I think that the aspects of training where Mr. Orlando excels are often missing from more formally taught, purely Chinese arts, which these days seem so focused on patterns and sequences, rather than on adaptable fighting principles.  I really applaud the practicality and open-mindedness of "Bill's Backyard" approach, but for me it is also very useful to have Bob's systematic methodology to distill and explain its essence.

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This product works on your iPad and iPhone.
 
(A  downloadable .pdf version  is also available,
but comes without the video clips.)

The footwork of kuntao and silat is designed to break an adversary's ability to continue attacking.  It breaks the enemy's inertia, balance, bones, and will to continue the fight, rendering him without a base from which to operate, in the most definite and brutal of fashions.  Here is Paladin's description of the eBook.

The Fighting Footwork of Kuntao and Silat  Workbook,  an enhanced ePub (Video Enhanced eBook), was designed primarily as a companion for Bob Orlando's  Fighting Footwork of Kuntao and Silat  video series.  The video clips, text, and illustrations contained in the workbook assume you have the video or are at least familiar with the information in the video.  This digital workbook is more portable than the four-volume video set, and it covers details not addressed in the video – like how to protect your knees when using that extremely effective legwork smash.

With this digital workbook, you can easily locate the specific langkah drill you wish to practice, following both written and illustrated instructions.  As a bonus, the embedded video clips show you in both slow motion and real time how selected moves are executed for optimal effect.  The Fighting Footwork of Kuntao and Silat  Workbook  is your key to mastering these valuable skills in a systematic, easy-to-understand way, as well as picking up the invaluable insights needed to gain the desired skill level.

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This is not just another forms video.  In fact, it's nothing like any form you've ever seen.  Rather than showing you a dry collection of martial arts moves that have no basis in real-world combat, this video teaches hard-core fighting skills in a format that's easily learned, repeatable and practical.  Drawn from the best elements of the Indonesian combat art of kuntao-silat, this video shows you the only two forms you'll ever need.

Combining the author's logical, detailed instruction with multiple camera angles and slow-motion photography, you will learn two of our most fundamental forms of kuntao-silat: Enam Matjan and Elbow Exercise.  Both teach the important combat basics of angle, leverage and body positioning to win any fight, including dealing with multiple assailants or fighting from a disadvantaged position.  In addition, we show strikes with both the open hand and the fist that will literally stun your opponent with pain and leave him open to devastating leg destructions to disrupt his base.

This is the forms video for people who don't like forms and is a must-have for any complete combat library.  The video set includes a 46-page workbook on Enam Matjan and Elbow Exercise.

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Volume 1 (approximately 90 minutes) shares the critical elements of silat, kuntao and hybrid kuntao-silat legwork and teach you the mechanics of trapping and unbalancing an opponent with your legs.  We then show you the first two langkahs (lower-body training drills) of our system and show you how to apply them with all three fighting styles. 

Volume 2 (approximately 65 minutes) explores the mechanics of the third and fourth langkahs in our system and show you the subtleties of their silat, kuntao and kuntao-silat variations.  In the process, you'll see the secrets of the true fighting function of silat's distinctive cross-legged or "twist" stance and how this seemingly vulnerable platform can be used as a powerful combative tool. 

Volume 3 (approximately 75 minutes) builds on the foundation of skill established in the first two volumes, teaching you how to integrate critical skills from langkas 1-4 (what we call the atomic langkas) into the two molecular langkas (5 and 6) of our six langka suite.  Not only is seamless flow from one langka to another the objective in this volume, but also how to relentlessly pursue your attacker in a coordinated barrage of upper- and lower-body techniques – a hallmark of kuntao-silat fighting arts.

Volume 4 (approximately 55 minutes) completes this comprehensive body of work on the combative footwork of kuntao and silat by revealing the secrets of unique leg-strengthening methods and brutally destructive low-line kicking tactics, taking you through muscle-burning exercises and drills (Shell Drill, Rocky Drill, and Three-star) to develop the strength and stamina necessary to employ kuntao-silat footwork.  Through this, we explore the deeper meaning of kuntao-silat legwork by showing you how to adapt the traps, grinds and locks you learned in the first three volumes of the series into a knee-breaking, ankle-popping arsenal of low-line kicks.

In this two-DVD video production, long-time kuntao-silat practitioner Bob Orlando teaches how to use partner and solo training drills to develop real fighting skills.  In his methodical, no-nonsense style, Orlando gives you nothing but "the good stuff" – simple, practical flow drills that are specifically designed to program true combative skills into your muscle memory.  Orlando begins with simple "atomic" partner drills that teach critical defensive skills and the basics of combat movement.  He then builds on this foundation, combining the elements into more complex and dynamic "molecular" drills.  Focusing only on what works, these drills efficiently combine upper-art (hands, elbows and forearms) and lower-art (knees and feet) techniques into a total skill set that will develop your fighting abilities and reflexes faster than any other training method available.  Approx. 160 minutes.

Martial Arts America: A Western Approach To Eastern Arts is not a typical how-to guide, but a broad survey of martial arts traditions and their evolution to modern Western practice.  Challenging the purpose and effectiveness of many martial arts activities and training methods used in the United States today, the book sets a deep inquiring tone.  Topics covered include the evolutionary cycle of combat arts, preserving ancient arts, philosophy and practice, training forms (kata), art versus sport, and women in the martial arts.

I found "Martial Arts America," like Bob Orlando's first book, "Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals," enjoyable, easy to read, and highly informative.  His knowledge and teaching ability are evident in the way in which he breaks down and explains the historical and cultural aspects of the martial arts.  Every chapter is thought-provoking, causing the reader to explore his or her own philosophy, internally and externally.
–Dan Inosanto

The fighting arts of Indonesia are an eclectic mixture of pentjak silat and Chinese kuntao that arose out of necessity throughout a history of violent cultural clashes and oppressive foreign occupation.  They are brutal, unrelenting, and designed not only to take the enemy out but to punish him every step of the way.  In this book, Bob Orlando, a long-time student of Dutch-Indonesian master Willem de Thouars and an accomplished instructor in this own right, gets to the heart of what makes these arts so formidable.  Orlando does not simply give the reader techniques.  Instead, he places the movements in context, providing a deeper understanding of their self-defense applications by exploring the underlying principles that make them work.

Bob's book and video are highly recommended by me, excellent  material  and  good  for  learning.
–Willem de Thouars

Discover the secrets of the power, speed, and devastating effectiveness of the Indonesian fighting arts with this hard-hitting video.  This excellent companion to the book Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals is nearly two hours long.  It teaches you the physical principles of pentjak silat and Chinese kuntao and shows you how to use them as the basis for dynamic and brutally effective fighting techniques.  Approx. 140 mininutes.
 

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Fighting Arts of Indonesia
and
Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals
 
BIG SAVINGS   when you buy the DVD   and   the book as a set  from Paladin!
 
Indonesian Fighting Set