Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

Some people really believe chi masters can project their chi (also spelled Qi) so powerfully that they can set something on fire -- like paper.

In this video, Ken Gullette demonstrates this ability and then shows you step-by-step how to do it. Remember, never check your brains at the door of a martial arts school. If you would like to study Taiji, Xingyi, Bagua and Qigong without the mystical mumbo-jumbo and fantasy, you are on the right website. Try two weeks free and study REAL internal arts.

The image above is from my journal on September 4, 1973, the day I took my first martial arts class -- 50 years ago this week. It was the start of the Bruce Lee Kung-Fu Boom. "Enter the Dragon" hit movie theaters a couple of weeks earlier and that was the spark I needed to enroll in a school.

I was a 20-year-old student at Eastern Kentucky University, but I drove to my hometown for the class (about a 40-minute drive) because Sin The (pronounced Sin Tay) was a legend in Lexington. At that time he held classes in a converted garage at Eastland Shopping Center. There were so many people at the first introductory class, we spilled out into the driveway and they had to open the garage door.

It was an exciting time. Kung-Fu was so mysterious and amazing! I was always a good fighter, but the "Kung Fu" TV show and Bruce Lee convinced me to study something that would boost my fighting skills. Nothing was cooler than martial arts.

We were all very naive. The internet didn't exist so we...

Owen Schilling and Randel Davis are martial artists and very good people. They are also the guys behind the "Kung Fu Conversations" podcast. They recently had me on as a guest and it turned out to be very good. I have been interviewed several times and I have become tired of my own stories, but Owen and Randel tried to plow some new ground. I hope you enjoy it. Click this link to go to the YouTube verson of the podcast.  You can also find the podcast on Spotify. Click this link to open the podcast on Spotify.

A few weeks ago, Warner Bros. contacted me as they prepared to release the new 4K version of "Enter the Dragon." They asked if I wanted to do a giveaway on my podcast of 10 digital codes. Of course, I enthusiastically said "Yes!"

So in the recent edition of the Internal Fighting Arts podcast I asked listeners to come to this blog and leave comments on what Bruce Lee and "Enter the Dragon" meant to their study of martial arts.

As it turned out, hundreds of people have listened to the podcast but only nine people actually left comments here on the blog.

Those nine people who followed the rules will automatically win a digital code for a copy of "Enter the Dragon." Those nine people are:

** Tom Norio Sakaishi

** Liam Machlin

** Eddie Ooms

** Neil White

** Jim Strother

** Mike Sherlock

** Ernesto Pon

** James Helms

** Jovan Lezaravic

Since the people above followed the rules and left messages on the blog post, they will each get a code. So that means I had one left. Several more people...

This week, Warner Brothers is releasing a new 4K/Ultra HD version of "Enter the Dragon," Bruce Lee's kung-fu masterpiece that helped launch the Kung-Fu Boom in 1973. 

Warner Brothers has given me 10 digital codes to give away to listeners of my Internal Fighting Arts Podcast. Just comment below about what Bruce Lee and/or "Enter the Dragon" means to you. Did it impact your martial arts? Did Bruce Lee inspire you?

You have until the end of the day on August 26, 2023 to make your comment. On Sunday, August 27, we will put the names of everyone who commented in a box and we will draw 10 winners live on my Internal Fighting Arts Facebook page at www.facebook.com/internalfightingarts. 

Ten winners will each receive a code and you will be able to watch and download the new 4K/Ultra HD version of "Enter the Dragon."

I saw the movie in a theater when I was a 20-year-old college student. I was blown away. Not only was his movement the most beautiful I had ever seen, but we had...

If you are a martial artist, you are an athlete. You might be going for a yellow belt or trying to learn the next form. You might be preparing to compete in a tournament. It's always nerve-wracking to put yourself on the line and perform in front of other people. When you do any of these things, you are an athlete and your success will be more certain if you develop the mindset of a top athlete.

Top athletes use various mental preparation techniques to optimize their performance during competitions. Here are some common strategies they employ:

1. Goal setting: Athletes set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound goals to help them stay focused and motivated. Don't set unrealistic goals. Your next goal might be to learn the first five movements of a form. Learn them, practice them until you can do them well, and then set your next goal. Perhaps your goal is bigger, such as going for a black belt or black sash. You can achieve it.

2. Visualization: Also known as...

In martial arts, a body method (also known as "body mechanics" or "body structure") refers to the way a practitioner uses their body efficiently and effectively to generate power, maintain balance, and execute techniques. It is a fundamental aspect of martial arts training and involves understanding how different parts of the body work together to produce force, maintain stability, and move fluidly.

Body methods can vary significantly between different martial arts styles and systems. You can even go to different teachers in Taiji and some will have a strong body method and others won't even mention it. The ones who don't mention it usually have weak gongfu. The more a teacher promotes health and "moving" meditation, the lower the quality of their body method, in my humble opinion.

In all sports that require your body to produce force and power, there are specific ways of moving the body most efficiently, although there are a lot of different personal styles of doing that. Look at...

This class was recorded on Saturday, October 15, 2022. I invited the members of this website plus people who are on my email list who receive my Internal Tip-of-the-Week emails.

In this video, I go over the first silk-reeling exercise that I teach students. I learned this exercise from Chen Xiaowang and my first Chen taiji teacher, Jim Criscimagna. The instruction also reflects insights I've picked up from others along the way, including Chen Xiaoxing, Mark Wasson, Chen Huixian and Nabil Ranne.

This is a good example of my live Zoom classes, which I hold for members of this website. I do two live Taiji classes on Wednesdays, and I do live Zoom classes on Xingyi and Bagua at varying times. Members of the website get all the content on the site (close to 1,000 videos and pdf downloads) plus live classes and live one-on-one sessions, at no extra cost.

This video runs 32 minutes but it contains information you won't find on most silk-reeling videos. 

One of my favorite things about Tai Chi (Taiji) is the way each of the relaxed movements are powerful fighting applications when you apply the body mechanics and speed it up to fit the situation.

Here is a video we shot yesterday showing 25 fighting applications in one movement - "Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar."  

I was asked by Ryan Patrick St. George to appear on his "Talking Fists" podcast. I said, "Sure. When?" And he replied, "How about now?" 

So we got on Zoom and talked for a while about training in two different "branches" of Chen style Taijiquan -- the Chen Village branch and the Chen Yu branch under Nabil Ranne. 

Listen to the Talking Fists podcast episode via this link. It's also available through your favorite podcast distributor.