Training Kalis Ilustrisimo in Paris

What a treat to spend some time learning privately from Guro Fabrizio Filograna of Kalis Ilustrisimo while I was in Paris! He led me through some of KI's Combate General techniques, & I did my best to fumble through them. After watching his videos online, I got to take his 2016 workshop, and loved it.  So obviously, when I knew I would be in Paris, I had to seek him out for more.

We know that KI is a big influence on the Inosanto FMA blend (Regino Ilustrisimo was Guro Dan's teacher), but to get to dive into Tatang Ilustrisimo's material unfiltered was a lot of fun. I got a little of it through Guro Burton Richardson and Guro Keith Davis, but not a whole lot. Next time I'll ask about any differences in the way Tatang expressed it versus Regino.

The techniques he chose for me were excellent. Precise in targeting, footwork, & execution. 15 degrees here, 120 degrees there- it was nice to be held to the details, as well as have it explained & demonstrated WHY it is done that way. The techniques were aggressive & unrelenting, as this was battlefield instead of dueling material.

Thoughts on training- the equipment makes the training. Without the safety gear, you'll never feel the pressure from the blade during the redirects or the pins.  I felt awkward and sloppy, and even the weight of the sword was an issue for me. (Holding the blade extended activated the tendonitis in my elbow, resulting in some clumsy & weak-looking cutting motions, as you'll see in the video).

 Guro Dan always tells us "know the difference between blade material & stick material." In FMA, many times you hear that the stick teaches the blade & vice versa. On a base, gross motor motion level, yes, but once you go beyond the surface, they move very differently.  And I don't have to tell you that a good FMA practitioner should research both.

I highly recommend Guro Fabrizio for anyone interested in researching Kalis Ilustrisimo. He was chosen by KI's archivist, GM Romeo Macapagal to pass on the system, & Guro Fabrizio does it justice.

Here are his California workshops:

Sunday, October 15^th, Butterfield Park in Walnut, hosted by Guro Steve Del Castillo

Tuesday, October 17^th, Pacific Martial Arts, Fresno Hosted by Matt Smith

Saturday, October 22^nd, Huntington Beach, hosted by Guro Ron Reekers

Also find him at:

Youtube: Fabrizio Filograna

Instagram: pg_fabrizio_mansur

Facebook: Fabrizio Filograna

Foreign Language Immersion and Training

So last month I went to Europe (mainly France), and it dawned on me how much trying to speak a foreign language is like training.  I took classes in French in high school, and at UCLA, and really haven’t had many opportunities to practice since then.  I did a quick trip through Europe in 2012 and spent a total of 2.5 days in France.  I guess I did ok, was able to communicate enough to cab drivers and train employees and get where I needed to go.

Fast forward a few years later.  I met my current girlfriend, and found out that she is half-French (US born).  Her mom speaks a mix of French and English to her. On occasion we’ll say a few words to each other in French, but nowhere close to what I would need to become fluent. Before this trip, I asked her to speak more of it to me, but still a few phrases here and there aren’t going to have a long-lasting benefit. Two weeks before the trip I started to watch French movies or put on French subtitles on DVDs. 

On this trip I met a lot of her extended family.  Some of her family speaks a little English, but some of them don’t.  I’m now completely immersed, and only hearing English when my girlfriend spoke to me.  To my surprise and delight, a lot of it came back, and within a few days I was getting through 3 hour family dinner conversations without hearing or speaking English.

Obviously there were many words or phrases I didn’t know.  But after hearing them a couple of times, you start to recognize them.  If I stopped to ask what a word meant, I’d try to repeat it or use it later on.  Sometimes it took a time or two, or other times, I couldn’t remember the word for the life of me.  Three, four, five times I’d ask what the word for “faucet” was (robineille).  It wouldn’t stick. I was hearing it a lot when asking for water, and in Europe you often get asked if you want it sparkling or flat / tap. All I could remember was that it started with an “R”.  Eventually I’d start to remember it with some effort.  Then after week 3, it started to come faster and faster.  

So what does this have to do with training? Whether it’s learning a new technique or dealing with something in sparring, the learning process is similar.  If you’ve never seen a technique or get hit with something new in sparring, it feels like it comes out of nowhere.  You are unable to recognize the cues, or remember the details that go into it.  The more you get exposed to it, the quicker recognition comes.  You still might get hit by it, but now it’s because you couldn’t access the solution quick enough.  If you don’t see it for a while, you’re back to square one. But with regular or constant exposure to it, recognition becomes familiarity.  After familiarity the learning comes execution. Starting to do the technique better and better against a cooperative partner. Once this is done, adding it into whatever flow drill it can work in. Then comes pressure testing in free flow drills at slow and faster speeds.  And last comes sparring and the trial and error of finding out how (or if) it works (or how to defend) against an uncooperative partner.  Many martial arts practitioners never get to this phase with their techniques. In sparring, you might get it to work or deal with it once in a while, often, or at will.  It might get incorporated into your repertoire, it might not. You won’t know unless you research it and go through the process. It might just become one of those techniques you’ve seen that you teach to others.  Which is also beneficial, because as teachers, your job is to provide a variety of techniques since you never know what techniques will work for each student.

It’s just like learning a new word or phrase in a language. Learn a word, recognize it, understand it in context, try using it in simple phrases. Move into more complex phrases and maybe later freely add it in conversation when you need it.  Similarly, social swing dances are improvised, and adding a new move from a class into a social dance has an identical process to sparring.  Except you can’t stop the dance.  But we’ll get into dancing in another post.

Until next time, keep training! 

2016.07.16 Inosanto Academy Saturday Kali Class Review

In Saturday's 2016.07.16 class we continued on the concepts from the week before.  A bit of traditional training the first basic blocks.  Plus working on the concept of "one block, one counter".  Showed clip of GM Nene demoing his Balintawak Escrima with Guro Keith Davis.

SINGLE STICK

1) Feeder delivers one strike, receiver blocks in medium range, returns one strike.  Emphasis on developing control by touching confidently but lightly on the counter strike.

90 second cycles, one side feeds.  Goal of 30-40 reps per person. Repeat for angles 1-4.

2) Feeder delivers random strikes, receiver does same thing - single controlled counterstrike to arm or shoulder.

3)  Start to build a flow by introducing progressive feeder / receiver win ladder.  First cycle - receiver wins with counterstrike.  Second cycle - feeder blocks counterstrike and delivers counter.  Third cycle - feeder blocks counterstrike and counters.  Emphasis on definitive, clear movement, strong block, and control.

4) Sombrada, freelance.  After developing concise movement in the earlier progression, sombrada is much cleaner and precise.

5)  Added in finding the clockwise and counterclockwise snake out of flow.

2016.07.06 Training diary - Shooto

Tried my first Shoot Wrestling / Shooto class last Wednesday.  Coach Scott Yusah was teaching, and taught some attacks and defenses from kesagatame (side headlock on ground).  After working some reps, we got to try and find them while rolling.  This was my first experience rolling.  I can’t really count the last time, which was when Mestre Boneco brought in someone under Renzo Gracie to teach the Capoeira instructors.  Rolling consisted of people using brute strength, wrenching necks until they got in position for the choke.  Not a lot of learning going on.  Being the smaller guy, I fought as best I could, tapped a lot, and then couldn’t move my neck properly for three days after.  Not a great first experience.

This time was different.  Coach Scott made sure I rolled with people around the same stature so that it wouldn’t just be a test of strength. Learned a WHOLE lot in 15 minutes of rolling.  Of course I did a lot of tapping, as to be expected, and was able to find two of the submissions (one from top and one from bottom).  Had a hard time escaping the bottom position. Having only learned two escapes, I didn’t have an answer when my partners defended my sweep attempts. Also learned that when my weight placement on top was even slightly wrong, I was getting swept. Easily.  Great learning experience.  As anyone worth their salt in martial arts will tell you, if you can’t pull off a technique against a resisting opponent, you can’t really do the technique.  The first stages of learning are done cooperatively, but the later stages are done against progressive resistance. I won’t be able to make it to Shooto regularly, but I’ll be looking forward to the next time! 

My Story So Far

I had always loved martial arts movies growing up.  Watching Kung Fu Theatre every weekend was a big part of my childhood.  As a kid, I made my own nunchaku, twirled brooms and their handles like staffs, and learned to flip a balisong (butterfly knife) when a friend made ones out of popsicle sticks.  I had a few friends take TKD, Kenpo, and Ninjitsu, but my parents didn’t push me to take a class, nor did I communicate any desire to take one. My dad was always telling me how my favorite uncle was "very good at Arnis", and when I was about 13 on one trip to the Philippines, my uncle tried to give me a lesson.   It lasted about 10 minutes because of my arrogant, impatient, dimissive teenage mind.   Something I regret to this day.

I didn’t start training until I was a freshman at UCLA in 1990. Luckily in my first quarter, a friend suggested I come along to the FMA class.  Guro Burton Richardson was teaching, and one of the first things I saw him do was Redondo 6 count.  Fast, fluid, precise, I was blown away.  I was still pretty dismissive of things, especially when they came from my own culture. But I signed up. Maybe it’s because my uncle ended up dying early, and was pushing me from the other side? Both of my grandfathers trained.  My paternal grandfather in the PI was unfortunately too old to move and show me anything, and my maternal grandfather only learned Cinco Teros (five strikes) in the army. 

And so it began.  Guro Burton moved to Hawaii a little over a year later, and I continued with Guro Ed Frankel. The FMA class ended when Guro Ed hurt his back, so I went and tried out a little fencing (foil) and did a short stint in Tang Soo Do. When Guro Ed was well enough to start training again, he didn’t want to teach a full class.  I was one of 3 or so students that he called to be his students/training partners.  We would train in a hidden grassy area on campus surrounded by walls. I was young, I was arrogant, I wanted to show the world the cool stuff we were doing.  But Guro Ed continued to train us in that secluded area, which kept my ego in check and forced me to focus on training instead of trying to impress the next cute girl that walked by.

The years went by at UCLA and I got to train under two more FMA instructors, Guros Mark Stewart and Mark Hoffman.  Also I had met Tim Lau (now a BJJ black belt) through an elementary school friend, and started to train with him at Steve Tarani’s Southern California Eskrima Academy in Irvine. Guro Steve was close with the late Pendekar Herman Suwanda, and we started taking annual seminars with Pak Herman (RIP) there and at IAMA.

2000 Seminar w/Pendekar Herman Suwanda at IAMA.
Front Row L-R (Tim Lau, Romi Archer, Shannon Suwanda, Herman Suwanda, Paula Inosanto, Dan Inosanto, me, Joel Clark)
Back row L-R (?, ?, ?, ?,Steve Tarani, Lavonne Martin, ?,?, Phil Matende)

After graduating college I was broke and couldn’t afford training, save an occasional seminar. After a seminar with Pendekar Suwanda in 1999 at the Inosanto Academy, I saw that a Capoeira class was about to start. My only exposure to Capoeira had been from the videogame character Eddy Gordo from Tekken. It looked like a great workout, with music going the whole time. Mestre Boneco was a very dynamic personality, and most unusual to me at the time, the ratio of women to men was almost equal.  I tried a class and was hooked.  Plus I was at a point in my career where could finally afford regular training!

Flipping into the roda with Contra Mestre Axe, 2002

I spent the next 7 years training Capoeira 3-5 days a week.  Our class would run from 9-10:30pm, and I would regularly stay with Orelha (RIP), Electrico, and Polegar (Capoeira nicknames) until almost midnight continuing to train and work on things. Capoeira Brasil Los Angeles under Mestre Boneco continued to grow and we eventually got our own academy. I lived the Capoeira lifestyle. Traveled to other cities to train and for batizados (annual graduation event with tons of workshops).  Went to Brazil in 2001 and contemplated moving there for a little while.  But then I met my ex-wife while teaching the Capoeira class at UCLA and never did.

In 2006, while playing in a roda (pronounced HO-dah), I tore my ACL.  I’ll tell that story in another post. I was devastated.  I was supposed to compete in a Capoeira tournament up in Santa Cruz later that summer. I had the feeling that I was going to be promoted to instructor at the next batizado in the fall. I didn’t want to get promoted if I couldn’t play in the roda for it. From my calculations, the whole process from surgery to rehab to readjusting could take almost a year.  I couldn’t just sit at home going nuts from not training.

w/Guro Dan Inosanto after a seminar at OC Kickboxing in 2010

Somehow I came up with the idea of going back to Kali and Silat.  I lived close to the Inosanto Academy, so why not there?  All of my FMA teachers trained under Guro Dan Inosanto, so technically, I had been a part of his extended family for 16 years.  At that point I had only met Guro Dan once at a seminar he taught at Cal State LA.  Since it was less stressful movements on the knee, I planned to train for a few months until the surgery, pick up after PT until my knee and my confidence were strong enough to go back to Capoeira.    I fell in love again with Kali and Silat. Guro Dan did what he does best – teaching people how to analyze, how to organize so it makes sense to you, how to learn.  The staff instructors were extremely talented and experienced, and I learned just as much from Guros Keith Davis, John and Suzanne Spezzano, Mike Wise (RIP), Marc Denny, as I did from Guro Dan.

Getting my Corda Azul, 2007 CBLA Batizado.

After my knee healed, I did go back to Capoeira for a little while and got my corda azul (blue cord – at the time it signified instructor) in 2007, 16 months after the injury.  In 2009, I was offered the opportunity to teach a Saturday class at both CBLA and IAMA. Problem – they were both at the same time. I chose the Inosanto Academy, and I’m blessed to still be teaching that class to this day. I left capoeira behind, but did visit CBLA a month or two ago and saw some old friends.  I got there towards the end of the roda and didn’t get to play, but next time!

w/Pamana Tuhon Chris Sayoc (Sayoc Kali), 2007

I got divorced in 2010, and that meant a whole lot of free time. I dove in hard into FMA and Silat, training with Guro Keith on Sundays with the KST (Kombat Science & Tactics) group, and went to seminars with:

Tuhon Ray Dionaldo and the FCS (Filipino Combat Systems) family

Guro Willie Laureano (Inosanto-Laureano PPKM)

Pamana Tuhon Chris Sayoc (Sayoc Kali)

Guro Roger Agbulos (Astig LAMECO)

Guro Felix Valencia (Valencia LAMECO Escrima)

Tuhon Felix Cortez (Filipino Combatives)

Grand Master Felix Roiles (Pakamut)

 

w/Tuhon Ray Dionaldo (FCS Kali), 2008

w/Guru Maul Mornie (Silat Suffian Bela Diri), 2011

Also took a few Balintawak seminars with Grandmaster Nene Gabucayaan and a handful of Boxe Francaise Savate workshops with Professor Nicolas Saignac.  I traveled to NYC in 2011 and 2012  train with Guru Maul Mornie (Silat Suffian Bela Diri), and I'm looking forward to more training with Guro Willie Laureano (PPKM), Master Rino Balinado (NECOPA Balintawak), Guro Doug Marcaida (Marcaida Kali), Guro Fabrizio Mansur Filograna (Abenir Kalis), Guru Alvin Guinanao (Silat Open Circle), and Guru Ed Wong (Modern Cimande). 

w/Master Rino Balinado (NECOPA Balintawak Arnis)
2016

w/Guro Fabrizio  Filograna (Abenir Kalis)
2016

These days, I’m trying to focus more Muay Thai and Boxing – arts I should have spent more time with sooner.  I’m "embracing the suck", and it’s great to be humbled every class during sparring.  Because slowly and step by step, it gets a little easier (except the cardio. That seems to get harder). Plus it’s better at keeping me in shape in my mid 40’s than FMA.  More on that later.

These days, people call me Guro, which to me is a huge responsibility that I have to live up to.  I still have too much to learn, too much to figure out. I question my abilities all the time. And that's ok.  You have to always keep in perspective what you don't know along with what you do know.  At the end of the day I’m happy to still be a student, and hope to always be one.

  

Guro Dan always tells us “Go learn from as many people as you can. There’s always something to learn, there’s always something that someone can teach you.” He has been living this quote for more than 60 years, hoping I can do the same.

Welcome to the new blog!

Thanks for visiting my new blog!  On this blog I’m planning to post stories, training tips, reviews, and document my journey as both a student and a coach of the martial arts. I’m not a master, nor do I claim to be. I have been given the title “Guro”, or teacher.  One of my Guros likes to define the term as “guide”, which I like.  I’ve been training pretty consistently for 26 years, and I like to think of my role as guiding people away from the many mistakes that I’ve made as well as helping students along on their own quest for their personal truth in the arts. Enjoy, and happy training!