The above video highlights the skills of Grand Master Bobby Taboada, showing his amazing speed, reflexes, and technique in stick-fighting, even at the age of 70 years. As a revered grandmaster, his extraordinary proficiency in balintawak eskrima is showcased through precise blocks, fluid footwork, and disciplined execution. It includes escrima techniques using a stick, knives, and some empty hands. Watching such mastery, especially at such an advanced age, feels like witnessing a world where dedication and practice continue to play a pivotal role, setting a standard for each other in the martial arts community. I have seen many martial arts masters, some in person, but I have never seen anyone who is this good at that age.
What Is Escrima?
Escrima, also known as Kali and Arnis, is a fighting art system from the Philippines, which has a very long and rich tradition and history of martial arts using weapons. This art has a very long tradition, and originally used swords and knives. After the Philippines were conquered by the Spaniards, escrima sticks, which are very hard and durable sticks made out of rattan, were substituted for the blades. Among the many styles, Balintawak eskrima stands out with its unique historical contributions.
Balintawak escrima is a style of Escrima that was originally developed by Ancion Bacon, Jose Villasin, Teofilo Velez, and a few others, using swords or machete-like bladed weapons but later practitioners switched to sticks, most commonly made of burnt rattan. This style emphasizes drills and cuentada—a concept of countering attacks with speed and precision, making it an effective self-defense method taught by skilled instructors. The practice of cuentada facilitates practitioners to respond dynamically to the movements of each other during training, enhancing their real-world applicability.
The theory of Escrima (and most other Filipino martial arts) is that you are learning how to use your body to fight, and the weapon, whether it is a stick, sword, or knife, is just an extension of your body. The rationale is that in a real life and death scenario, you would be foolish to go unarmed, but if you have no blade or other weapon, you may still have to fight to survive. The discipline and concepts, like footwork and block strategies, are invaluable ingredients in teaching practitioners how to adapt and execute effective defense tactics.
Chinese Martial arts all teach empty-hand combat first, and teach weapons only to more advanced practitioners, while in most armed forces, soldiers are taught how to fight with guns and bayonets first, and are taught unarmed combat later, as a soldier will almost always have his weapon during battle. But in Escrima, it is the other way around. Unarmed techniques are taught only to advanced students, underscoring the importance of understanding armed combat first.
There are a great number, possibly even hundreds, of styles/lineages of escrima. They are all similar, but all differ from one another in some respects, like the renowned doce pares club, known for integrating different disciplines within its teaching methodology.
How Is Balintawak Different From Other Escrima Styles?
Although most Escrima systems use both a single stick and a double stick, Balintawak focuses heavily on the use of the single stick. However, the empty or “free” hand is as active as the hand that wields the stick. The free hand can be used to punch, grab, push, pull, check, and trap. Balintawak also uses elbows, knees, joint locks, kicks, and throws, integrating these with the stick, making it a truly formidable art for self-defense, even against multiple attackers or attackers armed with knives.
Balintawak is a system that concentrates on close-range fighting, although it does have some medium and long-range applications. Because the strikes are used at close range, power is generated from the entire body, especially the waist. It also uses short mobile steps, like those used in boxing, and upper body and head movement, allowing practitioners to smoothly play within the spaces of defense and attack in the martial world.It is also different from other systems of Escrima in that, in training, you assume that the opponent is always going to throw up a block against your stick, and also that he will respond with an immediate counter-strike. The immediate nature of this counter-strike is akin to an attack in its precision and timing, demanding great coordination and agility from practitioners.
As a serious Martial Arts student and sometimes instructor, I have come to learn that even a very skillful Martial Arts expert, even one with skills at the master level, usually cannot stand against tough and determined multiple attackers or against even one trained knife fighter. Training with disciplined focus and dedication, as in Balintawak, encourages the development of agility and coordination, helping build resilience against such challenging attacks.
When I was training Leung Ting Wing Chun, we trained against multiple attackers, and part of the test for first-level technician (equivalent to second-degree black belt) included sparring against two opponents for about two minutes. Balintawak’s emphasis on precision and control would greatly benefit anyone undergoing such rigorous drills by enhancing their coordination and agility.
I remember this portion of the test as being totally chaotic. In fact, pretty much all that I remember is that we repeatedly crashed into the walls, causing some damage to the school, and one of the people testing with me sustained an injury that made him unable to train for a few months. And this was when the opponents were not really trying to kill or actually hurt us, highlighting the necessity for agility and precise coordination in avoiding severe attacks.
What is cool about this art is that, although haters will often look at a video of traditional Martial arts and say “that will never work,” I don’t see anyone saying the same thing about a video with Balintawak experts, maybe because everyone understands that getting hit in the head by a full-power strike with a stick is no joking matter, and also because of the speed of the stick in sparring. The discipline and footwork taught in Balintawak ensure both effectiveness and safety in such scenarios, requiring agile coordination to successfully counter an attack.
Benefits Of Training Balintawak
Training balintawak will greatly improve a Martial Art student’s reflexes. I have noticed in my many years of Wing Chun training that every student who came into our school with a background in either sword or stick fighting had excellent reflexes and became top students. The club environment where teaching is both rigorous and supportive fosters such development, enhancing agility and coordination.
Balintawak training is especially good for Wing Chun practitioners because Wing Chun’s greatest strength, the development, and use of tactile reactions, is also its greatest weakness. The founder or founders of Wing Chun figured out that touch reactions were at least three times faster than reactions using the eyes. However, most schools train tactile reactions so much that they neglect visual reflexes, and many Wing Chun fighters have been destroyed by boxers and kickboxers who used long-range punches and kicks. Balintawak’s balanced focus on both tactile and visual reflexes, along with coordination, offers a comprehensive approach to combat that can effectively counter long-range attacks.
According to one of Yip Man’s top students, Yip Man never taught any distance fighting, although he encouraged the students to get into challenge fights against other styles in order to figure out for themselves how to deal with long-range punches and kicks. This approach is mirrored in Balintawak’s dynamic teaching style, encouraging adaptability, agile coordination, and innovation.
The video above showcases the skills of Kevin Groat, an expert in both Balintawak and Leung Ting Wing Chun, and demonstrates in striking fashion, the similarities between the two arts. Under the guidance of a grandmaster, such as GM Bobby Taboada, practitioners like Kevin ensure that the rich tradition of these arts continues to flourish, embodying a flawlessly coordinated attack style built on agility and discipline.
