Ability Escrima Concepts

Have you practiced today?

The author makes much sense Even though he's speciality is karate thrsame could be for all martial arts, fighting and self-defence are very different. There's nothing consensual about self-defence. There's no knowing when it will happen, if they'll be armed or not. You might be attacked by multiple assailants. Respectfully I often hear I don't want to learn weapons. That is fine if that's your stance, however when the person picks up a lump of wood, a broken glass bottle, or pulls a knife- those who understand and train with and against weapons know what to expect. Believe me knives move faster than you think. In Escrima Concepts we learn real life scenarios, armed and unarmed training; including going unarmed against weapons. I've trained with ppl in our system whom use these techniques while working as security, prison officers etc. I've been training a student that has worked in prisons for over two decades, and EC has taught them new ways to approach things.

If you want to learn self-defence, take it seriously. Anything that could potentially save your life deserved that. That might mean knowing how to deal with all avenues of attack.

Real violence is messy, sudden and beyond chaotic. To be prepared for that, you need to know how to deal with utter chaos, or as GM Steve says "be calm in the storm."

(Approx 2 minute 5 second read)

I once taught at a dojo where, for the most part, they were good people, strong spirit - but their idea of self-defense was almost entirely built around fighting and fitness.

That mindset wasn’t unique to them either. I’ve seen it many times.

In the same dojo, a student - seriously overweight - told me that if he was about to be attacked, he’d just use his weight to crush them. The instructor, also quite overweight, didn’t correct him. Again, the same theme: fight first, no strategy, no awareness of context. Just the belief that sheer weight will solve everything.

And all of this was being taught under the banner of “self-defense”.

Let’s be clear, which many people really need to understand: fighting and self-defense are not the same thing.

Fighting is consensual - you both know what’s about to happen. You both expect it. It takes place in a space where rules or control usually exist.

Self-defense is about chaos, panic, and real consequences. It’s often sudden, messy, possibly more than one attacker, maybe weapons - and it has nothing to do with proving your ability to trade blows.

This is a really important point - it is not a street-fight - which again, is both of you agreeing to fight with whatever rules you both decide upon.

When people are told they’re learning self-defense but are only being taught how to fight, it’s not just misleading - it’s dangerous. They walk out with confidence but no context. No understanding of escape, de-escalation, or legality. No grasp of what it means to not get drawn into violence in the first place.

Self-defense is about awareness. It’s about prevention. It’s about survival. We should be helping people stay out of fights, not teaching them to stand toe-to-toe and hope their weight will save them.

It’s time we stop dressing up sparring or competitive fighting as self-defense and start being honest about the differences.

I don’t care what your reason is for practicing the martial arts - whatever it is, that’s fine by me. I personally enjoy many parts of it, not just self-protection, but that is my priority.

It just seems that every dojo advertises that they teach self-defense. And I will bet you, they don’t. What they teach is fighting.

I know I come back to this subject a lot. But that’s because I’ve seen the consequences of getting it wrong. And if speaking up helps even one person ask better questions, it’s worth repeating.

And I get it - dojos need to keep the lights on. But if you're taking people's money under the promise of self-defense and only teaching them fighting, you're not just misrepresenting what you teach - you’re giving them a false sense of security.

You can teach fighting. You can teach self-defense. But if you don’t know the difference, or worse, you do and choose not to care - then you're not just lying to your students. You're lying to yourself.


Written by Adam Carter - Shuri Dojo

𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟖: Buenaventura Mirafuente wrote for the very first time that 𝐤𝐚𝐥𝐢 was the pre-colonial name for 𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐬.

From his article 𝘍𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦:

“At the beginning of the implantation of the Spanish sovereignty in the Philippines, 𝘬𝘢𝘭𝘪 was prohibited. Those who were caught playing it were considered 𝘵𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴, etc. Because of the fear of the natives of being persecuted, lodged in jails, banished, or used as beast of burdens in construction works, it was then necessary to find another name for the game. They took advantage of its revival when the missionaries introduced the 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘰-𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘰 play and when it became a common stage play throughout the Christian towns and cities as early as 1637. 𝘒𝘢𝘭𝘪 flourished again, this time as 𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘴”.

But is arnis really a pre-Spanish martial art?

Read more in my last paper 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘴:

https://www.facebook.com/169715366566414/posts/2245630135641583/