Eskrima interactive lessons?

My combat hapkido instructor is friends with Julius Melegrito and he told me to email him about the Eskrima interactive lessons. Obviously it's video, but also you can email questions to Julius directly to get answers or tips as well.

I know that having an actual instructor would be much better, but, I don't have that and the closest place is an hour and a half away, which I just cannot do.

I just wanted to get some opinions. He does seminars and such, so I could do testing and that sort of thing either online or when he comes to town, but I don't care about the belt part of it. I just want to have the correct technique down.

 

I looked it up on youtube to get a feel for it. It doesn't look like something you can learn well without a teacher. You might learn some basic weapon motions and strikes, but Eskrima is combat-oriented and requires a partner or teacher to learn it in such way that it will be useful.

 

What's the place an hour and a half away?

 

ummm, it's in Newark, De. I don't recall the name of it

 

You need an instructor or advanced student by your side if you want to learn this effectively. If video was an effective method of training, I'd watch Shooter a thousand [more] times and learn teh de4dly Marine Corps hand to hand program. If you don't have something as basic as your stance 100% right, that can throw your footwork off, lead to less powerful strikes, etc.

My advice is to check out meetup.com and other message boards to try and find a FMA instructor near you.

 

Thanks man... i've looked around, but no meetup groups for that anywhere.

 

Ah. Just curious. My first eskrima school wasn't so terribly far from the Eastern Shore. Though I don't know where you are on the Eastern Shore. Thought it might have been the place. In which case, I might have had some different advice.

 

Funny you should mention Meetup. There is a Meetup group for FMA in the Maryland/DC/Virginia area. We're actually having a big event this weekend. PM me if you're interested. It'll be a hike to Silver Spring, MD. But you certainly wouldn't be travelling the furthest. We had people coming from much further last year.

In any event, if there ARE any FMA people in your area, getting your foot in the door with the community improves your chances of finding them immensely. The problem is that there are almost no dedicated FMA schools here (my first school being a notable exception). They might offer FMA as an adjunct to their primary style. Even my first eskrima school also taught taekwondo.

More often, FMA teachers teach out of their own homes, local parks, space borrowed from other MA schools or rec centers, etc. It can be hard to find them except through referral. That's not to make it sound all mystic or anything. Just seems to be the trend.

 

If it is simply proximity that block you then there will always be issues. Burton Richardsons excellent "Battlefield Kali" DVD's may suit you as an alternative. You need to have at least one training partner, but they are structured so you train technique, power and spar LOTS. For a home training series they are highly recommended, especially for beginners with no FMA background

 

oh good, i'll take a look at them.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNW8vbHtQxM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNW8vbHtQxM[/ame]

and from the lessons

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ9qQuq9xhM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ9qQuq9xhM[/ame]

The disarm is well worth the price of admission! I have pulled that off LOTS in full contact sparring

 

Any chance that you could do a review of this series?

thank you,

 

Yeah, I actually got on youtube and looked at his videos, they seem very good. 200.00 for the set though! I'll have to save for them, BUT if they work then i'll go for it.

 

Hannibal... I have not been able to pick up the DVD's you had recommended (for obvious reasons), but I wanted to post these videos to see what you thought of this guy.
He's the one my Sensei is friends with and that one of his students is certified under.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NmJ1XAI-5Q"]Kali Sticks Video: Julius Melegrito Demonstrates Fast Single-Stick Disarm - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygq_UcJ1naU"]Kali Sticks Video: Filipino Fighting Arts Master Julius Melegrito Demonstrates Sinawali Basics - YouTube[/ame]

I had emailed him before, he seems like a very good guy.

 

He looks like he knows what he's doing. I'm still not a big fan of this learning approach though. That stick disarm was pretty elaborate. I'd have more faith in someone being able to internalize the concepts behind the snaking disarm that Hannibal linked to.

But, frankly, I have more faith in the snaking disarm generally. The more elaborate, the more unlikely. Best disarm I've seen is to just lean back out of range and crack the guy in the fingers with your own stick.

What's he doing? Some variation on Modern Arnis? The stick lock flow he was doing looks very familiar. And wearing the belt with the knot to the side is, I believe, also typical of Modern Arnis. (We didn't wear belts at all in the Modern Arnis classes I've attended.)

 

What Ap said!

I have a distinct bias in my Kali - I fight with with it. The gent above looks certainly like be can "go" and he looks legit from a mechanics perspective, but does look very "stylized" in approach. Of course this is due to it being a BB photoshoot too - you would show off a bit wouldn't you?

 

I learned striking angles and footwork and some of this and that from Dynamic Fighting Arts Dvds...but you will need a dedicated training partner, lots of free sparring, and at least once a month, private lessons to tweak mistakes.

I cant emphasize how important a training partner is. Without sparring, there is no FMA.

Another note...
Build a tire dummy for striking full force.
Grip strength is developed through striking.
One can easily lose their weapon if hey arent used to hitting things full force.

 

I can understand that. My Wife would work with me as a sparring partner as well as my Hapkido instructors who are also interested in learning more about this.

I use the captains of crush grippers... I can touch the 195 lb grips now so i'm working on the 237.5 lb to help me to get even stronger on the 195's. I have bigger forearms than upper arms... looks sort of funny.

 

can't answer any of those questions lol I have no idea about pretty much any of that.

 

Next question then: What's your interest in FMA?

Not intended to be snarky. I'm genuinely curious.