The Fists a First Or Last Resort? Part Five.

Our human history, the evolution of our mind to think with, our voice box to communicate with and our thumb to manipulate tools, has propelled us to use weapons to multiply the force of our body for our overall survival as a species. This is why we are at the top of the food chain in the animal system. But we often prey on each other now we are “civilized.”

In today’s world, if one has only been taught to fight with bare hands, then this must be one’s only resort.

The FMA’s however, especially the basic of Quebec Serrada Kali and Russell Balintawak taught in the CQC Institute, have a unique building system that allows the gross motor motions, taught in the “Basic Building Blocks” of Arnis/Escrima/Kali (A/E/K) “The Single Stick and Emptyhand” to enable the moves to be translated or transmuted to many different types of armed weapon combinations or even “back” to barehanded combat.

The further understanding, moving into the intermediate and advanced, is the simple realisation through practice “in hand” of how these hand motions will translate to work with different weapons. Basically becoming comfortable with the different weapons sizes, weights and feels, redefining or rendering finer motions with different weapons.

This one principle of learning the same motions for most weapons, is good for a student to learn to defend themself rapidly but bad for an instructor that wants to have a long student training lifespan and years of class retention, so they can make money.

If you are taught only in barehanded ways from the start, like most Martial Artists and then if one is lucky to “sometimes” move onto weapons training, one will have a better advantage than someone that has no weapons training at all. Usually however, this bare hand to weapons training transition is several years after a person has first walked through the door to learn their chosen barehanded martial arts style. Often, weapon training is usually only taught as an add-on to one’s barehanded training. Then these barehanded schools go on to teach each different weapons as individual objects, each with an individual dance (Kata) for each weapon, making the learning slow.

The CQC school’s teaching methods, allow the basic movements learned to be translated or transmuted to different weapons, as well as back to the barehands, with only slight variations in application.

If attacked in the real world by someone that has a weapon it is always recommended to try and find a weapon to fight back with. One may have techniques taught to deal with a weapon wielding attacker when you are unarmed but this is to be considered a very, last resort.

If one is severely threatened by someone with a weapon then the use of a weapon or weapons to defend oneself must be justified. Also remember one can kill or be killed by someone’s bare hands, let alone when a weapon is in play and being used against you. Weapons are an advantage builder in real life but the training in the use of weapons in my opinion only gives a fighter an edge in actual combat. An edge though, is sometimes all that is needed in a stressful and fearful situation. If one has a weapon and an opponent not, then of course one may have the greater advantage but is one sure?

Anyone can be killed even when holding a weapon, it all depends on how good you are with weapons and how good you are with fighting in general.

#arnis #basicblocks #escrima #kali