Pekiti Tirsia San Francisco recently hosted Martial Arts Legend Grand Tuhon Leo T Gaje Jr. for a two day seminar in the art and science of Pekiti Tirsia Kali.

I wish I could accurately describe the awesomeness of this seminar… There are teachers, there are fighters and there are technicians. It’s rare to meet someone who is a master of all three. It’s even more rare to find one who is one of the last living grand masters of authentic Filipino blade fighting who was trained as a warrior from childhood.

This seminar was physically challenging for most people. With Grand Tuhon you are going to work out. If you aren’t fit you can’t fight - it’s that simple. The PTK philosophy is “We believe in Life, Health and Success’. If you believe in health how does that apply to daily life? You get healthy through a good diet and exercise. This wasn’t one of those seminars that was an academic study of concepts and watered down techniques. This was one where you work. People got the idea real quick.

We worked a lot of fundamentals with everyone coming away with a better understanding of their knife basics. The advanced is to thoroughly understand the basics. Grand Tuhon also covered some ground fighting against a knife. What happens if you fall during a knife fight? You better have a strategy and some tactics to keep fighting.

Grand Tuhon went into the Tri V formula approach to single stick as we worked through some loading and attack strategies with footwork. Tuhon also showed an advance usage of one of the combinations that was pretty sweet. This is something you can learn and go use in sparring immediately. He doesn’t always give stuff away like that. Pay attention and you can come away with a jewel. This art is unveiled as you are ready to see the next layer. I learn totally new stuff every time I see Grand Tuhon. All the basics have advanced applications - usually set ups, misdirection or broken rhythm attacks. This is where the real art lies. But you have to master the basics before you can comprehend the advanced. You have to understand rhythm before you can break the rhythm. You have to understand wide motions before you can pull off the tight ones. Direction before misdirection… etc.

My favorite part of the seminar was the counter for counter portion. Grand Tuhon taught a series of counter for counters off a couple entries we were working on that was all part of a flow drill. The idea Grand Tuhon was trying to get across is for every counter there is another counter and you have to learn to flow. This is a very dynamic art. Flow drills are great because you get a lot of repetition. I don’t know who said it but they said ‘The first law of learning is repetition’.

My real favorite part was having Tuhon demo advanced stick/blade counters on me. That was some good stuff..

Due to the large Filipino contingent in the group Grand Tuhon lectured on the history, culture and philosophy of Kali. Many of the students got to talk with Grand Tuhon off to the side and take pictures with him - which I enjoyed seeing.

Everyone came away with a feeling of pride and a sense of accomplishment and a reinvigorated desire to train.

Grand Tuhon also mentioned something about the upcoming filming of a National Geographic TV special on PTK.. stay tuned..

To see the full set of photos look here.

July 17th PTK Silicon Valley hosted Florida PTK representative Dino Martinez for a awesome one day mountain training clinic. The clinic was held on a beautiful weekend among the Redwoods and rolling hills of Santa Cruz CA.

Guro Martinez is a former Strength and Conditioning coach certified by the NCSA. Dino has an articulate and to the point style of teaching that everyone enjoyed. Guro Martinez took the group through some intermediate partner footwork drils, entries to close range from 5 attacks, knife tapping - primary, secondary and tertiary taps and some Dumpag empty hands movements. We also went through some Espada y Daga. Dino explained the concept of ‘Pankipit’ or ‘Clipping’ in Illongo which is a central theme in PTK close range fighting.

On behalf of the Bay Area PTK groups I would like to thank Guro Martinez for the great Saturday of training.

Dino Martinez teaching a clinic for Bay Area PTK

Mike

The Tim Waid seminar May 15-16 in Berkeley was a resounding success.

Students from San Francisco, San Jose, Berkeley and as far as Seattle WA were in attendance. There were also representatives from several Bay Area Law Enforcement Agencies.

This is the 2nd time PTKSF has hosted Tim in Berkeley. Last June at our very first seminar we had 9 people, this time there was almost triple that number. I’m pretty happy with that kind of growth. People are starting to find out about us.

I’d like to offer a very special thanks to Ralph Gracie, Big Dave, Pete, and Eduardo for use of their world class training facility - Ralph Gracie Berkeley Academy.

For this seminar Tim expanded on areas introduced at previous seminars - the 5 attacks method which emphasizes fast fluid footwork and proper striking mechanics. Expanding on that knowledge Tim offered insights into set ups and introduced the Contradas system to seminar participants.

Next up was a 5 attacks drill with the knife using a hockey mitt as a target to explore the concepts of Tirsia Largo - attacking the mitted hand with contact at distance and Tirsia Corto - closing the distance and jamming the attack by trapping the arm at close quarters. Note the lack of a Tirsia Medio - medium range is where the opponent has a chance to attack you as well. A strategy in PTK is to stay at long range and use distance or blast through medium range to control the fight from close quarters with trapping and locking.

Pekiti Tirsia is know for it’s close quarters blade fighting. A foundation set of movements for close quarters is the Mano y Daga lock flow - emphasizing realism and flowing out of the resistance or counter of one lock into the next. Several blade reversals or ‘return to sender’ techniques were part of this flow as well. This lock flow provides a solid vocabulary of locking. More importantly this method shows how to use the resistance of one lock to help flow into the next.

The difference in the Filipino locking from most martial arts that use locking is in the emphasis on the flow/transition from one lock to another. As any good grappler will tell you you have to be able to flow from one move to another. It’s the same thing when you are grappling standing up against a knife. If you can’t flow from one lock to another against a strong, resisting opponent you got nothing.

Tim passes on the details of the Pekiti Tirsia system, the intellectual property that was given to him by Grand Tuhon Gaje in the Philippines. PTK is a complete Filipino Blade Fighting system developed by Grand Tuhon’s ancestors through countless real life blade encounters. This is the warrior art Grand Tuhon Gaje was trained in from childhood by his grandfather Conrado Tortal. The art has resisted commercialization and remains a true combat fighting art.

Here are some testimonials of students who attended the May 15/16 seminar.

“Excellent seminar. Tim Waid’s style of teaching is clear, succinct, and very dynamic. I came away with much to think about and a lot of material to practice. I also enjoyed Tims sense of humor.”

“I have been training in martial arts for over fifteen years, and when one experiences simplicity and clear application of technique it is always a blessing. Tim Waid is truly amazing in openly sharing his vast knowledge and experience to empower you with knowledge that may just save your life.”

“This is the second Tim Waid seminar I’ve attended and it was just as awesome as the first. I personally feel he’s an excellent instructor in PTK; he’s patient and exacting, making sure you understand the techniques and its applications before going further. Maginoo Tim Waid goes around and personally does partner drills with everyone and stays with you until you got it before moving to help another student, which to me is pretty amazing because it was a really large group.

We count ourselves very fortunate to have an PTK combat instructor like Maginoo Tim to come and teach this seminar in the Bay area. The same intensity in training can be found regularly in Mike’s classes. I highly recommend anyone who can make it to attend his classes as well.

Pekiti Tirsia Kali is not sport… it is lethal and efficient combat.”

Thanks to Jenn for taking the time to shoot pictures of the seminar - I will post them to the photo album soon.

Thanks again for everyone who was able to make it to the seminar. If you couldn’t make it - don’t worry Tim will be back a couple times next year.. And we have Grand Tuhon coming up in August - which I’m about to post..

The rest of the pictures can be found here.

Guys - it’s official… we have Tim here for a special seminar on the Doce Methodos of PTK. This seminar we are going to cover Dakup y Punyo and Break in, Break out. Progressive combative movements, including drills, will be taught, broken down and explained in detail. Tim’s specialty is the Doce Methodos of PTK. The 64 attack ‘form’ taught in the 70’s and 80’s, for example, comes from the Doce Methodos. In previous seminar Tim has touched on the 5 attack subsystem, Sagung Labo and Knife tapping, the ‘Dirty Dozen’, etc.. Don’t miss this opportunity to train with one of the best instructors around.

This seminars will use a ‘new’ 5 hour format - no breaks. Bring some sports drinks and an energy bar or 2…

The flyer for the seminar is here. Please pass it around to anyone who might be interested. Let me know ASAP if you’d like to preregister to reserve your spot.

Email me (ptk san francisco (one word no spaces) at gmail dot com) if you have any questions.

PTK T-shirts will be available for purchase.

Cost:

$150 both days preregistered
$180 day of the event
$100 single day

Time/Date:

Saturday May 15 1:30 - 6:30
Sunday May 16 11:00 - 4:00

location:
Ralph Gracie Berkeley Academy
1500 Ashby Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94703

No shoes on the mat - no shoes or mat shoes only.

No video taping - especially sneaky flip cams.

Again thanks to my buddies at Ralph’s school for the use of their fine facility. You know who you are (Big Dave, Eduardo, Pete..).

Hope to see you there.

Just got back from the 2010 Philippines training camp with Grand Tuhon Gaje. We had to pleasure of training with Tuhon Philip Gelinas of Montreal Martial Arts. Tuhon Philip has trained with GT Gaje for over 30 years and is the highest ranking practitioner next to Grand Tuhon Gaje. Also in attendance were practitioners from the Bay Area (Alan and I), the East Coast (Rob Walker’s group), Canada, Germany, Texas, Philippines and ‘Crazy Marlin’ from Seattle.

Crazy Marlin unfortunately broke his leg during sparring but kept training for the rest of the camp on one leg - and these camps are hard when you have 2 working legs.

The camp started out in Bacolod City in the province of Negros Occidental. After coffee and Babinka (local sponge, coconut cakes in a banana leaf wrapper).. and maybe even some karaoke.. we started out with power training in Tuhon’s backyard. The exercises consisted of tire training, pull ups, iron ball, swinging weights and several other specialized exercises.

On 2-28 we hopped in a bus and headed for the mountains to Mambukal. Mambukal is a resort area in the mountains known for it’s giant Fruit Bats and hot springs. It is a great place to train to get away from the smog and heat of the city.

The training at Mambukal emphasized the Tri V formula, power training with the Malayu Sibat (long ’spear’ or staff), single and doble baston and lots of knife. The sibat training we did helps coordinate footwork with striking and tunes the body to full power striking.

The knife training consisted of various flow patterns and counter offense movements. During the day we would knife training in the pool that consisted of swimming with a doble pakal and sak sak grip and lots of other exercises and drills. We hit the hot spring a couple times too to ease our sore muscles. After dinner we’d train more in the pavilion until we were so tired we would hardly lift our arms.

From Mambukal we headed back to Bacolod. The training there consisted mostly of combative development and free sparring. The sparring was full contact with gloves and head gear only. It gave us a chance to try out some of the moves we had been working on in the camp.

In Bacolod we also trained some Dumpag (empty hand arm and leg destruction, locking and throwing), more knife and a great Sagung Labo and stick grappling class from Tuhon Philip that consisted of a counter for counter stick lock flow. Very cool stuff.

The best part of the Dumpag class was asking Tuhon ‘What else can you do from there?’ to get him to lock Mike (from Manila) up in more pretzel like positions. Having been in the martial arts for 20 some years I’ve seen a lot of locking and PTK Dumpag has some really, really nice locking. It all blends with the hand trapping and it all blends across the various weapon categories.

The ‘trapping’ in PTK is very highly developed as well. What you see on videos clips and youtube is barely scratching the surface. The hand trapping was developed from in close quarters blade work where if you make a mistake you are dead. The various flow drills lay a foundation of movement where you add variables one at a time until you can free flow from any type of strike or counter. One layer counters the previous layer’s movements. The result is a seasoned practitioner is always 2-3 steps ahead of you. The emphasis is always on offense and counter offense. Defense is for the opponent to worry about.

The sparring and technical knife and Dumpag training was a great way to finish up 10 days of hard training in the tropical sun with one of the last living great Grandmasters of blade fighting. Grand Tuhon’s vast knowledge of all aspects of fighting continue to blow my mind and remind me of why I train in Pekiti Tirsia Kali.

After the official camp Me, Alan, Mike and Dip’ got to train with a Russian group who didn’t speak much English for a day before they headed to another leg of their camp up north.

What a great way to break in 2010.

Grand Tuhon will be in the states starting in a couple months for his 2010 seminar tour. Stay tuned for that.

New skills, new friends, great camp.

Training will resume on Wednesday. See you guys there..

Dates for upcoming seminars hosted by PTKSF:

May 15/16 2010 - Tim Waid PTK Seminar

October 9/10 2010 - Tim Waid ??

You can always check our events page for upcoming Bay Area Kali seminars and camps featuring Pekiti Tirsia Kali.

Mike

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This weekend marked the beginning of the 2010 seminar season. Maginoo Tim Waid of Pekiti Tirsia Kali was hosted by Mandala Mike Franciotti.

Tim Waid Pekiti Tirsia Kali Seminar in San Jose Feb 2010

Tim covered material from the 5 attacks sub system, knife tapping and the transition between double knife and empty hands. There were lots of new faces this time around. Thanks to the members of the San Jose DSC (Defensive Shooting Club) for stepping out of their comfort zone and joining us for the Kali deep dive.

Everyone had a great time. For some it was there first class ever in PTK. By the end of the weekend people were mentally and physically beat as it was a very active seminar.

Thanks to Mike for hosting and to everyone for showing up. Rumor has it Tim will be here several times this year. Also Grand Tuhon Gaje will be coming through the US for a seminar tour this year. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of training directly with Grand Tuhon I recommend you clear your calendar when dates are published.

Great weekend.. I’ll be joining Tim and Tuhon Phillip Gelinas for a camp in the PI in 2 weeks. I’ll be emailing dates soon.

There is a new website for the Pekiti Tirsia Kali Global Organization:

PTKGO.com

Check out the new video, vintage video of Grand Tuhon Gaje, detailed system information and new pictures.. awesome..

Mike