Eskrima Kombat

Consider this news article from the Philippines:

A FAMILY of four was injured after they were hacked by their neighbor in Barangay Tutay, Pinamungajan, Cebu at dawn yesterday.

Jose Montesa, 47, and his son Christian, 17, were hit in the head, police said.

His wife Maria Fe, 37, and other son Jomari, 14, sustained hack wounds in the hands and elbow.

Senior Insp. Jaime Santillan, the town’s police chief, said the victims were allegedly attacked by Teofilo Cenes, who is the live-in partner of Maria Fe’s sister, over an altercation with the family.

Maria Fe and her sister Emily Gemaraga, Cenes’ live-in partner, reportedly argued over a personal matter that prompted their husbands to intervene. This, however, did not solve the problem.

Cenes allegedly took a bolo and challenged the family to a fight. This prompted Jose’s family to go out, but before they could react, Cenes allegedly attacked them.

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This is from Cebu, the Philippine island I regularly travel to. In the Philippines I read the newspaper every day, and it’s not uncommon to read of a machete attack. For Filipinos, and practitioners of the Filipino Martial Arts, a machete is not an exotic weapon. In the Philippines the machete is a common tool frequently used to settle grudges.

We must ask, though, if the machete is common in the US. The obvious answer is that it’s not. Our training for realistic self-defense should reflect this reality. Martial artists need to get away from spears, tonfa, nunchaku, machetes, rattan sticks, and focus on common items that are readily available.

To this end I have written a new book, Street Fighting Weapons, which is devoted to what I call undercover weapons, which are weapons that can be carried legally and inconspicuously. These are items that are common in the US and the Western world. Many of my readers live in very restrictive locales where it’s difficult if not impossible to carry weapons like guns, knives, or machetes. Even in places where you can legally carry a gun, like here in the great state of Idaho, you still can’t carry at a school, courts, in many workplaces, and so on.

The aim of Street Fighting Weapons is for you to be able to carry a legal self-defense weapon that is low profile. You should also be able to recognize the weapon characteristics of ordinary items and be able to fight with them in an emergency.

To help you learn, I’ve broken these weapons down into categories, like saps, clubs, puncture weapons, light sticks, etc. The e-book is full of photographs and links to videos where I teach how to use each type of weapon. So it’s not just a book with a list of impromptu and low-key weapons, but an instruction manual in how to use them.

Those of you who purchase the book will receive a free bonus, 7 Weapons, an e-book detailing seven unarmed techniques. These techniques are photo-illustrated and taught in video links. Seven simple techniques form the foundation for Street Fighting Weapons, as the same unarmed techniques are used in the second book, where they are weaponized. The goal is a handful of simple yet devastating techniques that can just as easily be used to fight empty-handed or to employ undercover weapons.

I guarantee you’ll find something in here you haven’t seen before, such as several versions of the palm sap, and the steel bangle.

Get both books for just 9 dollars, available as an instant download.