Training Realistic Combat Effectiveness: The PCK Way

PCK Silat focuses heavily on combative effectiveness. All of our Jurus (Entries and Striking), Langkah (Footwork), Kicking, Weapon Styles and Bela Diri (Self Defense Techniques) are based on real world application and mindfulness of multiple attackers. Most systems talk about combative effectiveness and teach combative-type drills, but never really train the things that actually make students "effective in combat". They are deluding their students into thinking that “because your teacher said so” the material will magically destroy multiple attackers who have no value for your life and are probably more mentally accustomed to actual combat than you. This is putting the students at risk and wasting their time.Combative effectiveness requires a few key things:

Realistic Material: You must train material that will actually work. The material has to be based on realistic, destructive, multiple attacker based concepts. It has to be taught from the ground up, with out shortcuts so that the student has an art based on and built up from these principles. Based on their own fluid knowledge of the material so they are non just regurgitating a collection of techniques that will only work under certain circumstances.

Adaptability and Non Compliant Training: That material must be trained with a non- compliant partner and must learn to be adapted to any body type or situation. Students need to know what it feels like to perform the material under stress. This also includes treating a weapon as an extension of the art and not supplemental training. Adapting the material to fit the situation. This requires application and stress testing not just theory and “well if this were a real attacker I would do this”. Non- compliant drills and sparring must be constantly trained.

Combative Mindset: The student must learn to have a Combative Mindset. To automatically assume that you will go into some special mode of consciousness where you defeat a bunch of armed attackers is ridiculous and dangerous. This is something that must be actually trained constantly. It has to be a part of everything you train and not just theory. It must be ingrained into the practice of all material as you learn it. The mind is the most important aspect of training because if you lose control, you will lose the fight. If a student does not automatically assume that there will be multiple attackers then while he may be doing impeccable striking and technique on one attacker, he will be getting stabbed in the back by the other. This type of training helps eliminate tunnel vision in combat. 

Combative Awareness: You must learn to have Combative Awareness. Awareness of your surroundings at all times. You do not want to end up grounded against multiple attackers because you tripped over your own 2 feet. You have to learn to scan for hazards in the environment, potential places you could get cornered, look for improvised weapons, all while dealing with attackers.

Assessing the Threat: Learn how to asses and avoid the threat all together. The ultimate goal is to not have to use force in the first place by avoiding combat all together. Learning to watch for potential threatening situations and avoid them.

Some Martial Artists dismiss the animal aspects of Silat as non- combative or for show. This could not be more opposite the case. Real Animalistic Silat trains the animal instincts of the practitioner to come out. It is the primal instinct to survive and the controlled expression of that instinct is what we want to train. 

Real combativeness comes from our core desire to survive. But "survival" is not enough. We train to have control over our brains when this mode kicks in, rather than being hijacked by emotion, fear and brain chemistry. In PCK Silat we control ourselves and we exploit the natural instinctive responses in our opponents and use it against them. 

Each animal teaches its own unique lesson. They each have their own place in combat. We do not just imitate the animal movements. We invoke the attitude of each animal. The way it is energized and animated when faced with a threat. The violent unpredictable nature of monkey and the maliciousness and relentlessness of Tiger are good examples. We train indirect vision and scanning to allow for multiple attacker awareness and a type of control of opponents that bares in mind that we could be attacked from behind at any time.

The core Jurus and Footwork of PCK Silat are the foundation of the art, but it is the unrestricted, unpredictable, volatile nature of the animal aspects of the art that make that material come to life. It is what makes our Silat so destructive. The focus and refinement of technique combined with the raw primal energy of animal instinct. It is not enough to train "for combat". This is the trap most students fall into. You have to constantly "train combativeness". If it is not a part of everything you do, body and mind, at its very core then you are just scratching the surface. Selamat,

Guru Derek

New Year's Message From PCK

PCK Silat has had a fantastic year. We have had students promoted, we had a successful PCK Summer Camp in Florida, we have many new students training in the Online Training Course, and we released the new PCK Manual and the new book "An Introduction to PCK Cimande".

PCK has evolved a few times since we were created. We moved towards finding our roots by connecting with Kang Cecep and Kang Ismail. We have spent years looking at the foundations of the material we teach and deciding where we want the art to go. It is time for another one of those leaps forward. Guru Besar and myself sat down and had a very lengthy conversation about not just the material but the main focus in training and how we want to present our art to the world, how our students see the art when they sign on, and how we want our teachers to present the material. We agreed to make a few subtle change to the art to reflect these ideas.

 PCK is known for its combativeness. We train hard. We teach material that is based on a combative mindset not a sport mindset. While we have looked at the more traditional aspects of Cimande and even Sera, this was not to take a step backward towards  the traditional. It was to move forward. Moving forward into realistic, combative, modern application. True, Old Silat offers this, and this is why we looked there. We will be making a few small adjustments, not only in what we train, but how we train it and the order of focus in training.

The 18 Principles have been narrowed down to 8 to simplify the way we look at the core of our art. These principles make up our art at its heart. They have also been placed in order of importance. This can have a profound effect on how you train just by looking at what is a top priority. There has been an addition of 8 key attributes as well as a list of the Gates and Ranges at which we fight. A tightening of PCK vernacular and terminology to reflect our desire to make training easier to understand from day 1 and teaching more uniform across the schools. This will also allow those looking at the art to more clearly see what we are all about.

Along with these simple changes we have added a set Bela Diri section to the curriculum to make sure that specific responses are built into all PCK practitioners skill sets. They will be straight to the point and include weapon and multiple attacker concepts.

Our animal syllabus has been rebooted to more clearly show a progression and uniformity in each section. A combative progression has been added using: 1. Attitude and Mannerisms to teach simple defense and combative usefulness of each animal. 2. Core Specialized Material specific to the animal. 3. Applying the Specialized Material and Attitude/ Mannerisms to the rest of the art. 4. Building a Combative Flow. This will make the animals easier to teach all at once and make their combativeness easier to see by showing why we do what we do. Each movement is categorized so that students don't just have a list of concepts but rather a map that progresses from beginning to end.

We have taken a long hard look at PCK's past and decided that a few things were not necessary in the curriculum anymore. We have removed most of the supplemental weaponry and Jurus to be sure that once a student becomes a teacher, they focus on continuing to polish the material and are not bogged down by material only taught to preserve it. Some of this material was unnecessary.

We have moved away from the Pedang and decided to adopt the Parang. The Pedang and Golok are not particularly applicable for thrusting and the Parang has the weight and maneuverability of a Golok and the slightly longer length and thrusting point of a Pedang. It has always been my favorite of the longer Indonesian blades.

The next place we looked was at our Jurus. Cimande, at its core is unbelievably combatively applicable. If taught correctly you do not need to search for applications or add any extra movement to the Jurus to make them realistically applicable. Most Silat practitioners do not learn real Cimande. They borrow from it. The Cimande we have chosen to use in PCK Silat is ridiculously hard hitting and based on principles and concepts that hold up under the 3 assumptions we follow in PCK. Multiple Attackers, Armed Attack, and Surprise Attack. The Jurus have an unlimited amount of combative applications and combined with our animal material create a well rounded fighter whose foundation is solid defense. Cimande is well known for having a very offensive defense so that is more to say that the practitioner is well trained in how to stop anything that comes at them while simultaneously making sure that the limb that did the striking is damaged and won't return. The Jurus have been grouped into categories so that they are much easier to learn. This again is a focusing of how the knowledge is presented.

The Jurus also work well with our short stick and a Golok length weapon like a Parang because that is the length of weapons taught in Cimande. The applications are direct and do not need to be changed at all. We added a small section to the Langkah Parang (Pedang) to reflect some of the Cimande Pepedangan Jurus and to help teach beginner angles such as taught in Kali systems.

We have decided to keep the Cimande Jurus as the base of our system and make the Jurus Dasar a part of the animal syllabus, where they came from. The Jurus Dasar are a combination of Sera, Sera Kombinasi and the animal mannerisms of our art. We will teach the "specialized move" of each Jurus where appropriate, but the repetitious aspects of the Jurus will be left behind to leave more room for focus on the Cimande Jurus.

PCK is a progressive art. We want to stay true to our roots, but we also want to move forward with the times. Our art has always been known for its focus on multiple attackers, realistic training methods, real world applications, and relentless destructiveness in its application. The goal of looking at our art under the microscope was not to change it, but to focus the direction of our energy. Like focusing light through a lens to create fire, we are taking the material and giving students a direct, focused approach to the material, training and the way it is presented to them to make sure PCK produces a certain type of warrior.

We will be releasing a new Instructor version of the PCK Manual to help teachers by offering an expanded version of the curriculum with class outlines, drills, teaching tips and progressions to follow to make sure the art moves forward the same everywhere it is taught. This will assure that training groups who do not have the luxury of having a Guru will be able to easily see how to present the material to the public.

Thank you so much for all of your individual contributions to this art. You are all what makes this art amazing. Guru Besar and I worked to make these changes to benefit all of you. Our last camp was a testament to the potential the new generation has in PCK to become truly great. I can't wait to see what 2016 will bring.

You can go to pcksilat.com and visit the curriculum page to see some of the changes made. Happy New Year everyone!