Archive for Bob Orlando
Here’s another old review: Indonesian fighting fundamentals: The brutal arts of the archipelago by Bob Orlando. I cleaned it up a bit and added some extra information. Enjoy!
Bob Orlando is a martial arts teacher and writer perhaps best known for his knowledge of Penchak Silat and Kuntao. In this book, he explains the fundamental principles that form the backbone of these two arts. As these are also covered in the video Fighting Arts of Indonesia, I will not go into great detail about them here but will do so in another review. I’d rather tell you some more about the material that isn’t covered in the video.
Bob Orlando on the right, about to punch one of my students.
The book starts with a foreword and preface, including some acknowledgments. There is also a note to the reader, giving information on the demonstrated techniques, clothing and spelling used. In the introduction, Bob defines some terms, explains how the book came about and stresses the value of concepts and principles.
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Interview with Bob Orlando, Part Two
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s part 2 of the interview I did with Bob Orlando on his latest DVD, “The Fighting Forms of Kuntao-Silat.”
Q: Why did you choose these particular forms for the DVD over other ones?
A: The reason we chose those two was primarily because they are our school’s favorites–yes, our school’s favorites. Across the board, everyone loves them the best.
Elbow Exercise is a short pentjak silat form developed by George Morin, a dear friend and fellow student of Willem de Thouars. We use it to introduce the student to movement-based training and study. Much like learning the alphabet and grammar, the movements and motion in the form are much more important than the techniques we use to demonstrate them. Techniques are necessary to teach this form, but only as tools to help the student understand the underlying principles of movement.
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Interview with Bob Orlando, Part One
Posted by: | CommentsA while ago I mentioned Bob Orlando’s new DVD on “The Fighting Forms of Kuntao-Silat” Well, Bob was kind enough to answer a couple questions for me regarding this project. Here’s the first part, enjoy!
Q: Your previous material covered mainly concepts and drills of Kuntao-Silat. Why did you decide to bring out a forms video when many people nowadays feel forms are not the best tool to learn fighting applications?
A: The reason I decided on teaching those specific forms was because I learned sooooooo much from them. Further, we continue to teach forms in general because we believe they contribute to the overall effectiveness of what we do.
In my opinion what we do is extremely effective, but not for the reasons most folks might think. First, what we do is NOT effective because the chief instructor is a modern day Bruce Lee or Dan Inosanto. No. What we do is highly effective because of the system–a system where we balance drill training, self-defense techniques (only 47, believe it or not), impact- and edged-weapons training, heavy bag work, and forms practice and study.
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