What is Combatives?

Our school teaches Combatives. What exactly does that mean? Is it the same as Army Combatives? Not exactly, there are many similarities but we primarily teach the civilian. Although we implement much of the same techniques and concepts found in Brazilian Jujitsu, Filipino Martial Arts, and concepts from Hoplology in our overall curriculum, the core of our Combatives Training is weapons based. We consider the knife to be the most important consideration in modern Combatives based training.

The most important weapon to study in Combatives is the knife. Why? Because if it works against someone with a knife than it works with someone without a knife. But the opposite is not true. Many empty hand techniques are far too dangerous to use against the knife. The best way for a beginner to learn the knife is to first learn the short stick. For the beginner, the short stick teaches many fundamentals that are critical for more advanced study in weapons craft. The stick is a safe training tool to learn how to effectively use any other melee weapon. For example, with a short rattan stick a Filipino Martial Arts practitioner can learn awareness, distance management, striking through the target, striking with the edge, timing and angles of attack. Later on we start using blade trainers that emphasize using the edge, the flat and the blunt spine of the blade for various purposes.

There are so many effective martial arts systems available to anyone willing to put the time and effort to learn them. For Combatives Academy we prefer to stay on our feet as much as possible. So going to the ground for the purposes of controlling an attacker is discouraged. Ground grappling should be used to inoculate yourself to ground positions. So you use your ground skills primarily for escaping dangerous ground positions. Needless to say if you understand ground grappling you can also go for attacks, strikes, submissions and breaks. But in all out fighting, being on the ground whether in a defensive position or a dominant position in terms of grappling are still considered extremely dangerous in all out fighting. This is why we focus on arts such as Silat for close range fighting. Our lineage of Silat is hard to find but is worth all the effort of finding the art and learning the art.

For Combatives, our Kuno Silat system is a highly efficient combat art that focuses on quick and dangerous, even percussive take downs. The sweeps and throws and joint breaks are devastating and immediate. The fact is that many martial artists haven't seen authentic Silat and its ability to quickly take down an attacker without you yourself going to the ground with him. This is the key - take him down, but you stay standing. Because of its Indonesian and Malay roots, our Silat blends well with the Filipino weapons based art of Escrima.

What is Combatives? It is a weapons based martial skill sets that includes striking, take downs disarms, improvised weapons, stand up, ground fighting, strategy, tactics, and much more. Combatives Academy focuses on one thing - Self Defense in any situation. We round out our training with Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee's martial art and philosophy. Jeet Kune Do or JKD adds other dimensions to our training. JKD emphasizes fitness, advanced striking skills and a deep understanding of all martial arts training and systems since its not tied by any one system.


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