The 12 Principles of Presas Arnis - There Is Always A Counter

The 12th and final principle of the 12 Principles of Presas Arnis is firmly rooted in a guiding principle of Modern Arnis, which is the idea of knowing how to counter the counter.

Dan Anderson once quoted Professor Remy Presas telling him, "Danny, if you know the counter to the counter, you will never be beaten".

We take that advice to heart at Kindred Protective Arts, and it's this idea - that there's always a counter (so you'd better figure out what they are, and how to counter those counters) - that drives us to train well past first degree Black Belt.

We adopt a worldview that asks, "If I'm the opponent, how would I stop me?"

This leads to what we call the "underdog mentality" (which you might remember is also at the heart of the 11th Principle of Presas Arnis - Always Respect Your Opponent).

We believe that our opponent is always somehow bigger, stronger, faster, younger, or smarter than we are (or any combination thereof), so we'd better look for the holes in our game and understand that nothing we do is unbeatable.

Sometimes, yeah.

This attitude serves us to continually improve but also adjust to the fact that our abilities change with time. Aging, injury, and changes to physical strength and flexibility (both positive and negative) changes what we can do, and what counters are available to our opponent.

This understanding means that we know our training will never be "done" - that we will never know everything we need to know to cope with the realm of infinite possibility in a conflict.

It keeps us humble, and it keeps us learning.

So remember the 12th Principle of Presas Arnis: There Is Always A Counter!

Learn how to counter the counter (and more!) at Kindred Protective Arts. Schedule your free trial lesson today!