Tim Cartmell

I've known of Tim Cartmell since the 1990s, when he wrote some articles for the Pa Kua Chang Journal. I've never talked with him until now.

Tim moved to Taiwan at the age of 22 to search for internal arts masters. He found some. He didn't just train in Xingyi and Bagua, he fought in a full-contact tournament (his Xingyi teacher signed him up for it). Later, he got into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and now, he teaches BJJ and is a coach to MMA fighters.

This is the 75th edition of my Internal Fighting Arts podcast. One of the things we talk about in this interview is the subject of Qi, and how much his teachers in Taiwan and China talked about "cultivating Qi" or using it to give you special abilities. Tim says "people who talk about it in a mysterious way -- the less martial ability they have, the more they talk like that. The guys who could actually fight, hardly ever mentioned anything like that."

Tim teaches at Ace Jiu Jitsu in Fountain Valley, California. His martial arts website is www.shenwu.com. 

Listen to the interview here, or you can download the file. 

In the 73rd edition of my Internal Fighting Arts podcast, I interview Raphael Smith. He is a disciple of Song Style Xingyquan Master Li Yujie and he teaches Xingyiquan and Chen Taijiquan Practical Method, among other combat-related arts, in Sacramento, California.

Check out the interview or download it here.

I first heard of Gerald A. Sharp when I bought his Xingyi instructional VHS tape, "Five Fists of Power," back in the 1990s. For years, I have wondered what happened to him, and recently decided to track him down. I found him online. He is living and still teaching in Granada Hills, California.

In my latest podcast -- the 72nd episode -- I talk with Gerald about his long history in martial arts. Among the teachers he has trained with are Wu style Taiji Master Ma Yueh Liang, and he studied Chen and Yang style Taiji with Zhou Yuan Long. He studied Chi Kung (Qigong) with Ju Beng Yi (a top disciple of Guo-Ling), and Gerald studied Bagua, Xingyi, and Nei Jia Kung Fu with Zou Shuxian, the top disciple and adopted daughter of Jian Rong Qiao.

Enjoy the interview!

I have known Byron Jacobs for several years now, and I have been a member of his Mushin Martial Culture site on Patreon. He is a truly authentic instructor of Xingyi Quan. He lives in Beijing and is a disciple of DI Guoyong. When Byron published his book this year, "Dragon Body, Tiger Spirit," I was expecting a good book because of his deep experience and clear-eyed view of Chinese martial arts. The result, however, is the best Xingyi Quan book in my martial arts library.

As Byron describes it, "Dragon Body, Tiger Spirit" is "a translation and explanation of the classic texts of Xingyi Quan." He has collected the main writings considered to be Xingyi Quan "classics." Each chapter focuses on a particular classic, including a brief overview of a section of text in traditional Chinese characters. This is followed by a translation of the text. And finally, Byron provides his own commentary on the text. A lot of very good information is obvious in the translations, but it's Byron's commentary that brings each section to life, providing context and the correct way to interpret the information in your Xingyi practice.

I have been practicing Xingyi for 36 years, and teaching for 26 of those. I have won numerous tournament competitions with Xingyi. But I am always open to information that helps in understanding the mechanics, body method and applications of the art. I approach Xingyi, just as I do Taiji and Bagua, as a fighting art. One of the concepts of Taiji as a fighting art is to "yield and overcome." I love Taiji as a fighting art, but I also love Xingyi because it doesn't yield, it simply overcomes. A Xingyi Quan fighter has the eye of the tiger, and when he pounces, he will not be defeated. It is not in his nature to be defeated. That is the mindset of the art. The Monkey form, for example, teaches techniques and movements that "surprise, shock and overwhelm an opponent," according to the book, and it's a perfect description.

The Xingyi that I was taught and have been teaching has a lot in common with the art Byron learned from Di Guoyong, but there are stylistic differences in almost all the various styles of Xingyi, Taiji and Bagua. I try not to focus on the stylistic differences but focus instead on the body mechanics, principles and body method. 

One way I judge a martial arts book is these two questions: did I walk away from the book with new information that can make me better at my art? Does it help me understand my art better? The answer for this book is yes. The writing is clear, the context is clear, and Byron's commentaries are straightforward and based in real-world experience. He illuminates the principles and methods of the art.

After reading the chapter on the Seven Fists, for example, two of my students and I had a great practice working on using the elbows in relation to the concepts of Splitting, Drilling, Crushing, Pounding and Crossing. The Seven Fists of Xingyi Quan include the head, shoulders, elbows, fists, hip, knees, and feet. 

Some of the classics translated and explained in the book, in addition to the "Seven Fists," include "The Five Element Poems," "Yue Fei's Nine Essential Requirements Treatise," "Cao Jiwu's Key Extracts of the Ten Methods," and the "Twelve Animal Poems," among others. I found each one interesting, and I wore out a yellow highlighter as I went through the book, because I didn't just read it. I studied it.

The book also includes biographies of noted Xingyi Quan instructors, starting with the semi-legendary Yue Fei and ending with Di Guoyong.  

I have read other translations of Xingyi Quan classics in the past. They all have something to offer. You can't expect to learn an art like this from a book, so this book won't teach you Xingyi Quan. But if you have or are currently studying Xingyi, "Dragon Body, Tiger Spirit" is a book that will increase your knowledge, inspire your practice, and I believe it will be a reference Xingyi practitioners like me will be consulting for a long time to come. 

Last week, I interviewed Byron about the book for the next edition of the Internal Fighting Arts podcast. I am in the process of editing and it will be online this week. I'll replace this paragraph with a link to the podcast when it is ready.

by Ken Gullette

One of my students around 2006 was a police officer and a member of his department's S.W.A.T. team.

During our Xingyi classes, we trained the fist postures, how to use them in self-defense, and we worked on taking ground.

In Xingyi, the goal is to drive through your opponent like a bowling ball through bowling pins, and when the attack is over, you are standing on his ground. It is physically and psychologically damaging.

So my student responded to a standoff situation one day. The perp was across the living room. At the right moment, my student lunged across the room using the same technique in this video and he took the perp down using Pi Chuan (Splitting Palm). 

While he was being cuffed, the perp looked up and asked, "How did you do that so fast?"

Nobody expects you to take ground, keep your energy down and deliver power over seven to ten feet. When I was in my forties, I could take ground over a distance of eleven feet. Now, at age 68, I can't do that. But the drill in this video is very helpful if you want to develop this skill.

You can improve your ability to take distance. If you learn to deliver power from eight to ten feet away, you will plow through somebody who is four or five feet away like hitting them with a bus.

I am wearing a hand protector in this video because, being on blood thinners after developing clots in my lung six months ago, I can't exactly risk internal bleeding in my fist when doing bare-knuckle board breaks. That's why I am wearing a pad. I leave the bare-knuckle stuff to the young guys.

Byron Jacobs has become the first martial artist to appear on my Internal Fighting Arts podcast three times. He is a teacher of Xingyiquan and Bagua Zhang living in Beijing. He is a disciple of Di Guoyong.

In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover several topics, including how the Chinese people view their own government, the meaning of Xingyiquan "Classics," and what training is like with traditional Chinese gongfu teachers. We talk about the importance of forms and whether that should be the focus of your training and several other fascinating aspects of quality training, including the value of choreographed two-person sets and why you should take a notepad and pen to your next practice.

Here is the page to the podcast episode:

https://internalfightingarts.libsyn.com/website/internal-fighting-arts-58-byron-jacobs

You can listen online or download it. The Internal Fighting Arts Podcast is also available through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast distributors.

Byron teaches online through his Mushin Martial Culture videos on Patreon. His does an excellent podcast -- the Drunken Boxing Podcast, which is available through the usual podcast distributors.

Everything about martial arts changed for me the day I met my first Chen Taiji instructors, Jim and Angela Criscimagna.

On a Saturday morning in early 1998 I drove to their home in Rockford, Illinois, about two hours from my home, to find out what some of these "body mechanics" were that I had recently read about in an internet chat room -- terms like "ground path" and "peng jin."

Jim worked with me for an hour, explaining the difference between the Yang style Taiji I had studied up to that point and the Chen style that he was studying and teaching.

In one hour, I knew I had to start over. What I had been studying was empty. It was based on "chi cultivation" and not on body mechanics.

After 25 years in martial arts and more than a decade in the internal arts, I couldn't find my kua with both hands. This was a problem, considering I had a "black sash" and was already teaching. My students and I were already making a splash at area martial arts tournaments. Now, my style of Taiji had to change.

For the next few years, I drove regularly to Rockford to study with Jim and Angela. They introduced me to Ren Guangyi and Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang, who they hosted for workshops.

My career up to that point had been in the news industry as a reporter, news director, anchor and producer. Every day, I tried to explain news stories and events in an understandable way. A complex story had to be broken down so the general public could make sense of it. As the reporter or story writer, I had to understand it, too.

That is how I approached my teaching of the internal arts. As I began learning the internal concepts, often in a roundabout way, I asked myself how I could explain it to my students and to myself in a way that made sense.

Over time, I broke the body mechanics down into six main concepts that beginning students needed to at least know about:

One -- The Ground Path -- If someone pushes against any part of your body, they must feel as if they are pushing into a steel rod that is connected to the ground. That needed to be maintained through all movements.

Two -- Peng Jin -- An expansive quality in your body and limbs that works with the Ground Path to give your relaxed movements an internal strength that is not evident on the outside.

Three -- Whole-Body Movement -- When one part moves, all parts move, and your internal strength unfolds like a ribbon from the ground through the body. All styles talk about this, but it is clear when watching even Taiji people that many do not achieve it.

Four -- Opening and Closing the Kua -- The crease at the top of the legs, along the inguinal ligament, acts as a buoy in the ocean. Used properly, it helps you adjust to incoming force and rebalance yourself.

Five -- Dantien rotation -- They say the "Dantien (sometimes spelled Dan T'ien) leads all movements," but I believe all movements start with the ground and the Dantien is part of what leads the internal strength along the ground path.

Six -- Silk-Reeling Energy -- The word "energy" can be misleading. It means "method" in this context. Silk-Reeling energy is a method of spiraling the body, from the ground through the limbs, that helps provide additional power to your movements. I teach the Silk-Reeling exercises to guide my students on the proper way to combine all six of these concepts into their movements.

When students begin learning from me, the first thing they learn are these six body mechanics, and from there, they study the art they want -- Chen style Taiji, Xingyiquan or Ba Gua Zhang. On my website, there is a section devoted to many videos breaking down these skills, and I also teach them in my Internal Strength DVD and Silk-Reeling Energy DVD.

As you continue learning, there are many other concepts and skills to be learned, but in my experience, a lot of students are just kind of thrown into classes and simply follow the teacher for a long time, as they slowly develop a sense of what they are trying to achieve.

I believe it is much more difficult to reach your destination without a road map. Understanding these six principles and how they factor into your movement and self-defense applications will be a revelation, like firing up a brand new updated GPS device.

If you read this list and do not understand how to translate these into your internal movement, save some time and check out either the DVDs above or my membership website at www.InternalFightingArts.com. 

Here is a true fact about many internal arts teachers: It is a lot easier to pretend to be teaching something mystical than it is to put in the hard work required by the internal body mechanics that produce real quality.

My goal in teaching is to cut years off the time it takes someone to go from novice to skilled by providing information that I did not have for decades as I tried to feel my way through the thick jungle of misinformation, hacking through the tall weeds of mysticism and magical chi powers in search of something true. I am still learning.

Internal energy, and the relaxed power of Taiji, Xingyi and Bagua comes from good body mechanics, not mysticism. If you don't fully understand the principles you should be working on, the road ahead is much longer and much more expensive.

-- by Ken Gullette

Xingyi Master Dai Xueqi and Jon Nicklin

There are a lot of commercial martial arts schools in China, but according to my most recent guest on the Internal Fighting Arts podcast, Jon Nicklin, the best kung-fu teachers in China are "traditional" teachers.

Most traditional teachers teach small groups of dedicated students. They teach at their homes, or in nearby fields or parks.

If you want the real goods, you have to develop a personal relationship with the teacher. Most of the large groups practicing in the public parks in the big cities are "follow me" classes, where instruction is superficial.

Jon Nicklin moved from London to Shanghai several years ago and quickly found Dai Xueqi, the leading instructor of Song style Xinqyiquan in Shanghai. 

Dai Xueqi is a business owner, so most of his teaching is done at or near his home on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

I love talking with dedicated martial artists who go to great lengths to study these arts. Jon Nicklin is one of those people.

You can listen to his interview -- the 44th edition of the podcast -- through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audello, and other podcast services.

Here is a link to the podcast on Stitcher. You can listen on your computer or download the file. Please share this with others who might be interested.

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/internal-fighting-arts/e/63283949?autoplay=false

Can Tai Chi, Xingyi or Bagua be used against a grappler?

A lot of macho types say no, but that's because they do not understand the internal martial arts.

Tai Chi has been slandered, maligned and unfairly criticized during the past year or two because a couple of people who claimed to be Tai Chi "masters" (they are not masters) had the stupidity to take on a trained MMA fighter and they lost. Badly.

I had a Wing Chun guy come into my school once and he wanted to spar full-contact. I told him we didn't do that, but we would gladly spar with him and do light contact. We hit him in the face anytime we wanted. My top student and I both tried him out. It was pitiful, but I did not judge Wing Chun based on this guy.

The internal arts have principles and body mechanics that work if you follow them, just like any art. Sometimes, you simply have to fight. That includes punching. But sometimes, you use body mechanics to take advantage of your opponent's force or to break his structure.

This past Wednesday night at practice, three students -- Justin Snow, Colin Frye and Chris Andrews -- worked with me as I demonstrated how to escape from a clinch. We had a good time playing with this.

Justin and Chris are both around 300 pounds. They are strong guys, around 30 years old. They have experience fighting. Real fighting.

I am 65 with one lung, heart issues, and I lost a lot of muscle mass when I got sick 9 years ago. 

They still can't hold me in a clinch if I use internal principles. And I can't hold them, either.

We had fun playing with this. Enjoy the video and I hope you learn from it. And remember, 850 video lessons and pdf downloads are available 24/7 on my membership website at www.internalfightingarts.com. Check it out.