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Kali, Escrima, and Arnis are the terms for the fighting arts of the
Philippines. Kali is a South Term, Escrima more Central, and Arnis is
from the North.
Kali Fighting Sticks - Arnis Sticks - are made of lightweight yet
durable Filipino Rattan. The Kali sticks have been made famous in
the Filipino Martial Arts.
The most common weapon used in training is a rattan stick
about the length of the practitioner's arm. Some schools prefer sticks
of a particular length, while others expect students to learn which
techniques are appropriate for a variety of lengths. Other sticks used
for training and for some duels are made of hardwood, such as molave or
kamagong, that is burned and hardened. The sticks used in Arnis are
usually made out of wood, or rattan 70 cm long and about 2 cm in
diameter. The length can vary from 30 cm to 220 cm. They can also be
made out of aluminum or other metals, or modern high-impact plastics.
The sticks can also be padded for training purposes, though this
practice is usually only used in schools in North America or Europe.
Most North American and European schools use hand and head protection
when sparring with rattan sticks.
The most obvious feature of Eskrima is that it is mostly
weapon-based. The student is first taught to work with weapons and only
advances to empty-hand techniques once the stick techniques have been
learned. This is reasonable because most systems have unified their
teaching so that the empty-hand techniques are learned through the same
exercises as the weapon techniques, making muscle memory an important
aspect of the teaching.
Escrima and Arnis are designed to work with sticks, and Kali
is a blade art. A common feature of all these arts is their use of
geometry. In strikes/defenses and movement, lines and angles are very
important. The independent use of the hands, or hands and feet, to do
two different things at the same time, is a high-level skill sought
after a fair amount of experience. Head butting is allowed, along with
grappling techniques carried out from either a standing position or
from the ground and including strips, takedowns, and throws. Other
moves include chokeholds and various locks on the hands, elbows,
shoulders, ankles, and knees.
Because you may not have a weapon available or losing a
weapon, the body is the weapon. Filipino martial arts allow the use of
the elbow and knee, as well as low kicking and punching in close-range
fighting. Using the same angles and footwork the weapon is only an
extension of the body and is the reason weapon, before empty-hand is
taught. This approach of weapons first is unique to Eskrima wherein all
other martial arts start by developing the years of empty hands
proficiency first before being introduced to the weapons component.
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