AMOK! Combatives

At its early inception, AMOK! was deeply rooted in the Malay/Filipino martial arts. And although Malay/Filipino mentality and principles continue to infuse it, AMOK! has transformed its practices so radically that it no longer resembles the martial art that it once was, or any of the arts that influenced its earlier composition.

Pursuing its own course, AMOK! has evolved into an ultra-functional methodology based on the strict parameters demanded of military combatives. Forged in the crucible of conflict, today AMOK! continues to validate its reputation in some of the world’s most dangerous places and war zones. In South Africa , the stabbing and murder capitol of the world for instance, AMOK! is the choice of combatives for professionals in harm’s way.
This is no accident or coincidence, it is a result of design.

In an effort to elucidate how and why this is so, this article will trace the evolution of AMOK! from its early martial stages to its present combative methodology.

Martial arts and Combatives are vehicles for personal development engineered according to their needs and values. Circumstances, intent, and development time are three fundamental differences between them, each imposing profound engineering designs that determine form and function.

Martial arts, intended for dojo/street circumstances, are rarely aimed with lethal intent (defensive in nature) and enjoy the luxury of unlimited preparation time (years). Conversely, combatives intended for street/ war circumstances, are almost always aimed with lethal intent (offensive in nature) with very limited time to prepare (weeks or months).

Civilians aren’t limited to the time constraints of combatives, and soldiers can’t afford the delayed skills syndrome of MA, and so it is natural that civilians are served best by MA and soldiers by combatives. However, the lethal nature of any edged weapon conflict is inherently combative to both civilians and soldiers alike.

Thus, when martial arts values are imposed upon knife fighting it produces methodologies distorted in form and function, following tangents that obscure the essence of its combative nature.

Because martial artists tend to practice under controlled cooperative circumstances most of their technology doesn’t function well under non-cooperative circumstances, whereas combatives are a product of non-cooperative practice and thus the technology is very likely to function when re-introduced back into that environment. Under controlled conditions any technique is possible, but in the chaos and dynamically changing circumstance of combat, is it probable?

AMOK! Edged Weapon Solutions program most observed law of practice is congruency, dictating that all activities during training simulate the actual dynamics and appear in the right context, according to how the tactic would be encountered during an actual edged weapon encounter.