Originally posted by d. dela vega
hello everyone, this is my first post here and im hoping itll get pretty informative.
i need help/advice on holding escrima sticks. how do you properly hold the sticks and do a stirke?! (lets say a strike to the left temple of the opponent).
i havent had any proper instructions. there arent very many dojo in my place which offers arnis/kali/escrima. some do for very pricy private lessons. any advice/help would be great to start me off.
thanks people.
DDV
Hi vega...welcome aboard.
1st off, you need good instruction. The amount you can learn w/o one is not very much. Try to find a good one in your area, within your budget. You don't need to get sucked into very pricy private lessons, though; there are only a select few people who have the skill to charge for really pricy private's, so chances are these instructors aren't it.
So...find a good instructor. Best case, a quality school or instructor nearby who you can train with a few times a week. Worse case; start touring seminars w the same art, and get a group of friends (even if it is only one or two) to go with. Then you guys train what you learned for a month or so until you can make it to the next one. This way is really shakey, though, but it can be done.
So, that's my 1st suggestion. Let us all know what City/State your in, and perhaps we can help you find someone.
Now...for proper striking: A lot of what is "proper" will very in detail from system to system. The varients depend on the strategies of that style when they deploy a strike. Here are some stylistic examples of what I mean:
Balintawak: Tend to use heavier sticks (no "baby sticks" as my instructor says), but not too heavy, and the focus is on making every shot count. Almost every shot is a power shot, so there is almost virtually no abanicko's or wittics' (fanning strikes or "whip-like" strikes).
Pekiti Tersia: From what I've seen, they tend to Use slightly longer sticks, but not exactly heavier. They use more Puno (they leave a longer "butt-end" of the stick) then most because they have in close techniques where they use this tool; but much of what I have seen as a strength to their stick-play is their largo mano ("long range") techniques, repetitive striking patterns, and "follow-through" striking. They seem to want to barrage their opponent with their largo striking patterns until they fall.
Serrada-Eskrima: This is a more in close style, and they tend to use a lot of abinicko's (fanning strikes). They generally use a shorter stick, and speed takes precidence over power. They're strategy is to chip away at their opponent with as many strikes as possible until they are defeated. Speed, speed, speed!
Inosanto stuff: Dan Inosanto really has his own methodoligy based on many different styles, some listed above. What I have seen from Inosanto's people is a lot of Wittic or whipping with the stick, relying on a powerful follow through and whipping to generate power.
Modern Arnis: Modern Arnis is very diverse due to it's founders (Presas) background. The strategy could depend on the player and the strength's of that player. Some use a lot of Wittic, some use abinickos, some use mostly full power strikes. One thing that is true with how Modern Arnis players is they have to be prepared for a full power blow in close, even if it followed or preceeded by abinicko's or other strikes.
Now...out of the above, I only really train in Modern Arnis and Balintawak, but the other arts I have seen/experienced. My point is, how you hold your stick, and the perferred method of stiking will vary depending on what style you are doing, and what your striking strategy is.
How to hold/strike from a Balintawak/Modern Arnis viewpoint:
Since the founder of Modern Arnis was influenced by his Balintawak training, the methods of holding the stick are virtually the same.
You want as heavy of a stick as you can get that you can control w/o straining your wrist. Your timing with your technique is more important then how fast you can whip your stick around. You grip the stick leaving yourself only 2-3 fingers worth of Puno (butt end). This is very important (although, I see that a lot of my peers manage to screw this one up). You want as much length of the stick as you can get w/o sacrificing all your puno, and there are a lot of techniques that depend on your butt end only being 2-3 fingers in length. When you strike, you strike with the very end (last 4 inches) to get maximum power and damage. You don't want to hit with the belly of the stick (any where in the middle) because you wont get the power you need. Your arm should be fully extended on impact. You strike w/ the power of your entire body, utilizing hip torque, and body mechanics. When you aim for a target, like the temple, you want to think that you are going to shatter his temple/skull. Only about a centimeter of your stick should be touching a centimeter of bone/target, concentrating all your power into a very small area. This could mean the difference between a strike that shatters, and a strike that only leaves a welt.
So...that should get you started. There are a lot of other aspects of "the strike", but again, a qualified instructor can help you further!
Have a good one!
