Arnis overview

[Chambers]

Greetings,

I have recently found an Arnis school in my area
and in about three months I plan to start attending
I was wondering if someone could give me an idea of
what to expect.
I know you can't speak for the teacher so I wanted to
get a few ideas of Arnis in general.
I've heard of stick (single and double) work in conjunction
witht the fillipino arts. Should I see that in Arnis?
What sort of blade work should I expect to see?
And what are the focuses of Arnis emptyhand?
for example Shotokan in my experience was focused on
low stances and power. Tae Kwon Do seems to focus on high
kicks. Arnis focuses on what? Or is there a focus?
I've heard many mentions of limb destruction in conjunction
with the fillipino arts. Should I expect something about that?
Basically guys. I have absolutely no knowledge about Arnis or
for that matter any of the fillipino arts.
I'd really appreciate some sort of run down.
Thanks guys.

 

[DanielL]

Your school may be different from mine but I would expect to learn some good footwork; how to properly use a stick; disarms; open hand techniques, kicks and throws(surprise). Many people think that FMA's are just stick fighting but they are complete martial arts which happen to emphasize weapons.

What I would not expect is to do any knife training for a while. My school reserves that for senior students. But, your school could be very different.

 

[DancesWithKnives]

As DanielL pointed out, schools differ a lot. At my school, which describes its FMA curriculum as primarily Kali, you are likely to handle a knife in your first class---and probably before you do any empty hand work.

One piece of advice: Bring a small spiral wound notebook. The director of our school often says that the FMAs have more material than the other ten or twelve arts taught at the school (combined). There is often a lot of new terminology and many variations on drills and techniques. Writing it down helps you retain the material and impresses the instructor with your serious approach and dedication.

Best of luck!

 

[Samvara]

Hi Chambers,

I used to live in Abq. Which school are you referring to? I've had quite a bit of interactions with the martial art communities there, and may be able to give you some opinions about them. (Especially the filipino art community).

 

[thekuntawman]

the question should be if you will like the training instead of what will you learn. in every martial art style there is new things to learn, and most teachers will be very unclear when they answer "what's next?"

most arnis i seen pretty much do the same things, but one thing you can do to help yourself move forward better is to take every single movement you learn, and practice it slow, then full speed and power, each time for 100 repetitions. so if you have 12 strikes, you have 1200 strikes each workout for each side. if you do this you will have better skill than 90% of the advance people around you in 6 months.

arnis is not like kung fu or kenpo or karate. we have such a few number of technique when you compare to other arts. the difference is our weapons, each technique, can be develop into a separate weapon. but the secret is you have to DEVELOP it, not just learn it. the weakness of most arnisador (one who practice arnis) is that he stops at learning. as a beginner you should learn most of your art. for your expertness, you will have to train those techniques over and over, so you can hit with power speed and accuracy. many people can only perform in slomo.

so in the philippine martial arts you emphasize training and not learning, because anyone can learn.

finally you have to test what you know. and that can only be done one way, fighting with other people not just arnis, but empty handed people, karate, kung fu, other weapons. you will be okay after that.