Monday, November 9, 2009

Saturday is alright (for fighting)

Okay, so did everyone have a good weekend? Because I spent 8 hours on Saturday working with Escrima sticks and training knives and I can barely type, my fingers and knuckles and hands and forearms are so sore.

So this post is gonna be short (by my standards) because I'm a whiner. And a wimp.

I've been studying Escrima for about three years now with my friend Isaac as my instructor, and one of the things I love most about Escrima is that I don't have to be incredibly strong or huge to be able to take someone down. I have to be fast, and I have to be efficient. I also have to not flail my arms as much, but I'm working on that last one.

Escrima (sometimes referred to as Kali) originated in the Philippines because, um, lots and lots of countries were lining up to try and slaughter their people and take over the country, and the Filipino people were all, um, no thanks? So they borrowed from a ton of different martial arts and whenever they'd be taken over for short period, the Filipinos would practice their sword work in the fields along with practicing it through, ahem, "dancing." If you guys know anything about Capoeira, you'll notice some similarities - mainly, a subjugated group of people pass along their martial arts training through the art of dance so that their stupid masters don't notice anything, then one day they rise up and kick ass and everyone's like, Wow, didn't see THAT one coming. I just thought they were being moved by the holy spirit.

Anyways, my point is, Escrima is bad-ass and it teaches you not only sword fighting, but because it's based off fighting concepts and not fighting techniques (something our guest instructor, Guro Lewis, kept drilling into us on Saturday), you can use it at any time with any object. Our Guro demonstrated this by taking down one of our students using a pen - and if you've seen The Bourne Identity, you get to see Jason Bourne use Escrima to kill someone with a rolled up newspaper. Finally, a use for all those old Wall Street Journals you've got lying around.

So Saturday was a good day of working sword and then knife fighting techniques, because, again with the idea that any weapon can be utilized with Escrima concepts, Escrimadors make really, REALLY good knife fighters. I learned how to stab, poke, hack and slash my way through the human body, and I had an absolutely fantastic time doing it.



And this is my blog post about how I spent my weekend learning how to kill people more effectively. Why can't I just scrapbook like everyone else?

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, I am half Filo, and I have never heard of this before. It sounds cool though (except for the bruising and soreness, lol).

In response to your comment about the cake, are you on Facebook? I list my recipes up on my personal Facebook page in my album called "Food Files" - the most recent one is the recipe for that cake. If you're on there, look me up - I think I am the only Dionne Christiansen on FB.

Jo said...

Ummmm....you're kinda badass! I would always, always, always pick you to be on my team! :)
Seriously, escrima sounds functional ;) and beautiful. What an awesome art to be in to!!

drollgirl said...

hahah! wow! you are ready to DESTROY! this is pretty wild. i am so uncoordinated that i would probably maim myself if i tried to do this stuff. for reals.

and with regards to your comment about paris hilton and megan fox, i TOTALLY agree with you. success is not always merit-based for sure. this is true in the music biz, the acting world, the art world, and probably everywhere else. it is rather irritating at times.

Eeeno's World said...

I'm super jealous. Loved that newspaper part in "Bourne". In fact, love all of the "Bournes", and can't wait for the next one, which is supposedly in pre-production.

A New England Girl said...

You can't scrapbook like everyone else because you're AMAZING and totally unique. I would LOVE to learn something like this... Maybe I'll have to add it to my list after I get the ball rolling with jiu jitsu? Seriously, though... You are completely bad ass. I'd be disappointed to hear you scrapbooking on a Saturday instead of something phenomenal like this! :)

jennifer from pittsburgh said...

I want you on MY side in a fight! :)

Maggie May said...

i'm kind of scared and turned on at the same time ;)

jenn said...

remind me never to get on your bad side!! you are a total badass. :) ps - if you need tips on scrapbooking, i'm your girl. :)

Kristin Quinn said...

So awesome Tracy. I love hearing about this. And I don't think anyone who is practicing Escrima can truthfully call herself a wimp!

MARPPIO said...

Hi,

If you want to know more about Filipino martial arts, come visit our site at:

www.modernarnis.com

This is the #1 Internet site on arnis/escrima.

Happy knifing!

Gwen said...

You definitely are not a whimp!!! I'll have you on my team any day!!! XOXO

Deech said...

Cool...Now all you have to do is dress up like Harlequin and start taking people out...Sexy as hell!

Clarity said...

Hello darling,

It's your best friend that you've never met. I've been trying to read your blog on my tiny phone, forget even typing comments. Just saw your comment on L's and thought, I have to come over there before I logoff and stop straining my eyes. It's been a mad week and I could have used a decent martial arts workout like yours to focus my energy on. Thanks for teaching me about this cool art, more!

Hope you are well and healing nicely, x.

krista said...

i'm totally getting finn into martial arts.

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