FMA Books
Anytime I go into a bookstore, I head for the Sports Section, where martial arts books are located. In particular, I look for FMA books. The first thing I look for is books on Filipino Martial Arts. Unfortunately, they are challenging to find and are…
Book Review: “Martial Power” by Steven J. Pearlman
I just finished reading “The Book of Martial Power” by the aforementioned author, published this year. A synopsis of this book, located on the back binder, states: “Different styles of martial arts offer contradictory information, philosophies, and techniques for the body in combat. A practitioner…
2008 Toronto FMA Workshop
Kudos to Mike Cooper for a great job in putting this together! I enjoyed the 2008 Filipino Martial Arts Workshop, which was very well organized by Mike Cooper and featured myself, Sean Tyler of FCS, and Punong Guro Rudy Cosico of Arnis Canada. I kicked…
Book Review: Warrior Arts of the Philippines by Reynaldo Galang
As I have several books on Filipino martial arts, I will regularly review them. The first is “Warrior Arts of the Philippines” by Reynaldo Galang. One can find this book on Amazon. This particular book has a great overview of 6 Filipino Martial Arts: (1)…
10 Years in Modern Arnis
In February, I passed the 10th anniversary of my involvement in Modern Arnis. I started with Dan McConnell of the Hilliard Martial Arts Center in Columbus, Ohio. While there, I trained with Matt Burnett, Roger Predieri, Katy Ray, and Amy Snow. It was a good…
Paul Vunak and Filipino Martial Arts
In the April 2008 edition of Black Belt magazine, there is an article on Paul Vunak and the topic of “Defanging the Snake.” This interview with Vunak was done in an interview format and one section piqued my interest: “Black Belt: Why should martial artists…
The First Modern Arnis Class In Oshawa
The first Modern Arnis class in Oshawa, Ontario, was held on Wednesday, February 20, 2008, at the Legends Community Centre. It was held just eight months after I moved here, and lots of prep work went into it. I aimed to get 2 to 5…
Book Review: “The Straight Lead”
Recently, I read “The Straight Lead” by author Teri Tom. Hands down, this is one of the best martial arts books I have ever read. Teri Tom comes from a JKD background. In this book, she describes the history, science, and mechanics of Bruce Lee’s…
Modern Arnis-What it is and it isn’t
First and foremost, Grandmaster Remy A. Presas designed Modern Arnis as a self-defence system. While Modern Arnis and many Filipino Martial Arts (referred to as FMAs) have origins in bladed weapons usage, Professor Presas preferred not to teach the bladed aspect of the art. Over…
“There Are No Superior Styles, Just Superior Fighters.”
Many in the martial arts community have paraphrased the above quote. At the outset, I would have to say that the quote about martial arts styles is essentially on target. However, a closer examination of this quote reveals a more nuanced understanding of just what…
