Master Ron Saturno Gives Back to the Veteran Community

My honey worked Saturday morning and there was someone who needed to be trained. It was a perfect opportunity to ask a former soldier to meet me for training. The necessary connections were made and at around 09:30 hours on Saturday morning we met and began training. The trainee was a former member of several U.S. Army Airborne units. He was wounded in time of battle and generally worn down by repeated jumps. I began his training with classical Serrada Outside number 1. He was asked to begin practicing the movement set and meet up with me again on Wednesday of this week. He is now forced retired and was referred to me by Master Michael Schwartz of the Wounded Warrior Project. I'll train this man for free and hope that I can find ways to work around his disabilities and allow him to be able to fully make an account of himself in a time of need. I hope to give back to my country, my teacher and my system of martial arts. I showed him a variety of fixed position combat techniques that require little movement and that are quite capable of being used for self defense. I seldom show these techniques in public, because they appear non-nonsensical to the untrained eye and would only make me available for public derision. I showed him Mano Viejo techniques that are based upon right-eye manipulation and the drawing and pushing of an opponent by breath control and mental focus. We are talking about pamako and tagabalag, or the freezing of a person and the art of invisibility. Freezing and the art of invisibility are ancient Filipino martial techniques that are shrouded in time and seldom seen by most modern practitioner's of Filipino martial Arts. I am a baby in these techniques and I am stumbling along the path of learning. I have nobody to train me any further. I froze my student a few times, drew him too me effortlessly, controlled him by mental focus, breathing and relaxation. Whatever else that I do and how I do it, is beyond me. I have no idea where all of this leads, but my hope and desire is that it just gets better. I will say that pamako and tagabalog are nothing what I thought they would be. It is about a clear mind and not having a desire to harm someone, it is about no desire. If they do not attempt to harm you, than without their commitment, the techniques won't work. They will harm themselves by their own devices. It is about a cleansed mind with a blank slate of any intent. You simply allow something to happen. You cannot have any desire to harm, maim, break, dislocate, nor destroy. You simply open yourself up and let the energy which permeates all things, do what needs to be done. I honestly believe that using such energy for harm would be harmful to the person attempting to use it in a wrong way. That's it. I suppose that you could use the techniques in a wrong way, but I wouldn't know how to do this. I have found "a" way and will simply follow along to wherever it wishes to take me. This is why I really don't show much in public. I feel myself keying up and worry about harming my student in public, because of forcing the techniques, remember, it works "for me" when I simply let everything happen. When my student and I are alone we both can relax and just flow. I don't need to show particular techniques, or worry about displaying my art in a gracious fashion to the public, because I represent Angel Cabales. Angel Cabales exposed me to these things many years ago when he showed something to me when Jimmy Tacosa was visiting. He asked me to block a technique and I repeatedly attempted to block his hit and he just wasn't there and the next thing I knew he had placed his weapon on my shoulder and I had no idea how he had accomplished this. He had frozen me and had also disappeared. I quit Escrima that day, because I knew that I would have been effortlessly killed by him and I also knew that I would have to discover what he did on my own. Hell, if you don't know what was done to you, "How the hell was I going to able to figure it out alone". Can I eventually teach these techniques to another human being? I don't know, but hopefully I can. Apparently, you have to humble yourself before you can be able to use the techniques that I speak of. The manipulation of energies could be immense. You can lock someone's skeleton and cause great harm with minimum effort. Once, when training wit Bob Stewart and Anthony Lo Presti I grabbed a hold of Anthony and we both felt a great deal of energy. I knew that had I continued my throwing technique: I felt tat I could have thrown Anthony 20 feet away without effort. I had focused my mind upon his wrists and when I started moving, it was as if he was being tugged by a hugely powerful machine. I wish that I had full control of these techniques. It's like reading the old accounts of past martial artists. A wounded warrior in possession of these abilities would have little problem, in defending themselves. Even if I can't Master these techniques, or not be able to teach this to a wounded warrior: I will do my best to do so. I can only hope that he stays with me and becomes an accomplished warrior, it is a fond hope.

True Martial Ability ... by GM Ron Saturno

Manong Angel, "You are teaching me outside number one. I first step out to my left after he strikes to the left side of my neck or head and then I must swing my right foot back behind me to re-align my body. Why?" He could have said because "he" said so, but instead smiled and calmly answered my question. Manong Angel answered my question very simply, as he answered most Escrima related questions. He had an innate ability for answering (we felt) complicated questions very simply and that many of us (his students) found very perplexing. Answering my questions very simply was a blessing, because at times I was truly a dumb-ass. I found mystery in the very fiber of Serrada Escrima. Serrada was a deadly art form from a far off Archepalego. Small brown men with fabulous fighting abilities was fascinating. His art had mystical beginnings and hidden origins, yet Manong Angel's answers were never mysterious at all, but were simple, direct, always pushed effectiveness and were usually deadly answers to deadly questions. He always answered simply, but I have grown to discover that taking complex information and being able to distill the information down into simple answers, truly requires thorough knowledge of a subject matter. If you can't answer something very simply: You probably don't really understand the question, or the subject matter. This is where I developed my saying that, "Simple movements practiced over time become deadly". Utter simplicity in my martial arts was something that took years for me to understand and that I have yet to even begin achieving. Simple and direct beats complicated most of the time. Perfect basics are unbelievably hard to perfect and even harder to overcome. To me, a well thought out martial art has to be inherently fast by design, must be easy to apply, must have redundant movements, should not require great physical strength or speed and these are stringent requirements. Asking these things of any martial art is quite a request. Many arts propose that their arts posses these qualities, but unless the individual practitioner of an art fully understands a system's underpinnings and can display their art effectively: Their claims are just words. I didn't know of these things decades ago, nor even cared to know of such things. I just wanted to hit someone, before someone could hit me back. I needed to believe that Serrada Escrima possessed mystical powers and was unbeatable against any opponent. We live and we learn. What the years of practicing my art have done for me is to slowly bring me to the conclusion that "any" art form only provides a theoretical frame work to start from and that if we remain within the given arts basic guidelines, the art form can and will many times get us home safely, if the art is well thought out. Yet, at some point in any martial artist's growth: He must start releasing shackles and the restraints of his parent art and venture forth alone and at times, very lonely. He has to make himself the martial art and not have the art form make him. Any art form is just a guideline. In order for "you" to perfect your self: You must become the guide and "you" must perfect yourself. What someone said or did to help you perfect your self, how ever much appreciated, will never be truly understood by you, until "you" can fully decipher the true meanings of the words and movements given to you and this can only be done when "you" make the effort to do so. In the end,"You may not be seeking to pit your knowledge against your Master's", or seek to develop a new and more improved art and I do see where this may happen. I am talking about fully understanding the underpinnings of your chosen art form by empowering your self. When we can do this...when we can fully decipher a system's movements, theories, applications and taboo's, then and only then do we fully understand our chosen art's. If we can learn to understand the physics of movement, human physiology, human anatomy, psychology, strategy, timing, etc., of man: Than we can move within the guidelines of our system's, or choose to go outside the guidelines at will if needed, because we are "not" limited by anything or anyone, we will understand what few seek and even fewer achieve: True martial ability.

100 mph Down I - 5 With SGM Angel Cabales in the Driver's Seat .... by GM Ron Saturno

Angel Cabales had a small light blue Buick, which he loved to drive fast. On this night he had been drinking a little and he, myself and Bobby Johnson were speeding down I-5 towards San Jose, Ca., to a GM Max Pallen event as fast as the little Buick could go. I knew my teacher's reflexes were superb, but never really knew how well he could use his superb reflexes to travel in between traffic so smoothly, so fast, so efficiently, in and out and around traffic without hitting something. We were rocketing down the freeway and after about 15 minutes out of Stockton with our speedometer pegged: I had snuck my hands under the seat and had retrieved the seat belt mechanisms and had quietly snapped everything together. Bobby saw me latching my seat belt together and laughed at me. He thought that he was on a theme park ride and was giggling like a little kid. He was sitting shotgun and I was in the back seat scared shitless. Angel Cabales was my Master and I would'nt ever dare say a word about his driving, but the thought starting crossing my mind that if I got home all in one piece: I'd be lucky. While he was driving, he started talking about many things, including family, travels and eventually Escrima. Both Bobby and I asked a few pointed questions, which he answered quickly and frankly. There were at least 20 much more important questions that I should have asked him that night. I now will never have the chance to ask him the many questions that I should have asked but didn't, but this is just true proof of my humanity. We always seem to hardly ever truly be in sync with another human being. We ask our women to really stay, when they are really leaving. We ask to keep our jobs when we are really heading out of the door. We do and say things that should have never have been said and done. We hit when we should have stayed our hands and feet and walk away when we should have gave our hardest blows. When we should have done or said something to or for others, we don't. We wait, we hesitate. We usually seem to do and say things at the worst of times and places, or not at all. We are indeed human.
I remember Bobby asking him about what it was like to challenge another man to a fight. Bobby felt that it was exiting and manly to fight, but never started fights on his own. Bobby didn't start fights, nor did he even want to fight at all. But, I did see him on several ocassions square up with much larger men and against more than one large man on an ocassion outside of a club in San Jose, Ca. In fact, in the San Jose incident, he squared up with two rather large bouncers with police flashlights. The bouncers were wrong in how they were treating Bobby. Eventually, the two bouncers actually backed down from him, because of his fearless attitude and matter of fact way of dealing with them. Bobby was a skinny Black kid from South Stockton, who didn't have an "off-switch". He didn't give a fuck and would roll on the ground with anyone, any place, any where and any size. Luckily, his Momma had instilled a lot of 'Ol Southern Baptist in him and the luck was in the favor of anyone fucking with him. Bobby had 11 brother's and sister's and fighting and standing up for yourself was just a way of life. Fighting was like breathing, it was just something that we had to do and he loved Angel Cabales for his ability to stand up for himself. When Manong Angel started telling a few stories: I just sat back against the cushions in the back seat, started relaxing and really started to enjoy the ride. Little did I ever guess that I would some day write parts of the ride down.
Angel Cabales said that he was never so alive as when he fought. What this meant is up to speculation, but he obviously felt the effects of adrenaline dumps, just like any one else. Did he become addicted to the rush? Was he like an old soldier who immediately comes alive at the first report of a weapon? Do Martial Arts' Master's get addicted to adrenaline? I can't personally imagine men of Angel Cabales's martial ability being addicted to fighting: Always looking to re-recieve the shots of adrenaline that they may actually need to feel fully alive. This is a scary thought and may in my mind go a long way to answer the whole issue of challenges. Putting everything on the line, must be a rush from hell. What higher stakes gambling can there be than betting your own life? Yes, winning a fight against another opponent gets you adulation and respect and this can and does have a lot of meaning to a Master of the Martial Arts, but only really feeling alive when fighting may have much more meaning....personally.
Angel Cabales said that everything slowed down for him before he fought. He felt like he was floating, like he was on a cloud. Like he had drank really good coconut wine and lots of it. When the blows started getting exchanged, he would see blows going by him, but they wouldn't hit him for some reason. He said that the hit that he would give that started the end of the fight wasn't ever felt by him, or that he ever really knew that it was "the" hit, because he never stopped hitting and only when the person fell or started cringing in real pain did he know that the fight was over. This is why he said that he always told us to keep "working". We would never really know when the fight was over, until it was over and to keep hitting until it really was. He said that he had seen men hit before by other men that should have fallen down, but were too stupid or pumped-up to fall down. He said that we should "never" depend upon one hit to end a fight. He than said that all of a sudden after a fight that he would find himself back in reality and everything was back to normal. He would re-join the real world.
Some of things he told us that night would only cause pain and strife within the FMA community, if I were to write them down. There is a lot of back-biting and double dealing within the FMA community. Some men won't pay up and it took a lot for Angel Cabales to allow this. Maybe, some day I'll write a little about these things, but not today. What I did want to share was a little bit about a ride taken by us going down I-5 going over a 100 mph.

Centered in Drill & Real Life by GM Ron Saturno

MySpace son-in-law was camping yesterday and it being a lazy Sunday, there was no one to work out with, so I sat down and pondered a few things and wrote them down. I thought a lot about the central position, its dangers and advantages. My definition of the central position is your being stuck between the left and the right hands and feet of an opponent. Angel Cabales was no fool, his instance upon our heavily emphasizing espada y daga training in our Serrada was not just because it was something to do, but something to perfect. His admonitions about facing an opponent blows as an example, was purely for survival value, but many times it is misunderstood. Facing blows was to help you survive an on-slought of swift and powerful blows. The admonition to face blows was to help you deal with getting caught in the central position and to get you out of that situation quickly.
If a person were to throw a machete blow over and toward the left side of my neck and I were to step inside and toward the blow and than performed an inside block: I do expose myself to his left hand and if the blow travels thru may be coming back from the other side and may find me with my feet and body out of position to deal with the new blow. If the opponent has a dagger in his hand, or decides to grab me: I am temporarily in real danger. I have willingly put myself into the central position. I may have put myself in this situation due to combat never allowing us to reply to attacks with textbook precision. We live in the real world, where attacks are sometimes met any way that we can deal with them. How can we turn this situation into our advantage? Angel Cabales felt that perfecting lock and block was a tailor made answer to this type of situation. First of all: The opponent's blade may be moving faster than our bodies can hope to move out of the way of the next blow in many instances. We have real issues and problems soon coming our way. Angel Cabales's answer was than "not" to "move" the body into a new position, by attempting to completely relocate it, but to use economical foot work to spin the body, or "twist" the body to meet the new blow and remaining in the same spot. Twisting our bodies is much faster than relocating it to a new position. We have to re-set our weight to take steps and every time we lift our feet leave ourselves vulnerable to attacks. It also takes precious time to re-locate our bodies, but twisting our bodies can be done via our heals or toes and this spinning can be done very quickly. We do leave ourselves in the central position when just spinning our bodies, but may be able to end the fight because we are hoping to get out of the central position as quickly as possible and if we do so, are in a much better position to end the fight. Facing all four corner's of an opponent, is simply dangerous.
I mentioned turning a bad situation into a good one. Using the right overhand machete strike to my left side of neck example: We stepped inside and are now facing the opponent's right side. I mentioned that he went thru and is than coming around with a strike to the right side of your neck or body, but "you" are still facing his right. You are weak on your right side. The safest way out is to "move" the body out of the way, if you can't immediately hit him. But, I mentioned that the body may be too slow to move to avoid the incoming blow, but it can be done, if we block or strike "while" moving the body and we do it in "one" direction, while doing so. If we step the body out of the way, we would need to step in the situationally dictated direction and block "while" stepping and all in one continuous motion and without hesitation and without any stops along the way. The general rule is that one of your steps to move your body equals one or more of your opponent's blows. This is a little understood rule by beginner's. If you just step without hitting or blocking and your opponent "is" continuously hitting, sooner or later he will get a hit in. But if we "hit" in conjunction with our stepping movements, we are continuously attempting to punish our opponent for trying to hit us. We step with purpose, hit with purpose, evade with purpose, spin with purpose. All in all, if we hit while steppng along with moving our bodies and understand angulation the next blow we throw may end the fight because of the superior position we put ourselves in, by going outside. Yes, going out side is safe. We should always be trying to move ourselves to a better neighborhood and that is usually outside of where we currently are. Remember we stepped out to get a superior angle on our opponent. If we just stepped out to avoid blows, we are hoping for luck to save us. Stepping out with purpose "makes" our luck. We don't have to stand around waiting for luck, when can make it for ourselves.
We can also simply sweep hit the other side in-coming blow using the example above. Sweep hit? Yes. The inside block we started with, is itself a sweep-hit to his right side. Any thing he could throw at us from his right side can normally be hit with a sweep-hit and the left side as well. Sweep hit means coming from the top down with your weapon and simply dropping the weapon "along" his side and just going down with the blow and it works for both sides. OK? He threw a blow to your left neck right? You struck his blow with a sweep-hit and he then comes around with a blow to your right side. You "don't" know if he will hit you high, medium, or low to your right side. All you know is that he's coming around now towards "your" other side, by starting your blade high and dropping it all the way down on his left side you can "catch" any blow he may throw, even feints, fakes-outs, abanico's etc. By starting your strike high and going low and facing the angle, there is no blow coming from that side that you can't block, if you time the hit correctly and strike hard. This is how you stop multiple hits, If you do have to block, pass another hit etc., you hit on the next blow. That is your focus, always make him pay for attempting to harm you. If you want his respect, hit him. If he's too fast and you want to slow him down, hit him. Is he big? Hit him. Did he bring friends? Hit him and then them. Is he talking shit with a weapon in his hand? Hit him, If no one is looking and you believe his threats are real towards you and members of your family, hit him. I do not condone violence, but hitting someone has a way of ending hostilities in your favor. I "am" talking about self defense. Anyone with a weapon in their hand and offering violence clearly meets the definition of a self defense situation.
I know that a lot of this is complicated to understand. But, what I wrote is very simple and direct. We want to treat multiple blows as one, quick blows as slow, powerful blows as weak and this normally can't be done without proper foot work and distancing. In the end: If you are in get out. If you are out, stay there. Developing a general feel for the situation really helps. Feeling out opponent's is a wonderful ability. In the end, quickly becoming a general and controlling the playing field, dictating the tempo and limiting your opponent's options may dictate the outcome of a fight. Make him or her fight your fight.
This one was hard to write. Many people practice to prolong fights. Either through frequent drills, sparring etc., and I myself love drilling. But, ending the fight within three blows should be "the" primary focus of training. It is said that you respond in real life how you've trained. If you train to prolong a fight you may respond this way when the bad times come. I once stood outside of a bar in San Francisco and watched my friend who could definitely kick my ass on most days, get his ass kicked by a much less skillful opponent. He blocked several punches and then stepped in with a reverse punch and "pulled it", because that is how he trained! The guy hit him with a relatively slow hook and knocked him down on his ass. Out came my little black book that I write important things down in, "Note: In real life you respond to a fight how you practice." There are a lot of guys making money teaching drills and I know many and like many of these very qualified men. I just wish the drills were pushed into usable techniques. I guess that we should go home and learn to use drills in real life situations, but many don't. They hope to use complicated drill techniques against simple blows. Good Luck.

Speak Softly But Carry A Big Stick or Big Pipe or Big Knife by GM Ron Saturno

Master Ron Saturno
Master Saturno you've been showing me  Largo, "Could you please show me Serrada now".  I then showed him some more Serrada based movements.  After a few more movements he gets the same puzzled look on his face that he had earlier and I then stopped and asked  him, "What's the matter?". You are still showing me Largo Mano movements Master Saturno, "I came to you to learn Serrada". I then answered him, "We will stop for the day and get back together another day"
. The next student in line to take lessons  who had been sitting upon a park bench said,  "Do you get  offended when student's ask too many questions Master Ron?". He was looking at the back of the prior student walking to his car. "No, I answered". That student came to me to learn Serrada. When I showed him movements and he constantly interrupted me to teach him Serrada, it was simply time for him to find another Serrada teacher, a better and more knowledgeable Serrada teacher. Never having taken "one" Serrada lesson, "How could he possibly know what Serrada was all about". He would fit better with a lot of other Serrada teachers, the fit wasn't good between us. I then asked the next student, "What is Serrada?". He answered me, "I think that Serrada is a close in fighting system". You would be correct I answered, "Is there more I ask?". He then said, "That is what I am here for Master, to learn more about the Serrada System". How could the last student learn more from me, if he already knew more about Serrada than I did
. The next student than said, " Did I answer the questions correctly?". Of course I said and than said," There are no right or wrong answers in combat. If you walk away than your answers were correct, if you don't than you answered your given situation incorrectly".  Walking into battle with a can-do attitude and a no-nonsense frame of mind with firm and practiced skills can go a long way to insure survival: Add in a little luck and you have a better than not chance of going home in one piece and not a body bag. I chose Serrada Escrima to get me home when times get bad, other's chose other systems and that's OK with me. But a man can go a long way with Serrada Escrima and I take my system as far as it can take me. It is better than most, but no system is the best. On any given day any body is as good as any one else. Luck, God and unforeseen circumstances can all have a part in survival. Nobody can rule out  life's ability to cluster fuck you  in an other wise peachy situation that "was" otherwise going  in your favor. FUBAR lives
.       For many years I've mastered the Kamakazi Serrada entries that we are so well known for. But, forgive me for learning  Largo at the same time. How can a man be expected to really understand the advantages of in close fighting without learning the disadvantages. How can a man learn Largo  Mano without learning the disadvantages of his preferred fighting weapon and range? That is why I usually use the 28' Escrima stick, it is a good balance between a short and a long stick. But, I can very  comfortably use a 36" stick and can go up to a 42" stick and can also go down to an 18" stick. I can use a long stick up close as well as come into fighting range against a longer stick with a short one. I want to be able to get busy with whatever is  with-in my reach. This is the reality of a thinking Master. We many times don't get a chance to pick  and choose our weapons, we have to do what we can do with what we have available.
A true Escrimador should feel comfortable with whatever weapon a given situation has  presented him. The age old arguement of what is a superior fighting length weapon means little to me. I can do Largo Mano and short inside fighting with a very short weapon. I can put the sticks down and use my hands and feet. Angel Cabales preferred a shorter weapon, it does not  mean that he couldn't beat your ass with any other size weapon. When I hear Serrada people and others speak about the advantages of the short weapon, it's OK with me. If I someone is going to  hurt me, "I just want  something to hit back with". A bat? Just peachy. A meat cleavor, butcher knife, golf club, OK with me. I'd really prefer  to just have something to hit you back with and this is the thinking that propels my Escrima thinking. Practicing with a prefered weapon of a given weight, length and material is OK. But, it seems to me that practicing with a variety of weapons of different sizes, weights and lengths adds a lot of survival value. All of this is kind of backing up the system of Serrada.
Serrada is "not" a close range fighting system anyway, it is usually a medium range system, that some became confused about because of the name Serrada. Many think that Serrada means "close". It really means "closed". Serrada means closed, because we close the door after every movement. Angel Cabales called it the locked position. This means closed and ready for the next movement. We fight medium range because this distance  Isn't  so close that we can't react to an attack and not too far that we can't take advantage of a given opportunity, which may come about in the fluidity of combat. Manong Angel usually didn't  include low line kicking, elbows, knees, eye jabs, etc. during normal practice, but this doesn't mean that many Serrada practitioners can't effectively perform close range hand and feet combatives. Many of Angel Cabales Master's and advanced student's  also hold ranking in martial systems other than Escrima: Karate, Gung Fu, Judo are some of the systems that students of Angel Cabales talk about from time to time. Many of Angel's students' have also cross-trained in a variety of other systems.
Many forget that Max Sarmiento, an early student  of Angel Cabales was also a knife hand Master. A lot of the early students were very lucky to have been exposed to Max Sarmiento. We can see Max today in various forms of Cadena-de -mano. I truly consider Max Sarmiento as one of the very best hand practitioner's that I've ever witnessed. Well, as you can see I am bored senseless. It's a mild 82F in Stockton, but the constant heat takes a toll on you. Hope all is well out there in Martial Arts land. Hope that anyone reading this has a little better understanding of what I do and the system of Serrada Escrima.