AN INTRODUCTION TO

SINGLE STICK ESKRIMA

BASED ON THE BALINTAWAK STYLE

PART I

THIS ICON CAN BE CLICKED

Malcolm Knight
 SINGLE STICK ESKRIMA
BASED ON THE BALINTAWAK STYLE
Copyright © Malcolm Knight 2011

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,
by photocopying or by any electronic or mechanical means,
Including information storage or retrieval systems,
Without permission in writing from both the copyright
Owner and the publisher of this book.

First Published Nov 2011

Malcolm Knight
Free E-book
 AN INTRODUCTION TO
SINGLE STICK ESKRIMA
BASED ON THE BALINTAWAK STYLE
 What you will need in order to fully utilise this guide.
1. At least two eskrima sticks.
I would suggest a very light weight stick for partner training (at least in the
beginning) and a padded stick would be a nice addition if you or your partner are
having difficulty in controlling strikes in the beginning. A reasonable stick can be
made from a piece of doweling wrapped in plumbing pipe insulation foam (just
push onto dowel and glue it) and parts are readily available from most diy stores.

2. A partner who is at least as interested as yourself and can make time to train
regularly.

3. Safety glasses, you will get knocked and bruised no matter how careful
you are and you only have one pair of eyes so protect them.

4. Patience and determination be prepared to work slowly at first and get it right
before any thought of adding power.

Further things to note.

1. Balintawak should ideally be taught one on one; that is to say one
student with one instructor.
2. Ideally the instructor should be more experienced than the student.

As you may be utilising this book as a total beginner to the system then it does
make things more difficult because the instructors’ reaction and the students
reaction to the same situation are often different. I have tried to flag this up
where appropriate and hope that it does not cause too much confusion. If you
are to play the role of both instructor and student then you should learn and
apply both methods according to the role you are playing at the time.

It is assumed that in phrases such as “the partners will then inform

each other of any correction needed” the reader will automatically understand
that if the ideal situation of experienced instructor (agak) and less
experienced student as mentioned above applies; then it is the agak who will
make corrections and adjustments and not the student.

This book is intended to be used as a reference by interested parties

and is in itself not a replacement for seeking qualified personal instruction.
Following the methods given in this book is done entirely at your own risk and
the author accepts no responsibility of any sort for misunderstanding or
injury that may result of you implementing or attempting to implement given
methods.
 Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the following people without whom I would not have
embarked on this project.

Doce Pares Cebu. It was their appearance in a BBC documentary entitled Way of
the warrior that first made me aware of the existence of eskrima.

Vitaliano Fernandez who rekindled my interest in eskrima and found me my first

Balintawak instructor.

Grand Master Nick Elizar and son Norman of World Nickelstick Eskrima Club
Balintawak Style. It was with Nick and Norman that I began my first steps into
Balintawak and encouraged me to experiment and adapt to find my way.

Fellow Nickelstick members I have practiced with, Chris, Michael and notably
master Victor Escobia whose movement and technique I particularly admire.

Master Wilson Ceniza of Teovels style Balintawak with whom I also trained.

Bobby Taboada who once gave kind words of encouragement to push on

regardless and who’s system (through my observation only) has influenced my
ideas and or approach to certain aspects.

Master Stephen Dyde (wing chun ) who gave me my first teaching break which
gave me a new perspective on technique and application.
It’s when you teach someone else that you really start to understand what
you are doing, especially when a student asks you “why?” and you need to be able
to justify it. Also for appearing in some video clips.

Students past and present first of all for enabling me to practice, explore and grow
by the act of teaching them and secondly for appearing in illustrations and videos
that are part of this package.
 Dedication
Not so much a dedication but, I embarked on this project for a number of reasons.

1. To have a written record for myself as to what and how I should be

practicing and just as importantly why.
2. To give myself a structured approach and hopefully not forget or exclude
something that I later may realise to be important.
3. To record options of action that occur to me at the time of practice but
may well be forgotten or altered when simply relying on memory.
4. I myself have been disappointed in the depth of detailed explanation
entered into by other instructional / reference material (written and visual)
that I have seen.
5. It would be nice to have things laid out from a student’s point of view.
6. Something to do, a challenge to write something both useful and
comprehensible.

So this e-book is for anyone who is looking for a start in Eskrima and has
heard the name Balintawak but knows nothing or little about its methodology
or what to expect in training. Anyone with even a passing interest in martial
arts looking to maybe pickup some training ideas.

But mostly this is for all of my training partners past, present and future.
 DECLARATION

At the end of the day this book simply presents my own take on things, it may
be wrong or it may be right. You may agree or you may not but if it gets you
thinking then that is good enough for me.
If it gets you to seek out actual personal instruction then so much
better.

I do need to point out that this work is not sanctioned

by, commissioned by or in any way approved by any
Instructor / school of Eskrima that I have or have not
trained with.
 CONTENTS

Item Page
What you will need ……………………………………… 4
Things to note …………………………………………….4
Acknowledgements ………………………………………5
Dedication ………………………………………………..6
Declaration ……………………………………………….7
About the author ………………………………………….10
Motivation for writing this guide …………………………11
A Practical Combat System ………………………………14
Interview with Grandmaster Nick Elizar …………………16
Principles of stick fight striking and blocking …………… 20
Welcome introduction ……………………………………..25
Primer …………………………………………………….26
The grip ……………………………………………………27
Use of the butt / punyo ……………………………………28
The stance ……………………………………………29
Warm up exercises ………………………………31
Twirling ……………………………………32
X marks the spot …………………………34
The closed X ………………………………36
Ranges ………………………………………37
Stepping ……………………………………39
Role of the live (empty) hand ……………………41
Moving the stick from strike to strike …………………… 42
Angle of the stick when striking …………………………43
Striking methods in training and combat …………………45
The basic strikes ……………………………………………… 47
Basic strike point chart ………………………………………48
Basic strike stepping charts ……………………………………49
Enhanced basic strikes ……………………………………51
Basic defence stepping charts ……………………………52
Stepping practice …………………………………………53
Basic strike practice (form version) ………………….……54
Basic 12 defences discussion …………………………..…57
Learning to Agak …………………………..……………… 59
Stick grabbing exercise ……………………………………67
Introducing basic kicking …………………………………67
Basic butting ……………………………………..……… 67
Solo butting form …………………………………………67
Butting practice with a partner …………………..………70
Item Page

Basic disarms discussion ……………………………71

Basic disarm practice …………………………………71
8count strikes & power strikes ………………………71
The 45 deg horizontal guard …………………………72
The assisted / augmented block ………………...……72
Conclusion ……………………………………………73
About the author.

Born on the 19th April 1958 in Birmingham England United Kingdom, I have for
as long as I can remember been fascinated with martial arts; I have always believed
that truth, justice and fair play for all was a common right of birth.
My first actual involvement with martial arts came in the mid 1970’s
during the kungfu boom and the bringing to the attention of the western world of
the late great Bruce Lee. I studied Chinese Wu Shu for a couple of years, looked at
Aikido from Japan and eventually found the Filipino art of Eskrima.
My study in Eskrima started in 2006 under Grand Master Nick Elizar in
the Balintawak style and continued under Master Wilson Ceniza, also a Balintawak
practitioner than reverted back to World Nickelstick Eskrima Club Balintawak
Style under grandmaster Nick Elizar. All my instruction has been in the Philippine
island of Cebu, the Philippines being the home of Eskrima

My purpose in writing this book is to help to make more people aware of the
Filipino arts as a viable alternative to the more prevalent combat systems on offer
from Japan, China, and Korea and of late Israel (Krav Maga).

I also know that not all teachers will give their students the full story and
sum of their knowledge freely, so accordingly I am including in this book
variations of drills and so called advanced performance of the drills (which in my
opinion should be taught as soon as the student has an understanding of the basic
movement) sometimes omitted by some instructors.

This book will enable you if you have a friend or partner to train with, to achieve a
good level of proficiency if practiced diligently and patiently. Remember no
system can be mastered overnight, repetition is the key to achieving proficiency
and speed is not necessarily king in a real fight.
 Motivation for writing this guide
Ok so what am I thinking, well I always wanted peace, justice and fair play for all.
Well the reality is it just doesn’t exist and it probably never will.
I spent my childhood being abused, bullied and downtrodden by all and
sundry and left with very little feeling of self worth. I tried to study martial arts in
an effort to avoid confrontation, no that’s not really true, in an effort to be able to
beat the crap out of anybody who called me names or shit on me. Trouble was, at
heart I don’t like to hit folks, in sparring practice I always pulled my strikes more
than those I was sparring with. Its not that I had no power, I was always pretty
strong, stronger than I looked but I needed to be hurt to let go and let my anger,
ferocity and strength come out. I have always held back from violence, I think it’s
because of always being picked on and bullied.
I started by taking kungfu lessons, hell everybody knew it was lethal, these guys
were superhuman and now there were all these masters coming out of hiding ready
to teach us, yes folks like me for a few quid, money well spent thought I.
I was only 14 at the time, well it didn’t suit me at all, and it was damn
hard work, sweat and pain for little return. How practical was it anyway in a real
fight to kick to the head, jumping spinning reverse turning kick, drop down to floor
level and chop to the ankle. The average Joe stood no chance without years and I
mean years of constant practice and who’s got the time for that!
So, long low stances, flowery movements, semi acrobatic techniques that
would not be out of place in a circus. Maybe a bad choice of style on my part (Wu
Shu Kwan) but not the solution to my problems. What next, well my old man (
father ) used to do judo years ago ( though I seem to remember him going to sort
out a neighbour and getting trashed ), I’ll take a look at that I thought but the
instructor turned out to be a right arsehole. Used to instruct the Olympic team some
years ago (I’m sure he said that) talk about shouting down other martial arts (is
judo a martial art? Well the roots are ju jitsu so it’s arguable), kungfu! No good,
karate! No good you got to learn judo if you want to be effective. Put me right of
him, still one good thing did come of it, practicing hip throw one night on the mat
with the old man and I followed the throw down to land on him, cracked his ribs so
not a total loss.
Judo, nah too much pulling and pushing and untidiness for me so that’s
another strike out.
What’s this! Evening classes in aikido! Wow looks great, use opponents
own strength to hurl him across the room. Well maybe if you spend years and years
training everyday but otherwise, it’s a slow slow road to proficiency. Besides the
school I practiced at was one of those where you stuck out your arm as a punch and
left it there till the other guy got hold of it then you let him bend and twist it at will.
Resisting or pulling back your hand after a strike really screwed them. No not
practical for the common Joe.

Lets be honest here what we want is something that’s quick to gain

proficiency at, effective and causes most damage with minimum effort, and most
of all it needs to be techniques and training methods that the average Joe can
perform, natural movements, low number of steps to perform a technique and not
require years of practice, Olympic athlete levels of fitness or circus performer
flexibility.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daily Blurb
Peasants take up arms and defeat bandits with
simple work tools
Fact or Fiction?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The story of japans weapons such as tonfa, nunchaku (rice flail) staff etc,
we are told that the samurai forbade the peasants to carry bladed weapons so the
poor unfortunate farmers adapted their everyday tools in order to protect
themselves.
Come on these were poor undernourished uneducated farmers and menial
workers, working from sun up till sun down in order for their families to be able to
survive. Where did they get the time to perfect these highly technical intricate
fighting arts? They may well have picked up their work tools to protect themselves
but I doubt that there was any finesse to its execution, certainly nothing like what
we see presented to us today as the ancient art of tonfa, nunchaku or staff.

Think about it.

In my experience most scuffles / fights take place at close range in bars or
clubs with tables / chairs / people or other objects to hinder your efforts to adopt a
stylish long low stance or perform blocks in sweeping circular motions never mind
kick to the head putting yourself on poor balance and leaving the family jewels
open for bashing!
I stopped training and decided that martial arts developed hundreds of years
ago should stay in the past, I experimented with a principle that seemed to make
sense to me and that was strike and parry at the same time, I found out later it was
rather similar to wing chun but I never really pursued it after all what can you do
alone?
I spent a lot of years still thinking about wreaking revenge on the myriad of
arseholes that seemed to dominate everywhere I looked. Lifting weights incline
pressing 100kgs, shadow boxing in front of the mirror, running through fight
scenarios in my imagination where I was of course the unquestioned victor. I
would smash my enemies and cripple or even kill them for the cause of fair play,
truth and justice. Then I would wake up thinking that somewhere there must be a
real reliable direct method that the average Joe could use to attain his true
potential.

The west seems to be stuck with this idea of the martial arts master
as portrayed in the kung fu movies of the 1970’s students dropping to their knees
and pressing their faces to the floor as soon as a master enters the room.
 This is where Eskrima or Arnis comes in, this was new to me at any rate,
the BBC was showing martial arts documentaries and this looked interesting.
Philippines? Where was that! Train with weapons first! Hang on this looks like its
realistic, even practical, now that can’t be right. Deciding to investigate this
phenomena further I found a whole world of Filipino martial arts that nobody of
my acquaintance at least seemed to know about, the first place I visited was Doce
Pares in Cebu, after all this was the school featured in the documentary. A simple
house a friendly openness a desire to demonstrate, discuss and accept criticism
about the art. Who was this guy? No other than grandmaster Diony Canete as far as
he was concerned he was just a regular guy and he acts just like you and me. In
fact talking with Diony this April 2006 he told me of his embarrassment when he
visited USA ( 2005 I think he said ) to organize seminar/tournament he was greeted
at the airport by limo and taken to top class hotel greeted by the manager and
introduced as the grandmaster of the famous Doce pares. Thing is he was in old
sneakers, tee shirt and also limping so hardly presented the impression of a great
warrior the fuss and favor seemed to promise. He found it highly amusing
recounting this to me at his home and this is what I mean about not placing
themselves on pedestals.
Back home in UK I began searching for instruction and failed miserably,
one guy promising instruction turned out to offer 99% Thai boxing and a few
siniwali, not even demonstrating basic strikes. A couple of clubs within 30 minutes
travel offering 2 hours training per week! It was a joke so I searched the internet
and videos to find techniques to copy; I even sunk a post in the back yard to
practice striking and would twirl around thrashing and stabbing like a lunatic.
I was no nearer to being a warrior now than I was 30 years ago, time was
running out.
This was when I discovered Balintawak style Arnis on the net and it turned
out that a relative in Philippines had actually trained in it! How come I never heard
about this before? Well this was my last chance and I decided to take it, pressuring
my nephew in Cebu to find me an instructor in Balintawak style I planned my trip
this April 2006.
Much searching led me to Nick Elizar Grandmaster and founder of
Nickelstick Balintawak style Arnis. And you know what? I didn’t have to climb
any mountains, swim any raging rivers or complete any trials in order to meet the
guy.
When I met Nick my first impression was that here was a small regular
looking guy, not a fighter type; no broken nose, scars, massive callused knuckles!
Taking a second look I could see that the guy was muscled, he moved easily
relaxed, his grip was firm his voice was almost soothing and reassuring.

We had met in a park local to nicks place, Nick and his son Norman were to show
me what sort of thing I should expect from training Balintawak, after ten minutes I
knew I had at last found my martial home. It had taken me many years and many
questions but now finally at the grand age of 48 and only semi fit I knew that
Balintawak due to its teaching methodology could enable me to achieve my
ambitions.
 A Practical
Combat System
Q : What is Practical Combat?
A: A system of combat that is relatively quick to gain proficiency in, does not
require extreme levels of fitness, strength or agility, simple to execute techniques
and produces maximum results from minimum effort.

Let’s expand on those points a little.

Fast to learn, now realistically there is no system in existence in which
you will become proficient overnight but there is no reason why you should need
to spend years in training just to be able to defend yourself.
Techniques and the principles behind them need to be simple direct and give
maximum return. No technique should comprise of more than 4 movements at an
absolute maximum. Techniques should not require more than average dexterity to
perform and should be capable of being executed in a confined space as well as
open areas.
Maximum damage for minimum effort, it should follow that the more
effort you put into a technique the more damage results. Each technique should
potentially be capable of causing damage or even finishing the fight in its own
right, so it should target the weak or unprotected areas of the body. Movements
should be as natural as possible and seek to exploit the natural action / reaction of
the body. Transition of empty hand to weapons should require as little adjustment
to technique as possible.

So how have I approached this task in the training I myself follow and
teach to others? By deciding to base it heavily on the Balintawak style Eskrima
from the Philippines.
Our needs require a good solid core, a tried and tested method of training,
and Balintawak fulfils those needs superbly. To understand why it is necessary to
briefly describe the methods behind Balintawak training so here goes.
Balintawak traditionally according to many top grand masters and masters
contains no fancy flowery stick flourishes, no overhead blocks such as roof and
umbrella, no low or unnatural stances, no kata or forms and no siniwali or amarra.
Balintawak was designed to be a practical tool to get a job done with minimum
fuss, that job being to destroy ones opponent. Actions are direct, easily executed
and follow the body’s natural movements. Some of this is debatable because there
are set pieces that the student is required to learn parrot fashion, just less of it than
in some other systems.
The real secret of Balintawak is in its teaching method, it is taught one to
one, one teacher to one student. In the first lesson the student learns how to hold
the stick, how to stand and how to execute the basic 12 strikes. Next the student
learns the basic 12 defence techniques; the teacher (agak) will strike at the student
with each of the 12 strikes in numerical order and guide the student by way of
pushing or pulling the students weapon hand to the correct response. Pretty soon
the student is able to execute the correct response and the guidance ceases, the
agak then strikes to the student with the 12 basic strikes but in random order, this
teaches the student to read body language and respond with the correct defence.
This method of training is called palakaw and is the core of Balintawak,
all stems from palakaw. Now once the student becomes proficient at palakaw it
may give the impression of fighting / sparring, it is not. Palakaw is simply a drill, a
method of reflex development; it speeds reaction time and promotes muscle
memory. Just like Pavlov’s dogs we are aiming to condition a set type of response
to applied stimuli.
Also with palakaw the agak has all the fun, whilst the agak can apply any
attack in any order the poor old student is restricted to replying with one of two
strikes dependant upon which side of his body he is defending. This is so that the
student does not have to concentrate too much on the correct delivery of a counter
and also the teacher can concentrate more on observing and correcting the student.
Another important thought behind Balintawak is to learn to defend before
you learn to attack. Indeed what is the point of being able to attack if you have no
defence when counter attack is applied or maybe you are not the one to initiate the
attack!
After basic palakaw come groupings of techniques (5 in all) which seek to
instil responses to certain situations that may arise. What if he grabs and holds my
stick? What if he uses multiple head attacks? What if he attacks with the butt of his
stick, maybe whilst holding mine? What if he punches as well as strikes with the
stick?
The groupings attempt to answer these questions but not in a way set in
stone, some of the movements in groupings are not in themselves a valid means of
escape in a real situation but are preparatory in nature, often there are a variety of
actions one can take and the groupings lead to a discovery of possible alternatives.
So far the defensive technique has been a 3 stage process block, check
(control) opponents weapon and counter strike, this is still at the conditioning stage
remember we are not sparring yet. As training progresses it moves on to a system
of block/check and strike simultaneously and the aim is to develop independence
of the two hands. The weapon hand concentrates on attack and the empty hand
(called the live hand) defends, checks, deflects attack. It is quite possible (indeed
inevitable) that at some points the roles will be reversed with the weapon hand
defending and the live hand attacking.
That is a broad outline of Balintawak, the important thing for us is the
teaching method, one to one right away using practical technique, building reflex
speed and although you may not realise it beginning to understand body language
and body mechanics.

***************************************************************
 Interview with Grandmaster Nick Elizar
founder of Nickelstick Balintawak Escrima
by Malcolm Knight

MK : Nice to see you again Nick, first let me say

how much I enjoyed my training with Norman and
yourself in Cebu, April just past (2006). I am really looking forward
to my next visit but for those folks that do not know of you, your
reputation and the Nickelstick Balintawak style perhaps you could
give a small introduction.
GM Nick : Okay, let me first introduce myself, I am Grandmaster
and founder of World Nickelstick Balintawak Escrima Club,
Nicomedes Albutra Elizar, born on Sept. 15, 1948 in the small
municipality of Ronda, southern part in the province of Cebu,
Philippines. I was only five years old when my parents migrated to
the queen city of the south- Cebu city, Philippines in order to seek a
greener pasture. My contact cell phone number is +639192175863
and my landline is (032)412-1248 and my complete address is 84-y
Cabantan st., Brgy. luz, Cebu city, Philippines.
MK : So Nick how long have you been involved in martial arts I
know you have experience in systems other than escrima, what was
your first martial art and what attracted you to it? Is involvement in
martial arts a family tradition?
GM Nick : At the young age of 13, my favorite sport was boxing, a
first year high school student in university of the Visayas, Cebu city,
Philippines, I have already some amateur boxer friends in our school.
at first I am only learning this as my body fitness, but later on, I
learned that boxing was a very good lesson in martial arts self-
defense. My father told me that my grandfather was also good in
escrima martial arts, although I was not able to learn from him
because by the time that I started training self-defense, he was
already dead.
MK : What made you change to escrima and was the Balintawak
style your first choice? If not what other styles did you try and why
did you change to Balintawak?
GM Nick : After being trained in boxing for about three to four
years, I changed to karate. Then after learning karate I formed my
owned fighting style in combining my punching and kicking, at that
time kickboxing was not yet introduced in our place.
I was also training in kung fu under gm Johnny Chiuten, if you have
a copy of the book entitled Warrior arts of the Philippines, you can
find there some demonstration between gm Johnny and me.
As years goes by I, again keep on searching for more improvements
in martial arts, I happened to visit different martial arts club in Cebu
city way back in 1972, one day whilst I am walking through the
street of Colon, in Cebu city, one of the oldest street in our country, I
accidentally bumped into Bobby Taboada, my childhood neighbor
and a very close friend of mine. After exchanging stories and
updating each other on our lives, Bobby Taboada invited me to
attend in his eskrima training session in balintawak international self
defense club. During that time the club was run by late gm atty. Jose
Villasin as the president, late Teofilo Velez, as the vice president and
the great late gm Venancio Bacon as the grandmaster. gm Venancio
Bacon was the founder /grandmaster of the balintawak original club.
After viewing some of the eskrima techniques being demonstrated by
late gm Teofilo Velez and Bobby Taboada, I applied right away for
enrollment as a new student of the club.
MK : I believe that in the old days balintawak had no amarra or
empty air sequences to learn am I right?I am thinking of the 8,9 and
10 count striking patterns, the basic 12 position butting and of
course the power strikes. I am sure there are other innovations that I
am as yet unaware of.What was your motivation for introducing
these into the Nickelstick system.
GM Nick : Before world war 11 our eskrima /arnis merely
consisted of plain hitting the opponent by the attacker and vice-versa
with the used of sticks of varying length and size, usually a rattan
stick not less than one meter long and about one peso coin in
circumference. But now, our eskrima/arnis style has developed by
combining punching, elbowing, holding, pulling, pushing, butting,
head batting, kicking, foot sweeping or tripping as well as the
application of combat judo.
MK : When was the birth of the Nickelstick Balintawak system and
what prompted you to develop it?
GM Nick : The year 1977 was very fruitful and gratifying when I
was finally given the opportunity and authority to organize an
eskrima club in Dumaguete city, Philippines by both the president
and vice president of the balintawak international self defense club.
During my time in that city I happened to meet some eskrimadors
who came to my club maybe to test my expertise in escrima, but
luckily not one of them succeeded in defeating me, so my club
continued.
In 1979, when I returned to Cebu city I stayed at my elder brothers
place in Englis, barangay Guadalupe. There I formed an eskrima club
consisting of not less than 30 students, but at the same time
continued developing and training with gm Teofilo Velez. So that
when the Teovels balintawak group was formally organized in April
17, 1982 headed by gm Teofilo ,I was one of those inducted as a
members of the board of directors and instructor.
On Feb. 17, 1990 gm Teofilo Velez passed away and his eldest son
Pacito Chito Velez became the successor of his father and became
the new grandmaster.
In 1994 during the birthday anniversary of the late gm Teofilo I was
one of the awardees to received a certificate of master degree from
gm Chito Velez and became the chief trainer and chief instructor of
the world Teovels balintawak self-defense club- white chapter for a
couple of years.
But perhaps more in answer to the question, Filipinos are martial arts
loving people, hence it is but logical and proper, and we should
develop our own style or flavour of martial arts.
It is then that I organized and formed a more developed eskrima
style, the World Nickelstick Eskrima Club, balintawak style.
On April 27, 2003 together with my officers and members of my
World Teovels balintawak - white chapter, held a general meetings
and one of the items on the agenda was to rename my group into
World Nickelstick Eskrima Club which was carried unanimously.
The officers and members who were present during the
aforementioned meeting strongly and formally endorsed me to be the
grandmaster of the new club, and this was the birth of the World
Nickelstick Eskrima Club, balintawak style.
Nickel is from my name Nick plus the first two letters of my last
name joined, stick signifies the single stick style of balintawak.
MK : What do you see as the future development for Nickelstick style
balintawak?
GM Nick : Right now I am busy conducting arnis seminars and
workshops to different groups of martial arts aficionados, police
officers, and some physical education students from other
universities. Propagating and promoting this cultural treasure from
our forefathers, our filipino martial arts, and arnis.
My goal in organizing and forming this club is to promote our very
own filipino martial arts especially the World Nickelstick Eskrima
Club, balintawak style to the rest of the world.
MK : Thank you Nick and finally may I say what a pleasure it has been to discuss
these matters with you and I personally wish you well with all and any attempts to
put Nickelstick balintawak fairly and squarely on the map where it belongs.
Principles of stick fight striking & blocking
What is the best way to strike an opponent?
What is the best way to block that strike?
These are questions that you have probably asked yourself many times
and the answers are as varied as the styles of the practitioners. So let’s look at
some basic theory behind various options and see what conclusions we can draw
from them.

First up is the theory that speed equals power.

I don’t think that anyone would dispute that being hit by a car travelling at
60 mph is going to cause more damage than a car travelling at 30 mph, so I think
we can safely assume the same for a blow to the head with a stick.

Second is the theory that the tip of the stick travels faster than the held end in a
typical strike, say to the head.

Let us assume that our stick length is 26

inches and that the angle at “a” is 2 inches along the stick and the angle at “b” is 24
inches along the stick. Let us also assume that for the stick to move from vertical to
horizontal pivoting on its base takes 1 second.

Using the equation PI multiplied by D where D is the diameter of the circle and the
fact that the angle we are moving through (45deg) equates to ¼ of the
circumference we can arrive at the following conclusion.

Base to a = 2 inches so diameter must be 4 inches x PI (3.14…….) = 12.5 (circle

circumference) divide by 4 to give our 45 deg travel = 3.1.
So point a is travelling at 3.1 inch per second.

Base to b = 24 inches so diameter must be 48 inches x PI = 150.72 (circle

circumference) divide by 4 to give our 45 deg travel = 37.6

So point a is travelling at 3.1 inch per second.

So point b is travelling at 37.6 inch per second.

*Note Circle circumference = pi x r^2 (pi=3.14….. r = radius r^ = diameter)

The tip of the stick is travelling at more than 10 times the speed of the held end,
therefore we can assume that it is far more destructive. Of course in reality we
don’t always strike in such a manner so that the tip end up on the same plane as the
held end at the same time unless using a curbada (curving) type of strike.

Although an actual strike would look more like this, overall the tip is the more
potent part of the stick for striking.

Now as to the blocking question, knowing what we know from the above should
lead us to the logical conclusion that blocking nearer to the held portion needs less
energy to stop the blow. In the real world however there are other things to
consider.

One style of execution is as follows.

Keep the blocking stick close to the body, slightly in front and to the side
of the target area.
Don’t chase the strike, let it come to you.
As “b” strikes toward “a” with a shot to the side of the head , “a“places his stick slightly
forward and to the outside of the left shoulder.
One advantage of this is that the distance travelled from guard to block position is small
so therefore very fast. Also blocking in this manner guards against curbada, strikes
curving around the guard and still striking “a” in the head.
The obvious disadvantage is that a’s block has to take the full force of “b’s” strike.
Would it be better for “a” to block midway along “b’s” stick (point x) and risk a curving
strike?

One answer to the above could be that “a” should block midway along the strike
because.

1 . The force required to stop or significantly reduce the power of the blow is
reduced.
2 . The risk of a curve strike getting through is low if “a” uses his live hand as a
back up behind and to the rear of his block, as is common practice in the
Balintawak style, this facilitates grasping the opponents stick in order to
immobilise or disarm etc.

But if your opponent “b” is faster than you then you may need to execute the
shorter distance close to body block in order to nullify “b’s” attack.

Another style of execution relies on blocking or in effect aborting the opponents

attack before force can be built up.

The advantage of this is that very little force has been generated by “b” and a great deal
of force has been generated by “a” so the attacking strike should be easily aborted.
One thing to bear in mind is that “b” may still has the opportunity to curve around the
block and thrust into “a”.
The one constant thing that must be remembered is that a blocking force must be
greater than the force it meets if it is to overpower it.

If the block is weaker then the attacking force is lessened but still continues on.
This may be desirable if you intend to use his own force / momentum of the attack
against your opponent but has risks.

If the blocking and attacking forces are equal.

The attack is stopped where the two forces meet, great setting up for grabs etc and
you can use the rebound factor to propel your own weapon into a follow up strike.
Beware, what works for you can also work for your opponent.

The blocking force is greater than the attack.

The attack is in effect reversed with the attacking weapon forced into a backtrack
situation , this should give a split second opening for follow up striking.

The conclusion ?
There does not appear to be a simple answer, it depends very much upon personal
preference and ability so I suggest that you try both methods and see which you are
most happy with.
There is a lot to be said for aborting attacks before they get under way but
it is not always possible.
We also have other things that have to be considered; speed of the player
and experience being amongst them. If our defender happens to be particularly fast
then maybe he is able to abort the strike almost at its inception but then we have
the dilemma of already being so close to the target (the ideal area being the head)
with our weapon that we simply don’t have much distance in which to build
massive striking power. Maybe our defender although fast lacks experience and so
therefore does not see the attacking strike until it is well underway, he could still
through speed move to block the strike either midway along the attacking stick
with the live hand for backup or close to his targeted area creating maximum
distance for generating his own destructive counter strike!

Wait a minute I hear you cry; what if the striker is the fast one and the defender is
the slower.
Experience, especially if gained through practice with a variety of partners
(the ideal) or opponents brings us greater benefits than even speed alone can bring;
The ability to read body language; the ability to see the slight giveaway twitch that
precedes a strike, the ability to pick up on pattern striking by the opponent
(repeated combinations). Perhaps we open our guard to offer a target that is so hard
to resist that he takes his chance and we close the trap, baiting can be very effective
if employed properly. One word to sum up this characteristic would be awareness.
Speed definitely is an advantage if you have it and a great frustration if
you don’t; as someone not endowed with super speed myself I would advocate the
following strategies.
• Bait your opponent by repeatedly allowing small openings to appear in
your defence, not to the head that’s far too critical but a body shot maybe.
• Start to intercept your opponents strike as soon as you see / sense it, aim
to block about halfway along his stick ( without excessively reaching for
it) so looking for the advantage of blocking a less powerful attack but
 continue the blocking movement back toward your own body keeping in
contact with his stick as you do so backing up with the live hand just in
case, this gives you protection against curved strikes, an opportunity to
grasp his weapon and you have created distance for generating maximum
counter strike power.

I feel that I cannot close this submission without admitting that, yes powerful
strikes can be generated with very short movement of the stick by employing the
torquing or twisting of the whole body as a generator but that is another article in
itself.

Speed is an undeniable advantage to have but awareness may prove to be a better

option.
Welcome to an introduction to the single stick work of Truth Eskrima Group.
First off let me start by saying that there are multiple reasons why someone may
take up a study of martial arts, some of these reasons are probably based on myth
and misconception and some a genuine need and or desire to feel more confidant
and able to protect oneself.

I believe that most folks getting into martial arts fall into one of the
following categories.

1. The academic.
He / She likes the idea of being able to perform a ballet like sequence
of techniques in seamless fashion including spectacular disarms,
throws, locks, takedowns etc. A desire to understand the underlying
thoughts and principles of techniques, this is the arty or technical side
of the system.

2. The professional combatant.

He / She is a member of the military or law enforcement / security
services and needs something that is quick and simple to learn and
effective with deadly force. Style or form is of no concern the need is
for pure survival.

3. The average Joe.

He / She is looking for a quick to learn uncomplicated system of self
defence for use in day to day life situations. Training is also a bit of a
social occasion and not to be taken too seriously.

In all likelihood you will fall into a mixture of these categories and how you train
is entirely up to you!
If you want to perform with style adhering to perfect ideal form then you
can, if however you are more concerned with just getting the technique to work or
maybe you have some physical limitations then no problem. I guess that what I am
trying to say is this, so long as you avoid the blow and get your stick between you
and the attack then I don’t care if you do it in style.
So long as you strike your opponent with sufficient power to stun or distract then I
don’t care about perfect body mechanics.
A hit to the head with a stick is going to hurt whether it has body torque
behind it or just arm / shoulder power. If you can just distract / disrupt your
attacker for a moment, that can be long enough to allow you to follow up with
additional attacks or make your escape.

One thing I want to stress here is that the counter attack is not finished until your
opponent is no longer a threat.

You may find that you gain added benefit from the training if you try the
techniques both stylised and raw so to speak, sometimes torquing the body can be
more critical than others depending upon weapon and situation.

Now let us proceed to the primer part of this course.

I would advocate training with a variety of stick lengths; personally I like to use 18
inch and 26 inch rattan about 1 inch diameter. The shorter stick is firstly more
representative of the type of baton issued to security / law enforcement (Leo)
personnel and secondly forces a student to operate at closer quarter, get used to the
idea of advancing into an opponent rather than retreating.

The first thing we want to look at is our grip and our stance, stance is a term I use
loosely because we don’t want to get caught up in a classical type of restraint or
nonsense like “you can only do a number 1 strike from a number 3 stance” etc. A
good foundation to work on is the boxing stance, feet approx shoulder width apart
from front to back and side to side, knees very slightly bent and hands drawn up
around the chin / head area. If we are at long range then if you are right handed
your right foot should be forward and your left shoulder slightly forward, this gives
a lot of striking power as we torque the body. If we are close range then I prefer a
more square on for the body no matter which foot is forward.
The grip:

1. First take a hold of the stick horizontally in front of you with your weapon
hand.
2. Now grasp the stick right at the bottom with your live hand.
3. Now grasp the stick with the weapon hand butted up tight against the live
hand.
4. Remove the live hand and that leaves us with approx 1 fist width of butt.
Uses of the butt? Well how about close range striking and hooking for
Starters.
The stance:

Our stance needs to be such that we can move easily forward, backward and side to
side with minimum effort; have a solid base and as natural to assume as possible.
It is for this reason that we are going with a boxing type stance, feet
should be just over one normal walking pace apart front to back and side to side.
Note that the heel of the rear foot is slightly raised.

This stance can be used for both attack and defence however in the
beginning we are going to use it for our attack position only.
 This stance is also used for both attack and
defence and is especially suited to bobbing,
weaving and generally moving around the
opponent whilst enabling us to be ready to
either strike or block.

The stick is kept as

upright as possible
throughout our
blocking techniques;
this provides a good
solid block with little
chance of the
opponent’s weapon
sliding up or down.
You will often find
this referred to as
candlestick mode, this
upright positioning is
what we a trying to
maintain throughout
our blocking
execution. The
weapon arm forms an
L shape or right angle
and you can think of
the elbow as being
fastened to the side.
The live hand
hovers around the
This is the stance that we will be using for training on the chest area, lightly
defensive side until we gain speed and confidence and resting on the body
learn to read the body language of our training partner / with fingers half open.
opponent.
One important point that I must make is that both knees point forward at all times,
the toes as much as possible point straight forward. If your feet tend to point
outward like me then the important thing to remember is that the knee on the rear
leg must point forward and not out to the side. When the back stance (weight
shifted mostly to the rear leg) is practiced in some arts the knee of the rear leg is
allowed to point outward along with the toes, this gives rise to the familiar
expression T stance.
The reason that we want to avoid this is that with the knee forward it is
much easier to step backward and forward and also it protects you from getting
your knee kicked / trodden on and broken by your opponent stepping through and
onto it when advancing. If the knee is trodden on from the side it is easy to snap, if
however the knee is forward and slightly bent it becomes very strong so always
keep both feet and knees pointing forward as much as possible.
The other thing to note is that the elbows are in all the stances held close
to the side of the body and not allowed to hang out where they are prone to attack
and expose the ribs.

Warm up exercises.

We want to warm up our wrists, shoulders, knees and hips before we start so let’s
look at the exercises.
For the wrists a simple rotation of the wrist while holding out the stick at arms
length, straight ahead, to the side and overhead. A count of 10-15 twists in each
position should suffice. If you want to use two sticks simultaneously then feel free.

Exercise 1.

.
Twirling:
Now don’t think that we are getting into the cheerleader type of stuff here
because we are not. Twirling can help to strengthen and mobilise the wrists and
enable fast follow up strikes so, although not a major part of our system it is useful
non the less.
If you are new to twirling then start out slowly, grip the stick in standard
grip (as above) and simply rotate the stick upward or downward in a circular
motion alongside the body not in front. The important thing to remember is to try
to maintain a full grip all the time, do not twirl the stick with finger and thumb
because you will lose it if struck by an opponents stick. To start with perform
the swing using more arm motion than wrist and as you get used to it reduce the
arm motion and put more emphasis on the wrist.
Use one stick or two whichever you prefer, 8 downward rolls and 8
upward should suffice for warm up.
Note: A heavier stick can be useful to pull the stick to inward but be careful not to
over do it with heavy sticks, wrist injuries can be serious.

Exercise 2.

Using the above figures as illustration, imagine that you have hold of a handle
attached to a wheel (such as may be found on an old water pump) shown by the
circle in figures A & B and you must wind the wheel around and around.
Now take hold of a stick and repeat the procedure pointing the end of the
stick to follow the circle, start of a little like bowling or throwing a ball underhand.
Let the circular motion of the hand and lower arm be exaggerated to start with
allow the hand to drift outward out of line with the elbow, gradually tighten the
movement and narrow it down as much as possible to the wrist. This exercise will
take time to master but as you are able to rotate with just the wrist then raise and
lower the arm to various degrees as you perform twirling, 4 twirls as you bend the
elbow to raise the hand to shoulder level and 4 more as you lower to starting
position.

For the rest of our body we will use power strikes #1 and #2
Plenty of body torque (twist) for this, 8-10 strikes in each direction.
Note the shifting of the feet; rising and lowering onto the ball of the foot is
important in this exercise.
Perform 8 strikes to the left and then 8 strikes to the right cutting shoulder to hip.

Exercise 3.

Next you may want to continue the arc of the stick upward from the end
position of strike #1 bringing you to the start position for strike #2 and then the
same at the finish position of strike #2 bringing about a flow in the X pattern
discussed next.
 X Marks the spot
One of the most important striking patterns we can learn is the X strike performed
both downward and upward. The x strike cuts diagonally from shoulder to hip and
hip to shoulder and is useful for closing distance from long to medium / close
range.
You can perform this against empty air or a tree, post, telegraph pole edge of a
building or why not simply draw a chalk outline of a body on a wall, maybe do it
in front of a mirror! Use stick or blade the same way, the only difference I would
highlight is that with a blade (bolo, dagger or similar) you will be closer to the
target so use a less pronounced body motion and keep the hands closer to your own
centre line. This expansion / contraction of our X pattern is called the large circle
and the small circle, feel free to try both variations whichever weapon you are
using.
 Now let’s look at doing the X patterns with stick and blade, spend time
practicing the exercises as below as this is great preparation for closing distance.

Starting with the downward x start in attack position, stick / blade

chambered at the right ear rear foot slightly raised. Cut diagonally down from
opponents left shoulder to right hip, as you cut start to transfer the body weight
back to the rear foot flattening it as you twist the body slightly to the left. Continue
the cut down and then loop upward alongside your own left body side up to your
left shoulder, twist the stick / blade to face edge foremost and cut diagonally from
opponents right shoulder to left hip transferring bodyweight back to an even spread
between front and back with rear heel slightly raised and body twisting slightly to
the right this time. Cut through and bring the stick / blade up alongside or a little
behind your own body to return to the starting position.
Continue this motion rocking back and forth twisting the body 10 or 12
cycles in each direction. Try it with a knife and see how it feels, remember the
large and small circle principle.
Note the shifting of body weight front to back and how the body leads the strike,
in reality at mid to close range the movement can / will be smaller but it will be
there just the same. I believe that if you exaggerate the movement in the beginning
then it will come out ok when more reality based.

Another variation you should practice is what I call the closed X, especially useful
at closer ranges (but not exclusively) because after the initial diagonal slash instead
of continuing the circular motion to come up to position on the outside for slash
two; We keep our weapon pointed at the opponent and thrust upward along the
centreline then at the top transfer across for our next diagonal slash. Again at the
bottom we thrust back up the centre line and by so doing always have our opponent
covered and give ourselves a faster strike opportunity.

Follow the diagram below and start from “A” as your initial strike point,.

If you have a partner to practice with then get him to move around whilst you
perform the pattern, alternatively if you are using a pole, tree or other such object
as your reference point then you should practice this whilst moving around your
target.

There is an old saying “wood seeks bone, steel seeks flesh” so in reality the stick
should strike diagonally to temple or clavicle and the blade diagonally to the neck.

Foot movement

X marks the spot

 The closed X has the advantage of being both offensive and defensive at the same
time with a very fast return strike and keeps the opponent covered at all times
throughout performance of the pattern.

The range in which we are operating also needs to be considered in deciding what
techniques to use and how. Try doing the downward x pattern and as you reach the
bottom of the downward cut to your right side, throw a left punch to the opponents
throat or solar plexus. Use the knife and after each downward cut strike out with
your live hand, punch him, grab and hold him, push him or whatever.

The above techniques are useful as warm up exercise, attack and defence at long
range, preparing to close the distance and generally becoming comfortable in
handling the stick.

You should also insert thrusts, jabs and witiks (discussed later) and any other
strikes in your repertoire into the X patterns whilst moving around your reference
point, this gets you comfortable with transitions from strike type to strike type.
Ranges

There are basically three ranges that we need to concern ourselves with
whether using a weapon or not; long, medium and close.

If we are at long range then we can strike the opponents weapon hand with our
own weapon and he can also strike ours but; the important thing to note here is that
that we cannot yet touch the opponents hand with our hand or body with our stick.
Only the weapon can make contact with the opponent’s weapon or weapon hand.
Our target(s) at this range would be hands, elbows and knees.
If we are at medium range then we can touch the opponent’s weapon hand / arm
with our own but not yet be able to place a hand directly to his body. This range is
where we can manipulate the opponent and prepare a safe(r) entry to close range.
After a block of an incoming attack we can use our live hand to check or secondary
block the opponents strike, we are able to grab his weapon hand, pull, twist, hold
or simply redirect and place it where we wish it to be. A lot of disarms take place
in this range as we are able to immobilise the attackers arm and strike with our
weapon to his body, his live hand if he tries to rescue his trapped limb or indeed
attack and destroy the limb we have already trapped.
Close range is the most dangerous as we are now close enough to strike or grab
the opponents body (or head) directly. This means that we can punch, thrust, grab,
twist, pull, push or elbow strike, we would also use the butt end or the portion just
above the hand to strike our opponent.

Stepping

Our stepping is very simple and linear in nature; remember that the shortest
distance between any two points is always a straight line. This may be why
Balintawak integrates so well with Wing Chun style kung fu!

If our opponent steps forward we step back, if he steps back we step forward, our
objective is to maintain our chosen distance. If he likes to fight close but you don’t;
then maintain distance by stepping in a mirror to his action; he tries to close so step
back and maintain long range and strike his hands. In the beginning the student has
responsibility to maintain the distance between the instructor and himself, the
instructor may vary the size of steps taken and as progress is made shuffle steps
may be used. The student mirrors the instructor so if the instructor has right leg
forward so does the student, this also causes / enables the student to face into the
strike when blocking. Later as the student becomes adept the instructor will change
footing forcing the student to move quickly.
 For example, in the beginning all strikes are delivered with same strike
side and foot forward. For example #1 strike with right foot forward; All strikes
that the instructor makes from his right side (to strike opponents left side) will be
done with his right foot forward, strikes from his left (to opponents right) are done
with his left foot forward. The student should always face into the strike, if he
blocks to his left then his right foot is forward turning his body toward the strike. If
he defends right then his left foot is forward and so on. Later the foot position may
be switched to #1 strike with left foot forward putting the student in danger from
trips or leg sweeps.

But in the beginning basic mirror stepping is used.

The role of the live (empty) hand

We have two hands, the weapon hand and the live hand, the weapon hand is
whichever hand currently holds the weapon and the live hand is the other.
The live hand although empty plays possibly the most important role; also
important to bear in mind is the fact that the weapon hand and live hand can be
used for offence and defence interchangeably.

A stick can strike or thrust, a blade can cut, thrust or dig but a hand can
punch, poke, pull, push, hold, twist or hook and as such is potentially a more
versatile companion to the stick. There is nothing to say that you can not redirect
with the stick whilst striking with the hand instead of the more usual reverse
application; how about a double strike! How about using your opponents own stick
against him!

Mostly your live hand will be used to redirect and or check your opponent’s
weapon hand.

Imagination and invention work together to produce your own

interpretation of suitable technique and strategy.
 Live hand Live hand 2

Moving the stick from strike to strike

Moving the stick after striking your opponents left side into position to strike his
right side means we have to consider our own defence whilst in transition. We
have various options available to us and the one you opt for may well depend on
the fight distance you find yourself in, it may at first seem like a good idea to keep
the tip of your stick pointed at the opponent but; leaving your stick out there in no
mans land is sort of like hanging out a flag waving it and shouting “hello why
don’t you grab my stick whilst I have little control over it…” You may opt to
change sides with the tip pointed down and sweep across at knee level (easy to get
tangled in the legs of your opponent or yourself if he presses forward) leaving your
head which after all is the primary target unguarded!
One method (but feel free to try whatever feels comfortable to you yourself) is to
hold the stick pointing slightly back toward you (not too steeply as your opponent
may be able to close and push the tip into your face) the tip slightly above head
height and sweep across in front of your face thus providing a guard during the
transition. Certain strikes lend themselves more easily than others to executing a
defensive change but try to be in a position to strike or defend during your changes.
For an example see the transition from strike #3 to strike #4 in the basic agak
striking video clip. During transition the stick is ready to thrust into the opponent
or rise to protect the head; indeed the stick proceeds to pass in front of the head
whilst building momentum for the next strike.
Angle of stick in strikes

When we strike our opponent it may be a full power strike with follow through or
it may be series of lower power strikes in quick succession. There is nothing wrong
with the one punch knockout idea but it needs to be done at the right time and right
place in the confrontation, if we are going to commit to an all out full power follow
through strike then we better be sure to land it because if we miss we have a lot of
ground to make up in order to be ready for another strike; In that short time we
may find ourselves on the receiving end of a flurry of attacks and ultimately a
knockout or finishing blow. Also what if he is not alone?
No the best place for the power strikes are in finishing moves or against a
slow opponent with plenty of space between us to allow for repositioning. A better
approach is to nibble away at our opponent disassembling him piece by piece;
distract; damage and destroy his defences then go in for the kill.
There is no written in stone correct way to strike your enemy because like all and
any fight it is dynamic, the scenario and therefore the rules of engagement are
constantly open to change but we are going to follow a basic rule here in our
training phase.

Let us take the basic strikes #1 and #2, when we make strike #1 the stick
and hand (stick hand) are both chambered at the right shoulder, when we execute
the strike we angle our stick at around 35-40 deg from north (straight ahead) so
that when the tip strikes the opponents head our own weapon hand is actually now
on the left side of our own body.
Why angle the stick like this? Well first off if we try to strike with the
stick making contact at true north (straight ahead) we need to bend our wrist in a
very uncomfortable, unnatural and weak vulnerable position or, maybe we could
stand to the left of our opponent (his left) and take up a sideways body position
(our right side, underarm to ankle pointing toward our opponent)
Neither of these options above are what we want so we make stick contact
at an angle, our body still relatively square on in front of him;

After (hopefully) making contact we have the option of simply continuing to draw
diagonally to our left and then thrusting or hooking the weapon back into the
opponent or; consider now that our weapon hand is already on the left side of our
body and the opponent has blocked or tried to block our strike (which is on our
right side)
we have a potential target area of the whole right side of the opponents body and
our weapon hand is already cocked ready to fire, by rotating our wrist we bring our
weapon over to our left side and if we execute this at the same time as firing out a
strike we have a whipping effect giving a large amount of power to our next strike,
maybe #2 to the opposite side of the opponents head.

Think of it as an assisted abanico (fan strike) attack.

The weapon hand and weapon tip are in opposite sides of the body when the strike
is either landed or blocked.

By rotating the weapon to the opposite side of the body and at the same time firing
the weapon hand to its opposite side we create a whipping motion enabling us to
strike alternate sides of the body with force.

Angle of strike.
 That just about concludes the primer part of this manual, but before you
proceed to the Balintawak specific section that follows please do spend some time
to familiarise yourself with handling the stick and if you have a partner
maintaining distance.

A good exercise with a partner is as follows.

Decide who is to be the attacker (A) and who the defender (D) then face each other
in an at ease stance approx one and one half arm length apart.

(A) gives the command “ready”, (A) takes one step forward and chambers the
stick at the shoulder (fighting stance), (D) takes one step back and holds the
stick in candlestick mode (basic training defender stance).
(A) steps forward and (D) steps back, (A) steps back and (D) steps forward, (A)
shuffle steps back (D) shuffle steps forward .
Partner (A) should vary steps forward and back inserting shuffle steps here and
there whilst (D) attempts to maintain the distance between them, Then change
roles.
Note * To shuffle step forward the leading foot should be moved first and then the
training foot brought to position behind. If moving backwards then the rear foot
should step back first and the lead foot then retracted to bring you back to position.

Striking methods in training and combat.

In actual combat your strikes must always be executed with intent; by intent I
mean that you intend to strike the body of your opponent. As soon as your stick
makes contact either with your opponent or his stick you must change to the next
attack always moving, always striking or defending if needed with the sole intent
of destroying your opponent. Forget the idea that you can just control and restrain
him so you don’t need to use full force; if he is fighting you then the odds are that
he intends to hurt you and he will NOT be showing restraint. You being nice and
pussyfooting around could cost you dear, it only takes one successful strike to
potentially open the flood gates. No you must put your opponent down and render
him incapable of continuing the fight, if you land a strike that’s halts his onslaught
then continue to strike until he is down, disarmed and no longer a threat.
If you manage to disarm him then continue to strike until he is down and out;
this is where power strikes come into great use.

In actual combat many of your strikes and blocks should be aimed at the
opponent’s wrists, elbows, knees etc but not always. Sometimes you need / want to
block to the stick so that you can grab it, disarm it or use it against him.

Also whilst at a distance from our opponent we are more likely to use power
strikes and our stance changes slightly in order to gain as much power as possible
from body torque; so our basic attack stance is exaggerated with the left shoulder
forward, weapon cocked at right shoulder and right foot forward; more on power
strikes later.

The primary target is always the head, the control room for the whole human
machine; never forget that.
Striking methods in training differ in as much as we obviously don’t want to
damage or disable our training partner else our training ends there.

In training (until later stages when protective shielding may be worn) our blocks
are mainly to the opponents stick.
Our strikes are done with control, indeed in the beginning the strike should not
even land on the target but rather imply a hit. Some strikes we can never land in
training such as eye thrusts, strikes to the head and power strikes to the joints.
I strongly advise that when training with a partner in palakaw the eye
thrusts are substituted with a thrust to the shoulder joint just where it joins
the torso unless proper protective headgear is worn.

Training is just that, training; training to improve our coordination, speed, accuracy
and perception. We learn to read body language, to use peripheral vision and instil
muscle memory.

Don’t get the idea though that training between student and instructor (the
Palakaw) cannot be challenging and competitive, the instructor will always push
the student to the edge of their ability and the student will always try to be that bit
faster than the instructor; getting in a successful counter strike ahead of the
instructors block can be very satisfying.

The main thing to remember is that if you are acting as instructor (agak, the
guide) or as student you are training each other, one cannot advance without the
advancement of the other.

Don’t forget; training can and should be fun so don’t take it too seriously,
remember that people differ and will find some things easier than others.

Practice can be relaxed and fun and not necessarily a full on high
speed experience

As your ability with your techniques increases higher speed of

execution becomes easier and indeed essential for progress.
The Basic Strikes
The basic strikes and stepping are shown on the following charts.
I have made changes here to the normal curriculum because I want you to be able
to practice and learn in as short a time and as efficiently as possible.

Traditionally in Balintawak there are 12 strikes and these are learnt by all students
as the first step in training. You are expected to master the basic strikes and
stepping and you find yourself repeating this routine over and over throughout your
training sessions. You are trained with one agak to one student so you get personal
attention all the time. You will not be taught how to deliver the basic strikes to an
opponent until you have completed all of the basic defence training and the
groupings to a satisfactory level. Whilst you are training your basic defence in
Palakaw, you will repeatedly stop either because you got the block / counter wrong
or the agak simply overwhelms you with strikes etc That is the learning process
but, each time you stop you will need to execute the 12 basic strikes in front of the
instructor (using him as a reference point) showing control and correct body
movement etc. You may need to repeat this a few times to satisfy the instructor,
bear in mind also that to complete the basic plus groupings could take 40-50 hours
of training. In fact one instructor told me that basic training alone should continue
for 180 hours. If you are only training for a couple of hours a week then you can
see how this could easily extend over a very long period.

You will at the same time repeatedly practice the 12 basic defences but as
these are inexplicable the same solo to air as they are in Palakaw it’s a lot easier.

Ok so what’s the point I am making you may ask, well let me tell you;
after countless times of executing basic strikes with the given footwork you are
finally ready to be shown how to agak (be the guide and deliver strikes to another
student), suddenly the footwork is different, the way you have been practicing to
deliver basic strikes all this time is no longer valid. Believe me it is difficult to get
it out of your brain and that is why I do not agree with teaching in that traditional
way.

Here you will be given both forms of striking, the first in the traditional
way or as I like to call it the form or kata method and secondly the agak method.
You will also be given variations and enhancements to these methods and you
should endeavour to practice them together as one unit.

Some Balintawak instructors ignore strikes that are not in their own
repertoire and so the student never gets to practice defending against them, well
that’s ok if you only ever fight against someone of your own style but that certainly
cannot be relied upon. As a result I have integrated various shall we say outside
techniques along the way.
 Basic Strike Points

Note : Traditional Balintawak only uses strikes 1 to 12.

 Basic strikes to air, solo (Traditional)
Left Foot Strike #
BACK 1
FORWARD 2
N/A 3
BACK 4
FORWARD 5
BACK 6
FORWARD 7
BACK 8
FORWARD 9
BACK 10
FORWARD 11
N/A 12
This table is shown only for matters of completeness or reference and is not
essential to your training but still good to familiarise yourself with.
Notice that the RIGHT foot stays in the same place throughout.

Basic defence to air, solo or with agak

(Traditional)
Right Foot Strike #
FORWARD 1
BACK 2
N/A 3
FORWARD 4
N/A 5
BACK 6
FORWARD 7
N/A 8
BACK 9
N/A 10
FORWARD 11
BACK 12
Notice that the LEFT foot stays in the same place throughout.

The basic defences with a partner

 Basic strikes to Partner (Traditional)
Left Foot Strike #
BACK 1
FORWARD 2
N/A 3
BACK 4
N/A 5
FORWARD 6
BACK 7
N/A 8
FORWARD 9
N/A 10
BACK 11
FORWARD 12
Notice that the RIGHT foot stays in the same place throughout.

Notice that the footwork changes once you get to strike number five, it now
becomes a thrust from a stationary position which often times is more practical.
Also notice how the strike # 8 to the knee flows from the thrust to the chest #7,
after strike #9 to the other knee whilst the opponent is lowered defending the attack
we execute strike #10 from a stationary position.

Overall the strike procedure is more conducive to quick change so why

confuse the issue with only learning the solo version for months and causing
frustration and aggravation to the student when he has to suddenly convert to a new
(albeit more practical) strategy.

For best results you should learn the two side by side whether you are a beginner
training at home (with another beginner and therefore will both be acting as agak
and student) or taking tuition from an experienced instructor.

Note :
Both forms of striking and the defence should be practiced and learnt by heart
until you are able to flow from one to the other with little or no difficulty before
you attempt to train with a partner as a pair.
 Basic Strikes Solo / as in Palakaw
With Partner (Enhanced version)
LEFT FOOT STRIKE#

BACK 1

FORWARD 2

N/A 3

BACK 4

N/A SHUFFLE FORWARD 5

FORWARD 6

SIDE STEP HALF DRAW BACK 7

BACK 8

FORWARD 9

HALF DRAW BACK 10

BACK 11

FORWARD 12

STEP FORWARD RIGHT FOOT 13

STEP FORWARD LEFT FOOT 14

 Basic Defence / Counter Solo or With Partner
(Enhanced version)

RIGHT FOOT STRIKE #

FORWARD 1

BACK 2

N/A 3

FORWARD 4

N/A SHUFFLE BACK 5

BACK 6

LEFT FOOT STEP BACK 7

N/A 8

BACK 9

N/A 10

FORWARD 11

BACK 12

N/A SHUFFLE BACKWARDS 13

N/A SHUFFLE BACKWARDS 14

Note * To shuffle step forward the leading foot should be moved first and then the
training foot brought to position behind. If moving backwards then the rear foot
should step back first and the lead foot then retracted to bring you back to position.

Defence 1 to 12 being as normal except for a back shuffle where indicated I

have not bothered to video them.
Strikes #13 & #14
 You see that the advanced form includes quite a few shuffle steps and half
steps so although you should learn this form of attack / defence you should first
master the basic (traditional system). However let’s discuss the advanced system in
more detail.

From the attackers point of view the thrust #5 combined with the forward
momentum of the body due to the shuffle step produces a much more powerful and
dangerous attack. Shuffling forward also takes into account that an experienced
opponent may simple back away and then strike to your weapon hand from long /
medium range; it keeps us on his tail so to speak.
The half retracted and side step after strike #6 puts in a more comfortable
position to execute strike #7, in application we may already have a grip on the
opponents weapon hand (or simply pushed it outwards) and we can drive home to
the chest or slash across it and continue to move outside the opponent to his rear.
The strike #13 can be dealt with in the same way as #12; after all it is still
coming down vertically toward the top of our head otherwise it would be a #2
strike if travelling at an angle. Sometimes it is just as good practice to deliver a
vertical strike from your left side as from your right (many other styles utilise this
strike). That brings us to strike #14; closing in and thrusting the butt of the stick to
the opponents face; the initial parry can be done with the live hand (as in strikes
#12 and #13) but instead of following up with a strike or deflection with our own
stick we use our forearm instead; angled with the upper arm parallel to ground,
elbow pointing toward opponent and the butt of our own weapon ready to deliver
into his face.

Your training for the moment should be to practice the given strikes and
defences; traditional and advanced in solo mode until you have at least mastered
the traditional. Add to that the stepping practice (discussed next) plus doing the “x
marks the spot” routine and you have quite a lot to occupy you for a while.

Stepping Practice

Decide who is to be the attacker (agak) (A) and who the defender (student) (D)
then face each other in an at ease stance approx one arms length apart. The agak
should extend his left arm straight out horizontally in front toward the student and
make a fist; the student should extend his right arm straight out in front and also
make a fist, adjust your distance so that your fists are touching, This is your
distance adjustment and this is the distance at which most of your basic training
takes place. Now return to an at ease stance square on facing each other; feet
shoulder width apart and stick held horizontally across the thighs.

(A) gives the command “ready”, (A) takes one step forward with his right foot
and chambers the stick at the shoulder (fighting stance), (D) takes one step
back and holds the stick in candlestick mode (basic training defender stance).
(B) Steps forward and (D) steps back, (A) steps back and (D) steps forward, (A)
shuffle steps back (D) shuffle steps forward .
Partner (A) should vary steps forward and back inserting shuffle steps here and
there whilst (D) attempts to maintain the distance between them, then change roles.
Basic Strikes Practice ( kata or form version)

Lets look at how to execute our basic strikes and use our partner as a
reference; you could use a reflection of yourself in a door or mirror or maybe use
the corner of a building, a tree, lamp post or something similar.
The advantage of using a partner for reference (in the beginning because as we
know these strikes are to be performed to air) is that the partner can move forwards
and backwards so allowing you to properly coordinate your stepping.
This strike routine is the one you should perform in front of your
instructor before your defensive training begins and at intervals during defensive
training. If using the instructor for reference the instructor should be five or maybe
6 feet away and need not mirror your stepping; his job here is to observe you.

Decide who is to practice the strikes first; face each other in at ease stance feet
shoulder width apart and stick held across both thighs.
The partner playing the role of agak should give the command “ready
fighting stance move” and take one step back keeping his stick held across his
thighs throughout even though stepping forward or backward to accommodate the
striker. The striker should take one step forward into fighting stance with stick
chambered at right side of head. The agak should prompt the striker, calling out the
strike number in sequence and prompting target or correct stepping as needed then
change roles.

These strikes (and the agak strikes as in Palakaw) should mostly be performed to
air but may be performed to indicate the strike on your partner; take turns to
prompt and execute. The target areas are pictured below.
 Strike #3 is to the elbow if the
arm is down or to the ribs if the
arm is up, you should lower
yourself slightly by bending the
knees to deliver this strike in a
horizontal fashion; this also
applies to the next strike #4. Try
not to lean forwards when
delivering this strike or strike #4
to the other elbow / rib.

After executing strike #5 the right hand

withdraws to the hip and the stick comes
to an angle of around 45 deg upwards
across the body, the left arm supports the
stick as it proceeds to be moved to the
left side of the body in preparation for a
thrust. The left hand remains in guard
position as the stick is curled up and then
out into a chest thrust.

After completing the thrust the right

hand should be withdrawn whilst at the
same time as stepping the body is
twisted to the right. The left hand
remains up in a defensive guard and the
stick is drawn back along the wrist line.
Ready for strike #7 to the opposite side
of the chest.
 Basic strike target areas.

The target areas are of course the same when strikes are executed as agak but; as
discussed earlier the stepping changes. You may like to practice the agak stepping
with a partner as reference but the partner should take the opportunity to practice
his own defensive stepping, it being a mirror of your own.
12 basic defences

Here I will explain the performance of the defence and counter strike
method. Be sure to practice the basic defences solo before proceeding to practice
with a partner. When you practice the defence and counter strike with a partner
there are certain rules you must follow; partly at this stage to ensure that a flow of
movement is established for both yourself and the agak, (the ideal is to have
constant motion flowing from one attack / defence to another) but in the early
stages we shall pause after each strike and counter strike. At this point the partners
should inform each other of any errors spotted in either the delivery of attack or the
defence.

The basic defences explained in detail.

After the initial block is made

the defender should place his
hand resting on the attackers
stick and press down to clear a
pathway for the counter strike
to the head.

If the attack is to your left

(defender) then press down on
the stick outside of your own
block (this will change as we
gain experience but for now
stick to the outside). If the
strike is to your right side then
you will press half on the
attacker’s hand.

Care should be taken NOT to

hold the attackers stick; merely
feel its presence and obstruct its
travel upward.
 Both the agak and the student
should check the counter strike or
attacking strike with his live
hand, try to place your checking
hand half over the hand and half
over the stick of the strike.

Failure to control the counter

strike by for example checking as
described above leaves you open
to a continuation of the counter
strike by a simple rotation of the
wrist to perform an abanico (fan)
strike to your temple. That is why
it is best to get into the habit of a
half hand half stick check in the
beginning.

The basic defences explained in detail.

Once you have mastered the solo forms of both the basic striking (agak version)
and basic defence counter strike then you should try to practice again with a
partner very slowly keeping the strikes in sequence before moving on to the proper
agak / defender training routine or Palakaw.
Learning to be the Agak

Now you are ready to start training properly with a partner there are a few
more things to be aware of and routines I want you to practice at the beginning of
each partner training session. There are a number of blocking or checking methods
open to the agak each of which has benefits and drawbacks so although we use
them interchangeably in palakaw training; in actual combat the choice of method is
much more important.
As the agak you will control the pace of the palakaw; you will feed strikes
to your partner and correct any obvious errors as you go. If your partner for
example has trouble recognising strikes to the left knee then it is your
responsibility to pick up on that and adjust your striking accordingly. Once a
problem area has been identified you need to strike to that area more often but not
always in the same order so as not to become predictable. Our aim here is to train
the defender to read body language, use peripheral vision and become aware of
angles of strike and their travel. Once a student gets comfortable with his defence
then you must increase the pace; the ideal is to keep the student right on the edge
of their capability coaxing that little bit extra performance each time.
Note that this is NOT a chance for the agak to show off or to deliberately
overwhelm the student and use him as a punch bag. We are training each other and
the agak should also strive to retain correct form and accuracy of his strikes.
Remember to replace eye thrusts with shoulder joint thrusts unless wearing
suitable headgear.
The agak can block / check the counter strike with one of three methods or indeed
a mixture of the methods.
1. The counter strike may be blocked, checked, parried with just the
live hand.
2. The counter strike may be blocked, checked with just the stick
which we refer to as Pakgang.
3. The counter strike may be blocked, checked with both the live hand
and the stick.

Each method should be performed a number of times at the start of each

palakaw session. See the video clip “learning to agak” for further
discussion before proceeding.
Using either just the live hand or just the stick to check leaves you free to
simultaneously attack with your free hand or weapon BUT; be aware that you
leave yourself open to a continuation of the counter if your opponent should clear
your check (this is discussed more fully later when you are required to train it).

Checking with both hand and stick.

This is the method you should use
until you are both proficient in the
basic strikes; delivered in sequence
and at random.
Checking with live hand alone or with stick alone as above has its own dangers.

The hand or stick may be cleared and the counter attack continues.

The same principle can

be employed against a
stick and live hand
defence and if you are
fast enough result in
damaging the
defenders live hand
(more on this in later
training).
NOTE: Both student and agak should be looking at a point around the throat area
on the other and use peripheral vision to track strikes and defences. DO NOT try
to follow the path of the stick with your eyes, it moves much too fast.

The student should ALWAYS counter strike to the head at this stage; if his stick is
on the left after blocking then strike from the left, if on the right then strike from
the right; the ONE EXCEPTION being when the agak delivers a strike #12. As the
student, if you receive a strike #12 then you reply with a strike #12; otherwise
strike #1 or strike #2 according to which side your stick is positioned. The
defender should also strive for accuracy in his defensive movement and his counter
strike; after delivering the counter strike the striking hand should remain where it is
so that both can see if it is accurate or adjustments need to be made. The agak
should briefly hold position at his checking the counter strike for the same reason
before slightly pushing the defenders hand in order to cue him for the next strike.
As you gain proficiency the pause can become briefer; at this stage the defender
may withdraw his arm from the counter strike to the ready position.
Once the agak is satisfied with its execution; the counter strike should be
as fast as possible after the defensive block You should be able to perform the
counter strike with control so that strictly speaking the agak has no need to block
or check your hand; you should be able to stop your strike within a few inches of
his head.

At the beginning of this section I said that there were various routines that
should be practiced at the start of the training session so here they are.
First of all do some or all of the warm up exercises given in the primer part of this
manual.
This next step should precede all the practice routines and I will simply
refer to it in future as “prepare yourselves”.

NOTE
Obviously if you are both total beginners or the agak is experienced but
the student is a beginner then the delivery and checking of the basic strikes as
described below must wait until the student is suitably capable.

Face each other, adjust your distance and decide who is to be the agak.
Agak gives command “fighting stance move”; agak takes one step forward with
right leg and chambers stick at right shoulder (or you may in the beginning prefer
to hold it in candlestick mode central in front of you). The student (defender) takes
one step back with the left leg and assumes the candlestick position with stick, live
hand held central to the chest.

Now we are prepared let us proceed.

The agak delivers the 12 basic strikes in sequence and checks the counter
strike with just the live hand.
The agak delivers the 12 basic strikes in sequence and checks the counter
strike with just the stick.
The agak delivers the 12 basic strikes in sequence and checks the counter
strike with stick and the live hand.
Once you are both proficient at delivering and defending the 12 basic strikes in
sequence then the above routines should be repeated with the strikes delivered once
in sequence and then at random; any strike any order.

Deliver each routine 3 – 4 times before proceeding to the palakaw session.

Learn to Agak 1. Learn to Agak 2.

NOTE

An important thing to note here is that when the agak delivers a #12 strike, the
student must parry with the left hand and then follow up with the stick as a cover
as can be seen in the basic strikes video clip; following this with pressing down the
weapon hand and delivering his own #12 strike. In application the stick is not used
as a cover but as a further strike to either the wrist or forearm but for beginners
and in practice routines it is a cover.
However when the agak is on the receiving end of the #12 strike he simply
applies the parry with the live hand and immediately proceeds to deliver a #9
strike to the students right leg. After blocking the resulting counter strike delivered
by the student the agak is in an ideal position to continue the attack sequence
which should be done in continuous manner. To halt the practice the agak can hold
the students stick at the same time as blocking the above mentioned counter strike.

Parrying the #12 strike the

agak applies a #9 strike and
brings flow to a halt by holding
the students stick or hand when
blocking the counter strike.
The job of the agak is primarily to guide the student to a higher level of
performance and it may be that in the beginning the agak has to physically guide
and manoeuvre the student into the correct blocking position.
Assuming this to be the case the following procedure should apply.
Agak checks students 12 basic strikes in form solo to air, correcting as necessary.
Agak checks students 12 basic defence counter strike in form solo to air, correcting
as necessary.

Prepare yourselves.
It is beneficial in the beginning for the agak to call out the strike number
before executing it. After guiding the students stick to position for the block the
agak should release his hold and retract his hand.
You should find that after a few repetitions a mild slap or push on the hand in the
general direction required will be sufficient. It should be obvious what the agak
stepping is so I am not going to describe it below.
Be sure to check that the students live hand is pretty central to his chest area.

NOTE
Although in a lot of Balintawak systems the initial block / parry with the live hand
against thrusts such as strike #6 and strike #10 is discouraged for beginners; I
personally feel that it is highly beneficial in certain circumstances and have
highlighted it in the sequence below. You may choose to allow / encourage this
method in beginners or you may not; it is entirely up to you but I would
recommend its practice at some point.

The initial block or parry may be made with either stick or live hand according to
circumstance but the important thing is that the check or secondary movement
deploys at almost the same time as (just a fraction of a second behind but to all
intents and purposes simultaneously with) the initial block or parry.

Thrusting talk

The agak delivers strike #1 (remember to just point and imply a strike at
this stage) and guides the students stick into position for the block. Make sure the
student has his stick vertical (candlestick mode throughout the whole routine) and
checks by pressing down on your stick outside of his own with an open hand, NOT
holding. Then check that he counter strikes correctly to your head (you may want
to place a hand at the target point for safety)
You do not need to block check his counter strike yet; just makes sure he is on
target and in control, slowly and controlled is the key here.
Agak commands “step back” and presses lightly on students stick to guide
into position to block strike #2 as it is delivered.
Agak commands “steady” and delivers strike #3 placing his hand on the
outside of the students stick so as to rotate it into position for the correct block.
Agak commands “step forward”, delivers strike #4 and guides to block
position.
Agak commands “steady” and delivers strike #5 guiding stick into
position ensuring to twist the body away from the strike and that students checking
hand parries the strike before the stick checks it. In reality the stick could deliver a
blow to the hand or head and not be used to check. The parrying hand then
becomes the check and the hand / arm position are somewhat like a chicken wing
shape. Here we see the initial block / parry is with the live hand and not the stick.

Agak commands “step back” and delivers strike #6 pushing student into
position ensuring to twist the body away from the strike.
Agak commands “step forward” and delivers strike #7 pulling student
into position ensuring to twist the body away from the strike. Here again the initial
parry can be made with the live hand and I would encourage that whole heartedly.
Agak commands “steady” and delivers strike #8 rotating stick into
blocking position and making sure students check hand is at about wrist position.
Agak commands “step back” pushing student backwards and delivers
strike #9 rotating students stick into position.
Agak commands “steady” and delivers strike #10 pushing student to lean
back slightly and ensuring to twist the body placing stick into position. When
counter striking the student should transfer position forwards again to an even
balanced position.
Agak commands “step forward” and delivers strike #11 pulling student
into position and guiding the stick into position. Here again the initial parry can be
made with the live hand.
Agak commands “step back” and delivers strike #12.
As the strike is delivered the agak rotates the students stick to his (students left)
and holds it there forcing the student to parry with the live hand; be sure the
student also moves his head sideways to avoid possible contact from a heavy blow
or a parry that is only partially effective. The strike should be held at its horizontal
position the students stick rotated up to form a check against the agak’s wrist /
forearm area (although in reality it would probably be a sharp snapping strike)
The fact that the attack is held at its position of intended contact forces the
student to press it down with his live hand inward towards the agak’s body clearing
the way for his counter strike (strike #12).
Agak (remember to simply parry the counter strike and do not perform a
full #12 basic block) delivers strike #9 and guides students stick down into
position. After checking the counter strike the agak can stop the palakaw by simply
holding the students stick (as mentioned in the notes at the beginning of this
section) or simply continue by giving the command “step back” and deliver again
strike #1 etc, etc ,etc
 Review basic 12 defences. Imply striking

We will assume that you are now proficient at delivering and defending the 12
basic strikes in random order. This is the time to include elements from the
enhanced basic strike form; specifically shuffling forward when executing the
strike #5 thrust, side stepping on the strike #9 thrust which puts you in a nice
outside position to pass by your partner in preparation to continue attacking from
the rear or simply changing to face a new direction and forcing the defender to
change direction also. Don’t forget the half step back on strike #10 protecting your
leg from possible sweeps.
At times now you should perform strikes as strikes when you practice and
not just point the way or imply a strike. When you imply the strike you will find it
faster to feed your student and if you check out many vids on the net you will see
that in many of the high speed palakaw clips the Agak is pointing or implying a
strike rather than executing it. That is not to say that you cannot deliver strikes at
blindingly fast speed; with practice you will but, implying strikes is a way for you
to increase pressure on the student (speed wise) whilst you are still learning to
move and strike effectively and efficiently.
Now is also the time to vary the stepping in as much as after delivery of
strike #3 instead of stepping back to deliver a strike #4 or whatever to the other
side; simply continue to step forward and the leg positions are the same. You
should now mix your forward motion with your backwards motion freely (whilst
still retaining the correct hand and foot forward position) if space permits and not
simply yoyo to and fro on the same spot.

Sometimes you may find that space is restricted especially in a real fight
and you do not have the luxury of stepping forward / back etc as you please.
Practice the palakaw from a stationary stance right leg forward, and then practice it
stationary with left leg forward. You will find that this forces you to use a lot more
body movement but it is important to remember that you want to stay as stable and
solid in your stance as possible.
When I say solid that is not the same as saying rigid, you must be rooted
to the ground, balanced but able to twist and turn, duck or lean back and forth
elastico style. You will need to really be aware of how you transfer your weight
from one foot or part of the foot to another, heel raised or foot flat?
Refer back to the strike #1 and strike #2 in the warm up exercises section
and also the X marks the spot section if you need to.

Footwork

X marks the spot.

Try performing palakaw whilst positioned very close to each other; one and one
half arm length apart.
The agak will need to adhere more to the small circle principle also mentioned in X
marks the spot.
Finally the agak should perform what I call free stepping; for instance
thrust to opponents left side but have the left leg forward, strike to his right side
with right leg forward. As the agak you no longer have rules to follow when
stepping, you decide which leg to lead, later we will talk about wrong footing your
opponent for sweeping and kicking.

Be sure to practice all these above forms of palakaw for as long as it takes to
become proficient / comfortable with it and then the agak must add pressure by
increasing the pace and mixing the forms.
The student can now start to check to the hand or lower portion of
the stick (inside of his own stick) when defending against strikes to his left side.
In a real motion the stick is not going to stay where it lands waiting for you to hold
it but in training our options once we do have a hold; we have to make some
allowance. You are more likely to be able to hold the opponents stick when
working at a mid to close range and remember, the closer to the tip of the stick the
faster it is moving; closer to the hand the slower it is moving.
Refer to the stick fight strike and blocking article earlier for elaboration.

Now is a good time to add a practice routine to increase your ability to take hold of
your opponents stick.

1. Prepare yourselves
2. agak gives strike #1 (not a simple placement as in the beginning of
training but a proper strike motion) .
3. Student deploys basic defence #1 and tries to trap the stick (normal
training position outside of his own stick) with his hand by hooking it
over the agak’s stick.
4. The instant the strike and block connect the agak retracts his stick back to
strike ready position.
5. Start by striking slowly and gradually increase the speed.

The above should be practiced with the student using both inner and outer
hand placement, try not to grab for the stick with fingers extended fully open
as a strike to the palm (caused by your live hand arriving too early) can be
very painful. Use more of a hooking over motion and lightly trap the stick.
Repeat this routine daily for 100 repetitions both inner and outer checking
and then change roles.
The reality is that when you attack; the instant your stick makes contact
with a block, check, parry or the intended target you must either retract your stick
to apply another strike OR move directly to the next strike in continuous
movement. The defender should follow the same principle, once you successfully
block and counter strike you should immediately retract your stick (to avoid
possible capture) OR proceed directly to another counter strikes. See section on
strikes in training and reality.
When you are able to more often than not trap the stick of the defender
(after practicing the exercise mentioned above) then the student should get into the
habit of quickly retracting his stick after the counter strike.
 Stick grabbing exercise

Training in the above manner should be continued indefinitely, we are expanding

our base material all the time and as we add more then the variations available to
us increase dramatically.

At this stage we can start to apply some basic kicking as follows for
example. Assume that you are both in a right leg lead ready to start palakaw and
you as the agak step forward to strike to the student’s right side, you notice that the
student has not stepped back so lightly kick his shin to force him to retract his leg.
You should start to insert this kick whilst stepping, alternatively kick with the top
or instep of your foot to his calf and also throw in a few trapping steps by
deliberately stepping onto his lead foot.

Introduce basic kicking

Basic Butting

We are now going to look at some basic butting techniques which you should both
practice from the point of view as agak and defender. These buttings will prepare
us for the next section.

Each time we perform a block and a check the butt of our own stick is only inches
away from the opponents hand or fingers, a very nice target which we should take
advantage of. Striking the fingers with the butt of the stick is painful and effective;
it can do real damage, cause a distraction long enough for us to gain the advantage
in an attack or more usually set up a disarm. Disarms are not usually something
that you just decide (“oh well I think I will just disarm the guy”) they are more an
arising of opportunity. We can plan a disarm up to a point at least in a practice
situation; but we must prepare our victim before execution. We need to know the
ideal position to execute from and lead him there and almost certainly we will need
to distract our opponent or diminish his ability to hold onto his weapon; that is
where a sharp butt to the fingers comes in. I have presented below the butting form
in solo mode which you should practice and then the butting form with a partner.

Solo butting form.

We start by executing the butting in strike order 1 through 12; then we randomize
it. The agak should feed the strikes in sequence and the student execute the butting;
once you are comfortable with that the agak delivers random strikes and the
student delivers the butting on every defence. This is done slowly and deliberately
until comfortable; then the student should insert butting randomly to the strikes
being fed; once the student can perform proficiently then the agak steps up the
pace. The next thing to do is for the agak also to insert butting into his block and
check of the counter strike from the student. Thereafter both agak and student
should insert butting randomly during palakaw.
I suggest you use a soft stick or conceal the butt of your stick in your palm or wear
a protective glove when you first practice to avoid injury to your partner; once you
have appropriate control revert to normal grip.

The strikes #1, #4, #7, #11 (all to the students left )
Are blocked as normal but checked to the inside to
rest on the hand of the agak. The stick is then simply
rotated and the butt thrust into the fingers.
Here we see strikes #1 and #4.

Here we have thrust strikes #7 and #11.

Below we see strike #5 blocked as normal then the

transfer of hold to the wrist for butting.
Strike #8 again needs readjustment of the checking hand to provide support for the
butt strike that follows.

Strikes from the opposite side are just as easy to deal with but have the advantage
that we already check to the hand so our opponent is not tipped of about our
possible intentions.

Here is a responses to strikes #2 and #3.

Below we block check and butt

against a thrust.
Below are shown block, check and butt against knee strike #9.

That just leaves us with strike #12.

Strike #12 butting can be performed just to the hand (may be best to preserve the
flow during palakaw training) or commonly walks up the arm to the head. In the
multiple strike variant the target points are hand, hollow of the elbow or the bicep
and finally the face or forehead.

Butting practice with partner.

Basic disarms

Remembering that I have been talking about checking with the live hand both
inside and outside of your own stick; also the fact that a butt strike or some other
distraction will usually precede a disarm I am presenting here a few simple disarms
building on these principles.
Practice each disarm in isolation first; that is to say the agak gives strike
#1 and the student immediately applies the disarm. When you can do them
properly in isolation then do them on a two count; that is to say the person doing
the disarm motion takes the role of agak. Agak delivers strike #1, block check
counter strike and immediately deliver strike #2; again bloc and check the counter
strike but this time apply the disarm. It is your choice who takes which role; maybe
you prefer the agak to deliver strike #2 then strike #1 and the student applies
disarm then reverse roles!

When you feel comfortable with them you should try to insert the disarm
(perhaps without the butting) into the palakaw. Decide which disarm you want to
perform then you as the agak decide when to apply, or if you are defending then
look for an opening when a strike to right or left is delivered. It is much harder
from the defenders position to be aware of an opportunity and take it so the agak
should give the strikes slowly at first.

Basic disarms.

8 count strikes & Power strikes

If you manage to disarm an opponent then you need to follow up with

multiple strikes until the opponent is no longer a threat.

I am going to give a combination of strikes (the 8 count) which you may wish to
use as a follow up to a disarming; or just portions of it.
Please be sure that your partner will step back away from the danger zone when
they are disarmed.

The power strikes may also be used and combined in any order but for now you
should confine yourself to practicing these power strikes (maybe also the 8 count)
solo in form.

The 8 count strikes solo The 8 count explained

Power strikes
The 45degree horizontal guard

In the early section of this book when I talk about stances I mention a position with
the stick held 45 deg across the body and said it could be used for offence and
defence.
Although this is not strictly a Balintawak guard (mentioned only briefly to me
by one instructor anyhow) I feel it is worth knowing about and playing with. The
same can be said of the assisted or augmented block whereby the stick is
supported by the live hand when performing its block.

Horizontal guard and assisted block.

 That concludes this particular e-book and although there is a lot more to
cover I feel that you have enough material to work with for at least 6 – 8 months.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading and viewing this book as much as I enjoyed
authoring it and that you find it useful to your training.

If this work has fired your interest in Filipino arts or Balintawak in

particular then I would urge you to seek out instruction and refine what is
presented here. Your feedback on this work would be appreciated and any
constructive comments or highlighting something you found particularly useful or
informative. Depending on the response to this work; time available and the state
of support or opposition from the FMA or Balintawak community then more works
may follow.

The next steps to cover would be the grouping system, what is it and how to teach
it and then blow it apart and apply it and train it in the palakaw.

There are 5 groupings that I deal with and each one would be a separate work.
Whether these works would remain free I don’t know yet; any donation you may
like to make for whatever you feel this work is worth would be gratefully received.

In parting I would just like to remind you that nothing worthwhile happens
overnight so don’t get disheartened if progress seems slow at first. Everyone learns
at a different pace and in a different way.