Hello, I did a couple of months of Escrima classes during last winter and I intend to return to classes in a few weeks time.In the mean time, I am going on holidays for a couple of weeks and I was thinking of getting an Escrima Instructional DVD that I can work with during my holidays. I'm not terribly fussed about which particular brand of Escrima it is as long as it covers both single and double stick and I can learn from it. Has anyone got any dvds they could reccomend and if so where can they be purchased?
You can get Doce Pares DVD's here They feature Danny Guba, who is the Grand Master I train under. The only thing I would say is Danny moves through techniques quite quickly, so I always tell my students the DVD's are an aid to suppliment what they already know. I think learning direct from these DVD's would be difficult. Also it is no good buying Doce Pares DVD's if you go onto study a different system, as aluded to in one of your other threads. I suggest if you are going on holiday just practice the moves you already know. When you get home pick the style you feel suits you best.
My wife's company have quite a varied choice of DVDs here www.eskrimador-supplies.com from numerous systems and I can recommend all of them as we watch them first before she allows them on her site. Luckley she liked mine too. Obviously you can't beat instruction from a live hands on instructor but if you already have a bit of a grounding and feel for an art you can learn to a certain degree from DVDs. Best regards. Pat
Has anyone seen the SMAC (sticks methods and counters) DVD made by the straight blast gym? Apparently it's an ultra basic form of stick fighting.
Hi there! Personally, i learn more from a solid day of personal training than from watching the box. That said, there are quite a few on the market from highly-regarded instructors, and they ain't bad at all Rather than advise you on what specific instructional DVDs to pick up, it would probably make more sense to first identify what style of FMA you wish to pursue, and purchase DVDs complementary to that. If you'd like a better idea of what's on offer in the way of styles, then i'd recommend the Eskrimadors documentary as a good introduction. To give you an example of how relying on DVDs can interfere with your training: One of my students took over 6 months to learn the Rapid Arnis 12-Angles of Attack. Every time we covered it in class, he'd get it completely wrong. Despite going out of my way several times to make sure he had it by the end of class, he just couldn't seem to retain it from one class to another -even though he said he practiced it regularly, and wasn't taking training in any other FMAs. Eventually, i just ran out of ideas as to what the problem could be, and recommended he pick up a copy of The Fundamentals (Rapid Arnis instructional DVD - definitely one of the most comprehensive on the market)... Him: Oh, but i've already got footage of the Rapid Arnis 12 Angles - it's what i'm using to learn from at home. Me: Really? Where did you find that? Him: Youtube. Me: How did you find it on Youtube? Him: Well, i ran a search for "Arnis 12 Angles" and i figured that'd be it. Me: Dude, different styles of arnis have different numbering systems. Him: Oh. That'd probably explain a lot... Me: Sweet Jesus... The lad's sorted out his 12 Angles now, and is making good progress. Definitely one of the more comic moments in my teaching career though
As a start for learning real contact STICK fighting (emphasis on stick), it's not too bad. A lot of general basics about distance and crashing are covered. Of course I'm biased and think that the Dog Brothers dvds do a better job of teaching the material, and I've heard that Burton Richardson's 'Battlefield Kali' dvds are pretty good (though haven't seen them myself yet). But as has been said already, we can't really advise you unless we (and you) know what your goal is: Stick fighting, sword fighting, knife fighting, etc And even between systems you can get some contradicting teaching.
I've seen a few of the dvd's in that series and did'nt think they were worth the hefty asking price. That's based on a single viewing though. DBMA DVD's offer far more bang for the buck
Just a thought here, but there is so much footage available on YouTube that you may be better off starting there. It should give you an idea of different systems, training methods and techniques that could help you to decide which direction you'd like your FMA to follow. Good luck Peter
Agree with Peter, Youtube is a good resource to look at all the different styles , interpretations and applications.
