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In last week’s post, Where’s Disarm #1? I covered the first basic Modern Arnis disarm and demonstrated how to find it within Flow Drill #2.

I do the same thing in the above video concerning disarm #2. I hope this blog’s readers get something out of the video.

But what is at the heart of both disarming videos?

A willingness to experiment and get out of the comfort zone.

To grow, one must be willing to try different approaches. Sure, any experiment runs the risk of failure or running into a dead end. However, I believe that any experiment resulting in a dead-end is still, in a limited way, a success. A dead-end forces you to explore other approaches or options. Another way of looking at it is that experiments reveal realistic options vs options that probably will fail.

For example, you’ll notice that, in this week’s video, some versions of disarm #2 take longer than others. One version that takes a while is at the 2:37 mark. While this maneuver can theoretically work, I judge it takes too long to execute. If I were in Alex’s shoes, I would rather hit rather than attempt a disarm.

When you find an opportunity to disarm your opponent, ask yourself if hitting would be a better option. And yes, I intentionally phrased it that way. Why bog yourself down in how many counters you can do?

Keep it simple.

Disarm or hit.

All that said, a willingness to experiment helps you understand your options at any given time. Playing, in other words.

Student News

In the last post, I said two more students were testing this month—Scratch that. I will be rescheduling their tests for July. One of them is a 17-year-old kid swamped with end-of-the-year schoolwork. His Dad and I decided that schoolwork was a priority and that we would reschedule his test for July. No biggie. You have to look out for the client’s best interests. He’ll be testing for Black Belt along with Alex.

Inspiration of the Week

The below video proves that it’s never too late to start martial arts!

Additional Reading