Kali In The Morning PIFA In The Afternoon

 

What You Missed This Sunday

Baston

So here’s what you missed this past Sunday. We started with some stick drills to warm up. A couple of things we tried were to do push ups while holding yourself up on sticks. We tried holding from the top as well as gripping toward the bottom. It’s a lot harder than it sounds and looks. It requires a lot of balance and grip strength. The balance and grip strength needed to do the push up made it about 2-3 times harder if not more. Some of us couldn’t even do one and we all do push ups all the time.

We also tried a drill where we all formed a circle and had to do 4 Count with each person beside you at the same time. The idea was fighting two people on either side of you at the same time. Confusing at first, but then we got the hang of it pretty quickly.

To read the full story, click on the link below.

Kali In The Morning PIFA In The Afternoon
 

Great To See Both Old And New Faces

http://www.itsyoboyflex.com/2014/09/15/great-see-old-new-faces/

So yesterday was our Monthly Workshop with Manong Rich Verdejo. The agenda was to go over some updated material from Level 1-3 curriculum.

Stick Work

First up was stick work. Before Manong Rich came down we started warming up. Doing stretches, cardio exercises, and stick drills to warm up the wrists. Then we moved on to 4 count drills. From single stick to double stick, right and left, alternating and mixing it up, it was all to get the body warmed up and get the mind going.

From there we started doing Punyo Entries and then Manong arrived, which was perfect because he was going to go over Punyo Entries from the new curriculum. This was great because now that I’m working on my level 3 material, I would get to see what’s new right off the bat. Manong Rich showed us Punyo Entries 1-5 on both right and left. Some of the changes were minor, as far as curriculum is concerned, and others were almost totally changed.

Knife tapping

From there we went into knife tapping. So a common drill in FMA is that the feeder will have a knife and the receiver won’t. The feeder goes for angle 1 and then angle 2. During that time the receiver will parry said knife attack angles. So where is the issue with this? From what I see is that the receiver doesn’t learn much past sensitivity and “Oh shit there is a knife coming at me. Let me get it out of the way.” So there is no counter, there is no offense, just defense. It’s just that, a sensitivity drill.

During this time there is a lot of opportunity on both sides, but the sensitivity drill mostly teaches opportunity from the feeder perspective. The feeder learns at what point they can be successful, or simply keep attempting and eventually one will get in. Now have the receiver throw in a strike or deploy a knife after the parry and the game changes. This starts to open up your mind to possibilities. So I might throw say a back fist after angle 2. The feeder has to respond to my “feed”, in turn changing his or her role to the receiver even if just for a moment.

After that we went into Super Sumbrada using knife instead of stick. This continued the idea of exchanging roles because the concept is “I feed, you feed.”

Concept

In a real fight, exchanges usually happen more frequently, meaning, the other doesn’t always wait for you to finish what you are doing. They take the opportunity when it presents itself. The new material seems to apply this concept by inserting it into the curriculum sooner than later. Then as you see the practitioner progressing you can add more pressure, speed, and different types of attacks.

I think this way of training is more realistic than hey let me teach you a combination, and then let me teach you how to defend against that combination. Watch a lot of sparring and fight videos and see what I mean. Unless the person goes into a straight defensive mode where they are just covering, usually the fighters only pull off 1-3 hit combinations at a time before they either back off or the opponent counters. Well, unless of course both fighters are just non-stop swinging at each other.

Lets get some food

After training the group went accross the street to grab some lunch and had a few laughs. We talked more about things from the Florida Gathering as well as concepts of MOTAC, and things FCS Kali West Coast related.

On a personal note, I also noticed that things seemed to make more sense and are easier to pick up now that I have a better understanding of the basics. Things are clicking much faster. Oh and did I mention that I received my Level Two Certificate of Rank? A step closer in getting my instructorship!

Closing

So to wrap things up, today was a good day. We had a good size group. (Not everyone was in the photo because some had to leave early.) It was really good to see everyone though. Both old and new faces showed up to partake in our monthly workshop with Manong Rich and we got to see some of the changes from the new curriculum. I hope to see more of the original members as well as the new more frequently so we can continue to grow our tribe. Till next time happy training everybody! ItsYoBoyFlex and I’m out.

http://www.itsyoboyflex.com/2014/09/15/great-see-old-new-faces/

MONTHLY WORKSHOPS - FOCUS ON LEVEL 1-3

Here  are the upcoming monthly workshops with the focus on Level 1-3 material with Manong Rich Verdejo. Hope to see you there and happy training everyone!


Date: Sunday, September 14, 2014
Place: Heritage Park, Chula Vista
Time: 9am - 1130am
Class Fee: $20


Date: Sunday, September 28, 2014
Place: Kenpo Evolution Mma
Time: TBA (Looking from 1pm - 3pm)
Class Fee: $20

Monthly Workshop With Manong Rich And More

Monthly Workshop

This weekend,  Sunday, September 14, 2014 Manong Rich Verdejo is coming down to do our monthly workshop. He will be going over a lot of new things from the Florida Gathering, which I will touch up on a little bit later, some things from the new curriculum, and who knows what else! lol. It's always a surprise as to what he teaches when he comes down. It's a good time and we learn new things so come out and join us if you're free!

Date: Sunday, September 14, 2014
Time: 9am-11-ish
Place: Heritage Park, Chula Vista

***As always as recommend a $20 donation to cover his time and travel expenses.***

FCS Kali Florida Gathering

 

Now as many of you know, the Florida FCS gathering just past. Many have been posting up pictures, videos, and their experiences. Our most senior group leader, Bernie Herrera, was able to attend and represent FCS Kali West Coast San Diego along with Manong Rich and his family. Needless to say, FCS Cali Crew was in the house! lol.I wish I could have been there because many new things were shown including MOTAC, and the new curriculum. I also enjoyed the videos of little Richie attacking everyone, and the Carenza Testing.
Two things that Bernie wanted to share from the gathering were the use of elbows as well as footwork and stances.

Elbows

 

For the use of elbows, we learned this through our Mano Mano Template, but he stressed how it should be used more often. By keeping things in tight, the elbows can be kept down as means of cover for the rib area. They can also be brought up toward the side of the head as use of cover for the head and neck areas, while being used as a destruction at the same time, which also sets us up for follow ups. Ed demonstrated how effective it was by allowing one of our strongest members, Marlon, to throw a right hook at his face and he simply covered by bringing the elbow up, with his hand grasping the back his head allowing the rest of his forearm to cover the temple and ear. The bicep gave some cover to the carotid and the elbow was at a position of striking. They explained how at any moment there is a time of exposure, the elbow can be used as cover and or striking as well as palusot, depending on distance and timing.

Footwork And Stances

 

Bernie explained how the use of footwork and stances can easily change a situation. One example was when someone is put in a center wrist lock. If in a normal stance, like simply standing up, the wrist lock can drop a grown man to his knees, but if he were to get in a cat stance, the pain is reduced. He demonstrated this on me and it did lessen the pain. I felt like a had more of an opportunity to break from the lock because the pain was tolerable.

And I'm sure that most of know that certain stances are strong from one angle and weak from another. This flows hand and hand or foot and foot, with our footwork. Having a strong base is very important and your most lower body part will set that in play. Usually, it's your feet that is the root of your base. Foot placement. Your footwork sets you up to move out of harms way, to move in to engage, or move out to disengage, and to keep ones balance. So if your feet aren't in good placement, your base can be thrown off.

Closing

 

So for the past couple of weeks our practices have been themed around things learned from the gathering on top of curriculum and I'm sure Manong will be sharing more as well when he comes down. Also, Tuhon Ray Dionaldo's birthday was celebrated during the gathering as well so from the entire West Coast family, happy belated birthday and thank you for the knowledge and support! Ok baby is being demanding right now so gotta go. Haha. Happy training everyone! ItsYoBoyFlex and I'm out.

Get motivated, time to get back to training in FCS Kali

To all our FCS Kali West Coast San Diego Crew (Past, Present and Future),

We are going on our 4th year as a training group and we are still at the same location, Heritage Park in Chula Vista, CA almost every Sunday.  FCS Kali is in over 90 countries and Tuhon Ray Dionaldo is traveling the world sharing his talents with anyone willing to train.  It is time for all of our training group members, past and present, to get motivated and help grow the FCS Kali West Coast Tribe.  We are looking forward to reconnecting with all of you, so dust off your gear and help us preserve our culture and promote the Filipino Martial Arts. 

To all our future members, we look forward to sharing Tuhon Ray's FCS Kali culture with all of you.  Come by and visit, or better yet, pick up some sticks and work out for a few.

MOTIVATION

Obstacles can't stop you.

Problems can't stop you.

Most of all other people can't stop you.

The only one who stops you is yourself.

Maraming salamat


FCS Kali San Diego Group Practice will be held at Heritage Park at the Outdoor Stage area.  Newcomers interested in participating or observing a training session are always welcome.  Please come with an open mind and interest.

When:                Sunday morning, 8:00 am - 10:00 am 

Where:               Heritage Park
                           1381 East Palomar Street
                           Chula Vista, CA 91913