Regardless of where you live, the Internet has made remote training possible. Although there’s no substitute for training with a live partner, this is a great way to get started in a program to see if it’s something you enjoy and want to go further with. If you have a live training partner in your area that can train with you for an online class, you can find encouragement and the kinesthetic feedback that you’d otherwise be missing.
Ideally, you will want to attend a live and in-person class. The instructors page on this site lists certified Progressive Arnis instructors and for many of them, the location they live or train in. If you’re unsure who may be willing and available to teach you, who may already have regular classes, or the bandwidth to take on a new student, you can contact any of the instructors directly, if their information is posted on the instructors page, or you can always reach out on our contact page with your questions or requests. Different instructors have different backgrounds, teaching styles, schedules, and tuition fees, so it makes sense to shop around a little bit and see who clicks with you.
For your first class, someone will probably have some extra training gear you can borrow, but eventually you’ll want to get your own. A good starter kit includes a pair of 28″ rattan sticks, a pair of padded training sticks, a training knife, and a 5 – 6″ staff. In time, your arsenal of training gear may add a balisong, a training bolo, flexible weapons, a karambit, a Bram Frank tool (and CRMIPT), alisi palad, or a variety of other things you may find intuitive to train and learn with.
Wear what you find comfortable for the weather. Many of us train in shorts and t-shirts in the warmer weather. In the cold, layer up with a sweatshirt or light jacket, long pants, jeans, or gi pants. Through the years of training and attending seminars, the collection of martial arts t-shirts gets substantial, but any normal street clothes that you are comfortable being active in will suffice. For classes indoors and on training mats, we ask you don’t wear shoes that you’ve walked around with outside, for the cleanliness of the mats. It’s acceptable to bring a pair of sneakers that you will use only for training, but many prefer training barefoot to get a better feel for the ground. Training outside, we recommend sneakers, as branches, roots, concrete, and other environmental nuances may cause injury to bare feet.
If you’re familiar with Japanese or Korean karate, American Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do, or Kung Fu, you know that they all teach you to punch and kick (strike) at first, block or defend yourself, stances and other combinations of movement. Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) are no different, but emphasize different things, just as all of those examples do. FMA focuses heavily on the use of and defense against weapons, mostly bladed or bludgeoning, but essentially with and against anything. Filipino Arts, especially those in the Presas’ line are focused on flow. Especially when weapons are involved, but in cases of empty hand combat, stopping the motion with a block isn’t always the preferred response. We are taught to move out of the way just enough, follow the motion, generate power while keeping solid structure, and respond accordingly. Progressive Arnis teaches a variety of disarms, ways of taking balance and structure from an opponent, and leveling the playing field against someone who may be advantaged in any way against us. Unlike a lot of other arts, PA teaches us to engage at different ranges and with different methodologies. Progressive Arnis training is as cognitive as it is physical. It helps develop gross and fine motor skills with our left and right hands, and instills confidence in our ability to respond against trained and untrained fighters’ attacks. An experienced Filipino Martial Artist has an exceptional degree of physical and emotional control and a high degree of confidence and situational awareness.
Chad hosts a training camp about once a quarter, sometimes with a theme, and sometimes there’s actually camping! Camps usually start on Friday afternoon and run through Sunday, and can be held anywhere that makes sense. Winter Camp for example is usually held in Florida, where it’s still warm enough to train and camp out, and there are a lot of PA students and instructors. Camps are an excellent opportunity to test for a belt level and get better acquainted with the PA community.
Seminars are almost synonymous, but a more broad-reaching term for a martial arts intensive that is more involved than a regular class. Seminars could include teachers from other arts and martial systems, could vary in format, and don’t necessarily have a Progressive Arnis component to them, but Guro Chad encourages training different styles and noting the similarities and connections.
The average price to attend a camp or seminar is $200, but prices obviously vary based on where it is held, how many days of instruction, and number of instructors teachings, as the goal of the host is usually to cover costs more so than making a profit.
Going to a seminar is like getting a B12 shot of energy and encouragement in your martial journey. There’s usually a lot of material, and some of it may be brand new. It’s easy to get cognitively overloaded or physically drained, but in most cases, there’s no expectation to do everything or remember everything. Go at your own pace, take breaks when needed (or wanted), and try to take away one or two things that you can practice and use. Seminars that require travel are not only more fun and give an opportunity to touch hands with new and different players, but they put you in a focused headspace while you’re away from home. Take advantage of the space in between the lessons. Ask a lot of questions and get to know some new friends and learn about their experiences.
Lakan is the Tagalog (Filipino language) title for black belt. Progressive Arnis uses a colored belt system, similar to many Eastern Asian martial arts. The order of the rank and belt colors are: yellow stripe, yellow, orange stripe, orange, purple stripe, purple, blue stripe, blue, green stripe, green, brown 1, brown 2, brown 3, brown 4, brown 5, Lakan/black. After purple belt, you can optionally test for basic instructor (Taga Pasanay) which encompasses the ability to teach all the material up to and including purple belt. After green belt, you can opt for an advanced instructor (Taga Pagturo) certification, which is comprehensive through green. A Lakan is not only a practitioner level, but a teaching level. In fact, part of the Lakan test includes a 1 hour class with a lesson plan.
Progressive Arnis doesn’t have multiple levels or degrees of black, but if you bring three students through Lakan, you can test for Guro, which has additional requirements. The road to Lakan takes several years, due to the large amount of material and the mastery required at that level. A Lakan in Progressive Arnis is highly respected in the Filipino Martial Arts community, as masters of other FMA systems are aware of the high degree of skill necessary for this achievement.
A bolo is a Filipino short sword, akin to a machete. Some Filipino systems train with a stick with the purpose of learning to fight with a stick, some movements are represented with a stick, but are intended to teach combatives with the bolo. The stab-through striking methodology that we study in the early belt levels in PA, is an example of training how to pick with the tip of a bolo using the stick as a training tool, rather than the intended weapon for that motion.