THE PTI 5 ATTACKS SUBSYSTEM: Why you need a Matix in your training.
THE PTI 5 ATTACKS SUBSYSTEM, Why you need a Matrix in your training.
by Tuhon Bill McGrath.
What is a Matrix?
Long before the movie came out, I was experimenting with some combinations seen in Pekiti-Tirsia Solo Contradas, and expanded them into a square pattern of numbered attacks. Here is the basic matrix set, with R meaning Reverse (a reverse cut or strike).
R1-2-3-4.
R2-1-4-3.
R3-4-1-2.
R4-3-2-1.
Did you notice that the patterns repeat themselves in several directions? When I wrote this on a board in class (around 1990) one of the students said this type of pattern is known in mathematics as a "matrix."
In boxing term, one could also write the pattern this way:
(J=JAB. C=CROSS. H=HOOK. U=UPPERCUT).
J-C-H-U
C-J-U-H.
H-U-J-C.
U-H-C-J.
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A sample Matrix drill from the 5 Attacks Subsystem, used as a basis for boxing combinations. I made this video during the pandemic as a way for Pekiti-Tirsia students to practice at home. My preference for training boxing combinations is with an instructor holding focus mitts, so you have a more realistic, mobile opponent. I prefer leather work gloves for bag work for self defense training, as these provide protection from scrapes to your skin. Since you will not be wearing boxing gloves and wraps in a street fight, leather gloves are a more realistic way to protect your hand during training. I normally use this type of boxing heavy bag for low kicks and would rather use a smaller but denser sand bag for training punches, as a small, dense sand bag has a more realistic feel for self defense than the classic boxing heavy bag (which is designed to be used with boxing warps supporting your wrist and padded bag gloves to protect your knuckles). Notice that I am NOT hitting with full power or speed in this video. It is a good idea to start slowly at low power when first hitting a heavy bag, to help warm up the joints and especially important when training new combinations. I tell my students that the warm up is as much a mental training opportunity as a physical one. This can be as simple as counting the numbers of the combination to yourself, to reinforce which strikes are in each combo; to as complex as analyzing which parts of your body are working in which sequences to get the best results.
What I find most useful about the matrix pattern is that it helps students work on the transitions between strikes and, most importantly, it gets them to practice their "non-favorite" combinations. It is the smooth transition between strikes that allows you to have fast combinations and not just fast single strikes.
This is one of the reasons Pekiti-Tirsia has such a large number of techniques. You are really just practicing a few core movements; but these core movements are done in a variety of slightly different ways. Instead of having you practice one combination 100 times, we have you practice ten variations of that combination ten times. You are still doing 100 repetitions of the combination, but practicing this way helps with both your physical and mental flexibility, as you practice moving smoothly from one variation to the next. The goal is to help you make decisions that are both quick and correct while under stress.
In the video below, watch how the upper body is just doing four core strikes. Meanwhile, watch how having the student choose which footwork would best evade different attacks, can help develop their problem solving skills.
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Here are some videos to help you prepare for upcoming 5 Attacks Subsystem seminars and classes.
5 ATTACKS WARM UP. Angles 1 & 2.
5 ATTACKS WARM UP. Angles 3 & 4.
5 ATTACKS WARM UP. Form.
5 ATTACKS: Sample Applications.
Pekiti Tirsia 5 Attacks Subsystem. Mini Lesson: sample.
A sample from the Matrix Footwork Drills Mini Lesson from the 5 Attacks Subsystem, which covers detailed instruction in 12 integrated footwork patterns for single stick practice. (Includes a 6 minute segment on translating the Matrix drills for empty hand use on a heavy bag).
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5 ATTACKS SUBSYSTEM HISTORY:
In the 1980s it was very common for me to be sent by Tuhon Gaje to teach follow up seminars for him. These were at schools that wanted a second seminar with Tuhon Gaje soon after his first one there, but that date with him was already taken. When I went to these seminars, I would usually ask him “What should I teach?” And he would usually reply “Teach them 5 Attacks.” Well, if you have studied the basic 5 Attacks that you see in the 64 Attacks or Doce’ Methdos sets, then you know that it’s not easy to have modern students at a weekend seminar practice just that basic material for the whole weekend.
In my travels teaching, I had noticed that the majority of stick or sword based martial arts had a core set of attacks that had four diagonal strikes or cuts and a thrust as their fifth attack. That thrust varied depending on the weapon used, but everyone seemed to follow that same idea, 4 diagonal cuts and a thrust. In the 5 Attacks Subsystem, I decided to use this common idea as a template and incorporate elements of advanced principles from Seguidas, Contradas and Recontras onto these 4 diagonals, but changed the 5 into something like an algebraic equation, i.e. What is 5?, 5 equals any attack that is not a diagonal.
Train Hard, but Train Smart,
Tuhon Bill McGrath
For information on PTI videos (including the 5 Attacks Mini Lesson for $12.50) visit: https://pekiti.com/collections/beginner-videos?sort_by=price-ascending#MainContent
For info on upcoming PTI seminars, camps and Zoom classes, visit:
https://pekiti.com/pages/upcoming-seminars
For info on upcoming PTI seminars, camps and Zoom classes, visit:
https://pekiti.com/pages/upcoming-seminars