Filipino Martial Arts: Cabales Serrada Escrima (Paperback)

by Mark V. Wiley (Author) "For many years I have received proposals from people for writing a book on my style of Escrima..." (more)
Key Phrases: replacement stepping, pull your stick, forehand strike, Serrada Escrima, Grandmaster Cabales, Angle One (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This is a comprehensive introduction to the Serrada form of Filipino martial arts, as practised by Master Angel Cabales. He took the Filipino martial to the USA and became their foremost teacher.

Product Details

• Paperback: 151 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing; 1st edition (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804819130
• ISBN-13: 978-0804819138
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #995,714 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful introduction to Cabales Serrada Escrima!, September 2, 1999

By	Ron Beaubien (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

The foreword of the book was personally written by Grandmaster Angel Cabales who tells why he personally chose Mark Wiley to present his art to the public. As it clearly stated in the book, Grandmaster Angel Cabales read and approved the manuscript before his unfortunate death in 1991.

In this introductory book, Mr. Wiley purposely exaggerated the movements and distance of this short range fighting style to help the photographer and give the reader a clearer view of how the techniques are performed. Basic concepts and techinques were explained, but as with any martial arts book, it was never intended to be used as a means to learn the art without a qualified instructor. It is also admirable that Mr. Wiley focused on presenting the art form of Grandmaster Angel Cabales and did not digress into tales of his training that do nothing more than boost his own image like so many other martial arts authors do.

The author's qualifications to teach, write about, and demonstrate this art are impeccable. Mark Wiley received his Master's Degree (Pangulong Guro) in Cabales Serrada Escrima in March of 1990 by Grandmaster Angel Cabales. Mark Wiley has written for and edited numerous martial arts publications and regularly travels to the Philippines as well as other parts of Asia to do research on and continue his study of the martial arts.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No politics, just a review..., May 15, 2005

By	Joseph M Burtner (Kennesaw, Georgia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'll preface this by saying I don't know ANYTHING about the politics behind Mr. Wiley and Mr. Cabales... I'll just stick to reviewing the book, thank you.

This book attempts to be an brief overview on the basic history, concepts, and techniques of Cabales Serrada Escrima. Without knowing anything about Escrima as a whole, I'd say that it looked good to me.

The first two chapters are on the overall history of escrima and the specific developement of CSE, suggesting that the system may have it's roots in India and noting that Spanish sword-and-dagger techniques had a significant influence on the overall style. The third chapter very briefly covers superstitions/ spiritual beliefs prevalent in the Phillipines and their relavence to CSE, though I'm sure entire volumes could be written on that subject. The fourth chapter, "Psychological Attributes", has a few paragraphs on awareness, motivation, imagery, and emotional control; while dealing specifically with escrima, I'm sure that they'd be useful to any martial artist. The following chapter covers some pretty intangible concepts, such as "innovation is your best teacher" and "mastery requires dedication", and seeks to bring together both the artistic and scientific qualities of escrima. Like the preceeding chapters, I just don't feel like this one was long enough.

Chapter Six starts into the physical aspects of Escrima, covering the arsenal (both anatomical weapons and the blunt and edged weapons). Mr. Wiley explains that the system uses a slightly shorter stick than some other escrima systems, and that the anatomical weapons and movements should mirror the armed weapons and their tactics. Chapter Seven covers the foundation of the system, as far as movements and posturing. In this chapter, there is the usual mix of stance and salutation presented, but also footwork, fundamental distance concepts, basic ways of striking, and the use of the "alive" (non-weapon) hand.

Starting with Chapter Eight, we are presented with the twelve basic attack angles (mostly with a single-stick, but also with stick-and-dagger), basic defenses against strikes along those angles, unarmed defenses (basic blocks, jointlocks, and "bodylocks" or takedowns), and disarms vs. the single-stick.

My complaints? Not many. It's clearly a book simply on basics (one block for one angle, one disarm per angle, no empty-hand strikes illustrated), and I was disappointed there wasn't more to it. And far be it from me to criticise something I'm not particularly learned at, but we're not actually getting twelve "angles" here, as some of the attacks presented follow the same "flight paths" of others, or are simply stick-dagger combination strikes. The fact that the possition of the wrist in some of the strikes looks weak lends some credence to the suggestion that the author isn't an athority in the CSE system, but again, what do I know? And as I said, I don't think there was enough substance to the cultural, philosophical, and mental chapters to really do any system justice

Overall, though, I'd say the book serves as a good intro to escrima and basic stickfighting. The pictures are clear and the writting, while not very detailed or in-depth, is understandible and easy to get through. I'm glad I spent money on it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, what you see and read is how it is., March 19, 1999

By A Customer

I had the oppertunity back in 1994 to study with Mark Miley as he was a guest in my late master's (Herman Davis) dochang in Riverside, NJ. the book is exactly how he showed us in class. i felt like i was in the book. buy it and if your lucky you might be able to catch up with Mark. j.k. southern nj