Chass Confession

Wahoo bud-

The greatest exemplar that my teachers have provided for me is *how*much*they*practice* in solo; five hours a day is standard, ten is not unusual and twelve to fourteen is not unknown if you add in teaching commitments. I've seen people *advertise* that their martial art can be 'practiced' in an half hour a day; no wonder it takes them ten years to get squared away. One of the 'keys' to kuntao and silat (as we practice it in a small special group) is learning to practice 'all the time'; taking all the common everyday movements and 'remembering' where in the djurus they occur- staying in the 'martial mind' and physicality. We also have a tendency to 'tap' things on martial contact points- also in the idea of low impact/high reps.

That's why I like the Indonesian idea of separating 'pentjak' from 'silat' (as I understand the words/concepts). The principles which comprise silat can be applied to virtually any movement system (it seems to me). If the movement system being practiced has a sophisticated understanding of body mechanics, it will accommodate most any principle in an application. Group meeting is for instruction, correction and group drills. Doing solo practice in group is like tuning an instrument on stage or running riffs on stage; practice at home, perform in public. (obviously that can't include the early time of learning the forma with corrections) The other thing is that people get into collecting forms and hoping that lots of forms will give them lots of applications. Then, when they look at old men work, they first thing they say is; 'It looks so simple'- go figure.

Chas 'It's Fighting, not Folkdancing!' http://members.xoom.com/kilap/Keepsafe.htm http://members.xoom.com/kilap/cane.html http://members.xoom.com/kilap/monkey.html http://www.kuntaosilat.com/ www.kilap.homepage.com/chas.mpg http://www.paladin-press.com/

....

the what?

Chas 'It's Fighting, not Folkdancing!' http://members.xoom.com/kilap/Keepsafe.htm http://members.xoom.com/kilap/cane.html http://members.xoom.com/kilap/monkey.html http://www.kuntaosilat.com/ www.kilap.homepage.com/chas.mpg http://www.paladin-press.com/

The ultimate fighting chumpionship, a 'no holds barred' situation where two people fight in an octagon and the grappler is typically favored in the outcome. In terms of this conversation, I think you shouldnt worry about it. Grappling in a street situation will get you hurt easily, you need to know a bit about the whole thing to be effective.

my two cents

Uuuhhhh, I think he was being sarcastic...... Ron Tisdale

or rhetorical!

josh 'what did the ufc win, anyway?'

Speak for yourself.

Well sure-

Silat practices different movements that can be applied many many ways. Something that looks like a strike can be a throw or actually be striking with a different part of the body, used against right or left, up or down- you can use it at different ranges for different things..... all sorts of stuff. That's one of the reasons the pentjak lasts you so long- as your silat gets more thorough, you're physicality comes right along with it and you don't have to learn new moves- you never change the basic movements, only your sophistication in using them.

Chas 'It's Fighting, not Folkdancing!' http://members.xoom.com/kilap/Keepsafe.htm http://members.xoom.com/kilap/cane.html http://members.xoom.com/kilap/monkey.html http://www.kuntaosilat.com/ www.kilap.homepage.com/chas.mpg http://www.paladin-press.com/

chas enough with the when my silat is at its best its like a snake shit please we all know your a big beer drinking ,right hand throwing brawler so stop acting like your some peach stealing guru enough already

I *very* seldom drink alcohol. That characterization by one of the slugs that posts about me was quite wrong and shows the depths of her ignorance about me (which indicates her broad incidence of ignorance about lots of other things). I would certainly have been a better fighter, as well as a better martial artist by other criteria if I had done more forma. I am definitely a brawler- which includes stealing the peaches and running in the opposite direction with them.

Chas 'It's Fighting, not Folkdancing!' http://members.xoom.com/kilap/Keepsafe.htm http://members.xoom.com/kilap/cane.html http://members.xoom.com/kilap/monkey.html http://www.kuntaosilat.com/ www.kilap.homepage.com/chas.mpg http://www.paladin-press.com/