Filipino Stick Fighting Techniques (The Essential Techniques of Cabales Serrada Escrima)

Filipino Stick Fighting Techniques is the authoritative guide to Cabales Serrada Escrima—a stick fighting art with its roots in Escrima, the national martial art of the Philippines. The popularity of these techniques has dramatically increased since they were used extensively by Matt Damon in action-packed fight scenes in the Jason Bourne films.

Developed by Grandmaster Angel Cabales when he came to the U.S., Cabales Serrada Escrima is a distinct system emphasizing close-quarter combat using highly effective stick-fighting moves in unarmed as well as knife fighting situations. This book offers a clear presentation of the basic strikes, blocks, counters, and disarms unique to this style of martial art—as well as explaining how and why the techniques work and when to use them.

Angel Cabales was a pioneer in the Filipino Martial Arts and the first teacher of Escrima in the U.S. He trained and certified Mark V. Wiley, the author of this book. Darren G. Tibon, an Escrima Grandmaster, was also trained by Cabales and has contributed a new foreword to the book.

This book contains:

• Personal accounts of Grandmaster Angel Cabales and how he developed his system
• The dynamics of body positioning, distance control, and both single-stick and empty-hand defensive methods
• A comprehensive set of training drills for practitioners at different levels

Extensively illustrated with over 300 photos and detailed step-by-step instructions, this book lays the foundation for not just learning the system of Cabales Serrada Escrima, but understanding the traditions and philosophy of the art.