Pencak Silat Pertempuran

Rocco Latino practing Pencak Silat Pertempuran offensive entries with follow up techniques #3.

Pencak Silat Pertempuran

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Rocco Latino practicing Pencak Silat Pertempuran Offensive Entries with follow up techniques.

Pencak Silat Pertempuran Class

Rocco demonstrating a string of simple techniques based on one of the offensive entries.

Masukan Tangan

Masukan Tangan then, are the beginning of my answer to the dilemma of footwork being slower than hand attacks.

The reality is that footwork is slower than most people's hand attacks and once in range footwork is typically on a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio. As a result a good fighter will need some other way to respond to hand attacks. Most utilize blocking and parrying solely. Yet, the value of the Masukan Kaki lies within it's direct and often more aggressive nature. Considering that aspect then, you would also need something more than Tangkis or blocking to respond to an attackers hands in order to maintain that aggressive nature. Especially if you intend to own the timing of the conflict.

The answer from my perspective was to look at what works and what makes the foot entries effective on any level and expand that to a similar methodology for hands. This was done by looking at the silat systems I was studying at the time as well as my own experience, boxing, kalis, Arnis, kuntao, and other martial arts.

From that a methodology was born called Masukan Tangan and ultimately the beginning of viewing things quite differently from a martial arts perspective. The Masukan Tangan were quite different than other martial arts that I had seen at the time because they did not rely on blocking for the hands but were based on angulation through the use of Ales to put yourself in a position to strike the vulnerable areas of an opponent in real time - without blocking. As a result, you can conceivably steal the attackers timing and rhythm as your own and cause them to move from offense to defense within the span of time of a single attack.

In addition, with the use of the Ales you can create the necessary power to create a blow of sufficient force to incapacitate temporarily through the evastion AND leave yourself in close proximity to the attacker with a superior angle in most cases.

Masukan - Entries

The entries are based off of the Ales. The Ales-ales are the foundation piece from which all other elements come off - from an attribute perspective.

That said, originally I learned Masukan Kaki from Pamur. The eight that I currently use were derived directly from Pamur as is. They are great and they taught me many things. They still teach me. I've modified them on a superficial level but they are essentially the same as I was taught. Very good - though the purpose of me writing these pieces isn't to get into all of the "what belongs where and where did it come from" discussions. Personally, I think that will only detract from the value of it. What is valuable is not the what and where but the "why!" That's what I'm really wanting to communicate.

That said, even though the Masukan Kaki or Leg Entries have so profoundly changed how I think about combat, they are not the final solution. They have shortcomings. It's the same shortcomings I've found with most footwork that exists in the martial arts. That is to say, that moving your feet in order to move your body is not always very fast. Or to rephrase, it's never fast. Especially when compared to an attacker's hand speed.

The shortcoming is then, that when an attacker is striking you repeatedly, they do not wait for your footwork to catch up. Instead, they simply strike and strike and strike until you resign using footwork in that manner. Especially if your footwork is the source of your evasions. I suspect that if you really look around at systems that have extensive use of footwork as their evasions that you'll see those systems actually use blocking in real time combat because there hands are faster.

Additionally, to use Masukan Kaki or Leg entries requires that you are able to close on an attacker and bridge the gap immediately - at least within the time space of a single hand attack. In my own experience that has proved to be reasonably difficult to do in real life with any sort of consistency. The mind is an amazing organ and people are quick to see a threat and change and adapt their movements. This makes it difficult to apply a Masukan Kaki unless you can see the attack coming, or just get plain lucky.

Pencak Silat Pertempuran Ales

The Ales are another area of learning where the thought process involved may be of value.

The Ales came about as a result of struggling with the emphasis on footwork that so many systems use for evasion. While the basic premise seems reasonable and sound, it is very difficult to do well or fast enough. That is, that when an attack is coming, that you move your feet, which moves your body out of the way of the attack. It makes sense except that when you try it against a weapon attack, you'll quickly find that your feet are not fast enough unless you can see the attack coming. As a result, the next best thing was to find evasions that didn't require your feet to move or at least not much in order to take away the primary targets of most people's attacks. By doing so, you can perform them quite quickly which makes them much more viable for dealing with attacks when you cannot see them coming. Primarily the Ales badan come from Pamur though the context for use is slightly different and the Ales Kepala come form Raja Sterlak.

I filtered them through what I knew to work in boxing as well and thus the Ales were born.

Dasar - Pencak Silat Pertempuran

I thought about approaching this topic within one of the books that I've written concerning Pencak Silat Pertempuran but it never really made it to that stage. Now that I'm more or less done with volume 3 I thought I might start doing a little writing about this topic.

So just what is the topic? Well, I thought it might be beneficial to go over the reasons and purposes behind the decisions I've made for the system. The point of which is to help those who are inclined to study PSP and eventually teach it. My long term vision is that Combat Silat will be adaptable to the culture and changes within the culture and those leading it will be able to make Combat Silat responsive to the needs of those using it. That said, it must, in order to stay Combat Silat, consider certain elements as part of a baseline for making those decisions. In other words, to remove whimsy, and reaction as reasons for change and to consider things thoroughly before accepting or adopting any change. To enable that type of reasoning it seems prudent to at least communicate what the basis for making the original decisions originated from.



This post will deal with the basics of the system. How and why they were chosen. To start, you'll notice that there are no blocks or tangkis in the Combat Silat basics. The idea is founded in the notion that to be defensive puts you behind in timing and to be behind in timing is to be reactive instead of active. When you are reactive you cannot set the timing but are subject to the timing and rhythm established by your opponent.

Secondly, you'll notice that there is no stance training per se. We do learn some stances as we go along, but there is no great emphasis on stance initially. The basic premise behind that decision was to focus on mobility and motion rather than stability. The reality in my life, is that even after years of training I do not yet move my feet enough and as a result, I do not want to train anything that might reinforce the notion that standing still is a good thing. Do stances have value? Yes they do but not as much as good movement in combat.

Regarding the fist strikes, I wanted some variety in movement and application. I also chose to include some strikes to remind those who study with me, what the foundations of Combat Silat consist of, at least in part. The Pamur punch and the Sterlak Punch as examples. In addition, the strikes that are a part of the foundation should also offer some options for defending and countering any opponent. The same is true of all the basic strikes and kicks. Beyond what I've listed as being part of the thought process for inclusion or exclusion from the system the elements included are not necessarily sacred.

Pencak silat Pertempuran Vol. 3

The third volume of Pencak Silat Pertempuran is nearly complete. I have ordered a proof copy and it should be waiting for me. Hopefully, there will be no major omissions, or issues and I can just publish it.

In any case, be looking for it in the near future. I tried making it by the end of the year but I fell just a little short.

Hormat saya,
Sean

Pencak Silat in Bali

UN Conference on Global Climate Change
Bali, Indonesia - December 3rd-14th 2007

just trying to get a little notice for this event. Visit their webpage to learn more about it.

http://www.bali-silat.com/