Mastering Disarming & Counter-Disarming

When the attack comes, a rattan stick traveling just three feet (the distance to your head) at the median average speed of 60 mph, will take just 0.05 seconds or 50 milliseconds to hit you... That’s 1/20 of a second. For comparison, it takes you between 0.1 and 0.4 seconds, or 100–150 milliseconds, to blink your eyes. So, at most, you’ll have 1/3 the length of time it takes you to blink to assess the speed and intended target of that incoming strike (if you can see it at all), decide on your defensive action and then execute that action before you get hit. Movie fantasies aside, when you take all of that into account and look at it in purely practical terms, the notion of adding on the time-consuming complexity of seizing control of his weapon (after you block) long enough to effectively disarm him seems impossible, because it is... at least if you faithfully attempt to do it the way you were undoubtedly taught to do it.
Hitting a fastball in major league baseball is considered one of the most difficult skills in all sports. At the average speed of 93 mph, the MLB fastball travels the 60.5 feet from the pitcher’s mound to home plate in 1/3–1/2 second, while the batter has 150 milliseconds (.15 of a second or 3/20 of a second) to decide if the pitch is a strike and swing... and he needs about 50 milliseconds (.05 of a second or 1/20 of a second) to assess the speed and location of it to make that decision. In practical terms, that’s no time at all. Blink and you’ll miss it altogether. That’s why the batter’s instinct, honed by years of training, practice and countless experiences of stepping up to the plate and attempting to do it for real against skilled pitchers dead set on denying him allows him to accomplish what is nearly impossible for anyone else to ever do at all on a fairly regularly basis. In fact, he makes it look easy.
That dichotomy applies to disarming and counter-disarming weapons, at speed, in the Filipino martial arts. Instinct plays a major role, and you develop and hone your instinct through training, diligent practice and constant pressure testing. Proper training is the foundation... and this online course (a compilation of over six hours of lessons) is all about rethinking the way you approach disarming and counter-disarming in the first place. Do that and you are on your way to regularly pulling off what is nearly impossible for anyone else to ever do at all... and making it look easy.