Killick Off Road Arts | Preserving & Teaching Traditional Martial Arts
We do things differently, and that changes everything.
This isn’t just training, it’s a better way to learn:
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Real understanding, not just repetition
Practical skills that actually work
If you’re serious about improving, you’ll feel the difference.
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Get some Pencak Silat in your life. Some of the things we are currently working on in my group.
I’m always looking for ways to enhance my students’ experience of the arts, not just technique, but atmosphere too.
Lately, that’s meant something a bit different: controlling the smell of the training space when we study the Spanish arts.
Spanish oranges, the real ones, have that sharp, slightly bitter citrus edge. It’s distinctive, memorable… it stays with you.
So here in sunny South London, I try to recreate a little of that experience. A small detail, maybe, but the right environment changes how you train, how you focus, how you remember.
Always refining. Always improving. 🍊
OSONS
Started with FMA & Spanish short sword — all adapted for machete/bolo work. Clean, sharp, and practical.
Then into Pencak Silat Serak, where we broke down kicks and, more importantly, how to set them up with strikes — big progress from the beginners 👊
Finished strong with an hour of Pencak Silat Sera, drilling the 20 Pukulan must-haves. Focus, flow, and detail all coming together.
Really pleased with the students… and with my own progress too.
OSONS
Killick Off Road Arts
We differ from many research groups in that everything we teach is based on direct personal transmission. We do not teach interpretations reconstructed from transcripts or historical fragments. That important work of rediscovery is best left to dedicated researchers.
The material we carry was never lost; it simply fell out of common use and, for a time, was concealed from public view during my years living within sections of the local Spanish community where it had taken on darker applications.
We now live in times when understanding edged-weapon methods is an unfortunate but necessary part of realistic self-protection. By understanding the skill set, we can train to counter it and ultimately protect lives. We do not present this material to glorify violence or for financial gain.
Our KORA Pencak Silat provides the ideal training framework through which we teach and explore this hybrid system, allowing us to contextualise and pressure-test the methods safely and responsibly.
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Great classes yesterday, I taught the hourglass in the KORA sword class and some basic striking and hitting in the KORA Serak class.
The hourglass comes jointly from my training in the Spanish short sword and the Ilustrisimo sword. I use it to teach the student basics and also faints or enganios. Always grateful to the anciano for taking the time to share his art before his passing.
In the Serak class, we covered the training punch and why its use and also the understanding are critical for progress. It’s not what outsiders think at all.
Both transmissions were from private one to one lessions, and I continue to see their value every day.
In the 11am Sera class, we covered jurus 1, 2 and 3, ably taught by Xin, who unpacked each jurus for our beginners and showed some foundational stance work.
Quotes from me during the classes I taught yesterday,
KORA Sword & Dagger class: “Mess this up, and you will be picking your nose with your elbow”.
KORA Serak Class: “Flow but slow, to 1,2,3 to go”.
Next week is week three, so I will teach Dagger in the sword & Dagger class and then clinch hit in the KORA class, using Serak movements. Always laying proven foundations for the students to progress.
For those in the KORA sword class, part of this very nice video (around the 3 min mark) shows what they call in Spanish sword, the hourglass, sometimes called the X or half X in FMA. I don’t like to use the term half X because it misleads the student; we want our students to operate with a tighter angle, like the hourglass.
We have a five-count and then add in the baits and switches, from memory, the Ilustrisimo people have the same concepts.
Interesting to me is that Ilustrisimo Sword has this as well. Exactly the same, two unique, distinct sword systems, same five count.
A very nice video and very much worth watching all of it.
OSONS
A quick glimpse into how we develop timing using focus mitts. These pads give students a safe way to build confidence and get comfortable striking real targets—an essential step in skill development.
It’s just one of the hundreds of methods we use to train safely and effectively.
The goal is simple: help students strike with full power while protecting their training partners. By training this way, they’re better prepared for real self-protection situations—where accuracy, timing, and confidence make all the difference.
A fantastic video from our group line. Pencak Silat people demoing and training together in harmony, as it should be. Very nice indeed.
Look under the martial arts lessons tab if in the UK and interested.
Killick Off Road Arts