Silat (Pencak Silat)

Silat roughly translates to "fight" and is a term used to describe an aggregation of the hundreds of various Malay Archipelago (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and several thousand islands) martial arts in a similar style to how Kung Fu is the general term for all Chinese martial arts. It is now more commonly referred to as Pencak roughly translating to "the techniques trained" or Pentjak Silat internationally.

On the surface Pencak Silat looks very much like Aikido, with a lot of throwing and grappling techniques being used however the Silat practitioner is using their entire body as a weapon with strikes intended to manipulate the opponent when they attack and soften them up for a throw or joint lock.

While Pencak Silat may not be suited to everyone it is considered a powerful and great martial art to study.

Silat vs Kali/Eskrima

Eskrima, Silat (Pencak Silat) Demo, Cool

Kickass staged demonstration of kali/eskrima fighters attacking and counter attacking Silat fighters