how to get repsect for the "FMA"

[thekuntawman]

tae kwon do grew, but not with respect. the philippine martial arts is today growing the same way. 30 years ago (i wasnt here, but i heard about it) people were nervous to go into a martial arts school. they were happy only to get a low belts in that system, and anything the teacher gives to him, he treasures it like it was jewlry or something. when a guy had a black belt, it means to everyone around him, “dont **** with this guy”. there use to be a lot of loyalty with students to there teachers, and when a guy was a phoney the other teachers know how to test him, and you dont see that many of them.
but today, you have a guy who wont study with you because he never read your name on a book or the internet. you have people who walk in your place and tell you “this is what i want to learn, but not that. i dont want to do this and i dont want to do that”. i saw guys who have a student who will negotiate a higher belt or he’s going to leave. if you have a full time training program they wont sign up in your place, because he can do 5 seminars with somebody else and get a black blet in a year (or know i see, become a “professor” in 5 years of training). when people will join a place only for a few techniques he can teach on video or in a seminar, and those couple of techniques is all he knows in that style, but he is certified to teach it. people make up lineages, they make up experience, but his name is everywhere, so he is a “reputable, world know teacher”. oh yeah, he taught 1,000 students, so he must be good. all this, and he cant fight. and nobody around him thinks he can fight, except for his students. even some of them will say “i dont care if he’s not a great fighter, hes an excellent technician.” what the hell does that mean.
my boxing friends look down on karate, my karate friends look down on jeet kune do and philippine martial arts (except me). do you know why? because philippine martial arts people dont fight. except the dog brothers and WEKAF. and guess what many of these non-fighters say the dog brothers and WEKAF people cant streetfight, they are sport. so i guess drills and sinawali is closer to a real fight than sparring. you can get rank to easy in the philippine martial arts. AND, you dont have to fight to get it. do you think the people who do fight will believe all that tap-tap patty cake stuff? you probably dint even test it to see if it works.
I have a good friend in the philippines who teach silat. after he got his computer, and he learned to use the internet, he gets some visitors from the US a couple times a year. we joke because he ask me one time “what is all this let me show you stuff? they like to demonstrate everything” if you didnt get it, whats so funny is, when philippine martial artists get together, they “cross sticks”, means fight, to see what the other guys knows. to seminar learners, cross sticks means “show you in slow motion what i can do”. i have a student here who likes me because i know how to “pull stuff off”. what he means is i can do my art when you are trying to stop me, and i still pull it off. while other guys have to have you put your stick out for him to do the same technique, theres a difference of showing off and pulling off. people respect you when they think you can kick some ***, and you have to do it if you want to prove that you can.
so how can you give respect to the philippine martial art? make fighters. become a fighter. dont be afraid to fight. if you want to convince a student your technique works, guess how your going to have to prove it. if you dont know how to train people full time, (and i am not talking about full time seminar style teaching) find out from somebody how to do it. and stop collecting certificates! my mom says about my friends, that the ones who know how to fight have no certificate or only one or two. it seems like the weaker a fighter they are, he has more certificates. thats how you can tell the weak guys, because they need a lot of certificates and a lot of black belters for students to make up for it.
do a lot of scrimmage. theres nothing like a guy who did a lot of fights. when he shows you something, you can tell he knows what he’s doing. trust me, after your student gets around, he will know the difference between a fighting art and a martial art.
and dont give rank or titles to people who dont have the skill to back it up. because when i have people who did “FMA” before, they dont want it again and i have to convince him that i am different. he doesnt want the FMA because he dint believe in it. why, because probably his teacher did not prove that the fighting art works.
people look to the FMA when they are looking for another certificate to hang on the wall. last month a well known shaolin kempo came to me to learn the philippine martial arts. he has modern arnis and kombatan already. he has a school and he want to teach. “filipino empty hands” whatever that is. when i explain to him our program, he asked me, dont i have a short program for instructors. my answer, hell no. i dont care what you know, you dont know my art, and youre not going to know it in a few lessons. even when he offered me extra for “testing fee” ( i dont charge one) i refuse. i told him, if he can beat me with his kempo, then i will shorten his course to one year if we can exchange. I knew already he aint going to accept that one. people who want short courses dont fight. but you see thats disrespect. its almost like asking a man for his daughter for a short time. i know everybody here met a person like that. (i think he is on this form too). but see people dont respect the FMA that you dont need anything else, even though they say “oh we teach everything in FMA, grappling, knife, hands, feet”. they will show you the same leg kicks, takedown, and limb destruction, but if you want more, i also teach ____”.

 

[thekuntawman]

sorry, i know its long

anyway, dont give rank to fast. make your students fight for the rank. make them fight outside the schools (scrimmage or tournament) in all kinds of rules to move up. how can you say he is advance but you dont know if he can beat a tae kwon do man's feet? i mean he deosnt even know if he can.

if he has problem against one kind of fighter, dont mess him up and make him learn another style! if you do that you are showing him the philippine martial arts cant beat that style, or you dont know how to teach him to beat that style. no, you show him how to beat that guys with the skills he alread have. you dont have to box to beat a boxer.

when cross training to boxing was popular, a teacher i know named calvin use to say, they are boxing because a boxer kicked his ***. now, he will always be afraid of boxers". there is nothing wrong with cross training, but learn how to adapt what you are best at. learning to box part time, you will never beat a boxer at his own game, but with a stick in your hand and the knowledge how to fight him, you might kill him.

bring some pride to the philippine martial arts by showing people how well you can fight. FIGHT, dont demonstrate. when people see that, maybe they will stop asking to learn it in 10 easy lessons.

this is why on my site i say that the philippine martial arts is a bastard style. you can buy a rank like you can buy a cheep woman.

 

[arnisandyz]

good post. My dad said the old way was to challenge other people so that you can learn. You learn what you do right, and you learn when you get your *** kicked. And I agree, those that claim to have instructorship this and that need to prove something with paper instead of blood and sweat. Some of my best instructors were nobodies in most peoples eyes (hey, I never got a certificate!!! just kidding), but I can see they can handle themselves.

I once had a Kid in Karate come up to me and ask me to teach him a "weapons form" using two sticks so he can enter a tournament. I told him we don't do forms but if he wants to learn how to fight I can train him, he didn't stick around for very long, he was more interested in that big shinny trophy.

 

[Battousai]

Hmm, I wonder... Is martial arts about fighting? Or is it about self defense? There's a big difference. Fighting is all about the ego, all pride. Self defense is about protecting yourself and those you care about.
Is everything about dominance?
I agree totally with you thekuntawman about certificates and all sorts of trash in modern so called martial arts.
Yet I don't think hurting other people to improve yourself, for your pride, is the way.
Certainly there is doubt about abilities, until a real life situation proves the validity and skill. Can students be taught effective martial arts without having to use them, to try them out? Its a tough question, yet if the teaching is good enough I think so.
Violence is not the reason behind martial arts, rather the cesation of it.
You can call me weak, or cowardly, but I don't think that I would ever harm someone for laughing at me, calling me names, spitting on me even. I draw the line with real physical threat. My instructor doesn't, he's fine with fighting over insults, so this isn't any sort of thing I was brainwashed into by anyone.
When the virtue of the art is about protection, preservation, violence sought out is the antithesis of that virtue.

No one can be a great martial artist without humility, because without it they will eventually be destroyed by their own greed before they have had enough time to become great.

I greatly respect what you have posted, this modern age is one of deceit and malice, where fakery is glorified everyday by all the ignorant. Yet your methods are not the way, they are simply those of the narsisus; egomaniacs feed a bottomless pit and will forever be wanting...

 

[arnisandyz]

The Filipino arts are very young compared to other Asian systems. In addition to that, they have been needed for many years due to foreign invaders, internal termoil, wars, etc. where other arts had longer peaceful times to develop the budo within the combat system, transfering it into an art. FMA seems more combat oriented.

People trained in this generation, or this generations mentality who have earned there position through bruises and cuts sometimes find it difficult to relate with todays standards, which is evolving more and more into an art then a fighting system. Call it growing pains.

 

[thekuntawman]

first i never talk about hurting people to develop yourself, what i talk about is getting experience in something that you claim to be an expert in. if you never practice law, you cannot call yourself a lawyer no matter how much laws you know about. in the martial arts of the philippines the bottom line is your skill in fighting. not hurting people who do not attack you, not to dominate a passive person. but you cannot defend yourself without causing some kind of pain to your opponent. and no, you dont have to go around hurting people to learn how to do it. but you DO have to have the skill, the speed, the tolerance of pain, and the eyes and hands that are fast enough to counter and counter attack if you get into a fihgt.

in the philippine fighting arts we dont have the religion connection like they do in kung fu. we dont teach our martial art as a college degree like the koreans. our art is a fighting art. and if you dont like to fight, well than all i can say to you is that you are in the wrong art. we are not men of philosophy unless it is combat philosophy. we do not pick on weak people, but we understand you cannot say you can defend yourself unless you have done it before. and its better to find out where your skills are in practice where you dont get hurt, instead of the street, where some guys might dance on your head while you think about what to do.

to the guy who said i am ego-tistic, hah! no way man, i get paid to train people to protect themself. i would be a cheater if i trained people and all they have confidence in is how they will do IN THEORY. the same way a doctor have to practice because he saves lifes, the martial artist needs the same amount of practice, no more, because he is saving lifes too, like his own and his family.

and to answer your question, that the purpose of eskrima is to self defense or fight, its both. and they are the same thing. you have to fight to defend yourself. if you dont, your arent defending anything.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I have noticed that many other arts will use stick tecniques from the FMA and call it there own. To me this is one way they show respect but are afraid to say it.
If someone teaches a seminar.do not give out any certificates except one saying that a person was there and participated.
Never make up a form for some idoit so they can look impressive.
I think the martial arts world has come to except people in the FMA as very talented and knowledgeable (SP) We need to keep a high standard for our instructors and not worry about the other arts.
I was around thirty years ago. And yes if a person was an instructor or had a black belt MOST where verry ligit.
I teach out of a: pit,dungon,hole in the wall that most people walk by and never see (even if I am on Main Street) People come in look around and leave. It is not fancy, the floor just a floor, there are no mirrors,I provid 4 wall a ceiling and some heat in the winter( mostly body heat) but I teach and my students learn. Not because I offer them rank (good luck there) but because the want to learn.
:soapbox:
Shadow

 

[Battousai]

After reading your last post I can see your position clearer. This is the general statement that stuck out to me about hurting others to benefit yourself:

Originally posted by thekuntawman

anyway, dont give rank to fast. make your students fight for the rank. make them fight outside the schools (scrimmage or tournament) in all kinds of rules to move up. how can you say he is advance but you dont know if he can beat a tae kwon do man's feet? i mean he deosnt even know if he can.

Sorry, I understand were you are coming from now.

 

[thekuntawman]

thank you. i am glad we can agree on that.

the philippine martial arts is worthy of its own schools and people who specialize in them. we are not a tagalong art like just to supplement another style. you can take a guy right of the street, and train him even in 6 months to handle any guy on the street. in six months you can teach him to knock somebody out with his fist, how to break a jaw and a cheekbones with his palm and elbow. teach him to kick a groin and separate a knee. you can teach him to use any stiff weapon to break the collarbones and wrist and forearm of an attacker. and you can teach him to stop a stick and a knife from killing him. now what art can you begin study and go right to business? there is no forms and "builder blocks" where your student aint going to get any benefit yet.

this is a powerful selling product, but we need people who are willing to specialize in combat skills, instead of selling ranks.

 

[thekuntawman]

when some people think of the philippine martial arts, many people think of video tapes and seminars, and people swinging sticks who say they know how to fight with hands and grapple, and fast promotions and talk of "deadly" techniques, blending arts, and middle age men with average karate skills from a previous training in another art.

you dont see to many people who use to do one art, and now they switch over to the "FMA" because the "FMA" is so effective. you only see people who offer kenpo/karate/kungfu/etc AND "FMA". if this art is so effective, isnt there some people out there who feel the art is all you need? if our grappling is so good, why do you need bjj? or muay thai if we have punching and kicking? what the outside martial art community is seeing in us, is that we do a little of this and a little of that. anything, as long as you can get it in a seminar or tape. but nobody does it full time.

i would like to see in the philippine martial arts a lot of tournament where our best students duck it out, and there is some people stick out as a champion or the best. i would like to see kenpo and kung fu people come to the FMA tournament and get whipped. i would like to see real stickfighters who do stickfighting, and empty hand, and grapplers, and what they are doing is philippine martial arts. after that, we can have people who are convincing that they really know how to kick ***, not just talk about it.

maybe after some of the practioner of the other styles see more of us fight, using OUR technique, instead of just seeing every FMA expert selling tapes and seminar, then, there will be more repsect for the FMA. right now, we are nothing but a business of theory talkers.

 

[arnisador]

Well put thekuntawman. Far too few people do the FMA first and foremost--it gives these arts the appearance of "needing" help.