by Mark Romain and Paul Crompton. 106 pgs, 4 chapters, B&W photos and currently out of print. It was reprinted by Paladin Press in the late 80's.
Get some coffee, get it now.
Disclaimer: I must confess my personal bias. Mr. Romain and his book do not sit well with my former teacher Rene Latosa. Rene while
in the Air Force traveled to England and Germany teaching his style of FMA. In England, he met Mr. Paul Crompton (pics in the book "Bruce Lee Anthology) and did some seminars there. He remembers Romain from a lot of them and basically said that this book is a rip off of seminar material.
Currently, I train in Wing Chun under a Latosa Escrima instructor (not affiliated with AEWTO)and he says Romain is basically showing a lot of the old techniques Rene used to teach. My teacher, myself, and a lot of the overseas Latosa escrima students have Rene's original book and there are a lot of similarities in the techniques shown. If any of you have both books see for yourself and decide. I've got no beef against Mr. Romain but I hate the rip off artists that come out of seminars which isn't uncommon I'm told.
Any how, take my review and all my reviews with a grain of salt.
Starting with the standard introduction, speech of why FMA is good, safety disclaimer, and
generic history of the FMA we get into wrist warm up, twirling, and basic stroking.
Okay standard stuff but the methods shown are a bit incorrect (ala opening the hand while twirling and
failing to extend the arm while hitting). For the you AEWTO students, Romain shows Rene's old style
of hitting the Cinco Teros method from his father.
Chapter 1 Stickfighting has the basic targets, strokes (same number system as in Rene's book which was taken out). The backhand shot to the body is shown incorrectly and the stab to the abdomen is done at a bad angle. Okay, Mr. Romain is a tall fellow and any time you see a tall guy in an FMA book, analyze how he hits, his guard, and posture. If you don't think size matters, ask a Guro how he teaches a tall man to do a roof block.
Chapter 1 also covers the 5 blocks and there variation (total of 10) a lot of which are the old sequences from Latosa escrima
with a bit of overlap from Serrada. To be blunt, there were some flaws on performing the blocks. I'll mention those details later.
If you're a AEWTO student, email me and I'll give more specifics. After the blocks there is the Sparring Sequence aka 'Lock and Block' from Serrada. Again, height makes a difference.
Next is Other uses of the stick, shows a double leg takedown, wrist locks, neck control similar to the ones shown
by Ernesto Presas, Michael Echanis, and Gene LeBell. Takeaways/Disarms is next 5 are shown but 2 are taught, the first disarm
is shown against different angles and with different endings 4 times, the second disarm shown once is an outside snake disarm.
Chapter 2 Double Stick fighting, starts with the striking pattern from the Dos Manos system followed by 7 sequences of the two sticks vs the five angles of attack with a single stick. Some flaws are a lack of explosive power and aggressive hitting.
Chapter 3 Short Stick fighting, is really a bit of reverse grip knife fighting, I say a bit because the entry techniques shown comprise a small portion of the short stick/knife I learned. Rene uses the similar entry
in his "Long Sticks" tape I think. Four sequences are shown, 3 against the stick, 1 is a dagger technique vs a kick
Chapter 4 Kadena De Mano/hands vs knife Here's the BD
5 sequences of inside and outside defense against knife attacks with one trapping sequence.
5 sequences of hands vs the stick (locks are shown as fight enders)
3 sequences of hands vs punch as well as defense against a throat grab and a front kick
The book ends with the standard conclusion and glossary of terms.
Overall, it is an interesting book because you'll see some sequences not shown in other FMA books. Also, I mentioned a lot of flaws I saw in body position and blocking but then I am biased. But analyze the book for yourself and compare it to your own FMA style or another book. Sarcastically but in all honesty, get this book to analyze questionable technique, especially you AEWTO folks.
A point of clarity, I mention that the book shows what my teacher used to do, by this I mean old techniques, practices, and sequences
The Latosa Escrima style like many other's evolves and each person teaches it their way but there are several underlying concepts each teacher has in common. This book doesn't fully cover the concepts I've learned.
Also, I mention that there are "standard" sections to the book. Well, I say this not out of spite but most MA books are done in a certain format. FMA books aren't much different with the exception of Dan Inosanto's book and Edgar Sulite's book.
I would not recommend this book to the beginner as there are currently much more thorough works in both book and video on the market. My apologies for any offense.
Get some coffee, get it now.
Disclaimer: I must confess my personal bias. Mr. Romain and his book do not sit well with my former teacher Rene Latosa. Rene while
in the Air Force traveled to England and Germany teaching his style of FMA. In England, he met Mr. Paul Crompton (pics in the book "Bruce Lee Anthology) and did some seminars there. He remembers Romain from a lot of them and basically said that this book is a rip off of seminar material.
Currently, I train in Wing Chun under a Latosa Escrima instructor (not affiliated with AEWTO)and he says Romain is basically showing a lot of the old techniques Rene used to teach. My teacher, myself, and a lot of the overseas Latosa escrima students have Rene's original book and there are a lot of similarities in the techniques shown. If any of you have both books see for yourself and decide. I've got no beef against Mr. Romain but I hate the rip off artists that come out of seminars which isn't uncommon I'm told.
Any how, take my review and all my reviews with a grain of salt.
Starting with the standard introduction, speech of why FMA is good, safety disclaimer, and
generic history of the FMA we get into wrist warm up, twirling, and basic stroking.
Okay standard stuff but the methods shown are a bit incorrect (ala opening the hand while twirling and
failing to extend the arm while hitting). For the you AEWTO students, Romain shows Rene's old style
of hitting the Cinco Teros method from his father.
Chapter 1 Stickfighting has the basic targets, strokes (same number system as in Rene's book which was taken out). The backhand shot to the body is shown incorrectly and the stab to the abdomen is done at a bad angle. Okay, Mr. Romain is a tall fellow and any time you see a tall guy in an FMA book, analyze how he hits, his guard, and posture. If you don't think size matters, ask a Guro how he teaches a tall man to do a roof block.
Chapter 1 also covers the 5 blocks and there variation (total of 10) a lot of which are the old sequences from Latosa escrima
with a bit of overlap from Serrada. To be blunt, there were some flaws on performing the blocks. I'll mention those details later.
If you're a AEWTO student, email me and I'll give more specifics. After the blocks there is the Sparring Sequence aka 'Lock and Block' from Serrada. Again, height makes a difference.
Next is Other uses of the stick, shows a double leg takedown, wrist locks, neck control similar to the ones shown
by Ernesto Presas, Michael Echanis, and Gene LeBell. Takeaways/Disarms is next 5 are shown but 2 are taught, the first disarm
is shown against different angles and with different endings 4 times, the second disarm shown once is an outside snake disarm.
Chapter 2 Double Stick fighting, starts with the striking pattern from the Dos Manos system followed by 7 sequences of the two sticks vs the five angles of attack with a single stick. Some flaws are a lack of explosive power and aggressive hitting.
Chapter 3 Short Stick fighting, is really a bit of reverse grip knife fighting, I say a bit because the entry techniques shown comprise a small portion of the short stick/knife I learned. Rene uses the similar entry
in his "Long Sticks" tape I think. Four sequences are shown, 3 against the stick, 1 is a dagger technique vs a kick
Chapter 4 Kadena De Mano/hands vs knife Here's the BD
5 sequences of inside and outside defense against knife attacks with one trapping sequence.
5 sequences of hands vs the stick (locks are shown as fight enders)
3 sequences of hands vs punch as well as defense against a throat grab and a front kick
The book ends with the standard conclusion and glossary of terms.
Overall, it is an interesting book because you'll see some sequences not shown in other FMA books. Also, I mentioned a lot of flaws I saw in body position and blocking but then I am biased. But analyze the book for yourself and compare it to your own FMA style or another book. Sarcastically but in all honesty, get this book to analyze questionable technique, especially you AEWTO folks.
A point of clarity, I mention that the book shows what my teacher used to do, by this I mean old techniques, practices, and sequences
The Latosa Escrima style like many other's evolves and each person teaches it their way but there are several underlying concepts each teacher has in common. This book doesn't fully cover the concepts I've learned.
Also, I mention that there are "standard" sections to the book. Well, I say this not out of spite but most MA books are done in a certain format. FMA books aren't much different with the exception of Dan Inosanto's book and Edgar Sulite's book.
I would not recommend this book to the beginner as there are currently much more thorough works in both book and video on the market. My apologies for any offense.
