# The Redonda Drill

- Link: https://brianejohns.com/2015/08/12/blog-the-redonda-drill/
- Published: 2015-08-12T12:33:00-04:00
- Author: Brian Johns

## In this post, I discuss the Redonda drill, one of the core drills of Modern Arnis and many Filipino martial arts.

## Heaven Sinawali

I teach Heaven Sinawali before teaching Redonda as both overlap movement-wise.

As demonstrated in the above video, the sticks are always pointing up. The angles
used in this drill are angles 1 and 2.

The drill starts with the left stick chambered underneath the right arm. There are
three moves for each side of the drill, totalling 6. Hence the reason why some styles
call this “Heaven 6 Sinawali.”

I tell my students to remember this sequence: “shoulder, shoulder, under” denoting
the ending of each move of Heaven Sinawali.

Once they get comfortable with Heaven Sinawali, we move to Redonda.

## Redonda

The word “redonda” is a Spanish word meaning “round.”

The [Redonda movement](https://brianejohns.com/2021/02/01/blog-how-to-do-the-redonda-training-drill/)
in Modern Arnis is very similar to the aforementioned Heaven Sinawali, albeit with
slight modifications. In the Modern Arnis version, all moves in Redonda are executed
in the same sequence as Heaven Sinawali, but the movements are more circular. As
one can see the more circular nature of the stick movements in the below video. 
They are more akin to a “flywheel” movement than linear strikes as in Heaven Sinawali.

Once the student has gotten the hang of the basic drill, we will practice this with
a partner.

## Redonda Drill With A Partner

This video is a good example of how this drill is practiced in my class, albeit 
with minor differences. But the flavour is the same.

Once the basic partner drill has been established, I encourage my students to play
with this, starting with a **simple abanico variation**.

**Another variation** is the double zero version of this drill. Both are lots of
fun and provide a good workout.

## Solo Variations

You can do several variations when working the redonda drill on your own. Some variations
are displayed in the video below of a student testing under [GM Rodel “Smoking Sticks” Dagooc](https://brianejohns.com/2023/08/11/friday-recommendation-15/).
I do most of them when training solo.

Among the variations:

 1. The student varied the **height** of the standard drill.
 2. He demonstrated the** reverse redonda**.
 3. He also performed a **combination of the standard and reverse redonda**.
 4. While not shown in the video, I like to use **heavy canes** to further condition
    my wrists and forearms.
 5. I like training the **abanico** and **double zero** versions of the redonda drill.
 6. Training redonda on a **heavy bag** is also a lot of fun.
 7. And what can you say about training with a pair of bolos? Fun!

### Aside from the combative applications of Redonda, I love the conditioning/workout aspect of Redonda training.

### _Over to you, what variations of the redonda drill do you practice? Let’s hear them!_

## Additional Reading

 * [How to do the Redonda Training Drill](https://brianejohns.com/2021/02/01/blog-how-to-do-the-redonda-training-drill/)
 * [Six Ways To Practice Your Cane Anyos](https://brianejohns.com/2015/03/17/blog-six-ways-to-practice-your-cane-anyos/)
 * [Video of the Week 12: Solo Sinawali Training](https://brianejohns.com/2024/05/20/video-of-the-week-12-solo-sinawali-training/)
 * [5 Effective Ways To Practice Double Sinawali](https://brianejohns.com/2015/07/29/blog-5-effective-ways-to-practice-double-sinawali/)
 * [“Sinawali Training is Useless”](https://brianejohns.com/2015/10/19/blog-sinawali-training-is-useless/)

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