Kali is a Martial Art of the Philippines, it was also a core ingredient Taught to SEAL Team Six by my friend and teacher Paul Vunak.
Kali is a complete system with empty hand skills and weapons, favoring the blades.
But it's the empty hands section I want to talk about. Kali was not created for exercise, or sport. It was created for jungle warfare. So a lot of the concepts and techniques you will not find in MMA or any combat sporting events.
The portion of this system I would like to introduce to you is the close quarter range, sometimes referred to as Trapping range.
The distance the Trap takes place is in between punching and the clinch (chest to chest). There are not many MA styles that stay & play in this range, wrestlers go for clinch, take down and body control. And Boxer's try to smoother or create distance to punch again, so most are uncomfortable in this range...
Good!!! exactly what we want, us to feel comfortable, and them not, us to be familiar and work and have combination in this range, and them not. This range or distance is what we call our neighborhood, where we know all the cracks and crevasses to deliver powerful blows.
Our main tools are Headbutts, Elbows and Knees, (HEK). Elbows and knees can also be used in MMA and Thai boxing so those 2 training methods are good. What makes the Kali practitioner different is that we aim for the temples, eyes, ears, throat, neck, spine, groin, and primarily attack and try to disable the nervous system. Which no sporting event will ever allow.
Now the headbutt!!! this is not allowed in any sporting event, it was legal back in the early days of the UFC, but quickly became illegal right around 1996 /97....
But not for us, not in Self defense....;-)
The Kali guy combines these 3 tools with Dumog (Filipino wrestling) with this, people are going to the hospital, especially if the practitioner has attributes and understands body mechanics.
The quickest way for me to explain body mechanics is like this.
If someone tries to knee or kick you in the groin your instinct is to bend at the waist, drop your hands and try to block and suck in the jewels. It's hard wired to all guys , our nervous system does that for us.
The mechanism is this, when the groin is thrown back the head is shot forward, if you know this and train this, you can set this mechanism up...(A Trap.) As soon as the head gets launched forward you are waiting and simultaneously pull his face into the top of your head causing a force on force multiple. A head on collision with a powerful part of your anatomy the top of your head (launched with your legs), to a weak part of their anatomy, their face.. That's why this stuff is very dangerous, and practical for real world and why the Teams liked it.
BUT!!!! It can’t be trained in it’s traditional manner, it needs to be trained with aliveness, and unfortunately most traditional instructors who teach this art will not break from tradition training, so the techniques are awesome, but the training method used by most are dead patterns and s**k.
Buyer Beware!!!
MMA is a great sport and when a fighter is done competing and wants to be a little more practical for Family Self-defense, I have them start to train Kali
They don’t need to follow the rules of the cage/ring anymore so now we use all the stuff that was illegal, but is now acceptable when “in fear for your life".
If you want to take self defense to the next level without shooting or stabbing someone, Kali is a great addition. It is also meant to be added to a weapons program...Good stuff...;-)
Kali is a complete system with empty hand skills and weapons, favoring the blades.
But it's the empty hands section I want to talk about. Kali was not created for exercise, or sport. It was created for jungle warfare. So a lot of the concepts and techniques you will not find in MMA or any combat sporting events.
The portion of this system I would like to introduce to you is the close quarter range, sometimes referred to as Trapping range.
The distance the Trap takes place is in between punching and the clinch (chest to chest). There are not many MA styles that stay & play in this range, wrestlers go for clinch, take down and body control. And Boxer's try to smoother or create distance to punch again, so most are uncomfortable in this range...
Good!!! exactly what we want, us to feel comfortable, and them not, us to be familiar and work and have combination in this range, and them not. This range or distance is what we call our neighborhood, where we know all the cracks and crevasses to deliver powerful blows.
Our main tools are Headbutts, Elbows and Knees, (HEK). Elbows and knees can also be used in MMA and Thai boxing so those 2 training methods are good. What makes the Kali practitioner different is that we aim for the temples, eyes, ears, throat, neck, spine, groin, and primarily attack and try to disable the nervous system. Which no sporting event will ever allow.
Now the headbutt!!! this is not allowed in any sporting event, it was legal back in the early days of the UFC, but quickly became illegal right around 1996 /97....
But not for us, not in Self defense....;-)
The Kali guy combines these 3 tools with Dumog (Filipino wrestling) with this, people are going to the hospital, especially if the practitioner has attributes and understands body mechanics.
The quickest way for me to explain body mechanics is like this.
If someone tries to knee or kick you in the groin your instinct is to bend at the waist, drop your hands and try to block and suck in the jewels. It's hard wired to all guys , our nervous system does that for us.
The mechanism is this, when the groin is thrown back the head is shot forward, if you know this and train this, you can set this mechanism up...(A Trap.) As soon as the head gets launched forward you are waiting and simultaneously pull his face into the top of your head causing a force on force multiple. A head on collision with a powerful part of your anatomy the top of your head (launched with your legs), to a weak part of their anatomy, their face.. That's why this stuff is very dangerous, and practical for real world and why the Teams liked it.
BUT!!!! It can’t be trained in it’s traditional manner, it needs to be trained with aliveness, and unfortunately most traditional instructors who teach this art will not break from tradition training, so the techniques are awesome, but the training method used by most are dead patterns and s**k.
Buyer Beware!!!
MMA is a great sport and when a fighter is done competing and wants to be a little more practical for Family Self-defense, I have them start to train Kali
They don’t need to follow the rules of the cage/ring anymore so now we use all the stuff that was illegal, but is now acceptable when “in fear for your life".
If you want to take self defense to the next level without shooting or stabbing someone, Kali is a great addition. It is also meant to be added to a weapons program...Good stuff...;-)
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