Yesterday I read an essay on another blog and thought that the author, Aric A. Gibson, a practitioner of Cooper Ryu Vee Jitsu, was really on to something.  He entitled his essay, "Martial Arts: Myths and etiquette.  He wrote in part:

Just a quick update.  Jay Ignacio will be training with us from 10am - 3pm on Sunday at World Martial arts Center in Uptown.   The screening of the film will be at 6pm at the Parkway Theater at the corner of 48th and Chicago Ave in South Minneapolis.   Doors open at 5. 

We will be training JKD, Bahad Zubu, Kalis Ilustrisimo, Detiki Tersia, Knife fighting, and more!

For more info check out: …

Spoiler Alert!  For those of you who are squeamish about hunting, stop reading now.  Okay, so a couple weeks ago my brother and I headed out to Wyoming to go deer and antelope hunting.  We had a great time crawling around agricultural fields trying to get close to some really nice animals.  We harvested one nice Mule deer buck that weighed in at about 285# and had a serviceable rack.   On the last day, my brother still had an antelope tag so when we spotted a solo buck trotting through the…

I went this morning as I have many mornings recently for the park, some morning to work out with private students before they go to work. But I also have following of elderly Filipinos (Manongs) who wait for me for lessons. Many of them have seen and some did Arnis a long time ago. I have taken the simple concepts of Cinco Terros and blended them with the breathing and exercises of Tai-Chi. My little class goes about 30-45 minutes, I have five who walk around the park several times first…

A roundup of what's going on in the CTS world has been posted over at my blog. Plus, my recap of Iron Mountain is an article over the FMA Informative online magazine. Go check it out.

Counterpoint Tactical System News

Happy Training.

It was on this day back in 1587 that Filipinos came ashore to California under the Spanish flag searching for supplies & water. One of the Filipino died defending his fellow countrymen against an attack by  local Native Americans. This occurred near Moro Bay. Hey remember it is Filipino American History Month!

Function Precedes Form

By Fernando “Bong “Abenir III







Martial arts were developed in order to find practical ways of dealing with self-defense situations. Every aspect of the techniques being used is supposed to be functional and whatever is outside of that simple concept is discarded. The approach must be simple, efficient and direct. No fancy movements, no dancing around, do not beat around the bush. But instead go right thru the heart…

It is not unusual to hear about a martial artist who has won trophies and medals from tournaments but ending up badly beaten in a street confrontation with someone who only had little or no martial arts training at all. Why? The reason for this is that most tournament fighters train only for combat competitions which emphasize technique to score points, rather than techniques for self-defense. There is no denying that the more sparring experience one has the greater his confidence and…

Are Martial Arts which have its origins in the Philippines. The practitioners of these arts emphasize the use of blunt, projectile, hand to hand and bladed weapons. Projectile weapons may refer to spears, bow and arrow, blow guns and knives. (It does not include plates, glass, spoon, fork and other kitchen wares which Filipina wives throw at their husbands during marital warfare.)



Arnis de mano is…

Belting System in the Filipino Martial Arts



Pedro Reyes one of my teachers in Arnis, told me that the only thing a belt does is to hold your pants up (what color that maybe.) Well…..that’s probably true when we’re talking about what we usually practice here in our country, where we don’t normally issue belts to our students but rather we just let our students keep on practicing until he or she becomes proficient in the art and finds himself an apprentice to…

What if…

You just took a short cut through the alley behind the parking lot because you’re very much in a hurry to get home and it is already getting late at night. As you walk alone in this dark alley, you notice a group of men standing besides a post drinking and smoking about 50 feet away from you. Suddenly you have this strange feeling inside your gut as if there’s a big knot, and then your heart starts pounding fast. What will you do?



What…

The Counterpoint Tactical System's Iron Mountain instructor's camp closed on Sunday September 16th, 2012. The event was full of laughter, learning and some hard hitting. Here's a quote from my blog entry about Day 03 of the CTS Iron Mountain Camp:

As the final part of Josh Ryer’s third degree black belt test, he had to spar staff. All of the black belts who…

Aloha,





The 2012 Kilohana Deep Roots/Kufferath Masters Seminar will be held in Campbell, California on November 17 & 18, and will feature training in a variety of martial arts with many top instructors. We have combined two different events, Deep Roots and the Kufferath Masters Seminar, into one full weekend of training, with the Kilohana annual awards banquet being held on Saturday night. Also new this year is a Friday night instructor training class, designed to train…

Bai Liza Saway: Sharing Talaandig Culture

August 22, 2012 in Classes & Workshops,…

Guro Carson McDonald opened his school, St. Albert Kali, with an inaugural class this afternoon. I had the pleasure of attending to watch him teach (I could not participate as my neck was still sore from Guro Noah Walt stepping on my head and neck at GM Dan Rutano's seminar in Red Deer yesterday), and I must say that Guro Carson is a great instructor. I especially noted the way he handled the opponent modelling drills where one person would role play as a "bad guy" and feed his partner…

GM Dan Rutano's seminar in Red Deer this afternoon was awesome! Tito (Uncle) Dan was awesome as usual, as was GM Gil Lafantaisie. Kuya (Big Brother) Gil and Tito Dan ran us through so many different techniques and concept applications that people's heads were spinning. I was especially pleased to have had the opportunity to present Tito Dan with a certificate from the Philippine Warrior Arts Society recognizing him as a pioneer of Filipino Martial Arts in Canada...he really deserves…

Counterpoint Tactical Systems recently had its Instructor's Camp in Butler, TN. In my personal blog, I recount what we learned on day 02. The topics included Panatukan entries with elbows, empty hand versus stick and walking stick striking sets.

Day two started off like day one, with more ranging footwork. Master Whitson led us in pole standing meditation, but it wasn’t as long as we stood during the first day. On this morning, he had us switch to a different…