In keeping with the philosophy of simplicity, most of the techniques are
taught early in training. This is an important key to the FMA. The student
can pick what works for him and create his own method of combat. The
basic principles are more important than raw numbers of technique. The
difference between an older practitioner and a newer one is not the
knowledge of greater numbers of techniques, but rather the skill in
executing a smaller number of personally selected techniques. Each FMA
practitioner keeps a small core of basic techniques that can handle many
different types of situations. Keeping it simple is one of the underlying
principles of the FMA.