Happy 60th Birthday Manong Ron Saturno!!

In honor of Manong Ron Saturno's 60th birthday, I'm posting 2 videos of him teaching and in action!


Happy 60th Birthday Manong! Maligayang kaarawan! Many more to come!!

---

Recent 2013 backyard training session with Manong Ron Saturno, Guro Anthony Lo Presti, Reuben Yanuaria and Robert Stewart.

---

Khallid Khan's short film showcasing Manong Ron Saturno's Escrima skills

---

Articles by Manong Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."
• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3
• "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense." 
• Comparison of Short stick vs Long stick
• "Every hit 'must' have the potential of ending the fight, period."
• The firstest with the mostest is the bestest.
• Setting the groundwork for the use of short weapons
• Hitting with Elbows and Knees
• More on Hitting with the Elbows
• I am speaking to the children of other Filipino Fathers who practice and love Escrima
• Self-defense while not feeling 100% & Quick thinking!
• Ron Saturno on Knifefighting 

---

Notes


My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno on Knifefighting

I just evaluated a video sent to me showing several people just going at each other with knives. The people attacked in ways that someone would most likely get attacked by the average person under duress. Most of the attacks began with deep lunges with the knife ending up, at, or around shoulder height. The people were usually and initially at or about a step and a half from each other. Mostly, one lunged and the other responded. If both responded to each other and stepped into one another: They both usually seemed confused about what to do next. Their being a step and a half from each other meant that their both coming into one another soon after, put them at corto and near corto range and seemed to put them in a confused state, because of how fast and how close that they both came into danger upon just one step.

Successful movements usually depend upon three things. Structure, movement and distance and they all have to be satisfied. If one of the three is not present and applied the movement (attack) usually fails. Kind of like our needing to have a match, fuel and air to make something burn. We can borrow from the other man in order to complete structure. We can borrow movement from the opponent and we can borrow distance from an opponent. These fighters discombuberation was a result of their messing up on one of the primary requirements of successful movements. Remembering that if even just one needed part of the three is missing, the movement usually fails. When their opponent stepped into them as quickly as they did: They both soon after lost control of target distance, this inhibited their movement, because they lost structure in order to regain control of their seemingly dire situation. They were scared of being hit with the blade. They were planning on engaging their opponent at another range and just couldn't mentally regroup quickly enough to be able to make a telling blow upon their opponent safely. They had joined the confusing, challenging and exciting world of knife fighting. Never a dull moment. When two people play with razor sharp implements with deadly intent: How could knife fighting be anything other than exciting. "Living on the Edge!" These are the new catch words for my style of knife fighting. These people were living on the edge. Teaching students the fluid dynamics of knife fighting is very hard to do. But it can be done. This is where drills can help students learn to automatically and hopefully learn to also properly respond to an attack by their opponent.

One of the rules that I have adopted that was taught to me by Angel Cabales is to go high before low and not low before high. So I initially teach students drills that let one of the students attack high and than low and the other student defends against a high and than low attack with the blade. If we go low before high, the rising arms are are slow, because of the time it took to feint or attempt an attack at the lower range, before rising into the upper attack. We dropped before rising and this is not as effective, because one of our movements was not worrying our opponent. This leaves the arms slightly more subject to cuts and allows the opponent to occupy the high ground throughout the attack. They will have to rise up and we can go down faster than they can come up. Those Big-Macs have fattened a lot of asses (including mine) and getting that ass moving gets harder and slower with each new birthday. So Angel Cabales would feint with a high blow and make the middle blow the meaningful one. The same move works quite well with a knife, just as well. It worked for Angel Cabales and so I believe in the movement. It is a bread and butter Serrada movement. If we bait the opponent with the (high) initial attack, many men and women naturally respond by raising their arms. As they raise their arms: Our next inward traveling movement slices the arm on the way in. This is the high low. Get them to respond to the high offered hit and hit them with the low. Fake the fucker to raise his arm up and expose himself and than slice inward and hopefully catch something good while sliding across his exposed arm. This move has all of the makings of brilliance. We get drama, a rising crescendo and than fulfillment. The defense is to make a strong initial attack upon the incoming blow so that they can't redirect.

Another response is to make a go at the feint and when and if it is not there, drop the forearm into a cross block (like Wing Tsun), while coming in towards them and than controlling them further, depending upon your sensitivity at that moment. A high/low can be directed outside in from a back hand or forehand attack. Both attacks should be prcticed until they are fluid. Getting someone to take the bait takes longer. Well, we are an art. What kind of artist are you? I would not expect a true artist of any given choice to not know the basics of his craft. We might not buy a bad painted picture, but screwing up the basics in the art of knife fighting has much more serious consequences. I loved the video. I love knife fighting. I would love for knife fighting to become an accepted form of exercise, like Jazzercise. Escrima should also have many more tournaments which involve knife fighting. Knife fighting is our forte, because a knife will most likely be the weapon that we as Escrimadors will most likely have to use and defend against in a real life deadly encounter. Much of my personal training focuses upon defending myself unarmed against a knife. I like the worst case scenario type of focused training. Defending unarmed against a knife is nothing, but a serious chess game with sharp chess pieces. So I will further evaluate the video and than send back a response. I am enjoying myself watching the video. Hope the rest of you are enjoying Escrima as much as I am.

---

Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."
• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3
• "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense." 
• Comparison of Short stick vs Long stick
• "Every hit 'must' have the potential of ending the fight, period."
• The firstest with the mostest is the bestest.
• Setting the groundwork for the use of short weapons
• Hitting with Elbows and Knees
• More on Hitting with the Elbows
• I am speaking to the children of other Filipino Fathers who practice and love Escrima
• Self-defense while not feeling 100% & Quick thinking!

---

Notes


My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

IN MEMORY OF: Mangisursuro Mike Inay (Dec 11, 1944 - Sep 27, 2000)

Source photo: http://www.martialartsresource.com

13 years ago today Mangisursuro Inay passed away. He was one of Manong Angel Cabales students as well as Manong Max Sarmiento's. I've never had the honor of training with him. One of his students, Ray Terry, used to run the Eskrima-Digest, an emailing list discussing the Filipino Martial Arts. It was a staple of the FMA scene in the 1990's into early 2000's. With the advent of WWW forums and Facebook, Eskrima Digest shut down. Many FMA luminaries were regulars on ED as well as other Martial Arts/Self-Defense notable instructors.

Here are some video clips in remembrance:



Inayan System of Eskrima - Father and Son

---

Progressive Inayan Part 1-5

Progressive Inayan at the gathering of the Masters in Greenbay WI. with Mangisursuro Mike Inay, Guro Jenna Inay, and Shihan Russ Rhodes, blending the Inayan Eskrima system with the Shinkodenkai Kenpo Ju-Jitsu system.

---

Inayan Eskrima - Demo

Inayan Eskrima demo in Washington State ~ 1992. Steve Klement and Jon Ward assist the founder of Inayan Eskrima; Suro Mike Inay (RIP).

---

Inayan Eskrima - Seminar clip

Inayan Eskrima Seminar done in Inverness, Scotland - 1996. Steve Klement assist the founder of Inayan Eskrima, Suro Mike Inay (RIP).

---

My sincerest condolences to Mangisursuro Mike Inay's family, students and associates.

RIP Mangisursuro Inay

---

For more information, please check:

• Wiki
• www.mangisursuro.com

Read More

Ron Saturno - More on Hitting with the Elbows

Continuing Master Ron Saturno's series of articles on the Use of Short Weapons. Prior to reading today's post, if you haven't already - please read:

• Setting the groundwork for the use of short weapons
• Hitting with Elbows and Knees

We spoke about a few uses of the elbow. We spoke of hitting the neck with the elbow. The totality of the cervical vertebrae is only about 5 inches. We can then be assured that some, if not many of the important targets on the neck will be hit if the neck is struck. Even with the Adam's Apple and on both sides of the neck is ST9. If the elbow can strike either of these bilateral points, we can get a knockout. If we strike ST9 we are hitting the 10th and 12th cranial nerves, the Vagus and the Hypoglossal nerves. We are also hitting a cervical branch of the facial nerve. The vagus has filaments going to the heart, the lungs and even down to the stomach. The carotid also runs very near this point. It was called mans prognosis and was where the Yang pulse was taken at one time. A harsh strike to ST9 can break flack off the carotid artery and cause a stroke. We can also cause a signal being sent to the carotid plexus and then on to the brain, if we compress the artery. The carotid plexus could send a signal to the brain warning it of an extreme blood pressure increase.. The returning signal from the brain can sometimes cause the heart to reduce the rate and strength of its contraction. This has really bad effects on the respiratory system in general and can cause death. Located on either side of the sternocleidomastoidiuis muscle is LI18 and a little lower SI16. A strike to the neck hit "all" of these points. Of course striking the thyroid cartilage is a given, if you want to be responsible for someones death. The breathing tube is just the size of your smallest finger. There are also important nearby blood vessels that could also be damaged. Bad Ju Ju I tell 'ya, just all bad. Lets move on now.


Dragging the tip of the olecranon of the ulnar bone across the area of the temple is also capable of severely harming someone. The middle meningeal artery can be ruptured or torn if we strike hard enough in this area. We have three layers of protective tissue surrounding our brains, the dura, arachnoid and pia layers. These tissue layers can hold the escaping blood within the brain vault. The pressure can cause brain damage and or death. The shot pupil thing is from severe pressure upon a cranial nerve. If we see this, imminent death is near: So off to the Dr's we must go and go soon we must...


An elbow strike high upon the forehead is also quite capable of causing severe damage. Two weak points are the suture at the top of the skull and a little further back the spot where the anterior fontanel was (softspot). These areas are weaker than most other areas of the skull and can be damaged with a good strike with the elbow to these two areas.


An elbow to the base and back of the head. Strikes directed to the area of the medulla are life ending and I won't share this info online.


Strikes to the upper quadrants of the body are also effective. A strike to the clavicle can easily break this bone and cause a consequent rupture of the sub-clavian artery, besides damage to the nerves of the brachial plexus. We have a few nerves in this area. The anterior thoracic nerve, first intercostal nerve, which also serve Lunge 1.So we know that the point Lu1 is nearby. Lu 1 itself is also served by the medial supraclavicular nerve. You'll notice that I speak nerves. I could do the TCM theory, but the German's say that, "With Americans' everything is electrical". So by speaking electricity everybody is easier to get into the buy in.


A strike to the center of the chest between the nipples can cause damage to the right ventricle of the heart, besides a few more nerves. If we lay into the chest we can compress it like a spring while are damaging it and then the chest will decompress and we get to see the man fly backwards. This is an exiting blow to see performed.


I think that we have covered a lot. Many of you reading this will find my dribble pedantic. But, there may be a few who can get good mileage out of this information. Study my points carefully and we will continue soon. God Bless





Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."
• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3
• "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense." 
• Comparison of Short stick vs Long stick
• "Every hit 'must' have the potential of ending the fight, period."
• The firstest with the mostest is the bestest.

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - Hitting with Elbows and Knees

Continuing Master Ron Saturno's series of articles on the Use of Short Weapons. Please read Setting the groundwork for the use of short weapons prior to today's post if you haven't already.



We had a small read put up on Facebook a few days ago promising more on my personal application of elbows and knees in a fight. My personal development of elbows and knees came about out of necessity. Simply put, "I am not a large man". My chances of toeing up with aggressive men who are larger and stronger than me are very good. My diminutive size can also encourage mens' aggression: Some men size other men up on the basis of size. If another man is much smaller than themselves, than they feel their odds of winning are good and quite honestly, it's a fairly safe bet. Now I am a firm believer that it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog that counts, but 250 or more pounds of muscle is more than enough to cause me some concern. Don't let little d!cked men fool you, size does count, because women "do" count, just when you are not around. So we have established that size does count. I brought up the big men because they are who give me my most concern. My thinking many years ago, when I started formulating my personal method of self-defense was simple. Screw the little guys, "If I can drop a big guy, the smaller guys will be easier to drop." Besides weapons, knees and elbows are people droppers. They are short blows and can therefore be used quickly, powerfully and efficiently. If we train for specific targeting with the elbows and knees, they are easily capable of, "One hit quitters". "One hit quitter" is street parlance for one shot, one drop. So lets get into the business of hitting with the elbows and knees.


If we can pull someone into an elbow or a knee and then strike them, the force expended "into" the target goes significantly up. Pulling while striking into a target is superior to most other applications of the knees and elbows, although there are exceptions. Whatever your system is, there are any number of knee and elbow application techniques. I don't want to delve into various martial systems intricacies, or make comparisons between them. Use your strong back muscles to pull them into your knees and elbows and your powerful chest muscles, or glutes to drop them, it's as simple as that. Yes, the art part is also important. If I grab a man behind the neck and pull him toward me, we can easily get his neck bent forward and downwards. If we can get his neck into a 30 degree angle or so, the neck becomes a segmented column. The cervical vertebrae are now more separated and much more susceptible to damage. If we were to slam an elbow into the neck with their neck in the described position, we can induce severe damage to the cervical vertebrae, especially the third cervical vertebra. That area of the cervical spine is weak We can choose the jaw as another valid target We can get good value for the bang. Important nerves follow along the jaw line. Sometimes men will open their mouths during combat. If we can sink the elbow into their jaws when their mouths are open we can easily break the condyle of their jaw, we can create multiple fracture points on the jaw and most likely cause an immediate knockout, or knock the fight out of them.These are fight ending uses of the elbow. If we lose control of their necks after the elbow strike, we can back (b!tch) slap the opposite sides of their faces, targeting the GB points and immediately come back with an opposite elbow.. A percussive strike instead of the backhand b!tch slap can also be used. After the initial application of the first elbow, we take the hand of the arm of the elbow we used, cup the hand and use the edge of palm to strike their lower jawline, while simultaneously cup striking their eardrum. The ridge of the palm would be hitting ST5 and the cupped palm would be attacking the important nerves of the ear, besides possibly causing the hammer, anvil and stirrup bones of the ear to possibly cause internal bleeding. Directly in front of the ear are points SI21, SJ19 and GB2, besides points going around the earlobe in a circular pattern. As you can see the elbow sets the tone of the fight and the follow up shots are icing on the cake. As you can see: I am always striking high value targets and am prepared to give immediate follow up shots. A lot of men are too stupid to fall right away. Our job is to educate them. Lets leave off now because people are complaining about the lengths of my posts. I'll keep going tomorrow. I hope that I have given a little something for thought. God Bless




Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."
• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3
• "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense." 
• Comparison of Short stick vs Long stick
• "Every hit 'must' have the potential of ending the fight, period."
• The firstest with the mostest is the bestest.

Notes


My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - Setting the groundwork for the use of short weapons

I'm sitting here at the computer putting down what was passed to me a long time ago. If we stand in a vertical position and put our elbows and knees at 90 degrees, both elbows and knees are parallel and are the same distance. Elbows and knees are therefore equal distance short weapons. Knee them, reset your weight and follow with the elbow is a bread and butter move with Escrimador's. Elbows and knees are just some of our short weapons. Hips and shoulders are even shorter weapons. Because of the olecranon of the ulnar bone we really don't have to swing our torso into the blow like many believe. A short and snappy strike with the elbow can handle most problematic people and you won't radically effect your base or your ability to throw quick follow up blows. The elbow is also pretty devoid of pain sensors and we can hit pretty damn hard without feeling a lot of pain. I have seen the elbow severely damaged, so it still remains a tool with limitations.The knees are just as effective pain inducers as the elbows, if not more so, because of your leg weighing more than your arm. People who can raise their knee "up" into the target and therefor bring in their powerful glutes into the fracas are people who bear watching very carefully. We should be careful that they stay a safe distance from us. Both elbows and knees are rotated from the waist, more specifically the lower elixir field, dan tien, sea of chi, testes and ovaries gland chakra, call it what you will. The short blows expand from this area and are especially effective if expressed in connection with the legs. In order to create good power we have to throw from the dirt. Power begins at the earth and up thru the body and ends up "in" our target in the form of a wave. We need to snap the knee up into the target and quickly regain our balance. Lifting and than striking and holding the knee in that position just begs for trouble and I see it all of the time. If you observe someone "not" throwing with the help of the earth, then you'll be observing someone "not" hitting with their full potential. Guys who grab you and pull you into their knees while pushing up from the earth at the same time, just hit stupidly hard. Guys who grab you and pull you into their fast traveling elbows, just hit too damn hard. This push and pull application of forces is the hidden secret of many a martial art. It works in many ways and in many applications of force. Guys who fly into you with their body weight hit damn hard as well if they hit you, but the pulling while striking is what I do and so I won't venture an opinion as to what is superior. Pulling while pushing works well for me and since elbows and knees are close weapons in my mind: I will personally stick to what I know and have practised. If you can fly, why not why, I say. At over 200 lbs. I don't think that I can fly much anymore, well maybe after a 6 martini lunch....


I promised to start in on weapons and distance. So I am just setting the groundwork for the use of short weapons. In my Escrima "everything" is a weapon. My mind, shoulders, elbows, knees, fingers, etc,. and even whats in my pocket. My belt, hat and shoes as well, change and wallet. Tomorrow I'll start in on elbows and knees from the mind of an Escrimador. Hope that you'll enjoy it. Oh, by the way L.A. was a great place to be the last week.




Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."
• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3
• "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense." 
• Comparison of Short stick vs Long stick
• "Every hit 'must' have the potential of ending the fight, period."
• The firstest with the mostest is the bestest.

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - The firstest with the mostest is the bestest.

I like simple. I like perfected basics. I like to be the one who walks away, if I can. I like to walk away from a fight and if I do have to fight: I like to be the one who walks away. Obviously, I've used a lot of "I's" and I like to walk away one way or another. When I decided that "I" was important to me and that I'd like to be the one who walks away from fights: I started looking for someone who could teach me how to do this. Angel Cabales ended up teaching me how to get home safely. He had used his martial skills to save himself in many a very bad situation. You don't go to a man to learn how to lay bricks if he has never layed one. I went to a fight survivor when I wanted to learn how to survive. I am a first generation student of the late great Angel Cabales. Much of what I share today will be directly from his lips. Some will be my interpretation of his training and methods. Some information will be from me alone. Listen to me or not, it is your a$$ not mine. We have to learn to be able to closely scrutinize any and all information which comes our way. We are all survivors and survivors must always be aware of everything which comes our way. What to keep and what to throw away is the game. It's what keeps us breathing. I've hit a lot of sh!t in my life. After a while you figure out that your power, your maximum power, is really only maximally transferable into something within a very short range. It doesn't matter if it's a foot, a fist or a weapon. If you really want to transfer energy into something: You have to put the target in its proper range and you have to do your part to accomplish this. This is the basis of hitting hard. Knowing what you're doing and why is a big part of accomplishing this. The art part is accomplishing this when the b@stards keep moving around and thwarting your goal.

 

There are rules to most things that we do. If we want to hit something first than we should get out rule one. Hit it right away. The firstest with the mostest is the bestest. Get to 'crackin. Usually the first real telling blow is the beginning of the end of the fight. This holds true for hands, feet and weapons. Rule two. If you are unsure of rule one, look at rule one again.

 

Can it really be that easy? More than half of surviving a fight is the will to fight. A man who has decided to fight, should simply step up and get busy. Some men want to belittle you before a fight. Some men want to look good before his friends. They like to run their mouths. What this also means is that they are pumping up. They are getting their adrenaline dumping into their bodies. They will be harder to deal with, after the adrenaline dump. Whatever the reason, putting your fist in his mouth is not only satisfying, but has a lot of survivor value. A loud man who has approached you with clenched fists etc., gives you a reasonable belief that he is offering you imminent danger. Hit him until he drops and if someone is around stop. I am trying to get to the nuts and bolts of things, but I was told to keep it short by the boss. I'll get back to writing this after dinner. God Bless.

Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."
• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3
• "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense." 
• Comparison of Short stick vs Long stick
• "Every hit 'must' have the potential of ending the fight, period."

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - "Every hit 'must' have the potential of ending the fight, period."

He was young and hispanic. He had one of the new aluminum tonfas. The ones with ball bearings. He was usually found watching a church on Main St., in Stockton, but I saw him around. He was a security guard and was pretty damn good with his aluminum baton. Woe is me for going to a Catholic church because the women were particularly pretty. He would stand around when things were slow and spin the damn thing frightening fast. I had spoke to him a few times about his weapon, but he blew me off for asking him stupid questions. I really thought that it might have superpowers. He really did make the thing look invinceable. I couldn't figure out a way to beat its speed. I bowed to his weapon mentally and decided to keep out of his reach.


Catholic churches usually have bazaars at least once a year. The girls attending will doll up and oversexed young men (like me), would come out to feed, drink, play bingo, flirt and hopefully get at least a number, or hopefully a pair of panties to add to his collection. Yes, going to church for all the wrong reasons is blasphemy, but light stuff compared to why some priests go. In the middle of a group of familiars, someone threw a bottle at us. No real reason, probably other than we were getting more attention from the ladies present than themselves. I got a slight whack of the ricocheting bottle and quickly went postal. Everyone in our group felt the same. The fun was about to begun. I was tipsy, but gave a fair account of myself in the ensuing maelstrom of fists and feet. Took a few to the face, got my shirt torn, but quickly took my shirt off when I heard the sirens. Then I walked quickly into the crowd of lookie-loo's. When the cops rolled up: I wanted to be a spectator and not a participant in the physical activities. Stockton P.D. has a bad habit of hitting everything that moves in a brawl until everyone stops moving. Out of the corner of my eye I espied the young hispanic guard walking directly toward someone twirling his ball bearinged baton and he then stepped into his target and let loose. The target put his arm up, took the hit from the magical baton, stepped in and knocked the guard flat on his ass. The guard just lay down with a stupid look on his face. Either the punch, the failure of his magic baton, or both, had put him in a stupified state. My face must have had the same look, because I was just as shocked. What in the hell could have gone wrong? Something that could move as fast as his baton, just should have knocked his target into a prone position. I learned that day: That with weapons and most everything else, theory is not necessarily fact. Before you put your ass on the line: You'd better do your homework. I watch a lot of stuff on Youtube and most of the stuff is great, but some of the theoretical techniques in my estimation are just too complex to bet my ass on. A regular police night stick would have quickly dropped the guards target on his ass. Some of the 13 step responses to a simple punch will get you on your ass as well.


From that day forward I realised that my knowledge of weaponry was weak. My assumptions regarding the fancy tonfa were clearly unfounded. I would have bet hard cash that anyone hit with the fancy baton would surely and quickly know that they had taken a telling blow. I went back to basics and have stayed there ever since. Most of the martial arts techniques that we can truly depend upon are based upon good physics. It amazes me that monks on top of hills, thousands of years ago, without knowledge of math and applied physics could develop MIT level martial techniques. We buff the ancient techniques, polish them, give them new names, etc., but we haven't really developed anything new. We delude ourselves to assuage our egos. Name any new martial system and there were low level monks, etc., who could kick most of our asses today. These men lived a closed, monastic lifestyle. Praying and others praying that one of the monks wouldn't hit them were their lives. They didn't practise techniques until they got them right: They practised techniques until they couldn't do them wrong.


When men develop techniques during harsh times: They develop them with a clear mind. No bullsh!t need apply. Bread and butter techniques that are simple and effective under most conditions are the order of the day. Weaponry follows the same paths as their owners minds. Men who mean business do not stand around and twirl their weapons. Weapons are to hit things with. Can you imagine a shoot-out where everyone is standing around twirling their guns and not shooting in order to stay alive? The true Master makes "every" hit count. Every hit "must" have the potential of ending the fight, period. With everything mentioned: I will start writing about the nuts and bolts of what I believe is important when training and apply.




Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."
• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3
• "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense." 
• Comparison of Short stick vs Long stick

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - Comparison of Short stick vs Long stick

If we were to look into the mechanics of boxing we will see a direct connection between mens arm reach and who wins bouts. More men with longer reach will win more fights than men with lesser reach against these men. I have compared the reaches of championship fighters and the comparison holds true. Some might say that there may be other factors than just reach and while this may be true: The fact still remains that a boxer with a longer reach can still fight up close, but a shorter reach boxer can't grow arm length.

 
Let me grab a favored Champion fighter. He has a face tattoo, He used to have constant problems. He hit unbelievably hard. He has relatively short reach. But, he could weave into an opponent with beautiful alacrity. He needed weaving to close the distance against longer reach opponents. Once in, he delivered devastating short body hooks and upper cuts. Poetry I tell 'ya. The only thing that could drop this man in his prime was a great ass in a tight dress, drugs and cops with warrants. I loved the boxing style of Mike Tyson. The man without his gloves on did have issues, but who am I to judge. I've fallen prey to a pretty face and a fat joint myself. We live and we learn.

 
I write this today to make a comparison between short stick v.s. long. In my system, it is said that we prefer the short weapon. "We" ain't one of these. I love a longer weapon, well beyond 24 inches. If we prefer a short weapon than we also prefer its weaknesses. Many of my brethren simply accept the superiority of a short weapon, but cannot succinctly elaborate the short weapon advantages over longer weapons or short weapon weaknesses. If they can, than so much the better for them! At least they are making an informed decision. Many others can't say the same. Short sticks are great and longer sticks are great. I like a longer stick, but can use a shorter weapon just as well. I like to be prepared for most bad time situations. So to me, clearly understanding your chosen weapons ideal usage simply should be a given. If you do match up against an opponent with any weapon: Quick determination of available fighting tactics could be life saving and knowing your weapon is a big part of this. I am going to go a little further regarding weapon lengths, over the next few days. Hope you'll enjoy the ride.



Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."
• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3
• "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense."

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - "Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense."

Today's entry concludes the series of articles for now by Master Ron Saturno on Espada y Daga. In case you missed the previous articles, please check out: 

• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga
• Espada y daga, part 3

 

---

I had been writing about the formulation of distance(s) and its effect upon espada y daga. I tried to begin to describe elbow-in v.s. an elbow-out position, when striking. And the most effective ranges of the parabolas formed by the shorter and longer weapon. I know that it was boring, but the information had reasons for its being shared. I was starting to explain the theoretical foundation of Serrada Escrima and its proper use in espada y daga. I was going into the explanation, nuts and bolts. It was boring, but necessary. But, it didn't go over well, so I will save it for my students. They will be given the foundation of Serrada Escrima. They will be fast, hit very hard, will have good footwork and angleation and hopefully if they ever "need" Serrada, will walk away unharmed. And "if" I had any part in this: I will have done something positive in this very ugly world.


When we strike from an elbow in position, we have economy of motion. The elbow tucked-in position helps in speeding the strike and allows us quicker recovery times, to accomplish the next strike. Because the arm mass is closer to the body when we strike from an elbow-in position and because we are using our hips to roll the weapon out. But, we" have" to be a little more closer than usual to accomplish this. It forces us to get closer to our opponent(s) and is somewhat "less" safe because of this reason, "without" a daga. But, with the daga as back-up, it can offer a "lot" of safety and advantages that we wouldn't have "without" the daga. We are hitting faster and harder from a elbow-in position. Since we are using our legs to strike, our arms do not become as tired and we can mentally mind-f*ck an opponent because of the speed and power of our incoming blows.


I did begin to show my private student yesterday the proper use of the daga. The daga kept cutting his hands at unpredictable moments: Unseen, but felt. We need to learn to hide the smaller blade. It must be felt, but seldom if ever seen. I used the daga as a reversal tool as well. We take their mind to the small blade when we cut them and while their minds are transfixed upon the shorter weapon and the pain and damage that it can accomplish, we strike with the larger weapon: heavily and decisively. This is accomplished by a neutral weapon feel. We don't push, press, pull, or hurry our opponent(s). They shouldn't be able to ever "read" our intentions. We want "him/her" to completely commit themselves when they strike. Their complete commitment is their downfall. Espada y daga properly performed violates common sense. We want someone to hit us very hard and very fast! Their commitment is their own undoing. The faster and harder they hit, the easier they are to deal with. This runs against common sense, but it works. If you watch the two videos I put up today here on Facebook: In one of them I was overpowering my opponent. In the other my opponent was overpowering himself. In one video we depend upon being faster and stronger than our opponent. In the other video: Are we using our opponent(s) power against themselves? Hell yes. This is a whole other beast than trying to fight the knife. We don't want to fight the knife, we let the knife fight its owner!




Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - Espada y daga, part 3

This is the third in a series of articles by Master Ron Saturno on Espada y Daga. In case you missed the first article, please read: 

• Espada y Daga
• More about Espada y daga

 

---

Espada y daga, part 3. Put a 28" in your hand and make a strike, keep your elbow tucked into your side. The "sweet spot" is about 24-26", measured from the elbow. Most people don't hold their stick, at its very end, we have to account for the lost inches. It is about 10" from elbow to hand and from your hold on the weapon another 16-18" to the "sweet spot", altogether the 24-26", this I have already mentioned. How do we use this knowledge? Angel Cabales gave you very little to hit, but in order to hit someone with his elbow tucked in to his side, he "had" to come "in" toward his opponent. Serrada is a medium fighting style, not a close fighting style like some believe. A medium fighting range, allowed him to still "see" things develop and still allowed him to take advantage of developing events while fighting. He liked to hit with his body, not his arms. Many people do not know that firmly striking someone with a weapon with the body behind the strike adds a lot of free power to the strike. Yes, we can strike with incredible speed with our sticks, but we have to account for weight. Remember, the theorem of power is based upon speed and "weight". 70 mph with a .75lb. stick, does "not" generate the power of 60 mph srick with 200lbs. of body weight behind the strike. Angel Cabales being a smaller man, needed to be behind his blows with "all" of the weight he could behind his strikes. Noodle arm hitting does "not" usually develop fight ending power with a stick. Oh, it hurts like hell, but you don't ask for the license plate of the truck that hit you when you wake up in the hospital: Like you do when hit with body weight behind a blow. This is one of the reasons you see basics taught with "you" facing your opponent's weapon in Serrada. Yes, there are many reasons, but I love my idea anyway. He had to turn his hips into the blow to generate power "if" he was hitting from an elbow tucked position. I know that many have never seen very much of this actually done, but it works.


If you were to hit someone on their wrist/hand from an elbow tucked position: "You" would be in range of "his" weapon. This is why Serrada blocks are done with the hand! Yes, the hand. The stick is only used for stopping your opponent's weapon. Everyone gets sloppy and they start blocking with their sticks, but the basic blocks are "all" hand blocks. In order to tuck and not offer much to our opponent, we almost "have" to perform basic, hand assisted blocks, or become really good in our ability to angle. We can already figure out that espada y daga "can" be really up close and personal. The foot work of Serrada is based around espada y daga. Quick replacement stepping allows the left foot to be brought forward and the left hip to be swung around into the blow/stab. If I were to give an inside block, from the elbow tucked position and you somehow were not hit, your opponent would be coming back around with a number two angle strike. a quick replacement step allows you to quickly and efficiently "face' the next blow, if we can't, we stay and pass the oncoming blow. The female blocks, or tip down blocks: I call them "stickdown" blocks are there to allow you to pass blows without directly "facing" the blow. "All" stick tip down blocks are female blocks, to help you survive a strike when you are not in a position to strike first. OMG! I just realized that I am trying to teach espada y daga in writing. It is just too damn hard to do. Just know this: Angel Cabales came in close, remained close and with his knowledge of Espada y daga, which included footwork, proper angle entries, picking and reversing, he was hard to deal with. I hope to show more espada y daga on Youtube and at my seminars. I hate to cut this short, but just don't want to confuse anyone enough to "not" want to learn espada y daga. I hope as usual that everyone is in the very best of health and that all is well in your lives. God Bless.






Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - More about Espada y daga

This is the second in a series of articles by Master Ron Saturno on Espada y Daga. In case you missed the first article, please read: 

• Espada y Daga

 

---

More about Espada y daga. When I was in Japan I took some courses from stateside schools. One distance school was University of Maryland and another was L.A. City College. I took a history course from a Ph.D. who was a spy during WWII in Europe. He had a permanent limp from being shot in the leg. He was a very knowledgeable man and interesting as hell to listen to. Somewhere in our conversations he let it be known that he was a practicing blade man. In fact, he was the first non-Japanese to be given a license to teach the blade. He was a walking database of the Japanese bladed arts. He took me into the museum that he was the curator of and allowed me to get a much closer look at the swords. Many of the blades were hundreds of years old. He explained the very structure of the blade and how the blades were bendable and even breakable, if used incorrectly. I guess that I was destined to be a blade man. I have been very lucky to have been exposed to many great swordsmen.


He explained that the blade of the Samurai, although many inches long, had a sweet spot about 10" or so down the blade, going back towards the handle. He explained that if we can put the opponent's body within that zone and if we strike with reasonable power and with body follow through, the blade will be allowed to do its job. With FMA sticks of an average length of about 28", this would put the sweet spot of those sticks (blade orientation) of about 6-10" down the stick, at or about 20". For me, this puts the spot in the perfect range of a fuller sized Barong and I love it. Of course, with a stick we can do a lot of tip flick strikes, etc., that shouldn't be attempted with a blade. But, I am blade oriented. If we do the same math with the daga, the sweet spot would be the proper( usage range) length of a sometimes preferred, shorter length Serrada stick. This knowledge makes the daga a comfortable use weapon for a Serrada man, because a Serrada man's constant use of the daga length weapon, allows him a good working knowledge of distance control.


What comes out of this, is "my" preferred weapon(s) and length(s). What also comes out, is that because of the sweet spot of our weapons, we may have to be much closer to our opponent's when striking than many may now believe "necessary". The shorter (daga) weapon used in traditional lock and block's sweet range is typically about the length of a man's arm from armpit to wrist, armpit to shoulder distance of about 24-26". Which just happens to be a reasonable trade-off range with the common 28-30" rattan stick lengths which are currently popular. What I am saying is that Filipino's may not be so dumb. Maybe, there are reasons for 28-30" sticks being popular! What is important to me is that FMA practitioners take the time to study their craft and have a reason for each and everything that they do, in practice and in real life! Remember that if we strike outside of the sweet spots of our weapons, we can bend and even break blades, even the good ones. So, we must take the time to completely understand the nature of our craft, like professionals. Remember professionals get paid: We don't want to pay for our mistakes with our lives. All of the knowledge we pick up should be used to constantly improve our chances of survival, in a combat environment. It is about searching out our own destinies. We don't search to add cumbersome thoughts and movements to our personal arts. We study and learn to remove as much as possible. We want to be mean and lean fighting machines. In hope this post in some way, gets the wheel turning about the nature of lock and block. There is a lot there my friends, but in the end it is about finding out who is faster! Past all of the bullsh!t and hype: If I hit you first I am faster, period. Doesn't matter how I got there first.




Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."
• "You have to teach everything you know, because this forces you to learn more."

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More

Ron Saturno - Espada y Daga

So someone calls me yesterday and wants to know why I use short sticks: I don't. Why I stand still doing espada y daga: I don't. He asked a lot of whys, regarding espada y daga. Espada y daga seems to be an ongoing subject. Espada y daga is in my mind the highest level of Escrima attainment. So, I guess that others may feel the same way. We covered a lot of questions and answers.


If we look at the Filipino daga, by American standards, it is a short sword. So we could say that espada y daga is almost a double sword art. It does work very well with reasonable length weapons. If we use really heavy, or long espada's, we usually overbalance and slow our ability to engage the daga. We need to be able to quickly swing the opposite hip into the attack. In order to do this, we may have to step deep left with our daga and insert the blade. We cannot do this easily, if we have over-committed our chops or thrusts with the espada. Getting the back hip back into play is much harder to accomplish with very committed espada attacks.

 
The daga becomes very female when used properly. As Angel Cabales would say, holding up his left hand, "She is the woman, who brings her man (espada) to kill". I was asking him about the use of the daga. A woman cannot beat a man without her feminine wiles. She entices, lures, and then springs her trap. This is how the daga should be used. The daga is to gain attention, mystify, worry a man. While you spend your time with her (the daga), her man (espada) stands by jealous and wanting to harm you. This is the proper use of the daga. I watch people just send their woman (daga) out, without thought of her safety, or her proper use. She is not a mop or a broom. You dress her up in her fanciest black dress, that shows lots of leg and cleavage. You hide her and then put her out when least expected. When the man's mind enjoys her beauty: You finish him quickly. The last thing on his mind was the deceitful b!tch who tricked him to his death. In real terms, you would slip your daga "under" your opponent's leading arm, if he gives a thrust to your right shoulder, as an example. You slip the daga under and along the length of his arm, "hiding" the thrust.


If they attempt "any" movement to harm you: You can place the daga somewhere along your espada to "stop-catch" their strike. You would be making a cross (crusada) with your weapons. This stop catch can be quite unexpected and can literally freeze men in their tracks. It can also cause the blade to jump towards your head, if the movement doesn't stop the espada. But, you can come up under their espada, if you stop their blade and make a quick slice to their arm, parry with the daga, to clear his main weapon and finish with a harsh espada strike.


At the highest levels you can actually parry the opponent's main weapon with the daga to gain "beat" dominance. You can get a valuable half beat, full beat and even a beat and a half ahead of your opponent. You can perform double slices with your espada y daga. The list is endless. But, the main thing is that you have to use your weapons as male and female. Remember, your job is to protect your woman (daga). If you really must put her in danger, or even sacrifice her, than make her sacrifice have meaning. Yes, you can sacrifice an arm to accomplish the kill. The espada y daga that I mostly see being performed is slash and thrust Escrima. Real espada y daga is like a dance. The characters flow together in the dance as if they were one. If the couple get separated in thoughts and actions, than they are no longer a couple! The drama is missing! You are not supposed to know "when" the daga will come at you! And when she comes for you, you are not supposed to know "how" she will come for you! This is how real espada y daga is done. Now days it is thrust with the daga and thrust or strike with the espada and then begin another left-right cycle. So my friends: Dress your b!tch up! Teach her how to use her feminine wiles to lure a man to his end. I sure hope to see some better looking b!tches out there! The ones being shown are "industrial models" that men act like they don't care very much about!






Other articles by Master Saturno:

• Basic Movement Theory
• Basics in Defense
• Basics of Serrada
• Freight Training! (Body Alignment & Power Transfer)
• The Secret to Surviving Fights 
• "Your fight is with time"
• Vidclips of Serrada Basics and Angles of Attack
• Audio Interview (97 mins!)
• The Very Heart and Soul of the Filipino Martial Arts
• "A reason to live is the greatest gift that a teacher of FMA can ever give."

Notes

My deepest gratitude to Master Ron Saturno for his kind permission in allowing me to repost his articles to my site. 

You can contact Master Ron Saturno via:

Email:  5masterserrada@gmailNOSPAM.com (take out the "NOSPAM")
Phone:  209-513-8027
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ron.saturno

Read More