I carry a stick with me In the Philippines, it is not illegal or unusual to carry a stick around. Sometimes I carry a collapsible baton or a security guard,s nightstick, specially when I go to certain places. Hitting someone with an impact weapon beats risking hurting one's knuckles by punching.
Yeah, I've got guys who've asked me that same question. Best reply I've heard was. "well, what'll you guys do if I DO have my stick?" And if they still persist, then I just show them.
I guess the constant weapons trainning thing works in the same way as boxing to a certain extent, i.e. once you've been boxing with amateur boxers a few years and someone throws a punch at you on the street it just seems to be drifting towards you.
yup! and that the tip of a baston swung hard travels sooooooooo much faster than any fist or foot. get used to reacting to that, and you'll actually have time to read the paper while someone is punching you.
I don't know about statistics but in all of the situations where me or one of my friends had been attacked a weapon was involved. sticks, knives, and some guns. The stick is used as a replacement for a sword in most Arnis systems. but there are a few who use it as their primary weapon. Undersatndable, considering that nobody ever even asks when you carry a stick around but they'll get on your case when they see a blade. Oh, and there are a few, very few, who focus on the empty handed applications. These arnis systems would actualy preffer their bare hands to using the stick in certain situations.
Don't forget the coffee - cream & sugar please... Kidding aside, yes, the reactionary time of one who is adept in weapons is actually really good when it comes to empty hands (not that you should get into one...).
In the UK, even a plastic sword is illegal if the police suspect you were going to use it to assault someone.
Good answers there, guys; I heartily agree. Some of what I'll be putting down here, some others have already mentioned, but I'd like to add a little more info. I believe that stickfighting is emphasized in FMA so much because it is a battlefield art (as Mr. O'Malley said); hence, weapons instruction is the number one priority. The stick became a substitute for the blades the ancient Filipinos used. Before and during the Spanish occupation, it wasn't unusual for farmers to have a bolo (all-purpose machete) with them as they went about their business. It was an essential, everyday item. Even today, many people here in the Philippines still use and carry them. They're pretty commonplace, even in the city. Normal households might have one or two lying around for yardwork. Therefore, since it's not unusual to see people carrying bolos around, that makes it even easier to pass off bringing sticks or batons in public. Why is stickfighting emphasized so much in FMA? Shorter answer: Filipinos have a weapon culture, and by that I mean a tolerance for and habit of carrying and using weaponry in public. We use them all: sticks, bolos, guns, knives, you name it (especially knives). Sticks are a substitute for blades and weapons in their own right, and training with them sets the student up for empty-hand techniques, while preparing him for attackers who are almost always armed.
You may not always have a knife or stick on you, but if you have learned stick, and you have learned knife held icepick style, you'll be pretty well equipped to use any solid object you pick up. If its small and blunt, use the knife body mechanics and the stick targeting. Small and sharp, use it like a knife help like an icepick. Long and blunt, its basically a stick. IMHO the best combination of weapons to learn for improvised weapons ability.
yep- use anything at your disposal really, that is what my instructor always says, he has worked the door for some time and has had 1st hand experience, as long as the format is the same the weapon, as long as it is useful, need not matter, hell, pens,pencil, ruler, cd case, bottle, rolling pin, spoon, same principle
It depends on where you're from. In the Philippines, any guy who throws a punch at you, that is, attacks you barehanded, is probably not "committed" enough to fight you. In such a case, the punch would be wild, with the puncher fully intending to run away whether he actually connects or not. If your attacker is committed to doing serious damage on you, he'll have either a knife, a bottle, a lead pipe, etc. Or he'll have one or several buddies of his attacking you, either barehanded or again, with weapons. We Filipinos are not "civilized" when we fight. We rarely challege someone one-on-one in a fair and square duel, like in the "Let's take this outside" or "Would you like to step outside" challenge we see in movie bar scenes. Are we "dirty" fighters then? I don't think so. We just assume that if we don't use numbers to our advantage, the other guy will anyway. This has been proven right, unfortunately, over and over again. When bar fights happen in the Philippines, there's always the danger of bottles being used to hit you or thrown at you, or someone pulls a knife...I mean, there are forks and table knives a-plenty in a bar, so you don't have to come in with your own knife. Given this usual scenario, weapons training is sensible. It's a case of a martial art--in this case FMA--evolving by adaptation to its immediate culture and environment. Then there are the ambush attacks, another preferred Filipino fighting scenario. You have to be an amazing barehand fighter if you can survive an ambush of 2, 3, 5 attackers carrying knives, pipes, sticks, etc. In such a case, having a weapon, or the knowhow to take on weapons of opportunity from your environment, is again sensible training. Weapons are a great equalizer if you know how to use them. The ambush attack, in fact, is the favored method when attacking someone whom you know is a good fighter or martial artist. Quite a few Filipino martial artists were killed using this. So Matt, if you're dropping by the Phililppines...well, it's just better to have weapons use as an option. Or you could run...my personal preference We call it the art of sayonachi, short for "Sa iyo na chinelas ko, tatakbo na ako!" [Translation: Here, take my slippers, I gotta run!]
I'm not sure if someone has answered this because I skipped the other posts after the first page, but I train in Kali, which is a war art. It was developed by the Filipinos to defend themselves and kill others during battle. I find the knife work useful for defense purposes but the stick fighting is great for learning about range and co-ordination, and overall is just fun!
wait, don't filipinos eat with their bare hands? why then are there utensils in a bar? just kidding. -nico-
