In Modern Arnis: The Filipino Art of Stick Fighting, Remy Presas covers a variety of preparatory stretches and warm-up exercises, the 12-zone striking and defense systems, hand-to-hand combat ("trapping hands"), flow-practice drills, sinawali and redonda.
In this 160-page, fully illustrated text, Presas simplifies some of his teachings in order to give novices a tangible amount of self-defense skill through specific drills. For example, the sinawali is taught without sticks, in empty-hand fashion, to illustrate how its weaving motions can be easily translated into empty-hand movements for blocking, punching and takedowns. He discusses the 12 important angles of attacks on the human body, 12 basic ways of dealing with each angle plus stick and sword disarming techniques.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Compact Flowing Arnis +++:
"Modern Arnis", by Remy Presas, presents compact flowing Arnis in a compact flowing book. It has very clear photos and prose -- precisely ordered on macro and micro scales -- from over-all patterns to small details -- from chapter to chapter. The angles of the moves, for each move-set, are some of the best I have seen of any defense/combative art. If, the essence of defense is to deflect opposition of opponents down and away -- removing foes'-balance while keeping self-balance -- until "check-mate".... more info
Back to the basics and adapted to modern day:
Having trained in Filipino Kali many years ago I was looking for a book that could re-introduce me to this martial art. Although this book covers more then just stick fighting, I found this book to be a fine introduction to stick fighting essentials. The book does not get too intricate or technical, which I think is a good thing in any martial art book since the effectiveness of the more complex movements is founded upon the mastery of the simple basics. Also, in a real world situation it is always best to... more info
The first Arnis book you must by:
Contains all the basics you need to start learning the art. Classic book!
A good introduction:
This is a good introduction to the system. It is unfortunate that master martial artists have not worked with professional writers to produce detailed volumes chronicling their systems. This, like most works of its kind- leaves the advanced student wishing MORE had been written. The book will be informative to the beginner of Modern Arnis and a source of fond nostalgia for advanced students who know that this great man taught us all so much MORE than the pages of this book contain.
Filipino... more info
