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Latosa Escrima Overview
Latosa Escrima Overview
One by one, the concepts
Grandmaster Rene Latosa's present focus for his ever-evolving martial arts
system is the perfection of teaching methods that help students understand
the system conceptually and apply it flexibly and effectively.
The heart of Latosa Escrima and the ultimate goal of the aspiring
Escrimador is the perfect synergy of balance, short power, offensive
focus, useful speed (which stems from sense of timing and distance),
seamless transition to any purpose-built, improvised, or anatomical
weapons, and combat attitude. These are the main concepts of Latosa
Escrima, which are supported by sub concepts such as explosiveness,
awareness, zoning, off-lining, reading the body, the "So What" theory, and
self-defense strategy, and by simple technical concepts such as the Box
System, the Five Strike System, and the Figure Eight System.
Techniques are sub serviant to concepts in Latosa Escrima, and serve mainly
as drills that help students integrate the intellectual concepts into
their bodies' natural reactions. Latosa Escrima is not about saying, "If
he does this, you do that." It is about training the body to physically
express the Latosa Escrima concepts in order to apply them instantly and
effectively to any self-defense situation--and, in the end, to any LIFE
situation.
One by
one, the concepts:
Latosa Escrima Concepts Chart
Balance:
The overriding concept in Latosa Escrima, it is a prerequisite to the
proper functioning of all the others. Nothing can be accomplished reliably
if you are off-balance--in self-defense, and in life.
(Short) Power:
The student trains his/her body to apply devastating power through any
weapon without the need for excessive acceleration distance. Through
proper body mechanics, one can achieve an extremely high level of e.g.
striking power with a stick, even when the strike begins only a few inches
away from the target. There is no need to "swing" the stick in order to
hit hard. As a result, you gain economy of motion, which allows you to
strike immediately from any position without loss of time in wind-up. It
also allows extremely fast successive strikes, as the stick does not need
to withdraw far in order to accelerate again. Short power, as it is
generated from the body itself and thus does not depend on the motion
characteristics of the particular weapon, may be applied through any
object or mobile body part. In self-defense, and in life, it allows one to
act immediately, from wherever one is at the moment, without preparation,
instantly and effectively. Zoning or zone hitting, which is ensuring that
your strike goes through the intended target and not beyond so as to
maintain safe positioning and control of the weapon, is an element of
short power.
(Offensive)
Focus:
A Latosa Escrimador is always focused on the goal, not the obstacles in
the way. Visual and physical focus should be centered on the target of
your attack, not on the weapons of the enemy. The student is trained to
direct 100% of his/her energy toward the target, leaving extraneous issues
to effective peripheral awareness. The goal is always to conquer the
enemy's command center (central nervous system), rather than to chase
after his troops (limbs and weapons). In this way, the Escrimador is
offensive in defense. The "So What" theory, in which the Escrimador
symbolically says "So What?!" to the blocks and feints of the enemy while
simply pressing forward with his/her own attack, is an element of
offensive focus.
Speed (timing and distance):
Useful speed does not stem primarily from how fast one can move one's
limbs, but from how precisely one can sense the proper time to initiate an
action and how accurately one can judge the distance the action must
cover. Relatively slow, economical movements executed with perfect timing
and distancing will defeat extremely fast, wide movements executed at the
wrong time and at the wrong distance. Likewise, in life, acting
efficiently at the right time and place is far better than acting
excessively at the wrong moment. The Latosa Escrima student is trained to
read the subtlest movements, tensions, and attitudes of a potential
enemy's body so as to be one step ahead of the enemy's intentions and
timing. This is a critical element of speed.
Transition (to any
weapon/situation):
Latosa Escrima teaches a very small, simple repertoire of movement
concepts and strategy that applies to any weapon in any situation. This
allows the Escrimador to react flexibly and efficiently to any
self-defense situation, without confusion or technical thought. This
ability to spontaneously adapt to circumstances is useful also in realms
other than self-defense.
Attitude:
The student learns to channel distracting and debilitating emotions such
as fear and rage into a performance-enhancing mental attitude conducive to
overcoming the most dangerous situations. (This attitude may sometimes
outwardly resemble anger, but it is in fact deeper and far more
constructive.) In the process, the student learns to deal with and to a
great extent control the physiological effects of stress, prevent panic,
maintain mental clarity under pressure, and generally work through bad
situations. Additionally, the self-confidence fostered by realistic
training permeates all areas of life. Explosiveness is an element of every
one of the main concepts, and refers to the ability to transition
instantly and effortlessly from a state of stillness to movement or from
one type of movement to another type of movement. This ability is very
much affected by mental attitude.
Note: These are only brief and superficial explanations of the Latosa
Escrima concepts. It would take more than a lifetime of training to truly
understand them in full.
All of the concepts are interdependent and interrelated, with aspects of
each enhancing the domains of the others. Intellectual understanding and
physical mastery of them will most likely lead to success in self-defense
and all areas of life.
As for the training itself, a beginning student will spend most of his/her
time learning how his/her own body moves. There are no strictly prescribed
positions or movements in Latosa Escrima. The instructor works with the
student to help the student find out how his/her own body can best express
the Latosa Escrima concepts. This generally begins with learning how to
produce short power with a stick held in one hand, and to maintain balance
in stillness and in movement in all directions while doing so. With this
journey begun, the student learns to apply short power to the enemy with
focus and speed. In order to avoid getting hit by the enemy while doing
so, the student learns concepts of movement relationship through the Box
System and Five Strike System, which teach the student about off-lining
and interference striking, among other things. Attitude is cultivated
beginning with the very first solo drills, and progresses at a higher pace
once partner exercises begin within the first couple classes. From here,
the student advances to apply the developed movements and concepts to all
weapons, all ranges and scenarios of combat, all levels of force, and all
self-defense situations. At the highest levels, it all comes back to
training the mind and body to express the concepts, as perfectly as the
span of one's lifetime will allow. LATOSA ESCRIMA is taught exclusively at
EBMAS.
Latosa Escrima Concepts are exclusively taught
by GM Rene Latosa.
If it's not taught by GM Rene Latosa it's not Latosa Escrima!
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