All Blade, All the Time

Sayoc Kali Knife Parry Drill

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Continuing with the concepts from the last tutorial on two types of knife defense techniques, the cross-body parry and the same-side parry, we will discuss the cross-body parry, as practiced in Sayoc Kali, a little further and introduce a simple drill to install the proper range, body mechanics, and blade sensitivity in order to best track the blade. In this Sayoc NorCal tutorial we will focus on two types of cross-body parries: The Pendulum Cross-Body Parry and the Corkscrew Cross-Body Parry.

The pendulum cross-body parry, or cross-body ‘tap’ is, in essence, a long-distance knife parry. It allows the Receiver to begin tracking the blade through tactile sensitivity while at the same time keeping their vital targets at a safer distance. When the Feeder attacks with the blade, the Receiver shuffle-steps back to maintain a certain amount of distance between himself and the Feeder. This allows for a certain amount of time for the Receiver to make any adjustments to their parry by effectively putting their body (and therefore their vital targets) outside the range of the attack. For instance, if the Feeder should change their line of attack at any time during this initial, committed engagement, the Receiver, as mentioned, has a little more time to deal with that. The pendulum tap, then, becomes a way to set up an entry for the Receiver to close and attack.

The corkscrew cross-body parry is just the opposite. If the pendulum tap acts as a way to set up an entry, the corkscrew tap is the beginning of that entry. We use the corkscrew tap to close distance with the Feeder and start to control how they have to move their body in order to deal with that parry. Rather than maintaining distance and passing the blade between the Feeder and Receiver, the corkscrew tap intercepts the blade hand and ‘corkscrews’ it down to the Feeder’s hip. By using this corkscrewing motion, the Receiver changes the line of his tapping arm making it more difficult for the Feeder to successfully change the line of their attack. The Receiver takes more control and changes the Feeder’s options for their attack. At the end of this tap, with the Feeder’s knife hand (very) temporarily pinned to their hip, the Receiver will have closed distance, while tracking the blade, and is now in range to launch their own attack.

In the video posted here you can see a simple line drill with which you can burn a lot of reps and start to really install the sensitivity needed to track the blade at different ranges. It works both the right and left sides with two simple attacks: a palm-up slash and palm-down slash. The Receiver gets a lot of training out of this one drill. Not only the tapping sensitivity itself, but also some great footwork – right and left lead tapping, shuffle stepping, and stepping in to close distance. We use this footwork a lot and it translates well to other parts of our training (long blade, stick work, and empty hand).

Try it out and let us know what you think!

Atienza Kali – Projectile Training Group Session

Tuhon Carl Atienza, Chief Instructor of Atienza Kali, will be teaching a training group session on Tuesday, May 18th. If you liked Tuhon Carl’s last session covering the Atienza “Trapo” Evolution 1, you will not want to miss this training session!

Atienza Kali Training Group Session
PROJECTILES WITH COMBAT APPLICATIONS
Cost: 3-Hour Session for $75

When: Monday, May 17th, 7pm – 10pm
Where: Sayoc NorCal Filipino Martial Arts

Projectiles have been used throughout history to gain advantage over one’s opponents. In this training session, Tuhon Carl will cover what projectiles are, how projectiles are used, combat applications for projectiles, and the applicable link of projectiles to the AK 40 Long Sword.

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Update: The Atienza Kali Projectile Training Session went very well! Tuhon Carl Atienza’s teach abilities are first rate. He started the participants, many or whom had never previously used projectiles, with basic projectile theory and zero-rotation throws. He then took these same students through some fast, easily installed training progressions and, by the end, everyone was working some fairly advanced projectile application with multiple opponents and sticking targets using various rotational throw combinations. It was a great session!

Knife Parrying – Cross-Body vs. Same-Side

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In Sayoc Kali Transition Knife Drills, one of the first things we teach to a new student is the concept of the “cross-body parry” or “cross-body tap.” The cross-body tap is simply a type of parry that allows the Receiver to more effectively track their opponent’s blade. In this short video tutorial, we introduce the concepts of the cross-body parry as well as the same-side parry and discuss why we teach the cross-body parry first.

A same-side parry occurs when the Receiver attempts to parry the blade with the hand that is on the same side as the direction of the attack. A cross-body parry is just the opposite. the Receiver uses the hand across his body from the direction of the attack.

It is more difficult to track the blade with a same-side parry if the Feeder should choose to change their line of attack. The Receiver also needs to have a better understanding of footwork and body positioning to correctly execute a same-side parry. Cross-body parries, on the other hand, are much easier to learn and execute correctly. Because of the way the arm is positioned, with the elbow down, it is easier to track the blade even if the Feeder chooses to change their line of attack and even if the Receiver’s footwork and body positioning aren’t yet as good as they could be.

While the cross-body parry is certainly not the end-all-be-all of knife tapping, it is, indeed, a very effective tool for very quickly installing in new students a high level of blade sensitivity and tracking.

Sayoc.com Relaunch

Sayoc Global just launched the new Sayoc Kali website. It’s got a ton of information and media, all nicely presented in a total site re-design. Lots of training articles, articles about Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) history as well as some history on the Sayoc family. Read more…

Spring Training – Sayoc Camp 505

I just returned from the Sayoc ‘Camp 505′ week-long training camp. What an eye opener it was! I wrote a little about what Camp 505 was all about in a previous post. Every Camp 505 has a different, specific purpose. This week was all about exploring what happens when preparing for a real and dangerous situation. Stress, fear, preparation and planning, and action were all part of last week’s training camp. Read more…

Sayoc Instructor Training

A pic of yours truly working some knife free-flow with Tracker Dan at the Sayoc “505″ Camp in 2008. The 505 material is available only to Sayoc Instructors. We train with Pamana Tuhon Sayoc himself and the camp involves a few days of intense installation of various skill sets; physical, mental, and emotional. Read more…

“3 of 9″ Knife Drill Adapted to Long Blade

Tuhon Ric showed us a long-blade version of the 3 of 9 Vital Template today.

3 of 9 Long Blade Template:

1. Palm-up Thrust, Right Internal Jugular (from a draw)
2. Palm-up Thrust, Left External Jugular
3. Palm-up Slash, Abdominal Aorta
4. Vertical-slash, Abdominal Aorta
5. Thrust Navel
6. Arcing-thrust, Right Internal Jugular
7. Palm-down Slash, Right Femoral
8. Palm-down Thrust, Heart
9. Palm-up Slash, Decapitation

We installed the template then worked the Receiver parries: Read more…

New Online Payment Available

We just added a new online payment page that allows you to pay your monthly dues online with your credit card. You have the option to subscribe to a monthly payment plan where your credit/debit card will be automatically billed each month.

What Training Blades Should You Own?

UPDATE: When writing this post, I forgot to include a great forum thread on the main sayoc.com site about the training rig. The training rig has been a source of controversy on the forums by people who do not understand its purpose. This post collects some information on the training rig by some top Sayoc Kali Instructors.

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We’ve seen a few new students come in the doors at Sayoc NorCal over the last couple of months.  Since we are an “All Blade, All the Time” system and our main training tool is the training blade, it is frequently asked: how many, and what kinds of training blades should a new student acquire? Read more…

Tuhon Carl Atienza Seminar

Tuhon Carl’s visit to SF was awesome as usual. I was able to train privately with Tuhon Carl for most of the day on Wednesday with Jonathan at Sama Academy in Pinole. We worked on Evolutions 1 and 2, Evolution disruptions (a key training methodology), and Two-Sword Evolution.

That night the seminar was great. We had a good turnout with a few faces we haven’t seen in a while and a few new faces as well. Tuhon Carl introduced the trapo to the seminar attendees. A trapo is a weight of some sort like a rock or a ball bearing wrapped in a bandana. We applied the use of this tool to mass-attack stategies against 3 types of mass-attack:

• Rush (simultaneously attacked by two or more people)
• Attack in sequence (attacked one after another by two or more people)
• Closing circle (surrounded by two or more people, then attacked at once or in sequence)

Everyone who attended did great. I’m looking forward to training more of these concepts during our regular class sessions!

The trapo, mass-attack and more are covered in the new Atienza Kali Seminar DVD

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