The problem with Filipino martial arts

Discussion in 'Self Defence' started by Isaiah90, Aug 14, 2019.

  1. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    OK, as someone who has actually trained in fencing - longsword, arming sword (the closest to your little routine), sword and shield, dagger, spear, etc - you are basically a dream opponent. You don't know enough about what you are doing to be dangerous.

    Let's start with your stance: it's useless. You've left your sword arm completely exposed to either a cut or a thrust, so a simple lunge from your opponent would end the fight. You aren't holding the sword in a way where the cross-guard will assist you in any way with blocking, so you are 100% reliant on the blade to block, which means you are wide-open for a 2nd intention attack. Most swords without a complex hand guard and without a shield are not held directly in front of the body like that because your only real option from there is a thrust - a cut requires you to reset to an alternative starting point and therefore slows you down. Finally, the blade being in the centre ruins your defence against a good attacker by giving you two possible directions to parry in (left or right) rather than one, which would be the case if the blade was in a proper fencing position (e.g. sixte or quarte).

    Footwork next. It's terrible. Fencing footwork is designed to be efficient, deliberate and sufficiently grounded to lend power to your cuts or thrusts. As you cut or land a thrust your feet should generally be well-planted to give you grounding to make the cut actually matter, otherwise you'll get a glancing cut at best. With the type of sword "fighting" that you're currently doing, the likely best approach for getting a cut or thrust on target is the lunge, which allows a huge and very sudden increase in cutting range and a speedy retreat once you condition your legs to give you the explosive power in both directions - this may require hitting the gym and doing plenty of squats. Unstable footwork is again great for an experienced swordsman because it offers a great opportunity to bind your blade and close to grappling distance or just to drive through a block that has no chance of any power to it.

    Grip - you seem to be gripping the wrong place on the sword. Bear in mind that if you are using a real sword is it precisely balanced so that a grip immediately below the hilt gives you maximum point and edge control. Moving your hand further from the fulcrum might feel like an advantage because of the extra reach, but in reality you are making it much more difficult to keep the blade stable, and as such you will suffer when trying to either parry or getting the sword to the right target.

    Finally the attacks themselves. As you're doing these alone, I have no idea what you're actually visualising when doing this, but the closest I can guess is a parry-piposte in most cases. In which case you badly need to decide whether you are cutting or thrustiung as a riposte, because your actually movement seems to include elements of both which makes it worse than either. Based on the faults above, these cuts and/or thrusts are not likely to do much against someone that is similarly armed and has more than a session or two of training and sparring under their belt.

    Seriously, find a class. This is terrible!
     
  2. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    So off topic but......


    1) you don't know your marvel do you....

    Deadpool

    "Deadpool knows and has reportedly mastered the following various martial arts: Wing Chun, Hapkido, Taekwon-Do, Northern Shaolin, Wrestling, Jujutsu, Ninjutsu, as well as Military Combatives. All these various styles and his aptitude in them combined with his formidable black ops abilities have garnered him the nickname of the Psychotic Red Ninja."

    2) Actually I don't need a second point, the first was so good.
     
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  3. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Let's give him a chance to explain his sword fighting....

     
    Grond likes this.
  4. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    Wow...

    Pretty sure that in the demonstration of his "slash" in the first technique his edge alignment is so off that he'd - at best - deliver a bit of a slap to his opponent.
     
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  5. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Oh my days....you honestly have the front to give out self defence advice?
     
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  6. KevinFrancis

    KevinFrancis New Member

     
  7. KevinFrancis

    KevinFrancis New Member

    So, I guess the OP bases his knowledge of FMA on an article he read of a self defense instructor showing up to a Filipino
    martial arts seminar. I don't know what FMA seminar that this guy showed up to but the instructors must have been ignorant
    or idiots to accept the self defense instructors scenario. Anyone that is really skilled in FMA should know that
    you never take on a person with a knife without having some sort of weapon like a knife yourself. Other than that, you put
    as much space possible between yourself and the person with the knife, given you have the room for it. With that being said,
    if I had to make a bet with you on who might fair better against a knife attacker in an elevator or a small bathroom with no where to
    go, I would probably put my money on the person that had trained FMA, then someone that never trained in FMA.
     
    axelb likes this.
  8. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    The vast majority of knife attacks are the sowing machine stab from very close range not angle 1, angle 2 slashes or long range single stabs practiced in most FMA classes, the vast majority are violet quick and the knife is never seen I've yet to see many FMA classes that deal with the above effectively.

    Honestly if your in a lift and attacked FMA skills as taught in a lot of schools won't help any more than those taught in any other class

    For example when cornered in a lift by said knife attacker when have you seen a FMA teacher suggesting you get in a corner, sit down and kick the attacker when ever he comes near you,

    Probably never but the above
    A) limits his ability to reach vital organs ie to get to the body and head he has to get passed your feet and legs very long leavers usually well protected by boots, jeans etc
    B) limits which angles he can attack you from since your back and sides are protected by the walls
    C) puts a shield between you and him your feet and are legs which are usually heavily protected by shoes or boots

    Is it the best option, no but it's an option and probably better than 90% of what's taught in FMA classes
     
  9. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    OP bases his knowledge off of absolutely nothing. He came to the forum last year and was just full of hot air. He spouted some mental things like "Martial arts is cultural appropriation".

    Welcome to the forum btw. Hope you stick around!
     
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