The Karambit is an all purpose utility knife that was carried by the Indonesians since the 11th century, and can still be seen in some provinces throughout their islands. It was not meant to be used for combat since it was first and foremost, a tool.  It evolved only because of the necessity of the people of these Asian Countries to protect themselves from foreign invaders. It is one of the main weapons of Silat and is commonly used in Filipino martial arts as well. You can read a short history by Steve Tarani at his site here.  Coach Freedman has studied the Karambit with several Silat masters and has put his own spin on the weapon. Watch in this video as he shows some basic attacks and defenses with this versatile weapon.

Related posts:

1. Karambit Drills Pt. 2

Once again Master/Guro Spencer Gee was up at the new Hampshire Dojo to share with us his insight on Arnis stick and knife fighting techniques. The amount of knowledge that he gives out is incredible. Anyone that wishes to advance their knowledge of these arts will be challenged by his teaching. Everyone that attended was grateful for the opportunity to meet and train with this master.

Guro Gee put us through quite the regimen of training. When asked for a warm up routine, he had us all grab tires and proceeded to put us through a workout that included lifting, jumping over and rolling on the tires. After that he commenced to slowly lead us through a progression of stick drills that went from the simple to the sophisticated. After the break he handed out the training knives and again showed us how much more there was to learn about knife fighting and defense.

Check out the video from the Friday night jujutsu class to get a sample of what we went through for the seminar. We will post some videos from the Saturday class soon.

Keep posted to this blog and we will let you know when he will be coming again.

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Watch Coach  Freedman and Sensei Birmingham doing basic two man stick drills and some pangamut and gunting empty hand basics. The video starts out with a long pan of pictures of Guro Grande George Brewster Coach Freedman’s beloved Arnis teacher. this man was a great influence on Coach Freedman and many other Arnis masters. Mr.. Brewster, as he was fondly called, died in 2006. You can read his obituary in the Filipino Martial Arts Digest here.

Coach Freedman gives some good tips on putting your opponent into an arm lock.  This also goes along with his previous video on slipping a punch.

Related posts:

1. Karambit Drills Pt. 2
2. Yawara Basics

Coach Freedman’s method of knife defense is the best I have ever  encountered. He constantly emphasizes the dangers of an edged weapon attack and the skill it takes to defend yourself in such a situation. He is constantly training his students in sensitivity to control an attack with a knife. The drill he teaches is very effective in redirecting an edged weapons attack. Watch him in this video as he explains what is needed to survive an encounter with an edged weapon.

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We use drills to to learn all the positions that we can possible be on another human body. Once we have the drills down ,later comes the fighting, the locking, the breaks and all that is necessary for your self defense. Our ground drill teaches you how to balance on a human body while on the ground in all different positions and places you can be on the ground.

Drills are designed and structured to teach different things, build attributes that are needed for combat and self defense.  When drills are easy then fighting is easy. Remember drills are not fighting, sparring is not fighting, they only prepare you for fighting. The only way to get experience is really fighting but that means injuries, crippling or killing. We do not want that in our training. We only train in theory. Despite our kicking, throwing, punching and locking drills, this is only preparation for a fight, so that one day if you get into a fight, you just reflex right. When you are attacked or go into battle thinking, you are in a world of hurt. There should be no thought just reflex. When someone goes to stab your belly, you should not think “should I block or kick.”  By the time you think that, you are dead. Someone pokes a knife at your belly, you move your belly, it is a reflex. Someone pokes a knife at your shoulder, you move your shoulder, it is a reflex. All our drills are structured in a way to make us reflex. Someone goes for the arm we move our arm.

If you think that these drills or sparring are actually fighting, you are fooling yourself. What you do in the dojo is different from the street. In the street or battle field you have adrenalin; you have chaos; you have fear and anger. In the dojo, you do not have that. It is a learning environment, you have safety; you pick up new skills; you ask questions. Then you go home and practice and research in a safe way without getting injured. This is the real teaching methodology that got lost. People think that getting hurt and sweating is real martial art, It is to some degree but it is dangerous and unnecessary. We try to keep it as real as possible and to keep learning without injury.

When doing the drills, ask questions. If the teacher does not know the answer they should research the answer not admonish the student for asking. If you ask me a question, that is a challenge for me. I now have something new to research and bring it back to the dojo. I will let you know what every movement of your drill is for and why you are doing it.

So practice hard. Keep learning. Stay safe and be prepared for whatever comes your way.

Related posts:

1. The Meaning of the Black Belt