Can Silat or Kuntao be practiced full speed at all?

[It is Fake]

Really? Is it really a strange comment?

No, most times practitioners think you are insulting their art.

[Honey Badger]

Pfff what a strange comment. As if that is the only value of Silat or Kuntao. Not even strange, but perhaps even arrogant statement.

Some guys say all movement of silat come from the knife, later adapted to the hands, which is in most silat styles, NOT true. The knife is an extension of the hand, not the other way around.

In my (limited) experience, the beauty of these arts is that they repeat themselves. If the knife is signifcantly different from the empty hand or the staff, someone along the way made up some bullshit and slapped it on a style that they didn't fully understand. The blade is intrinsic to the art. I'm not really interested in the chicken or egg argument.

[Tiga]

Really? Is it really a strange comment? I mean, these are predominantly knife and blade arts no?

I didn't say that they don't have any open hand applications...but it seems weird to me that somebody who isn't interested in carrying a knife would want to train an art where at least 50% of the time you are training with a knife.

I know plenty of silat where the amount of time using the knife is much less. I'm afraid a lot of silat practitioners train it in a jkd/kali environment so the amount of silat exposed to is already minimal. And it also colors the view on what silat is supposed to look like.

If you start looking more into proper minangkabau silat, the West javanese silat and for instance the hokkien kuntao then you might get a broader perspective on these styles.

[Southpaw]

Yeah...I really don't care that much. I shouldn't have to find some obscure style to show me what Silat keally looks like.

I've trained a little Kuntao Silat with Uncle and Keith in Boulder...and I feel like i've got a decent idea of what their art is.

[Tiga]

Yeah...I really don't care that much. I shouldn't have to find some obscure style to show me what Silat keally looks like.

If you trained with uncle Bill then you should know that his mix of kuntao and silat has partly it's roots in west-javanese Cimande silat which is definitely not practiced by just wielding a weapon (although they do also train with the golok).

Maybe you should do a little more research before you make assumptions about styles you only know a little about.

It would be silly for me to say that all wingchun practitioners just do chainpunching in triangle stances without taking to account that there are many variations.

[Southpaw]

Look...I'm not trying to argue with you...I'm trying to tell you that from a simple and logical perspective, if you are looking for empty hand self defense training...Silat or Kuntao seem like a less than the obvious or best suited choice. That's all.

I'm not trying to minimize the effectiveness of these arts...though from a simple self defense scenario sometimes how they are taught are destined to land you in manslaughter charges for dealing with a minor altercation with a sequence of 6 fatal cuts to arteries. LOL. I kid. I kid.

[Tiga]

Look...I'm not trying to argue with you...I'm trying to tell you that from a simple and logical perspective, if you are looking for empty hand self defense training...Silat or Kuntao seem like a less than the obvious or best suited choice. That's all.

I'm not trying to minimize the effectiveness of these arts...though from a simple self defense scenario sometimes how they are taught are destined to land you in manslaughter charges for dealing with a minor altercation with a sequence of 6 fatal cuts to arteries. LOL. I kid. I kid.

I appreciate you keeping your cool. Perhaps you are right as far as the agressiveness of some of the techniques used, which might be overkill. I live in Holland and we are not allowed to carry knives with us, as is the case in most countries of Europe. USA is a bit 'special' in that area, especially some states. On the other hand we train 85% empty hand and I see it as perfecty suitable to defend yourself. We get to meet muay thai guys, jiu jitsu, mma etc.. and I don't feel our system is lacking or a less suited choice against these types of MA. Just different that's all. We don't train for the ring. Is it for everyone? No. Is it effective? hell yeah.

There are silat styles resembling wing chun, praying mantis kungfu, karate, hell even styles specific for groundfighting and nothing obscure about them.

Concluding I don't see any reason to train silat without constantly carrying a knife.

[Jim_Jude]

this vid w/o a doubt proves Silat's effectiveness