The Chief's Diary Notes FMA Book Reviews Eskrima is a Filipino Combat system which offers a unique approach to martial arts training developing weapons skills along with techniques for empty handed application including, fists, elbows, knees and kicks as well as skills for grappling, standing or on the ground. There are a large number of training drills which, when performed with a training partner develop the reflexes and tactile sensitivity. These methods of training are known as Corto Kadena which mean, close range chaining.
Trapping is a highly sophisticated skill requiring a high level of training.
Because Kali is a weapons based system, most kicks are centred below waist level, kicks target vulnerable areas such as the instep of the foot, ankle, knee and hip joints as well as areas such as the bladder, groin and shin bone. As with the empty handed boxing skills, kicks also target nerve and pressure points in the legs so as to inhibit mobility. Both Panantukan and Pananjakman, when combined, offer a vast arsenal of highly effective combat applications which attack the limbs and body of an opponent in a flurry of devastatingly fast combinations designed to overwhelm an opponent thus making any form of effective defence almost impossible. The Filipino art of grappling includes a wide range of locks, known as trankadas , chokes, throws, trips, sweeps and pins which blend and flow naturally from the empty handed boxing and kicking methods, applied with or without a weapon. Dumog is primarily concerned with felling an opponent in such a way as to cause maximum damage to joints, ligaments and tendons followed by a ferocious flurry of ground striking techniques designed to distract and disable an opponent prior to applying a pin, lock or choke.