Mindset Means Everything. 

Keep things simple. The following quote simplifies the term ‘Martial’ and if used will focus your training to make it more effective for a real life or death situation. It hangs in our school to focus us on what real Martial Arts are about.

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Fighting For Your Life is Not a Sport

In 1907, Fairbairn answered a recruiting call from the Shanghai police department. Shanghai at that time was known as ‘The Whore of The Orient’ – a city with so many drug addicts, thieves, pirates and hustlers, that it contained an estimated 100,000 criminals.

He developed his own fighting style, named ‘Defendu’, and also his own patented assassin’s knife.

Eventually the name Fairbairn became synonymous with the most savage kind of underhanded, immoral and effective techniques employed by any fighting force in the world. Fairbairn was so vicious and calculating that, together with fellow close-combat instructor Eric Sykes (the other Heavenly Twin), and at the age of 58, he was called upon to train British, American and Canadian commando forces in close-combat, pistol-shooting and knife-fighting techniques during World War II.

All this was wonderful of course, but Fairbairn’s greatest achievement was not in his own murderous exploits, but his success in changing the mindset of the neophyte Allied guerrilla forces, recently formed by Winston Churchill.

While the rest of the army maintained certain battle etiquette, Fairbairn grimly emphasized the simple choice for the secret soldiers: life or death.

The key to the Fairbairn-Sykes style of combat was forgetting any idea of gentlemanly conduct or fighting fair. Said Fairbairn, “I teach what is called ‘gutter fighting’. Get tough, get down in the gutter, win at all costs. There’s no fair play, no rules except one: kill or be killed.”

Future leaders of the CIA were some of his students during World War II. One later recalled that Fairbairn had “an honest dislike of anything that smacked of decency in fighting”. Another said of training, “Within 15 seconds, I came to realize that my private parts were in constant jeopardy.”

But as Fairbairn reminded them, “There will be some who will be shocked by the methods recommended here. To them I say ‘In war you cannot afford the luxury of squeamishness. Either you kill and you capture, or you will be captured and killed’.

“We’ve got to be tough to win and we’ve got to be ruthless. Tougher and more ruthless than our enemies.”

Fairbairn didn’t want screw-loose crazies either. He immediately dumped braggart candidates who promised to blow the head off the first German they saw. “We don’t want this sort of heroes,” he explained. “We want disciplined types who live and keep fighting.”

from: article by Andrew Logan @https://www.theroar.com.au/2015/08/20/wallabies-must-learn-art-gutter-fight/

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Are You Really Training for Self-Defense?

There is a world of difference between facing a competitor in the ring and facing an angry, irate, armed assailant in the street that is determined to hurt or even kill you. What you might find useful in a sports match/competition could get you killed in a real life or death situation. Life or Death fights and sport fights call for totally different fighting tactics, techniques, training methods and attitudes. Many gyms today mainly specialize in tournament fighting or competitions. That type of training is great for getting you into shape but it does not focus on situations where rules do not apply. This is why so many people leave the martial arts after they get into a real fight and their tournament training goes out the window and they usually lose. 

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An article that I have kept for 30 years because it holds timeless truths. I am showing it here for educational purposes.

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Wing Chun and its teachings as we have come to understand them.

1. Wing Chun uses lots of “tricks”and techniques which many might consider “dirty”, “low-blows”, “unfair”, or “illegal”. You should use these to your advantage if attacked.

2. You must attack and destroy your opponent until they are not physically capable of harming you or your loved ones any more. To do otherwise is to risk your life and those you love.

3. Finish off your opponent or they can and will recover, attack, and defeat you. You must never think or believe otherwise.

4. You must never show your opponent mercy nor should you train or believe as if they will show it to you. There is no “tapping out” and rules when you leave the safety of your school.

5. Your eyes must appear to your opponent as if filled with destruction and mayhem. Your eyes must remain predatory in nature and appearance.

6. Your hands should be deceptive to allow you to lead your opponent to their own downfall.

7. Strategy, deception and cunning tactics should be used to your best advantage when attacked.

8. Never give up an inch of ground to your opponent unless it gains you a foot.

9. Do not find yourself in unfavorable circumstances or situations. Know your surrounding and predicament at all times. This is called situational awareness.

10. Always remain humble and never boast. Remember greatness is born of humble beginnings and arrogance ends in an humbled state.

11. Your attacks must be like a butcher preparing his meats for the market. Kindness will not give you success in battle but it will quickly leave you helpless and destroyed.

12. Movement and fight strategy should incorporate misdirection and deception to make your opponent feel like they are chasing smoke.

13. If you encounter an opponent who is physically stronger than you, strategy, misdirection and an brutal mindset are the keys to defeat him.

14. When you encounter an opponent who is much weaker than you, be mindful of strategies that incorporate misdirection. If you do so, you will need not fear harm.

15. Use of power, strength or cunning does not depend on your opponent’s size. Large or small, use the same strength, power and deception on both: all of your abilities and attributes must be used to defeat your opponent. Do not see your art as having a volume control. See it as only having an off and on switch when using your skills.

16. The art of Wing Chun is based on you being the target. You do not change techniques based on the opponent’s size or the opponent in general. They must reach you, attack you. When they do, unleash Hell on them.

17. Wing Chun does not have kicks. It has leg breaks.

18. Wing Chun is the art of ambush or guerrilla tactics applied to personal combat.

-©Dustan Carroll

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Martial Arts Schools: A Comparison

Based on my observations over the years, there are really 4 basic types of martial arts schools (or some slight variation there of):

• Traditional Martial Arts Schools – This is learning the “art” for its own sake. Think of it like learning to sculpt bonsai trees or paint Chinese calligraphy because you enjoy it as an artistic discipline – not because you’re gaining life saving skills to defend yourself or others from harm in a modern sense. It is about preserving an artistic tradition more or less. These schools talk a lot about philosophy and enjoy learning about the history of the art, the culture and language where the art comes from such as China, Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, etc. They often incorporate religious aspects from those cultures as well. There is nothing wrong with learning another culture or language etc. but many people don’t want that because they are searching only for a way to defend themselves and later realize they have wasted their time and money. This often times leaves them thinking all schools are like this. 
• The Award/Certification Driven or Trendy Schools-This is the kind of school and training with which most people are familiar. They market to and capitalize on the parent or person that believes that their school front dojo will help them or their son or daughter learn how to defend themselves. These schools usually have some catchy name that invokes images of power or strength etc. They often offer many types of programs including fitness and are certified in all the popular/trendy martial art styles or fitness programs. They are selling people false security because these schools aren’t teaching people a Combat Martial Arts system designed for the realities of fighting for your life. They are teaching you martial discipline and or made up katas from centuries ago or from yesterday based on some idea of how combat should be, so they can make money by having you learn another kata or form to test for another rank or belt. There is nothing wrong with learning more forms/ styles or getting more belts but certification and awards won’t protect you and they have very little to do with learning to fight for your life.
• MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Schools – these schools focus on training for sport fighting – which is NOT the same as studying how to survive a street fight. Remember that the ultimate goal in sports fighting is NOT the same as a street fight. In street fighting the goal is to end the fight fast – in MMA it’s to make money off of the spectators paying to watch a fight play out according to rules that only prolong the fight. Fight promoters don’t want fights to end in seconds the way most street fights do, so they remove the most effective fighting moves with rules, weight classes and even sometimes require protective gear. These schools prohibit weapons or training with them because those things are not allowed in the ring. They also focus on one-on-one fighting as opposed to multiple opponents attacking you like in a street fight. These schools will definitely help you get into great shape and do teach fighting aspects but with limitations because they are based on rules for the ring etc.
• The Martial Focused Schools – This is the type of training also known as “street fighting” or self-defense (this is what we teach here at our school).  Martial Combat has one goal – to end the fight fast. There are NO rules, NO ring, and NO referees – and every confrontation could end in serious injury or death so we teach students to avoid every fight possible. This type of school emphasizes the martial aspects or fighting aspects, as we believe they should, to train a person how to protect themselves, their loved ones and their property in a modern world, under real conditions. 

Statistics show that your average store front or commercially trained black belt does not do any better in a street fight than any other average guy because their training is inadequate and unsuited for the reality of it. For most black belts, their training simply goes out the window when the fight starts because the attacker or attackers aren’t point sparring or “playing by rules” and the situation is so foreign to their training experience.

Your average commercial martial arts school and classes concentrate on teaching discipline and complicated fine motor techniques that do not work when your adrenaline starts to pump because you are under attack. Also, the reality is many martial arts techniques are simply made up in a dojo with compliant students and helpful members of the class who would never brandish a weapon or fight dirty. Don’t ever expect that type of situation in a real fight where serious injury can and often does occur. 

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Old School Garage Training:

Back to the Basics

What do Bruce Lee, James Lee, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Ginchin Funakoshi, Wally Jay, Rorion Gracie, Tatang Ilustrisimo and many other great masters all have in common?

They all trained in backyards and garages. Many have taught and been taught out of the humble garage.

A student should consider it an honor to be allowed to train in an instructor’s home. Some of the greatest instructors choose to teach only family or individuals they know and trust. They do not want to commercialize their arts.  Some of the world’s most famous practitioners have taught and been taught in backyards, garages and basements. That being said, there is no reason to ever look down on garage training or pass up the opportunity to be trained in one. There is definitely no reason for any student to ever be embarrassed about training in their teacher’s garage or home. 

The Oakland Garage

In 1964, Bruce Lee and his family moved in with James Yimm Lee and his family for several years. Bruce Lee and James Yimm Lee soon opened a kung fu school in James Yimm Lee’s garage. During this timeframe, Bruce Lee created his personal expression of the arts known as jeet kune do.

Joe Louis training in his outdoor facility and Jack Dempsey training with a sledgehammer

The Home Taught Father of Modern Karate 

In the world of Japanese Karate, everyone knows of  Gichin Funakoshi (founder of Shotokan karate) but did you know that he trained in his friend’s, Ankō Asato, home? Funakoshi traveled every night to the Asato family residence to be trained in karate by his instructor, Ankō Asato. He sought training, not a well-equipped commercial school. He valued top notch training over the cosmetics of other places to train. Funakoshi continued this tradition of home training by training his own students in his personal home. The name for his style explains this fact. “Kan” means ‘home or hall of’ and “Shoto” was the pen name of Funakoshi. 

Other practitioners of the Japanese arts such as Wally Jay of Small Circle Jujitsu fame, taught out of his basement in Alameda and Gracie Jiu Jitsu (Brazilian version of the Japanese art of Jiu Jitsu) also began in humble garage like schools.

Much like Bruce Lee and James Lee in Oakland and Joe Louis, the legendary Professor Wally Jay, creator of  “Small Circle Jiu Jitsu”, taught students in his basement. Wally Jay was scorned by others for years because of the location of his school and his personal approach to the Japanese arts but that didn’t stop him from spreading his knowledge and understanding.

Wally Jay from his humble basement school to teaching others such as Master Dan Inosanto  and JKD instructor Tim Tackett

The Original Gracie School

The Gracies with their Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu began in a two-car garage and catapulted themselves to recognition by offering great training to students in the late 1970’s.

Upon arriving in the United States in 1978, Rorion Gracie wanted to share his family’s system of self-defense to students but needed a place to train them. After asking several instructors to teach in their schools and being declined, he did what every true martial artist does, started training people in his garage.

 Rorion rented a small house with a two-car garage in Hermosa Beach, California.  He outfitted the garage and began teaching private classes to students. Now much like Wally Jay and other individuals mentioned in this article he became famous for his love of his art and dedication to his training.

Swordsman of Cebu and Reluctant Teacher Tatang Ilustrisimo

In The Filipino Martial Arts, Antonio “Tatang” Ilustrisimo is a well-known figure. He also trained in humble surrounding to become world famous and one of the deadliest fighters of the Philippine islands.

Tatang had trained as a youth in his family style of Kalis and under others as well as he traveled aboard a merchant marine ship. He was a well-known guerilla fighter during WWII against invading forces in his homeland. In 1976, Antonio ‘Tatang’ Ilustrisimo accepted his first students Tony Diego and Yuli Romo and began teaching them in his home. These two students trained at Tatang’s home and in the park with their master. Both students went on to become famous in their own right but kept to teaching in parks, backyards and in their family homes. There must be something to this tradition with so many following it.

Tatang Teaching in the Park

Teachers like the ones mentioned in this article, who are so passionate about training, and honing their abilities, choose to not use their time trying to run a commercial school, fill out paperwork, advertise, or satisfy the masses to meet the bills. Teachers, like these, choose to use their time for training and developing their skills and students. Maybe they understand that once anyone begins the process of commercializing their art, they will begin to lose something that can only be nurtured in a small tight knit group which loves training and the arts for what they are. The love of training and the art itself diminishes quickly when one needs to worry about paying the lease, electric bill, water bill, advertising bill and so on and so on. There is little room left for training and personal development when the bill collector is always knocking. The cost is too expensive and too much of a hassle for the real diehards out there it seems.

As I was researching this topic and reading about these masters and how they trained, I came across an article that explained how Tim Tackett, of JKD fame, still teaches out of his garage in the Redlands as he feels Bruce ultimately wanted practitioners to do. As I read that, it occurred to me that maybe we all should be doing this. I can’t help but think that part of the problem with the martial arts today might be the over commercialization of the arts and the unscrupulous individuals that the lure of easy money draws to it. These individuals who don’t really love the art or students just see an easy payday. They use accounting/banking programs and martial arts marketing techniques (taught through marketing programs sold to would be commercial teachers promising more profit, revenue and student fees) to quickly separate students from their hard-earned money by selling students school uniforms, special gear, must have fitness programs and “premier training” facilities with backlighting and cool catch phrases and contracts to keep the money flowing in. It seems they have lost their way in the arts. They have veered too far from the true essence of the art for the sake of profit. You can’t blame them though because the martial arts industry is unregulated, and anyone can open a school whether they know the art or can teach the art or not. Most of them are just looking for ways to grow their student base and thus their paycheck. They open schools and overextend themselves with too much overhead and the bills that such elaborate facilities require. I can’t help but think that if the backyard, garage based masters , Bruce Lee, James Lee, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Shotokan Karate’s founder Funakoshi, Wally Jay, Rorion Gracie and Tatang Ilustrisimo had used their time and energy to focus on marketing and selling their arts to the masses instead of training like they did in those garages, basements and backyards, we might not have ever known who they were or worse yet have been exposed to their brilliant insights and innovations to their beloved arts. 

There is something primal about garage training that one cannot replicate in a commercial school where one might find comical signs that say things like “Only Clean Shoes and Dirty Fighting Techniques Beyond This Point”. What? Who are they trying to kid? The real training has always been in small diehard groups who could care less about appearances or comfortable facilities and want to experience the gritty truth of a martial art. These diehards know that the bright mats and multiple aerobic/weightlifting or cross training fitness programs only take time and resources away from actually learning the art that these commercial school owners are professing to teach so well. 

An old adage taught in every art I have ever trained in was “constantly return to the basics”. Maybe it is time for this to occur in this sense as well.

(This article is for educational purposes only. I do not profess to own copyright to any of the photos used. The photos were only used to show the imagery of these historic masters and their schools.  I only own copyright to the written portion of this article. All pictures used here fall under the fair use educational clause of the U.S. Copyright laws for this historic educational commentary.)

©Dustan Carroll

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Family Style the Original Way to Train

At the Wing Chun Boxing Academy, we teach Family Style or Village Style. What does that mean? We teach those who are accepted here, what we teach our family members to protect themselves. We also train as private students. This is the time-honored way of teaching martial or fighting arts, no matter what culture.

There are examples of this training methodology throughout history. Where sons and daughters were taught the nastiest and most efficient methods early in their training so they could defend their homes, families and the few material possessions the family needed. Life was far from easy during most of human history. Pirates and bandits plagued the coasts and villages. Village warfare was commonplace because many invaders sought fertile lands and resources and would use violence to attain these necessities. During such difficult times, families had to develop skills and fighting methods to protect themselves. They adopted or picked up efficient methods from members who served in the military or from encounters and alliances with other groups as they travelled and experienced new ways of accomplishing their ultimate purpose in developing a fighting art. The ultimate purpose or goal for the family was self-preservation. These methods and tactics were typically not taught outside the home or the family network.

We recently grew tired of the commercial mindset and all that that entails. At the beginning of this year, we went back to the family model and training methods that has historically produced some of the most effective fighters because of what they were training to protect, and it was what we felt current martial or fighting arts were lacking in this modern era.

Why weapons-based fighting methods? Well throughout time the methods taught understood that weapons gave distinct advantages to smaller, younger and weaker individuals at ending threats to the home and family. Force multipliers allowed weaker individuals to overcome stronger adversaries. Empty Hand Methods were developed to allow one to get to a weapon, improvised or not and then with weapon in hand, end the threat. From the weapons methods, the empty hand techniques became methods that sought to harm weaker areas of the body such as throat or groin.

In this spirit we have returned to the root ideas of the martial or fighting arts. Some have called what we do here as “Old School”, “Dirty Fighting”, “Dirty Boxing” or “Gutter Fighting”. We have had others call us disrespectful because we do not teach philosophy or theoretical material that can be found in many schools or other areas of life. Others can train as they wish because ultimately it is their life they are training to protect. We see our approach as the most traditional and practical approach as example after example proved our conclusions to be correct. We looked at many individuals such as Leung Jan (Wing Chun) and what conclusions he arrived at as he retired to his home village as well as Filipino family systems that were used to protect their villages from multiple invasions and WWII methods of William E. Fairbairn that was a synthesis of Chinese Kung Fu and Japanese Jujitsu that he learned and used to protect himself and others as a police officer in a crime ridden Shanghai, China. They all sought simplicity, practicality and ultimately effectiveness. These things became their legacy and traditions. None wanted to waste time, energy or lives in fights using techniques that were not universal in their transferability (meaning skills that easily transferred from weapon to empty hand or vice versa). 

We have returned to the original purpose and model of transmission of the martial or fighting arts through the in-home family style. We do not believe martial or fighting arts should consume your life but enrich it and your relationships by promoting responsibility, honesty, integrity, helpfulness, respect for yourself and others, self-discipline and the protection of family and life in general.

Written by Dustan Carroll (copyright 2019 all rights reserved. No part can be used without written permission of the author)

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Use of Force Continuum

Police have a special set of rules that they must use called the Use of Force Continuum.  These rules explain and detail the level of force an officer can escalate to if the suspect resists. I think we can all learn a lot from these rules they must follow. Here is the list courtesy of Rory Miller’s book, “Scaling Force”. I highly recommend this book, (All of Rory’s book are great. You need to go to Amazon and buy them)

I have used these in teaching my classes for years because I have had many LEO and military personnel train with me.

Level 1 Presence – Using authority, body language, etc to de-escalate and control. This can be learned by anyone and your training should include it.
Level 2 Voice – Using tone, volume, even word choice (sometimes you have to even use inappropriate words/ profanity to get the attention of the would be attacker and make them think twice before launching an attack on your person) to dominate or dictate a conversation or situation to prevent it from becoming physical. Believe me attackers use this.) In your training you should also train to use these tools and become acquainted with it so a would be attacked can’t use it against you with maximum effect, stunning you into freezing up.
Level 3 Touch – Using non-damaging physical contact to calm, direct, or distract. This is important to train  if your voice does not deter the would be attacker because you can’t always escalate to less lethal or lethal force in situations.
Level 4 Control – Using technique to restrain or control a violent situation. This would include many of your joint locks and other mechanisms of control that some self-defense classes offer. You should also use voice at this point to try to de-escalate the situation.
Level 5 Less Lethal – Using strikes, bone breaks, sprains, etc to eliminate a violent threat.
Level 6 Lethal – Using lethal force to eliminate a deadly threat.

Like I teach my own children, never use unnecessary force in any situation. Always look for away out of the situation that is peaceful and where no one gets hurt but police officers do not have the option of walking away because they are called into stop dangerous situations or crimes in progress. 

I hope this helps others in their training.

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The Secrets of Scientific Street Fighting

by techfeatured May 25, 2017

Scientific street fighting is all about understanding the human bodies physiological response to a fight and understanding the effectiveness of various street fighting strategies based on statistics.

Scientific street fighting may sound complicated but it’s not. It is actually quite simple. The best part is it is actually easier than learning a martial art. The key is that scientific street fighting eliminates showing difficult to do moves in favor of simple techniques that have a proven track record of success.

So here we go…

How Your Body Reacts to a Street Fight:

The first thing many people notice (and the most important things when it comes to fighting) is that your hands begin to shake. This is not a sign that you are scared; it is your body’s natural reaction to a life-threatening situation.

What does this mean for scientific street fighting? It means that fine motor skills shut down, things like handwriting or complex martial arts moves (like joint locks that require several steps). This is critically important so pay attention.

Why in the world would your body shut down fine motor skills when your life is being threatened? The thing is your body sacrifices fine motor stills for increased strength and speed in gross (or large) motor skills. These are much more important things like running, jumping, punching, and kicking.

The key to scientific street fighting is understanding this reaction, and creating a fighting system that takes full advantage of your stronger and faster gross motor skills. Don’t even waste your time trying to learn complex moves your body simple won’t let you use in the heat of the moment.

The loss of fine motor skill is by far the most important part of scientific street fighting but here are a few more reaction that are pretty cool:

Your skin will go pale, because your body is restricting blood flow to the skin. This reduces blood loss from shallow cuts and scrapes you will likely receive.

To save energy you brain stops recording as many short-term memories as possible. This is why people often can’t remember exactly what happened after a disaster or fight.

There are a lot of other really cool things your body does to get you ready for a fight, but when it comes to scientific street fighting the number one thing to think about is focusing on gross motor skills.

Any move or technique that will work well in a street fight should be simple and easy to learn. In fact, it should not take you more than a few hours to become proficient in any self-defense technique.

I’m not saying you will master anything in a few hours, but you should be able to learn it well in this amount of time. If you can’t it’s probably based on fine motor skills that take tons of time to learn. These fancy moves are likely to get you hurt when you really need it.

Okay now for the scientific street fighting statistics…

The number one street fighting statistic you should learn and live by is that the average street fight last between 3 and 8 seconds. That’s right. No 5-minute street boxing scene from some movie, just 3 to 8 seconds of ugliness.

So if you are going to focus on scientific street fighting this means that you need to take care of business fast.

To further illustrate this point, I like to use another statistic. The person who hits first is way more likely to win the street fight. If you haven’t figured it out yet hitting first means that for at least one or two of those 3 to 8 seconds you will be ‘winning.’

The last statistic is that after 12 seconds the fight will almost always go to the ground. Now most fights never get to this point. 12 seconds is a long time in a street fight, but if it does go that long it will go to the ground.

What does this mean for scientific street fighting? Well, first of all it means that you should try your best to end it in less than 12 seconds.

Going to the ground dramatically increases your chances of getting seriously hurt. I often tell people nothing good happens on the ground. You will get cuts, scrapes, lose skin on your palms, elbows, knees, and face, and don’t forget about having your head slammed into the concrete (and I didn’t even get to the part where bystanders or you attackers friends start kicking you).

Bottom line, try to end the fight in less than 12 seconds by hitting first, using gross motor skills, and dirty fight moves.

You should also realize that if the fight does go longer than 11 seconds you will need to know how to handle yourself on the ground. There are scientific street fighting skills that will dramatically improve your chances of winning on the ground, but I’ll save that for another occasion.

Okay here’s a quick review of scientific street fighting:

1. Don’t waste your time on fine motor skill moves, they won’t work in a street fight (This is not an opinion it’s a fact).
2. Use gross motor skills like punching, eye gouging, ear slapping, head butts, kicks and only the simplest joint locks.
3. Always hit first if you want to win a fight.
4. Most fights end within 8 seconds so hit him with your nastiest barrage of attacks right from the start (using gross or simple motor skills of course).
5. End a fight as fast as possible to avoid going to the ground.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO REMEMER…

“What you need most, (Rex)Applegate realized, is to remember what it’s like to fight for real. In our quest to become more humane, we’ve forgotten that self-defense is a survival skill, not a spectator sport. Fighting has been turned into entertainment and toned down so much, it’s more about what you can’t do than what you can.”-from a book I read recently. Want to learn more about this type of training? Contact us.

Who is Rex Applegate? See link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Applegate

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Chinese Art of Self-Defense

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An Article from Martialdevelopement.com

Robbie Lawler’s Ruthless Wing Chun

Tags: EliteXC, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), rules, self-defense, Wing Chun

I’ve always known that, sooner or later, the Chinese art of Wing Chun Kuen would be represented in a professional mixed martial arts bout. I just didn’t expect to see it in MMA’s historic prime-time debut.

Robbie Lawler

On May 31, 2008, “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler forever settled any reasonable doubts about Wing Chun’s viability in real combat. And he did it by accident.

Robbie Lawler faced Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith in the inaugural broadcast of CBS’ Saturday Night Fights. During the first two rounds of this title bout, both men fought according to New Jersey’s Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts: no headbutts, biting, groin attacks, or rabbit punches; no hair-pulling or small joint manipulation; no fish-hooking or strikes to the trachea.

For more than ten minutes, Lawler and Smith used their training in boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling and BJJ to soften each other up. Neither fighter held a clear advantage, and so the exchange continued. Then “Ruthless” Lawler stuck his fingers in Smith’s eye.

Referee Dan Miragliotta halted the fight immediately. Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith hoped to continue after a five-minute rest to regain his vision, but the doctor forbids it. The match was called: no contest.

Lawler’s eye poke, unintentional though it was, ended the bout in seconds. There is little doubt in my mind that, if the referee had allowed it, Lawler could have followed up with an uncontested knockout.

Robbie Lawler fingers Scott Smith in round 3

Ring Fighting vs. Real-World Self-Defense

As a professional fighter, Scott Smith followed the match rules, and he was reasonable to assume that Robbie Lawler would do the same. However, it would also be reasonable to assume that, in a five-round fight with fingerless gloves, a stray finger could land in your eye, and to defend against such an accident.

If only such a thing were possible. The eyes are the most sensitive area on the body, and especially difficult to protect. If the opponent can so much as touch your eyes, they can damage them permanently, so the threat demands a conservative game. (The same principle applies, to a lesser degree, to defending the throat and genitals.)

Effective defense of vital areas cannot be an afterthought; it must be integrated into a fighting strategy from the outset and supported by coherent tactics. The approach must be conservative, but also vicious, in order to eliminate the threat as rapidly as possible.

Does any of this sound familiar? These are the precepts of Wing Chun Kuen, Bruce Lee’s original martial art. Wing Chun starts where MMA ends; it is brutal and direct. Rules, community standards, and basic human decency prevent it from being fully applied in the competitive arena, but as Robbie Lawler reminded us yesterday, the ruthless hands of Wing Chun should not be discounted.

https://www.martialdevelopment.com/robbie-lawlers-wing-chun/#more-236

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The above excerpt is from Musashi’s Book of Five Rings, translation by Stephen F. Kaufman, Hanshi 10th dan

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What is the Best Martial Art?

We do not believe that any style of martial art is better than any another. The most important thing for any student, is for them to gain the skill and proficiency in the style. Gaining the proficiency and skill needed, all depends on how you train, and your ability to adapt the style to fit you and your needs. 

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Which Came First? The Question That Means More Than You Know.

Wing Chun is an eastern form of martial art that employs knives, staff and empty hands. People have discussed whether (fencing) double knife methods were taught first which translated into the hand methods or vice versa. Maybe the western art of boxing holds some of the answers.

The word Boxing comes from a Middle English term meaning to strike. It is still used today in the phrase “Boxing someone’s ears.” This phrase is used in reference to the act of disciplining a person. The history of Boxing is fascinating and has parallels to Wing Chun in its earliest forms. James Figg, an Englishman, is regarded as the first to adapt fencing and pole fighting to boxing at his academy. According to news sources, in 1719, Figg helped popularize boxing by opening a training academy in London. [This is also the time when the word “boxing” first came to be used. It should be noted that this earliest form of modern boxing was very different. Contests in Mr. Figg’s time, in addition to fist-fighting, also contained fencing and cudgeling. Source: Wiki] His methods later became widespread throughout England and surrounding areas.

People of the lower class used Figg’s methods to settle disputes which transformed into a form of entertainment. Butchers were considered lower class at the time and may have influenced many of the terms used in boxing such as the jab, hook, uppercut, etc. from their occupational movements and tools. Regardless, the entire nation of England supported and practiced this fighting art.

Boxing, or more accurately called pugilism during this time, was more cruel and violent than it was sport. Men would face off and fight one another using any variety of rough methods. For example, in a typical match, if the chance presented itself, one fighter might catch hold of his opponent and toss him to the ground or floor, by his ears or by fish hooking him in the nose, eyes or mouth. It was even considered manly and proper to kick a man when he was down. “Purring”, the term of the period, was how they described kicking the downed man, eye-gouging and other rough methods. These techniques were commonly used by the fighters and hugely enjoyed by those watching.

Later in the history of boxing, Jim Driscoll tried to explain the origins and changes made to the sport of boxing. Jim Driscoll in his book Outfighting/ Long Range Boxing, wrote, “It is practically sword fencing without a sword, and follows all its movements, or rather, should follow, the same principles.”

The use of timing is one that the ardent students of bare knuckles boxing know. Old school boxing masters, who styles developed from the use of fencing, used the stop-hit to interrupt an opponent’s attack. This is not uncommon practice it would seem in martial arts that developed from blade play. The following definition of a stop hit is found on Wiki- Jeet Kune Do (developed from Wing Chun Principles): “Intercepting an opponent’s attack with an attack of your own instead of a simple block.” This strategy is an essential component of European fencing…. Stop hits & kicks utilize the principle of economy of motion by combining attack and defense into one movement thus minimizing movement and response time, as well as overwhelming the opponent. This is a Wing Chun must have. Stop hits and traps were among the techniques that were used frequently in the early form of boxing.

What changes occurred in boxing that caused practitioners to move away from some of the battle proven techniques that came from quarter staff fighting, fencing and the practice of parrying daggers? Why would you abandon knife fighting techniques that were crucial in the beginning to the hand methods? What happened to boxing if it was so similar to Wing Chun in its earliest stages? Why did it change its focus? It has to do with social acceptance and money.

Yes, I said it Money. People do not want to pay for a fight that lasts seconds. The government also wants to regulate anything they feel is harmful to people. Money is the reason why martial arts today are watered down and less lethal. The rest is gullibility. Those that do not know how to fight, watch these spectator-oriented sports and feel that the sport is what is true to life. You can’t convince them otherwise. If you beat them, they retort with “That’s because I haven’t trained enough.” If you engage them in debate about it, they say “I will fight differently in a real fight.” They actually use the words “Real Fight” nine times out of ten to counter your argument. They have bought into the BS being profited from on TV and in many “gyms” around the world. To make the fights more profitable and longer, rules were created and safety equipment such as large, padded gloves were eventually added. This practice led to the horizontal punching structure and bouncing footwork used today. It abandoned the vertical fist structure needed in a bare-knuckle fight and the flatfooted approach to using the whole body in the striking process. It removed highly effective methods that ended fights quickly and promoted techniques that caused wins to take more time and thus make more money.

Some arts remain true to their roots, but they become fewer and fewer each and every day. The watered-down versions, of the original fighting arts of days gone by, are shameful in comparison to what they once were like. When you remove the “cutting mindset” you remove the essence of many of the arts. Just look at what the samurai did and how that has become karate point matches. The practitioners don’t really understand that their blocks are hand motions that were needed when using a katana. It would seem, when based on logic, that regardless of geographic location many of the original fighting arts started with weapons that later translated into empty handed fighting systems of that region. Wing Chun, Boxing, Kali, Karate and other arts from around the world began with weapons and later were transformed into empty handed methods. Regardless we should keep this in mind, so we do not travel the road of commercialization and cripple our arts with the sport influence. We can keep our arts effective if we employ the “Cutting Edge” methods that developed them so long ago. © Dustan Carroll

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The Symbols of Wing Chun

©Dustan Carroll

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“That’s Not Wing Chun!”

I have heard this a lot since I started teaching Wing Chun Kung Fu. Let’s go over what Wing Chun is so we can understand what Wing Chun is not. Wing Chun is a martial or war-based art. Wing Chun is noted for its simultaneous use of attack and defense, protection of the centerline and yielding to force to overcome it. Wing Chun is a theory-based system that seeks the simplest solution to the problem. It does not seek to add but to subtract what is not useful, expedient, or practical. The formula should never be more complex than the problem, so to speak. The less movement, the less chance of error. If this is all true, a gun is Wing Chun. A trap is Wing Chun. Any means that adheres to simplicity, efficiency, practicality, simultaneous attack and defense, yielding to the opponent’s force while protecting would be Wing Chun. Yes, I see Wing Chun principles in other arts, but what makes Wing Chun different is it’s “cloak and dagger” like nature and its lack of care in what gets the job done. Wing Chun is not about flash but about what works. So, if it works and fits the above description, it is probably Wing Chun. So, a hook punch is Wing Chun if that was the tool needed and most practical at the time. The next time you see any weapon or item that be improvised as such, say to yourself, that is Wing Chun if used correctly. You better believe that the practitioners of the past would have used it to win. I must say however that a gun or any other weapon is not Wing Chun when you can’t use it quick enough to end the threat when you could have used whatever was in hand quicker to survive. The tool doesn’t matter as much as the method used does. The tool at hand is superior to the one you wish you could use. I was taught and teach that it is smarter to fight like a girl than stand there and take it like a man. You can believe in all that macho stuff… but I don’t. © Dustan Carroll

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What is the Focus of Wing Chun?

Based on my experiences and training, what makes Wing Chun different is that Wing Chun is the art of not getting hit. Wing Chun does not advocate swapping blows like other arts sometimes do.  As seen in the common imagery of the art, the confrontation between crane and snake, both the metaphorical and primordial interpretations apply. Wing Chun fighting concepts are found in both animals’ strengths, weaknesses, and their conflict. But first and foremost, they are animals. They do not fight for honor, ego, or bragging rights. It is a life-or-death struggle, neither animal can afford to take a strike from the other because of the lethality of such and this simple idea defines the art.

 Wing Chun is ultimately a weapons-based art. One should train everything with a knife or a weapon, and this will instantly help the student understand why they should execute certain movements instead of others.

There is a great deal of emphasis on Wing Chun as a knife-fighting art just in its most recognized symbol of two crossed knives.

The creators of the art used the Crane and Snake, two knives crossed, the plum tree blossoms hiding vicious thorns from sight to impart the true spirit of our art as a weapons-based art to future generations. Students should drill with training knives in the hands of both the Wing Chun practitioner and the “bad guys” so that students can immediately understand what they are trying to accomplish and why they are training the drill a certain way. This may come off as odd but we don’t think the knives are just hung on the wall to look pretty and add to the decor. The knives are there to motivate us to be realistic in our methods and training and to constantly remind us that if the technique doesn’t work in a knife fight, you may want to rethink it. There are many articles out there about many other arts and training methods that say one should always assume that the attacker has a weapon.  So shouldn’t we train accordingly? Firearms are also explored because you better believe that Wing Chun Practitioners of old would be training in firearms, both offensively and defensively, if they lived in our modern time frame. They were focused on what works to keep from getting hurt.

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Training for Modern Times…

If you are not training with modern weapons, you are not training for reality. Not training with modern weapons is like living in a cave instead of a modern home. All wars are fought with weapons these days to try to defeat them with sharpened sticks on the battlefield is suicide. Be Prepared for the unimaginable, not just the worst you can imagine.

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What is hiding behind the Plum Blossom of Wing Chun?

Ever wonder why the plum blossom was a symbol of Wing Chun? Well, it is simple when you realize that during the winter, they blossom which means overcoming death or defeat. Bursting forth when no other would dare. They also spread like wildfire by suckering up and creating hedgerows or barriers for the garden. I however see it differently in that I have a plum tree and they are viciously armed with 1-to-2-inch thorns that will go through your shoes into your feet when you prune them and step on the limbs. Handling these trees requires one to be gentle with it or face the consequences of it thorns.

The art of Wing Chun is a knife fighting art, a cutting art, a blade art. This is why the knives are one of the symbols as well.

People tend to only focus on the beauty of the blossom but never really look at the tree as a whole. Cut them down and they will return with sprouts in multitudes. Invading your yard garden or field. Those that have been around these trees know that mishandling one of them comes with the price of your blood.
The creators of the art hid their intentions in subtle ways because they were revolutionaries, crane and snake fighting for survival, two knives crossed, the plum tree creating new seeds (blossoms bring fruit with seeds. They also hide the thorns from sight.) or new trees with barbs…None the less it shows the art is at its essence, a knife fighter’s art, contrary to popular belief.
Stop seeing Wing Chun as just an empty hand fighting system and start seeing it as the knife fighting art it truly is.

This even answers the choppers versus stabbers question of knife design. (Images and article ©SiFu Dustan Carroll)

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Never Argue with Strength…

Are you stressed out? Feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle? Tired of arguing or maybe the political garbage that goes on all around you? Use the first axiom or rule of Wing Chun. In Wing Chun we never argue with strength. We yield to the strength. We go around it.  We flow like water.  Don’t see things as obstacles but as opportunities. Water is soft but it destroys rocks. Why? Because it flows around and eventually through whatever gets in its way. Forget your ego and flow around the situation. It is easier that way. Life becomes a series of events that flow naturally together, and you become a happier person because of it. Positive people live longer. Never arguing with force or strength will make you more positive. Yielding will prolong your life. I hope this helps you in your training and everyday lives. Keep Receiving what comes…- Dustan Carroll

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Women’s Self- Defense classes

In my opinion, most women’s self-defense classes are at best a gimmick. They only cover basics and put the women in a worse situation than before. They promote confidence without any true knowledge or muscle memory to employ the techniques taught. The classes are not long enough or consistent enough to build the needed reflexes to defend oneself in an attack. When the panic of being attacked and adrenaline sets in, the techniques taught may as well be in another country because most women can’t use them. They freeze because they have not devoted enough time to training and “resetting” their behaviors or reactions to properly defend themselves. Because many women are hesitant to be brutally violent or they “play nice” they end up being a victim. I for one do not want anyone to be victimized.  That being said, keep in mind, panic kills but so does over confidence. Be scared! Being scared helps you stay on top of your situation and vigilant of what could happen. Do not rely on the few Women Self Defense classes you took at the YMCA to make you invincible against a determined attacker. Wing Chun is the only art to ever be created by two women to defend against larger, more powerful men. Women created it for women. Stop training hard styles or military styles, they are designed for faster, flexible, weightlifting, ruck sack carrying soldiers or MEN.

(©2011, Dustan Carroll)

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Yim Wing Chun? Ng Moy? Why does it matter?

Stories give us a glimpse into the mindset of the people writing them. If they write it down and do not destroy it, there must have been a reason. The reasons can never be truly clear, but the facts still remain that the individual did indeed write it and must have had a purpose if they kept it.

This brings me to the story that everyone is trying to prove or disprove, The story of Yim Wing Chun and her teacher Ng Moy. There have been many recent public rebuttals to the story and its origins. Many claim that it was a fictionalized story. I personally look at the story as a window into the author’s mindset.

Sometime in the Mid 1960’s Master Yip Man wrote an account of the history and origins of his art, Wing Chun. We know that it wasn’t published but it was kept by him and later his sons. What was the purpose of this story if it was untrue?

Chinese culture is often misunderstood by many westerners. They see the Yin Yang symbol and see harmony. While this does show a balance of day and night etc. (you know all the things by now), it does not give the truth about how the Chinese culture tries to cultivate yang energy. Yang energy is life giving and powerful. Yin energy is to be avoided. Yin energy drains you of your strength and vitality. It is a “dark” energy that literally acts like death itself.

Yin energy is feminine and seen as deceptive, manipulative, a chaotic force to be avoided. While many westerners see yin as just a part of the whole structure many easterners see yin as the opposition and counter to yang. it is a deathly energy that one wishes to avoid through exercise, proper diet and right living. If an area or subject has too much yin or mentions death so to say it is to be avoided, there are rumors that Bruce Lee’s death occurred because his house had bad feng shui or too much yin and his last movie was yin in nature (The Game of Death).

So if yin energy is the feminine energy and Master Yip Man puts forth a history based on not one but two females creating the art, was he saying this art is a yin art? I believe he may have been explaining the true purpose of the art. To be subversive, manipulative, deceptive. Even the Art of War speaks to this manner of dealing with conflict. Maybe the story was not to provide a correct history but a correct guide in why one is training.

Let’s take a few things that could have been implied in this story.

1. Two women create it (double Yin)

A possible lesson here: If a small girl can’t do it, probably not right.

2. the Nun had watched a Crane and Snake fight (very similar to Tai Chi’s origin story)

a. Crane by itself is lonesome but symbolizes longevity.

b. Snake (A yin animal of sorts based on its need to be deceptive) symbolizes wisdom and health.

A possible lesson here: Nature is a battleground. Survival is the goal not winning points or bouts.

3. The young girl defeats a very Yang character, a male bully who will take her as a wife against her will.

A possible lesson here: Tao Te Jing “overcome hard with soft” or Bruce Lee’s “Be like water.”

4. The story then follows genealogy that shows adding what works to the arsenal and revising it each generation to be the ultimate art of destruction (Yin Force)

A possible lesson here: Pragmatism wins the day.

Yes, I intentionally only named 4 things there to show a point about the art. Chinese culture avoids the number 4 because it is very yin and sounds like the word death only with a different tone. After all is said and done, we all get put into a 4 cornered box and placed in dark rich dirt.

I think Yip Man was trying to tell us to use our wits and be extremely unorthodox in our methods. He was saying to overcome hard you must be soft and destructive.  This is all conjecture, but it is something to think about. Remember stories are used to edify a student’s understanding and impart vital information for those that can listen and “read between the lines” so to speak.

So, in conclusion, we will never know what he wrote it for, but he did write it and kept it. Was it a road map to proper training or was it a story he was told? Your guess is as good as mine. We will continue to use the story here at The Wing Chun Boxing Academy as the history because Yip Man wrote it.

(I will put up more lessons to be gleaned from this story in the future. I just wanted to put forth some food for thought. I will also explore in depth other stories told in Wing Chun and the lessons held within in the future. This is the first in a series.)

(Images and article© Dustan Carroll)

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Why the Pole and Knives?

 Why did the ancient masters of Wing Chun choose the weapons they did? The answer may be simpler than you would think. The answer lies in the abundance and scarcity of resources. The masters looked at what would be readily available in any circumstance and what they saw were two knives and a long pole. They knew that every vendor, kitchen, tea house, or home (including houseboat) would have the famous Chinese kitchen knife or knives. These knives were used for all sorts of tasks. Every part of the blade and handle could and was used by the handler. These knives could cut paper thin slices of meat with the blade. The back of the blade was used to tenderize meat or break poultry bones. The flat of the blade was used to smash garlic or other spices, the blunt handle was used as a pestle to grind spices.

The versatility of the knives was evident. They only changed the tip and then added a hand guard for those that could afford the modifications. Most households had two knives, one for light duty and one for heavier jobs.

The pole, like the knives, was everywhere. Poles were used for everything. They were used to hang clothes on, carry water with, in scaffolding, in hanging out of merchandise for customers. Everywhere you looked there were poles. The versatility of the pole was evident as well. 

Why did the masters choose the weapons they chose? Because when they looked around in their daily surroundings, they found knives and poles. They were the perfect weapons of opportunity. Simple but effective, the weapons were there for the taking if needed so Wing Chun masters took and hid their weapons in plain sight. The masters knew they were never without a weapon. ©2013 Dustan Carroll

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Tapered or not? 

Recently there was talk of tapered poles as the weapon of choice on the Red Boats. The person was asserting that a tapered pole would be needed to propel the boat and its passengers forward. Their explanation was that a smaller tip would create less suction. This got me to thinking and researching… This would be contrary to what I know about the Junk sailing boats of China. China was one of the first civilizations to use sail power and a rudder. Their boats or junks were models of efficiency. Why would anyone propel a large opera troupe, on a boat, with a pole, when they could use the sail. The whole Feng Shui, invention of the battened sail and the kite for God’s sake just seemed to stand in contrast to this explanation. I researched using a pole to power a boat and found that it is called punting. Punting poles were designed with large tips like a shop broom because you want greater surface area on the tip to propel a small craft or punt in shallow water. That means the taper was not for that purpose. Then pictures surfaced of Chan Wah Shun’s and Leung Jan’s poles and they were not tapered. Why? Why did they have and use uniform circumference, 10-foot poles? This got me to thinking more along the lines of what the pole was really for. It wasn’t for propulsion but for something else, protection. This would cause the position of the poler to be at the bow or front of the vessel to guide the craft away from dangers such as rocks or posts. It would also be used at docks or to ease them into the dock slowly to prevent damage. These functions could not use a tapered pole because the pole would be to narrow and break from the extreme pressure in these activities.  The pole would need full strength along the total shaft. This is why Chan Wah Shun’s and Leung Jan’s poles were not tapered. I was taught with a uniform circumference10-foot pole. This caused more strength to be put into the training because of the extra weight on the end compared to a rat-tail or tapered pole.  History has shown that the masters of old had their poles of uniform circumference. Should we not train the way they did? Where did the Tapered pole come from? It must have been introduced after Chan Wah Shun and Leung Jan. It could be because young trees have a natural taper and walking sticks (Large staff like 6-foot poles) were naturally tapered or it could be that the ten-foot uniform circumference poles were just too difficult for the new generation of Wing Chun students. to answer you plainly, I do not know. I do know that I learned a lot on this journey and found many little treasures along the way. As in all historical research, you will find interesting things, here is a picture from 1910.  Yeah, that would be around the time frame of Chan Wah Shun teaching. © SiFu Dustan Carroll

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Poles used in Daily Life.

The abundance and availability of resources often dictates why one chooses them. There were many different places a practitioner would have seen poles. The poles were used to hang clothes on as games for kids, butchers used them to hand their meats from and let’s not forget scaffolding today is made of bamboo poles still. Yes, the poles could be spears as well. It is the availability and versatility of the pole that caused it to be chosen by the Wing Chun masters. I know it may seem as an overly simple answer, but the style is based on simplicity and practicality. If one believes that the knives came first, then I will show in another post how they too were built off of the ideas of scarcity and abundance of certain materials as well as availability in most situations for members of the society. © Dustan Carroll   

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All fights go to the ground, really?

Do you know why many martial artists believe this and declare this to be true? This is dangerous to believe this “unwritten BS”. Why do many martial artists and a lot of street fighters still buy into this Bovine Scatology? 1. TV perpetuates this BS 2. They hear more experienced martial artists wanting to improve their ground game. 3. Many martial artists don’t practice anti-grappling techniques. 4. Beginning fighters lose their balance and over exaggerate their motions leaving them open to a take down. If you practice avoiding many grappling attempts, you can keep grapplers from taking you down. What should you practice, to avoid getting dropped to the ground in a street fight? Practice everything that is illegal or not allowed by their rules. Have the right attitude in a Street Fight. What is the right attitude? It is one of” I Don’t care what you do, I am going to do what I have to survive.” Have an animalistic attitude towards the situation. (Animals don’t have inhibitions when in a perilous situation) What is street fight? Any fight that does not have a referee, a ring or other safety measures. You must fight for your life to survive a street fight. Fear will paralyze you every time and paralysis equal death. Don’t worry about rules or how you look just make them stop and then get away. You have nothing to prove. 

Dustan Carroll

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Face Difficulties Positively

This parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, HE WOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP! It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him . . . all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity. -author unknown. THAT’S Gung Fu! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity. The dirt others throw to destroy you is nothing more than steppingstones. Enjoy “the Dirt” because it only makes you better or in many cases elevates you. Remember the plum blossoms in winter and the lotus rises up from the murky muddy waters to be admired. ~Dustan Carroll

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Fight for your life

  Rule #1 of street fighting- THERE ARE NO RULES! It is a dog-eat-dog situation. It is you or them going home. Which one do you want it to be? Be animalistic. Does a bird hold back when it or its nest is being attacked? All is fair. If there is something that you can use to hit, stab or hurt them with pick it up and use it. Pool balls, pool cues, dirt, change, bricks, rocks, beer bottles, etc. are tools to get you home safely. Learn to use gutter tactics and unfair techniques without mental reservation. It is better to give than receive especially when it comes to an ambulance ride.          

© 2011 Dustan Carroll

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 Two types of attackers

The Predator- They typically attack weaker victims. People that cannot or will not protect themselves. The crimes they typically commit are rape, kidnapping, robbery, theft etc. These types of attackers plan out their attacks. Predators are much harder to notice until it is too late. They blend in and camouflage themselves to make it easier to attack their prey. The Alpha Dog- They typically are on a mission to prove who they are and how tough they are. They want to prove how tough they are and that they are top dog in the pack. The crime they engage in most of the time is assault. It can also be “rape” to prove power and status. Status matters to this attacker. The Alpha Dog attack usually is proceeded by a lot of noise and bragging, obscenities and chest puffing behavior. The predator takes a different route. They want the attack to be over before anyone knows what happened. Women are usually victims of Predators but in domestic abuse cases they are victims of Alpha Dogs. Men fall victim mainly to Alpha Dogs in the old cliche Bar fight scenario.  These are generalizations and men, and women can be found falling victim to either or both at times. The motivation is the determining factor of what kind of attack it was. If the attack was to prove who is the boss, it is the Alpha Dog. If the attack is to gain what is desired by the attacker, it is probably Predatory. ©Dustan Carroll

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When and how do you train?

Someone once asked Shiu Hung Duncan Leung, if he trained every day. His response was profound. He answered and said “I haven’t trained since 1959. I don’t need to. It is like swimming. When you know how to swim you don’t swim every day. But maybe 15 years down the road you need to swim. You maybe rusty but you still can do it though.” That was enlightening. He didn’t speak of esoteric things just plain and simple skill…©Dustan Carroll

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Beginners Mind

This is the mind that all should have. I will try to explain its importance for you. Begin each task as if it were the first time you have ever seen it or attempted it. Begin each day as it is meant to be. Do not carry grudges, jealousies or strife. They are negative and dull the senses and point of the Beginners mind. The goal of Kung Fu is to have an open mind. Train with an open mind and enjoy each lesson. Dustan Carroll

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Quotes on Simplifying

1. “Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”- Albert Einstein 2.  Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.  ~Confucius3. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”- Leonardo DaVinci 4. “Everything should be made a s simple as possible, but not simpler”- Albert Einstein 5. “As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”-Henry David Thoreau 6. “Simply put, Wing Chun simplifies things…”- ©Dustan Carroll

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Mental Attitude

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. -Thomas Jefferson

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What is Courage?

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear” –Quote by Sifu Duncan Leung October 1977.   ____________________________________________

The Mind…

“The Mind is a weapon that must be sharpened with thought and strengthened by education.”- Sifu Carroll

Weapons created by hand are inferior to a prepared mind. A prepared mind is a hard thing to conquer. To prepare your mind you must study. Study does not mean accept what is taught.

“The Mind is the true weapon. Everything else is a tool.” -© Dustan Carroll

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Fighting Spirit…

“It is the unconquerable nature of man and not the nature of the weapon he uses that ensures victory.”- General George Patton Jr. 

“A lion sleeps in the heart of every brave man.”  Ancient Proverb 

This is the indomitable spirit. This is the Mind as the weapon and everything else as a tool principle. -Dustan Carroll

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 Relaxation…

“Tension is who you think you should be.  Relaxation is who you are.”-when you can take a broad look and laugh at yourself you will gain more.

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DON’T BE A DUMMY ABOUT DUMMIES (or DON’T GET THE WRONG JONG)

Recently my students wanted to buy their first Wooden Dummy…They had a lot of questions as did I when my instructor taught me in private about how to build them. He said that there are no three-legged dummies, five armed dummies, spring loaded dummies, etc. He explained that that was just a gimmick to try to get people’s money.  He went on to say that they changed when Master Yip Man could not plant his dummy in the ground to a hanging or Floating Dummy. Everyone is trying to get money and you have to watch what you get. The slightest thing wrong on the dummy can cause you to totally miss sight of the art’s true applications. It in essence teaches you to be open where you should not be and closed where you should be open. It changes your footwork, your energy and your art. My instructor said “the Wooden Man carves you. It is a Jello mold for you to be formed by. You don’t train the dummy, it trains you.” I explain it to my students like this… The wooden man is tuning fork for your energy and application of Wing Chun. I have never seen a 3-pronged, silver spoon or 4 handled tuning-fork. “Don’t fix what isn’t broken. If you try, you’ll F it up.”  Dustan Carroll’s first instructor said in 2003.

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Joint Locks and Wing Chun

Wing Chun is primarily a striking art, but it does have Chin-Na incorporated into it. It is after all a Chinese art. I have had students ask about Joint locking and the like. We can do that but instead seek to simplify the situation. We don’t “lock” joints we Break or destroy them. In training we slow down the technique to keep someone from being injured irreparably. However, slowed down does not mean watered down. Most students that begin with us are taken back when we get frustrated that they do not really try to hit us. I was taught “Wing Chun works when the other guy is being a true Bad guy!”. Pulled punches and kicks are the downfall of a point sparer. Likewise joint locks are like “pulled” joint breaks. Does Wing Chun use joint controls etc. yes and no. Yes, you can but why train to “pull” punches or anything? Just my opinion… Dustan Carroll

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“GROUND FIGHTING”

NEVER go to the ground in a street fight. The Ground is your enemy. The ground has dangers of its own. It limits your mobility. The smaller person dies on the floor or ground. The larger or more powerful person uses it to slow the smaller person down by pinning them and beating the shit out of them. The ground is never a place you want to go when you’re fighting for your life. There are always more dangers in the street than in the Dojo or the ring/ octagon (there are no mats, Gi, referees, rules or emergency personnel).  Do whatever it takes to stay off the ground. If you are taken to the ground, do whatever it takes to regain your feet. you can’t get away from a situation or defend against multiple attackers from the ground. A good ground game in a sport will give you a real “grounding” experience in a real fight. 6 feet under “Grounding” experience. Also don’t believe all the talk from the grapplers about how they would fight differently in a street fight. Martial Arts training is just that … a method of training and movement. It teaches you reflexive actions. Reflexes take over in stressful situations. You will do what you have trained your body to do.  Simple advice- train like you will have to fight. If that doesn’t make sense, then ask why Navy SEALS train to stay on their feet and handle multiple attackers from a standing position? Why don’t they buy into the 9 out of 10 fights end up on the ground? I guess they know that 10 out of 10 fights end on the ground (the attacker on the ground dead with the SEAL boot crushing their neck or face.

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From Close Quarter Combat Magazine – Page 13, August/Sept 2003, Issue 20

G r a c i e C o n f e s s e s

By SGT. Laurence Snell (US ARMY, Ret.) “Hidden in this CYA statement there is a confession.” “When I tour the country and give seminars, I am surprised by how many people who are experts in sport jujitsu but do not know the most basic self-defense techniques of ju-jitsu. The problem with this is that you can get a false sense of security from what you know. Just because you can handle yourself on the mat doesn’t mean you’ll know what to do when attacked. In that case, sport ju-jitsu can actually be a detriment because you’ll be overconfident. We were shocked by how many longtime students had completely forgotten, or even worse never learned, the very important self-defense aspects. For my father Helio, the self-defense moves are far more important than the sport moves. Every time I see him, he always tells me that students are not being taught enough self-defense moves.” – Royce Gracie, Grapple Magazine Isn’t it a little late to be telling us this? They are the number one initiator and breeders of modern sport wrestling. After all these years of making undefeatable claims and brainwashing thousands of students into believing they are in some kind of an undefeatable system, he tells us this, now? Questionable marketing and early UFC shenanigans (trampoline ring floors and that fighter named Kimo that really had only one month of training–not a 4th degree black belt!) had left their deep impression in the early 1990’s. This Gracie style of sport wrestling, which has confused and misled so many as being some kind of ultimate self-defense, has infected the world. So many martial artists feel compelled to offer ground wrestling courses in their programs that the Gracie family name appears coast-to-coast. So much so, that a few key naïve, military insiders have embraced it. I am a retired U.S. Army Sergeant and former old-school, Karate black belt. I stood by through the years as I watched my beloved Japanese arts turn into “children citizenship schools” that produce little more than sport kickboxers. And I am ashamed to say I also stood by as just a few people in “this-man’s-Army” twisted our hand-to-hand combat manuals into some kind of high school wrestling program. Powerless to interfere again, I watched the process, which started with a small team of Rangers going to Brazil, bringing the criteria back. Next, the material somehow spread into Army doctrine. Newer manuals cover an abundance of sport, wrestling techniques. I spoke with a graduate of these courses, and he told me, “…during the randori (freestyle wrestling) workouts, I would pretend that the real enemy was trying to get me, or that an attacker was after my family, and I had to break free and win.” When I reminded him that stabbing your finger into the eye of these killers was just one of many survival techniques missing from their doctrine, he seemed to miss the point. “Ever wrestle with your backpack on? With an M-16? Wearing a pistol and a knife? Can you? Even as an escaping and unarmed prisoner, is wrestling your first choice? “I asked him. “I just really like it,” was the only answer. For some, the brainwashing runs deep. For others in a growing trend, the brainwashing doesn’t run so deep. Early on, the newer UFC fighters, with their emphasis on hardcore striking and kicking, have learned to defeat these sport wrestlers. A recent Tennessee police officer wrote a review of a police-based, Gracie seminar he attended for a major law enforcement magazine. The officer reported that much of what Gracie teaches must be “taken with a grain of salt,” because he lacks experience in the real-world problems of police combat. I think the Gracie family has seen the modern movement toward reality in martial arts and are doing public relations / CYA (cover your ass), actually blaming their students for not knowing what they haven’t been teaching them for 15 years now. But hidden in this CYA statement there is a confession. When will we hear something similar from the Army? I wonder now what these shortsighted, Army H2H manual writers think now, after Gracie’s admission. We will be stuck with this manual for years, maybe even a decade! By SGT. Laurence Snell (US ARMY, Ret.) Why are we teaching these (our) troops to wrestle?

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Insights on the First UFC

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I_tMkWoUN18

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Gracie JiuJitsu versus Catch Wrestler

Old School Martial Arts Training That Works

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