Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts Blog

Escaping from Joint Locks Using Tai Chi Energy Concepts

chin-na internal self-defense joint locks self-defense May 05, 2022

There are valuable concepts in Taijiquan that make it a powerful art for self-defense. One of the interesting ideas is "taking the energy where it wants to go."

Last week, Colin and Justin and I recorded several escapes from Chin-Na joint locks. A longer version with more techniques and explanations is on my website for members, but I put together a shorter version for YouTube.

We are very serious about the internal arts but we have a lot of fun when we practice. I think it shows a bit on the videos we do. Please watch this and you'll learn something about how to escape from a joint lock. Silk-Reeling energy is very helpful against joint locks, and silk-reeling relies on other internal body mechanics, too. This is a narrowly focused video. It doesn't necessarily show how to "soften someone up" before escaping, or what to do as a follow-up, but the information here will be helpful in the real world.

Empty Force - A Trap Door that Collapses Beneath an Opponent

empty force internal body mechanics internal self-defense kong jin Mar 19, 2021

Fifty years ago this summer, in 1971, I was working for my dad as a laborer in his ornamental iron business. I was 18 years old, had just graduated from high school and was soon to start college. My dad was very mechanical and was an artist with ornamental iron, doing everything from columns and railings to stairways in apartment complexes. I did not inherit his mechanical gene, so I was relegated to painting and helping carry materials.

One day, we were working on the third story of a new apartment building in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The third floor balcony had some kind of temporary sheet metal flooring, but on this day, I didn't realize the flooring did not have support under it.

I was daydreaming and not being mindful about what I was doing when I went up to the third floor and stepped out on the balcony.

As soon as I stepped on it, the flooring gave way beneath my feet -- three stories up. It was as if I had stepped onto a trap door that suddenly, without warning, ope...

Real Self-Defense Requires Fire and Fury, Not Punch and Stop

internal self-defense martial arts training self-defense Jan 03, 2020

Have you ever done any point-sparring with partners or in a tournament?

You score a point and the action stops while judges decide who wins the point. Then the action resumes.

When you think about real self-defense on the street, how do you think that will go? Do you think you will just throw a punch or a kick and it will be over?

Do you think your opponent will be four or five feet away, in punching or kicking range?

Probably not. You might not even know he is going to attack until he is on top of you.

And that's why your mindset, and some of your training, needs to prepare yourself for "shock and awe."

Instead of looking at self-defense applications as this technique or that technique, part of your training really must focus on going a little crazy.

I do this on my Bob training dummy. I just start raining strikes on him, flowing as fast as I can from a punch to an elbow to a palm strike to a forearm strike to another punch.

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!...

Is Your Martial Art Preparing You for Real-Life Self-Defense?

bagua self-defense internal self-defense self-defense tai chi self-defense xingyi self-defense Sep 09, 2015

What is real-life self-defense? What is real-life self-defense with the internal arts?

Do I need to step into a ring and go full-contact these days to prove myself?

Do you?

There are suddenly a lot of keyboard warriors out there who seem to think so. Personally, I have mixed feelings about it. I have always enjoyed fighting, but as an adult, I believe it is much better to learn how to fight without getting hurt and without hurting someone else.

When my 15-year-old student was grabbed by a drunk step-father who was preparing to punch him out, my student broke the step-father's elbow with chin-na we practiced in class. That's real-life self-defense.

When my student who is a police officer took a fugitive rapist down with Pi Chuan, a Xingyi technique, he didn't ask himself during the encounter if he was using internal energy just right. He simply took down the man who was considered dangerous.

When three drunk guys at a concert wanted to fight me, I remained centered and managed...

Silk-Reeling and Self-Defense: Strategic Handling of External Force

bagua self-defense internal arts training internal self-defense silk-reeling energy spiraling movement in tai chi Jul 13, 2013

Yesterday, when my new Silk-Reeling Energy ebook was released through Amazon's Kindle, a couple of friends gave me grief for believing -- they thought -- in an invisible mystical energy that can't be measured by scientific methods.

My partner attempts to do an armbar.

I laughed, because the use of the word "energy" throws off a lot of Westerners. Let me clarify. And as I do, I will show some photos of a self-defense application for one of the exercises that are described in the Silk-Reeling Energy ebook and on the Silk-Reeling DVD.

When the Chinese talk about a certain energy, such as the 8 Energies of Taiji, it is a bad translation when we think of it as a scientifically valid energy. Actually, it is a method or particular skill that helps you strategically handle external force that is applied to you -- a punch, for example.

I begin spiraling the elbow away from his force.

Think of it like a good baseball hitter -- my hero Pete Rose, for example. Pete was not a gifted at...

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

Escaping from Joint Locks Using Tai Chi Energy Concepts

Empty Force - A Trap Door that Collapses Beneath an Opponent

Real Self-Defense Requires Fire and Fury, Not Punch and Stop

Is Your Martial Art Preparing You for Real-Life Self-Defense?

Silk-Reeling and Self-Defense: Strategic Handling of External Force

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