Tzu-Logic

Thanks for your responses everyone! I guess when i made the poll i wasn't really thinking clearly about all the different combos of padding and armor and everything... I still really appreciate the information you folks are sharing though

kadena de mano is one of the three core styles of Inayan eskrima. Literally translated it means "chain of hand". It is a close range stlye that is often, but not always used with knives. Drills consist of very simple parry, parry check drills to much more advanced back and forth drills.... The goal is to eventually be able to reach free form "flow" where you can just throw any attack and your partner will respond to it with a good block and be able to throw any attack back. I am not sure how to compare it to karate or other martial arts because I only have experience in this school. let me see if i can't find a video... AHA! Here at the very begining of the video you see a couple of eskrimadors practicing kadena de mano drills. I hope that can shed some light on it for you And i jogged with my dog for 2 miles today! (for me that's good )

So i am wondering how much padding you use whenever you spar. If you wear different amounts of padding different days just respond to whichever one you wear most. Please feel free to post and describe more specifically what you use. I am very curious about different arts and practices used by different people. This thread is to expand my mind... and maybe your's too

Hey this thread is really neat!! Tonight i had a two hour training session at my dojo. saluted in Stretched out 15 minutes... Pushups, situps... got in a line and drilled some techniques as a class... then split up into partners and worked some techniques with partners around a half hour or so.... I worked on kadena de mano drills quite for about an hour with a lower level student which was a great refresher and a chance for me to really get the footwork to perfection. Then it was weapons time and we worked on relaxing our footwork for the sinawali patterns and i learned the female replacing footwork for sinawali 6 count. which isn't too bad once you get a good rhythm going lol... then we saluted out

I certainly wasn't trying to say that you need to reach as high of a level as possible... I was just saying at my particular school you would miss out on some neat stuff if you stopped trying a progress at 1st dan. but your school could be completely different. I also really liked what you said about, that is a really neat way to look at training and might be something i want to consider since my instructor always tells me I am too impatient to stay at my current rank... thank you for that thought

Hello all! I was just wondering where the contingent of fma'ists hide at around here. I am putting it in the weapons section cause i wanna talk about what I love to do. Stick fighting!!! Any of you spar regularly with weapons? What is your favorite style? I personally don't get to go to as many weapons classes as i like to. I am actually fairly new to stick fighting... I would say as of right now my favorite style is sinawali. I might be starting to lean toward Dequerdas... but i am just not really well vesred enough to say. I actually don't get to learn serrada yet, but i hear it is very effective... anyway... any other eskrimadors on here? any kali/silat people? Arnis??

Good advice. agreed. I guess it's really up to you where you want to train to. I know at my particular school that black belt is just the beginning and after you get black belt you get to start going to a whole new set of classes. I personally would like to get 2nd or even 3rd dan which could almost take 10 years for me to do. But first i must just focus on reaching the beginning within the next couple of years here. One thing I try to keep in mind about belts is that they do not dictate who you are. They are merely an indication of how far you along you are in the schools curriculum.

I agree completely! I hate when "Martial Arts demos" look more like a dance routine then a fighting style. And i have seen some that really look like that too. They set it to music and do drills and kicks and twirly weapon spins... uggghhh... Am I watching a hannah montana music video or serious martial artists? But i guess a lot of people really like doing that, and i don't mean offense to them (Especially if any of you on here happen to lead a "demo team")... It's just not my thing.

Someone is worrying about the "secret techniques" a little too much It's funny because my instructor is always saying, "There are no "secrets" to great karate! Just hard work!" but that was funny!

Thanks for the welcomes everyone!!!!

Shogun by James Clavell an excellent story set in feudal japan. and Tai-Pan by James Clavell A story about the beginning of hong-kong.

I hate to admit it, but i usually go for the white lie. Like if i am limping from getting kicked in the leg i will just say i had a rough workout. Which is true because sparring is a workout but i usually go out of my way to avoid telling co-workers about my MAs... I guess I just don't want anyone trying to mess with me because of it. And i don't want to sound like i am trying to be a tough guy or whatever. And also in the back of mind, i just want to keep the element of surprise. If no one knows i study MAs then that just gives me all the more advantage if i am ever confronted. yeah... it's tactical lol

Hello all, My name is Evan and I have been studying martial arts for almost a year now. I study 2 arts, Inayan Eskrima, and kempo karate. Inayan Eskrima is a philipino martial art that is focused on a lot of stick and knife fighting. It also has empty hand styles and is considered a realistic self defense art. The kempo karate is a bit more traditional with katas and pinans to learn with different stances and what not. I learn both arts at the same dojo where they have been combined into a hardcore self defense curriculum. Our instructor focuses on self defense almost every class. One of our focus points is simply being aware at all times as to avoiding ever having a confrontation. I guess i don't mean to be typing a book, but i am excited to have found this active forum we all these other martial artists are talking about things i love anyway i am blue belt (which is the fourth rank in our system) so i am no expert! But i look forward to reading a lot of interesting things and getting to know some other martial artists!