FMA-From full hands to empty ones

Folks

I find myself really liking the philosphy of many Filipino Martial Arts. That idea is to learn how to use a weapon from the onset. Why do I like it? Well, for a host of reasons. The first is that it helps to take away the "freeze up" factor in real situations. I know that most empty hand combatants "progress" to knife and weapon defense after a certain amount of training. But to start from the beginning with weapons is a completely different mindset. I like the idea that the most difficult part of the training is done from the outset.

In the Philippines, roughly 80% of the murders are committed with kniver or stabbing weapons. It is not only practical but neccesary. If you consider yourself a teacher of realistic self-defense, you HAVE to include weapons training. Given the culture of the Phillipines, by which I mean that knives are used for everyday activities beyond fighting, such as cutting rope and chopping fruit, having a knife is common. It makes sense to have training with a weapon that you are likely to have available.
They dont employ empty hand techniques until they are well-versed with weaponry. I have been told that a lot of the techniques are the same, just with a different range. I am going to hop back in to the weapon arts for sure. And as soon as I know, you will know. Why? Because I just cant keep my mouth shut about this stuff :)