How would one go about finding quality instruction in Silat in the Kansas City area?

So, admittedly I know very little about Silat short of what can be turned up in a few days worth of google searches. However from what I have been able to gather while trying to narrow down a specific martial art to study in I have come to 3 options that I think meet my personal requirements, those being 1. Silat. 2. Krav Maga. and 3. Systema. My requirements are something that translates very well into a self defense application, and that makes a point of weapons training, but most importantly will help me knock off the 50 extra pound off the gutline. As for my fighting experience, outside of a few bad ideas with the boys involving quite a few too many Busch Lattes I do not have much experience at all. I am looking to change that with a skilled instructor.

So, if anyone knows of a reputable Silat instructor in the Kansas City area I would appreciate it if you could turn me his way. Also, I am open to reccomendations of different options to consider.

 

If you are in Kansas then I think legally if you are over 21 you can carry both concealed firearms and blades and if self defense is a concern I'd go that way, armed beats unarmed any day of the week.

I'll leave my thoughts on those three arts and just say if you want to lose a fair bit of weight martial arts and especially those arts will be submaximal to say the least, change your diet, hit the gym and do some cardio that will work much better

 

It may be that these systems are not available in your area and so are not a viable option for you. Instead of fixating on a specific method, look at what is available in your area, all of the schools that are within reasonable distance for you, pay them a visit, watch some classes, try them out if they offer a free introduction or something, evaluate their fees and make sure their class schedule works for you, then pick the one that you feel most comfortable in. A good teacher in any system is better than a system for which you do not have access to a teacher.

 

As far as carrying a weapon, I would wait till you know how to use them to an expert level, or at least as close to an expert as possible. As far as a weapon beats no weapons everyday, well, that is dependent on the opponent. Keep in mind that your opponent may of just wanted to beat you up, but if you pull out a weapon, that can change drastically. If I had a opponent go to attack me, I most likely will take it easy on him, but if he pulls out a weapon, then I will not be so gentle.

 

I don't know about reputable, but I did find this (and you may have as well): https://www.kckalisilat.org/about-our-group

Curiously, there's no information about an author, but I think it would be worth toddling over and taking a look. They teach kali and silat, according to their site. Now, I'm no expert in silat, to be clear. But they do seem to talk about it intelligently on their "About" page. And I am well experienced in kali, which they also seem to be able to speak to intelligently. (Their specific kali "chassis" appears to be Pekiti Tersia, which is a well-respected style.)

But you shouldn't rely on my intuiting from their scant website. You should trust the voice of experience. YOUR experience, to be specific. You won't know whether certain things are stylistically on the nose or not, having not studied those styles. But try to trust your innate critical thinking a bit. Do they look awkward? Are they saying things that don't make sense? Etc.

Too many people check their common sense at the door when they see a dude with a black belt (or similar sign of rank). My personal favourite is when I hear people say "all real knife fighters hold their knives in the inverse grip, so you needn't worry if they're holding it the other way." Man, what?!

I'm a firm believer that you learn what you want by experiencing and dismissing things you don't. Maybe this group is rubbish. But as long as you don't sign any contracts, what have you lost? A couple of evenings?

p.s., Kali doesn't appear on your list, but the experience of studying kali would more closely resemble the experience of studying silat. I don't put much stock in Systema if I'm honest. And Krav is straightforward enough but can run the gamut from "fitness class with rubber knives" to "tacticool live-action roleplaying," with some genuine technical worth hidden somewhere in the middle.

Again, you're only going to begin to suss out what you want with direct experience. So I'd start visiting places and building your own first-hand sense of the places available to you.

 

Oh, and you might try this place while you're at it. Martial Arts - Fitness - Self Defense

It's a school in the Guro Dan Inosanto lineage, meaning it's a combination of arts. The usual suspects are kali, JKD/jun fan (the art originally developed by Bruce Lee), muay thai, silat, etc.

This particular school doesn't appear to feature silat specifically, but they do have kali and its empty-hand complement "panantukan" (as well as muay thai, which is about as good an empty hand complement to kali as any eskrimador could hope). More importantly, the head instructor traces back to Rick Faye, an acknowledge expert in Inosanto-lineage. They also appear to teach CSW (combat submission wrestling), which was originated by another of Guro Dan Inosanto's students, Erik Paulsen.

You could do a lot worse. I'd take a look.