Inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame in 2011 as its Weapons Instructor of the Year, Julius Melegrito holds a seventh-degree black belt in the Filipino arts. He also holds a taekwondo fourth-degree black belt, a third-degree black belt in combat hapkido and a second-degree black belt in tang soo do. The creator of the Stix4Kids program as well as the Philippine Combatives System and the Philippine Martial Arts Alliance — an international organization devoted to the self-defense systems of his homeland — Julius Melegrito operates Martial Arts International schools in Bellevue and Omaha, Nebraska. In this roundup of Julius Melegrito's stick-combat technique videos, the Filipino martial arts expert covers three topics:

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• single-stick disarm
• basic sinawali
• redonda

Filipino Martial Arts Master Julius Melegrito on Single-Stick Disarms “Your whole purpose in classical Filipino stick fighting is to hit your opponent until he’s out of the fight,” Julius Melegrito explains. “In practice, you use your stick to his stick as close to his gripping hand as you can manage while staying safe, but in a real fight, you’d hit the hand. It usually makes him drop the weapon. Of course, in a fight, an attempt to hit his hand might miss, which is why you must practice follow-ups.”

FIGHTING-STICKS VIDEO
How to Execute an Effective Single-Stick Disarm in Stick Combat

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Stick Combat: Learn Doce Pares Eskrima’s Most Painful Self-Defense Moves

Filipino Martial Arts Master Julius Melegrito on Sinawali “Sinawali, also known as two-stick drills, are very very important because they are a bunch of striking patterns,” Julius Melegrito says. “These are really fun to do, especially when you do [them] with a partner.” Julius Melegrito then proceeds to describe the open strikes of basic sinawali, using his fighting sticks to gesture:

• Strike 1: to left shoulder of the the opponent
• Strike 2: to right shoulder of the opponent
• Strike 3: to left knee of the opponent
• Strike 4: to right knee of the opponent

“If you apply that [practice of fighting sticks] with a partner,” Julius Melegrito explains in his stick-combat video demonstration of sinawali, “you want to make sure you have better control. You don’t want to hit too hard. ... Your job is not to devastate the sticks and knock [them] out of [your partner's] hands. Your job is coordination.”

FIGHTING-STICKS VIDEO
How to Practice Sinawali for Stick Combat

Your Filipino martial arts training starts with this FREE download!
Escrima Sticks 101: Julius Melegrito’s Practical Primer on the
Fighting Arts of the Philippines

Filipino Martial Arts Master Julius Melegrito on Redonda In this third video, Melegrito demonstrates the redonda twirling drill for two Filipino fighting sticks! Watch as the Filipino martial arts master wields two Filipino fighting sticks so they look like helicopter rotor blades. Meanwhile, a training partner holds his own Filipino fighting sticks as contact guides.

FIGHTING-STICKS VIDEO
How to Execute the “Redonda” Training Drill for Two Fighting Sticks

More About Julius Melegrito: Please visit PMAA.info for more information about Julius Melegrito's schools and organizations. Philippine Fighting Arts, a three-DVD collection covering stick-combat and knife-fighting techniques from his curriculum, is also available in our online store.