The 12 Principles of Presas Arnis - Relax

One thing that most martial arts systems have in common is that you can tell the brand new students from the experienced students pretty easily.

No, it’s not based on the belts they wear, or where they line up in the room.

The way you can spot someone new, usually, is that they are tense.

Don't worry, this goes away eventually!

Their shoulders are often hunched up. They move stiffly and uncertainly. When they punch or kick or strike, they do it either too hard (or too soft) and their movements are often jerky, uneven, or uncoordinated.

The reason people are all tensed up is because they are unsure of themselves, their abilities, and the new people they are training with. It takes time (and practice) but eventually, new students will start to be more confident, and as they do, their entire body starts to relax, and they can do techniques smoothly.

Thus, "Relax" is the first of our 12 Principles of Presas Arnis.

“Relax” is not only about being new to training.

We constantly work to be relaxed when we train and try to execute our techniques. We do this because we know that relaxed muscles are fast muscles, and for us, speed is very important, especially combined with good technique, structure, and footwork.

We also try to keep a relaxed mind. By training many, many reps (which is a major strength of the Filipino Martial Arts) we develop “flow” and we develop “vision” - both of which allows us to not think as hard while we are training or in conflict.

Thus, being able to RELAX is a very important skill in Presas Arnis.

Come join us at Kindred Protective Arts for a free trial lesson (click HERE) - and learn to RELAX!