Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

In class the other night we were practicing Heng Chuan, Hsing-I's "Crossing Fist," against a roundhouse kick. The photos are shown here.

In photo one, the attacker (Leander Mohs) throws the kick.

In photo two, I absorb the kick with my left arm and cross my right arm under the attacker's calf.

In photo three, I apply pressure to the outside of his leg and push inward, bending it at the knee.

In photo four, I apply a paring, splitting palm to the knee and he goes down. He has to go down. He has no choice.

When you practice this, you realize that the application is the same as the opening for the Chen Tai Chi movement "Fair Lady Weaves at Shuttles."

And this is something we see across the three internal arts that we practice. Several of the principles and palms of Bagua are also in this application, including Blocking, Twining or Snaking, Upward Palm, Outward Palm and Splitting Palm. Dan T'ien rotation is always applied, regardless of the art, and when the kick comes in, ...

Okay, I had some fun on a snowy day. I took this very funny little song, sampled some Queen and threw in some of my tournament sparring clips. Here is the result. 

I ran into a kung-fu guy that I hadn't seen in at least a year. He's young (around 30), strong -- and I asked where he had been. He moved to Chicago a while back and he told me he had started training with a martial artist who "trains real hard" with his students. He said that as if hardcore training was something to be proud of.

How's that going, I asked. He replied that they trained so hard, he had broken his foot and fractured several ribs.

He hasn't trained in over a year.

What? I mean, WHAT?????

There is a big segment of the population now -- the ones who would have been training in kung-fu, karate and TKD schools back in the 1970's -- who now believe that the only "real" martial arts are the MMA and UFC type.

Let me make a point that I've made many times. You don't have to hurt someone, or be hurt yourself, to learn how to be a good fighter. It's a myth fueled by youth, testosterone, and frankly, being a dumbass.

That doesn't mean there isn't a certain amount of pain you ha...

If you're going to learn forms with weapons, you should learn how to defend yourself with that weapon.

When martial arts were created, the gun was not yet a weapon. Warriors used sticks, staffs, spears, swords, and other weapons.

In our arts, we learn forms that include the staff, straight sword, broadsword, spear, and elk horn knives. We also practice single and double sticks, although they are not part of our internal curriculum.

Here's a great exercise -- and for this, you should pad up or use foam weapons. It's very important not to thrust at someone's face, and if you're going to allow non-contact thrusting to the face, everyone should have head gear that covers the face and goggles for the eyes. I've never believed in hurting anyone, or being hurt, just to learn martial arts.

This article shows photos taken last week at our practice. Chris Miller (black sash), Kim Kruse (brown sash), and I took turns in the middle and had to defend and counter while we were being attacked...

Taoism is not passive.

To follow the Way does not mean you allow yourself to be abused, and it certainly doesn't mean that you stand by and allow others to be abused.

There is a story that I love:

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Two elderly Chinese gentlemen are sitting on a park bench, enjoying the day. One follows Taoism, the other Confucianism. A soldier comes into the park and, being filled up with his own power and self-importance, he begins scolding the old men and shouting for them to leave.

To drive home his rage, the soldier strikes the old Confucian, who apologizes, gets up, and quickly walks away. Those who follow Confucianism are guided by duty, and see themselves as subservient to the government and authority figures.

Seeing the Taoist still sitting on the bench, the soldier raises his hand to strike.

The Taoist gentleman deflects the blow and with one quick movement, breaks the soldier's arm. The soldier scampers away in pain, while the old man remains seated on the ...

I met a wonderful group of people in East Lansing, Michigan yesterday. Sifu Doug Lawrence sponsored me for an Internal Strength workshop. For six hours, we drilled on what I've identified as six key skills for the internal arts -- the ground path, peng jin, whole-body movement, silk-reeling, dan t'ien rotation and opening/closing the kua.

Sifu Lawrence teaches Yang tai chi, Hsing-I and Bagua. He knows what he's doing. I was really happy to meet an instructor like Doug -- open-minded, constantly researching, trying to get better and searching for good information. I could tell within a few minutes that he is an outstanding teacher.

We started with standing stake and I corrected some posture issues. From there, we worked on the ground path, peng jin, and then silk-reeling exercises. All of the exercises we did can be found on my Internal Strength and Silk-Reeling DVDs.

The foundation of internal strength is the ground path and peng jin. Chen Xiaowang likes to describe this in autom...

There is an article in the latest issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine featuring me and my interpretation of the concept of "borrowing energy" in Tai Chi fighting. The Nov/Dec issue hits the stands today. The cover is pictured here at the left -- the headline for the article is the third one down on the left.

The article is written by my friend and fellow martial artist, Hector Lareau. He got the idea for the story when reading this blog, and wanted to explore the concept of borrowing energy a little deeper.

He came to our home, interviewed me, then my wife Nancy took photos as he threw different attacks on me and I used the borrowing energy concept to neutralize or bounce the attack away.

I was featured in an article in Tae Kwon Do Times back in 2006, but this is my first appearance as an instructor in a national kung-fu publication.

Borrowing energy is a simple concept and it's interpreted different ways by different teachers. Some use "roll back" as a means of borrowing energy....

10. Students play along and make applications appear to work even when they don't (to avoid making the teacher look bad).

9. You are taught movements but no self-defense applications.

8. Most of the class is eligible for Medicare.

7. The word "easy" is used to describe any of these three arts.

6. You are taught to turn the hips, not the dan t'ien (sometimes referred to as "waist").

5. You aren't shown how to maintain ground path and peng jin throughout all movements, even in "transitions" and stepping.

4. The teacher says that the 13 energies of tai chi are actual energies coursing through your body.

3. You are told that push hands is about sensitivity, not self-defense.

2. The teacher believes that high level masters (or he personally) can move you with their chi without touching you.

1. The top priority of the class is "chi cultivation."

Now, let me be clear -- some very good teachers hold classes for the elderly that focus more on health and meditation than on the martial ...

Nancy and I were invited to our friend John Morrow's house last night to have dinner with Bill "Superfoot" Wallace -- undefeated world full contact karate champion and trainer of both Elvis and John Belushi. I didn't realize until last night that Wallace is the person who found John Belushi dead, when he showed up at Belushi's room at an L.A. hotel for a morning workout.

Today, John hosted Wallace for a workshop at his Moline kung-fu school. It was a great workout -- stretching, kicking, punching, and combinations. I've gone over all this material with Wallace before, but refreshers are always a good idea.

Almost two months ago, I attended a Bill Wallace workshop in Las Vegas. It was the third or fourth time I've trained with him (if you Google Bill Superfoot Wallace, and click on the link that shows photos, the photo above of me and him in 2001 is among the photos that are shown). After discussing his stretching exercises on the online school, I was looking forward to asking him a q...

There is a letter to the editor in the most recent T'ai Chi magazine that points out one reason there is so much bad and weak Tai Chi in America.

A guy wrote a letter in response to an earlier article that talked about how Tai Chi has been "dumbed down" for a lot of people.

It's true. It has been dumbed down. The article was correct.

So this fellow writes a letter in response to the article saying that if you truly lead "a Tai Chi life," you don't judge people or put them down in any way. If someone is doing bad Tai Chi that's okay because it is "his" Tai Chi. There is no right. There is no wrong.

The letter states that even if someone is doing bad Tai Chi, "In their eye, it is Tai Chi, so it is."

Let's apply this logic to other human endeavors:

** You should never criticize a play or piece, a work of art or a piece of music. Whoever created it thinks it is art, and so it is. All works of art should be treated the same. My granddaughter's drawings are the same as Picasso. The mus...