The Hunted Movie - 2003

I remember watching this movie when it first came out in 2003 thinking I was going to learn this martial art that Pamana Tuhon Sayoc created. I was excited! I felt like I was learning some cool moves in the beginning. But growing up in the art, you learn that it's more than a bunch of drills or memorizing techniques.

In this one knife fighting scene, I see a lot of principles that we've learned in Sayoc throughout the years. Tuhon Tom Kier and Tuhon Rafael Kayanan were brought in as technical advisors for the blade work and later to take charge of the fight choreography. Some training methodologies and principles I saw were Phase 3, Phase 2, panatukan set 1, royal guard set 1, medical management, projectile, power assist, blade awareness, holstering, TD1 isolations, TD8, and 3 of 9.

Knowing this know made me reflect in my time spent in Sayoc Kali. I wished more people would be as excited to learn this family art as I was when I first started.

Here's an article I found about The Hunted and the involvement of Sayoc Kali. But many more Filipino martial arts are being brought in the forefront of entertainment these days. Guro Joe Marana also wrote a great article about "Filipino Martial Arts Influence in Film and Media" of today.

Maharlika Class: 3/24/2015

Today's class went well. Guro Joe M taught True Right. I'm liking this true right principles. After that, Guro Joe M, went over some different post-penetration techniques. We utilized them while performing 3 of 9 on our partners. After class, Guro Joe M, reminded us why or what's our reason to draw our blade? In the past, I remember Pamana Tuhon Chris talk during our instructor weekends. Guro Joe M reminded us about our decision to draw our blade in a real scenario. Is it to save our life and our love ones. Or is our ego being challenged?

Remember your Goals! Focus!

Maharlika Martial Arts: May 28, 2013

Guro Joe M. went over Atienza Kali Bolo Evolution 1: two man drill. Some of the guys used smak stix to see how certain parts of the drill would feel. For example, the two count for Feeder 1 or the intercept for Feeder 2.  Later in the class, one of the other students wanted to go over Transitional Drills with me. We went up to TD7.

Maharlika Martial Arts: April 30, 2013

Guro Bob Shin went over more stick grappling techniques. This time the Feeder didn't have a stick and entered into a over-under clinch. It starts off with Receiver attacking with angles 1 & 2. Feeder comes in with a roof like shield so the blow glances off the forearm. Then, Feeder goes into the over-under clinch.

Receiver places the stick between them in order to create space. Feeder takes hold of the stick and pushes it over and behind Receiver's head. Feeder quickly jerks stick down with the opposite hand. In that sequence, the Feeder's hand reaches under Receiver's arm (like an americana) and takes hold of the stick to pull down and out of Receiver's hands.

After Feeder disarms Receiver, Feeder can either continue to finish in the clinch or separate to hit and finish.

Later, I went through Transitional Drills with Guro Joe Marana. I had to slow down when glowing  through TD 6 & 10. Maybe next time it will be smoother. It was a good night.

On a side note, I wanted to mention Guro Joe's group. He is also an Atienza and Inosanto Kali instructor. He teaches up in Baltimore, Md.

Stick-Grappling @ Maharlika Martial Arts: March 19, 2013

On this night, Guro Bob went over Tuhon Tom's material for stick-grappling. I was excited to go over the material. They started last week which I wasn't able to make, but we reviewed the techniques in the beginning of class.

Techniques done last week (probably not the official terms):
• standing side control/clinch to neck smash
• standing side control/clinch to ribs grinding
• standing side control/clinch to Pez takedown
• standing side control/clinch to rear choke and if Receiver ducks out of side control--hold down head and strike.

Techniques done tonight:
• standing side control/clinch to thigh grind until Receiver falls to the ground--once on the ground, hit legs and ankles. At first, I started aiming for the head, but Guro Bob suggested to hit the legs because the Receiver has a better chance of grabbing the stick. If Receiver gets up again, close gap and place R in standing side control.
• standing side control/clinch to thigh grind--Receiver counters by pulling the stick up. Feeder quickly brings the stick up to the armpit. F reaches up and over with Lh to perform cop-lock. R counters and gets out of cop-lock. F flows from cop-lock to throat crush.

Some other techniques to perform if R tries to get arm out of standing side control/clinch: release hold of stick with Rh and reposition hold.

Near the end of class, I reviewed TDs 1-10 with Guro Joe Marana.

Next week, going over stick-grappling from the clinch.

Protecting Our Family & Children with Special Needs

This video was made by Guro Joe Marana from Inland Empire Filipino Martial Arts. He made this video to share his understanding of how Filipino Martial Arts can be used to protect our children and especially those with special needs. I hope you get a glimpse of what could be done using these principles taught in the video. This is only part one of the video. The link above brings you to his site where you can see all three videos.