So you want to learn eskrima?

Learning eskrima seems to be trendy these days. It’s been featured in too many movies (the Jason Bourne films, 300, The Book of Eli, Hunted, and even Bruce Lee’s classic Enter the Dragon) that it cannot help but be. And in the Philippines, especially with the approval of RA 9850 on December 11, 2009, making eskrima/arnis, also known as FMA, as the national sport and the national martial art, it will hopefully grow to be more so in its country of native practice.

As a martial art, eskrima is quite simple. Any practitioner may expect to be competent in the art within a month of daily training and instruction. For a natural athlete, it may even take just a few days (but then there are also those people who may have only a passing interest and not the mindset to be an eskrimador; there’s no hope for such as these). What will take time is the development of a proper attitude, readiness and restraint, full focus in a fight, and gaining a masterful understanding of eskrima’s underlying principles of movement.

But there are some realities that you must prepare for if it is your wish to learn this art. As soon as you begin training with the rattan stick, there will be blisters and, soon, calluses on your palms. When you begin sinawali drills or groupings there may be bruises wherever there is skin. There will be sharp raps on the knuckles and the back of the hand that take days or weeks for the pain to fade (depending on how hard you were struck), and a few contusions on the head. If you have a careless training partner, you can add joint dislocations, bone fracture, concussions, or internal hemorrhaging to the possible injuries. These are the consequences that may accompany learning eskrima, so it is understandable if, right now, you are asking yourself, “What can I do to avoid these injuries?”

The only answer is for you to train well. It is not for you to avoid injuries but to prevent them from ever happening. The teaching principle of most traditional eskrimadors is that the pupil learns by doing. This should, however, be further qualified into “The pupil learns by doing well.” Don’t rush into sinawali drills when you can’t even properly angle your strikes.

Of course, you may wear gloves to protect your palm and your knuckles but then you will never grow accustomed to the feel of the stick in your bare hand. And at the first instance of extensive stick use, your palms would then blister, unless you’re using padded sticks or nerf bats.

For beginners, a long stick helps reduce the possibility of knuckle strikes, along with proper striking positions, especially in styles where sinawali drills are basic to the system. It is also advisable to use one-inch thick sticks, as thin sticks are more likely to blister your palms.

As for the matter of careless partners, this is one of the reasons why traditional eskrima teaching is limited to one teacher and one pupil.

Padayon, Bunal Bol-anon!