Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

My good friend and loyal visitor Evan Yeung wrote this in an email:

"I'm thoroughly enjoying your latest DVD release.  I'm halfway through the Beng Chuan section.  The applications you've presented are straightforward and applicable to real life situations and some tournament sparring as well.  I suppose the magic of Hsing-I is that the base moves are simple (relatively speaking, of course), but are remarkably versatile.  John Painter, in his book on Combat Baguazhang, says that in a true fighting situation the complex moves rarely work... when the adrenaline is pumping, tunnel vision is occuring, and tactile sensitivity is going to hell, it's the simple moves that have been drilled that rely on larger muscle groups that take over.  I think Hsing-I fits that bill." 

I agree with Painter -- in a real-life self-defense situation, you won't have time for a lot of the complex movements. I've thrown out some chin-na movements because they were so impractical in a fighting situation that ...

Three of my students went to the Day of the Champions tournament near Chicago on Sunday and represented us very well in the internal arts and sparring divisions. The photo at left shows, from left to right, Kim Schaber, Kim Miller and Chris Miller.

Kim Schaber in the novice division placed 3rd in weapons, 2nd in sparring, 1st in Tai Chi, and 1st in the Interal Arts.

Kim Miller in the intermediate division placed 2nd in Tai Chi and 2nd in the Internal Arts.  In the advanced divsion she placed 1st in sparring.

Chris Miller in the intermediate division placed 2nd in weapons, 1st in Tai Chi and 1st in Internal Arts.  He also brought home the Grand Championship for adult under black belts.

Read more about it on their website. Chris and Kim Miller are leading the instruction in the Quad Cities since I fled to a warmer climate last June.

Congratulations, guys. I'm proud of your hard work!

--by Ken Gullette

This photo of me and Nancy isn't taken at the best angle. We're both having bad hair days. I was playing around with a camera and suddenly held it in front of us and snapped the picture. Although it isn't the most flattering shot, I love this picture because it captures an essence that is at the heart of our marriage.

After 4 1/2 years of marriage, we can't wait to see each other at the end of the day. We can't wait for the weekend so we can hang out. We laugh our heads off every day. We're both able to be ourselves. I can be silly and so can she. And both of us know for certain that I've got her back and she's got mine.

This is my third marriage. It took me nearly 50 years to find Nancy. I treat her the same way I've treated every woman I've every known (we don't really change our personalities, you know). The difference is that she's the first woman in my entire life that I've been able to depend on. And a year ago she turned to me and said, "There's one word that comes to my mind...

We had a great turnout of around 14 people at our two-day training workshop in Davenport, Iowa. It was great to see everyone and we spent about 5 hours training on Day One. We worked body mechanics, Hsing-I fist postures, a couple of Chen tai chi movements with a focus on body mechanics, and we finished shooting the next DVD on the fighting applications of the Five Fist Postures. Not pictured here is Chad Steinke.

The workshop started with standing and corrections on posture. We then took Buddha's Warrior and each person demonstrated it in front of the group and received feedback. Everyone seemed to learn by seeing other people move and seeing the corrections they received. We also worked Single Whip, focusing on whole-body movement and silk-reeling.

This workshop was intended to focus on fundamentals because when you learn the principles and you can apply them to one movement, you can then apply them to all movements. Often, we try to learn a lot of forms before we're able to ...

So we're on the way to the Quad Cities to meet our new grandson. He's three weeks old and I plan to introduce him early to the ancient Chinese secrets of Kung Fu. Here is what I have planned:

Lesson 1 -- You've Dirtied Your Diaper. Who is Dishonored, You or the Diaper?

Lesson 2 -- Crying or Kyap? Stunning Your Opponent (Parent) with the Shout.

Lesson 3 -- The Way of the Drool.

Lesson 4 -- Becoming One with the Binky.

Lesson 5 -- The Tao of Toothlessness.

Lesson 6 -- Store and Release: Chi Flow and Gas.

Yes, I believe young Robert Anthony is going to get started on the path to mastery this weekend.

All the Chen Tai Chi masters that you see--even the students of a master--will perform the same form with slight differences when they reach a certain level. It's fascinating to look at the differences. Since this is an art, these men have mastered the fundamentals and then added their own artistic flourishes.

Here are links to YouTube videos showing the "Four Tigers" of Chen Tai Chi performing Laojia Yilu.

Chen Xiaowang performs Laojia Yilu.

Zhu Tiancai performs Laojia Yilu.

Wang Xian performs Laojia Yilu.

Chen Zhenglei performs Laojia Yilu.

I was at a tournament a few years ago and some karate black belts were competing in my empty-hand forms division. I'm always interested in forms from other styles so I watch them carefully. Three black belts from one karate school did the same form and it ended when them bringing their right foot to their left and sort of stomping it two or three times as it pulled in.

After the judging, I went up to the three, who were standing together, and told them I liked their form but wondered what the fighting application was of the little foot taps at the end.

They looked at each other, then at me, shrugged their shoulders and said they didn't know.

I know a high-level black belt in another karate style who does a powerful staff form. He wins first place in a lot of tournaments. I asked him one day if he ever practiced the fighting applications and he said he had never actually done that with the staff -- he only knew the form.

I was judging at a tournament and a young guy with an Asian ba...

I was on the patio this morning and practiced the following forms:

• Chen 19
• Chen 38
• Laojia Yilu
• Laojia Erlu
• Xinjia Yilu
• Chen Straight Sword
• Chen Broadsword

By the end of Xinjia Yilu, I was sweating like a pig (it's going to be in the low 80's today in beautiful Tampa and I'll sweat at the drop of a hat) and I was reminded of a tournament I attended a few years ago when I decided not to seek a trophy but to showcase Chen Tai Chi for the local crowd. I have a lot of trophies, so in recent years I've tried to perform Chen Tai Chi and Bagua just to publicize the arts before large crowds who don't realize the internal arts are, in fact, martial arts.

I warmed up in the already warm room, and did the Chen 38 for the judges and the audience, with a little extra fajing. This was a few years ago, before any of them had seen any Tai Chi performed at all in mixed martial arts tournaments, so as I expected, I didn't win a trophy. But I noticed one karate guy (who was usually quite full...

I get emails from people -- some of them starting out in the internal arts -- and they've been told that they do certain exercises such as standing or chi kung to "cultivate chi."  More than once, people have told me that when they do tai chi they don't "feel the chi," and they ask me what they're doing wrong.

My opinions on these matters tend to differ from the standard schpiel that you get in internal arts classes.

I tell them to stop worrying about feeling chi and worry about strengthening the legs, developing peng and silk-reeling and whole-body movement and the skills that will make their internal arts high quality.

Cultivating chi is a very interesting concept. In my opinion, cultivating chi means that you are growing stronger and more healthy, and learning to develop the body mechanics for good internal arts.

From a movement perspective, cultivating chi might mean practicing a tai chi form until you understand and can execute the movements with the relaxed strength that corr...