How long does it take to get proficient in Escrima/Arnis/Kali?
The earlier you start training, the better (for musclememory).
You need to be able to do the moves without thinking.
If i should grab the sticks these days , i would pause and think too much since i've forgotten so much
I was never any good though, i was more into unarmed styles, but sure, i could still defend myself from an attacker if i had the sticks in my hands.
I can do some stuff and the movements are somewhat fluid, but i've forgotten most of the disarming techs and such.
Trained some with the Balisong-knife too but it wasn't really my cup of tea either. We can't walk around with knives here in Sweden either so i focused on the Unarmed styles.
Loved Tae Kwon Do back then though, and even though i haven't trained any MA for 16+ years and have been through some injuries with very stiff joints and ligaments, i could still pull off a mean spinning kick even at my advanced age!
I actually did try to do one of my favorite moves (i was more flash than substance back in the 80s and early 90s) last year (kicking high up in the air and then freezing the leg in position for as long as possible) without warming (läl) up but only thing i managed to do was to sprain my groin-area lol
