Simplicity
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. – Leonardo DaVinci.
Simplicity is the key to brilliance. – Bruce Lee.
My first formal introduction to Arnis/Eskrima was during a private lesson with Professor Florendo Visitacion, otherwise known as Professor Vee in the fall of 1989.
I travelled to New York City with a martial arts buddy of mine, Drew Sandler, during the fall semester break. The highlight of our trip was a private lesson with Professor Vee.
I remember him introducing us to the first five angles of attack. Further, I remember being amazed at how simple the angles of attack were. The simplicity of it entranced me.
“Nah, it can’t be THAT simple!” But, as I later learned, it IS that simple. The more I practice and study martial arts, the simpler it seems. The more I practice, the more value that I see in simple techniques rather than fancy or complex sequences.
Great martial artists tend to keep things simple.
There is a reason why Bruce Lee said “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
Yes, the ones who have practiced and mastered simple techniques are often great.
How many of you have heard the late Professor Remy A. Presas exclaim “You see? It’s berri simple!” Get out the 1980s instructional tapes, and you’ll hear him say that several times. Simplicity is the key. He was incredible at keeping things simple. What could be simpler than something, say for example, than banda y banda? It can be applied in so many different ways.
Yet some get into the complicated, complex techniques or sequences. Why waste valuable training time on techniques that are not likely to work?
If you are not able to view this video, click here.
As indicated in the video, I did see a YouTube video with the joint locking sequence. I had to watch it several times to replicate it for the above “Fix It Friday” video. As it turns out, this was not a one-off video. Several videos by this individual demonstrating different joint locking sequences were quite complex and, in my view, unrealistic.
Why make it so complex?
Keep it simple! The simpler your technique is, the better off you are.
Muhammad Ali’s career revolved around one technique: the jab. That’s it. The “Thrilla in Manila” took place 40 years ago this week and the key to Ali’s victory over Smoking Joe Frazier was his jab. Jab, jab, jab. Pretty simple.
Achieving simplicity is easier said than done. It’s a process for many dedicated martial artists over many years to simplify what they have learned and realize that simplicity is the key.
I’ve gone through those stages. There is something profound about keeping things simple.
But getting to “simple” takes work.
As Michaelangelo once said:
Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.
And so it is with martial arts.
It is the task of the martial artist to discover simplicity.
Additional Reading
[…] Through my training in Modern Arnis, I’ve gotten into the habit of collecting concepts, not techniques. They are so much easier to remember than techniques. If you know the concept, the techniques will come. Keep it simple!! […]
[…] This greatly simplifies the learning curve. Rather than learning separate techniques for each method of attack, you only need to respond appropriately to an angle of attack. […]
[…] Speaking for myself, my joint locking has gone through a similar path. I learned joint locks during my years in Vee Jitsu. While I had the basics of it, the quality of my locks was similar to those of Professor Presas in this 1980s video series. I attribute the low quality of my locks to the fact that I was in university and in law school during my formative years in Vee Jitsu. I did get a taste of what joint locks truly felt like during my 1989 visit with Professor Vee. […]