Adding To The Art

[MJS]

When the UFC made its debut, shortly thereafter, we saw a number of people heading out to get BJJ instruction. We saw BJJ being added to arts that normally, didnt have an extensive ground program.

So, that leads me to this question: Has anyone added anything to the Arnis that you teach? If you have, what did you add and why? I'm not looking specifically for BJJ, but anything, ie: additional disarms, more weapon work, forms, etc.

 

[Chris Manley]

Well I have added a few locks from BJJ/MMA to some of my ground game, keeps me ahead of the curve in my school.

I have also started using Wing Chun blocking ideas to my standard block check counters. What I mean is, standard parry and shoot my check hand into there arm as a strike just in case I don't get the counter, kind of like a Biu Sao. Unless I want that arm then, I soften up my check. I stay away from Chain punching in favor of the FMA style striking.

Mauy Thai kicks for the power.

Chris

 

[MJS]

A few of the head guys in my org. implement BJJ into the material, in conjunction with the ground stuff that we currently have. IMO, I think that this is a good thing, due to the fact that grappling is popular.

One of my teachers would incorporate boxing drills, focus pad drills, and some Thia kicks as well.

Everything else was pretty much kept as is.

 

[chris arena]

Vancouver Island Dojo Rats!

In order to develop flow and sensitivity I have taken a year off any teaching and am about 6 months into the learning and practice of this wonderful 2 man Tai Chi form. Yang Family 88 movement fighting form. It has to be the worlds most complete flow drill. You will notice that for us FMA types there is really nothing revolutionarily new here! Its just the emphasis on soft form grounding. there are 44 attacks and 44 escapes. Teaches you to move at exactly the same time as the attack. This is something that is very hard to do. This form is bieng done by a couple of my training partners (The Dojo Rats) that I have met and work with when we meet and practice with our teacher Sifu Micheal Gilman. Form takes about 6 months to learn, plus another 6 mo's to get it right. After that, you get to play it free flow!

In addition, I have continued my practice in Tacosa Eskrima that I have also studied over the past few years on and off as well. I find that the split stepping energy and the willingness to let the attacker close at a deeper range than Modern Arnis requires a bit more internal action. Hopefully these two areas of study will help me grow and learn as a perpetual student. I have been serious enough in gaining skill in these areas, that I have temporarily stopped teaching my little group and they seem to be doing well enough without me while I am on this one yer hiatus. (although I do stop in occasionally as a student) I felt that my art was getting stale and this seems to have given me a great kickstart in re learning what I thought I knew!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dan Anderson]

Added...or changed. First of all I don't teach the empty hand anyos in the curriculum anymore. I substituted eight tactical forms that contain the essence of FMA hands which are much easier to learn. I also added a series of trapping drills, which combined with the tactical forms, create a great way of learning sensitivity.

I also stress a particular way of body alignment with your opponent as well as keeping a certain kind of structural alignment for yourself that RP never stressed.

Balintawak blocking and a type of checking that Manong Ted Buot stressed...

A tactic called "leaking" from Mark Wiley's Integrated Eskrima has crept into the system as well.

Just off the top of my head.

Yours,
Dan Anderson

 

[Chris Manley]

"First of all I don't teach the empty hand anyos in the curriculum anymore. I substituted eight tactical forms that contain the essence of FMA"- Dan

Do you have any of these posted anywhere? I don't want to derail this but, the forms have been my hardest part to digest in the art. I am sure that my instructor has seen my eyes rolled a couple of times. Sorry Jaye.

The forms are one thing I would like to change and present with a FMA feeling and not the karate style that we have now.

Chris

 

[MJS]

"First of all I don't teach the empty hand anyos in the curriculum anymore. I substituted eight tactical forms that contain the essence of FMA"- Dan

Do you have any of these posted anywhere? I don't want to derail this but, the forms have been my hardest part to digest in the art. I am sure that my instructor has seen my eyes rolled a couple of times. Sorry Jaye.

The forms are one thing I would like to change and present with a FMA feeling and not the karate style that we have now.

Chris

Couldnt agree more with the forms. IMO, the FMAs are more fluid. I've seen some changes within my group, in which certain parts have a more stiff/rigid feel to them.

Likewise, I'd be interested in hearing more on Dans take on the forms he does.

 

[Dan Anderson]

hi Chris and Mike,

To answer your question, what I did was to take eight principle or signature Modern Arnis empty hand actions and convert them into singular "forms" much like the five principle forms of Xing Yi. They can be practiced alone. The can be linked. They can be done out of order. The end result is that any position you are in you have something, some option to go to. This rolls with the Professor's maxim of "No matter where you are, you are there already."

Yours,
Dan Anderson

 

[Dan Anderson]

And there's more!

As far as adding to the art, in MA80 there are three fundamental components which make up the empty hand actions:

1. The Tactical Forms as described above
2. An actual usable Sinawali Boxing (I had disagreed with RP for years re this)
3. 6-Stroke Trapping Hands as outlined in my new book called...aw, forget it. Bob will slap me on the hand if I do any more cheap advertising in a discussion thread.

Only the Sinawali Boxing did RP teach me.

Yours,
Dan Anderson

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I forgot all the Modern Arnis forms quite a while ago. The loss of them did not hinder my approach to the FMA's!

 

[Chris Manley]

Well it seems like a few of us have ether left out or would like to leave out the empty hand forms huh. That kinda of jives with the history (I have come to understand) of the professor adding the forms in after he brought Modern Arnis to the US.

 

[DragonMind]

I can say from hands-on experience that the tactical series and the trapping hand set makes a much more realistic empty hand flow than the old Sinawali boxing I was shown. I always felt the boxing was just empty handed tapi-tapi. Dan's series is much more of a template to create from than a sequence to memorize. As an assignment, Dan had me take the tactical and trapping and demonstrate how my hapkido background could flow right out of it. Set-ups for locks and throws abound in the series, which is one of the things I think Remy was alluding to with "you are already there". Dan has boiled it down to the bare essence and made it very teachable.

 

[Guro Harold]

Dan, Barry:

Respectfully, I don't know what version of Sinawalli Boxing Drill that you all were shown but the ones we did in Raleigh at Guro/Sifu David Ng's school would people see planets and stars. :erg:

Harold

 

[Brian Johns]

Hi Harold,

Care to give a description? Are you referring to pressure points?

Take care,
Brian

 

[Guro Harold]

Hi Harold,

Care to give a description? Are you referring to pressure points?

Take care,
Brian

Hi Brian,

More in the way of lively Jing with timing.

-Harold

 

[Dan Anderson]

Dan, Barry:

Respectfully, I don't know what version of Sinawalli Boxing Drill that you all were shown but the ones we did in Raleigh at Guro/Sifu David Ng's school would people see planets and stars. :erg:

Harold

Hey Harold,

One of Tim's Modern Arnis Minutes YouTube clips (which always seem to extend beyond a minute...hmmm...buy that man a watch! :cheers shows the basic template of aggressor slaps down your arm and punches. You defend and counter with options such as counter punches, counter locks and the like.

I have my own set which integrate body alignment and structure into the mix, making them more effective than originally taught. These combined with the Trapping Set and Tactical Forms are the basics of empty hand MA80.

Yours,
Dan Anderson