Developing your speed, power, and control

About Guro Rob

Guro Robert Grossman has been training in martial arts for over 28 years. He heads up Chicago Balintawak, as well as Black Sheep Family Martial Arts, and is a Taboada Balintawak Full Qualified Instructor (FQI) under Grand Master Bobby Taboada in Balintawak Eskrima Cuentada System.


Guro Grossman started training in Balintawak in 2007 after moving from the DC/Baltimore area to Cincinnati, OH. His Hapkido instructor, Grandmaster Jin Pal Kim, had told him to learn the nunchucks, but he wanted something that he thought would be more practical. He looked up the Cincinnati Balintawak Club, led by the late Grand Master Jorge Peňafiel (02/26/1942 - 12/08/2016). There he was introduced to a warm community of martial artists. On that first day, Grandmaster Jorge Penafiel introduced him to a whole different take on martial arts training than he was used to. It was casual. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. The stances were strange. As were the expectations. And it hit hard. A new world was opening up. So he kept going back.



In 2013 Guro Rob brought Taboada Balintawak to Chicago, IL. He has shared the art at the Illinois Katipunan and C2E2. He continues to be guided by GM Bobby and World Balintawak International Master Instructor (WBI-MI), Punong Guro Michael-Vincent Malanyaon, currently the head of the Cincinnati Balintawak Club. Guro Rob is also an ambassador of Punong Guro Michael-Vincent’s Maktan Filipino Martial Arts.

  • Guro Robert Grossman, dressed in a black lonog-sleeved t-shirt and jeans, with blue hair, uses a rattan stick to strangle Mr. William Sheehan, who is wearing traditional Japanese Bushido dress. They are in froont of a hanging with Japanese caligraphy

  • Guro Robert Grossman swings a rattan stick at Guro Kelly Miller who blocks the strike with his own rattan stick. Both are wearing all black and protective masks while practicing on a padded floor.

  • Punong Guro MIchael-Vincent and Guro Robert Grossman are on the beach in front of Lake Michigan k martial arts. Punong Guro Mike grasps Guro Rob's hand, which holds a rattan stick, while blocking Guro Rob's stick with his own rattan stick.

  • Four men kneel in the front of a group of seven people in black shirts. Everyone holds rattan sticks. They all are standing on grass under hanging branches of a willow tree.