Great Video Interview With Tim Cartmell

Video Link
Rolled Up Epsiode 27: The Never-Ending Path of a Martial Artist with Tim Cartmell

Here is a really, really good video interview with Tim Cartmell, one of the absolute best instructors I have trained with.
Readers may know I met Tim through Jake Burroughs of Three Harmonies Martial Arts in Seattle. I learned more in a half-dozen seminars with Tim than in any two years of past Karate training. Most of the seminars dealt with application of Tai Chi Chuan, Xingyi and Bagua - with a heavy influence on knock-downs and throws.
As you will see in the interview, Tim was an expert in Chinese martial arts (he trained for years in Taiwan) and has now focused on Brazilian Jiujitsu.
Watch the way Tim moves in the mat work with the interviewer at the end, complete relaxed power.

Tim Cartmell's "Shen Wu" website

Jake Says; "Fear The Wristlock, Bitches!"

Man, oh man.
If BJJ had existed in the U.S. when I was wrestling in the 1970's I would have been all over it. But now I'm just a broken-down old Dojo Rat so I have to enjoy my friends matches.
Here is my Xingyi instructor Jake Burroughs (Black Gi) in a recent Seattle Tournament. I met Jake when he had recently moved to Seattle and began bringing his instructors in for seminars. We trained with the late Mike Martello and Tim Cartmell in Mantis and the Chinese Internal Arts, with a heavy emphasis on throwing. Tim also had a great "MMA for the street" session.
Jake has followed in Tim's footsteps and taken up BJJ to round out his skills, and it's been fun to follow his progress. He is currently training and teaching with Brian Johnson at Seattle's NW Jiu Jitsu Academy.
From what little I know about BJJ, the glamorous techniques tend to involve chokes and armbars. But here in this match, Jake wins with a wristlock which his opponent wasn't expecting. It looked painful enough that the guy tapped immediately.
There's a lesson there: Jake says "Fear The Wristlock, Bitches!"

Here's the links to Jake Burroughs site "The Ground Never Misses" and Brian Johnson's NW Jiu Jitsu Academy.

New Training Schedule at Seattle's NW Jiu Jitsu Academy

Over at "The Ground Never Misses", my friend and Xingyi instructor Jake Burroughs announces exciting new changes:

"Brian Johnson is expanding the NW Jiu Jitsu Academy to almost triple his square footage, giving us another matted training floor, and a large workout area that will include various weights and equipment essential to martial arts conditioning and endurance training.
Along with this expansion, I am also happy to announce an expanded training schedule that I will be offering at the NW Jiu Jitsu Academy for those wishing to improve their striking and stand up skills. I will be offering three different formats starting July 2nd:

Kickboxing –
Develop pinpoint accuracy along with devastating power using kicks, punches, elbows, and knees. Whether you are looking for a calorie-burning workout, or you want to learn fundamental striking for self-defense as you are working your butt off this class will address all of your fitness and training goals!

Essential Combatives –
Continuing where kickboxing leaves off, Combatives class uses strikes to enter into clinch range where students train throws, takedowns, ground proofing, and the essentials of self-defense. Ideal for women and those wishing to take a more realistic approach to your self-defense training, combatives will challenge you mentally and physically.

Pekiti Tirsi Kali –
Filling in the final gap in modern day self defense one must address the weapon factor. Pekiti Tirsia Kali is considered the most technical bladed art to ever come out of the Philippine Islands, and it addresses all ranges of combat as well as all types of weapons. Learn a traditional Filipino weapon-based art in a safe and fun environment.

Instructor Jake Burroughs (left), the late Mike Martello, and myself


If you are in the Seattle area and are looking for diverse, efficiant training contact Jake at:

Three_harmonies@hotmail.com

Modern Combat Concepts with Tim Cartmell

After a good five-hour thrashing:
From Left- Jake Burroughs, Me, and Tim Cartmell

MMA Training Group, c/o Terry, thanks


Yesterdays Seminar in Seattle with Tim Cartmell was one of the best I've been to, and my 51 year-old ass held up pretty good. I think the extra conditioning and a preview of Tim's "Ground-proofing" concepts with Jake a couple of weeks ago gave me a heads-up on what to prepare for.

As always, Tim's presentation was brilliant. Tim has experienced the concepts he teaches intellectually, physically, and in highly stressful competitive fighting. Tim knows what will work when the shit hits the fan, and it's no surprise that simpler is better. I've got two pages of notes and had plenty of time to mentally review the seminar on the way home.
As explained, every human will react predictably to given stimulus, like when the hands come up as someone pokes at their eyes. This can be used both ways, in attacking and defending, but let's focus on defense. The key is to take those gross motor skills and morph them into simple and natural reactions that fit a self-defense or fighting concept.
I have to say, this seminar- which was billed as "Intro to Mixed Martial Immersion", made me rethink a lot about how I have been training. That's what a good seminar is supposed to do, and it's sinking into my thick skull.
Tim always keeps his guard in a "boxers triangle" close to his head. He never reaches out to block anything, but rather pats jabs down "monkey paw" style, absorbs hooks against his head with forearms, and blocks body punches with movement and smothering the punches with forearms and elbows, which remain close to the body.
While it may sound like you would take a lot of punishment in this position, it is actually a great protective guard. I asked him if the extended guard of classical styles is still useful in any way, and he said it was just for training. When his master instructors in Taiwan actually fought or sparred, they reverted to this protective position. The idea is, once someone has crossed into punching range, they can work around or knock down an extended guard. The extended guard may work against drunk Rubes, but against anyone that can stand in and throw punches, this is the only guard that will protect you.
Here is where Tim made the distinction between ring fighting and street martial arts. There is no rule set on the street. So when you throw boxing punches, you can not over-rotate and expose your flank, as pro boxers do in the ring at times. You must always remain facing the opponent, so the punches need to be modified.
From the feet Tim moves in to the clinch range, where most fights go anyway. He seeks inside control on the bicep lines and then sets up the take down.
In his way of thinking, even a great kick boxer can get knocked out if the fight keeps on going, and he believes the quickest way to end the fight is to slam the opponent on a hard surface.
Sprawling to prevent leg dives, protecting yourself if you are on your back, and the technical rise to your feet were all covered in detail.
Tim, who wrote the book "Effortless Combat Throws", is an expert in high, damaging throws. But what he teaches are mostly off-balancing knock-downs, ankle picks and the occasional hip throw. Most of the take downs are more like tipping over a large cow; if you use simple angles and leverage it is possible to topple something much larger than yourself.
Those of you who read Dojo Rat regularly know I have a deep passion for the traditional Chinese Internal Martial Arts, especially the meditative and health aspects they provide.
But Tim provided a clear summary of the evolution of martial arts as they stand today. While very, very few of us train for ring fighting, we should not ignore new technology that actually makes survival in a violent confrontation possible.
This seminar will give our little Dojo a ton of new material to work on, in stand-up fighting, clinch work, and if all else fails, how to protect ourselves on the ground and safely return to our feet.
Great stuff from a great instructor, special thanks to my friend and Xingyi instructor Jake Burroughs for hosting the seminar.

Tim Cartmell's Shen Wu

Well I'm getting ready for a big Tim Cartmell seminar in Seattle this weekend, so I thought we'd take a spin through some of his videos.
This one is from our buddy and fellow Dojo Rat from the north, William, who visited Tim in 2008.
Notice the diversity of training, Tim's guys are very well-rounded fighters. The one thing that I have realized through Tim's instruction is how many options you have in standing grappling. See how he demonstrates that if any given technique doesn't quite work, you can maintain a superior position by changing angles or direction of intent.
This weekend I am told we will work on some flow drills. These will start at hitting range, go to the clinch, take down, submission attempt, counter to submission, safely return to feet, and reverse rolls.
Shit, many of the guys will be almost twenty years younger than me. It'll probably take a case of Beer and two days to recover...

For information on the Seattle seminar, go to Jake Burroughs website "The Ground Never Misses".

Xingyi Chicken Form

I made a day trip down to see my Xingyi instructor, Jake Burroughs, north of the mean streets of Seattle yesterday.
On the agenda was learning my sixth of the animal forms in our Xingyi system. This was the chicken, or as I like to call it; The Fighting Cock!
The Chicken/Rooster/Cock form is a flowing but powerful set with applications that include fist, palm and knee strikes, a projection, a cross-body arm-drag throw, evasive movement and eye gouging. As usual, in review of my training video I really look like a stumble bum when I first learn these forms, but after weeks of practice it starts to smooth out.
After about an hour and-a-half of form and applications, we finished with Jake beginning to teach me Tim Cartmells "Ground-proofing" system. This is geared to provide strategy for what to do when you are knocked to the ground, how to safely return to a fighting position on your feet, etc.
This is an important aspect to get my 51-year-old wrestlers body used to ground fighting again.

If you are interested in this kind of training in the Seattle area, contact Jake through his Blog "The Ground Never Misses" and "Three Harmonies Martial Arts Center". Jake's a great instructor.


And if you doubt the fighting ability of Chickens, here is a re-post of my Turkey vs. Rooster story from 2009: "Turkeys; Fear The Lowly Rooster!"

When I was running the farm down in Oregon, I had lots of animals, many of which tasted pretty good.
One year I bought six Turkey chicks. Out of the six, one died right away. I fed them out, and when Thanksgiving rolled around I butchered two and a friend butchered a third for himself. That left two very lucky Turkeys.
As it happened to be the Presidency of George Bush senior, I named the male George, and the female Barbara. I figured I'd keep them around until we needed to eat 'em.
All winter long I watched with disgust as the birds drug themselves through the mud at the farm, eating bugs and wheat shoots coming up in the field. They didn't look so appetizing as they battled winter storms and made themselves a general nuisance.
Winter turned into spring, a new girlfriend (now my wife) moved in and the nuisance became a hazard. It seems that Barbara couldn't stand having another female to compete with, and took to flying up in my sweetheart's face. At thirty pounds, that's something to watch out for. I gave her what we called "the Barbara stick" which my sweetie swung mightily and beat some respect into that bitch Barbara.
Now George on the other hand, well he became the life of the party. He would chase anything with a motor. Tractors. Cars. Lawnmowers. Anything.
We would have parties where George would wander in and out between the legs of the guests and stomp his feet and hiss. My buddies would pour beer on his head just to watch him turn purple with feigned Turkey rage. George thought he was top cock.
At times when I let my chickens out to free-range, George decided he hated one of the Roosters. He was at least three-times the Rooster's size, and chased him relentlessly for weeks on end.
Finally the Rooster had had enough, and learned how to fight back. While George the Turkey would try to use his size and weight to bear down and stomp the Rooster, the Rooster figured out how to expertly duck under the Turkey's wing and come up spurring from George's blind side. Over and over he bloodied that Turkey George, and before long it was the Rooster that was top cock. Now we watched with amusement as the Rooster chased huge George the Turkey all over the farm.
Lesson learned?
The mobility, agility and sheer willpower of the Rooster overcame the immense bulk of George the Turkey.

And here's Lou De Xiu performing a very dynamic version of the Xingyi Rooster:

Monkey Business

Yesterday it was once again time to empty my cup (beginners mind) and fill my instructor's rice bowl, paying a visit to Jake Burroughs for more Xingyi training.
On the agenda was another animal form, in this case the Monkey. Jake knows several versions, the one we worked on was as taught by Tim Cartmell. This is the first Xingyi form I have learned that uses the corners rather than a simple "I" pattern.
Monkey is the smartest animal, and fights with deception. While appearing to be shy and defensive, the monkey explodes with power and frenzy. The energy is light and mobile, using a hand-pass to neutralize an opponent's punch. Fingers are extended to rake at the opponent's eyes with paws (palms) slapping both defensively and offensively. Monkey attacks low to finish high, or finger-strikes at opponents eyes to illicit a response - perhaps then going low with a kick. There is a very powerful jumping knee-strike, and some Bagua-type footwork in the turns that enable leg trapping.
Without a doubt, the Monkey form contains some of the nastiest, dirtiest techniques I have learned so far in our Xingyi style. I looked around on youtube but couldn't find a sample of the form suitable for posting. As in many Chinese arts, there are countless variations of similar forms, and I don't want to misrepresent this one.
Let me say that video is the single greatest training tool we can use. Jake is very open and encourages students to film training sessions, and it is invaluable. It's priceless watching myself stumble through the tricky timing of a form like this, and no matter how many notes we take after class nothing compares to the raw truth of video. Additionally, we can see the form as our instructor wants it to be performed, and strive to achieve that level.
Jake went through many, many applications of the form and we finished up with some more conventional Boxing concepts and entries to grappling take downs. It's going to take weeks or months of practice to smooth this form out, but I now have a significant chunk of the animal forms with Dragon, Tiger, Monkey, Horse and Tuo (or Alligator).
If you are in the Seattle area and interested in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts training, contact Jake Burroughs at his websites linked HERE and HERE

Martial; Where "Art" Thou?

The last couple of posts (Is Western Boxing An Art? and Western Boxing Influence In Asian Martial Arts) has sparked a lively debate in the age-old question of "what makes an art?" in general.
Let's take a further look; first of all, the reality of my past Karate, especially Tae Kwon Do, sucked until I took up boxing hand drills. My friend Tom brought his past boxing experience to our Dojo, and it improved our fighting skills by huge leaps and bounds. Western boxing is undoubtedly the easiest learned and fastest path to fighting skills that I have practiced.
Now, let's examine the historical development of the so-called "Asian Martial Arts".
Not long ago I was at a training session with Tim Cartmell. People familiar with Tim recognize him as a very capable authority on traditional Chinese martial arts as well as a champion Brazilian Jujitsu competitor.
I asked Tim what he thought about the trigrams in the Bagua symbol and how they related to the practice of Baguazhang.
Tim pretty much shrugged it off. He told me that the interjection of Taoist symbology in the fighting art was a relatively modern phenomenon, supported by Chinese intellectuals in a time of relative peace. This helped spread the practice of "internal" arts and the element of mysticism appealed to the upper middle-class.
Tim's student (and my Xingyi instructor) Jake Burroughs added these comments in the previous post:

"JAB said...
LOL! Got news for you brother, the Chinese fit their fighting arts to their philosophies. Originally there were three fists in Xing Yi, but that did not fit the five elements so two more were added.
Traditionally there were three palm changes, single, double, smooth body palm... did not fit the philosophies of the I Ching, so they added 5 more to make eight.
Qi is a Chinese word for energy. Energy is in every living thing regardless of that things awareness, nor how any of us define it. Trust me... boxers have PLENTY of qi when they hit!
Meditation is a religious, personal endeavor. To link it to "art" is not contextual.
Of course this is all subjective. Is boxing dangerous... of course it is! Does not negate the art does it? All MARTIAL arts are inherently dangerous if practiced properly. We minimize risks, but they still exist.
To watch the greats like Ali, Fraser, Louis, Foreman, Mayweather, pacman..... to watch them move, strike, slip, step is simply beautiful IMO! The athleticism and ability to perform a skill with such intent and focus is not an art form? By your definition no Olympic sport is an art, BJJ is not an art, pretty much everything that does not have an asian-mystic-metaphysic-religious slant on it is not an art according to your definition. Hell even art is not art in most cases according to your definition!
Cheers
JAB

Jake makes some good points. But if I stay true to my position, I will say that when I was our high school's all-around gymnast and on the wrestling team, I was practicing a sport, not an art.

Additionally, I think what we understand about the Chinese internal arts in particular, is that they have evolved from pure pugilism to a holistic practice combining all the elements of physical and mental health, self-defense applications (even though they may not be the most cutting-edge in effectiveness), and lineage to an ancient historical perspective. Think about how ritual dance in tribal times reflected the success of the hunt or victory in combat.

As I wrote in the last post, I'm reading Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Gou's book "Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals; A Historical Perspective". The author's speak directly to this subject:

From "Religion, Morality, and Martial Arts", page 85
"The idea that martial arts were linked to either Taoist or Buddhist philosophy came about when martial arts stopped being a practical trade and started to be a form of recreation for the upper and middle classes. This process began in the late 1800's and accelerated at the start of the Republican era (1912).
To enhance the image of their arts, teachers started connecting up Chinese philosophy with the study and practice of their styles. Doing so brought an intellectual element to what had previously been a physical trade or skill".

So we see that the intellectual, philosophical element in Chinese martial arts has been included in their training for over one hundred-years!

That's a pretty good track record for me. I consider it evidence of the evolution of Chinese martial arts in a time of increasing industrialization. A connection to something greater than life prattled away in a factory job and the hustle of modern society.

I've really appreciated all the comments in the past few posts, everyone had great perspectives.
As promised, I will soon have a review of Kennedy and Gou's "Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals", I want to give it a solid read first.

For more thoughts on this subject, see "Why Do I Train In Ancient, Obscure Arts?"

Team Seattle Tears It Up At No-Gi Championship

Brian Johnson Kicks Ass

Hey!
Some of the local boys Did quite well at the recent No-Gi World Championship grappling tournament held in Irvine California.
Watching Brian Johnson go to work on these guys is truely seeing a grappling master in the creative process.
Now, aside from High School wrestling (which had quite different rules) I really have no working knowledge of how BJJ-type systems operate.
With that in mind, I got quite a lot out of hearing Brian coaching Jake Burroughs (fight below) from the side of the ring. You can hear Brian helping Jake with strategy and brings him along to a successful win.
As Jake says on his Blog; Respect the wristlock, Bitches!

Jake's Wristlock

Congratulations to Brian Johnson, Jake Burroughs and David Meyer!

For more of the matches, go to Jake's Blog "The Ground Never Misses" at THIS LINK

You can find out more about The Northwest Jiu Jitsu Academy at THIS LINK

Xingyi Seminar; And a New Camera!

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Well, I did survive the Xingyi seminar down at Jake Burroughs' Three Harmony Martial Arts Center this weekend. Above is a picture of me in the Xingyi "San Ti" posture from a couple of years ago. Jake has corrected several posture issues that I now see in my stance. I use this pic because I haven't completely figured out how to extract small clips and still photo's from my new Samsung video camera, below:

My wife snagged this camera for my birthday, and I had to have a kid from the video generation help me figure it out. It was very reasonably priced at about $230, and of course came with a new software that I am stumbling through right now. When I learn it better, I should be able to have better video production and all the bells and whistles. If anybody else has this camera and has suggestions, let me know.
--But back to the seminar:
Jake taught us two forms; the Horse, and the Tuo (which is variously refered to as the Water-skimmer or Aligator).
The Horse is a bold, agressive form as many Xingyi forms are. Horses rear up and hit with their hooves. In this way, the applications have two fist variations; one is with conventional fists; the other uses the knuckles of the fingers to "rap", like knocking on a door. This is the version I prefer. The knuckle rap is not for heavy knock-out hits; it is for attacking the opponent's hand metacarpals (back of hand/fist), pressure-points on arms, or bony areas on the skull etc.
Used in this way, the horse form attacks sting and numb the opponent's guard or draw blood above the eyes. They can be used in angles that a boxing punch can not.
-- The Tuo (water skimmer/alligator) moves in a zig-zag pattern and unlike the other Xingyi forms I have learned it does not turn back, it moves foward and moves backward. One arm is held high in a conventional block level, the other is low, palm out for groin slaps.
The Xingyi that Jake teaches is heavily influenced by master instructor Tim Cartmell, author of "Effortless combat Throws" and other titles. As you can imagine, the gap with the opponent is closed using the form applications described above, and then many options open up for throwing and sweeping the opponent.
After the seminar, Zac and I stayed for another hour with Jake, which included correction on other forms but focused on infighting skills. This begins at San Ti crossed-hands range, closes with slaps and strikes and goes to the takedown set-up. Then the partners re-set and the game begins again. This is done at a 70% speed, is non-cooperative for a sense of reality, but not done so aggresively that it is beyond the capability of learning speed.
Lots of fun, I'll keep working on my new video software, and maybe pull a few stills or clips.

***** For information on Chinese Martial Arts In Seattle, contact Jake Burroughs at Three Harmonies Martial Arts Center

Check Out Jake Burroughs New Blog And Website

Jake Burroughs, Second From Right

Hey! My buddy Jake Burroughs has finally got a new website up, with lots of great information on Chinese Martial Arts and some great photos also. Jake has worked tirelessly to bring world-class master instructors in Mantis, Xing Yi and Bagua, along with top-level Brazilian Jujitsu instructors to the Seattle area. The link for the new "Three Harmonies Martial Arts Center" can be found at THIS LINK.
Also, take a spin over to Jake's new Blog "The Ground Never Misses", which profiles guest instructors and seminars. Also included this month are video links and analysis of grappling tournaments in which Jake and Brian Johnson of NW Jiu Jitsu Academy competed in. Lots more good stuff at "The Ground Never Misses"!

Yin-Style Bagua With Mike Martello

One more video of Mike Martello at his last Seattle seminar, this one is of the Yin-style Bagua portion which I attended. Notice how Mike explains concepts of movement with individual drills. Next, he introduces and combines those drills in a linear short form - Xaio Kai Men (Small Opening Gate). And lastly, he demonstrates how the movements in the form translate into self-defense applications in the partner circle-walking drill.
Although Xaio Kai Men is a linear form, it's easy to put it into walking the circle and use it like any of the other Bagua palm changes.

These and other seminars have been generously hosted by Jake Burroughs of Seattle's "Three Harmonies Chinese Martial Arts Center", website available at THIS LINK.
Jake will also be hosting a seminar with Tim Cartmell Feb. 7-8, with sessions on grappling and Bagua applications. For more information, contact Jake Burroughs at the website linked above.

Mike Martello: Throwing Part Two

Ya gotta' love this.
Remember, Mike Martello is just a little over five-feet tall. You can see the amount of power he is able to generate with that compact, wirey frame.

Mike Martello Seattle Seminar

Here's part one of a seminar with Mike Martello at Jake Burroughs school in Seattle.
Mike is one of the best instructors I have had the pleasure to meet and train with. He's got just the right amount of "class clown" to make everything you learn outright fun, but as you can see he is skilled and serious about his teaching.
I wonder if the Judo guys out there have any observations about the differences in the Chinese-style throwing, including the set-ups.

Congratulations Jake Burroughs!

Well, well... look who made the big time!
Our old buddy Jake Burroughs of "Three Harmonies Chinese Martial Arts Center" has an article published in the prestigious "Journal Of Asian Martial Arts".
Jake's article is titled “A comprehensive introduction to Sun Family Taiji boxing: Theory and applications”, and this publication is one of the very highest quality martial arts magazines I have seen. (I guess I'll finally have to get my subscription now).
Jake has worked tirelessly to bring many high-level martial arts instructors to the Seattle area, including various seminars I attended with Tim Cartmell and Mike Martello. He has built a strong body of knowledge and his school is very hands-on and grappling oriented. If you are in the Seattle area and want to learn more about Jakes school and upcoming seminars, please check out "Three Harmonies Chinese Martial Arts Center". Good Job Jake!