Right now, we are all craving the opportunity to train, but our options right now are limited with the shelter-in-place orders issued to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Unless you are lucky enough to have a family member or roommate who is also a training partner, you are probably training alone. Training solo is very important for overall skill development, but sometimes it gets stale. Below are roughly 25 tips and ideas for your next solo training session. Coordination Coordination is the low hanging fruit here. It is very well suited for solo training. Here are a few tips and ideas for coordination training: 1. Get really deep in the analysis of your movement and refine the tiny details of your striking, blade edge control, body movement, etc. Observe the small details that add up to make your coordination more refined. Start with the movements that are the most important for your training or those you struggle with the most. 2. Practice specific strikes, combinations, and patterns. Use repetition to find nuances in the movement, decide if you want to change anything, and put in more repetition embedding that change in your movement pattern. Don’t just go with whatever comes out at the moment. Pick the specific things that you want to improve and work on them. After you you are happy with the results, pick something else and focus on that. Instead of trying to improve everything a little, improve a few things a lot. 3. Practice by striking in the air and by hitting a tire or striking dummy. Striking in the air is the starting point for your coordination and good for warming up. However, the whole purpose of your training is to actually hit something, so make sure you include striking a target in your practice. The way you control the strike is very different when you have to adjust to the impact of hitting a target. There are a lot of opportunities to learn something with this. You can fine tune how hard you are hitting, how well you control the your weapon during and after impact, and how smoothly you can transition to the next strike. 4. Go slow and go fast. Go slow to make your movement smooth and go faster to see how well you can maintain good form when moving at a higher speed. Moving slowly will allow you to observe your movement better and be more thorough in how you program every nuance of your movement. Going faster will help you acclimate to more realistic speeds and see where your form breaks down. Practice both ways. 5. Work on coordination for your non-dominant hand. Most of us only have two arms, but somehow we have neglected one of them our entire lives. If one hand is already coordinated, frequently compare the same strike or movement with one hand to the other. You can do this by alternating sides frequently with a single stick or weapon. This approach will help you analyze your movement better while helping you get a more clear mental image of how the movement should look and feel. Double sticks are great for coordination with both hands, but you also need to practice with a single weapon in your non-dominant hand. 6. Develop your ability to strike and use your footwork at the same time. You want to be able to hit and move, not just hit or move. You can practice both striking and footwork individually, then add them together. 7. Free flow. In addition to getting repetition for very specific strikes and combinations, you should learn how to transition to and from many different strikes and patterns. When doing this, try to strike in combinations of strikes, instead of just using a succession of individual strikes. Make your movement continuous. Don’t stop and reset. With this exercise, it is ok to explore various strikes or movements and just see what comes out. 8. Shadow spar. Imagine your opponent, and visualize specific targets on that opponent. Don’t just swing in the air with no thought about what you are hitting. Hit the target that you see in your imagination. Also, aim for a variety of targets. Hit high. Hit low. Hit the head. Hit the hands. Hit the elbows. Hit the knees. Etc. Use a variety of strikes including jabs, power strikes, uppercuts, thrusts, slashes, witiks, floretes, etc. Even though this is more of an open flow where you imagine your opponent moving realisticly, don’t be afraid to repeat the same strikes and combinations to make improvements. Repetition is good for smoothing out transitions and combinations. For more on developing coordination, see some of our other articles here at Tactical Arts: How to Improve your Coordination for Kali and Silat Do More Now - Faster Skill Development for Kali, Escrima, Arnis Mastering the Mechanics - How to Get Results when Learning Filipino Kali - Part 1 Fitness Athletes develop fitness so that they are better at their chosen sport. Soldiers develop fitness so that they can endure the rigors of their work. Whether you train the Filipino martial arts for fun or for defense, being more fit will allow you to perform better and make you less prone to injury. Fitness is also an aspect you can easily develop on your own. 1. Work on your general strength. Being able to move quickly and hit hard are abilities that will improve your Kali. You can improve your speed and your power by getting stronger. By being able to generate more force, you will have the potential to hit harder and move faster. If you do not already, follow a strength training program suitable for athletes, so that you can perform better when training and applying Kali. I am not talking about exercises that are specific to Kali, I am referring to a proven strength program for general physical preparedness. After even just a few weeks, you will find you are moving faster and hitting harder. 2. Work on your conditioning. Develop your conditioning so that you can train and apply Kali without running out of gas. This includes regular conditioning exercise such as running, calisthenics, HIIT, etc. This can also include more kali specific work. Work Kali into an exercise circuit. You can include footwork, striking, and other simple movements. I like combining strikes on the tire with things like sit-ups, and pushups in a repeating circuit of 8-10 minutes. I often do 20 strikes with each hand, then 10 sit-ups followed by 5-10 pushups. Just pick a simple combination or some very basic strikes that you can repeat with good form at high speed. Hit hard, don’t save yourself for the end. For extra credit, try training with your sparring gear on. You will learn the limitations of your gear, get more of a workout, and be comfortable in your gear the next time you spar your training partners. With any fitness routine, get instruction on the proper way to approach fitness and do the exercises, so you don’t get hurt or waste your time. For more on training fitness and Kali, read our article:  Fundamentals of Strength and Conditioning for the Filipino Martial Arts. Speed and Reaction Though you may not be able to develop speed and reaction with the necessary partner drills, you can still develop your speed and your reaction time while training alone. 1. Develop your speed with a par timer. A par timer an excellent tool for developing speed with movement. A par timer is set to beep once for the start of a time interval, then again after a set amount of time. The way you use it, is to start moving when the first beep begins. You then try to complete your technique or movement before the second beep. The advantage of a par timer is that you can set it to tenths of a second, so that you can push yourself at the limits of your capabilities. You will have to be honest with yourself about finishing on time and maintaining form. You can record yourself with video to make sure you are happy with the movement. If you do not have or want to buy a par timer, you can use a par timer / shot timer app or even a metronome or metronome app the same way. 2. Develop your reaction time with a par timer. Par timers can also be set to have a random start interval. If you use the random start option, you will not be able to anticipate the time the first beep will sound. You will truly have to react. To do this, you set the timer to random start. You will then push that start button and wait for the beep. The range of time for the random start can be set so that you do not have to wait too long for the beep. 3. Use a video or an audio recording for developing reaction. You can get creative and setup a trigger stimulus for your reaction training. For example: When a movie or television show is edited, the camera angle changes frequently. You can use that change in the TV camera angle as a stimulus to cue your reaction. You can also use an audio source for your reaction training. I used to record cues on a cassette tape, then play it back and react to the commands. You just have to make sure you change it up or make it long enough so that you do not memorize the timing of the cues. Though these methods above do not have you training reaction with the actual cue you will use when sparring or fighting, they will still help you improve your reaction time. For more about reaction training take a look at the articles below. Though they are mostly geared for partner training, they may help you get some ideas for training in the future. Reaction Training for Filipino Kali Learning to React - How to Get Results when Learning Filipino Kali - Part 2 Flexibility, Joint Health, and Injury Prevention Spend some time working on flexibility, joint health, and injury prevention. Flexibility and mobility can reduce your chance of injury, and it can even give you more options for the techniques that you use. 1. Develop a good warmup routine, and do it before you train or stretch. Warmup your joints and tissue with some light movement. This may include slow strikes with the stick, swinging and rotating your arms or some light calisthenics. You want to get your body temperature up with some light cardiovascular exercise and get your muscles and joints ready for more intense activity. Do this every time you train. 2. Develop general body flexibility. Learn to stretch and mobilize your arms, shoulders, legs and hips. You probably learned the basics of this in your middle school P.E. class. There are many more resources both in print and online for you now. Learn the purpose for each stretch so that you can be sure you do not overlook important joints or muscle groups. Incorporate both static and dynamic stretching as well as mobility exercise for problem areas. 3. Develop flexibility, specifically for the Filipino martial arts. Flexibility in your wrist and shoulders will help you with striking mechanics and precision. Flexibility for the Filipino martial arts includes stretching that targets the wrists and the shoulders. This can often be done both with and without the assistance of your stick. Stretches range from static wrist stretches flexing and extending the wrist as well as dynamic stretches using rotations such as witiks and floretes. Just be sure not to overdo this. Stretching with the use of momentum can go too far if you use too much force or your body is simply not ready for that intense of a stretch. 4. Incorporate injury prevention / pre-hab exercises into your routine. Tennis elbow, lateral epicondylitis, is pretty common in Kali. This can be caused by lots of rotational striking work, such as florete strikes, that causes the wrist to bend and then straighten under force. When you overuse your forearm muscles to straighten your wrist and maintain control, you can develop this issue. If you incorporate a good warmup and a few exercises into your routine before you have an issue, then you may be able to prevent it. Pre-hab includes stretching and strengthening your joints to help prevent overuse injuries. Do some research and get the advice of a doctor or physical therapist to make sure what you are doing is appropriate and with correct form or you may actually cause an issue. Remember: Injury prevention is important. As someone who has battled many overuse injuries, I highly recommend you take preventative measures against injury and take the proper steps to recover when you are starting to develop one. There are many articles and videos online that address exercises you can do to help you address tennis (Kali) elbow. A quick search will give you plenty of resources. Self-Evaluation and Feedback To make improvements, we need to observe the result of our efforts and make adjustments. This includes self-evaluation and feedback from others. Both are very important. 1. Keep a training log. Track what you are doing and what you need to work on in your log. After each session, record what you did well and what you need to spend time developing. Describe the improvements and details about the issues you need to correct. Plan what you want to improve in future sessions. Write a note to yourself so that when you practice again, you will know what you need to work on. This way you can get started right away and not waste any time trying to figure out what to do. A training log will help you direct your training and evaluate what you are doing. Sometimes the act of putting your thoughts to words will help you think more clearly. 2. Set goals for your training and record your progress. Set some short term goals, and be sure to identify how you will know when you have reached them. If you are working on your conditioning and muscular endurance specific to Kali, this could be a certain number of strikes in a time limit. If you are working on coordination and this could be completing a combination with good form, ten times in a row. You could do the same thing with accuracy practice. Try to hit a very specific target or targets on your tire / training dummy ten times in a row using a particular combination. By setting goals and recording your progress, you will have more useful information to evaluate, and you will quickly see what you should spend more time doing in your training sessions. 3. Record yourself on video for self evaluation. Watch yourself to see both what you are doing right and wrong. Use that information to adjust what you are doing. Use it to tailor your training to address anything you want to improve or make more consistent. Look to see if all your movements have correct form and detailed nuances that you want to see. Record yourself moving slowly and moving quickly. The faster you go, the more flaws you are likely to find. Also, instead of recording one long video that you will review one day in the future, it’s better to record yourself periodically during a session, review it and make adjustments right away, during that same session. As an added benefit, when you learn to see the weaknesses in your movement, you will develop the ability to see weaknesses in your opponents. 4. Record yourself on video and get feedback from others. Your instructors, your training partners, and your peers will see things that you do not see. Their feedback is invaluable for your progression. You can easily record yourself and upload it to a private channel on youtube, dropbox, or elsewhere online for someone else to critique. It will help if you explain what you are trying to accomplish so that the feedback will be directed towards your goals. Be sure to give them video of the good, bad, and the ugly, not just what gets you praise. Get a tripod and an attachment that will hold your phone. It’s worth it. Record very short clips with 3- 5 repetitions so they are easy to review. Be graceful when you receive feedback, and be open to feedback that is outside of what you requested. Knowledge You are putting a lot of energy and work into learning the art. Make sure you also know something about it. Learn about the history and culture behind it. In addition to training, spend some time studying and researching the Filipino martial arts and the Philippines. 1. Study your art and topics that relate to the style that you train. Read any information available about your specific style. Ask your teacher. Ask other teachers. Memorize vocabulary, think about the concepts, and learn relevant facts about the history and culture behind your particular style and the Filipino martial arts in general. This will make you a good representative of the art. 2. Read about the history of the Philippines. There is some really cool stuff in the rich history of the Philippines! Start with things related to the martial arts and branch out from there. Read about the Maharlikas prior to the Spanish occupation. Look up the story of Datu Lapu Lapu. Read about bloody fights in the Moro Wars. Look up the Battle of Bud Bagsak. Learn about the history of the .45 caliber Colt model 1911 as it relates to the Philippines. Read about the national heroes such as Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo and many more. Look for historical sources from the Philippines, not just the U.S. or Spain. 3. Study the culture of the Philippines. There is so much. Learn about the various tribes, languages, and belief systems. Check out the many different types of weapons, artifacts, and art from the different regions of the Philippines. Look up Baybayin. Read about the history of the yo-yo. There is a lot of culture to enjoy, and you might find some surprises. Even just looking at photos from the Philippines can be really enjoyable. 4. Study other topics that are related to the Filipino martial arts, self defense, fighting, battle, etc. Read about how blades are made. Learn about edge geometry. Learn to sharpen a knife. Learn about anatomy. Read about military strategy. Learn about guerrilla tactics, that’s what we often use in Kali. 5. Learn some other useful skills that relate to self defense, staying healthy, etc. Learn first aid so that you can help, not just destroy. Read about nutrition. A good diet can help you be better at physical activity and cognitive skills. Find ways to make yourself a more useful person to your family and community. You might find that your investment in the Filipino martial arts may eventually inspire you to help others rather than just hit them. Final Words Ok, I think that is enough for now. It’s time for you to get started! The list above is just a brief introduction to several ideas. With a little research, you can find more information on many of the topics listed above. Check back here for future articles that will go more in depth with some of the topics above. If you have any questions, Let us know!

This article is part three in a series of articles focused on getting results when learning to apply the Filipino martial arts. If you have not already read part one and part two, please read those first to get the most out of this article. Each article addresses a different stage in the learning process. Part one was focused on stage one, developing the right mechanics in order to lay the foundation required for future training. Part two outlined a process for developing reaction with simple exercises. This article continues with a continuation of the the progression started in stage two, then progresses to stage three, which involves more open-ended exercises and live training with a resisting partner. STAGE 2 Continued - Advanced Reaction Training Once you have mastered the reaction drills described in part two of this article series, it is time for more challenging reaction training. Initially, you can do this by using a similar format to the drills described in part two, now adding more variables and varying the contexts in which you practice. Add More Variables Learning to react when there is only one correct response is the first step in building reaction. In this first step, you do not have to decide which technique to use. That response is given. You simply have to recognize when to use it. You wait for your partner to feed you, then you perform the technique. The challenge now is to train to react properly when you must also decide which technique is the right one to execute. Initially, this training begins much like the reaction drills outlined in the previous article: While performing a pattern of movement, such as continuous one and two strikes, the feeder will deliver an attack, and you must react appropriately. However, now, you will gradually include more variables in the drill. The feeder will deliver one of two or more possible attacks, each of which requires a different response. With this format, you must then recognize each attack, decide which technique is the right response and react appropriately. Remember: The required responses must be already trained individually first, so that you are ready for this increase in challenge. When there are multiple techniques being trained in this manner, it is best to start this process with only two techniques at a time. This approach will allow the drill to remain challenging, but not overwhelming. Once you are performing well with just two variables, then the feeder can begin combining the attacks so that there are three variables, requiring three different techniques in response. Though the goal is to be able to react to any number of attacks, this drill format usually works best with no more than three techniques. Once there are more than three variables, students make more mistakes, get frustrated, and ultimately, the training stimulus is diffused because there are too many variables. Over the course of many training sessions and drills, you can learn to react with many different techniques. When too many are covered in one drill or even one session, the focus and attention given to each is reduced, which causes the training to be less effective. So, restrict these reaction training drills to three or fewer possible variables per drill. Over the long run, you will build a library of reactions. There is no need to try and cram every technique that you know into one drill. Vary the Context In addition to increasing the challenge by adding more variables, you should practice your techniques in a variety of situations. As you improve your ability to react, you should practice your techniques while engaged in more challenging striking patterns or flow drills. Instead of just making contact with angles one and two, you and the feeder can engage in a drill involving various strikes and counters repeated in a loop. At certain points within the loop, the feeder can insert the feed to which you must react. This will challenge your ability to keep moving and recognize the specific attacks for which you are training. Do this with several different drills. Change the components of the drill, but insert the same techniques into each of the different drills. This allows you to practice the same technique in several different situations. By situation, I mean a brief moment: A moment when you are moving in a certain way, and in a certain position relative to your partner, who is also moving in a certain way. In that very dynamic situation, you will have to transition to your technique, and possibly back into the flow of the drill, without hesitation. Over time, this training will help you map the options that are available to your opponent in a variety of positions and situations. This will help you be prepared to counter his attacks. When you first try these drills, you may incorrectly anticipate the attacks so much that you will have difficulty keeping the drill going smoothly. With experience, you will learn to read a wider variety of cues and get better at seeing the attacks as they are coming. You will become familiar with recurring situations presented by each drill. Eventually, you will internalize the knowledge of when and what attacks can come from your partner in a wide variety of common situations. Once internalized, this knowledge will allow you to analyze faster and respond sooner. Remember to progress in difficulty gradually when changing the variables and the context. When you change the context, start with one variable for each drill and gradually add one or two more. Also, have your partner initially insert the attacks in a predictable way, such as in every other loop of the drill. Later, have him change the frequency used in inserting the feed to something that is less predictable. After mastering the types of drills described above, you will be ready to move on to stage three in your training. In stage three, you will more thoroughly integrate your techniques into your system by using a different approach to your training. STAGE 3 - Integrating your Techniques The final stage of the progression in training for application is to integrate your techniques into a web of skills that functions like a system. At this stage, you will assimilate your new skills with the skills that you already have to build a mental network of interrelated options and contingencies. By knowing how each technique interfaces with another, you will create a web of connections among them. This includes how one technique counters another, how one transitions to another, as well as how groups of techniques fit together based on certain contexts like range, loading positions and the behavior of your opponent. Each time you train, you will map this web, making it a little more thorough and detailed. Over time, you will begin to understand the relationship of all the parts in this web. Eventually, your skills and techniques will be organized and function together as a system, rather than just as a collection of disparate techniques. This system is not a single formula to be memorized. It is something that can only be developed individually, through experience. To integrate your techniques more deeply into a system, you need train the techniques with enough depth, intensity, and frequency that they are very familiar to you. You need to train them and test them in a variety of ways, exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the techniques. You need to mentally and physically connect them to other techniques that you already know. You need to train them in a way that challenges your reaction skills under a less predictable format. You must also pursue training that helps you build experience by developing your skills in environments that increasingly resemble the conditions in which you would actually apply them. This means you should progressively remove the scripted structures of the drills that you use, and transition to more practical drills that may have more than one right answer. It also means you need to develop your ability to apply your techniques when your training partner is actively trying to prevent you from doing just that. The most common practical drills here include a variety of sparring drills and drills wherein your partner resists your attempts to counter him. Use Practical Drills This final training stage requires that you change your training approach to one that is more practical than technical in nature. In this next step, you will gradually change the emphasis from that of stage two drills, which predominantly focus on technical objectives, to drills that are focused on practical objectives. This means that instead of trying to cultivate responses with a very specific set of techniques, you will now develop your problem solving skills in drills where there could be any number of good responses. For example: In stage two drills, your objective was to learn to respond to specific attacks with very specific techniques. A stage two drill may limit your possible responses to only one, two, or three techniques. In the stage two drills, those techniques are the focus of your training. In stage three, the drills become increasingly more open-ended. The drill format will still have a structure to direct the training, but the attacks from the feeder and/ or your responses may be restricted by parameters that are designed to direct you to work on certain situations or tactics, instead of restricting you to specific techniques. For example: Your partner feeds you a variety of attacks, but he is limited to certain targets, such as only the head and the legs. You must respond to each attack with a counter. The choice of techniques that you use is up to you as long as you effectively counter the attack. The main objectives of this exercise are for you to learn to recognize the attacks, decide what to do about them, and perform a technique with at least enough form to work. A distinction here is that the feeder is no longer facilitating the execution of a specific technique. He is delivering the attacks in a more open-ended and realistic manner to give you an experience that is less scripted and less predictable. It is this focus on function and the use of more realistic, less scripted attacks that makes this a more practical approach. Stage three drills are more open-ended, but they must still have boundaries. They need boundaries so that you can limit the scope of the drill to focus on certain skills. Without these boundaries, you may not get enough repetition for significant development. The boundaries of these drills may be limits on the things such as the range of attack, the angles of attack, the targets allowed, or limits to techniques that follow a certain principle or tactic, etc. For example: If you want to develop your ability to evade attacks to your hand, then you may use a sparring exercise wherein the only targets allowed are the hands and the head. To hit your partner's head, you must reach out and expose your hand. Your partner must do the same to hit your head. This format will give you plenty of opportunities to evade attacks to your hand and to attack your partner’s hand as he extends it. Here, the boundaries of the drill help you target development in a set of skills and tactics by increasing the likelihood that you will encounter multiple situations wherein those skills can be tested and improved. When structuring practical drills, the specific parameters of the drills should often still be related to the techniques that you are developing. For example: If you have been learning how to react to low line attacks, then the parameters of the related practical drills should direct the feeder to include some low line attacks as he feeds you. If you have been training a lot of counters to low line attacks, but the drill only allows head shots, then you will never get an opportunity to work on the low line techniques that you have developed in stage one and two. Furthermore, you also may have issues with technical performance if your training of the techniques needed to protect your head have not been adequately trained beforehand through stages one and two. The value of organizing the practical drills with structures that limit the attacks and responses is to have control over the process. Imagine if all the sparring and practical exercises you do are completely open-ended. You may never get the opportunity to even try the techniques that you have been practicing. By using a structured approach as outlined above, you can focus on certain skill sets or tactics. By design, you will have multiple opportunities to implement your newly developed techniques within one training session. Start with more focused drills and progress to more open drills. There is a spectrum of how open or how focused the parameters of the drills are. Just remember: Like any increase in challenge, it is usually better to advance in measured doses, than to make a huge jump in difficulty. Jumping ahead too soon will likely be unproductive. In addition to moving towards more open-ended, practical drills in your training, you should also increase the resistance that your partner provides when you are attempting to apply your techniques. Increase Resistance When you first learn a technique, your partner helps you get it right. He remains static or moves very slowly, so that you can work on the details of the technique without worrying about timing, speed, force, etc. He may deliver an attack and leave himself open, or telegraph significantly, so that you clearly see when to react and apply your technique. This is good because it provides you with enough time to evaluate and make corrections as you cultivate your skills. As you improve, your partner should increase the challenge by increasing his resistance to your techniques. He can do this by delivering attacks that are faster, with fewer tells, and not as open or vulnerable to counter as before. The appropriate progression from here is to have your partner gradually introduce more difficulty by competing with you, rather than complying with you. This increase in difficulty helps you develop better timing, improve your ability to see less obvious cues, and refine your movement. The process starts with your partner feeding you attacks and resisting your attempts to counter with a low intensity effort. He can do this by going slower, using less force, or less skill than he is capable of applying. He can then gradually increase his resistance, measured as a percentage of his normal abilities. He may first offer you 10% resistance, then 25%, later 50%, etc. More challenging drills will progress so that both you and your partner are competing rather than having one person designated as the feeder. This is a shift to low intensity sparring, sometimes called technical sparring. Here, you and your partner will still cooperate within the format of the drill. You will initially "hold back” and only offer a low percentage of resistance so that you can both maintain control. You "give and take" by repeatedly shifting roles back and forth from feeder to trainee by allowing your partner to win some exchanges without escalating your speed and force to counter his every move. He does the same for you, so that you both can organically explore attacks and counters without the fear of being hammered by your partner. This low intensity sparring is a good way to learn control while still introducing resistance and competition. As you become more comfortable with this drill at low intensity, incrementally increase the intensity. Over the course of several sessions, you and your partner should gradually resist more and use more effort to counter each other. As you and your training partners develop proficiency, confidence, and trust, the drill format can become more and more competitive with you no longer allowing your partner to get the attack or counter and him doing the same for you. By gradually removing the limitations of the drill and intensity of the feeding / competition, you will have a bridge to progress closer to a completely open-ended situation. Eventually, you will simply be sparring. The value of gradually progressing from a lower level of resistance and competition to higher levels is to create more opportunities for improvement while ramping up your skills. It is hard to make adjustments to your tactics and your techniques when someone is trying to hit you in the head with one hundred percent effort. Imagine going from zero sparring experience to suddenly being marauded by more experienced students. You will have little opportunity to refine your skills. By gradually increasing the intensity of resistance and competition, you will have more time to cultivate your poise under pressure and calibrate your tactics to this more dynamic format. You will have more time and mental clarity to analyze your mistakes and make corrections. Remember: Even if you have progressed to a high intensity in your training, there is still value in continuing to train at lower intensities. The key is that you learn to adjust to resistance. In addition to developing your skills through practical drills with increasing levels of resistance, you should also strive to develop experience through your training. Develop Experience One of the most important results of training is gaining experience. Training can give you experience with techniques, tactics, and situations similar to what you may encounter in a live scenario, be it sport or defense. The more complete and well-rounded that experience is, the better your chances of success will be. This is because experience will give you a deeper understanding of what you study. In the three posts of this series, I have attempted to summarize the approach that I use in training my students. In this approach, the training objectives transition from technical to tactical, and the drill formats transition from being very tightly structured to more live and open-ended. In that transition, the steps are gradual, and because they are gradual, they are thorough. A gradual approach gives you more steps to ramp up your skills. It gives you more time and opportunities to absorb what you are training. It gives you more details. It gives you a more complete experience. Though you can become functional without training with this entire progression, I believe you will find it easier to recall and apply your techniques if you do complete the entire progression. When you master of the mechanics of your techniques, you are no longer hindered by the lack of coordination or physical performance. When you train how to react to attacks using the right technique, you embed those reactions into your long term memory, making them accessible under pressure and without conscious forethought. Finally, when you attempt to apply those techniques in a more open-ended, live training environment, you will develop a deep understanding of them including how to modify them for any given situation. This combination of skill and knowledge will allow you to depend on your techniques when you are under pressure. These three phases in the training process make your training more well-rounded and complete, but, it is the final step that really prepares you for success. It’s the work you do, while training in the open-ended, live environment that creates the skill and experience that is the most relevant to applying your techniques. By nature, every live drill challenges you with a different perspective or a different scenario. Even though some of the elements are the same, each drill presents situations and problems that are different in some way. Because of that, you are forced to adapt to those situations and solve those problems by adjusting the way that you perform your techniques and tactics. In this process, you learn to quickly assess the situation and make those adjustments in the moment, under pressure. Through many iterations of this process, you will catalog memories and develop schema that will allow you to make quicker decisions and weigh more information when making those decisions. This is what you need to guide you when you must respond to attacks in the future. The experience, composed of the memories, schema, knowledge, and understanding, gained through all of your training, is the real fruit of your labor. All of the training you do in stage one and stage two of this process is crucial, but ultimately, the purpose for all of this training is to develop both the skills and the experience that give you the understanding that you need to apply your techniques in any situation. Strive not only to develop your ability to perform techniques cleanly and with fast reaction times, but also to cultivate the experience that you need to apply the art. Final Words In the beginning of this series of articles, I introduced my approach for training the Filipino martial arts with a primary focus on learning for application. When training with this objective in mind, every exercise and drill should have a purpose. This purpose should be communicated to the student, so that he can align his expectations and goals with the training progression. When the student knows the purpose of the training drills and meets the objectives of those exercises, he will not only gain confidence in his abilities, but also be able to assess his overall ability to apply the art. This confidence and understanding together will lead him to the answers for questions like the following: "When will I know I can do this?" "Will my techniques just come out when I need them?" "How can I remember all of these techniques?" By understanding the training progression, he will know when his skills are ready for application thanks to the experience and development he has gained through mastering the mechanics of the techniques, learning to react with those techniques, and honing the supporting skills through practical exercises. He will have the physical skills to perform the techniques he has learned. He will understand how his training has prepared him to react, wherein the techniques and tactics he has learned will “come out” when needed. He will not need to actively try to remember the techniques, nor hold them in his conscious thought, because they have will have been trained throughly enough to embed them in his long term memory and become a part of his network of skills and base of experience. Whether you are designing a program for yourself or simply doing homework while under the guidance of an instructor, you can take an active role in your development. When you have a clear understanding of the design of your training program and goals, you can augment the training that you have received under an instructor with exercises and drills that are consistent with the objectives of that program. If you are an instructor, it is your duty to organize your instruction in a way that gives your students the best training that you can offer. By keeping your students informed about your training methods and program goals and by continually improving your program and your skills as an instructor, you will lead your students to success. Tips for Improving at this Stage Give yourself every advantage to be successful with your training. Keep working hard to get the mechanics right, even when moving at full speed. Be thorough and develop reaction with all of your techniques or the entries to your techniques by using simple, dynamic drills. Understand what you are trying to accomplish with each drill, and determine how to know when you have accomplished it. Every drill should have a purpose. Even the most open-ended, live sparring drill should have some learning objective. Find a safe way to make your drills more live with your partner trying to stop you. You need the results from each stage to prepare your skills for application. Use protective gear for more drills than just sparring. It’s great for reaction drills because you can get instant feedback. That instant feedback will allow you to make quick corrections and calibrations right away. Explore how everything new you learn fits into the knowledge and training you already have. Identify where this new information connects to your web of skills.

This is part two of a three part series of articles. If you have not read part one, please read it before reading this article. As I mentioned in part one, I have identified three stages of learning only to make the material discussed in this series easier to organize, read, and implement. A more in-depth discussion could certainly subdivide these stages into many parts based on the science and development behind the progression. In part one of this series, I began to explain my approach to teaching students how to learn to react. Part one was focused on the first stage of learning a new technique. This first stage is largely focused on learning proper mechanics and developing coordination. In this article, I will discuss stage two of the process. Stage two is primarily concerned with developing reaction under simple, unambiguous conditions. Stage 2 - Learning to React In order to be able to apply a technique in a stressful situation, you must train to make the technique reflexive. It must be ingrained so that, when desired, you will perform the technique without conscious thought of the mechanics behind the technique. Learn to Read Pre-Attack Cues The process of training a technique until it is reflexive starts with learning the cues that indicate a specific attack or situation is coming. If you do not have any way to predict that a particular attack is coming, then you are unlikely to react quickly enough to counter it. However, if you learn to recognize cues that indicate a specific attack is coming, then you will have time to mentally process what is happening and then react when it does come. Your ability to see and recognize these cues quickly is critical to your success. Not only must you learn the specific cues that indicate a possible attack, but also you must learn to recognize them early. When an opponent moves in to attack you, it will take you time to recognize what is happening before you can take action. Even if you recognize what is happening, you still must have enough time to react physically. It does not help to recognize that you will be hit in the head if you have no time to do anything about it. If you recognize a cue early, then you will have more time to identify what is happening and more time to take action. You will have more time to react. To get good at doing this, you should spend time training to recognize specific pre-attack cues. Drills used in this process are simple. A training partner delivers an attack, and then you react to it with the appropriate technique. With each repetition, study your partner for cues that are specific to the attack. These are mostly visual cues that are based on the movement of your partner. Some examples of cues include: how your partner moves his elbow prior to striking, how your partner twists his hips or shoulders before attacking, or how your partner shifts his body weight before he steps closer. Some of the more useful, specific cues may be seen in the loading mechanics, weight shift or body lean, and footwork used as your partner initiates an attack. Sudden facial movements, target glancing, and a change in breathing patterns may also serve as good early cues that an attack is coming. Note that some cues but may not indicate which attack or which angle of attack is coming, but they may indicate when an attack is coming. Having your partner exaggerate the cues that indicate an attack is coming will help you progress faster when you first start a new technique. For example: Your partner intentionally exaggerates the windup necessary before delivering an attack. This exaggeration makes the cues more obvious, so that you recognize them early. Recognizing the cues early allows you more time to react. This approach is helpful if you are struggling just to recognize the cues or you are not yet able to respond to the cues quickly enough. As you improve in your ability to recognize pre-attack cues and react, the exaggerations should be minimized, then removed. Keep your Training Focused At this stage, your training should focus on just developing one technique at a time. Drills should start with you only needing to recognize whether or not you need to react with that one technique. The reaction is based on an answer of yes or no. React or do not react. This means your training will be focused on developing your ability to know when to react rather than focused on deciding how to react. Also, at this point in your training, your feeder should not introduce any faking motions or other deceptions. He should deliver an accurate attack that employs the same angle and mechanics of the real attack. Keeping the scope of your training narrow like this will allow you to make faster progress. This is because you will build more depth and experience with each technique if you focus on it alone. This simple approach will allow you to refine your ability to read the cues needed to react with a specific technique. It will also allow you to refine your movements under the stress of having to react to a stimulus, which is is more challenging than just performing at your own pace. When you later practice reacting to a variety of attacks, you will have the ability to distinguish between them because you know and have drilled how to read the specific cues for each attack. At that point, you will also have better control over your movements. Ultimately, this means you will spend less time remediating any deficient skills once the training becomes more intense. Refine your Technique Under Pressure After you develop the ability to recognize that an attack is coming, you need to refine the mechanics, precision, and accuracy of the technique while you are training for reaction. Typically, when a student first starts reaction training, the technique is very sloppy. The additional attention required to look for cues and react at the appropriate time often causes the quality of the student’s movement to drop. This is normal, and you should expected it to happen to you too. The solution is to improve your performance while under pressure. Repetition, under this new level of intensity, will allow you to improve your reaction time and clean up your movements. Improving is simply a matter of trying to command better control while performing with the new added stress. As you become more accustomed to the stress, and improve your ability to react, your technical performance will improve as well. If you have already put adequate time into developing your coordination and consistency of movement in stage one, then this process will move quickly. However, if you prematurely moved from stage one to stage two, then the movement will likely be even more sloppy and require more time to improve. For best results, be sure to have clean and consistent movement before you start stage two. If you find your movements are not as clean as you would like, continue to work on your coordination and body mechanics in a slow and deliberate manner. Build up again to working on reaction when your movements are more precise and consistent. As you improve, gradually add pressure to your training. Add pressure by having your partner feed more quickly, more frequently, or with less obvious cues. If when you add pressure, your movement degrades, improve it before adding any more pressure. Once your movement does improve, add more pressure. The key is to find a balance of pressure and performance quality. You should be challenged, not overwhelmed. If you are performing the technique right one hundred percent of the time, you need more challenge. If you are getting it wrong one hundred percent of the time, then you need less challenge. I find the sweet spot of being adequately challenged, but not overwhelmed, is when the student gets the technique right about sixty to eighty percent of the time. Progress from Static to Dynamic Drills The process of developing reaction skills should gradually move from simple, static exercises to drills that are more dynamic. In initial reaction drills, you may start by waiting in a ready position until the feeder delivers an attack from a stationary position. As you become more consistent in your successful performance of the drill, the format of the drill should become more dynamic. The drill can be made more dynamic by putting both you and the feeder in motion prior to the delivery of the attack. This approach can be as simple as having both you and the feeder perform basic strikes in the air or strike your weapons together in contact before the attack is delivered. A good starting point is to have a student and feeder continuously strike in diagonal angles one and two. At some point, the feeder will change from the angle one and two striking pattern to deliver the attack that you are learning to counter. You must recognize this change and react to the attack. The intent of this drill format is to train you to react while you are already in motion. Reacting while in motion is different from reacting while stationary. To make a transition, you will have to flow from your current movement into the movement of the proper response. This more dynamic format is a step up in difficulty from drilling in stationary ready positions. It is more difficult because you must not only recognize the attack, but also transition your movement from the default motion of the drill to the correct response. Learning to make these transitions while in motion is important and very useful when done right. Adjust Frequency From our example above, when first inserting an attack into a flow of continuous one and two strikes, the insertion of the attack should be at a predictable frequency. Doing this will make it easier for you to perform the technique correctly. It will allow you to count the beats created by your strikes, while knowing at which beat the attack will come. This way, you and your feeder both know that after x number of strikes, the next strike will be the attack that cues your reaction. This approach is a good way to help you get started with a new technique. As you progress, the frequency of the attacks from your training partner should become less and less predictable. Once you can easily perform the technique as the attack is delivered at a predictable frequency, then the frequency should vary. Otherwise, the counting could become a crutch. When varying the frequency, you should no longer be able to count the number of strikes and thereby know when the attack is coming. This change is important because the final training objective is for you to learn to react based on the cues that are relevant to the real attack. Using a predictable attack frequency in a drill is just a stepping stone to get there. Changing the predictability will increase the demand on your ability to react, and when done gradually, will improve your skill quickly. Summary When you begin developing reaction with a technique, learn to read pre-attack cues. Keep your focus on one technique at a time. Gradually add pressure to your drills so that you remain challenged. Progress from static to more dynamic drill formats. Reduce the predictability of attacks by varying their frequency. By using the methods explained above, you will expand your understanding and skill with each technique and prepare yourself for success with more challenging reaction training to come. Tips for Improving at this Stage Use more than one training partner to feed you. This will help you learn to recognize more pre-attack cues, improve your ability to adjust to differences in how your opponent attacks, and get more varied feedback on your performance. Continue to improve your coordination and mechanics. The more practiced you are with your mechanics, the less you have to think about them. This allows you to give more attention to what is going on with your partner. Test your skills by going faster and increasing the frequency of attacks. Use this to see where your skills break down. Once you find a weakness in your skills, slow down and address the weakness with exercises that will improve the skills needed to overcome it. This may include working on coordination while moving at full speed, trying recognize cues earlier, or just progressing more gradually through the drills you have already been doing. Be patient with yourself. Reaction drills can be frustrating when your technique is not coming out right. It’s better to use exercises that bridge from one level of skill to the next in a more gradual manner than to jump into faster, more complex drills right away. That’s all for now. The final portion of this article will continue in part 3. In the next post, we will discuss integrating the individual skills developed in stage two into the whole of your experience and knowledge base. This includes developing reaction to variable attacks and adjusting your skills to more dynamic and less predictable situations.

How you approach your training can make a huge difference in the results you get from it. Two people can study the same art and end up with very different skills and results. Know what you want to get out of your training, then adjust your approach to it so that you will get what you want in a reasonable period of time. If you are simply training for fun, and don’t really have any serious goals associated with your training, then you don’t need to think about your training direction or progression very much. However, if you are primarily concerned about being effective with the Filipino Martial arts, then your training should be focused on application. When you are focused on application, all the exercises and drills you do should move you closer to being able to apply what you are learning. That training should develop in you, the ability to actually perform the techniques you study. Many of the other benefits that come from training martial arts will still come, but do not let them distract you from following a training progression that will get the results you seek. This sounds simple, but when an art is deep, it is easy to run off-track and get distracted from focusing on application. When this happens, what results is training that is out of balance and often scattershot in approach. I see this happen to students because they either focus too much on what they enjoy or they get lost in a progression of endless drills. Sometimes students get distracted from a balanced training progression because they just spend too much of their training time on what they enjoy most, instead of what they actually need to train. Some drills are too much fun.Once we get good at them, it’s even more fun to continue doing them. The pitfall here is that students need to work on their weaknesses, not just their strengths. In a training progression, students may eventually outgrow a drill and no longer need to do it. When this happens, students need to progress to greater challenges that will move their skills further forward rather than spend more training time repeating the drills that they have already mastered. Sometime students lose their focus on application because they get lost in a sea of drills. As students mature in their skills, they sometimes get stuck in an undertow of endless drills. Rather than advance their skill in a progression, students drift from drill to drill hoping that by practicing a huge variety of drills, everything will come together. Though just by learning a variety of drills, engaged students will glean insights from each one, this is not an effective approach. A student may learn and master many drills, but if the student is simply not aware of how the drills are advancing his skills, he still will not understand how to apply the techniques that the drills are designed to develop. When this happens, students often focus on getting good at drills themselves, not the skills that the drills are designed to develop. The drills may have value, but without a clearly defined purpose, or a progression that moves forward, they can just become a trap that actually slows the student’s progression, pulling them back instead of pushing them forward. I cannot read minds, but when students ask me questions, I get an idea of what they are thinking. Sometimes I recognize this lack of understanding described above when students ask questions like: "When will I know I can do this?" "Will my techniques just come out when I need them?" "How can I remember all of these techniques?" These are good questions. When these questions come from a beginner, I don’t see a problem, but when they come from more experienced students, then I know there is a gap in their understanding that I need to fix. It is the instructors job to give the student direction and help him understand how to develop his skills. When the student understands the process of developing his skills, then he can take it much further than he would if he simply followed drills and exercises without knowing their function and purpose. Ultimately, the answers to the questions above must be addressed with a well-planned training progression. A clear and purposeful training progression will allow the student to understand how his training is leading him to the skills that he needs to apply the art. If the student understands each stage of his progression and knows in which stage he is currently training, then he can easily align his expectations and goals for that stage. Doing this will help him get the most out of his training and give him the best insight into his ability to actually apply what he learns. For this series of articles, I will share a broad outline of the training progression that I use to develop the physical skills needed to apply the Filipino martial arts that I teach. I will simplify the progression into three main stages and explain each stage in a separate article. Each of these stages can be further divided into more stages for a deeper discussion. For this series, I will discuss the technical aspects of the training progression without venturing into topics regarding mindset, which is also a very important part of training, but beyond the scope of this series. I hope these articles will help students learn how to learn, and instructors learn how to teach. STAGE 1 - Mastering the Mechanics Understand the Technique When first learning a new technique, you need to understand it’s purpose. This means you should know what will it do, when to use it, and why to use it. Once you understand the purpose of a technique and what to expect from it, you will be able to evaluate the success of your training by comparing your performance skills to the expected outcome. Create a Mental Model You need to see, and maybe feel, a demonstration of the technique. That sounds obvious, but the demonstration of the technique is what will allow you to visualize how the technique should be performed. Visualizing the technique is the first step in internalizing the technique, so study the technique closely. You need to see the technique enough so that you can maintain an image of the technique in your mind without needing to see it again right away. Depending on the complexity of the technique, you may need to see the technique several times to take in all the details. Seeing a technique performed several times will allow you to give attention to various parts of the technique, such as the footwork, body position, and movement of the hands. It’s difficult to observe all of these things at once. Remember: you need to be able to visualize the technique so that you can reproduce it. As you begin to practice the technique, your ability to visualize it will improve. As you begin to learn the mechanics and movements related to the technique, you will become more familiar with it. In doing so, you will refine and improve your visualization of the technique. In this process of refining your visualization, you will create a mental model of the technique to which you compare each of your successive repetitions in practice. When you have a clear vision of what the technique should look and feel like, then your performance will be better. This is because the more clearly you visualize this model, the better your reproduction of it can be. Emulate Someone Else When you are first learning the technique is helpful to follow someone else who is demonstrating the technique. Before your mental model is refined, you can watch then emulate the movements of another in order to more easily observe and translate what you see into movement. Following an instructor or skilled training partner who can give you direct and immediate feedback to you is best, but following video footage of someone performing the technique can also be very helpful. Repeatedly watching, then imitating the movements of another will help you develop your understanding and visualization of the technique. Get Consistent with your Mechanics At this point of your training progression, you must improve your ability to perform the technique with quality mechanics. Once you have refined the mechanics to match your mental model, then you must then work on being able to reproduce those movements consistently. This is a process that requires a lot of repetition and commitment - sometimes more than you may realize. When I see beginner students first practice with repetition, I often see them make the mistake of stopping too soon. They don’t realize that they stopped before they really get enough repetition to make significant progress. They have committed to doing the work, but they do not know when it is done. Imagine you practice a movement over and over again, refining it a little more on each repetition. Then, after 100 repetitions, you finally got the movement right. It was perfect. You moved just the way you wanted. Now that you did it right, you move on to another technique. Terrible idea! You have practiced the technique wrong 99 times and correctly only once. Once you get the movement right, you must repeat that correct repetition enough until it is a habit. This means that may you need hundreds of repetitions of the correct movement. Yes, there was still some value in the 99 incorrect repetitions. They probably were no completely wrong. In fact, you were internally bracketing your feel for the movements as you got closer and closer to the correct mechanics. That process gave you a better understanding of the individual movements that balance each other to create the coordinated technique. However, until you complete many repetitions of the precise movement, you will not yet be consistent in performing the technique correctly every time. At this point, if you start to add pressure, such as testing the technique as part of a reaction, then you will see the mechanics break down too frequently. This inconsistency, caused by a lack of sufficient practice, will disrupt your attempt to move forward in your training progression. Practice while continually refining the technique, and be sure to get a lot of repetition of the refined movement that you want to become automatic. In order to be ready to add more pressure, practice until you see that you can repeat the technique in practice, at full speed, with consistent mechanics, accuracy, and precision. Once you are consistent, then you can move on to the next stage of progression. Tips for Improving at this Stage Emulate the movements of your instructor and other skilled students. Watch demonstrations, watch video, study their mechanics. Get feedback from your instructor and your training partners. Use that feedback to improve. Record yourself on video so that you can evaluate your movement from another perspective. Continue to practice the movement and maintain the coordination you develop, even after moving to the next stage. NOTE: This article will continue in our next post, part two.

The Problem with Flow Drills I often hear people say that flow drills in the Filipino Martial Arts are just not realistic. Sometimes they say there is no relation between flow drills and their sparring. Because of this, they don’t see any value in the flow drills, and they don’t see a reason to include them in their training. I understand this, but I think if they knew how to approach flow drills differently, they may find more value in them. The Filipino martial arts are often taught in a way that is not well explained or not clearly structured. This makes it hard for the student to get the most out of the training. Sometimes people learn a variety of drills, but they do not always understand the drills completely. Because of this, the real value is sometimes missed. The problem I often see is that many people just do not know how to practice flow drills in a way that moves their skills towards application. Here is why: 1. The drills have become an end instead of a training tool. Students work on getting good at the drill, but they often confuse getting good at the drill with being ready to apply the techniques within. Being able to flow with a drill may be a milestone in your growth, but being able to perform a flow drill is not the ultimate goal of your training. The purpose of training is to develop your ability to apply what you are learning. Learning to really apply techniques requires more skills than just flowing. 2. Movements are often overly abbreviated and are held to less stringent standards when part of a flow drill. Drills often only incorporate the initial entry of a technique, so that continuous flow is easier. Drills may also abbreviate movements such as footwork, so that the drill can continue without a change in range or position that would break the continuous exchange needed to allow the drill to continue in a loop. Sometimes this abbreviation is taken too far. Whether it be for ease or speed, the critical technical movements are truncated or altered so much that their repetition does not contribute to training in a positive way. The movements are often incomplete, imprecise, or just plain sloppy. The result of this excessive abbreviation is that the drill becomes ineffective as a training tool. Flow drills can be useful when used with a specific training purpose in mind. I believe that if instructors improve how they incorporate flow drills into their classes, then students will get more benefit from those drills. I believe with that improvement, flow drills can indeed be relative to sparring and remain an important part of skill development in the Filipino martial arts. With this article, I hope to help students and instructors to get more value and function from the flow drills that are likely a large part of their chosen art. Making your Flow Drills Functional First, let's evaluate flow drills in order to better define them and to identify how we can get the most out of them. This starts with identifying the purpose behind them. Purpose Know the purpose of the drill. If you know the purpose of the drill, then will you know what benefit to expect from it. Not all flow drills have the same purpose. Some flow drills are simply exercises for coordination. Some flow drills demonstrate how techniques can be used as attacks, counters, and recounters. Some flow drills illustrate how to use specific tactics such as baiting or setting up the opponent. Often drills incorporate more than one of these aspects. Once you understand the purpose, you will have direction for using the drill for your development. When you know the purpose of the drill, you will immediately be able to align your practice of the drill with your training goals. Do you need more coordination? Spend more time on flow drills designed to develop coordination. Do you want to get better at techniques that can be used for attacks and counters? Then deepen your understanding and skill by training and analyzing the flow drills that illustrate just that. Once you understand the purpose of the drill, align your expectations with that purpose and analyze your training results. This approach will allow you to select the drill based on your training needs. The Function Drill The concept of a flow drill is broad. With a flow drill, really the only qualifier is that it must continue. I focus on a more structured type of flow drill called the function drill. A function drill is a type of flow drill that demonstrates the functionality of techniques by putting them in a logical sequence and context. It is an exercise that combines one or more techniques in a way that follows a logical structure, not just a whimsical flow. In a function drill, flow is not random, it is informed with specific responses in mind. Though a function drill can have variables, each of those variables must fit within a logical framework that is based on realistic application. A function drill can offer several benefits that support learning skills that are relevant to applying the techniques involved. A function drill can inform you how techniques interface. When multiple techniques are combined into a function drill, you can see how they work together. By examining the drill, you can understand how one technique can be used to setup or counter another. Sometimes, differences in timing or position can change which technique is the best choice for the situation. Function drills can help you see those differences. Function drills help you analyze the techniques they contain. When training function drills, you will begin to identify different options in applying the techniques. When you see how the techniques are used against each other, you will learn the strengths and weaknesses of each technique. You will see how they are countered and where their failure points are. If you train multiple function drills that contain some of the same techniques, you will learn how to can adapt those same techniques to different situations. This leads to a deeper understanding of the techniques themselves. A function drill gives context to the techniques within it. When constructed logically, a function drill contains fragments of a very short scenario. The order in which the techniques are sequenced illustrates what techniques you can use, in that particular scenario, in order to win. This context allows you to understand and train to make the right reactions, should you find yourself in a similar situation. Function drills help you learn to transition. Typically, function drills repeat in a continuous loop. This format will prevent you from ingraining a habit of stopping after completing a technique. You will instead develop a habit of moving continuously and without hesitation into the next technique. With repetition of the drill and mindful corrections during each loop, you will learn to easily change from one technique to another. After exposure to many variations of function drills, you will - build a mental map of the transitions available, develop the ability to recognize the cues that indicate which transition is appropriate for various situations, and cultivate the coordination needed to execute the transitions efficiently. Function drills help you solidify techniques in your memory. This is more than just getting muscle memory through repetition. When you only practice techniques individually, without context, you will have a harder time recalling the techniques later. In contrast, when you practice function drills, you will learn to associate various techniques that relate by their purpose, range, principle, or tactics involved. This creates a context. That context helps connect the techniques together in your mind. This means that those techniques will be better integrated into your memory and experience, instead of being just a collection of techniques sitting in your toolbox. Because of this integration, those techniques will be easier to recall and draw upon when you want to access them. Each of the topics above are worthy of their own articles, but hopefully the summaries above are enough to help you identify opportunities for drawing benefit from function drills.  Now, let's examine how to get more out of any flow drill that you train. Improving the Use of Flow Drills Focus on function and application, not just free flowing. When you practice the drill, make sure that the responses make sense. You are getting repetition each time you cycle through the drill. Use those repetitions to create movement patterns and responses that will serve you well. Free flowing drills have their place, but they should be second to functional flow drills. Analyze each drill to determine what lessons are contained within. A drill may simply be a demonstration of how techniques fit together, but it may also contain lessons in timing, positioning, and other tactics. You might benefit from describing the drill in writing or creating a diagram of the drill to better be able to visualize details within it. This may give you a deeper perspective on how the parts all fit together. Only after you become very familiar with a drill, will you be able to extract more subtle lessons from it. Give yourself a lot of time and multiple training sessions to examine the drills you practice. Refine the individual techniques of the drill before putting them together in a flow. Train each of the techniques individually first. You need to have a good grasp of the techniques involved in order to benefit from the flow. If you are not yet familiar with the techniques, you may miss subtleties in the drill or even ingrain mistakes through the repetition of improper movements. Make sure that you practice the complete, individual techniques often, so that those complete movements are the habit. Because the techniques of flow drills are often abbreviated, you are not developing the entire technique when practicing a flow drill. Unless you practice the entire movement thoroughly, you may later hesitate or even freeze because you have only practiced part of the technique. Make your techniques seamless by establishing a strong habit of completing them in their full form. Even though you may intentionally abbreviate the techniques in a flow, keep the movement intact as much as possible. For example, often you must modify your footwork when applying the techniques so that you can cycle through the drill without getting too close to your partner. Instead of throwing the footwork out altogether, just make the steps smaller. At least you will maintain the habit of stepping. This is better than training with no footwork at all. Use flow drills to test the threshold of your skills. When you practice a drill, start slow and make sure the details and form are sound. Speed up the drill. As you speed up, you may find some of your movements break down. They may become off-time, inaccurate, imprecise, or just ugly. When you add to the intensity of the drill by increasing the speed, you will find those breaking points easier to identify. Note what is going wrong, then slow down, dissect the movements, and refine each of the areas that need improvement. Once you refine those parts, put the drill back together and test again. This refinement will help you make improvements in control, accuracy, precision, speed, timing, observation, and understanding. Final Thoughts Drills are not fighting, they are simply tools for learning. Many drills we use in the course of training are not fighting, but they should contribute to the skillsets that allow you to fight. Flow drills are no different. Determine the objectives and expected outcomes of any drill you do. This will allow you to get the most out of it. Spend more time practicing function drills - flow drills that have a clear, logical, functional structure. You want to train specific and appropriate responses to your opponent’s attacks. Unstructured, free-flowing drills are good for testing and exploring, but not for training habits and establishing specific responses. Just make sure you are training the right balance of structured and unstructured drills to get the results you want. Flow drills trained mindfully have a lot of value in your growth in the Filipino martial arts. Don’t throw them out until you have really evaluated how effective they can be in helping you reach your training goals.