeing the groin,
boxing the ears, gouging the eyes and throat, punching or forearming the neck,
kicking the outside of the knee inward, stomping on the knee or foot, and several
others. The idea is not to KO the person, but to simply shut down their ability to
respond to your attacks. Keep up a solid chain and they will never recover until you
are able to easily take the weapon away or they drop it. Surprise is your ally here.

Ranges

Ranges of striking are broken down into the following three groups:

Long. This is weapon to wrist range. Neither of you can hit the others body or past
the hand. This is a good range for a weapon user on the defense as it allows the
defender more options without allowing the attacker to use more tools. This is the
most common range seen in competitions. This has no hand to hand application.

Mid. This is wrist to wrist range. Sticks and other longer weapons can strike the
body, arms, head, and legs and short weapons like knives can attack the hand and
forearms. Kicks can be implemented as well as forearm gunting(covered later in
Kali Hand to Hand)

Close. This is fist to shoulder and closer. This is boxing range as you can now strike
the attacker with you fists and forearms in the body, face, legs, and arms. You are
out of most kicks range at this point, although Shelf kicking and other Kali and Silat
kicks will still work here. This is also, kneeing and elbowing range.

Angles
Kali angles are broken down into 1 basic concept and 3 basic motions. The concept
is everything moves in concentric and expanding triangles. This can be hard to
understand at first, and most kali practitioners take years figuring it out. The 3
basic motions are:

Male Triangle. Used for retreating footwork and angling away from attacks.

Female Triangle. Used for advancing footwork and angling into attacks.

And lateral movement. Used to maintaining distance and keeping up continous

motion.

As you can see, if chained together they easily make triangles.

Empty Handed Fighting

Punching. The punching style of Kali is similar to that of modern boxing and Muay
Thai, mostly due to the fact that it is the origin of modern boxing. It is widely
believed that modern boxing comes from the Filipino “War” with the United States
at the turn of the 20th century. Soldiers brought back the style of boxing that
revolutionized boxing today. First of all, Filipino boxing does not work in lateral
patterns, but in circles and uses many hooks that have its origin in knife fighting.
As such, the jab, cross, overhand, uppercut, and hooks are all based off of
Kali/FMAs. So there is no need to go over that.

Gunting(Pronounced: Goo-nt and is not to be confused with “obese women’s

anatomy”). Gunting or Crossada(Meaning a scissor-like motion) is used often in Kali as well as
Silat. This motion is made by both hands moving in close unison. The first hand will “pass” the target arm or

hand away from its intended target(like a parry) and the second will connect on either nerve clusters or a joint

with a balled fist hitting with either the knuckles or first finger joint. The motion is similar to if you were going

to hug yourself or if you where waving someone down with both hands. This is not a primary strike, but it used

to slow down the punches and function on an attacker.

The Forearm. Used heavily in both Kali and Silat. This part of your body can deliver huge amounts of force

without the need of worrying about breaking a bone as is often the case in street fights. Its often used to hit

the neck or jaw as well as being used just like an elbow in Thai. This is personally my favorite tool on my body

in a fight. There will be a lot of forearm usage in the videos.

Slapping and Panatukan. Kali uses hard slapping to great effect in street fighting. The open handed nature of

the slap keep the knuckles safe and keeps the hands fast. Ear boxing as well as throat chops are common in

Panatukan(Filipino Dirty Boxing).

Movement in Silat

Whereas Kali moves in triangles, Silat moves in drifting from side to side square motions that are intended to

set up to the side of the opponent where they can then attack the space of the person for the take down.

Wrap your head around this diagram:

While that looks very complicated, it actually is rather simple. Here is a traditionalist style of this application: