Key Concepts
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.
One by one, the concepts:
- Balance
The overriding concept in Latosa Escrima and 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 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.
- Balance
The overriding concept in Latosa Escrima and 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 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.
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.