Knife Tapping Sumbrada and Applications in Filipino Martial Arts

[@nomadicjfilms8858]

Awesome, thank you for breaking it down to one of its practical applications 👍🏽

[@FMAPulse]

Not a problem, that's what we're here to do.

[@filipinokalieskrimaacademy2777]

Nice breakdown. We call that the saksak vs pakal drill.

[@FMAPulse]

In the end it's how can you dissect the drill into practicality.

[@skptk]

Thanks sir 🙏

[@VTSifuSteve]

I love playing these kind of drills ...like the sombrada you start with (0:10 - 1:25) ...really fun stuff, but IMO back and forth sombradas (whether with stick or blade) do NOT train practical weapons skills since they are defensive and lack aggressive follow-up. Instead you defend, create an opening and then give up the offense so your opponent can play his technique. Fun? Yeah, but too much of that just creates bad habits.

[@FMAPulse]

In my opinion, and I can paraphrase other old school GM's we've interviewed in the past, drills are their to develop eye hand coordination. Keeps your body and limb body moving at all times. Some Guro's said the old school instructors hid the fighting applications in the drills. Only if the teacher trusted the student (made sure they weren't crazy), he would then show practical applications. One GM in the Bay area said that when he was learning FMA from the Stockton Manongs, the training was much more brutal and realistic compared to nowadays. He said that the current generation of teachers/Guros is making FMA way too complicated with all the drills and memorizations of techniques. But as you try to make FMA a business, you have to find ways keep students and creating a scaffold curriculum.

[@VTSifuSteve]

@@FMAPulse Exactly. My main teacher was one of the first students of GM Angel Cabales, GM Leo Giron, GM Maximo Sarmiento, Dentoy Revillar and the rest when they first opened the Stockton Academy. And he says his dad was tougher on him than they were. Honestly, that would have been too much for me, and certainly too much for my students today! Might even get you into legal trouble.

[@moontidemartialarts915]

Agreed. The "reaction" piece is taken out of all these drills. They are like a choreographed dance.

[@TheKinomutai]

👍👍👍👍

[@LUBDMA]

Good one!

[@FMAPulse]

Thank you. Our future goal is to research and learn these drill and extract the practicality of those drills.

[@LUBDMA]

@@FMAPulse that's awesome! Keep it up

[@VTSifuSteve]

The second part of your clip (1:40 - 2:25) shows a more practical type of drilling (than the sombrada) where the defender then follows up on his defense, taking the offense and exploiting the opening he creates. My question is, "What is his objective?" -- if it is a life and death situation (a logical assumption if someone is attacking you with a knife) then your objective is to end the fight by any means and the stab is warranted. And rather than run away, you need control his body and finish the job. Pushing-away just gives your opponent a second chance to hurt you. Even if he's badly wounded he may not know it right away. On the other hand, if your objective is just to escape, then rather than a stab to the gut, a punch-slash (from pikal or "ice-pick" grip) across the mid-section is equally debilitating but less deadly. Anyway, it's all hypothetical to me. Honestly, I will never be in a knife fight outside of training, 99.999% certain. Besides, if I ever need a weapon where I live anyone can carry a gun and many do. Concealed or open carry -all good. No permit, training, or brain required. And in spite of that, the biggest risk we face here is getting hit by an idiot driver!

[@FMAPulse]

I agree, it's all hypothetical. We haven't been in a knife altercation as well, and we hope we don't have to be. We can talk back and forth about theory and concepts of what's right and wrong. It's like if you've taken a theory class in college on a certain subject, you're learning it but in the back of your mind you're saying this won't work in my area of profession. But if you're not constantly fighting or on the battle field using a blade, everything in a fight comes down to the basics and how far are you willing to go when you have a weapon in your hand. Doug Marcaida said that the blade was meant to felt and not seen. I've heard similar saying from teachers and regular people in the Philippines. Attackers will either sneak up behind you or from the side. So therefore it's hard to defend against an ambush or assassination. In any physical altercation, you will get hit whether empty hand or with a weapon. Even in sports combat, you can be the best fighter in your weight class, but the still get hit when it comes to fight. The best thing one can do is rely on their training to the best of their ability. If a person hasn't pressure tested themselves in the research and development area of their training, it is a disservice to themselves. In the end it's about survival and again how far are you willing to go when someone engages.

[@kenkongermany7860]

I gotta check this one with V-grip from above into his elbow/upper arm. You showed the all to often throat cut. The real counter is a deflecting stab to his neck on the high line. Yeah, it's just YT, I know. Thanks for the open to all version. If you scoop with your dagger hand BEHIND the blade, he will often stab you. So the earth blade points to the earth and deflects blade or hand.

[@FMAPulse]

In the end it's a drill. Footwork and reaction whether the blade is up or down should work the same way. Footwork and body position also comes into the play. But whatever works in the end. We only said concept and applications. Didn't say this was 100 percent effective.

[@kenkongermany7860]

@@FMAPulse True. But most, if not all longer common FMA-Drills have build-in-mistakes. And why not. You can study the timing of a lot of people and build wrong reactions into them.

[@FMAPulse]

@@kenkongermany7860 Whether or not the earlier teacher's who develop these drills have a different meaning, but we remember one teacher in the Bay Area say, "the earlier Manongs didn't teach the direct practicality at first. They hid it in the drills and the art. If you were hot tempered, impatient or an a$$hole, then they wouldn't show you applications." If you know the history, a lot of the drills are meant to disguise the practicality from oppressors (Moro-Moro, and other tribal performances/dances).

[@kenkongermany7860]

@@FMAPulse I think the drills speak for themthelves, every time one splits them into small segments and "fights" over the outcome in protective gear. But we are on the same page there. And I like your videos, thanks. But I dislike quite a lot of my teachers in real live, who let my group drill for years without going deeper.

[@FMAPulse]

@@kenkongermany7860 It's like what GM Rene Latosa said before he passed, "can you dissect and break down the drill to it's basic fundamentals and make it work." It's difficult when instructors confuse "art" and fighting. You have to separate the two, and at least be honest with what you're teaching. Is it for recreations and fun, or real life scenarios.

[@PARR53]

This almost identical to the Insanto Kali Palisut drill.

[@FMAPulse]

One of our instructors did learn under both Inosanto and Tuhon Leo Gaje in the past. He said they hanged out a lot back in the day, and I'm sure there was cross training involved.