FMA-IMPACT (Stick and Staff) = Ages 10 to adult (or instructor's consent) Class covers the single stick, double stick and staff weapons at long, medium, close and ground grappling ranges.
FMA-CUTTING EDGE (Long and short blade) = Ages 16 to adult (or instructor's consent) Class covers single and double knife, single and double sword, sword and knife, and empty hand versus knife.
FMA-HUMAN WEAPON (Panatukan/Empty Hands, Dumog/Wrestling, Silat/Sweeping and Ground Fighting) = Ages 10 to adult (or instructor's consent) Class covers all the empty hand aspects of the Filipino Martial Arts such as stand up boxing and kicking, standing and ground grappling, sweeping and throwing, and ground fighting.
What are the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA)?
The FMA is a group of arts comprised of weapons (Stick, Double Stick, Staff, Sword, Knife, Double Knife, Stick and Knife), Empty Hand, and Grappling components. The weapons portion of the art is often referred to as Kali, Escrima, or Arnis while the Empty Hand portion is known as Panatukan and the grappling as Dumog. The arts have developed out of the tribal culture of the various islands of the Philippines and have been primarily passed down through family lines over the years. These were arts that were developed to defend villages, fight Spanish and American occupations in the 1600s to 1800s and later to fight the Japanese in World War II.
The FMA taught at MCMA is a blended system that comes from Guro Dan Inosanto. Guro Inosanto is a renowned martial artist. He holds teaching rank (the equivalent of a black belt) in multiple arts spanning the range of several families of FMA, Indonesian Silat, Brazilian JuJitsu, Muay Thai, CSW, and others. Guro Inosanto is also known because of his study in the late 60s with Bruce Lee in the art of Jun Fan Gung Fu / Jeet Kune Do. Guro Inosanto was chosen by Lee to keep Lee’s school open in California when he left for Hong Kong to pursue a movie career (remember Enter the Dragon?).
Guro Inosanto has studied FMA from over 20 different systems and has blended the best of those systems together in his Inosanto / LaCoste Kali. He choose to honor John LaCoste, his first teacher, by naming his art after LaCoste. Guro Inosanto is 71 years old and continues to teach at the Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts in California. He also pursues an active seminar teaching schedule (45 weekends a year) across the US and abroad and certifies instructors in JKD, Kali and Silat through the Inosanto International Instructors Association.
What would I expect if I trained in FMA at MCMA?
The FMA at MCMA introduces students to all of the various FMA weapons as well as the empty hand and grappling components of the art. Weapons are taught in series of classes usually lasting 4 to 8 weeks. A student may start the classes at anytime and has no need to wait for the next weapon series to start to begin training.
A class will typically warm up with basics of foot work and striking patterns with the weapon. The skills of using the weapons are learned through cooperative contact drills done with a partner. Partners work with each other feeding attacks or defending and allowing the student to amass many repetitions of a technique. As a student progresses the drills become increasingly more complex and competitive. This finally leads up to sparring with padded weapons and protective head / hand gear. This style of training helps to keep techniques realistic and usable in non-training settings as well as make training interesting and fun.
The intensity and complexity of drills are varied to match the abilities and experience level of the individual student. The focus of any drill is to master the current level a student has obtained. Complexity and intensity are added as each person develops their skill set.
Why should I train in FMA?
The FMA is a rich and deep set of arts that on their own are fun and rewarding to study. A student choosing to concentrate in FMA will find an almost endless curriculum of material to learn and master. At MCMA the curriculum is divided into manageable sections which are rotated approximately every 8 weeks to provide a varied training experience. The training methods used are also varied to keep the individual classes interesting and fun.
The FMA is also a great cross training opportunity for those concentrating in other martial arts. Cross training in FMA usually results in an increased awareness and ability to defend against weapon attacks (knife / club type assaults), better foot work, increased hand speed and increased reflex speed. The FMA also tend to focus a student on accuracy and efficiency of techniques with or without weapons. Additionally, the Adult FMA class meets the requirements for prospective TKD Black Belts to cross train in weapon art.
The final benefit of the FMA is simply that they are fun.
Who teaches FMA at MCMA?
Guro Jerry Rominger teaches both the adult and children’s programs at MCMA. Jerry has over 6 years of FMA training at MCMA, over 150 hours of seminar training with Guro Inosanto and is certified by Guro Inosanto to teach both FMA and Jun Fan / JKD.
When can I train?
Please see the "
schedule" page for days and times of classes.
