Tech support

 Very recently I've had the privilege of taking part in an FMA Discussion podcast with a group of fellow Astig Lameco practitioners, including the method founder Roger Agbulos. We had such a great time and so much fun that time flew, but the discussion touched on several topics that might be of interest, if you have time to take a look and have a listen. 

Be as it may, quite lot of time was spent in effort to shed light on certain more or less specific aspects of technique, meaning how it is trained for combative effect. While there are numerous elements that comprise a well performed technique, it seems that to a lot of people it still boils down to a set of biomechanical building blocks that, if sequenced properly, should yield desired result. Since another prominent subject in the conversation was solo training, several listeners believed it focused on the said approach to technique. 

After all, isn't that exactly what it is meant when experts of all sorts offer opinions and advice on the proper and improper way of doing pretty much anything?

Well, not exactly. Naturally, if one's approach and interest in doing martial arts lies in some sort of aesthetic, artistic, meditative exercise and/or performance (kata, choreographed demos etc.), then the above mentioned view is pretty good. 

However, if you are in the category of practitioners who look for the functional use of technical arsenal in the circumstances of working against a non-complient partner/opponent (whether in competition, sparring of a real fight), thing tend to require attention toward several other dimensions. Yes, the mechanics of delivery are still important - including speed, power, strengths etc. - but there additional elements of the equation, such as timing, distance management, efficiency, intent and so on. And then, there is the avenue of tactics, strategy and other avenues of taking the other person into account. I have particular affinity toward the definition of technique as used by the authors of a book reviewed here: 

…both an accurate movement pattern as well as successful application in an Unscripted Training or Play Learning environment. Correct Execution does not mean a person can simply successfully mimic what a movement pattern looks like, it means that they can use the movement pattern effectively and also achieve its intended outcome…

See, it is the intended outcome that happens to be the key phrase here. That is why I said, during the discussion, that Astig works through the outcome based methodology, using the reverse engineering approach in identifying what makes a good technique, necessary physical attributes, and adequate training methods to develop all those. And this is why the impact of good instruction and feedback is especially important, even if you are working on your own. 

So...do your best to find it. 

Decade of babbling!

 Whoa, it just appeared to me that a month ago it was the 10th anniversary of this blog! Man...who would have thought. Back then, even with the first actual post, my sole intention was to share some personal views and insights into this beautiful, funny, frustrating and consuming world of martial art training. Maybe I was hoping to somehow contribute to improving that very training process a tiny bit. Well, while there is no way to say if the later hopes have been achieved, I sure did keep on sharing those views, thoughts and rants. And got more in return than ever having dreamt of!

Just like it is the case with training itself, the main benefit of writing this blog turned out to be getting to know some really great people and learning infinitely more along the way than possible being able to teach in any way, shape or form. As the matter of fact some true greats found it worthwhile to get in touch and grace me with their time in conversation. Others provided me with the opportunity of actually learning under their guidance on a regular basis. What more could a guy, who happens to be a lifer in the martial arts, ask for?

However, as a complete coincidence, probably the biggest honor that aligned with this anniversary was the invitation to teach along with guro Roger Agbulos during one of his incredibly popular Zoom sessions. As a token of appreciation for all those readers who made running the blog worthy, here is my segment of that session, in all its (in)glorious detail:

The things that I would particularly like you to notice are the interpretation of what good technique actually means in combative arts (at the very beginning of the video), as well as a helpful way to improve one's solo practice and make it more effective. If you get more out of it - take it as bonus! 

In conclusion, it has been an awesome ride... Let's see if we can go for another round! 

Modern classic

 Let's straight it out from the very beginning - what makes a book a classic? Well, in short, it has to be an excellent presentation on the given subject, holding its value over time, serve as a go-to source of information, and ideally reveal new insights with every reading/consultation even years later. In addition to all that, the work presented today was published in the 21st century, hence the term "modern". And the author of the subject of this review is master Reynaldo Galang.

Rey Galang doing what he loves most

Master Rey is a fairly well known name in the world of Filipino martial arts (FMA for short) and held in high regard, both for his teaching ability and penmanship. On the one hand, he is a co-founder and a driving force behind one of the most prestigious organizations in this sphere - Bakbakan. On the other hand, he wrote and edited four phenomenal books on various aspects of FMA, as well as numerous articles over the past couple of decades. Having had the good fortune to attend some of master Rey's online classes, I can confidently say that his dedication to the arts and commitment to students is absolutely of the highest order. This is probably the exact foundation that the success of Bakbakan was built on. 

Bakbakan

Among the four books mentioned, I would like to point to the one titled Masters Of the Blade. Now, the books that seek to portray several, or many, representatives of any martial art (maybe even comprehensive overview of various styles within the art) are not exactly a new idea. In the realm of FMA itself there have been several, including one also written by master Galang (Warrior Arts Of the Philippines). However, there a few features that make the MOB book stand out.

the book

Firstly, instead of opting to cast a wide net of entire art (say, FMA) or geographical region (e.g. Philippines), the author chose to focus on a single aspect of the art, specifically the knife, and then bring in the views and thought from a large number of contributors. To be honest, all of the featured exponents in this tome had been more or less influenced by the FMA approach to handling the knife and dealing with it, but some of them (Tom Sotis of Amok!, Michael Janich, James Keating and Hock Hochheim come to mind) have moved to one degree or the other away from the typical Filipino treatment of the tool. 

Secondly, the contributors are not grouped according to their stylistic affiliations, but rather presented in the alphabetical order. Why is that important? To start with, nobody can accuse the author or favoring his own "tribe" and pushing their agenda to the detriment of another one. Also, it makes for a more interesting read, because the expressions of the topics vary from one chapter to the next, so you will keep focus better. Finally, the absence of style/system chapters eliminates the proclivity for skipping some chapters, and in turn made me discover new people and learn about their insights with a more open mind. 

Thirdly, all the contributing authors were obviously given the full freedom to state their position on the subject, even if it does not align with those of other exponents or the main author, which is a refreshing approach to doing this kind of work. That way, the book serves almost as a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences for the mutual learning benefit of the reader, regardless of his or her previous experience. 

Lastly, the technical presentation makes for a mighty nice package. Excellent print quality on glossy pages makes the photos clear; good binding provides years of perusing pleasure without the fear your book falling apart; format is just right...and at 450+ pages this book is chock-full of great information and will offer many hours of reading pleasure. 

still going strong

Ok, but is it any practical in terms of learning  something from it?

Why, am I glad you asked! If you don't mind a personal anecdote (hey, it is MY blog after all!), pondering this very question lead me to my currently main instructor of FMA. 

Namely, when the book came out in 2005, the quality instruction in the Filipino arts was seriously scarce in my neck of woods, so I would take any opportunity (indiscriminately) to learn something from anybody who had access to real teachers. No wonder that some of those teaching would be contradictory to each other occasionally, system names were just labels to me, and it made me confused at more than one point. Upon going through the book a couple of times, there seemed to be chapters that, if taken in certain order, could constitute a solid training progression. And then, I shared my thoughts in this regard on one of the more active knife forums of the day. Here is what I wrote:

1. Start with the chapter provided by Roger Agbulos. It is dedicated to what I feel is the groundwork for any fighting endeavor, i.e. footwork and non-telegraphic movement. After you've done that on your own for a few days...
2. Find yourself a partner and get into drills nicely featured in Steve Grody's chapter. It will teach you how to stay in a long range, where your skills are most likely to give you the advantage over an untrained opponent (as they say - "proximity negates skill"), and you'll be pushed to use your footwork from the step 1 in a situational environment of sorts.
3. If you've been doing the above two steps for a few weeks, and started developing some timing and feel for keeping your distance, maybe entering and disengaging comfortably to some degree, you might be ready for basic medio and corto drills, so turn to Hospecio Balani's portion of the book. There you will also get a feel for working with a reverse grip. I'd like to add that you should not stop working on previous material, because we all need constant improvement and brushing up in those areas. The same principle applies in further steps too.
4. OK, once you have your live hand in sync with your weapon hand, you should move to more demanding tasks, such as those shown in the chapter by Dave Gould. This is where all your previous skills will be put to test, along with your mental perseverance, ability to cope with stress and failure in training and struggle with your ego.
5. At this point, which in my estimation is after few months of regular training, you should have your solid foundation in place, so you can start adding other material from the book, in accordance with your needs and interests - empty handed against blade concepts or stalemate solutions from Steve Tarani; solo training forms, techniques and drills and their applications from Rey Galang or Michael Janich; empty handed scenarios from W. Hock Hochheim and John Jacobo; multiple adversaries or VIP protection scenarios from Atienzas or Bakbakan; drills for overcoming knife defense attempts from San Miguel Eskrima and Krishna Godania; insightful and thought provoking writing from AMOK!, Ron Balicki or Jim Keating...and so on.

In essence, after you have your essential skills included in your functioning arsenal, you can go out and do research on your own, as the above is just a basic outline/framework, based only on a single book, although a great one.
Finally, The fact that I haven't mentioned some people who contributed to the book (Ray Dionaldo, Bram Frank, Felix Valencia...) is not to say that they have nothing valuable to offer. It is just that I tried to make this as simple and functional as possible. After all, refer to the section on "doing your own research"...That's why they call it a homework - you do it on your own!

As it turned out, the person who was mentioned first was also a member of the forum ad reached out to say thanks about the review. We really hit it off from there, and have become friends, to my great learning and training benefit for 15 years now. 

Also, I soon figured out that the next three instructors mentioned, just like the first one, were all practitioners of the Lameco Eskrima system of FMA, so that effectively made my decision on which path I would like to pursue in this regard. 

In conclusion, this book has stood the test of time, especially if you keep in mind that it was published in the pre-Youtube era. While several new name instructors and training approaches have emerged in the meantime, most of those featured in the Masters Of the Blade are still pretty active and further honing their material. 

If you get a chance to get this book - don't waste it! It will be a staple of your martial art library. That said, while eagerly awaiting for master Rey's next book, I'm off to check a couple of things in my copy...

Lonely path

 ...can be, and often is hard. But if it is what makes you who you are, you have to follow it. The pandemic situation is unfortunately still a relevant factor in our training, after more than a year, which means that solo training is still a VERY important aspect. Although, it always is, anyway. As guro Roger Agbulos pointed out during one of his Zoom training sessions, even before the lockdowns and other hindrances, 80% of his training was done solo, anyway. I have already written about it, so today I'd like to offer a couple of ways to maybe freshen it up by introducing new ways of working on your own.

To begin with, you may consider taking certain exercising ideas and applying them in different planes. For example, most BJJ solo drills are done on the floor, but what if you tried to work on chaining various movements in different positions? Possibly, something of this could come up...

OK, once you are comfortable with that, or simply wishing to add more ingredients to the mix, it could be a simple piece of training gear such as a ball. Following is a clip of my friend Vasilis from Athens, Greece, showing some interesting ways of expanding your training. 

Finally, should you be looking for a way to make the training more reactive and spontaneous, using a pendulum could be the answer. In the following example guro Jay Pugao of Visayan Corto Cadena system of arnis/eskrima is demonstrating it with empty handed applications, i.e. punching, but this type of training can be done just as well with various impact or bladed weapons. 

As always, what you get out of these modes of training depends on what you put in. Granted, there is no way to adequately replace partner training, but it should not be the excuse for failing to train at all. With a little imagination and a lot of drive, you can end up attaining good results, especially with proper mindset

Go with the...flow!

 Asked what are the characteristics of a high-level martial art exponent, several typical responses come to mind - ease of movement, grace of execution, thinking ahead of the opponent etc. - but when they are all integrated it would be fair to say that when they are at their top game, such expert practitioners all seem to possess and exhibit flow in performance. However, this very notion may prove to be rather tricky in its meaning. Also, there is no consensus regarding if it is possible to be trained. 

Interestingly enough, some martial systems emphasize flow as their prime goal and desired result of training but may have very different ways in seeking to achieve it. Let's take the example of grappling arts such as aikido and BJJ: the former strives to develop flow as a component of its technical base and seeks to train it through relaxed and soft execution of specific techniques through high repetitions; the latter perceives flow as the result of having all other technical components in order, and tends to come at it through sparring, i.e. free rolling. 

If you have had the opportunity to try or at least see both approaches in action, you may have noticed that their understanding of what, or better yet - how, flow is is not exactly the same. In aikido it is seen as good if the whole sequence of moves and techniques runs seamlessly as one long, uninterrupted statement, even speech. But, when reading a well written article/book, or listening to an engaging speaker, you have certainly noticed full stops at the end of sentences and heard pauses at varying times in the speech. In a conversation, this is even more obvious. This is why BJJ sparring seems more natural, with its transitions, isolations, positional escapes and finally submissions - this is how a natural conversation may be represented visually. 

But, what with the striking arts? Obviously, there is high value placed on the flow in those as well, but again, the approaches frequently differ. Filipino martial arts are known for professing their preference for the flow as a supremely important aspect, but quite often it is attempted in practice in a manner similar to aikido...artificially, devoid of context, via so-called flow drills. Here is an example...

What technical attributes do you see being drilled properly here? Stance, biomechanical structure, distance, footwork..? Not exactly the most brilliant display. That said, the drill itself isn't necessarily faulty, be it sumbrada, hubad or whatever. With proper energy and intent, all those other things would fall into place. As an example, seek instruction from Roger Agbulos, either seminar or classes, to see how hubad, when well done, tend to resemble wrestling's pummeling drills. 

Over the years of my training with Alex Kostic, we came at a notion of "punctuated flow", as a term that may better represent a genuine state of performance in actual fights. To most of us, seeing a good boxer doing his craft would be a great visual representation. The following clip shows some of those, but I especially like the portion starting at 1:38, because it is a great parallel to giving a good speech, as mentioned earlier, with its pauses between well connected phrases and sentences. 

See what I mean? Now, some people may argue that flow is a mental state that cannot really be trained. I will readily agree that with some practitioners it is more innate and easier to attain, but it can be trained for sure. There are many factors involved in an adequate training methodology, but let me point to an important one to begin with. First, the trainees should be working on longer series of technical maneuvers and looking for fluid performance, but the thing is they should be aware of the purpose of each individual component, while facing progressive resistance and increasing demands in doing, so. Why? Well, once you know what are you doing and why, it is much easier to have proper intent behind your actions. Whoever has seen a Thai boxing fight knows that most exchanges are short and crisp, done explosively, and yet, in most schools you will find many strings of long combos, such as this one:

The point there is that the person practicing the drill knows the purpose and function of their individual techniques and their possible combinations, which enables practitioners to take them apart and reassemble them in different ways, according to the context and circumstances of the fight. Like learning foreign languages - you may and should learn entire phrases and expressions, but also need to know meaning of individual words and rules of linking them when expressing new meaning. Here, meaning is intent...without you can throw together any words you like in any order you want, but they might end up sounding like gibberish. 

And we all like being well understood, right?

Study merger

With the pandemic, social distancing and lockdown still ongoing, it has become pretty much normal to study fighting methods via Zoom and/or similar online avenues. Naturally, it will never be the same as training in person, but there are some advantages - such as actually getting to learn from instructors that had previously been simply unavailable due to geographic constraints etc. 

Now, there are some ways to maximize the learning experience. Of course, the optimal version is to have had personal, hands on, training with the instructor doing the online teaching, as in my situation is the case with Roger Agbulos. In those circumstances, I know exactly what he means when saying or showing something (be it a technique or principle), so the retention is higher. Especially so with his able coaching, even via online video platforms. 

Short of that, it helps to have access to different formats of someone's instruction. In my case, this is intertwined with the aforementioned opportunity to try instruction from someone who had been out of reach before. For quite a few years I have been aware of the FMA instructor Abundio (Abon) Baet, especially having read a couple of his books. The material in the books is nicely presented, with interesting info about his family lineage and several methods/styles that comprise his system, called Garimot Arnis. I was particularly intrigued by his book on Cinco Teros style, as it seemed to portray that specific style in most detail and with some logical learning progression. 

This one

However, as good as the presentation is, still photos and written descriptions obviously cannot carry over all the details and intricacies of a martial activity. Fortunately, it turns out that Gat Puno Baet (as happens to be his title within the art), offers a Facebook group in which all the drills from the book are shown in video (done solo), and then supported with periodical Zoom session, during which he demonstrates and explains in detail the previously selected and assigned drills from those shown. His explanations are then followed by critical, yet encouraging coaching and evaluation of other participants' performance in the live session. 

As it turns out, Gat Puno Baet is at the same time demanding instructor with a keen eye for detail, but also cordial and easy going in communication. He talks openly about his attitude and expectations from the students, with no hidden agendas or ulterior motives.  Oh, and he was highly approving of guro Agbulos, too 😊  For anyone interested, I would recommend contacting him on Facebook to ask about training in this or any other subsystems of his art.

The combined approach of studying material in the book (most helpful with terminology, if you are interested in the cultural aspect of training), recorded videos and live sessions makes the whole learning experience as enjoyable as can be. All that remains is to then put it to practice between those sessions as well. 

In conclusion, the pandemic and isolation certainly do have negative effect on everybody's training, but there is still silver lining to be found. My experience with Garimot Cinco Teros and Abon Baet is great proof in the case. So, not only are there no excuses for slacking, but you could even enrich your training in some domains, if only you chose to do so. 

Makes sense?

If you only go back couple of posts, it's easy to see I have already addressed the whole training in confinement issue. However, some things have happened since that I had not predicted... the veritable avalanche of free instruction from excellent instructors offered via Zoom and similar devices.

Quite a few of them have stated that in the circumstances it is really difficult to train with full effectiveness when lacking partners, and I happen to agree. However, it is evident that some instructors have a better grip on tackling the issue.

Naturally, as you could figured by reading through my blog, I really enjoyed the training sessions run by guro Roger Agbulos. Probably the main reason is that he approached those from a coaching perspective, with a keen eye on the people who joined the classes.

The main point, and it really struck a chord with me, is that he said probably 70% of one's training should go on in the form of solo training - not because you shouldn't look for partners, but because you should train as much as you can outside the class, too. For that reason, he focused on developing specific physical attributes demanded by the trainees' chosen system (Filipino martial arts in this case), from a very functional perspective that enables practitioners to maximize their time in training, thus benefiting more from the partnered training as well. It also helped that guro Roger really looks into contemporary athletic training principles when formulating his training methods.

So, with the exception of very beginner who need to avoid forming bad habits, there is really no excuse to slack, even in the inconvenient circumstances. Keep on keeping on! 

Basically fundamental

I was asked on several occasions if I had ever gone to coach a training session without knowing what I would do? In short, the answer is - no! Admittedly, I have appeared in sessions without previously planning the class, more than once. So, how come the answer to the question was negative? Quite simply, there is a super important aspect of training that you can always revisit without feeling guilty... As the matter of fact, if you are not training every day, and making it part of that daily training, you are probably in need of more. It is called - BASICS!

If a man of Virgil Hunter's caliber, coaching champions, stresses the importance of fundamental techniques and tactics, who am I to dispute it? After all, he works with champions and challengers in a tough world of professional boxing, where the failure to train properly is very costly in so many ways.

Now, some may argue that the entire technical arsenal of boxing is rather basic in general, and that other combative systems operate in a more diverse circumstances, hence demanding more variety in training, too. Say, weapon based methods would be like that, right? Well, not exactly. Namely, while the challenges that the practitioners of non-sportive approaches to combat may be of wider scope, effective responses to them are, nonetheless, based on a limited set of mechanical and tactical principles that are best adopted through the diligent practice of those system's basics.

Interestingly enough, most advanced practitioners, and particularly those good in actual fighting, enjoy the constant focus on fundamentals, because they tend to always find new applications and variations of those underlying principles. And it is exactly those novel expressions and applications that make "new and advanced" techniques, but are only possible owing to the incessant drilling of foundations. My main FMA instructor Roger Agbulos keeps repeating his mantra of "advanced techniques being fundamentals done really well", and when you get to spar him, the deep trueness of this sentiment becomes very obvious.

Besides, this attitude is not limited to martial endeavors either. Legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi is famous for starting the 1961 season with Green Bay Packers by gathering the team and saying: "Gentlemen...this is a football!" Another legendary coach, this time from basketball, John Wooden, would even go so far to teach his players how to put on their socks and tie their shoes.

Finally, there is one important distinction we ought to have in mind. When I rant about fundamentals here, it does not mean the disciplinary methods, i.e. customs and protocols aimed at teaching the students proper etiquette and conduct during classes (not that this is unimportant), but rather the aforementioned tenets and principles that form the technical and tactical groundwork of any given system. And with that in mind, the best way to get to the advanced levels of training is to find joy and pleasure in working on the basics.

In the long term, it is not about how soon you can skip to the next phase, but rather how long you can stay at the same and find it beneficial. 

Running in circles, and getting somewhere

There are varying, and sometimes colliding, attitudes towards the role of cyclical, give-and-take drills done in martial arts. A typical example of those would be the familiar approach to them in Filipino martial arts, commonly known as hubud drills. Some proponents believe these are essential for the development of certain attributes, others that they are complete waste of time. Admittedly, I have been on both sides of the rift at some point, so now I hope to provide some insight into how to do such drills in order to bridge the gap in perceptions on their value.

For starters, let's take a look at a typical example of the kind of drills we are talking about.

The supporters of such training will claim that its main goals are line familiarization, developing the flow, learning about proper mechanical structure of the techniques etc. On the other hand, the
skeptics about the value of circular drills, mostly coming from the MMA or BJJ (sports) background, underline that they are static and lack energy/resistance, thus failing to prepare the practitioners for any realistic application whatsoever.

Now, there are certain shortsighted misconceptions in both camps. In so many instances, when the students lose sight of the end goal and keep doing the drill for the sake of just doing it, i.e. when the means is mistaken for the goal, they stay at this beginning stage and then all those objections from the critics then apply in full.

Interestingly, though, the sport crowd fails to see that there are training methods of that ilk are widespread in their domain as well. One such example would be the following positional drill in BJJ:

As it seems, the aim of this exercise is the familiarization with typical positions of the discipline (line familiarization?) and getting used to go from one to another seamlessly (developing flow?). Take notice of how the training partner is utterly static and not providing any resistance. Naturally, the response is that at issue is just the beginning phase of training and that at some point the person on the bottom will start offering resistance and actively attempting to hinder the top person's movements.

Another point might be that it is not even the cyclical drill of the give-and-take type as utilized in the FMA circles. OK, then how about the next one:

In this pummeling drill we clearly see the static phase and predetermined moves, along with little to no resistance. However, the training does not end there! Towards the end of the video, the trainees start adding footwork and moving with energy. And this is where those more "traditional" schools of Asian martial arts should look for some effective tweaks to their own training.

Still, in all fairness, some of those schools have been doing it fine all along. From a personal experience, after having learned some basic hubud drills I did them for a short while simply because they were fun and flashy when dome at speed (great for demos). But then, I completely abandoned them because they did not transfer well into sparring. Later, nevertheless, under the tutelage of guro Roger Agbulos, it became clear that when trained properly, these drills can offer some tangible value in terms of transfer to other, more alive and energetic modes of training. Here is an example of him coaching some intricacies of this work.

From here on, it is easy to also introduce timing variations, feints etc, ultimately using the basic drill as a springboard for further exploration and growth. Personally, my take is that all drills, being what they are - drills, are the means to isolate and better understand particular segments of the whole picture that is combat. Consequently, they should be treated as such - use them for what they're for and either move on or expand/adapt once they have served their purpose. Still, let's not not throw the baby out with the bathwater and miss on worth aspects of any training method because it is useless or harmful when implemented improperly. 

Bird view

Funny think struck me the other day. Not really an epiphany, but more like finally finding the missing part of the puzzle sort of reasoning. "About what?" you may ask...

Well, I have never been a kind of guy who desperately needs ostentatious recognition and/or ceremonies within a hierarchical organization in order to feel valued or as a confirmation of whether my training and effort had been worthwhile. Yet, it does not mean I feel disdain or other negative attitude toward various organizations (let's stay with martial arts here) per se. Some of them are functional, serving the purpose of making things easier for the members, some are unfortunately their very own raison d'etre, but it is not really any different than in other fields of life. Anyway, I did notice that some of those associations I liked better than others, and sometimes wondered why.

Sometimes I would think it depended on their administrative setting, other times I thought it had to do with the training methodology, maybe declared philosophy. mission etc. But no, there is another decisive factory.

We now get back to the beginning of this post. I received the latest book, War Hawk, written by Fernan Vargas, and got into a brief correspondence/conversation with the author. I was familiar with some of his earlier works (hence my initiative for obtaining this one), and our exchanges confirmed the impression I had of Mr Vargas. His demeanor showed a humble and honest man, always eager to learn more and new things, shying away from the pretentious status of grandmastery and other related aspects. On the other hand, his actual high level of expertise on the matter he teaches and does is evident in the process of sincerely sharing the knowledge he had accumulated over the decades of practice.

And so, as the birds of the feather flock together, Vargas seems to be gathering a colorful band of people of the similar ilk in his Raven Tactical International in a loose structural organization, but with the tight bond of common values. Finally, this is where I had my light-bulb moment - it is the fraternal feeling of non-enforced tribal belonging that some organizations have that I tend to appreciate. In such cases, even if I don't share the same views and interests of the said associations, there is still the tendency to enjoy the company of their members, relieved of any need to prove something to the rest of the world, content in belonging to where they feel at home.

Another nice commonality in such organizations is that their members tend to be ready and willing to learn from each others and help each other grow, regardless of their previous experience, background or "level" in the group. It is the supportive and not fiercely competitive atmosphere that enables the development to mean true growth and maturing, and not just plain expansion for the sake of numbers.

The aforementioned published works of Fernan Vargas and his associates are a nice example of this attitude. They all start with some very important notions and clear ego-check points that are too often either taken for granted or ignored altogether. Oh, and when it comes to the value of the contents, one would be severely challenged to find a better ratio of the proverbial bang for the buck.

Naturally, the Raven bunch is not the only crew of that sort, or worth mentioning in this light (Systema Homo Ludens of Alex Kostic, Astig Lameco of Roger Agbulos, Libre Fighting of Scott Babb, Combat Systema of Kevin Secours, to mention just a few), but being that they happened to be responsible for my "moment of insight" I devoted the space to them.

Liking other types of organizations and their inner workings is absolutely fine, as long as you find what you are looking for in them. It is just my personal preference to gravitate toward certain types of communities, and I am he author of this blog, so...

NOTICE: I am in no way and by no means affiliated with the RTI or Mr Vargas. This entire piece of writing was completely unsolicited by any of the mentioned parties. It represents my honest opinion, based on my personal experience with those subjects, so take it for what it is.

Teaching vs. coaching

The title reflects the subject I've been pondering lately, but to get something right right now - I do not think the two processes/roles are actually conflicting or in some sort of opposition. As it often is, most phenomena happen in some kind of continuum but for one reason or another, a lot of people will only see the polar extremes of that continuum. And that, of course, offers a distorted view of how things are 99% of the time.

So, let us begin with what the differences are between a teacher and a coach...in my own view and for the purposes of this article.

The essential role of the teacher is to present a subject of choice in such a way that the students will understand the matter and become able to approach the practice (hopefully), with the goal of mastering/internalizing/functionalizing that knowledge. The coach, on the other hand, is concerned more with the latter part, i.e. the practice and its results. In other words, in the more specific physical training context, the teacher works on the technical material/curriculum, while the coach works on the practitioner/athlete.

I have already written about teaching and what makes a good teacher, so this time I'd rather turn toward the other side, i.e. coaching.

For the visual types, and not my own design

In the world of martial arts and general combative training, I do not see enough coaches, in comparison with the percentage of teachers. Especially so in the so-called traditional or classical styles, where the heavy emphasis in training is on learning the curriculum, which means making sure that some "sacred knowledge" is not lost or deteriorated in some way. In those circles, the focus of performance is on whether something looks adequately or seems proper. The principal criterion here is often visual, so the student may be told that something is done "like this, not like that", but when asked "why", the teacher typically answers that it is the right way of doing it. That, of course, is not an explanation at all.

To the coach, the main issue is not whether whether any technical element is done this or that way, but - does it work! And the work part means in the circumstances it is meant to be used in. That is why in most fighting sports we only discuss the individual styles of a fighter, not so much in the term of "lineage". Take a look at boxing...there are definitely styles in it (peek-a-boo, Texas slip 'n' slide etc.) but the bottom line is whether a boxer can hold his or her own in the ring. And that is also why you see different types of fighters coming from the same gym - the coaches work on each one's personal strengths and weaknesses to optimize their performance.

My most recent encounter with the dichotomy of teaching and coaching (which peaked the inspiration for this article) happened during the seminar with guro Roger Agbulos of the Astig Lameco school, a couple of weeks back. Namely, his approach to conducting a seminar is different to most other instructors I have met, being that he will keep harping on the same technique or principle for longer than the majority of other. On top of that, guro Roger will usually spar a lot of participants of the seminar, and then also have them spar among themselves, while offering tips from the side.

When asked about it, he said he would rather spend three hours on a couple of techniques than go over a lot, because it enables him to coach the practitioner in real time. More specifically, it gives enough time to see what are the problems/mistakes that the individual trainee will exhibit, and then work on correcting them. It also means the coach will tweak and adapt the material to suit the particular trainee, not the other way around. Ultimately, to a committed coach, what counts is the result, not the amount of technical knowledge or the size of the arsenal.

The author being coached by Roger Agbulos

Naturally, in order for the process of coaching to take place, it entails certain prerequisites. There has to be continuity in working with one coach/trainee; fairly high level of mutual trust is needed, too; both sides have to be aware of their roles and responsibilities in the process, and so on. Of course, when an instructor only does occasional seminars in particular places, and with a group(s) of people who do not show up repeatedly, the above conditions are absent. In that case it is very difficult to be a coach. Add to the equation that some folks are naturally more inclined to one role or the other, and consequently you have two broad categories that could be described as a "seminar instructor" and a "club instructor". 

And yet, these aspect do not necessarily exclude each other. Remember, most things happens are somewhere on the continuum line, hence consisting of various degrees of both extreme polarized values. 

As my friend Mladen Jovanovic rightly preaches, the best results are usually accomplished through the complementary approach, where you choose the right tool for the task at hand, instead of upholding a dogmatic attitude of things are done. 

In conclusion - know your goals; know your tools; know your trainees... An then mix and match the ingredients in a deliberate and attentive way for the best results.

Sincerity

I have been writing already about the need to discern why are you learning/studying martial arts. But that question does not apply just to the students...If you are teaching martial arts, you have to ask yourself - "Why am I doing this"? What is at all about for you?

See, the thing is, unlike the motives to learn, not every motive to teach is legitimate. And I don't mind people making money from it. No, that is perfectly OK with me, as long as the teacher/instructor is honest about his offer and treats his clientele with due respect. Also, the fact that one may not be charging at all for their instruction does not make them worthy of the teacher title.

My guess is I am not alone in being sick of the types who are looking for some self-aggrandizing experience from teaching, harassing and humiliating their students in the process, all under the excuse of "instilling discipline" or something along those lines. Of course, discipline in itself is not a bad thing, but as long as it is conducive to the better learning and more efficient training process. If, on the other hand, it is a pretense for setting up some sort of unnecessary hierarchy with the sole purpose of blowing the instructor's ego out of proportion and nipping any healthy critical approach and inquisitiveness among the students in the bud... Well, sorry for putting it out bluntly, but then your an asshole and have no business teaching people.

Really? Or is there something more to it...

So what then is the central tenet that "makes it or breaks it" in my opinion? Well, like the title of the post says, it is all about sincerity! And by that I mean the approach to imparting the knowledge on your students.I have been blessed in my martial arts "career" to cross paths and learn from several great teachers, and they all had one thing in common - sincerely doing everything they could to make the student understand and truly learn what they were trying to teach.

Naturally, not all of them have the same teaching methodologies (if they have one in the first place) or philosophy of what they are doing, but they for each and every one of them student comes first! I have seen time and time again Alex Kostic of Homo Ludens Systema inspire awe in people by the way he moves, by the things he says and their eyes going bright for the new insight and another piece of the puzzle finally  falling into place. I have been astonished by Astig Lameco founder, guro Roger Agbulos' ability to captivate the students by the sheer joy of teaching and lighting the fire of desire to train hard and smart, to look for what works and put it all to test. I have been flabbergasted by Mikhail Grudev's managing to overcome the impending linguistic barriers and go out of his way to help the students get the point and have fun while working hard. I have had the privilege of undergoing some intensive training under Jogo do Pau's Luis Preto and admire his keen eye and uncanny capacity to immediately adapt the drill or the exercise to elicit the desired response in the student and make difficult things easier to comprehend.

Quite true

Another high point was seeing master Jon Escudero of LSAI putting his students in the spotlight when demonstrating his system, thus at the same time portraying the effectiveness of the style and his own effectiveness as a teacher. And then there is Steve Maxwell's leading by example and teaching you how to teach yourself; and Daniel Lamac of Koredas eskrima giving it all out without reserve; and Dave Gould of Lameco; Kevin Secours of Combat Systema; Bruno Cancho; Dima Hakimov, and...so on. 

Yes, a good curriculum is helpful, excellent methodology is most welcome. And yet, if you are not teaching for the sake of your students, with no heart in it, but with another agenda that actually has nothing to do with actual teaching...well, do yourself and the world a favor and just leave it.

Back and swinging hard!

It’s been a long hiatus since my last post here. But hey, man’s gotta focus on certain things at time. I had a terribly busy and hectic period during the second half of May and first half of June, which peaked in a jam-packed training week that included the first ever Astig Lameco Seminar of Roger Agbulos in Belgrade (hosted by yours truly) and the annual Training Above the Clouds camp with Alex Kostic (administered by yours truly) and private training in Jogo do Pao with Luis Preto. Tough but fulfilling experience!

This time, I’ll focus on the weapon based methodologies of Agbulos and Preto, while the insights from training with Alex will be a subject of my next post.

My faithful readers (yes, I love you all) know that my search for ways to enhance my training revolves around the attempts to functionalize the training methodology in such a way to maximize the effects of time and effort spent in training. In practice, it means that I am not in the business of training professionally , which in turn sets certain demands in view of available time for training. Being that my approach is directed at attaining certain standard of functional combative performance, and not just playing with martial arts for recreational purposes, it should put my “quest” into some perspective. And both guro Roger Agbulos and Luis Preto fit the bill perfectly.

First, Roger Agbulos devotes his teaching and training to working only on the aspects of Filipina martial arts he deems most directly applicable to the modern day needs – single impact and edged weapons, as well as empty handed defense against them. While his own command of some more traditional expressions (eg. double sticks, stick and knife) is awe inspiring, he believes it is most time-efficient to drop those from the curriculum. By the same token, guro Roger’s approach to impact weapons is actually hybrid, i.e. applicable to both true blunt weapons (clubs, sticks, batons) and longer edged implements, such as machetes. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVqYhS8r0Ck

In order to further enhance the instruction and accelerate the results, he strongly emphasizes certain pedagogical and technical principles. Namely, when it comes to the selection of technical material to be taught, he looks to meet the following requirements:

Functional

Universally simple

Can be done in real time

On the other hand, the instruction of the techniques that meet the standard is done with close attention to structural detail and physics principles. The drills are put together in such a way to bring these to life and up to speed, while also helping to expose all the mistakes and weaknesses that need to be worked on and eliminated. To that end, guro Agbulos always has keen eye on the practitioners and is relentless in his insisting on doing things right.

Before training

All that said, it my utmost pleasure and with feeling of pride that I have been appointed a representative for teaching Asting Lameco approach to Filipino combative in this part of Europe J

Even though coming from a different cultural background of martial arts, Luis Preto shares a lot of the same principles in his teaching (btw, he kindly and open mindedly took part in the first day of the Astig seminar. Interestingly enough, guro Roger recognized him from the book on Jogo do Pau he owns, and written by Preto).

Preto seems to share the same urge about martial training that I do, and for the same reasons. Being frustrated with the failure of some his past instructors to effectively and efficiently impart knowledge and skill can completely break your will to stay with martial arts, or motivate you to work hard and look for the ways to change that. Fortunately, Preto is in the latter group.

Now, I was already acquainted with his thoughts on the subject, being an avid reader of his books, but it was extremely gratifying to see it embodied in his physical expression of the teachings. And speaking of the teaching, Luis’ progression is so logical and makes so much sense that it makes one wonder how come everybody’s not doing it? Not only is it beautiful for the reason of facilitating the retention of the material, but also provides tremendous help in identifying the problems and fixing them on your own.

Get it! Read it! Do it!

It was great seeing Preto even letting my wife (black belt in aikido, thus some past experience with wielding sticks and bokkens) come and play with the ides, and being able to immediately make her realize the problems with certain techniques and eliminate them almost immediately. And all that in les than 5 minutes!

On top of that, he has a personality trait that people either love or hate (of course, I am in the former camp), which is being absolutely straightforward in calling things what they are, when it comes to things he has passion for, in this case training. That makes him completely at ease with slaying and barbecuing a sacred cow or two and debunking all kinds of myths that happen to have become almost universally accepted “truisms” in sport training. To see what I mean, just check his blog.

So, what was the common threat that stands out with both of these fine gentlemen? I’d say that the most succinct fashion of putting it is – COACHING! In my mind, being a good coach means having all the tools and the knowledge to use them, but oven more so actually caring (or better yet, being passionate) about the performance and results of your students/athletes.

If you can, seek training with either (or both) of these brilliant teachers. Not only will you get to acquire some of the nice tools and learn how to use them, but also be inspired in your training and teaching. 

Seminar frenzy

The first half of June was my vacation time, and man, was it rock ‘n ‘roll! So much training and so many seminars in only two weeks give the true meaning to the phrase “active vacation”. Let’s go in a chronological manner…

Lameco Astig Combatives in Holland

On June 1 I flew to Amsterdam for a seminar with guro Roger Agbulos, with whom you should be familiar by now. The seminar was set for Saturday, but I met with guro Roger and his wife Rosie, as well as a new friend Jojo Balinado, the day before. After having the dinner together, we all moved to kuya Roger’s hotel room to talk martial arts, and even have a training session.

Bothering guro Roger with questions :-)

On Saturday we headed off for the seminar, held in Leiderdorp and hosted by William Paardekooper in his Kapap Center. With participants from Germany and Holland, along with yours truly, everything was ready to go.

Guro Roger opened up with his take on empty-handed defense against knife, with special emphasis on sound physics of the techniques shown and on the functionality over aesthetics. The control of the opponent’s knife hand and ways to deal with it was a novelty to me, and it made so much sense that included it immediately in my own training, including the modifications to the methods I had been already practicing and found reliable.

Holdup!

Next, we moved to knife vs. knife work. Again, adamant about functional skills, drills and their applications. Guro Roger covered both forward and reverse/ice-pick grips, and without going into too much details (hard to convey in writing anyway), I will just say that his mode of working the hubud drills has reinstalled my belief in that sort of training, and made me go back to doing it regularly.

Finally, the focus was shifted to working with the stick and its essential qualities – power mechanics, non-telegraphing hitting, distance control and merging the defense with offense. This segment of work, just like the knife, was complemented with sparring sessions, in order to appreciate the functionality of the material demonstrated. Being on the receiving end of guro Roger’s attacks leaves one with mixed feelings – being overwhelmed and inspired at the same time.

Besides being an awesome instructor, guro Roger also has incredibly pleasant personality and a great sense of humor, so I am most definitely looking forward to the next opportunity to train in Lameco Astig methods with the founder himself.

Physical preparation for fighters in Belgrade, Serbia

Among the people who are seriously involved with functional fitness and training for fighting, the name of Steven Maxwell is a household name. On June 7, I had the opportunity to partake in his seminar in Serbia.

The event was somewhat of the surprise and organized as a last-minute kind of thing, but still great. Mr. Maxwell covered a lot of ground and touched upon many topics, ranging from joint mobility, through proper mechanics and variations on common bodyweight exercises, to fight preparation, overtraining and some kettlebell training guidelines.

Working it out

Maybe not everybody got everything they hoped for during this seminar, but if you are something of a training nerd that I am, and did you homework previously, it was a splendid chance to have some dilemmas solved and find a lot of pieces falling into place, regarding the bigger picture.

Being the interpreter for this seminar, I was very glad to interact with the man and enjoy his warm and approachable personality and tireless dedication to teaching. This only reinforced my eagerness to further communicate with Mr. Maxwell for a few more days, as he joined us at our annual training camp that followed (and is briefly reported on next). For me, it meant learning more – proper lifting technique, ways to break through plateaus – and experiencing his world-class BJJ…as well as being privileged to be called “man among men” by such a formidable guy, even if jokingly :-)

The man (on the left) and the wannabe (on the right)

During those few days, I was further impressed with Steve’s openness and willingness to share, both teaching and learning. A man of 60 years of age, in the physical conditions that puts most 20-year olds to shame, with half a century of training experience and yet, so eager to learn more and new things – even if you learn nothing (highly unlikely), you will be inspired and highly motivated to engage in vigorous physical training.

In conclusion, if you ever have the opportunity to take part in a seminar conducted by Steven Maxwell, do yourself a favor and do it.

Training above the clouds, Mt. Kopaonik, Serbia

This was my 10^th time attending this event, and while each and every one was great, this one was special for several reasons. Certainly one of that stood out was the presence and instructional contribution of the guest instructor from Russia, Dmitriy Khakimov. Not too fond of formalities and ego-boosting titles, he insisted on being called Dima, and he came to fill in for his own teacher Andrey Gruntovski, who unfortunately had to undergo a surgery so was unable to come himself.

However, the master certainly knew whom he was sending, as Dima was the absolute hit of this year’s training camp! The school/style he represents is known as Skobar, and it is hard to imagine a better presentation than the one we witnessed for two days. It was very easy to see the direct and true lineage to traditional Russian folk approach to fighting. There many schools of RMA today, claiming lineage that dates back hundreds of years, but with suspiciously modern way of moving and methods of training.

Not so with Skobar. Those in the attendance were able to see and try for themselves the warmups and preparatory moves from folk dances, whipping strikes, pendulum-like body movement, unique footwork designed to work on ice, waved mode of power generation etc. Dima is a phenomenal instructor with excellent sense of measure – he was able to sensibly monitor the mood of the class and switch skillfully from one mode of work to another, thus keeping the trainees motivated, alert and attentive. The material to be taught was chosen adequately, demonstrated and analyzed with care and good pointers, while highlighting the bigger picture and historical context it fits into. 

Dima - small in stature, but a great guy

Like all the other instructors mentioned, Khakimov is an absolute charmer. Always ready to help, join or start the fun, be it singing, dancing, extracurricular stick sparring or having a drink…too bad he was only able to stay for two days. Still, the impression he made was so strong that everybody was left wanting more. That said – stay tuned, we may just as well provide ;-)

Alex Kostic has been the host and the guiding force of this event for years, providing innovative training, brilliant insights and highly motivational environment to train in. This time, it was no different. His take on the mechanics of kicking efficiency and punching effectiveness is ever evolving and improving, so the students always get away with a lot to work and ponder upon after the class. The teaching methodology of Homo Ludens has once again proved successful by seeing almost immediate results even with the people who came to train with close to zero previous training experience.

Alex, the ever evolving martial artist

One of the guys who for sure represent the future of functional martial arts in Serbia, and with bright future before himself, is Stefan Bozic. As talented as they come, hard working and meticulous in his training, Stefan is a true MMA prodigy both as a fighter and instructor. We had the pleasure of learning his approach to the fundamentals of ground grappling, with strong accent on proper body mechanics of moving on the ground, positional control and escapes. Training in the great outdoors can be at the same time humbling and rewarding experience, and it was the case with this session. For the last 15 minutes or so, yours truly provides some insights on the applications of the covered material when having to deal with potentially knife wielding opponent in a ground grappling situation, or being the one trying to deploy the knife when being caught in an inferior position. At the end, everybody was tired but satisfied for testing and feeling on their own the strength of the instruction they had received.

True ground fighting with Stefan

On the last day of the camp, I had the privilege of being asked by Alex to share some of my insights and teach the progression of empty handed defenses against an attacker armed with a knife. Everything I showed was basically a distillation, and sometimes direct application of the things I had learned from my teachers, so there is really no big deal about it. Possibly my “biggest” contribution is the ability to explain the techniques and methods in various ways (most probably the dividends of working as a school teacher for a few years), hence presenting the material to suit the individual learning modes of different trainees. After all, my approach is such that the participants are offered certain guidelines, following basic principles, and then made to play with and discover on their own the strengths and weaknesses of various technical and tactical possibilities. It allows for the dynamic training and quick assessment of the subject matter that was tackled.

In conclusion, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who made this experience possible and as great as it was, including Milan Jerinic for being a great friend and roommate – but special appreciation, beyond words, goes to my beloved wife Mira, without whose understanding and willingness to keep up with my maddening obsession training my life simply would not be even close to being good as it is. 

Seminar announcement!

If you are one of those who had found the article on guro Roger Agbulos and his Lameco Astig style of eskrima/arnis, it is my pleasure to invite you to the seminar he will conduct on June 2 in Holland, near vicitnity of Amsterdam.

The address of the facility where the seminar will take place:
Kapap Center Europe
Address: Weversbaan 9B
Leiderdorp


The seminar will start at noon and go on for 6-7 hours, so it will be a great opportunity to try first hand the excellent teaching and training methodology of this brilliant instructor.

I will be there, so if you are one of the people who read this blog, please do not hesitate to drop by and say hello...