Dog Brothers Public Forum

Hello all,

Just for clarification's sake Serak and Soempat are separate arts (although I suppose it could be said that Soempat is a "daughter" art of Serak in the same manner that Tongkat or Bukti Negara are.) Soempat is the personal expression of Maha Guru Victor's teacher Pak Tisari Mardjoeki and is indeed primarily a stick discipline. Most students of Pak Vic's have some training in the Soempat system but sadly for the interest of testing it in the Dog Brother's laboratory, with the obvious exception of Pak Vic, there aren't currently any individuals that I'm aware of that are trained high enough in that particular art that I would consider a fair representation of it at a Gathering. (Although there are definitely plenty of very qualified Serak players out there.)

At the risk of sounding "cop out-y," or falsely "brag-y" I personally would not wish to see a fight with some hefty Soempat sticks involved strictly from a safety perspective. Before I get jumped on let me say that my worries don't stem from the "lethality" of the system or anything silly or hubristic like that but my concerns arise just from the physicality of the shape of the sticks. Any headshots that might slip through would essentially be the equivalent of a punyo strike but delivered at "full swing" velocity.



(Oh, I suppose that I should also clarify that work matters have prevented me from training for several months so I apologize to anyone if I am speaking out of turn and any comments I make are my own and in no way represent Pak Vic or the VDT Academy. Seems unnecessary and silly but folks do tend to misrepresent on the Intranetz. Y'all are shocked I know... )

This one might be kind of obvious these days but I would also heartily recommend supplementing your diet with a joint complex that contains Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and/or MSM (methylsulfonylmethane.) If you can find one that also contains Boswellia even better. (If you have a local Whole Foods market they have just such a complex available under their own brand that is a good deal less expensive than some of the more widely visible brands. I'm not shilling, just trying to inform.)

(Oh as a caveat if you are allergic to shellfish, then you probably should avoid any of the joint complexes that contain Glucosamine as it is derived from processing their shells. Since the allergen is mostly located in the flesh it should be safe, but if you are especially sensitive to it then it's probably not worth risking it)

I also recommend Coenzyme Q10 to help maintain a happy circulatory system. I know it has helped me a lot as I make my way closer and closer to resembling this thread's title.

A few years ago there was a website around that was devouted to Shastar Vidiya which supposedly was the martial forefather to the more sport-like Gatka. Unfortunately I don't think the site is up anymore. too bad because it had a lot of videos on it and I could see direct relations between it and other SEA martial arts, specifically certain styles of Pentjak Silat but also some very Filipino looking techniques.

Very interesting stuff indeed.

I believe the group at Integrated is the only official training group in SoCal but check the list at www.sayoc.com to verify. Rancho Cucamonga is not *ridiculously* far from Signal Hill, and they do train Sayoc Kali on Saturdays. Sounds like you are happy with what you currently are training but it might be worth the drive to at least check it out.


PS Any time you draw a knife and use it against someone you risk going to jail. The only legal instance to use one is in a case of imminent death. I have yet  to see a "blade system" that you wouldn't go to jail for using on someone if used outside of that case and I've yet to see one that will send you to jail if used within that context (all things bing rightly judged of course.)

Start at http://www.crossfit.com/ and then scroll down and look to the right side of the page for a local affiliate.

I'd also like to add a small but very important thing to all the great advice you are  getting.

Make sue that you are drinking enough water. Seems a simple thing but a lot of people neglect it. If you are working out as much as you say that you are make sure you are taking steps to avoid dehydration. Sports  drinks are good but most of them have far too much sugar and although they work great as a "recovery drink" they do not help hydrate you as much as good ol' agua.

Just saw this and thought it was fairly interesting. (If you can look past the bad foley and sfx)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zYttbSIbqE[/youtube]

Sayoc Kali sounds about perfect for you Erik. They focus a lot on blades and stick grappling.

Unfortunately I'm not sure of the exact location where the Bay Area training group practices though. The last contact info I have for them is sanfranciscosayoc[at]gmail[dot]com. Try it and see if it works if you are interested.

OK, so I know this thread is about movies but I didnt think it was worth creating a whole new thread..
I was playing World of Warcraft (yeah.. Im a geek, whatever.. lol) but I totally forgot about this interesting reference, this character is a weapons trainer.

If you look hard enough you will find at least two more references to Kali or Silat in that game... one of which is Dog Brothers specific (...or maybe I should say specific to a specific Dog Brother) both of them are weapons.

 

Well, my immediate response would be the obvious one, Guro Dan's (http://www.inosanto.com), but LA's a big area and that might be a drive for some folks.

Whereabouts are you located?

Dunno if its been mentioned here before, but you can also catch snippets of some krabi krabong action in a movie called "The Legend of Suryothai"

While not a 'martial-arts' movie per se, its more of a 'historical-epic' a la "Braveheart" and the like and it has some great battle scenes. I recommend it.

Any movie with lines like "Ready the men, and arm the elephants" has to be great, right?