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 GUIDED CHAOS TRAINING TIPS #82
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TRIBUTE TO CARL CESTARI (1958-2007)

World-renowned close combat scholar, master, and instructor Carl Cestari died at his home on July 23.  Carl was undoubtedly the world’s foremost authority on the WWII-era close combat methods pioneered by Fairbairn, Sykes, O’Neill, Applegate and others.

I first met Carl long ago when we were both close combat students of WWII Marine Charlie Nelson in New York City.  Carl would come to Charlie’s with his training partner (Bob Kasper, RIP), and when they weren’t picking Charlie’s brain they would practice combat judo throws, driving each other hard into the threadbare carpet, making the old brownstone tremble.  Charlie would just shake his head and smile.

But I really met Carl a decade later when I and some close friends (several of whom are now respected instructors of Carl’s methods) were invited to join him in his basement (also known as “the dungeon”) for some intensive close combat training.  We trained hard, once or twice a week, for years.  The training was simple, direct, no-frills close combat—just what worked.  (Don’t even think about not wearing a cup!)  No self-defense or martial topic was out of bounds; Carl would dissect and analyze any technique, situation, or experience we’d bring up—stripping it down to its essentials, cutting out the BS, showing how to make it work under stress.  Beyond mere technique, Carl opened my eyes to the attitude, intensity, and level of commitment required to defend oneself for real.

The dungeon itself was a sight to behold, containing all manner of unusual and specialized training devices: from unique spring-mounted targets for practicing tiger claws, chin jabs, axe hands, and foot stomps, to suspended dummies for recreating Fairbairn’s “mad minute,” to homemade “Simunitions” (non-lethal marking bullets) for close-range point shooting in strobe-lit darkness.  If Carl thought it might possibly give him a training edge, he’d try it.

Carl believed that any part of the body could be a weapon, if you trained it—and he did.  Once, when asked about the viability of a finger jab, he simply stepped out into the hall and drove his fingers through the wood paneling.  That’s how he was.  Though an irrepressible story teller and always quick with a joke, he had little patience for those who talked the talk but didn’t train.  Getting hit by any part of Carl felt like getting slammed by a steel bar—yet he had the control and precision of a surgeon.

Carl was a world-class authority on all aspects of hand-to-hand combat and self-defense.  His personal library was jammed with thousands of books, tapes, obscure military and civilian manuals and reports—many quite rare.  An indefatigable researcher, he would spare no effort in tracking down an elusive book or seeking out anyone alive with old-school training or experience.  In turn, he was sought out by people the world over for his expertise and willingness to share and teach what he had learned the hard way.  (The late close combat scion Col. Rex Applegate himself was very impressed by Carl’s abilities and knowledge.  One of the many “road trips” I took with Carl was to meet with Applegate.)

A gifted instructor, Carl knew how to reach and inspire.  He knew just what to do to make sure every student got it.  He came alive when he taught.  Few realized the intense physical pain that he often battled.  When he stepped onto the floor or the mat he would just shake it off and smile.  He was one tough SOB.  His blend of good humor, charisma, intelligence, and hard-core toughness bred a fierce loyalty among his students.

There’s no way to repay the debt one owes an instructor and friend such as Carl.  For the hard training, the expert instruction, the stories, the road trips, the days spent searching for rare books, the seminars, the good times, all I can say is thanks.  Rest in Peace, brother.

- Al Tino

Note: Clint Sporman, one of Carl’s most dedicated students and instructors, has put together a memorial site containing some of Carl’s web writings and a few video clips (you might even recognize a few faces): www.carlcestari.com .


I was introduced to Carl Cestari by my first close combat teacher, Al Tino.  I have little to add to what Al has said, beyond pointing out that to have known and trained with Carl, even just intermittently for a few short years, was a unique, cherished, life-changing experience.  What always struck me most about Carl (yes, even more than his iron hands) was the man’s warmth.  In stark contrast to his reputation as a master of armed and unarmed mayhem, Carl was an extremely kind, open, passionate and compassionate human being.  Despite the cold, efficient, merciless pragmatism of the combat methods he taught, he managed to get across extremely deep lessons about honesty, righteousness and simply being a good man.  Anyone who would attempt to judge his total personality based on his aggressive, in-your-face written and video instructions of close combat would be WAY off the mark.  He truly taught others both to kill and to love.  Thanks for the lessons, Carl.

- Ari Kandel

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VITAL POINTS ON SENSITIVITY
AND DEFEATING THOSE WITH SUPERIOR NATURAL TIMING
(From Ari Kandel's Training Blog. If you're not visiting it regularly you're missing some key insights!) 

From a recent lesson with Al:

= Use your sensitivity to create things--create the chaos for the other guy, manipulating it for yourself.
= Move your body in behind momentary equal pressure.
= Moving your body in puts him in checkmate no matter how he reacts to the pulse . . . unless he moves his whole body himself.
= You can pulse and apply equal pressure with any part of the body, and while tool replacing.

From a recent class with John:
= You must feel the state of your own body, you must feel the state of the other guy's body, AND you must feel what vulnerabilities you are exposing to the other guy at any given moment and move to eliminate them.
= John can feel subconsciously what's open and move to close as many of the openings as possible, both by moving his own body and disrupting the other guy's balance and position and the relationship between the two bodies.

For example, John felt all the places I could possibly hit him and eliminated all of them by moving his body into mine in such a way that my balance was slightly thrown while he moved to a place where because of the state of my balance, I could not come close to damaging him.

His minimal movement prevented me from doing anything to him without significant readjustment. He used that readjustment time to destroy me while keeping me off-balance and continuously moving himself into a better position as the situation changes.

= New saying: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of pain!

= John pointed out the contrast between me, a 2nd Degree Guided Chaos Black Belt, and Andre, a 3rd Degree Guided Chaos Black Belt: Even though I'm relatively loose and can move pretty well in an evasive, reactive manner, occasionally even better than Andre who has more mass to control and move out of the way of things, Andre is far better at PREVENTING me from being able to damage him by cutting off his vulnerabilities. This is the "next level" of sensitivity that I have to work on. Unfortunately, as usual, it can't really be worked on consciously. Now that I have the general idea, consistent, proper contact flow practice will eventually bring the subconscious into line with this idea.

Also from John, from another class:

John told Andre to work on timing my motion to shoot in combat boxing punches to my body from outside of physical contact range. My task was simply to time HIS motion to get offline with a close combat entry as he shot in with his punch. This very quickly turned into a very frustrating drill! After a couple of unsuccessful tries at timing Andre's motion and getting around him, I started a slow "lawnmower" (as shown by Lt. Col. Al on the Attackproof Companion DVD Part 3), advancing with alternate low straight kicks and loose dog-dig-style close combat strikes. I felt that this made it much more difficult for Andre to get in, even though I wasn't actually kicking with any power, but just tapping his legs. John soon told me to go back to trying to get offline from a dead-still start. It again became a very frustrating drill, especially when Andre started to shoot in with his punches at angles that cut off where he knew I wanted to go, so that even if I DID get offline from where his straight punch would have been, he had already moved to hit me where I was going! I don't think I got around Andre cleanly even once. John then took my place in the drill, and showed how with his superior timing and subconscious reading of Andre's body, develped through decades of experience, he was able to get cleanly offline nearly 100% of the time (and the couple times it was less clean, it didn't matter, as John simply adapted and did other stuff).

After the training had ended, John explained that for me, that drill had been primarily a lesson in what NOT to do. Like raw speed and strength, timing is an attribute you can never be sure of being the best at. He said that as good as Andre's timing is, John knew many people, some even untrained, who had far better natural timing (like his brothers and Michael Watson). We shouldn't try to beat them at their own game. John told me that my switching to the lawnmower tactic early in the drill was actually the right idea. Done full-power and with full offensive commitment, that tactic would give me my best chance of disrupting a guy's superior timing to take him out or at least get to a place where tactile sensitivity could best be utilized. He likened it to what Bruce Lee used to say about sparring beginners vs. experienced fighters: A scrappy beginner was often more difficult to deal with in a sparring context because his timing and rhythm was completely unpredictable because of his awkwardness and lack of knowledge. It was easier for Bruce to time a more polished fighter who moved with more smoothness and a "learned" rhythm. John said his father often looked "awkward" going into action because he would intentionally move in a "strange" way that would similarly baffle the timing of experienced fighters, allowing him to get in and pounce.

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EVERY SECOND YOU'RE LOCKED IN A GRAPPLING MATCH
WITH A STRONGER OPPONENT
EXPOSES YOU TO MORE DANGER...

FREE YOUR MIND TO FREE YOUR BODY:

GUIDED CHAOS GROUNDFIGHTING

...the ground fighting DVD's are out of this  world...Good idea
to have some MMA fighters on also to dispel some of
the grappling myths. I did what you told me to do with my
huge training partner and it worked, he was falling into strikes
left and right.
 
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