The balisong has long been known as a beautiful and unique weapon of the Philippines. Also known as the Batangas knife, butterfly knife, clik clik knife and more, the balisong gets its common name from two words. The first is bali, which means to bend or to break in Pilipino, and the second is song, derived from sungay, the horn of the water buffalo. The balisong was once entirely made from the easily carved, plastic-like buffalo horn. Because the knife folds or bends and was made of this horn, the combination of words, balisong, became its name. Legends of the balisong also tell of a Filipino warrior who once killed twenty-nine opponents with his balisong. From this story comes another popular name for the blade – veintinueve, twenty-nine. Some say that perhaps this was twenty nine actually refers to the length of his blade. The actual origin of the blade design is unknown, but it is the Philippines that made it famous. Some attribute Perfecto de Leon for having made the first Filipino design in the early 1900’s. Today, balisong are made in the Batangas province of Luzon in the northern Philippines. Not far away from the beautiful views of Taal Volcano, famous for its "island within a lake, within an island, within a lake," is the small dusty municipality, Barangay, Balisong. Families produce the knives in small workshops found in this small town named after the blade itself. Both there as well as in a few nearby neighborhoods are several workshops that make the balisong knife. Often, these workshops are dedicated to production or assembly of only one part of the balisong. A panday, blacksmith, will produce the blade, another artisan will sharpen it. Someone else will produce the handles, and others will polish the final product. Although some balisong are made from pure ingots, billets of stainless steel, or other high-grade steels, the blade of the balisong is often made of recycled tool steel or other carbon steels. Car parts such as bearings or leaf springs often serve as raw materials. When procuring the materials, the panday considers the hardness of the metal, as steel that is too hard will result in a brittle rather than a tough blade. Usually, the actual blades themselves are smithed in a small barrio, neighborhood, just outside of Barangay Balisong. There, the typical forge and bellows used by a panday is the same as it has been for centuries. Piston bellows are pumped to drive the air. The air is channeled into the forge in order to fuel the charcoal fire. This must be done to produce a fire hot enough to bring the metal to a temperature above its recrystalization point and therefore suitable for hot forging. The panday will heat several pieces of steel at a time to prepare them for forging. As each piece is ready, the panday will remove them from the fire, scrape off any impurities and hammer away. During heavy forging, the panday’s smaller hammer is supported by an assistant with a large, two-handed hammer. In order to initially shape the blade from the stock metal blank, the panday guides his assistant to cut the blank by wedging another steel piece through the malleable, hot metal. They then flatten and compact the remaining piece. While pounding, the panday moves the metal stock over the anvil shaping and conditioning the blade. Both men time their careful strikes together in a rhythmic succession of blows. Each part of the process requires repeated heat-treating so that the blade can be fashioned properly. Eventually, the blank is fully shaped into a blade, and tempered in either oil or water. An edge is ground and later sharpened. The new blade is drilled and assembled with handles and decoration by another craftsman or group of craftsmen back in Barangay Balisong. Handle materials for the balisong include, but are not limited to brass, wood, bone, ivory and horn from the carabao, water buffalo. One artisan cuts the raw bone or wood stock to be used as the base of the handle. Another artisan shapes brass liners for the inside of the handle, which houses the swinging mechanism that allows the balisong to open and close. Brass is often used for ferrules at both ends of the handle. Decorative elements are also inlaid or laminated on the handle surface. Eventually, all the parts are assembled and the entire piece is filed and ground into a unified shape. This final blade and its handle are then polished and ready to be displayed for sale in one of the many shops along the small roads of Barangay Balisong and neighboring towns in Batangas. In selecting a balisong, there are many blade styles and decorative designs from which to choose. One often tests the strength of the blade itself by raising the weapon in an ice pick grip and hammering it forcefully into a one-peso coin. If the blade is made properly, there will be no damage to its tip. This test is a demonstration of the blade quality, craftsmanship and ruggedness. The authentic balisongs from Batangas are strong, functional blades that are beautiful by design and capable of igniting a fire in any who hold them. Of course, this is just the beginning, or merely the birth of the blade. It is when a balisong reaches the hands of an expert that it really comes to life. Dancing between the fingers and seemingly moving on its own, the balisong clicks rhythmically when handled smoothly. Much like the fascination of playing with fire, manipulating the balisong in graceful and quick maneuvers has a mesmerizing effect to both the holder and those who watch. One does not need to be an expert to enjoy the balisong. The balisong is simply a folding knife, but it’s design offers countless methods of opening, closing, spinning and rolling that can be learned merely with imitation and experimentation. In time, movements become intuitive and creativity rewards one with discovery. Ultimately, the balisong offers more to than other knives. It can be used not only for combat and utility, but also art and entertainment. From its creation to its application, the balisong is a beautiful, unique knife and truly an icon of the Philippines.

The Filipino martial arts are often referred to and thought of as stick fighting, but they involve so much more than that.  Really, the Filipino martial arts are systems of fighting that involve a variety of weapons and empty hands tactics and techniques.  Sticks are just used as the primary training tools, and not necessarily as the primary weapons. Because a large portion of training in the Filipino martial arts involves the use of rattan sticks, those who have not had the chance to learn about the Filipino martial arts usually see the sticks and conclude that the Filipino martial arts are just methods of stick fighting. With only a cursory examination, that does appear to be the case.  Almost every public demonstration of the Filipino martial arts will provide a nearly incessant clacking of sticks. Practitioners will most likely be seen striking with one or two sticks in a variety of patterns and drills.  Because of this prevalence of sticks in demonstrations and in entry level classes, one could easily conclude that the Filipino martial arts are indeed just about stick fighting.  This is far from true. Sticks are excellent training tools that provide a versatile training experience.  The sticks serve as learning tools that can simultaneously represent many other weapons and unarmed techniques.  That is why they are so ubiquitous in the Filipino martial arts. If you examine why they are seen so frequently in training, you will understand their value and the reason for their prominence in training activities and demonstrations. Using sticks in training allows you to develop skills that apply to impact weapons, edged weapons, and empty hands skills too. Using a stick allows you to train close, medium, and long ranges all in one drill.  Holding the stick with the butt of the stick protruding by a few inches allows you to use it for drills and techniques that are relevant to a knife held in an icepick grip.  Using the forward tip and long portion of the stick develops skills relative to a knife in a forward grip.  All these skills can be trained at the same time. The stick is the primary training tool, but it is really the principles and methods behind the training that make it so useful.  Two principles that are paramount in the training methods behind the Filipino martial arts are commonality of motion and transferability of skill. Commonality of Motion The Filipino martial arts are structured on what is known as the commonality of motion principle.   With this principle, the motions used in many different techniques are the same or very similar. The motions are based on the same mechanics and therefore have a commonality.  The significance is that a small set of movements can be used in many techniques. This commonality includes techniques that are applied with a variety of weapon types and unarmed tactics.  The same mechanics used to swing a stick are used to slash with a knife.  And those mechanics are also used to deliver an empty handed hack.   A circular, hooking movement used with the butt end of a stick to clear a blocking arm is also used with a knife in an icepick grip and with empty hands to do the same.   There are small adjustments in the motions to accommodate the difference in length of the weapons used in the Filipino martial arts, but the gross movements are alike.  Often, the movements with a larger weapon are more broad, whereas the movements of the smaller weapons tend to be reduced into smaller motions. Sometimes a motion will have several related applications that differ in context, yet still use the same mechanics.  When compared to language, this is similar to how a word can have more than one meaning.  The word itself is the same, yet the way it is used is very different because it is defined differently.  For example: A circular motion may in one application be a strike, in another, it may be an evasion. In some circumstances, the motion is the same, but the emphasis is different.  A backhanded thrust may be simply used as an attack with the tip, or the same motion may be used to deflect an incoming attack with the back of the blade.  This type of change in emphasis can be seen in simple movements as well as in entire combinations.   Transferability of Skill Another important characteristic of the Filipino martial arts is the transferability of skill.  This transferability means that the skills developed by training with one weapon are also available when using another weapon.  This includes the physical skills of speed, timing, power, accuracy, precision, coordination, stamina, etc. as well as the actual techniques and tactics used. Rather than learning new methods to maneuver and apply each weapon, one can draw on the methods developed with another weapon.  The training progression typically starts with larger weapons first, then proceeds to smaller and smaller weapons. Skills are usually cultivated with the larger weapons such as the stick first, then transferred to smaller weapons, such as the knife, and finally to empty hands.  The broad movements of the larger weapons make subtleties of angle and positioning easier to see and, therefore, easier to refine.  This is why the larger weapons, especially sticks, are usually the first ones used in training. When the skills are transferred from one weapon to another, new dimensions are added to those skills.  The fundamentals of skill learned with the larger weapons will be a part of the fundamentals of the smaller weapons, but more depth will come with each transfer from weapon to weapon.  As one progresses, new insights and a better understanding of the skills will be developed. This allows to you to become more versitile with the application of those skills.  After moving through a progression of multiple weapons, you will find that even the lessons learned with the smaller weapons will lead to better refinement when returning to the large weapons.   The benefit of transferable skills is largely due to the commonality of motion principle.  This is because the skills needed for each weapon are more relevant due to their similarity. The motions used with each weapon are similar. The positioning used when applying the various related techniques are similar. The actual methods and concepts behind the techniques used are also similar. The transferability is not limited to the physical skills.  The methods and concepts behind the techniques and tactics can also be transferred.  A student can learn a technique with one weapon then through examination and analysis of the technique, discover how to apply the same technique with another weapon. Conclusion The commonality of motion principle and the transferability of skill offer a huge benefit to the students of the Filipino martial arts. These defining characteristics of the arts allow students to save valuable training time and learn more skills, faster.  Rather than learning a completely new approach and skill set for each weapon, you learn one for them all.  Training time is saved because when training with one weapon, you are actually training several. The rewards of training effort are compounded because the skills developed are applied in manifold ways.  The structure inherent in the commonality of motion gives you a framework that can be used to extend your skills when you understand how to translate movements from one weapon to another.  This allows you to outgrow your teacher and continue to develop even when you no longer have instruction. The way the movements are translated into different techniques and reveal different applications is actually very interesting, and it will keep you engaged in your training.  After 26 years of learning the Filipino martial arts, the novelty still has not worn off for me personally.  I keep discovering new connections and layers within the arts.  This keeps me intellectually stimulated, which then pushes me to work harder at advancing my physical skills.  Whether I am training with a stick, a knife or empty hands, I am really training them all.

Though the world has long been fascinated with competitions that involve fighting with empty hands, there is a growing interest in the study of weapons for self defense. The popularity of boxing and, more recently, mixed martial arts competitions such as the UFC have inspired many to train the martial arts both for enjoyment and for self defense.  Recently however, training with edged weapons, impact weapons, and firearms has become more and more popular. This growing trend of training with weapons is in part due to the popularity of weapon based arts in the movies, but, more importantly, it is also because many are seeing the real value of weapons training.  Weapons training has many benefits.   Weapons training offers excellent skill development at an accelerated pace.  Weapons training lends to developing a mindset that is focused on survival.  Also, weapons training offers a well rounded skill set that allows one to have more options for self defense. Acceleration of Skill Development Training with impact weapons will help you learn how to generate power and hit harder.  In the old days, boxers used to chop wood to develop a hard punch.  At that time, the axe became a tool for developing power.  Swinging a weight (the axe) with power requires coordinated body mechanics.  When swinging the axe, the boxer had to increase the range of motion of his hips and shoulders as he twisted them harder and harder to generate force.  This increase in range of motion helped the boxer to learn how to engage more of his body into the swing.  He developed the ability to use more effective body mechanics by moving the axe and not just his hands alone.  This ability then allowed him to tap into those mechanics when he returned to the ring, without the axe. Weapons train you to hit faster, even with your empty hands.  When beginning the swing of an impact weapon, such as a baton, you must first overcome inertia to get it moving.  Then, in what is a relatively short distance, you must accelerate your strike to reach a speed that is sufficient for delivering a blow that has enough power to cause damage to your target.  When training with weapons you are essentially doing a sort of dynamic weight training.  Though the weight is light, it does offer resistance.  That resistance develops more speed and acceleration in your movements.  This is especially evident when you strike using a similar motion, but without the weapon. You will find that you have cultivated the ability to move your empty hands faster because you have trained the mechanics with the added weight of a weapon. Weapons training will give you a strong sense of speed and timing.  The pace of weapons training can be faster than that of empty hands because the tip of your weapon can move faster than the hand holding it. This effect is greater when the weapon is longer than the reach of your arm, such as in baton training.  By training regularly at this faster pace afforded by weapons training, you will become accustomed to defending against attacks at higher speeds.  Because of this, you will also develop a keen sense of timing.  At a faster pace, your timing must be more accurate and precise because your margin for error is smaller.  This pressure will make you more skillful quickly. Weapons training will allow you to develop very sharp sense of accuracy and precision.  When using a weapon, any small motion of the hand at the grip of the weapon results in a much larger motion at the tip of the weapon.  This is similar to the affect that you can observe with a bicycle gear.  With a gear, more rotational distance is traveled at the outer circumference of a gear than is traveled at the axis.  A small turn in the axis, results in more movement of the outside.  This same effect happens between your wrist and the tip of your weapon.  Your wrist acts as the axis and the tip of your weapon acts like the outside of the gear.  Because you must control the tip of the weapon, you learn that very small movements of the hand and wrist can make a big difference. Managing this effect regularly during training leads to a strong sense of accuracy and precision in your movements.  Any small error in positioning with the hand can make or break a technique.  This forces students have to focus more with coordination when weapons are involved.  That coordination lends to more refinement of the empty hands skills as well.  Students who have trained with weapons find that coordinating empty hand movements seems easy in comparison. Survival Mentality and Understanding of the Offense Training with weapons develops a survival mentality.  Self defense in modern times is really survival.  It is survival from more than just the threats of a mugging or an assault.  We now have mass attacks, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks occurring more frequently in our culture.  In your study of weapons, you must consider when and how you may need to use them.  This leads you to thinking more realistically about how to avoid and prevail in these situations.  You will become more vigilant.  In doing so, you improve your ability to survive by developing a mindset that will keep you observant and alive. Learning offense gives you a better understanding of what is needed for a good defense.  Weapons training not only involves how to protect against an attack, but it teaches you how an attack with a weapon happens.  It teaches you the dynamics of an attack.  If you do not have any idea of the dynamics of a knife attack, you will have a hard time defending against one.  Knowing the offense will allow you to train for a realistic and effective defense. Training with weapons conditions you to expect a weapon to be involved.  Because of this, you will not be caught off guard when a weapon is introduced to the fight.  Many people who were victims of an assault did not realize that they were being attacked with a knife until the attack was over.  If you train with weapons, you will not make the mistake of assuming there is no weapon, even if you do not see one.  Because of this approach, you will not take risks that leave you exposed when there is a weapon. Weapons training instills sense of urgency in getting your techniques right because you may die if you get them wrong. You may be able to absorb a few punches or survive a takedown and continue to fight, but you cannot afford to exchange knife thrusts or shots with an opponent.  Training with weapons conditions you to be decisive and get out of the way.  You will not allow yourself to become static and easier to hit because you know that one hit could kill or seriously injure you.  This understanding adds intensity of purpose to your training and a focus on getting it right.  If there is any advantage you can find from better position, distance, etc, you will learn to take it. Weapons training is relevant to your self defense.  Bad guys use weapons.  You need to know how to use them too, or you are at a disadvantage.  It’s that simple.  You need both empty hand skills and weapon skills to be more well rounded in your self defense preparation. Maximizing Training Time and Versatility of Application When you are learning to use weapons, at the same time, you are learning the movements and skills needed for empty hands techniques.  You are doubling your training with no extra work because strikes with weapons can be applied using the same movements as those with empty hands. Weapons training teaches you the entry skills you need apply locks.  If you are going to apply a technique (other than disengaging) you must learn how to get in close to counter the attacks of your opponent.  You must learn how to get in to apply your strikes and other techniques.  To enter and apply a disarm or control tactic with a weapon involved, you must have good timing.  By training how to disarm an attacker, you develop the ability to enter and control the opponent with excellent timing and precision.  This skill applies in empty handed situations too.  The weapons training teaches you the skills you need for the entry of an empty hands technique. Weapons retention techniques prepare you for learning empty hands control and breaking techniques. In training weapon retention, you learn how to prevent someone from disarming you by learning to escape grabs.  In weapon retention, you must prevent someone from controlling your weapon arm.  In the course of your weapon retention training, you learn how an opponent can grab and control your arm, and how they can disarm you.  You learn to prevent them from grabbing you and escaping any locks they may use to disarm you. This training prepares you for escaping and countering empty hands grabs and holds before they are fully set against you. Weapons training will teach you how to use weapons of opportunity when you are otherwise unarmed.  You may not always carry a weapon, but if you understand how weapons work, then you will be able to use common objects available to you from your environment to protect yourself.  If you understand how impact and edged weapons work, then you will understand how to adapt and use as a weapon, objects that are not designed to be used as a weapon.  This is especially useful if you are kidnapped or attacked in a non-permissive or secured area such as a school, an airport, or a government building that does not allow you to carry a weapon. Conclusion Weapons training has a lot to offer.  It can develop your skills at an accelerated pace and prepare you mentally to survive a threat.  However, weapons training is not enough for self defense.  You need empty hands training too. With the right approach to weapons training, you will be able to develop your weapons skills and your empty hands skills together.  With this approach, your skills will overlap and give you a more efficient approach to learning and skill development.  The Filipino martial arts have a well established method of training that incorporates both weapons and empty hands skills.  They also include weapons disarming and retention.  No matter what system you use for your own training, find one that incorporates both empty hands and weapons training in a cohesive and effective way.

In the Filipino Martial Arts, the personalization of your weapon is very important. Your success relies on the coordination of your skills through that weapon. You will spend countless hours of training to use it. If your weapon is not right, then your ability to train effectively and perform successfully will suffer. Your weapon needs to fit you by design, by training, or both. Length Whether it be a knife, long blade or even a spear, the length of your weapon is usually measured against your body. By doing so, your weapon will have a physical relationship with your body. It will have proportions that match your proportions.Different systems have varying methods for measuring the weapons used. One method for measuring training sticks includes using four hand lengths, measured by transposing the hands up a stick. The distance between the outstretched thumb and the fingertips is used as one unit. During this procedure, some recite holy words or a prayer to match each measurement such as “Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Amen.” Once the proper length is determined, the stick is cut.Other methods include measuring from the wrist to the ground, from the solar plexus to the ground, from the third eye to the ground or even from your highest point of reach to the ground. Systems that prefer shorter weapons sometimes measure from the armpit to the wrist or from the elbow to the fingertips. In Pekiti Tirsia, to measure for a training stick or a blade, we measure from the armpit to the fingertips as the hand is outstretched horizontally to the side. To measure for a knife, we add one hand length, including the palm and fingers, to the height of the palm alone.The measurements for your rattan stick are usually designed to match real weapons. In other words, the length of your stick would be the same length as that of your live blade or combative baton. This allows for you to develop a sense of range and reach that will allow you to use the real weapon with fewer adjustments. The rattan stick is a substitute for the real weapon. It is largely just for training. Having it match the real weapon offers a better stimulus in training.Having the stick match the live weapon is common, but not always the case. Each style varies. Sometimes the real weapon is produced in a standard length, so your stick will match that length. Sometimes the stick length itself is standardized. A common standard stick length for many styles is 28 inches.Sometimes training weapons are used that do not meet the same measurements as the real the real weapons. This is often done because there are training benefits to having the stick size vary. For example: The stick length may differ from that of the real weapon because your training can be enhanced by having a stick of greater or less length than that of the actual weapon. A longer stick may force you to develop skill in controlling it more precisely, whereas a shorter stick may force you to come in closer with your footwork. Diameter The diameter of your stick should be the one that allows you to get the best grip. If you roll the stick in your fingers first, starting by placing the stick in your fingertips, rolling it down, then locking it in by placing the thumb over your fingers, you will get a very secure grip. To do this, the diameter of the stick must not be so large that you cannot roll the stick in your fingers alone. If you roll the stick in your fingers and your fingertips touch your palm when doing so, then you have closed any opening out of which the stick could slip out.This method is ideal for a good grip, but for many it may mean that the right stick is just too skinny. You may need to find a compromise by choosing a diameter that allows you to get a good grip, but also has enough weight and girth to give you a better training experience. Using a stick that is really light will help you develop speed, but it may not develop stamina. It may also break more quickly and be harder to use when training with a partner who uses a bigger stick. The average stick is around 7/8 of an inch to 1 inch in diameter. Weight If you are just starting out, a stick with a medium weight is probably best for you. Rattan sticks tend to range from a light 3 to 4 ounces up to a heavy 11 or 12 ounces. The average stick is about 6 to 7 ounces. This is a medium weight. A heavy stick is great for developing power, but it can be a hinderance to developing precision. A light stick can help you cultivate speed and react quickly, but you will not develop a strong grip or generate much power. If you are only going to start with one stick or one pair of sticks, a medium weight stick is the most versatile. Later, incorporate a heavy stick, then a light one into your training. Picking out your first set of rattan sticks So which stick is right for you? It mostly comes down to your system or style. When trying to decide what size is right for you, take the advice from your teacher and follow the recommendations specific to your system. Then consider the points mentioned above. Over years of training, you will replace your sticks several times. Experiment with different lengths, diameters and weights. Final Thoughts The ideal weapon is made to fit you and your system. This includes your training weapon. Having the weapon tailored to fit you assures you ease of use. Having it tailored to fit your system assures you are able to apply what you are learning. When you need a weapon for survival, every advantage you can get will be important to your success.

Whether you are a beginner or a long term student of Filipino Kali, you want the same thing: You want to improve your skills.  Knowing the right path to follow for that purpose is very important.  No matter what level you intend to reach, the path towards mastery is the best approach to improve your skills. With the right effort, mastery is available for anyone who is dedicated.  There are no special tricks, shortcuts, amulets or magic spells that will get you there.  You just have to do the work.  If you do the work long enough, and do it properly, you will first start to see glimpses of mastery.  You will have moments of clarity and synchronicity that bring a sense of freedom from the intensity of concentration normally needed during your practice or application. When you have reached mastery, you will no longer think about the specific mechanics of performing your techniques, you will think to use them, and they will simply happen.  You will move cleanly, yet organically from technique to technique without leaving gaps in your transitions.  You will know the strengths and weaknesses of your techniques and be prepared for any attack or counter.  You will be able to anticipate the movements and responses of your opponents. Mastery comes when you begin to synthesize your skills.   Much of the initial work beforehand is fundamental.  A strong foundation in the basics is the only way to really make progress to any level.  After the fundamentals have been firmly developed, intermediate skills have are cultivated.  After that, the advanced training that leads to mastery includes processing the many individual skills you have learned before into a cohesive network of skills.  This network is a mental framework that serves to organize your knowledge in a war so that it is accessible.  It is strengthened by the continued study and practice that you give to it. This network of skills is supported by a few major categories or pillars of skills. These pillars can be thought of as meta skills.  They are actually higher level skills that are above single techniques and tactics.  These meta skills are comprised of many skills, some of which are largely physical and many of which are skills that rely more on astute observation, keen evaluation, and rapid decision making. Each represents an entire sub-network of skills that must be developed individually, then unified into the complete network you build over many years of training. The concept of the categories discussed below come from Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje, Jr. of Pekiti Tirsia Kali.  Grand Tuhon’s creativity with the English language surpasses mine, so for this article, I chose to use the words he uses, but define them in my own words, as I understand them.  The three pillars are in the words of Grand Tuhon - functionality, operability, and non-counterability. Pillar I - Functionality Become technically functional.  You must be able to perform the art and understand how the art works. Become proficient in the physical skills needed to successfully perform Kali.  Learn to function using the technical skills of the art.  Develop the technical aspects that are necessary to physically do the techniques.  Especially when you are first learning the art, you need to focus on developing functional skills in the art.  This starts with body mechanics and movement. Get the coordination down.  Without that you cannot get anywhere.  You will need to spend a great amount of time initially to develop your coordination.  As you progress, you will spend less time on coordination and more time on other skill development.  However, you cannot stop working on coordination. Your coordination will atrophy and lose it’s precision if you do not continue to tune and refresh it. Practice until you move beyond needing conscious effort to hold together the proper form for your techniques.  If you need to think about the details when you perform a movement in order to get it right, then it will not withstand the pressure needed to make it a reaction.  Practice until having a conversation, answering questions or thinking of another topic will not interfere with your ability to properly perform your movements.  Get those mechanics down. You will have to put a lot of concentration into your practice in order to get there, but it will come. Understand and be able to perform the techniques and tactics of the art.  Understand what each of your techniques do and when it is best to use them.  Know the critical conditions required for success when applying each technique.  Break down each of the techniques and practice each component with focus.  Reassemble the components and practice the entire technique until any seams in the movement and pauses among the parts are removed.  Drill the techniques until they feel very familiar and easy to recall, then keep drilling more. Practice the primary techniques until they are automatic.  In your training, you should more frequently have the experience of performing the right technique perfectly while not consciously thinking directly of the name, number, or sequence related to it.  It should simply “come out.”  This is not a state of blindness like your first time sparring.  It is a reflection of the skills and techniques being so ingrained in your mind, that you can focus on your higher level tactics and strategy without needing bandwidth in your conscious mind for thinking about the specifics of the technique. Be focused in your efforts to test, remediate and reinforce your technical skills.  Test your skills under speed and pressure by using sparring  and fragment drills that allow for chaos and pressure, but also allow you to focus on developing specific skills sets.  Keep pushing to improve your technical ability.  Find nuances in your techniques to enhance them.  A slight change in grip or angle may make a huge difference in execution of the technique.  You have to practice enough with focused attention to see that detail.  Keep working to make your skills functional.  Focus on application. Pillar II - Operability Internalize and connect your knowledge into a cohesive system.  You must be able to access the skills and knowledge you have in an instant.  You must be able to use the many tactics and techniques together. Become seamless in your understanding and application of what you know.  When your technical skills have developed to a high enough level, then you should learn to bridge all of your tactics and techniques together.  You did not learn the techniques just to know and remember them individually, you must know how to pull them all together.  You must coordinate your use of them together so that you can operate on a higher level. This means you should learn to connect your knowledge into a working system that will allow you to move from one tactic or technique to another without any gaps in the transition.  When you do this, you become like a pianist or guitarist who no longer thinks about what his fingers are doing, he is focused on the music. Be able to fluidly and seamlessly transition to and from the various techniques and tactics you have learned. Not only do you need to know the techniques, and understand the grammar of how they fit together, but also you need to be able to move from one to another smoothly. This starts with recognizing how the different techniques have connections, similarities and congruencies.  You need to examine how you can mix and match the many setups, entries, and follow up attacks you know. Study how the various parts connect. Practice the material and look for associations. There should be a logical relationship between the techniques you learn and what they are designed to address. Find reference positions or situations that recur frequently.  Use these to help you chunk techniques that are related to each other through associations with that reference position. Anytime you learn something new, find a way to assimilate it into what you already know.  You will be able to assemble your system more quickly if you try to connect the material as soon as you learn it.  The more you do this, the easier that process will be. By training with the methods above, your mind will build a web of associations among all of your tactics and techniques that will allow you to access them on the fly. The number of situations that you may encounter in sparring or in a self defense encounter can be endless.  Because of this, you need to be able navigate through a constantly changing scenario, while adapting to the situation as it unfolds.  To do this, you need to have your system of methods, tactics, techniques mentally in order.  When you have thoroughly cultivated this internal system or web, you will have access to the many techniques at your fingertips.  You will be able to access them easily and in multiple situations.  This is a result of repeatedly and deeply analyzing and practicing your techniques.  The more connections you have in your web, the more efficient your access and use of them will be. Organizing your thoughts in writing can help you internalize and organize your mental network of techniques better.  Though much of your understanding will come from experimenting during sparring, flow drills and technical drills, you can help define your understanding by committing your thoughts to language.  Even if you never read your notes again, start a log to help you organize and think. Pillar III - Non-counterability Become impenetrable through proactive application and deep understanding of your techniques.  Understand the weaknesses of your techniques, and be prepared to respond to counter attacks at the most probable failure points.  Know what your opponent can do and close the doors that would allow him access as soon as possible.  If you are aware of the failure points in your techniques, you can take measure to minimize your exposure to them.  Do this by analyzing your techniques as you train them. Learn to see the many options available to you and your opponent.  Don’t just look for what you already know, think differently.  Think outside of your art. When you apply your thought this way, you will break free of limits created by your own knowledge.  Instead of having a hard time finding an answer for a problem, you will see many possibilities.  Instead of focusing your thinking on the problem, think about a solution that is beyond the parameters of the problem. Get inside the mind of your opponent.  Imagine what your opponent may do to counter your technique.  Imagine that they are smart, courageous and well trained.  Imagine they have experience.  You must be prepared for someone who knows what they are doing, not just someone who is untrained.  Try to imagine how they may evaluate your weaknesses and determine a plan of attack against you.  Also, understand that your various opponents may have different temperaments and therefore may take different approaches than you.  One may be aggressive and forceful, whereas another may keep more distance and try to bait you into overextending.  If you can see things from your opponent’s mind, you will be able to find more significant details in your analysis. Avoid an endless "what if" scenario.  Start with most likely to happen and go from there.  Your study must have substance and follow logical thought. Your chosen art may already provide many of these counters in your curriculum.  Use those as a head start, and look for the logic behind them. Apply the techniques that you know best.  Use the techniques you have trained the most and know the best.  Being really good at a few techniques is usually better than being average at many.  By sticking to what you know best, you will be less likely to fail.  You should have a set of techniques that you have identified as those that will give you the best chance of success. Confound your opponent when there is a possible weakness in the execution of your technique for him to exploit.  When you know there is a weakness, then you can do something to minimize the danger of it leading to a counter. Imagine you are taking your opponent down with a technique you have studied well.  Because of your familiarity of the technique, you know that at a certain point during your execution of it, there is a potential window for him to escape or counter you.  Be ready for that, and undermine that opportunity.  Stun him right at or just before that time.  Position yourself to make the escape or counter harder for him to do.  Quickly push past that window where you are exposed, so the opportunity your opponent has to use it will not last. When you know your techniques well, you can minimize the possibility of your opponent countering you. Vigilance in the study and planned execution of your techniques will make you hard to beat.  Being proactive in preparing for possible counters will give you the closest thing to being untouchable.  Do this and your defenses will be virtually impenetrable. Final Thoughts Prerequisites to mastery include receiving good instruction, actively seeking to learn, and dedicating time to development.  Though there are otherwise many factors that go into mastering Filipino Kali, but the three categories above are some of the most significant. Mastery is not a finish line, but a new beginning wherein you will transcend the very formulaic patterns you have used to get you there.  You will sense a freedom that allows a new type of intelligence wherein rational analysis merges with informed intuition.  Upon getting the first taste of mastery, you find that the interest and dedication to your chosen art will explode into a passion that will carry you for many years.  This new appreciation will keep you motivated and therefore push you to continue to improve your capabilities.  Not everyone has to master the art of Kali to benefit from it.  However, following a path directed towards mastery will lead to the best rewards from the art.

A guerrilla force is a small group of fighters that is agile, elusive, and carefully selective in how it engages a larger military opponent.  Guerrillas do not use a force of numbers or size of arms to overwhelm an opponent.  They use strategies and tactics that are indirect and misleading.  They use distractions to setup an attack.  They attack along lines that are less expected.  Guerrillas position themselves so that they can gain an advantage and limit the options of their enemy.  Guerrillas seek to demoralize their opponents in order to gain a psychological advantage.  Guerrillas use these tactics to be successful against a larger, more powerful opponent. You need to learn to fight like a guerrilla to defend yourself.  You cannot afford to stand and fight it out against another opponent. Though guerrilla tactics are typically used by a small group, you can apply many of them in your own personal defense. Below are guerrilla tactics explained with the appropriate adaptations for self defense.  Incorporate these tactics into your self defense and martial arts training. Don’t Fight Toe-to-Toe A small guerrilla band does not trade blows with a larger, conventional force by using a frontal attack.  If so, they would never win.  Fighting on equal footing would put them at a huge disadvantage.  History has shown that frontal assaults in battle are rarely successful anyway.  Even when they are successful, they are usually not worth it.  The winning force typically suffers heavy losses in the process of the battle.  Learn from the guerrilla fighter, and avoid going toe-to-toe with your opponent. Don’t pit your strength against that of your opponent.  Not only may you encounter someone who is stronger and more hardened than you, but you may face more than one opponent at the same time.  If you reply on your strength or your ability to take pain in order to win, then you will not last.  Eventually you will meet your match, run out of strength, or incur too much damage to continue. You cannot afford to suffer injuries while trading blows back in forth.  This is especially true if there is a weapon involved.  Do not absorb blows, cuts, or shots just to be able to strike back.  Your body may be able to absorb some abuse, but it will add up in both the short term and the long term.  If you fight toe-to-toe you are leaving yourself in easy reach of an attack, so your opponent will continue to hit you because your approach is too direct.  That approach makes you an easy target. Instead of fighting toe-to-toe, use an indirect approach.  If you attack in the front, you will be attacking where your opponent is balanced.  His weapons are ready and pointing at you when you stand in front of him.  Attack him at an angle that will catch him off balance.  Move to the side of him, where he cannot easily reach you with both hands or kick you with both legs. The advantage is temporary, but it can be huge. Let him think you are going to engage in the front, but actually move to the side and attack from there.  All you need is a slight angle to the side to give you an advantage.  Once you are to the side, you can point all of your weapons at the opponent, whereas, he has to adjust by turning towards you before all of his weapons can reach you. Like a guerrilla force, you want to use fewer resources against a larger opponent.  You want to conserve your strength and minimize your injuries so you can maintain your ability to fight back.  If you spend all your energy fighting off an attacker only to find there is more than one, then you have lost.  Imagine fighting for several minutes delivering strikes, kicks, takedowns and grappling tactics.  In a very short time, you will be injured and exhausted.  Conditioning yourself is very important, but avoiding an all-or-nothing, toe-to-toe fight that taps your energy and willpower is crucial.  Fighting that way will wear out your resources.  Conserve your strength and energy, and use it selectively. Hit and Run Guerrilla fighters are more successful when they attack, then quickly withdraw.  They hit, and then they run.  They do this to frustrate and demoralize the opponent.  They are usually not concerned with dominating or capturing land.  They are just wearing down the opponent.  By striking, then immediately withdrawing, they can reduce the amount of time the opponent has for retaliation.  They get out before the opponent can organize a response.   To hit and run, guerrilla fighters move to a good position, deliver an ambush, or snipe at the opponent, then exit quickly.  You can apply the same tactic against your opponent. Deliver your attack, then exit right away.  Although it may only be for a brief moment, you want to get out of your opponent’s reach immediately after you attack.  Try not to linger more than 3 seconds or 3 hits before you attempt to disengage.  Do not linger just to deliver additional strikes. If you hit and stay in, then you need to be sure you are really dominating or your opponent is uanable to respond. Remember, even someone with no training can hurt you.  It is better to attack and get out right away if you can.  It may not always be possible to disengage, but it is safer. If you can stun the opponent with your initial hit, it may buy you enough time to escape.  You will be much less likely to suffer injury if you can completely escape.  Remember hit, then RUN! Change your line of attack.  You want to hit your opponent where it is unexpected.  Attacking the same way multiple times will give your opponent a chance to figure out a response.  This approach is actually how we train in class in order to make improvements.  We practice responding to the same attack over and over, until the response is fluid. Don’t give your opponent multiple opportunities to counter the same attack.  He will figure it out.  Instead, keep him guessing.  Also, do not attempt to attack along the same line if your first attempt failed.  Get out and try another line of attack. Stay mobile.  Remaining in one position is a bad habit.  Focus on footwork, not stances.  Keep your hands and body moving.  Train yourself so that you feel uncomfortable when you are not moving.  If you are just standing in one spot, you should feel like something is wrong.  Get in shape so you can move continuously without fatigue.  Train to be agile.  There is no room for static defense.  At the very least, you can be a hard target to hit if you stay mobile. Fight from a Dominant Position In battle, position is key.  With the right position, a small group of guerrillas can fight a much larger, stronger force.  With the right position, a guerrilla can gain advantage. For example: If the guerrilla force is positioned on a mountain above the opposing force, then they would be better able to repel the attacks of their opponents.  The difficult climb would leave the opponent more exposed when he tries to engage. The guerrillas would have better vision of the incoming attacks, and the targets below would be easier to hit from above.  A change in position can make a big difference in the outcome. With the right position, guerrillas can even defy the advantages held by the opponent.  For example: By leading an opposing force through a natural funnel in the landscape or battlefield, a guerrilla group can reduce the number of effective fighters the opponent can move to the front.  This funneling effect allows the guerrilla to fight a smaller force and limits the opponent’s ability to surround them. Like a guerrilla, position yourself so that your opponent has fewer options and you have more. The goal is to attack from a position where your opponent’s weapons are not all pointed at you. If you are directly in front of him, then both arms and legs can reach you.  Don’t stay in front of him. Flank your opponent.  Fight him from the sides.  By flanking your opponent, you delay the reach of his weapons on the opposite side. By you moving to his side, your opponent is forced to adjust to you.  When he adjusts to get a better position, you can take advantage of this delay to deliver an attack, move again into a better position, or disengage. Get to the back of your opponent.  Whether you are standing or on the ground, being behind your opponent offers a huge advantage.  His weapons are pointing away from you, and his vision is limited.  He will have difficulty determining what you are doing and what he should do about it.  You will find it easier to evade his attacks. In the back, not only are you in the best position to avoid his attacks, but also you are in a position that leaves him very vulnerable.  His spine and head are exposed to attack.  His neck will be accessible for a choke. Psychologically, he will be off balance.  It will take him time to recover from this bad position.  During that time, you can focus on attack or escape.  Either way, the initiative is yours.  Sabotage your Opponent’s Resources  Guerrillas destroy the resources of their opponents.  They sabotage communication equipment, obstruct supply lines, and destroy other key elements that are important to the plans and maneuverability of their opponents. They attack significant points of the infrastructure inside an opponent’s territory.  They do this to cause a distraction, take away the opponent’s options, or to force a reaction. You can sabotage the plans of your opponent by attacking him in a way that will distract his attention, undermine his plans, and disrupt him psychologically. Stun your opponent before launching a full committed attack.  In order to make sure what you are doing is not obvious and easy to counter, start with an attack that distracts or misleads your opponent.  Gain advantage right away by delivering a quick stun that has little commitment on your part, but that forces him to respond.  If the stun works, then you will have gained some initiative to do something more substantial. Use a stun like a jabbing flick to the eyes with your fingers or your weapon.  While recoiling from the flick to the eyes, your opponent will have difficulty clearly seeing what you are doing.  Use that opportunity, when he does not have clarity of vision and awareness, to follow up with more devastating strikes or to move to a better poistion. Destroy your opponent’s plans.  Before the fight even begins, you want to reset your potential attacker’s OODA loop.  You want him to have to reassess the situation.  If you recognize a pattern building that may lead to criminal behavior or violence, interrupt that pattern and force your potential attacker to second guess or diverge from his plans. A criminal looking to rob you has a plan.  It may be simple, but it is a plan.  In that plan, the would-be attacker has some assumptions.  He is assuming you will respond a certain way based on his actions.  For example: This may include politely asking you a question in order to get closer to you, then putting his gun in your face in order to convince you to give him what he wants.  If you can recognize that he is trying to get closer, then you can stop him from doing so with verbal commands and authoritative body language.  Before he has a chance to reach for his gun, you can position yourself to jam his arm if he tries to draw a weapon.  You may even already have your hand on your own weapon, so you are ready to accessit quickly and stop him. If you distract him from his plan and instead force him to respond to you, then you have sabotaged his planning.  You may even circumvent the benefit he has of experience.  He may have used that same plan twenty times, and it worked every time.  If you change the variables and don’t fall into the behavior pattern that he expected, then you have disrupted his resources of planning and experience. Ambush your Opponent Guerrilla tactics include the use of ambushes.  Ambushes are attacks designed to catch an enemy off guard by using concealment and surprise.  They are used to knock the unsuspecting opponent further off balance in order to temporarily stunt his ability to respond. When it is time to fight, try to catch your opponent off guard.  The time to fight back may vary.  In some situations, you need to act immediately, such as before your attacker even finishes his pre-assault pattern. In other circumstances, you may need to wait for the right opportunity such as when someone pointing a gun at you looks away momentarily.  Either way, you need to act when the advantage is yours and, if possible, when your opponent is not expecting it. Use violence of action when attacking your opponent.   Overwhelm your opponent with very aggressive, continuous attacks.  If you are morally and legally in the right to do so, then attack.  Don’t use more force than is necessary, but whatever your technique, apply it hard and fast.  Don’t give your opponent a chance to recover. You want to emotionally disrupt him, so that he freezes or becomes defensive.  Keep him reeling from your attacks, so that you can be one step ahead.  Do this until he stops being a threat. Final Thoughts You can benefit from learning to fight like a guerrilla.  Like a guerrilla, you will likely be facing an opponent with greater size and resources.  You may even face several opponents. If you can incorporate the tactics above, you will find that you can give yourself a better chance of surviving a violent personal attack. Using the tactics above requires that you develop self defense skills through training and cultivate situational awareness through practice.  You need trained responses and the ability to improvise in order to survive a violent attack with the least amount of injury.  You need to teach yourself how to maintain awareness of your surroundings and think through possible plans of action should something go wrong.  If you are unaware of your attackers actions prior to the actual violent attack, then it will be difficult for your to execute many of the tactics mentioned above.

While training, we are not only developing our physical skills. We are developing an intelligence that allows us to learn faster and accomplish more than others can do. To do this, we must always seek better methods of training and understanding that will maximize our time devoted. Understanding the nature and intent of our training methods and drills will help us do just that. Sometimes tradition gives us drills or exercises that are not fully explained to us. In some cases, the value or intent of those drills have been eroded by time. In other cases, our training is simply not complete, so the significance is not yet clear. Regardless of the situation, understanding the type of skills being developed will lead you to clarification and purpose when approaching your training sessions. Skill Classification Skills are not all the same. Some skills require strict adherence to form, whereas others may be stifled by maintaining a strict standard. Some skills are performed differently based on what happens in the moment, whereas others should be performed exactly the same, every time, for success. In fact, different parts of your brain are involved when learning and using different types of skills. When forging a new skill, it is important that you use the right methods. Because skills are not the same, there are differences in the optimal training methods that are used to develop each. For each skill, you need to know which approach is best for your training to be both efficient and effective. Learning to classify the skills that you are training will help you choose the right approach to skill development. Having the right approach to skill development will accelerate your learning pace, increase your potential and may even be the difference between winning or losing. When classifying your skills, there are two primary types of skills that you should understand. These are closed skills and open skills. Closed Skills Closed skills typically include set patterns where accuracy, precision, and proper form are the most important elements required for success. In this type of skill, the person performing the skills knows exactly what to do and when to do it. This includes skills like shooting the A-zone of a target, hitting a pad perfectly, and sinking a basketball free-throw. Closed skills are those that are performed in a stable and predictable environment. All changes, if any, are expected. In the examples above, this would be true if the target, pad and basket did not move, nobody was attempting to shoot back, hit back or even block the shot. There is difficulty, but it is all solved by using skills based on accuracy and precision that are not subject to changes in the environment. Closed skills are usually self-paced. They are not affected by the environment, so the performer can regulate the time it takes to complete the objective. Back to our basketball reference: When taking the shot, there is no time restriction or other environmental pressure that forces the performer to take the shot quickly, change his position or avoid being blocked. He can take his time to get mentally ready, set up his feet, get the best grip on the ball and perform whatever setup is needed to tap into the pattern and form he has practiced over and over again. Closed skills have a clear beginning and end. The shot is made. The target is hit. The ball went through the basket. When it is done, it is done. Closed skills in Kali and Silat are used when performing a single strike or a striking combination in the air or at a stationary target. Closed skills are also involved in fundamental training drills such as deflecting a strike that is delivered at a predictable rate, at a predesignated target, with a planned, practiced technique. Open Skills Open skills are mostly perceptual skills wherein the ability to interact with the environment and adapt to change are the most important elements required for success. In open skills, the performer must sense what is happening around him and take action that is calculated in response to those perceptions. This includes skills like shooting at a target that is evading and shooting back, trying to hit an opponent that is defending, and trying to make a basket when members of the opposing team are trying to block your shot and steal the ball. With open skills, the person performing the skill must pay attention to external events in order to direct his movements. He must match his rate of movement, his positioning, his angle, etc. with that of an opponent and other environmental factors. When the environment is more unpredictable, the demand on the open skill is greater. Open skills are not performed the same way every time. In fact, one must constantly adjust to change in the environment. Because of this, the movement performed may be different. For example, things like the angle, speed, direction, location and timing of a strike or combination may change as the opponent moves to evade it. Moving around a defender in a basketball game, may depend on where on the court the action is taking place, where other defenders and teammates are located as well as how much time is left on the clock. Because of this, the movements associated with an offensive drive will be different every time. There also may be more than one movement that could lead to success in the same given scenario. Open skills are mostly externally paced because the movements must be performed in accordance to the changes of the environment. If a target is not available, an opponent is out of reach, or there is no opportunity to take a shot, you have to wait until the right opportunity is there. You may be able to create that opportunity, but that opportunity is still based on the actions of your opponent and the overall situation. Open skills are based on one’s ability to recognize a pattern, an opening, or an opportunity to exploit. Open skills are dependent on reaction, so the performer must be agile, perceptive, and ready. He must also have the ability to choose the best response over a number of possible options. Once the opportunity is recognized, the performer can act. Open skills in Kali and Silat are used in sparring and in drills that involve a flow that has variables which force the participants to read the angle of attack, change positioning, or match the partner’s timing in order to successfully complete the drill. Skill Training Because open and closed skills are different, use a different approach to training each type of skill. In order to plan your training, you first need to determine which skills are open and which are closed. Once you have done that, then you can follow the methods below.  Start by asking yourself if precision and form are most important for success or are things like adaptability and reaction involved.  Consider the points discussed above.  This approach will help you classify the skills.  How to train closed skills When training closed skills, it is best to have well-planned practice sessions that are focused on gradual progression. Be sure to cover fundamental movements and build on them in a very controlled and objective manner. With an organized practice session, you can be sure to practice all the necessary drills and exercises sufficiently. The key to closed skill training is consistency and repetition. Use a lot of repetition to improve your skills. Repeat the motion while refining your precision each time. Focus on fixing errors and improving your form with every iteration. The repetition of the patterns and focus on precision will ingrain the movement in your muscle memory. The more you repeat the motion, the deeper it will be ingrained. Because of this, it is important that you get the form right early in your practice. Any errors will also become deeply ingrained in your muscle memory and will be harder to correct in the future as more and more incorrect repetitions are layered on top of the first. Use a gradual progression in your training. Practice one part of a skill, then add a little more until you can combine all the parts into the complete skill. If you are learning a combination of strikes, you would first start with only a small portion of the combination and gradually add more parts after you can consistently perform each successive part consistently with good form. How to train open skills When training open skills, it is best to have more open, playful sessions focused on discovery and exploration. Your sessions will vary in content and allow for experimentation and curiosity to take you into new ideas. Explore and play inside of an environment that is constantly changing. The more familiar you become with trying to adapt to a changing environment, the better your open skills will become.  Light sparring and open ended flow drills are good tools for this. You must experiment in order to develop open skills. Try many variations in your actions in order to learn more about the environment and how you can adjust your responses to it. Try something new and see how it fits into your current understanding. The amount of time you spend on each experiment can vary. Allow your training sessions to be flexible in content and focus. Be aggressive and do not be afraid of failure. Repeated failures when attempting a challenge will help you develop the ability to analyze and adapt. Take big risks when exploring so that you can push the boundaries of your skill. Evaluate what is working and what is not working. Use this as a basis to stimulate more variations and different attempts at conquering the changing environment. Feedback is critical and you must analyze the results of each movement, so that you can make further adjustments. You should play and explore, but you must also observe an analyze. If you do not study the results of your experiments, then you will not learn from them. Feedback from your own observations, from training partners, and from instructors will help you get more out of your practice. Training Order Train closed skills first, then train open skills. When learning open skills, you will use the closed skills you have cultivated as a reference. They will serve as a standard from which you can deviate. These closed skills will also give you the precision needed to control any adjustments you must make in the performance of open skills. Training open skills too soon is a waste of time. Imagine trying to spar without first having learned how to strike or how to counter. That is not effective training. You need tools to use during your experimentation. You will not be able to flow if you have not already trained the parts involved. Your closed skills do not need to be perfect, but they must be consistent and familiar before you start training related open skills. Mixed Skills / Skill Continuum In reality, many skills are actually a combination of both closed and open skills. These are a sort of compound skills that require both that you respond to the environment, but also that you use a precise movement. You may use your open skills to read the environment, then use closed skill in a portion of your response. Imagine responding to an attack by evading a strike, then using a trained pattern to deliver an accurate return hit or combination. Skills are on a continuum where they vary between being completely open and being completely closed. Some may be more open, but have some characteristics of closed skills and others may be more closed, but have some characteristics of open skills. Still others may have an equal amount of both characteristics. Identify the parts of the skill that are open and those that are closed, then train those components appropriately. Final Thoughts Take the time to examine the skills you want to develop. Step back from the drills and think about their intent and primary benefits. Adjust your training plan to approach your drills in a manner that will be the most productive. Just knowing what type of skill you are practicing will make a great difference in your efforts to improve it.

Self-defense is a component of survival.  There are other skills you need in addition to self defense skills to help you survive a violent encounter.  You may be ready to fight off the bad guy, but what if you are injured in the process?  If you suffer a serious injury during an attack, you will benefit from knowing how to treat the injury afterwards. Improving your self-defense skills is about preparation.  You study to know more about the threat.  You train techniques and tactics to use for defense.  You arm yourself with a weapon and train when and how to use it.  You cultivate situational awareness skills, verbal deescalation skills, and learn to manage situations that are common to violent crime.  In addition to these skills that are directly related to defending yourself, you should learn first aid skills that will help you or someone you care about recover after an injury. The threat level for dangerous events like bombings, active shooters, home invasions, violent road rage and the like seems to be going up.  The potential for more people being hurt in one event and the likelihood of you being the victim of a mass attack appears to be increasing recently.  In this climate, the skills for emergency first aid are potentially more valuable or perhaps more frequently needed than before.  In events with many injured, such as the 2016 Brussels Bombings and 2015 Paris Attacks, first responders are spread too thin, unable to attend to everyone quickly.  If all of us learn a few emergency first aid skills, there would likely be fewer casualties in events like this. What to Learn Don’t be overwhelmed, thinking you have to start reading 5 inch thick medical books or spend years in school.  You are not trying to become an ER doctor.  You just need to know enough to minimize the impact of an injury before medical professionals can address it. The good news is that in a short period of time, you can learn a few very useful skills. Learn to stay safe.  The first thing you will learn about emergency first aid is to be safe.  You will need to make sure that you and whoever you plan to help are safe.  If the scene you are in is unsafe, then you need to make sure that it is or leave.  You cannot help yourself or another if you are attacked and injured or killed in the process.  Once you know it is safe to treat someone or treat yourself, then you can really help. Learn how to approach someone you intend to help.  In your first aid training, you should learn basic assessment skills and methods to approach someone who is injured.  You should learn how to recognize and treat shock.  If you are helping someone else, you may find them to be scared, disoriented, or agitated.  Learning to manage the stress both you and others will be experiencing after a traumatic event will allow you to help more effectively. Learn hemorrhage control.  You need to know how to stop bleeding.  This will include the application of pressure bandages, packing wounds with gauze, using hemostatic agents, and applying tourniquets.  You need to know how and when to use each of these. Learn to use an AED (automated external defibrillator).  An AED will determine if a person has an irregular heartbeat that is interfering with his ability to pump blood.  If so, the AED will attempt to treat the irregular heartbeat through electrical therapy (defibrillation) to allow the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm. AED’s are designed to be used by anyone and will even talk you through the steps required when used. Learn CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). If someone is unable to breathe, you need to be able to breath for them.  If someone does not have a pulse, you give them one.  CPR is performed to restore breathing and blood flow to get oxygen to the heart and brain.   CPR can manually keep the brain functioning to prevent death and minimize damage caused by a lack of oxygen.  It cannot actually start the heart if there truly is no activity, but it can certainly save a life. Learn to treat a penetrating chest wound.  Wounds to the chest area can cause what is known as a pneumothorax a.k.a. sucking chest wound.  This happens when the vacuum inside the chest is broken and one or both lungs detach from the chest wall and begin to collapse.  Pressure from air and blood inside the chest can squeeze the lungs making it difficult to breath.  Treatment will involve using an occlusive dressing on the injury.  This dressing acts live a valve allowing air and fluid to come out, but not to go in.  Using it helps restore the vacuum needed inside the chest for the lungs to function properly. Learn to treat a wound with an impaled object.  If you see a knife sticking out of someones head or body, don’t just pull it out!  You could cause more damage and allow more blood to be lost by pulling out what was essentially acting as a plug.  Often you will just need to stabilize the object, so that it will not move and cause more damage.  There are some situations in which you do need to remove it.  Learn about it. Most injuries in U.S. are caused by blunt force trauma (mostly car wrecks) and heart attacks.  Having emergency first aid skills to help you survive an attack is very useful, but you may be more likely to use those skills to save someone from bleeding to death after an accident or after they collapse due to a heart attack. What Gear You Need To streamline your effectiveness in an emergency situation, you should consider separating your basic first aid supplies needed for minor situations from that needed for a serious emergency.  In the basic first aid kit, you keep things like band-aids and aspirin, but in your emergency kit, you have only the things you really need to save a life.  Below are a few of the most common to include in your emergency kit.  These items are based on what is needed to apply the skills listed above. Pressure dressings such as an Israeli or OLAES bandage. Z-packed gauze Z-packed gauze with an hemostatic agent such as Celox or Quikclot. Occlusive dressings.  Make sure you have at least 2.  Think about a gunshot injury wherein there could be an entry and an exit wound. High quality tourniquets such as the SOF-T-WIDE or CAT.  Watch out for knockoffs and inferior replicas sold on Amazon and airsoft websites.  The more you have the better.  Imagine a family car wreck, How many arms and legs could need a tourniquet? Heavy duty / EMT scissors or cutting tool designed to be used for removing clothing in order to find and have access to injuries. Nitrile gloves.  Protect yourself from blood borne pathogens when helping someone else. This list is not a complete list, but it covers most of the basics needed for someone who does not have medical training.  If you have other special needs, such as an EpiPen for dangerous allergies or insulin for diabetes, you may want to include those in your kit.  You may also want a CPR mask.  Some carry a decompression needle.  Just remember the larger your kit, the harder it is to carry with you.  Also, you need to be careful when helping a someone else if you use more advanced medical procedures.  If you are dodging something that should only be done by a medical professional, you could open yourself up to more liability. You must have your emergency kit with you.  Put together multiple kits and keep them in your home and your car.  Keep one at work.  Carry one with you.  Make sure one is readily available at the gun range and when you go hiking, hunting and camping.  The kit will not be useful if you or someone else helping you cannot find it immediately. You must have training for any of this to be useful.  Don’t go out and buy these things until you have had training and learned how to use each of these items properly.  The easiest step is to order all the gear, but the usefulness only comes with the training. Training Go to a professional course like those offered from Lone Star Medics and the American Heart Association to learn how to administer emergency first aid and CPR properly.  You need to learn where you can have hands-on experience in class.  Some courses include scenario training to bring together skills and create more realistic training environment.  Though videos and books can be useful, they are secondary resources and are not substitutes for actual training. Just like in training for self defense, so in training for emergency first aid, you need to practice the physical and cognitive skills involved.  After learning the techniques in class, practice them at home.  Buy some extra bandages and tourniquets that you use only for training.  Get them out regularly and develop the motor skills to quickly access your supplies from your kit and apply them.  Rehearse the steps used in each of the procedures.  Think about what factors would affect your assessment of someone who needs your help. Final Thoughts Without learning some basic emergency first aid skills, you are unprepared.  You should know how to help both yourself and others who you care about.  With just a small investment of your time you can develop useful life saving skills. Not only are those skills useful for the aftermath of a self-defense related incident, but also they may allow you to save a life in other deadly situations.  Whether you are hurt in a wreck on the way to work, see a friend fall and become injured while enjoying the outdoors, or witness a family member fall over and stop breathing, you can do something about it using the same set of skills. Be prepared to take action.  If you are injured and alone, who will help you?  If someone else is injured, who will help?  Do you want to watch them die or be prepared to help them before the professionals arrive.  Get some training.  Buy and learn to use the right gear.  Be a little better prepared for the unexpected.

With a busy life, getting in just a little time for training can be difficult. Though I own a school and teach Kali and Silat full time, I find it difficult to carve out some extra time to practice on my own. Because of this, I want to be sure my students and I both get the most out of our training sessions in class and out. To do this, every repetition must count. You can’t afford to waste time when training. This is not to say you cannot enjoy the training. In fact, you must “play” with the technique to get to know it, to explore it.The key is that you stay engaged. Pay attention to each movement you make and determine if you need to make any adjustments to the next one. If you want to improve, repetition alone will not cut it. Included here are a few basic tips on getting the most out of your practice through analysis and repetition. Know what you want Have a clear image of what you want your technique to look like. Know how it functions when done properly. When you know what your goal is, then you can move towards it. Watch demonstrations of the technique closely. Take notes on the technique. Review video footage of the technique. A good instructor will demonstrate the technique slowly and point of important areas to watch, such as the proper footwork, hand placement or position. Ask to see the movement demonstrated more than once in class when you are learning it. The more clear your mental image of the proper technique, the better chance you have of replicating it. Have some standards Identify the standards of your technique. Determine what qualifies as the proper execution of the technique. Identify what specifics must you do to make the technique viable. To identify those standards, ask yourself questions like: What is the actual target? What is the proper angle for the strike or movement? What is the proper distance? What is the full range of motion? Do I need to retract the weapon each time before the next strike? Do I need to hold my wrist at a certain angle to make it work? Does the strike need to be at a certain angle to protect my head or body? Etc. Find out what has to happen to make the technique work. Identify what parts of it, if any, have a tolerance for a little bit of sloppiness in the execution. Not everything will be perfect when you execute the technique at full speed. Sometimes that is ok. It just depends on the technique. However, the more precise you can be in your practice, the better your results will be in application. Do not progress until you get it right Break any compound movement, combination, or sequence of movements into parts. Practice those parts separately, then combine them, piece-by-piece, into larger combinations until you have returned to the whole sequence. This approach allows you to give focus to each element of the combination. This focus will help you pay attention to details that you may otherwise miss or have trouble identifying if you only practice the entire sequence. Allow yourself the time to get the individual parts right before progressing on. You should often test your ability to put the parts together so you can evaluate your progress, but do not move on until you really do have each part coordinated. Get the mechanics right, then make sure they are consistent. First, focus intently on getting the right movement coordinated. Learn the proper mechanics. Understand the details. Then, keep practicing until you can consistently perform those mechanics. As you improve, you will be able to perform the technique properly without needing to be conscious of all the details. You want to continue to work on the mechanics until you can perform the technique without your full attention being required to get it right. If you are still holding the technique together mentally, "elbow down, wrist straight, hips loaded, mouth closed…,” then you just need to continue until you can do it without thinking. Do this before you add full speed and power. Test it out Once you feel you can perform the movement according to your standards and without too much conscious effort, add speed and power to the technique. Test the boundaries of your performance, then slow down and back off the power in order to analyze the failure points and fix them. Once you have remediated the problem areas of the technique, test it again. See how fast you can take the movement. If you can go faster than you did on previous tests, before your technique breaks down, then you are making progress. Check left and right Though the process is initially dangerous for your ego, you will get more out of practicing strikes and other single handed techniques with both your dominant and your non-dominant hand. Whether you refer to them as your "right hand" and your "wrong hand," your "good hand" and "bad hand" or "strong hand" and "weak hand," you only have two hands. Don’t neglect one of them. I have found that when students frequently switch from their right hand to their left hand and back when practicing, they get better coordinated in a shorter period time than if they do everything with one hand, then, in a later session, do everything with the other. When they train with both during the same session, they often need fewer repetitions to get it right. I believe this is because when practicing with both hands, you constantly compare the details of executing the technique with one hand, then the other. You become more engaged because you are forced to examine the performance of both your dominant hand as well as your non-dominant hand. You watch how your right hand does the movement, then you try to replicate the movement with the left. After that, you return to your right to see more detail and to check and see if your left moves more like your right. When you do this, you question the quality of both. You are forced to identify the precise angle, the hand, elbow, arm placement, the range, and the other details of the movement needed to execute the technique well. This is good practice. Final Thoughts Follow the tips above and you will get the most out of your repetition and maybe save a little time too. There are really no secrets in training. The tips above are mostly common sense. You just have to do the work. If you find pleasure in the work, then nothing can stop you. With each improvement you gain, let that progress feed your motivation to keep going. Just make sure that with every rep, you don't just count it, you make it count.

The stress created by a deadly threat in a survival situation, can suddenly cause your body to respond with physical and psychological (biochemical) changes to prepare you for survival. Your breathing and your heart rate will become faster, blood with fill your large muscle groups and your body will become warmer in an effort to boost physical performance. This physical arousal of your body readies you for action, and is mostly caused by the release of adrenaline in your body. It is commonly referred to as the "fight or flight" response. Whereas some physical arousal is good for effective performance, too much is a problem. If your heart rate and breathing become too fast, you will experience a degradation in your motor skills and difficulty with cognitive abilities. In other words, it will degrade your ability to perform well and think clearly. You need the ability to manage the effects of stress in order to respond more favorably in a dangerous situation. Managing the Effects of Stress With training, you can improve your chances of benefiting from the physical arousal caused by stress. By managing this natural response of your body under stress, you can channel it into faster, more effective performance while avoiding becoming overly stimulated and unable to respond properly. The physical arousal caused by the fight or flight response readies you for action, and is therefore desirable. In addition to essentially "warming up" the body in an instant, the increased heart rate delivers additional blood sugars and fats to fuel the body. Your body also speeds up the ability of your blood to clot in order to minimize blood loss just in case you are injured. This is good, but this is not the only thing that happens to you. Fears, self doubt and worry can also be aroused in times of stress. Your emotions can become very distracting. Thoughts of inadequacy can surface wherein you worry you are not conditioned enough, you have not trained enough, or you don’t have the right equipment. You may worry that you will make the wrong choices under stress and there will be very serious, negative consequences because of those poor decisions. We want to keep all the positive benefits of this stress response, while avoiding the negatives. This is can be done through proper training. There are several factors that help with this, but one, easy-to-learn tool for managing the effects of stress, is controlled breathing, also known as tactical or combat breathing. Combat Breathing Yoga, meditation, martial arts, and sports have used controlled breathing to manage stress and enhance performance for many years. Police, firefighters, and soldiers use controlled breathing to help manage the pressure of their jobs. There are several techniques and variations, but they are largely the same in effect. They reduce your heart and respiratory rate and therefore help you find an optimal level of arousal. The ideal heart rate for good performance is between 115 and 145 beats per minute. At this range, complex motor skills, visual and cognitive reaction speed are at their best. The body is stimulated for action and the mind is clear enough for logical thinking and decision making. Using combat breathing in times of stress, you can influence your heart rate to prevent it from getting so high that it erodes your performance when trying to protect yourself. Combat breathing allows you to keep your mind focused on only what is needed to survive, and it can help you recover from surprise or distraction. If you enperience a surprise that spikes your heart rate up and starts to set you in a state of panic, use a few breaths to bring your heart rate down and calm your mind. How It Works Deep breathing removes stale air from your lungs, and allows you to breath in more oxygen. Breathing in more oxygen adds more oxygen to your bloodstream so that your body does not need to pump as much blood to get the amount of oxygen that it needs. Because of this, your heart rate then slows down. That reduction in your heart rate allows your mind to become more relaxed and controlled. How to Do It To get the benefits of combat breathing, you must use deep, abdominal breathing. With abdominal breathing, you initially expand your abdomen as you inhale, rather than expanding your chest. This will fill your lungs using your diaphragm, a muscle located between your abdominal cavity and your thoracic cavity. Breathing with your diaphragm is efficient, and it triggers relaxation. When you breath abdominally, you will fell like you are pulling your breath downwards rather than up into your chest. An easy breathing method is to remember is 4-4-4. Repeat the following 4 steps, 4 times. For each step, count to 4: STEP 1 - Breath in through your nose while counting 1, 2, 3, 4. STEP 2 - Hold your breath, counting 1, 2, 3, 4. STEP 3 - Exhale through your mouth counting 1, 2, 3, 4. STEP 4 - Hold your breath, counting 1, 2, 3, 4. Note: Step 4 is optional and may be difficult when the heart rate is very high. Also, you can use a different count if it suits you. Just use what works for you at the time. It may be hard to hold your breath for a long count when you are really out of breath. Try a shorter count. Anywhere from a 3 to 7 count is useful. Start by practicing combat breathing in a safe place, without stress before you try it in a dangerous situation. When you first begin, you may also start with your eyes closed. Initially, it takes time to learn to relax, but once you have practiced it a few sessions, you will be able to more quickly recall the state of relaxation.  You will be able to do this without closing your eyes. When you practice, develop a mental image or cue, such as a command word, like “relax” that will help you trigger your relaxation skills and recapture a state of calm the next time you use it. If you associate the image or cue with the state of relaxation you reach each time you practice, then you will link the cue with the state. After some practice, using the cue or visualizing the image will put you back in that state in a shorter period of time. Practice in everyday situations that cause you minor stress so that you will be accustomed to using the technique in real life, not just in training. Use it when you are cut-off in traffic, get frustrated at work, or find you are losing focus. By practicing regularly, you will not only get better at relaxing quickly, but you will also remember to use the technique itself. When to Use It Use breath control to prepare for a stressful situation. If you are about to confront an intruder, see a potential threat approaching you, or just have have a bad feeling about something, start your breath control. You can reduce any building tension, fear, and anxiety. Use breath control to manage arousal during a stressful situation. Use it to keep from overreacting or allowing your heart rate and breathing to become too fast. If you have just been hit, shot at or otherwise assaulted, if there is any opportunity to control your breathing, do it. Even if you do not finish the breathing cycle, you can use it to refocus on the task at hand or recover from a stun. Use breath control to recover from a stressful situation. After surviving an attack, start controlling your breathing so you can clear your head and make the best decisions about your safety. You can use your breathing to slow bleeding if you have sustained an injury during a violent encounter or in an accident and are waiting for help. Final Thoughts When I was a kid, I read about biofeedback, breathing, and meditation a lot. I used to hold an amplified microphone up to my chest so I could hear my heartbeat though my old pioneer stereo. I would then try to slow down my heartbeat while I listened. After only a few tries and some breathing exercises, I could do it fairly quickly. To this day, 30+ years later, when someone is measuring my pulse, I cannot help but slow down my heartbeat when I hear the beeping sound of the pulse rate meter. During a CrossFit conditioning workout, I can actively slow my heart rate enough to recover a little faster than expected. I can do this even when I have not been regularly working out. To others, this may give the impression I am in better shape than I really am, but I'm just glad it helps me keep from collapsing to the floor in front of my students. It will be difficult to follow the 4-4-4 steps precisely in the middle of a fight, but consciously learning to control your breath will help you maintain more control of both your body and your mind. Even if you never need it in a violent encounter, you will find it has other benefits that are worth the effort it takes to practice.