One thing in particular with Arnis and Kali systems is they very often have 12 common strikes, thats 12 spots weak spots on the body and also 12 blocking techniques. These spots are the same as used by many other system also as kyusho and dim-mak points, but when you look at a picture of the common strikes from Arnis you can clearly see that, they focus mainly on the big kyusho points.

The map of the 12 common strikes from Dacayana System above shows also a other things and thats said to be a thing many Arnis, Kali and Eskrima system has in common. There is a clear X attacks angles with number 3, 4, 5 and 6 attacks. Besides this there is also a + striking angel with number 7, 8, 11 and 12 strikes….and if you put these together it makes a star (*) which is common and can be seen in many other schools 12 common strikes (the center of the star is also used as a attack area for stabbing).

The 12 common strikes are in general used as a guide for improvising attacks, it can be used with several different kind of weapons not just the stick. You can also use the “star” attack angles on other parts of the body like the knee, hand or head, there is a little more to the 12 common strikes then first meets the eyes, when you see them and to me its a very effective way of doing it!

Originally posted 2009-08-31 17:38:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Some of you have proberly already heard about this, this is where you attack a opponents weapon like his hand, leg or such to disarm him and in that matter make him less of a treat.
This technique is known in many styles not just FMA but also X-Kans (Ninjutsu) uses attacks against a attackers weapon and for several reasons:

1. Its most likely the closest target of his
2. Its open since he is already hitting
3. You dont have to kill him, you might just end the battle quick and fast with out to many ending in the hospital!

These are some of the reasons for using these targets of course like with all other techniques the are also set backs and down sides and in this case it would be that its possible that you miss or he might be able to fight onwards afterwards depending on the situation and both of yours skillset. But as with all fights its a living thing in nature and you can not predict it, thats why that in my oppion the best is to train techniques to they are a part of you and your movement, from there you will learn to improvise in fight (if you have a good teacher). Its all in your training!

Originally posted 2009-08-31 17:33:02. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Originally posted 2009-10-17 09:15:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Originally posted 2009-10-16 09:53:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Originally posted 2009-10-15 11:13:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Lets talk about techniqe and the stick today
We start by using the weapons in Arnis and later we move on to empty hand, the reason for this is that the movement is the same and the weapons trains your movement and workout your body when you use it….

Here i am talking about the sticks we use in Migsunedo which is larger then normal arnis stick, this gives more power and range to our blows…
When you start using the stick with the 12 common strikes or 5 basis strikes, then start slow and put focus on your movement make the movement perfect….
The better your movement is the more easy it is to do with empty hand, pocket stick, sword and with more speed, its very important to learn how to move around since it gives power to your strikes and make you stand in ways where you are less of a target to your opponent….

When you do your movement it can be a little like Tai-Chi movement, where you imagine the energy flowing from you and all the way to the tip of your stick, the impact area, you can do this with either the 12 st. or the 5 basis st. 6 times and then shift over to put more speed in it for the last 6 repeats this would make your program a total of 12 repeats of either the 5 basis strikes or the 12 common strikes and that way you would get to train it both with and without speed…

The stick is a great weapon, you very often can find thing in you surrounding that reminds of a stick like a cane or what else you have at hand…But besides the the stick very often also gives you a good leverage in a fight because of range and the power in the blow….
The reason its used in arnis is that a stick looks some what innocent, and are easy to get a hold of, the Philippines have been in wars many times and have had foreign powers ruling there country.
Arnis and the stick fighting is a product of such thing and have its roots in times where the spanish was here and it was illegal to carry a sword, so in stead of a sword they stared using sticks and the art of arnis lasted all the way to now. The system migsunedo has roots in San Miguel arnis and Combat Judo (sometimes called Dumog) and Wing Chun Kung Fu, this i think gives it many good things in both the armed and unarmed combat area since all are proven arts…
I think in many ways the Migsunedo Arnis and Bujinkan has many things in common in the way of thinking in combat, to me thats a sign of both are proven in real battle.
They dont think in fair play, rules, contests or such…..No, they think in terms of survivel!
Thats what its about, to stay alive….This means using weapons in surroundings, bitting, running away or hitting below the belt is okay, just to get away from the attacker alive….
This of course do not mean we in any way tell pepole to kick pepole while they are down or attack other or in other way misuse these things, but purely that we are talking selfdefence….
If you got any questions to this please use my chat or post a comment on the blog…

Sincerly,

Jan

Originally posted 2009-08-31 17:56:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Many of you might not have heard about FMA (Filippine Martial Arts), it might be because tv and books have help making other martial arts from China, Korea and Japan famous a lot faster.

But these days FMA like Arnis/Escrima is beginnig to be more and more popular because of its very street wise, easy to learn and can even be used as a fun sport!
FMA and Arnis has roots many years back and its said that the native here in the Philippines defeated Magellan and his men with there stick fighting skills.
Later on in history Arnis was again used in World War 2 and the war agaist the US, when they did not have enough rifles they gave Philippinos Bolos (Swords) and had them use Arnis to run down a enemy soldier and cut him down!
This was a lot more effective then it sounds, its said that the US Army changed there handguns to get more stopping power since, the Americans discovered that some Philippinos just keept coming after 2-3 shot and cut down their soldiers.
Now a days the special forces in the Philippines and US are still training and using Arnis….
But as a system in general its still very street wise and up to date for the common person also, it happens many times down here that some Philippinos has had to protect them self using Arnis.
FMA in my mind is a very effective and good MA, that has been overlooked for way to long…..

Originally posted 2009-08-31 17:42:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Video with the 12 knife attacks:

When using the knife the are several spots on the body, that are better to attack then others.
The 12 Knife Attacks teaches you these spots and also how to shift the grib fast, so you know two ways of holding the knife:

1. The first grib, you are holding the knife kind of like the Eskrima stick. This grib is good for attacks, but not so good to defending your self….
The way some might hide this grib (the knife) would be behind your leg, following the leg….

2. The second grib, is a reverse grib where the knife blade follows your arm. This is good on the defense, but not so good to attacks as the first grib (nr. 1)……
The way some might hide this grib (the knife) would be behind your arm, following the arm….

Both gribs has its strong sides and its weak sides, this is why its important to learn how to shift between both gribs fast, below is a video where i show the shifting the grib:

When you look at the picture in the top, you will also notice that there is 4 attack angles (even that the most used is stabbing towards the stomach). These are the angles you could get attacked from with a knife:

1. From above….
2. From your side….
3. From the other side….
4. Below or straight inwards…..

We use above when we train technique, to train defense against all the angles. This is me showing a knife technique with a student:

We will then later test our technique in the sparring, when we use Sparring remember to have palms inwards so you dont get cut on your wrist…..

This is a video of two of my student doing Knife vs. Knife Sparring (note: They are both beginners):

This is a video of two of my student doing Empty Hand vs. Knife Sparring (note: They are both beginners):

Below is some videos about Knife attacks:

Originally posted 2009-09-11 10:23:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Villasin Balintawak style starts with lesson A, B and C….

Lesson A: Lesson A is the 12 strikes, which can be done with the Eskrima stick, Knife, Pocket Stick or Empty Hand.
This lesson teaches you how and where to attack, this is a good guide to learning the weak spots of the body and some basic body movement.

Lesson B: Lesson B is how to block the 12 strikes and next step from Lesson A. B Lesson includes at-random.

Lesson C: Lesson C is block the 12 strikes with a counter and at-random, Lesson C connects to Group 1-5 and “the play”.
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This is a video of Lesson A, B and C:

How to connect Lesson C with the Groups: This video shows how to connect Lesson C with all of the Groups (1-5), by using Group 2:

Group 1: Teaches the left hand, Group 1 + Lesson C At-random.

This is a video of Group 1:

Group 2: Teaches head movement, Group 1, 2 + Lesson C At-random.

This is a video of Group 2:

Group 3: Teaches body movement, Group 1, 2, 3 + Lesson C At-random.

This is a video of Group 3:

Group 4: Teaches fast movement, Group 1, 2, 3, 4 + Lesson C At-random.

This is a video of Group 4:

Group 5: Teaches defence against several attacks, Group 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 + Lesson C At-random.

This is a video of Group 5:

Group 1-5: Here is a video of all the groups 1-5 and at-random (the play):

This is Puk-Puk (batting) or hitting with the end of the Eskrima Stick from the Villasin Style, it can also be used with the Pocket Stick:

For Villasin Style Combat Judo Look here

Originally posted 2009-09-01 15:52:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter