St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts - JKD, Kali, Silat, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Kick-boxing

ARCHIVES Click here to return to the Home Page	On Martial Arts And Black Belts The issue of rank and recognition is always present in the minds of all martial arts practitioners. Here in the West it is viewed as goal achievement, and as such, it is treated in the same way as academic achievement; the fastest it is attained the more talented the achiever. And then it tends to be forgotten by most. This creates a lot of confusion among newcomers to the arts. We want to share our views in the matter but just as long as you, the reader, understand this is just our opinion. Ranks and belts vary from school to school and from art to art. Regardless of the system or art, you will always encounter naturally talented individuals who will excel rapidly while others will take longer. This is true in sports and all human endeavor. It is also true that when one finds an activity (like a martial art or a technique) in which one excels, the individual tends to pay more attention and dedicate more time to this activity. As a consequence he or she will excel at it even at a faster rate than that of the normal practitioner. The challenge for the instructor or master is to gauge the ability and progress of both individuals before awarding rank. It is very often you will find lower belt practitioners who perform techniques at a higher level than higher ranked belts. This is not to be seen as a flaw necessarily, but rather a reflection of how much time higher belts spend doing “technique maintenance” and how good of an athlete the lower rank may be. Age and proper conditioning are also factors in technique execution that have to be acknowledged. The master or instructor addresses this by sticking to a curriculum and also by evaluating personal growth. The belt can be seen as a reflection of one's personal progress. After all we all need a pad on the back once in a while, but only if we earn it. At the St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts students are encouraged to test whenever they feel they are ready. The curriculum, however, is extensive; there is a lot of material to be learned. Basics from 5 arts need to be memorized (not mastered) to advance to level II. Based on all the above, what does it mean then to be a black belt? At the St Louis Kali-Silat Martial Arts, we see it as a preliminary step, an indication of a serious student, a strong beginner. A black belt should be seen as a beginning not as the achievement of the ultimate goal itself. It can be viewed as a smaller goal, yes, but let us remember that martial arts is a universe of information in itself. What this means to us is that just like in life, we do not stop learning once we finish school. We continue to grow and become richer human beings. This concept can be expanded to include what I saw written on a poster back in the 80's.."The race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running." So Keep practicing and don't give up... keep on running. St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts – December 30^th, 2010
	How Many Lessons You Should Take Before Becoming Proficient in Martial Arts? In all my years in Martial Arts, this question always came up. The first person I heard asking it was myself before I started my journey. Later in time when I had a brown belt in one system, I used to ask this question to gauge instructors and decide if I wanted to take Martial Arts lessons from them. “How long does it take to learn Karate?” I used to hear other people asking my instructors at different schools. “Do you think someone like me can learn Martial Arts?”, “how long does it usually take to learn Martial Arts?, and “how long did it take you to learn it?” After 28 years in martial arts, I wish to address the question. The answer will vary depending whom you ask. Here are some answers I heard over the years: “it took me 4 years to get my black belt”, “my master was very hard core, it took me 7 years to get my black belt”, “such and such is very good; he got his black belt in 2 years.” And then one day I heard “I got a black belt in this system, a purple belt in this other system, and I'm working towards certification in this one system. So which answer was correct? All of the above. One way to understand this is by drawing an analogy with sports. If you were to ask a coach how long it would be before you or your son learns how to play baseball, what do you think his answer would be? Some would say that it takes time to master the basic skills, after that it's just “practice”. Some coaches will tell you “it depends on how much time you put into learning and practicing.” Yet others would point out that your son is a “natural” and it will not take him long to learn the sport and be “good” at it. The next question is how long before becoming “good” at it. The answer is almost always the same... “it takes time”. And let's not forget another question to ask, how good does he want to be? In Martial Arts one needs to understand that there are several areas that need to be covered. Some of these are: conditioning, attribute development, coordination, technique, strength development, flexibility, and speed to name a few. Notice again the similarity with sports, and like in sports previous experience always helps. So back to the question, how many lessons before I can learn Filipino Martial Arts (Kali), or Silat, or Karate, or Jeet Kune Do, or Muay Thai, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Part of the answer is, what do you want to accomplish? How good do you want to be? How committed are you? How often do you plan to train, once a week, once a month, every day? In summary, how much time are you willing to dedicate to learning Martial Arts? How you answer these questions to yourself will determine how fast you will progress in the Martial Arts and in any sport. How far you go in your journey is a direct consequence of how long you are willing to remain on your path. This leaves us with a final question. Is it worth my while to do it for only a few lessons? The answer is a definite Yes. Is it worth your while to start on the road even if it's for only a few feet? There have been persons who only knew one or two techniques, and managed to used them effectively. After all everything you learn in life, you may end up using in one shape or form sooner or later. It may take you longer, but if you keep returning to the path, the knowledge will continue to accumulate. Also remember that goal achievement is a good thing, but at the end it is the journey what we will treasure the most. This is what we believe at the St Louis Kali-Silat Martial Arts School. So keep practicing and don't give up. Take a break if you must, but always return to your path. St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts – January 14^th, 2010
	Will I be able to handle myself, do martial arts really work? Here is one question whose answer is worth writing hundreds of pages. Who can honestly say he or she has not ever asked it? What if after all those years I find out that I wasted my time.. it was all for nothing. All that effort, all those years, was it really worth it? The first question I ask those who ask these questions is what is the reason they want to learn martial arts. Is it all about fighting? Of course not. Martial arts includes developing a healthy mind and a healthy body. Like those athletes who keep training throughout their whole lives, martial arts will keep you active. There are techniques you will not be able to perform as you age, but there are others you will. Surprisingly enough those techniques you can perform at any age are the ones which tend to be more effective. A healthy mind is a more coveted goal. We live in a fast-pace stressful world where things are rapidly changing. In martial arts we have competitors, opponents, workout partners, and in some instances, enemies. Stress is an enemy, and it should be treated as such. So we should learn all we can about our enemy. When it will attack, how we can foresee the attack and stop it before it happens. Once stress takes over, how can we deviate, intercept, and redirect that attack? Just by thinking along these terms will put you on the right track to dealing with stress. This is one example of how we apply martial arts to our daily lives. I recall one of my professors in college telling me that fear / stress was a good thing if you were able to use that fear as a motivator and work hard towards your goal. I never quite agreed with that statement until I saw it in a martial arts context. Stress is basically the result of our perception of reality. It is how we react to our fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of the consequences, fear of the future, fear of change. And in martial arts we strive to face and control our fears. This is part of the real value of training martial arts, but the question of being able to handle oneself remains. To answer it let's draw an analogy with a college education. The university teaches you about tools and only tools. A more prestigious university means you have learned a bit more about the same set of tools and perhaps a couple more. A graduate degree means you have specialized in a certain set of tools. When, how and where you use those tools is up to you. In the same manner a black belt means you have learned certain tools used in some fighting forms. There will be those who managed to handle themselves with a few tools and others who will not. But if you ever encounter yourself in a difficult situation would you rather know something about fighting tools and methods or not? And just as in college, when you graduate and go on to the “real world” you discover that certain tools will work for you and some will not. The more you use some tools and test them, and solve problems with them, and build and create, the more confident you will feel about using them. It is not any different in martial arts. The process is the same, and how good you become at using your martial arts techniques is a function of how much time you spent practicing and maintaining them. After that it is a function of how wise of a fighter and human being you will become. Finally, will you be able to beat an experienced professional fighter or athlete? I'll leave you with another question. Before you learned martial arts, were you able to even consider this question? The odds are certainly against you, but without a martial arts training, you have no odds in this situation. St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts – February 14^th, 2011

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Click here to return to the Home Page

On Martial Arts And Black Belts

The issue of rank and recognition is always present in the minds of all martial arts practitioners. Here in the West it is viewed as goal achievement, and as such, it is treated in the same way as academic achievement; the fastest it is attained the more talented the achiever. And then it tends to be forgotten by most. This creates a lot of confusion among newcomers to the arts. We want to share our views in the matter but just as long as you, the reader, understand this is just our opinion.

Ranks and belts vary from school to school and from art to art. Regardless of the system or art, you will always encounter naturally talented individuals who will excel rapidly while others will take longer. This is true in sports and all human endeavor. It is also true that when one finds an activity (like a martial art or a technique) in which one excels, the individual tends to pay more attention and dedicate more time to this activity. As a consequence he or she will excel at it even at a faster rate than that of the normal practitioner. The challenge for the instructor or master is to gauge the ability and progress of both individuals before awarding rank.

It is very often you will find lower belt practitioners who perform techniques at a higher level than higher ranked belts. This is not to be seen as a flaw necessarily, but rather a reflection of how much time higher belts spend doing “technique maintenance” and how good of an athlete the lower rank may be. Age and proper conditioning are also factors in technique execution that have to be acknowledged. The master or instructor addresses this by sticking to a curriculum and also by evaluating personal growth. The belt can be seen as a reflection of one's personal progress. After all we all need a pad on the back once in a while, but only if we earn it.

At the St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts students are encouraged to test whenever they feel they are ready. The curriculum, however, is extensive; there is a lot of material to be learned. Basics from 5 arts need to be memorized (not mastered) to advance to level II.

Based on all the above, what does it mean then to be a black belt? At the St Louis Kali-Silat Martial Arts, we see it as a preliminary step, an indication of a serious student, a strong beginner. A black belt should be seen as a beginning not as the achievement of the ultimate goal itself. It can be viewed as a smaller goal, yes, but let us remember that martial arts is a universe of information in itself. What this means to us is that just like in life, we do not stop learning once we finish school. We continue to grow and become richer human beings. This concept can be expanded to include what I saw written on a poster back in the 80's.."The race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running." So Keep practicing and don't give up... keep on running.

St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts – December 30^th, 2010

How Many Lessons You Should Take Before Becoming Proficient in Martial Arts?

In all my years in Martial Arts, this question always came up. The first person I heard asking it was myself before I started my journey. Later in time when I had a brown belt in one system, I used to ask this question to gauge instructors and decide if I wanted to take Martial Arts lessons from them. “How long does it take to learn Karate?” I used to hear other people asking my instructors at different schools. “Do you think someone like me can learn Martial Arts?”, “how long does it usually take to learn Martial Arts?, and “how long did it take you to learn it?”

After 28 years in martial arts, I wish to address the question. The answer will vary depending whom you ask. Here are some answers I heard over the years: “it took me 4 years to get my black belt”, “my master was very hard core, it took me 7 years to get my black belt”, “such and such is very good; he got his black belt in 2 years.” And then one day I heard “I got a black belt in this system, a purple belt in this other system, and I'm working towards certification in this one system. So which answer was correct? All of the above. One way to understand this is by drawing an analogy with sports.

If you were to ask a coach how long it would be before you or your son learns how to play baseball, what do you think his answer would be? Some would say that it takes time to master the basic skills, after that it's just “practice”. Some coaches will tell you “it depends on how much time you put into learning and practicing.” Yet others would point out that your son is a “natural” and it will not take him long to learn the sport and be “good” at it. The next question is how long before becoming “good” at it. The answer is almost always the same... “it takes time”. And let's not forget another question to ask, how good does he want to be?

In Martial Arts one needs to understand that there are several areas that need to be covered. Some of these are: conditioning, attribute development, coordination, technique, strength development, flexibility, and speed to name a few. Notice again the similarity with sports, and like in sports previous experience always helps. So back to the question, how many lessons before I can learn Filipino Martial Arts (Kali), or Silat, or Karate, or Jeet Kune Do, or Muay Thai, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Part of the answer is, what do you want to accomplish? How good do you want to be? How committed are you? How often do you plan to train, once a week, once a month, every day? In summary, how much time are you willing to dedicate to learning Martial Arts? How you answer these questions to yourself will determine how fast you will progress in the Martial Arts and in any sport. How far you go in your journey is a direct consequence of how long you are willing to remain on your path. This leaves us with a final question.

Is it worth my while to do it for only a few lessons? The answer is a definite Yes. Is it worth your while to start on the road even if it's for only a few feet? There have been persons who only knew one or two techniques, and managed to used them effectively. After all everything you learn in life, you may end up using in one shape or form sooner or later. It may take you longer, but if you keep returning to the path, the knowledge will continue to accumulate. Also remember that goal achievement is a good thing, but at the end it is the journey what we will treasure the most. This is what we believe at the St Louis Kali-Silat Martial Arts School. So keep practicing and don't give up. Take a break if you must, but always return to your path.

St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts – January 14^th, 2010

Will I be able to handle myself, do martial arts really work?

Here is one question whose answer is worth writing hundreds of pages. Who can honestly say he or she has not ever asked it? What if after all those years I find out that I wasted my time.. it was all for nothing. All that effort, all those years, was it really worth it?

The first question I ask those who ask these questions is what is the reason they want to learn martial arts. Is it all about fighting? Of course not.

Martial arts includes developing a healthy mind and a healthy body. Like those athletes who keep training throughout their whole lives, martial arts will keep you active. There are techniques you will not be able to perform as you age, but there are others you will. Surprisingly enough those techniques you can perform at any age are the ones which tend to be more effective. A healthy mind is a more coveted goal.

We live in a fast-pace stressful world where things are rapidly changing. In martial arts we have competitors, opponents, workout partners, and in some instances, enemies. Stress is an enemy, and it should be treated as such. So we should learn all we can about our enemy. When it will attack, how we can foresee the attack and stop it before it happens. Once stress takes over, how can we deviate, intercept, and redirect that attack? Just by thinking along these terms will put you on the right track to dealing with stress. This is one example of how we apply martial arts to our daily lives. I recall one of my professors in college telling me that fear / stress was a good thing if you were able to use that fear as a motivator and work hard towards your goal. I never quite agreed with that statement until I saw it in a martial arts context. Stress is basically the result of our perception of reality. It is how we react to our fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of the consequences, fear of the future, fear of change. And in martial arts we strive to face and control our fears.

This is part of the real value of training martial arts, but the question of being able to handle oneself remains. To answer it let's draw an analogy with a college education. The university teaches you about tools and only tools. A more prestigious university means you have learned a bit more about the same set of tools and perhaps a couple more. A graduate degree means you have specialized in a certain set of tools. When, how and where you use those tools is up to you. In the same manner a black belt means you have learned certain tools used in some fighting forms. There will be those who managed to handle themselves with a few tools and others who will not. But if you ever encounter yourself in a difficult situation would you rather know something about fighting tools and methods or not? And just as in college, when you graduate and go on to the “real world” you discover that certain tools will work for you and some will not. The more you use some tools and test them, and solve problems with them, and build and create, the more confident you will feel about using them. It is not any different in martial arts. The process is the same, and how good you become at using your martial arts techniques is a function of how much time you spent practicing and maintaining them. After that it is a function of how wise of a fighter and human being you will become.

Finally, will you be able to beat an experienced professional fighter or athlete? I'll leave you with another question. Before you learned martial arts, were you able to even consider this question? The odds are certainly against you, but without a martial arts training, you have no odds in this situation.

St Louis Kali Silat Martial Arts – February 14^th, 2011

St Louis Kali - Silat Martial Arts