Filipino/Moro Martial Arts question...

ThePepperSkull · 24th February 2010, 06:21 PM

Great observation.

I find that a lot of Phillippine martial arts takes into account the range in terms of distance between fighters (Largo, medio, corto ranges; or Long, Medium, and close ranged hand to hand or weapons combat), however Silat styles take another range into account. This being how far you are from the ground.

I was taught in Mande Muda Silat to fight standing upright, crouched, and while sitting. I know Harimau styles have this training dynamic, as well as many other Silat fighting systems. Perhaps moro fighting systems have had this as well.

If we take a look at the videos, notice how both SubingSubing and Lacoste are both standing, and progressively bending their knees lower and lower as if to transition into a crouching position (In the SubingSubing video, he is actually crouching while demonstrating some stickwork at timestamp 2:08). Note subingsubing's tendency to lean into and crouch while striking. In Cecil's film, the demonstrations are also often performed in a range of positions; crouched, standing, I believe it was the Barong demonstration (recalling from memory, I could be wrong) that had one gentleman kneeling while exchanging blows.

The standing-kneeling-sitting dynamic of combat training is being adopted by a lot of FMA schools in more recent years, but this is a distinctly Silat characteristic in terms of origin.

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24th February 2010, 06:21 PM	#12
ThePepperSkull Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 338	Great observation. I find that a lot of Phillippine martial arts takes into account the range in terms of distance between fighters (Largo, medio, corto ranges; or Long, Medium, and close ranged hand to hand or weapons combat), however Silat styles take another range into account. This being how far you are from the ground. I was taught in Mande Muda Silat to fight standing upright, crouched, and while sitting. I know Harimau styles have this training dynamic, as well as many other Silat fighting systems. Perhaps moro fighting systems have had this as well. If we take a look at the videos, notice how both SubingSubing and Lacoste are both standing, and progressively bending their knees lower and lower as if to transition into a crouching position (In the SubingSubing video, he is actually crouching while demonstrating some stickwork at timestamp 2:08). Note subingsubing's tendency to lean into and crouch while striking. In Cecil's film, the demonstrations are also often performed in a range of positions; crouched, standing, I believe it was the Barong demonstration (recalling from memory, I could be wrong) that had one gentleman kneeling while exchanging blows. The standing-kneeling-sitting dynamic of combat training is being adopted by a lot of FMA schools in more recent years, but this is a distinctly Silat characteristic in terms of origin.