Hello everybody, In order to keep busy myself I will start training and teaching again. So I am looking for 1 or 2 very serious students. Preferably in their twenties, reasonably fit and no knee or back-injuries and with staying-power. For those who want to learn a complete martial art and not just a few tricks. Not looking for people who want to learn Silat on the side. It has to be full on or nothing. Training time would be early Saturday morning. Location: Motherwell / Lanarshire area, Scotland Silat Ikhtiar is a non-profit organisation. For a bit more info on Silat Ikhtiar and the school: (Link Deleted) Regards, Jerome Silat Ikhtiar Malaysia
Sounds very cool. This is not an art I've heard of before. How did you come to be an instructor in this particular art?
Welcome to MAP. Mod Note: Please note that advertising your school for free is not something MAP allows, so the link was deleted. Please contact Mitch or Simon for our advertising rates.
Age and injuries don’t have to be a barrier to serious training. With care and advice from a good physio or sports physician, many knee or back injuries can be trained around. Older students are often serious students with more commitment than younger students. Also, some of us were a lot fitter in our thirties than our twenties With well planned strength and conditioning, combined with proper rest and recovery between training sessions, age is no barrier to serious training.
This seems a bit selective to me. I'm 53 and training in class 2 - 3 times per week. I've been training since I was 17. How can once a week be full on, especially given the demographic you've gone for?
I was more curious about your training history and lineage. Who did you study under and for how long, i.e., what's your lineage and level?
You wouldn't know them. They are in Malaysia. Silat Ikhtiar since 2005. Level? Tamat. That means finished. Also learned Silat Cekak Malaysia, also Tamat. I did other Silat, European and Asian martial arts and published some stuff on Nicolaes Petter and Netherlands knife fighting. Not important as I dont teach those things.
I see Jerome’s (self) published books generally get positive reviews apart from the quality of photos. Bas Rutten wrote the foreword for the book about Nicolaes Petter. I’ve neither a connection with Jerome nor have I read his books. However, I’m curious to see that he’s written a whole book about how to train with wooden barrels instead of going to the gym!
Welcome to MAP! Seems like you have an oddly specific group of people you'd like to teach. Any particular reason for that?
I was hardly "taken on". I joined a class that was available to me 2-3 times a week, which as a fit and strong young man is what I wanted. Not sure I'd have joined a class that was available one a week, as surely advancement will take 2-3 times as long.
It's simple really. I want somebody in Europe to learn the full syllabus before I die. I want that person to be a good example of the art. And I want that person to not hurt him/herself while doing this.
How come you've not been training in so long, but yet you still crank out volumes of instructional material? Surely you must have training partners in order to have photos for the books?
I was asked to write everything down. In English and not Malay. So the world can read about it. I've mentioned names in the book. There's no secrets. Besides maybe some ilmu batin when it comes to application.
I find some of the viewpoints regarding self defence in one of your books rather strange. You mention the curriculum is developed from the viewpoint of a doorman, but go on to say it's not meant for doormen. You also say doormen shouldn't damage or hurt people as you describe in the book. You go on to say some techniques should only be used in life threatening situations, but that those situations are only recognised in some countries once you've been "mortally wounded." As you are now based in Scotland what are your thoughts on adapting for UK law? One thing that struck me as strange was suggesting you should count to three before pre-emptively striking. You also say counting stops you listening to the verbal abuse that may be aimed at you.
To not lose the art you are better if filming it and having a few students local to you learn Europe will be a hard sell on your criteria, especially given the relative unknown nature of your art I have a few friends in Malaysia so please feel freee to name your teachers as they will maybe have resonance