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 GUIDED CHAOS TRAINING TIPS #84
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ATTACKPROOF NEWS:

GUIDED CHAOS IN BLACK BELT MAGAZINE
Our own Ari Kandel wrote a terrific article for the December issue which is on news stands now.  Thanks also to Lt.Col. Al, Master Michael Watson, Killeen Good, Brian Kenny and Frank Recine who modelled the photographs. Our own Master Tim Carron took the photos for Black Belt (he also did our book and is a master photographer who uses many artistic techniques found nowhere else).

IT'S ALMOST DONE!
Question: "How do I work out on my own?" 
Answer: THE GUIDED CHAOS COMBAT CONDITIONING DVD.
All the Guided Chaos drills back-to-back and non-stop on one DVD. No theory or extended explanations. Put it on, blast your stereo, follow along and work out--5 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour or longer--whatever you want-you decide! Many chapters end with a quick application demo of the skill just trained. Talk about practical! We can't wait for this one to be done because we all intend to use it also! Comes with an awesome Native American Music inspired soundtrack. Coming in 2 weeks (we hope!)...

THE GUIDED CHAOS COMBAT CONDITIONING DVD CHAPTER LIST:

BALANCE, BODY UNITY AND LOOSENESS TRAINING
Ninja Walk
Vacuum Walk
Crazy Walk
Gorilla Walk
Low Creep
Turning
Turn/Vacuum Walk
Rowing the Boat/Rolling the Ball
Rolling/Vacuum Walk
Forward-Back Rooting
Body Writing
High-Step Striking
Dry Land Swimming
Swimming/Vacuum Walk
Unity Striking

DROPPING ENERGY AND STRIKING POWER
7 Step Drop Drill
Speed Flows
Slam Bag Drills
Anywhere Strikes
Circle Clap
Swarm of Bees
Body Striking

FOOTWORK TRAINING
Foot Circles
Footwork Drills
Footwork & Kicking
Box Step
Puppeteering
Hackey-Sack

TENDON STRENGTH TRAINING
Groundfighting
Wobble Board Drills
Wobble Board Drop Step Hitting
Atomic Leg Crusher
1 Minute Push-up
Warrior Sun Pole Stance
Iso-Dynamic Exercises
Weighted Rowing the Boat
Weighted Long-Stepping
Battle Axe Box step

INTEGRATED BALANCE, BODY UNITY, LOOSENESS, SENSITIVITY & VERSATILITY TRAINING
Deep Pocketing Drills
RHEM (Relationship of Human Energy to Motion)
Washing the Body
Wash/Hackey/Vac/Ninja Walk
Polishing the Sphere
Polishing the Sphere with Spontaneous Drop Hits

2007 SEMINAR SCHEDULE
Blast your skills into the stratosphere with intensive Guided Chaos training available nowhere else. These seminars are set; more may be added later. All seminars will be at Premier Fitness in Nanuet NY at 11:30am unless otherwise noted. Seminars are $75 payable with cash or credit card at the front desk ($50 for class members).

--Combat Gun Seminar  12/1/07

WANT A SEMINAR IN YOUR AREA?
Hook up a group of  20 people and we'll bring our crew to you. 

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IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE
Part I

By LtCol Al Ridenhour  1 Nov 2007

Recently I had an interesting conversation with some students regarding the art of Guided Chaos" and the essence of what the art is all about. Over the years there have been many conversations about the significance of the book "Attack Proof" but I think perhaps the most intriguing aspect at least from my point of view is how in spite of the fact that the book lays out the foundational concepts of the art of Guided Chaos there are still those who wish to debate what the art is all about or how it should be taught etc... I believe this confusion has done much to retard the development of students and instructors alike.

In this newsletter I'm going to discuss some concepts to hopefully provide some understanding as to where you should place your focus when training as you continue on your martial journey and prevent you from succumbing to the many pitfalls that await those who stray from the path of reality.

Below are just some streams of consciousness in the hope that I can help aid in your understanding of the importance of just keeping it simple and not making things any more complex than they have to be.

A Little Perspective

Like most people when I first began down the path of Guided Chaos many of the concepts while learnable did not seem clearly defined because in truth all of the principles are actually separate parts of the same whole. Like a car, the art is composed of different yet interdependent parts where for the most part one foundational principle doesn't work without the other. What the book has done is basically taken the fundamentals of Grand Master Perkins' art and laid them out in what we believe is the most logical fashion possible in order to make the concepts clearer and the art more learnable. In addition the book also establishes clear and concise explanations of the principles and exercises to achieve them so that there is little if any room for misinterpretation.

Understand that while co-authors of the book both Matt Kovsky and I are but mere chroniclers of Grand Master Perkins' art, the important take away is that every word, sentence and explanation was read and approved by Grand Master Perkins and while the book only scratches the surface of the art (which as I'm seeing more and more is at most 10% percent of the art) if it is in Attack Proof you can take it to the bank. The reason I am saying this is because even to this day there are still people who train in the system and have access to Grand Master Perkins and the other core group of instructors and still don't get it. They want to make stuff up and change the meaning of the concepts rather than take the creator of the art at his word and then after going astray want to still call it Guided Chaos. This is like telling Paul Simon how to play a song that he wrote! This is like people who think they know more about Gracie Jujitsu than the Gracie's themselves, and as crazy as this sounds this is what people do and then they wonder why they don't progress... While the book in no way is a panacea for the entire art it provides the foundational understanding which is essential if one is to grow and develop their skills to the highest level possible.

It starts with your Mind Set

As with anything the foundation of any martial arts program must start from the proper mind set and just as sport fighting in a variety of forms has a different dynamic which governs them so does fighting for your life and just as there is a different mind set and regimen for training for sport the same is true for real fighting.

Like anything else if a program is developed from the wrong mind-set then the underlying theory to the whole system is therefore flawed [no theory no learning]. This is why sport fighting almost always fails [unless you're exceptionally gifted] in real fights because if a system is not based on killing the enemy from the start it is incapable of developing a realistic training regimen for combat. Period!

This explains why, though popularly believed, such sports-based system's are incapable of evolving or being improved upon for real fighting and why the practitioners are generally incapable of adapting the tools under realistic conditions. Since they have developed tools they have been taught and techniques in the absence of any knowledge of real fighting they are unable to develop the proper delivery system to use them. This is like learning how to pitch a baseball without any knowledge or understanding of the strategy of the game. Sure you can throw a fastball or a curve but to do what? Can you do what you need to do when you need to do it? And therein lies the rub...

In many systems because there are no unifying principles to anchor the concepts the "...why they do, what they do, the way they do it" questions remain a mystery. The techniques are purely sportive and so all those who are trying to pawn these techniques off as realistic fighting are only kidding themselves. Worse off they are spreading the rotten fruit from the same sick tree. The blind leading the blind...

You must allow the spoon to bend you and not the other way around

While many have heard me quote the famous line from the movie "The Matrix" "...you do not bend the spoon the spoon bends you" I still think there is much confusion as this relates to Guided Chaos. Look at it like this, before Guided Chaos the principles of balance [control of your equilibrium], looseness [muscular / mental pliability], sensitivity [kinesthetic awareness and sub-cortical vision / hand eye coordination], body unity [coordination, subtle muscle control, economy of movement / proprioception], and freedom of action [anything goes in a real fight] have always been factors in real life and death combat since the dawn of combat. I'm sure when Samson was swinging the jawbone of an ass against one thousand Philistine soldiers the last thing he was thinking about were fancy controlling wrist locks and spinning side kicks to the head, forms or tapping people out. All he knew was that if he connected that jawbone with their heads it was going to be a problem for them and if they tried to block it they would just die with a broken arm. If they tried something cool they would die looking cool, hey dead is dead. Understand that power, speed and a superior weapon delivered properly can overcome a lot of flashy stuff. The point is there are rules and there is reality and when it's for real, ruthlessness trumps everything and how you deliver your strikes is more important than how it looks.

The principles of Guided Chaos are rooted in physics and human physiology so like gravity they are universal and always present and are therefore available for anyone to develop providing they're willing to put the time in to work at them. Think of it like this, even in a sportive competition what sport does not require balance or control of your equilibrium? Unless you want to count poker as a sport I can't think of too many. In every sport believe it or not you find different aspects of the principles as outlined in Guided Chaos to varying degrees yet in most fighting systems with the exception of balance most of these other principles are only glossed over if taught at all and even with regard to balance it is only taught from the most rudimentary understanding and not taken to its logical conclusion. Thus the higher level applications of their arts are rarely if ever realized while not everyone can be a sport fighter or successful in those venues everyone including sports fighters can be successful utilizing the principles of Guided Chaos.

We are our all own worst enemies

It is because we will not yield to the principles, which are universally applicable that we become our own worst enemies. For the most part this is purely mental and because of it unfortunately what often holds us back very is our own mental limitations. We say it can't be done before we examine the possibility or because we refuse to take the leap of faith. While many become good within the martial arts including Guided Chaos they only reach a certain level not because of their physical limitations but by their own self imposed mental limitations. I can assure you that this was one of the biggest challenges that I had when I first began training in Guided Chaos. Because I had always been successful applying my physical abilities it took a long time and a lot of softening by masters Carron, Barnett and Watson et. al... for me to basically humble myself to accept that the fight is what it is. Once I got my doubting mind and ego out of the way the solutions became clear.

Why great physical ability sometimes holds us back

Another thing that holds us back at times is if we have great physical skill and ability. For some people because they don't have to work as hard as others to achieve the same results they oftentimes only develop an understanding of the art to a certain level because their natural abilities are almost never challenged. In other words they get away with certain things because they can however, if they are ever challenged by those of greater physical ability because they have relied on their physical abilities rather than develop the more intangible qualities through the principles they are unable to deal with someone much larger or stronger, faster etc... the way I see it is, if the principles work as a great equalizer for people with limited physical attributes imagine what you could do with more physical talent.

The importance of creativity

What also holds people back in their development is a lack of creativity. It is not uncommon for people to ask about how they can improve their skills in the art and one thing that I tell them is that they must learn to think out of the box, experiment within the principles and train for dealing with anything that is thrown at them. As our students have heard me say on numerous occasions just because you own a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter however because the carpenter has skill based on a set of principles he is free to create with the tools he has to work with and is able to manipulate them as he sees fit. The same is true for an artist, in other words just as there are only three primary colors and two hues, from that one is able to possibly create billions of color combinations and paint with various tones and shades. Well this is also true within the principles of Guided Chaos. From the basic principles one is able to develop a multitude of responses. As I always say to students, as long as it is within the laws of physics and human physiology don't ever let anyone tell you what you can't do. From there you are for the most part only limited by your imagination. This is why when I train people whenever I show them a technique I like to stress that "this is only an idea of what you could do, however for that moment you are the master of that motion based on what you perceive." In other words don't fall in love with any specific technique.

Always go for the low hanging fruit

When training one thing you want to learn to go for the low hanging fruit. In other words if you were an apple picker and you had to pick apples in a short period of time which would you go for-- the apples at the top of the tree or the ones near the bottom? The point is, take what they give you at that moment and don't always look for some complex solution to a give situation which brings me to my next point...

Keep it simple

I don't know why but for some reason people seem to think that just because something is simple that it can't possibly work. This is the hard one because as people we are conditioned to make fighting, like other things, more complex than it is as demonstrated by the plethora of overly specialized martial arts systems. Some have attempted with good intentions to develop a more holistic approach by blending disciplines to develop a better approach to fighting. The only problem I have with this is if you start off from the wrong mindset by trying to blend sportive techniques in the attempt to develop a reality based system all you have done is created a well rounded sport. While I believe this is the right way to go for mixed martial arts venues this is a recipe for disaster against some psycho-street killer.

This is my main criticism of the current close combat systems being taught within the armed forces. While well taught, the hand-to hand portions are based on sportive techniques and a sportive modality of training so rather than being focused on killing the enemy they are focused more on winning a sportive duel or controlling people, which is fine as long as the enemy wants to fight like that but if it turns deadly, game over. Just as one couldn't expect to win in a grappling match without learning some grappling techniques it's equally doubtful that one could fight effectively for their lives if they have not at least given some consideration to what is required to survive in a real blood bath against a determined killer, which in combat you would have to assume when confronting the enemy.

This requires a change in mindset. The fight is what it is. However we all see the world through our own mental prism. Depending on your understanding, experiences, beliefs etc... those things which do not fit into our world view gets filtered out so depending on your mindset you will interpret the world based on this even if it is contrary to the truth.

In psychology this is referred to as "Cognitive Dissonance" which is the psychological term that describes the uncomfortable tension that may result from having two conflicting thoughts at the same time, or from engaging in behavior that conflicts with our beliefs. According to the definition more precisely, it is this perception of incompatibility between two cognitions, ["cognition" is defined as any element of knowledge, including attitude, emotion, belief or behavior]. In a nut shell the theory states that contradicting "cognitions" serve as a driving force that compels the mind to acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs, or to modify existing beliefs, so as to reduce the amount of dissonance (conflict) between cognitions. It is this dissonance which causes people to become angry when their beliefs are challenged and no where is this more apparent than in the martial arts community.

As a result this business of, "my kung fu is better than your kung fu" has reached ridiculous proportions and only serves to blind us. I recall having a conversation with Grand Master Perkins and he said something very profound and I quote, "just because you can kick someone's butt doesn't mean you can't learn something from them. Even if you have more skill doesn't mean they can't show you something you may have never thought of... the difference is because of the principles and proper attitude you are able to quickly apply what may have taken them years to develop..." or words to that effect. He also went on to say "even if someone shows you something that is utter nonsense there is still value in it even if all you learn is what not to do. In seeing what others like to do you are able to quickly develop strategies to neutralize them..." the point is that 90% percent of the battle is knowing what to expect and training to it and if you expect that the bad guys will try to kill you, you are able to develop realistic strategies, skills and techniques to deal with the reality of life and death combat.

Well that's it for this newsletter in Part II I am going to get in some of the more profound aspects of the art that are not always discussed but are critical toward developing a well rounded system of self defense.

LtCol Al

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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.
 
--Bob Miller, Corrections Officer
 

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