Maybe it's just me but...

Juany118

Senior Master
I look at the amount of space here for FMA and wonder if it's adequate due to the breath of the art. I say that because of the following. My Guro teaches Inosanto Kali, along with Wing Chun. While Inosanto Kali does include traditional FMA elements it also includes elements of Silat among other things. It seems, in my experience, to have more open hand techniques than those who learn FMA by other names as an example. I also say this because I have a Filipino friend who was very adamant with me one day when he told me that Inosanto Kali, while an effective art and possibly grounded in traditional FMA, is NOT a true "traditional" FMA. I have no point of reference to contest him.

Also, at least from speaking with friends who study what they will call Arnis or Escrima, their seems to be some kind set differences. Example they will say they are learning "stick fighting" I have ingrained in my head "yes I can fight with sticks BUT the sticks are really just standing in for swords in my training."

Now maybe I am over thinking things a bit, I am know to do that, so that is why I said "maybe it's just me" as the title, but with the growing popularity of FMA I was thinking that what we have here for FMA would be akin to simply having a "General Kung Fu, External arts and Internal Arts" Under the Chinese Martial Arts section.
 
I was just speaking about the number of sub forums lol. Like I said though, probably over thinking

If the section were busy enough to warrant more sub-forums, we would create them. It's not. Why have 10 inactive sub-forums?
 
No worries. Get enough conversation about FMA going, and then ask this question again...
 
Juany, this general FMA forum is exactly the right place for you to be discussing Inosanto Kali. This is where people from diverse FMA groups can discuss and debate a wide range of topics. I have trained Latosa Escrima Concepts and Direct Torres Escrima. Our club now teaches a program called PCE or Practical Combat Escrima and NVTO Ving Tsun. What we do is not practiced in the PI today, but those are where it's roots lie.

Interestingly, after spending some time sharing combat approaches with a friend who is a passionate HEMA practitioner, I'm more keenly aware of historic European (particularly Spanish) influences in FMA as well as late 20th Century American input. This may not be politically correct at this point in history, but it is a legitimate topic for discussion ....perhaps one worth it's own thread?
 
Juany, this general FMA forum is exactly the right place for you to be discussing Inosanto Kali. This is where people from diverse FMA groups can discuss and debate a wide range of topics. I have trained Latosa Escrima Concepts and Direct Torres Escrima. Our club now teaches a program called PCE or Practical Combat Escrima and NVTO Ving Tsun. What we do is not practiced in the PI today, but those are where it's roots lie.

Interestingly, after spending some time sharing combat approaches with a friend who is a passionate HEMA practitioner, I'm more keenly aware of historic European (particularly Spanish) influences in FMA as well as late 20th Century American input. This may not be politically correct at this point in history, but it is a legitimate topic for discussion ....perhaps one worth it's own thread?

I would agree. I am not just a devote of Martial Arts but my first course of study in College was history. I actually just started reading "Filipino Martial Culture" by Mark Wiley. While, as you say, discussing Imperialism/Colonialism can be "touchy" if you don't study the history you don't understand how the martial arts evolved or were even born. Why have IK's angles 6 and 7?, They feel so awkward, especially when first learning them. Picture a Conquistador's breast plate though and you see it's for a shorter native to stab around that breast plate. Jujutsu makes perfect sense when you realize it's designed for a person either unarmed or armed with a short weapon to be attacking an armored Samurai, punching such armor, not a good idea lol.

Combative Martial Arts are, in the end, no different than any other combat tactic, they are born, and evolve, based on the nature of warfare at the time and the weapons they involve (if any). Example today, the US Military created a fighting system, the Special Operations Combat Program. The idea of this is the assumption the practitioner is a fully equipped operator. You use quick blunt force to create space so you can go to a tool, your M-4, side arm, whether while standing or in ground fighting. Without these tools, the martial art would not exist and, if or when the tools change, the art will either adapt or cease to be effective.
 
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