Gato

Has anyone read this book? Is it instructional or historical? Can you self-study from it, even if only a little bit, with and without a partner? Does anyone have any other recommendations for good FMA instruction books? I ask because we don't have any FMA instructors here. Cabales Serrada Escrima Book

Crucible

Its ok, there's an updated version with more history and techniques called "Secrets of Cables Serrada Eskrima". You can probably find it on amazon.com . It has pretty much all of the serrada first year curiculum in there with a little advanced diplomia stuff, though it doesn't demonstrate any of their drills. You might be able to pick up the still movements from a book, but the real training is in the drills which aren't in that book. For self study you might want to look into one of the many FMA DVD or VHS series available out there. Edgar Sulite's material is good, so's the DBMA stuff.

Reactor

Rey Galang of Bakbakan has a new book on FMA. It's not an "instructional" but there are tons of picture sequences.

What makes it exceptional to my mind is that it's a peer review of sorts.

It's no secret that Bakbakan and Mr. Galang have undisguised contempt for "paper" masters. It is noteworthy therefore that Mr. Galang, one of the pillars of Kali Illustrisimo, chronicles and acknowledges masters of other systems.

The book is an excellent guide for students of the art who wish to know who are the "real deal" and who are poseurs.

Cheers,
Reactor

Reactor

... in case you guys are interested, Bakbakan posted over forty teaser pages of the new book at http://www.bakbakan.com/wap2005/wap-teaser-pages.pdf

It believe it's a first volume, and several more are planned. The first volume highlights Balintawak, as well as Kali Illustrisimo, Lameco, Lightning Scientific Arnis, and a few others I think.

Btw, I'm not a Bakbakan or KI practitioner, although I wish I could be.

Cheers,
Reactor

Gato

Thanks guys. I still have to wait a while longer to download the pdf file from Bakbakan since we've still got dial-up here. Anyway, I'm still searching for instructional media with good value-for-money, containing armed, unarmed and disarming techniques, just in case I may need the skills one day if I can't run away and avoid a confrontation.

What about the DVDs by Remy Presas sold by Karate Depot through this site? They're in numerical order, but the summaries seem to show that the newer ones have more techniques being shown, although the total running time for each is almost the same. Which of them would you recommend for beginners? What about Dan Inosanto's FMA books and videos? There are several volumes. Which would you recommend first?

It would be nice to find an FMA school and learn formally, but like I said earlier, there are none here, so books and videos are the next best thing until I find a school, if ever. Besides, I've gotten enough long-term injuries from karate, tennis, rugby, so I don't think I'm ready to get whacked by sticks yet.

Gato

Then again, perhaps voluntarily allowing someone to whack me with sticks regularly may improve my reflexes and evasion skills and condition my body to take a good beating... unless I get some more long-term injuries, in which case my skills backslide to stage 1...

Anyway, I'd still appreciate more recommendations for affordable FMA instructional media for unarmed and armed fighting and disarming.

Ferdie

I'm pretty sure a lot of guys here would want to help you train . There's nothing like helping each other learn more.

Introduction to Atienza Kali DVD is a highly recommended FMA instructional media. You might want to check out the site: www.atienzakali.com. It also has video clips there and a teaser of the DVD.

Good luck on your self-study! Enjoy!

__________________
Ferdie Araga
Atienza Kali
www.atienzakali.com