Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

I received an email from one of my online members who said he hasn't been practicing much lately because of a busy work schedule.

He felt like a failure as a martial artist.

The truth is, you should never feel like a failure at martial arts. Sometimes, life, work, family, and other important activities can get in the way of a regular practice schedule. It happens to all of us occasionally. It's okay.

I don't know why you got into martial arts, but I got into it for three reasons:

Reason 1 -- I wanted to learn how to fight more effectively, like Bruce Lee and Kwai Chang Caine.

Reason 2 -- I kung-fu is cool.

Reason 3 -- To impress women. Of course, this is why some of us guys do anything.

I might be in my 70s now, but I still like to impress Nancy. That's why every now and then, I whip out my broadsword. 

As Joe Biden would say, here's the deal. Don't get suckered by the tough keyboard warriors online who pretend you're not worthy if you aren't ready to enter an MMA ring. That i...

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 coul...

Taiji master Zhang Xue Xin passed away in China surrounded by family on February 25, 2023. He was 94 years old.

He began studying Chen style Taiji in 1963. One of his teachers was Chen Zhaokui. Later, he studied with Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang and became an indoor disciple. 

Master Zhang moved to the United States and began living and teaching in San Francisco. His classes were held at Golden Gate Park. He emphasized silk-reeling spiraling movements and applications, particularly chin-na (joint locks). He retired in 2013.

My first Chen style teachers, Jim and Angela Criscimagna, studied with Master Zhang for around eight years. I never studied with him, but I visited San Francisco on business a couple of times in the early 2000s and stopped by to visit his class. The photo at the top of the post was taken the first time I met him.

We have lost a great one with Master Zhang. I heard of his passing from his indoor disciple, J. Justin Meehan, who lives and teaches in the St. Louis area...

It's funny how your life crosses path with some people in a way you couldn't have predicted.

In 1976, I was 23 years old and watching a live karate kickboxing match on TV. Bill "Superfoot" Wallace knocked out a big bald fighter with a hook kick to the head. I was so excited, I started working a lot harder at the hook kick, and it has won me many tournament matches over the years.

I first met Bill Wallace in 1982. I was a producer at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati and he came to town for an exhibition match and martial arts convention. He stopped by the station and I interviewed him.

Flash forward almost 20 years to 2001. My friend John Morrow sponsors Bill Wallace to come to do a workshop at his school here in the Quad Cities. I go to John's house and meet them and we all go out to the ice cream store. It's a summer evening and we're hanging outside an ice cream store with this martial arts superstar. I couldn't believe it. I attended the workshop and he kept using me as his dummy, showing k...

Life is fragile. We live day-to-day and take a lot of things for granted -- our health, our futures, and the people in our lives.

Sometimes, we are slapped with the cold hand of reality.

One of my website members, Michael Todd, passed away last night in Port Richey, Florida.

Michael was about 50 years old, with a loud voice. He has been a member of my website for almost two years and began calling on the phone almost immediately.

"I'm working on the Xingyi, Mr. Ken," he would say. 

"You don't have to call me Mister," I said during the first call.

"Oh, that's just the way I talk," he said. "I love you, brother."

Now, it's unusual for a guy you don't know to tell you he loves you right off the bat, so I was a bit leery of him at first. I just wasn't sure. But he kept calling every week, letting me know how he was progressing, and finally, we set up a live one-on-one coaching session via Skype.

When we did the live session, I was surprised at how well he had learned the Xingyi fis...

Are you a former martial artist, in your thirties, forties or fifties, still athletic and looking to stay in shape, develop more mental and physical balance and continue learning self-defense skills in a way that will challenge you but won't leave you injured the next morning?

Do you live in the Quad Cities area (Iowa/Illinois)?

It is time to resume your martial arts journey by trying a free practice with our small group of adults.

I don't seek "local" students very often, and what we offer is more complex than some younger guys want to study. Young guys want to learn to "fight." But we have a few more years under our belts, and we are not preparing to enter an MMA cage with an opponent who has cauliflower ears. 

We are learning self-defense arts that have tremendous depth in body mechanics and in the mental aspects of maintaining balance. There is a reason these are called "martial arts." 

Anyone can pound on another human being. The internal arts focus on something different -- ...

Would your Bagua applications work against an opponent who was 35 years younger, stronger and 120 pounds heavier?

If he decided to shoot in and grab your legs, how would you deal with it?

We had a great practice yesterday, recording self-defense applications using some of the principles and energies from the Bagua 8 Basic Palms form.

The last time I recorded applications for this form was in 2008, with Sean Ledig, who is a member of the website. I didn't go into a lot of depth in the video, so after 10 years, I am shooting it again and adding more information and applications.

Downward energy is an important internal concept, and the first section of the form, "Fierce Tiger Emerges from Mountain," depends on downward energy.

Theoretically, it should work on a shooter, so we put it into action. Two of my students, Justin Snow and Chris Andrews, are big, strong guys who outweigh me by 120 pounds each. They put the pressure on me.

All martial arts require practice. Even boxers will ...

I am reading "Bruce Lee: A Life," by Matthew Polly. Bruce possessed one quality that he had in common with almost all successful people.

Bruce Lee believed in himself, had a goal, and worked hard to reach his goal.

Do you have a martial arts goal? Do you want to learn Bagua, or Taiji, or Xingyi? 

It is a good idea not to write down a goal that is overwhelming. Do you want to learn Chen Taiji? Then start with the silk-reeling exercises. Set a goal of learning one every two days, and set a time to study. It may only be ten or twenty minutes, but that is okay. 

Perhaps your goal is to learn a form. You can have a big goal such as "Learn Xingyi," but then have smaller goals that help you achieve the big goal. 

Do you want to learn the Five Fist Postures? Then write down your goal, set a day to complete it, and then plan out the time to study and practice and get feedback.

Maybe your next goal is the Bagua Swimming Body form. Set a time to complete it, then make a plan to take it move...

I have read and collected a lot of Tai Chi, Xingyi and Bagua books since 1974. But most of them made the internal arts more abstract and difficult to understand.

So I decided to write a book that I wish I had read in 1987 -- a book that would organize and teach, step-by-step, the fundamental body mechanics that are required for high-quality Tai Chi, Bagua and Xingyi. After 31 years of studying and then teaching these arts, writing a book like this is the right thing to do.

In my opinion, these body mechanics -- ways of moving -- are necessary for beginners to know how to do internal movement for gongfu. There are more things you learn down the road, but I have seen Tai Chi teachers who have spent decades in the art and still don't know these body mechanics.

It involves much more than simple directions such as "turn your foot out 45 degrees and relax."

And it has NOTHING to do with "cultivating chi."

I have included 250 photos and clear, straightforward descriptions in this book. I...