The Bernas Estocadas system has foundational and combative drill progressions that have been carefully curated by the Grandmaster to rapidly foster free, fluid, and effective skill development, and are constantly undergoing refinement to produce the best outcomes for the student journey. Students are expected to demonstrate a willingness and capacity to learn, and demonstrate appropriate levels of courtesy and respect. The progressions treat the learning of a martial art as similar to the learning of a new language, with the ultimate goal being the development of a capacity to express oneself freely, spontaneously, and effectively in the art's "body language". Promotions are often performed as part of special events that include workshops with the Grandmaster, or ranks may be awarded more spontaneously, at the end of a training session, when a student has made demonstrable progress and achieved the appropriate standard. Each level wears a specific T-shirt, and as we are a not-for-pofit school, the only cost associated with the four student gradings is the cost of the new T-shirt. 

The major stages of development are much like one sees in the traditional medieval craft guilds. These stages are:

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• Novice (an ungraded student, new initiate, or Bag-ohan, who has just started learning the basics);

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• Apprentice (there are four levels of apprenticeship, as outlined below, consisting of Línghod - technical vocabulary, Gúlang - simple sequences, Habál - complex sequences, and Hínog - fluent expression, that represent the "ripening" of the practitioner's knowledge, understanding, and skills);

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• Instructor (the Manunúdlò or licensed teacher of the art, is the equivalent of the traditional journeyman rank in a trade guild, where the basics and 'system grammar' or principles, have been understood and developed to a high level, and the practitioner is now ready to both teach the fundamentals of the system to others; to go beyond the basics, expanding their capabilities through the study of the art's many sub-systems; and to have their own knowledge put to the test); 

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• Master (the Agálon has been awarded the highest instructor level, having demonstrated a capacity to engage in Intuitive action across a wide range of methods; a comprehensive understanding of the art at technical, conceptual, tactical, pedagogical, historical, and philosophical levels, and the embodiment of a very wide, versatile, and adaptive range of offensive and defensive tactics - akin to the ability to 'switch registers', moving with power, freedom, and elegance. In addition, the holder of a Master rank will also have demonstrated a proven capacity to teach the system, and to have effectively performed the role of an ambassador for the art over many years);

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• Grandmaster (the highest level, Lolo Amo, is reserved for the current head of the system, and in our case is exclusively the title of the system's founder, Grandmaster William Bernas).