The Problem with Flow Drills I often hear people say that flow drills in the Filipino Martial Arts are just not realistic. Sometimes they say there is no relation between flow drills and their sparring. Because of this, they don’t see any value in the flow drills, and they don’t see a reason to include them in their training. I understand this, but I think if they knew how to approach flow drills differently, they may find more value in them. The Filipino martial arts are often taught in a way that is not well explained or not clearly structured. This makes it hard for the student to get the most out of the training. Sometimes people learn a variety of drills, but they do not always understand the drills completely. Because of this, the real value is sometimes missed. The problem I often s...

The Filipino Martial Arts offer a wide variety of techniques that range from striking, locking, and breaking to trapping, disarming, and takedowns. The options are vast. With so many options, it can become challenging to focus training on core elements that will make you effective and well rounded. In budgeting your training time, it is best to spend the majority of it on skills that will get you results. Typically these are fundamental skills, skills that permeate all other skills. For example, if you cannot recognize or create an opening, then entering to successfully apply a trap, lock, or disarm will be very difficult to do. However, once you have developed fundamental offensive skills, simply learned how to get in, then you can apply many of your other techniques such as trapping, loc...

We often get questions about selecting the right pair of rattan sticks. In this short video, Leslie Buck shows a few examples of measuring them and shares a few tips on determining the length, diameter, and weight of rattan sticks for use in the Filipino martial arts.

We all seek ways to get better at our skills. We learn new drills. We add new techniques to our arsenal. We find new ways to test our skills. Learning these things can keep us excited about growth. However, learning new techniques and drills don’t always make us better or even more skilled in applying our chosen arts. A lot of our improvement comes from spending time cultivating the skills that we have already learned. It’s not so much about the techniques, but the quality time we spend practicing them. We need many repetitions and the experience that comes with those repetitions to get better. Initially, we start developing a new skill by training the body to move properly. With more repetition, we develop precision that allows us to control the weapon and be more accurate....