JKD Instructor Explains What's Wrong With Kali

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I'm a Filipino and I've been practicing FMA for a year. I ask my "Tuhon" (equivalent to Karate 'Sensei') why it is getting hated by other martial practitioners, is because 'Kali' or FMA is not standardized, unlike Karate, Judo or BJJ, it doesn't have a governing body or an organization that actually maintains the quality of the art. My country is separated by a thousand islands and there are probably a hundred schools that are fundamentally the same but practices differently. One specific technique can be done differently depending on which school or 'lineage' you are from, unfortunately most of them focuses on flashy move set rather than practical application. So when foreigners came to my country and study the art, they make the mistake that this is 'style' is the same for all other schools, which is not. I've enrolled to other schools to observe and I saw of a lot of them as flashy as f*ck like Donnie Yen in Ip-man, very entertaining but not so much for practically. I've been told one time by a "Tuhon" from another school, that my form is "wrong" and they've been teaching wrong techniques.

Another problem about FMA that some schools prohibit their members to capture video of their practices and upload it on social media. As they say some schools might "copy" their technique and incorporate that into their system. Most FMA schools are not so good in sharing and refining the art, like adapting what is useful, rejecting what is useless.

However, a decent FMA school will teach you how to end a fight or immobilized an opponent in split second with very basic movements like poking your enemy's eye, kicking in the groin or utilizing simple items like a car key as a weapon. One mistake that most foreigners think about FMA, that STICKS are the main weapon, sticks are only used for practice, for flow exercise, like Tai-Chi which is a martial art that is completely useless in self-defense but is a very good wellness exercise. In FMA (at least according to my school) everything that you can quickly grab at your disposal can be made a weapon, be it a car key, a pencil and even your backpack. The reason why sticks are the preferred choice for the practice because the flow can be adapted to other method of your choice. Here in the Philippines you will not see much prolonged fights, most fights are done in a split second, in some cases the victim won't even have time to react. Most of the time an unlucky person get stab by someone who has a knife concealed in a newspaper (because most weapons here are usually concealed or everyday items) or you get into fight in a very small enclosed pathway which we call here "eskinita" which an average American won't even fit. A decent FMA will teach you resourcefulness and adaptability or most likely to avoid these situations.

End point here is that not all FMA schools are the same and not all are equal. Some just practices flashy move sets because they look cool and they bring alot of foreigner which means alot of MONEY. Sticks are not the main system but are for practice and improving your flow, whilst everything else at your disposal can be used for self-defense.

Good points in your video btw though, good job in pointing out the flaws. Keep up in posting videos. :)

[ross.]

I trained in jkd, Kali, sambo and French savate in Krause's martial arts in Glasgow. We learned how to adapt and fight to win. I don't disregard any martial art cos someone is always gonna beat you no matter who you are. The arrogant man suffers defeat worse than a humble man. Respect dudes. And dudettes.

[DVMK]

I do both Kali and Gumdo (Korean swordsmanship). We do the roof/umbrella block all the time in gumdo, just two handed. It seems like it works better with a two handed weapon like a katana or long sword. I've done a number of martial arts the last 20 years and as a woman, I find Kali the most practical. I'm not going to be able to outbox most dudes. And some of the joint locks and throws are without question are harder against a bigger opponent. But knives do like to cut.

[KARATEbyJesse]

This was great!! Congrats on 400k my friend 🌟

[Cysubtor_vb]

It's always funny that we're in an era where anyone teaching or commenting on self-defense or martial art techniques have to clarify that techniques have risks and rewards or that fights aren't going to look perfect, so the moves may change in actual use, but the concept is there and overlap with a variety of variations, which is why you're learning it.

[Maodifi]

As an FMA practitioner, I’m happy ya’ll made this video. A lot of schools mix in too much fluff and frill. Also, there is a really harsh reversal to that first snake technique that made me decide to stop using it often. And I’ve always hated roof blocks because they feel risky as hell.

[OldBadger]

As an FMA practitioner with TMA background I can say that the usefulness of this art is like any other SD system. Depending on how much you train against true unscripted, no rules, resistance. (The knife side of Arnis is just plain great).

[boogienightsmarkwahlberg]

One VERY important benefit about Kali/Arnis/Escrima is that you can usually have one close by, in your vehicle, by your chair, and it usually not draw much attention or "seem" very threatening. An old man has a cane, but really its a weapon. You've got a stick in the back of your truck or beside the driver seat. You are walking through the woods and pick up any literal stick off the ground. Many different ways to imagine this. But contrast this to a person walking the street with an open carry gun/katana/knife out and immediately it looks like a threat. You can mess a person up quick if you know what you are doing with any weapon, even "unarmed" but not all weapons are created equal, and not everyone is intelligent enough to recognize anything is a weapon in the right hands.

[martialway]

I learned Balintawak through some friends in San Jose California… Some years later I went to live in The Philippines in some rural mountains in Bataan for 5 years. I met a 80 year old man Named mang Carlo. He was originally from Bicol region. This man was the neighborhood Mang Hilot ( massage Therapist)Throughout the years I lived there in The Philippines, I was doing MMA and sometimes I would call on mang Carlo to help me with some injuries. Til one night I called him over. While waiting for Mang Carlo I was doing some free Drills in my backyard with some Arnis Sticks I had just bought. He walked in on me doing free drills. Through the years I known him and the conversation we had this was the only time he revealed to me he was A FMA fighter (But he referred to his style as simply “Baston”) So we had a long night of practicing and “conversations “ in one of our conversations I revealed the Payong Block (Or what your reference the “Roof Block” ) Mang Carlo disagreed with this technique. He simply told me, “You don’t want a Samurai Sword coming down on you !” Through this conversation he revealed that he was a Guerrilla fighter in World War 2. When war Broke out with Japan, his Brother went to investigate and when his brother never came home he went to investigate and ended up with a guerrilla unit. He told me that they were trying to conserve ammunition so they would ambush Japanese at night blade to blade.

[Genethagenius]

I highly recommend Atienza Kali to anyone who is disillusioned with traditional Kali. It’s a family style that is related to Sayoc Kali. But the brothers have been working on the techniques and methods for decades now.

[diercire]

Having participated in Dog Brothers gathering and events, my scariest thing with roof is the hand exposure (depending on how good you are with form and distancing) as some guys are skilled enough to hand hunt that out. That said, I still perform it regularly, since a broken hand is still better than a broken head. The main thing full contact has taught me is arm, leg, and body shots don't create as strong of reactions as we might think. I've gone entire fights not realizing my finger was broken in the opening seconds.

[stanisawzokiewski]

we do both disarms in hema
4:00 hanging guard
disarms are easier to do with longer weapons couse its harder strike while in close, so it may be less reliable with a stick than a longsword

[SoldierDrew]

Biggest issue with many FMA schools is 'stick fighting' and defenses that train to treat the stick like a stick when in reality the stick must always be treated like a blade.
FMA are bladed arts and the sticks represent blades. You don't grab a blade!

[SwordTune]

The "roof block" works. Without a shadow of a doubt I can say that we know it works. It is a hanging guard, or a prime guard, in countless sword fighting styles across centuries.

I don't believe that a technique would appear in nearly every culture of fencing across all of human history if it did not work reliably, and my own high percentage success with the roof block against full force swings concur.

[VikingPreparedness]

Your delivery, attitude, and humor - perfect. Thanks.

[heresjonny]

Weird that there's controversy about the roof block, as it's a parry / block that turns up in just about every one handed sword system from Europe that I can think of. It's even often known among HEMA practitioners as the 'universal parry'. Sure, there are some cases where you might misjudge it and get hit, but then again that's true of ANY block. Perfect being the enemy of good again.

[thattrickytrickster]

Arnis (it’s called that here in the Philippines) has the same problem as Karate. Most schools teach to win competitions and look really flashy.

[jaeyoungkang]

Two technical points that I think apply for snake disarms and roof blocks, based on my sparring experience with FMA:

1. I think snake disarms don't work that well against an incoming swing flying at you full-force. Whenever I tried it, the swing would either smash through my block, or I would get hit on the fingers, which hurts badly. They work best in a "clinch" situation. The snake disarm was easier to get off when I ended up in a clinch with my opponent and I was trying to grip-fight against the opponent's weapon hand. Naturally, the easiest way to charge in for a clinch against a weapon-wielding opponent is to either wear armor or have a shield. There are some ways you can improvise small shields from common things in the environment - your jacket, a backpack, etc.

2. I think the roof block works best, not as a move to set up a disarm (again, because it's hard to pull off a snake disarm against a full-force swing), but as an evasive maneuver to give yourself extra protection as you step off the line of an incoming downward swing. So for a roof block, what worked well for me was putting my stick up and stepping to the side at the same time - the opponent's swing would miss me and just in case, I would have my stick up for protection so that the swing glanced off me instead of hitting me on the face. Then, since I stepped off the line, I'd be in a good place to attack the opponent from an off-angle position. Miyamoto Musashi's sword katas describe using the roof block in a similar way, and I found that was what worked best.

Both points are talking about similar ideas. Full-force swings are so hard and fast that they're difficult to disarm with fancy-looking techniques. Simple is the best. Dodging the swing / stepping off the line of the swing, and being able to block the swing with something big that covers your body are both better options.

[willowelizabethryder]

I've been doing Kali and Krabi Krabong (Thai Staff) for fun since I started martial arts! I never thought either would be particularly relevant or as applicable as the stuff I've been learning at jkd and Muay Thai, but it's fun! and the technical nature of learning tons of specific strikes, blocks, grabs, and sequences feels like a melee version of sudoku or crossword puzzles or something to me; brain work to keep that brain sharp. I think there's value there, and of course there are some pretty cool and applicable things from Kali too. Have fun and keep kicking ass you two!

[manolitodiaz]

FMA like any other martial arts got its flaws, but it is up to each person's ability to adapt modify to suit one's skill set to situations --- FMA did save my life a couple of times.