Global Sports: A Personal Review of the Ray Floro System

Thursday, June 23, 2011

A Personal Review of the Ray Floro System

By Leonel Solei


So we just downloaded the Ray Floro knife fighting video course. Ray Floro has been acclaimed as one of the best knife fighting masters alive today, and we just had to check if there was substance to the claims and not just pure hype. I did an initial check on Youtube and there's really not much to go on there, just a few very short clips. So the question was, is his video course any good? The course is divided into five lessons, each presenting a specific aspect of the Floro Fighting System. Even from the get go I really liked the clear structure of the course, really beginning with the basics and building it up little by little.

The first lesson begins with drills and exercises which you can start practicing right away. He shares the advantages of the unique reverse grip for the knife, which is rather unconventional for knife fighters. But in FFS it works well with the straight linear thrust that resembles a straight punch to the face. And not to mention, it's lightning fast. In fact the Floro Fighting System prides itself for its "non-telegraphic" strike, which is a strike that cannot be anticipated or blocked by the opponent because it gives no body signals before its execution. Learning this non-telegraphic strike alone might be worth the cost of the entire course.

The second lesson is still in the area of long range, adding more nuances to the basic strike presented in lesson one, such as the linear slashing strike, which I believe is also unique to FFS. Also, one is introduced to the fencing footwork of FFS, such as the lunge. The same speed that you find in fencing is also applied here, in fact it seems even faster because of the lighter weight of the weapon. Ray Floro repeatedly demonstrates arm strikes which hit in 0.27 seconds. With the legwork it might even be faster.

Lesson three sort of changes the rhythm a little bit, focusing now on basic unarmed defences. I think this is a great component for the video course, and is what will make it useful for the ordinary unarmed civilian. The "universal shield" is something you can teach to almost anyone, and takes advantage of the flinch response that people have when attacked by surprise. It just needs to be practiced for several weeks to commit it to muscle memory. The more advanced unarmed defense, which is a latch-on variation of the universal block, is definitely harder to do. But Ray Floro clearly shows its advantages, such as when the opponent pins you to a wall and starts stabbing you in the stomach.

Lesson four covers an element which I think few martial arts really deal with in their curriculum, faking and deceiving the opponent. It's such a shame, because fakes often come out during sparring sessions, and also in real life fights. The Floro Fighting System has clear theories in this area. One of the simplest and yet most startling techniques is "the stare" which uses the opponent's tendency to look at your eyes, and use it against him. I think the stare technique plus the non-telegraphic strikes of Ray Floro make his system one of the most unpredictable fighting systems out there. You just can't anticipate what the person will throw at you, because deceiving is part of the very system itself.

The fifth lesson gives some of the advanced concepts of the system, such as the pivot leg movement which completely evades a lunging knife attack, useful when you're facing an experienced FFS fighter. Ray Floro also introduces an elbow and forearm jam which resembles some moves in Wing Chun. And finally my favorite is the shuffling legwork he uses to close very long distances. If I might add, it confuses the enemy too. It's like a faking motion with the legs.

Given all these lessons, I don't hesitate to call the Ray Floro video course the best knife fighting video course I've ever seen. What makes it so good is its emphasis on simplicity and fatal efficiency. There seems to be a tendency to treat knife fighting as something completely out of reach for even professional martial artists. As if it can only be learned by Green Berets or NAVY Seals. Ray Floro has done a great job of making all these knife fighting skills accessible to anyone who wants to learn them.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment