Why Silat?

[infinite beginner]

Isn't "silat" fun , it looks like no other art ,but always looks like itself we see another style ,sooner or later ,we're like, there went my jurus and we do this that and the other too , only our way we do that before this if and only if they do the other ,I don't know maybe cause its all from the slippery tiger infested tropical jungles , it has to look the same to a degree, but all styles are, is collections, of discovered principles that they are all bound by, the principles never change only their depths of understandings vary, trillions of punches have been swung out and countered back now for millions of years, when you get to the core understanding of most any art you see so much around it is just window dressing , the please or appease the market place made up grossly of non fighter types who want to learn how to fight, by ingraining an arsenal of swift textbook true and tried deadly maneuvers,into their reflexes ,then around the edges there are the fighters who train to be better fighters, be they bully types or defenders of good , but the two cross paths and train together , one may have had dozens near to deadly street fights, the other every conflict they've ever had ended in shouting match at worst the difference between the two students revolves more the mentality over physicality, one is primed to use what they learn right now ,even anxious, to put it bluntly one is slightly or more crazier than the other out the gate, less fearful of themselves about jumping into confront the physical conflict or danger, in other words all the best techniques without the right mentality are diminished to worthless ,

 

[infinite beginner]

of course these are examples of the extremes its a given there's every type in between , some will fight at the drop of a hat for others it may take something lighter , if the teacher is a street experienced fighter they can do their best to ingrain that reality into the student, as a crucial part of their curriculum so the moral of the story If you don't fight much like most don't take martial arts from someone who isn't a bit crazy,or not short fused , is too agreeable this may be a sign they don't have an aggressive enough past history of punching out lots of loudmouths over petty conflicts ,if you want a street seasoned teacher it may be hard to find one who isn't or can't be a bit of an a hole

 

[infinite beginner]

the teacher would often speak of the utilization of imagination
too much too late it seems is better than too much too soon,
after some major understandings are absorbed it can only serve
to enhance all practice, that is once one knows, what to imagine
inside the guidelines, set by the principles ,not off in a fictional
sense but in the most practical and realistic way imaginable, you
don't have be chuck norris about it striking down biker gangs with
one chop, thats for dreams after bad seafood , but meticulously
grasping the smallest particulars in every profession is what separates,
the novice from the expert, not that the the untrained eye doesn't see
everything, it just overlooks where to focus,like we would all prefer to
just get in and drive a formula race car not having to know how exactly
all its components are construed to contrive that high performance, just
to sit behind the wheel ,maybe its true for racing as the drivers all have
to have mad subtle invisible skills but silat has its own nuts and some
bolts , holding it to high performance and the driver is the vehicle,and not
speed but accuracy is what marks the target of its perfection

 

[infinite beginner]

so I used to come here to make monologues of encoded crib notes
after a class.Is that wrong, onward and upwards or downward
and backwards as it may be, We know you gotta flow common
term in kali silat jkd, probably a fair share of gringos and those
of the americas got there intro to silat through jkd, right after
losing up all hopes upon becoming the next bruce lee , But
back to the crucial concept of the flow, or striking in combination
or trying to see into the future , because that is exactly what it is,
if some one has a preconceived plan of executing techniques xyz
out the gate they are lost , to the range of possibilities facing them
yet its required to always strike in combination, this requires making
split second yet seamless adjustments to every motion,ideally so the
opponent is going to make a choice but they don't know it but they will
get some unwanted assistance in their decision in other words the mark
of a good teacher seams to be a dual commitment random scenario whether
they are going to say chop the throat when their elbow is obstructed or they
are going fire their elbow out when the chop gets blocked ,they sit on a fence ,
they are actually striking with both so close together on a hair pin trigger
combination is to instantaneously change course all depending on wtf they do
to counter , If luck is such they dont counter what do you need all those fancy
practiced combos's for you got the first solid gold strike unless your vastly out
classed with any training at all you won,well almost,an expert versus the
unpredictable beginner student may feed a strike anyone can block ,its when
they do that their troubles begin to accumulate fast ,its like putting a golf ball
on a tee before you really swing through.what goes through their mind is I will
block this strike and then hit ,but they get that with their block they are already
a beat behind in the battle, and they are already hit, with a ricochet or another
strike right behind the first

 

[infinite beginner]

my editing timed out, but the irony is that they may
well see their block as an opportunity knocking, ideally
that is what they should believe , but what that does
is gather up, and focus all their energy on one task and
location, they were thinking feint left fake high eye gouge
right groin strike side knee tackle etc now flashing in their
mind they are thinking I've blocked, good so I'm ready
to hit not realizing they are a beat behind in the battle,
and in the space of that thought they have already been
hit ,by a ricochet or a spring loaded strike from the other
side .like an expert may feed an unpredictable beginning
student a strike anyone can block ,but when they do their
troubles begin to accumulate fast ,its akin to placing a ball
on a tee before swinging through,so silat utilizes alot of
blocking in its strategy,speaking of the opponents blocking
so how can we always flow if who we are up against we never
can know might be we're up against some deranged
master poe,perfectly countering and catching all the strikes we
throw, thats why in watching silat jurus practice its not just hit
hit hit like tough man competition shadow boxing its more
geometrical give and take with countering blended into the
motions ,to practice throwing three strikes without adding
any countering motions is just stupid, to go around throwing
two without is probably from what Ive seen, not even silat

 

[infinite beginner]

When walking along,some seen accelerates into altercation somehow and now theres a punch coming, do we meet and greet that offense with a cheery class setting playful response, no, we draw on our fierce attitude, for our life preserving counter, cause it pays to have a bad attitude switch to flick on and off when actually training , and not all I'll hit you now you come at me,no for that one second ofuk here comes a deadly strike whether its executed slow fast or full force shouldn't affect the attitude. at the point of activation, attitude converts into a force of focus , for a second all respect goes out the window with the strike coming in,or not depending how seriously one wants to make it or take it in play of practice,its like getting very almost angry but still fully relaxed it should be a subtle thing.

 

[Reedone816]

Mind set, you make the opponent forget; forget to defend himself, so he can be subdued easily. Now how to make him forget, we can do three things:
Hurt him,
Shock him,
And yes believe or not the last one is make him laugh, i.e. by tickling him.
Those three thing will make your opponent forget thus lost his defenses and becomes vulnerable for you to execute your finishing move.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[infinite beginner]

So I'm watching this schools free kun tau public seminar on youtube practical instruction, techniques conveyed with good sense of humor ,comedic skills value can not be underestimated. after a few minutes I took my zoom focus off the instructor, and just panned over the participants ,At the same instant, I thought probably allot of the types, that got picked on, and bullied all their lives . the group was about ten mostly skinny women and a dozen or so of the scrawniest and lankiest looking guys you could imagine with one short very obese fellow, this one girl with these pipe stem arms in the back trying to do a hammer fist with the demonstration it only showed the demonstration part, and you knew she couldn't generate enough power to knock out a goldfish , and the men didn't look much better ,and it all just amounts to teaching these near helpless people how to be just a little less helpless ,and thats like the best he do ,to show these weak and extra frail looking physiques , some techniques and concepts , in the class that won't really empower them to any significant degree without a ton of practice , But thats not the point , which is they are the ones who need it most where is the good teaching fighters how to fight better , there was a handful of student assisting and they were all fairly big and tough looking like most ma schools students look ,cause they have to be to hit the ground constantly and take the punches ,theres exceptions , but if you were one of those scrawny builds how apt are you to want to go join the average ma class full of physical jock types , some do step up and come out on top but , I'm sure a ninety pound weakling or two squeaked into the marine core too , its kinda sad all that ma understanding is ,not enough catered to those who really need it , I guess cause it was a free seminar probably in hopes of drawing new students ,and these frail people just kinda fell in the door figuring they could survive one class , been to a few and seen allot of ma schools most of the students ,are not of natural frail body types ,since real martial arts doesn't need strength to learn principles ,they really should have classes where ,weaker and more frail people could train together ;like a weaklings only class ,after they acquire skills ,who knows,Not to say it's mostly average to big dumb guys that keep the lights on at the schools, but yeah ,allot of big dumb guys training to beat up bigger dumber guys. In silat we never just pull the arm ,we pull the spine ,its rough and any whiplash is bad but there is a difference between a sedan and a mack truck , I trained with guys that could hardly fit through the door ,and you just always wanna say wtf are you here for,what are you a sadist , guys who just naturally almost take your arm off when they hit the focus gloves, under the same roof as a couple of those ,who you can't barely feel their force coming through and you almost want to say to them what are you doing here, what are you crazy? Later of course , when you really know what your doing, it does not matter , their size only their skill.A big part of silat skill is not being there ,knowing best and training ways how not to get hit ,

 

[MattofSilat]

Although it's not related to the OP, I think your last statement is wrong.

In every martial art, maybe even including BJJ, size and strength are vital. I would say that technique is important, but there's no way the statement that 'size' (Weight, Strength, Height) doesn't matter is a true statement. I would like you to name one martial art in which Size 'does not matter', excluding BJJ as that wasn't the topic at hand and it was designed for this.

Besides, realistically, you'd struggle IRL knowing BJJ and no striking techniques.

 

[Reedone816]

Just want to response two the two posts above. Just imho though
First is that every one has its mate in martial art, are you skinny, frail,fat,small, even difable can have the MA one fit for. What really need is a dedication, so I get your sentiment for a layman who think that they can attain munch in just a seminar or a training book/video. We can just hope for those people that seeing so much they don't know they are motivated to join MA school that fit with them.
As for the sweeping generalisation of athleticism and size is the most important part, I beg to differ. I used to think like that before I joined my new school, here strenght is a disadvantage. The more strenght you have, the stiffer your muscle is, the stiffer your muscle is the more it is insensitive to outside influence, thus easier to being manipulated.
And about size, the key is balance, once you lost your balance, no matter how big you are you'll still fall.
Of course in lower level those phisical advantage is exist, but the higher you climb, those things would be little to no factor.
Sent from my RM-943_apac_indonesia_207 using Tapatalk

 

[infinite beginner]

before you walk into a school, say your looking to train at a new place, are you thinking at all, about the height size, weight, of the instructor? the only thing that matters is what do they know, and how skilled are they behind their knowledge, Okay say you get attacked by someone twice your size and three times as strong ,are you gonna say to them, they aren't the right size opponent, for you no, all you have to compensate is your skill and that skill better include, the knowledge of severely, off balancing that giant, upon first contact ,say if your at that high level of skill , for instance then size and strengh ,shouldn't be such a problem All martial arts I ever heard of, say two things ,they use the the opponents strength against them, and the off balance the opponent , two goals they all strive for in common some wisely put it higher up on the scale than others but thats what its all about the art of off balancing your opponent , so many arts all trying to do the same thing from their so many different systems and approaches , in the great battle for balance how does one off balance the opponent let me rephrase what I said before forget all that sht bottom line is anyone who is with out balance is with out power, and with out defense. and for however big that window is , that they are kept off balance,they are going to receive one hundred percent plus impact , of any strikes delivered upon them ,provided the one striking has one hundred percent of their balance , allot of fighters can take punches ,but no fighter can take being held off balance and what fighter can take being hit with a hundred percent power while being kept off balance ,the martial art that always takes away balance and once its taken never lets them have it back the fact is in the beginning , strengh and size is ridiculously important ,take two beg students ,the bigger stronger one will pose a problem for the smaller one if the choose to and its gonna continue to be a problem until the advance to a certain skill level either by being too cooperative or too resistant ,htf are they supposed to flow through the material , yeah if your small and scrawny there might be another scrawny player or two there that day, but the point is if there isn't the they have a harder time time of it isn't the material alone hard enough,to absorb with out adding the having to rise to challenge part ,because it takes a long time,and a near endless grasp of understanding to become an expert, at the art of, no matter what it called , perpetually off balancing any opponent while perpetually keeping ones own balance full in check,or how can we understand our opponents balance weakness's with out first understanding our own,

 

[Reedone816]

^^ great explaination as always 👌
Sent from my RM-943_apac_indonesia_207 using Tapatalk

 

[infinite beginner]

hey thanks I was worried for a moment I had an argument going all martial arts is are complicated ,sometimes overboard bordering on into mysticism ,too hard to grasp with out your enlightenment hat on sold separately, funny though you don't see much of that mysticism in the ring or making it to the octagons, chi becomes so great a power that rivals the infinite tao ,thats like mixing batmans and supermans the way chi was explained to me is based more on edison less on esoteric, it has to grasped as a tangible thing or wrote off as mysticism the problem is its there,but since its invisible some claim it stretches to the moon others as far as just below the navel , and no more than a technique of breathing ,that converts oxygen into more energy, chi is air power, I was taught to breathe a certain way,one day and my teacher,had me hold up a kicking shield to my chest said, now stand there like you normally would , and he punched it ,about half force knocked me back some ,then he says now ,the other way, did the same punch and It didn't move me or disrupt my balance ,that was my first chi introduction, I'm like wow this works no leap of faith, its almost unbelievable, too easy with no effort of belief ,obviously you have to be acutely focused to whats going on , that awareness of where to focus that energy plays as great part as the breathing , its all simple as technique done right it just works, can one maintain this focused calm composure under fire ? not unless one has good skills and full confidence in them ,then maybe chi is a street practical tactic, the earlier you learn it the more years you have to potentially develop it but not just for fighting also for health because its no real advantage for a fighter until their physical skills boarder on the mystical already, if your great it may make you extra great but if your only good don't think it will help you win over the extra good, best to not let it get in the way of training until trained came on to talk about balance, and somehow ran into my chi rant best thing might be learn how to fight well first then breathe chi all the time or just breathe chi all the time to be healthier ,

 

[infinite beginner]

but back to chi ,as an electrical generator in more scientific terms, first and forever I thought all those u tube chi demos were phony , staged but if you notice its always with their own group, who are into the idea and are perfectly relaxed unthreatened willingly with all the symptoms of being susceptible , again with the smallest grain of salt , but its some great stunt work if nothing else , its chi psychology,maybe and when the whole group converge raining strikes down on the chi guy in the center , who wants to be the only one to accidentally graze the chi master ,so the same time they might think they are trying to strike them , they know they can't, cause no one else can , so they are actually try to strike and not strike them at the same time ,a skill they must practice cause they badly want to be the chi master in the middle that no one will quite strike they must practice this full force near contact striking and throwing allot back at their schools how else could they get so good at it , but maybe they believe it or want to so much, it becomes an actual physical shield around the guy in their mind , so under certain circus like circumstances it might become more real than otherwise , needles to say it won't work quite the same, with a typical pack of hells angels at the bar, all trying to stomp them at the same time , chi is in simplest terms more like an extension of alertness controlled internally easy to learn hard to master , everyone knows you have to use controlled anger has there ever been a great boxer who stepped into the ring who wasn't a little angry at the guy on the other side ,they used to say about tyson, he went out,fighting like the guy stole something from him , problem is out of the laboratory setting the sht hits the fan most of the chi goes out the window , along with everything else we've ever been taught, the whole chess board is thrown in our face ,like can you train to swat a fly that lands on you ,flies are fast and unpredictable ,there are no techniques maybe hope to intercept their trajectory, but its a direct line and focus to the target knowing there might be a window of a tenth of a second ,a fly could probably get in plenty of wing flaps in this period of time that seems short to us , so for us to say if the fly does this them I will counter with that , is a waste of time , and to say if an opponent throws a strike you can answer with combinations you train ,they won't work on a fly but you think ,they will on someone who is skilled , the jurus occupy and cover allot of airspace by always putting something out there, between you and the opponent , a motion practiced at the hip might be suddenly adjusted to a collarbone level hit off the parry , who knows what the other will do ,no one ,some they say oh hold your hands out in front of you with speaking gestures so you are just a flinch away from striking or blocking , true maybe you are in position to tell them you will fake high giving em what they expect ,almost and then strike low ,its inviting low kicks and if hands are at sides its inviting high strikes , to face a much farther and smaller target than is a kick to the ankle shin calf knee inner and out thigh groin hip socket etc, in silat they seem to automatically take as much of that out with the stepping into technique while closing into hand range ,you never would just go to lock an arm with out throwing in a low knee to the leg or adding foot stomp , that leads to a sweep ,or opens the way some step through throw , that you weren't even particularly looking for ,

 

[tiga]

Infinite beginner, although i value your articles, it might help if you make some normal sentences. Break the text up in paragraphes, add some spaces. Although it should be about content, your formatting of your articles get in the way and even prevent me of reading it.

With a little bit of spacing, you might get a bigger audience that actually reads your stuff.

 

[Reedone816]

It actually amusing looking all the text, it really gives me the air of like someone i know talk to me, instead of reading.
Btw. Regarding fake stuff, there is a saying, don't let the left hand know what the right hand doing...
Sent from my RM-943_apac_indonesia_207 using Tapatalk

 

[infinite beginner]

Okay ,my thoughts of jurus , means never having to step into the same stream twice you can practice combinations, or you can create them out of thin air, if you want to be tricky , but if you get too tricky you could get killed ,its like musical scales you wouldn't want to just pick up a violin for the first time and start jamming just cause you have been given a book outlining the scales to practice, after being shown how to hold it properly support its structure, then scales start to become possible to perform at this point one can drop their teacher and turn the scales into musical language, making up their own songs ,which makes as much sense, as being given the alphabet and then going off inventing your own words , when do the scales become song. seems the jurus are the language of the systems , each with its own dialect , and accent bottom line there are rigid confines to the art of composing endless combinations from jurus motions ,so it has to be a mixture of monkey see monkey do along with explanation and then ultimately we evolve through close guidance into being competent composers fact is how teachers use the jurus works, how beginners use the same jurus, don't work so they learned from watching their teacher who learned from watching their teacher , how good can one get at knowing the abc's ,once you know em you know em ,and how can knowing them better help you discover the hidden symbols called words its the same thing how insane for someone who master the jurus and forms to think they can build a technique on their own , that is to even try to figure out what a motion means ,is to bring the art to your level ,now if your level of understanding is high, than its a service to the art, if its low you bring disservice to the system, so knowledge of jurus without example and guidence along the way ,is a very dangerous thing ,My teacher would say its all in the jurus but as often equally true he would also say the jurus, tell you nothing

 

[Reedone816]

^^ it's all in buah, if you know buah, you can duplicate or create your own kembangan.
seeing kembangan as it is then you see nothing, but in kembangan you can see buah, but not all can see and not all can see the whole buah inside kembangan, that is why guidance is needed, to separate the weeds from the crops.
knowing the moves is less than knowing the concept, knowing the concept is less ideal than understanding the concept, because when you understand you can mold it as you like...

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Although it's not related to the OP, I think your last statement is wrong.

In every martial art, maybe even including BJJ, size and strength are vital. I would say that technique is important, but there's no way the statement that 'size' (Weight, Strength, Height) doesn't matter is a true statement. I would like you to name one martial art in which Size 'does not matter', excluding BJJ as that wasn't the topic at hand and it was designed for this.

Besides, realistically, you'd struggle IRL knowing BJJ and no striking techniques.

Size matters in BJJ as well!

 

[infinite beginner]

size matters in jj eh , tell that to little old man gracie when you walked into his old school of course size matters, but its value is incrementally diminished with the acquisition of skills also who gives a hoot bout joo jitzoo in a silat forum,thats a sport framed arena of combat , real silat is not, so they go for the mount they get their nuts twisted off ,immediately they forget how strong & ground skilled they are , and sure no one wants to fight no troglodyte ,cyclops , but if they know how to break someone down to size by any and all means, then their chances might be a little better, would you, on the street in self defense situation ,ever say to yourself, this attacker is too big, I am going to lose over my life ,all my training will prove futile against this large opponent, in the ring its relevant outside the ring the game is only survival, your only trophy is your life, there can be no debate, it can't matter,in that moment ,that is as a rule the more it matters the more it can not matter,and the street has no rules