REGANS MARTIAL ARTS

DONT BE A DINOSAUR

2010-07-17T01:49:00.010-04:00

I want explain my thoughts on Martial Arts in general and also explain what my teachings will be based on. First and foremost, martial arts is about self preservation. The health and fitness aspect is a major part of our training, and more focus is put on that in many schools while lacking solid skills for self defense. I believe that you must learn basic tools that are EASY to apply for self defense. I do believe in Traditional Martial Arts methods, I study and teach Traditional Arts such as Dai Family Xinyi, Cheng Bagua, Che style Xingyi, Wing Chun etc. However I see many people today studying Gong Fu methods blindly and having faith in their art based on belief rather than based on experience. Too many people talk about qi and meridians, and the like, without really understanding what they are talking about.

With all my prior training in Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu , Kali, and Shooto etc, I had a pretty good prespective on combat before studying Internal Martial Arts. In my Gong Fu studies, I had seen a tremendous amount of guys who were skilled at Wing chun vs Wing Chun, or Mantis vs Mantis,however they often fell short when facing a Muay Thai person of BJJ fighter. I always crosstrained because of being open minded and experienced. I realized some of my Traditional Teachers could fight very well using only one art, however they trained that art daily when in their youth and we as Americans go to class only 2-3 x a week and only for an hour or two each class. Traditional teaching was different. After work or school, the Master and students would train, talk, sit and have tea, food and train again, talk some more, train again, etc. Their hands on training and discussions on theory and combat far surpassed what we can do in America. Here everyone needs to work, and work more, and make more money etc, just to survive. We don't have access to what the Asian students did when growing up on Gong Fu. Also many Traditional Gong Fu teachers were farmers and hard workers, they had very good strength from their labor, others were bodyguards and they trained for work all the time. Yet I see traditional Arts practicioners who work sitting at a desk all day and they say you shouldnt lift weights etc, then they wonder why they cant make things work. If you dont do hard labor for your job, your going to have to do hard labor in your training, whether with weights or with body weight, you cant gain strength from just doing forms and sticky hands!

Here in 2010 I still see many people training forms or training sticky hands, training stances,training dantien , all without the proper roadmap, they just do it because their teacher says so. I teach my students Muay Thai, Xingyi Sanda, Jun Fan Kickboxing etc right off the bat, my guys have to be functional. You must have great footwork and power and experience with focus mitts and partners in order to be combat ready against todays fighters. I maintain traditional methods for developing the body and skill sets, and later when the student can handle himself pretty well vs average skilled people, then we move more into developing traditional arts and forms etc. I see many people doing one method or the other, some are so focused on fighting that they do the mitts and sparring, and neglect their traditional training and they become competent fighters but never develope their Art, they lack the power of their art, they lack the sophisticated body method etc. The other group spends so much time on the Traditional skills that they lack fighting experience and common sense. Traditional Arts have great body training, they include Yoga like skillsets, breathing sets, develeopment of smaller muscle groups etc. You must combine all these things to be a well rounded Traditional Arts practicioner.

Every Art I trained was a result of someone else crosstraining, Dai Xinyi included Xinyi methods along with Mantis as well as Taoist dantien methods which develope a powerful core. The family put their own experience into their art to become more functional. Che style Xingyi was the brainstorm of Che Yizhai, Che was smart enough with his teacher to expand upon Dai Family methods and progress even further with agile footwork, combat proven tactical methods and maintain the Dai Methods of body developement . Wing Chun was the collaboration of several Masters looking to make a more functional style, Doce Pares eskrima is again a group of peoples integration of several different systems of Eskrima put together, Inosanto Kali is Dan Inosantos ideas on combining what he learned froms everal different Kali Masters, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu itself has now evolved to include Greco Roman Takedowns, Sombo leglocks etc. I could go on and on, all these great arts are improved by people progressing and experimenting hands on with other practicioners, not by just talking and thinking about Bruce LEE movies and stories of past generations Masters.

I am disciple to Master Li Tailiang and I teach his sytem of Xinyi Dao. What is Xinyi Dao? Xinyi Dao is guess what? YOU GUESSED IT, ANOTHER CROSSTRAINING SYSTEM! Xinyi Dao takes the idea and improvements of Che Yizhai developing Xingyi even a step further. Master Li and his Gong Fu brothers all trained in more modern arts as well as Xinyi/Xingyi, Bagua etc, they grew up on the arts. Mater Li studied Sanda in college, many years in college on a team, training fighting three to four hours a day, he also studied Wushu, and was also trained in Dai Family Xinyi and Che Xingyi since his childhood. Master Li can use his Traditional Arts for fighting, no problem. WHY? Number one he grew up on the stuff, his father still teaches at 80 something years old, its in the family, its their life. Secondly Master li fought in Sanda and competed, even coached Sanda. He didnt hide in a corner and talk about how deadly Gong Fu is, he put it on the line and met people, exchanged and found what he felt were strong points and weakness of each method. So Xinyi Dao is the traditional methods of developing body method and a strong core from Dai Family, along with the combat improvement of Che Yizhai Xingyi, along with the devastating throws and joint locks of Cheng Bagua, and the modern hardcore Sanda training for immediate skills that can easily be measured by putting gloves on and going at it.

So now its my turn to add and improve upon this great system and on my own system,and be a contributor, and not just a follower. I have adopted Master Li's incredible system and addressed the areas that I felt were weakest. For example I added the knife methods of Kali/ Eskrima based on my studies of Inosanto method and Doce Pares, I have also added the ground methods of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Shooto. From my past experiences being an Instructor in other arts, I can see what value each art has, and also which arts are easiest to teach. If some ideas and techniques are so great and so sophisticated that very few can learn when training part time, whats the point in teaching them? I will as mentioned first try to make sure my students can function with basics. Later the serious students and myself can try to gain more skill with Traditional methods, but first we must be FUNCTIONAL!

Traditional Arts have little respect in the overall Martial Arts community these days, and its a shame, and in my opinion its not that the methods are flawed, however I feel most students do not have the time to develope sophisticated body methods and skill sets and they move through a system too quickly and later have nothing but sloppy kickboxing when actually fighting. However their are many people as individuals can apply their traditional arts, so they shouldnt take offense to any of my comments,if they test it against other arts and have sparred with people, I am not referring to them as they have my respect. I just state that kickboxing, Muay Thai, Sanda and the like will by and large produce more competent people in a much shorter time frame, and statistics with fighting matches can easily back this up as fact. Why? because they are easy to test levels of improvement, also their are only a few amount of techniques to learn as opposed to Traditional methods, and for the average person, learning fewer things and becoming competent at them is a much faster road to being functional.

Many Traditional Arts are hundreds of years old, and many Master through time added new ideas, new forms and new methods, etc, so what we have in many systems is an overwhelming amount of forms and ideas and techniques, so I see many people learning way to much volume while actually becoming very good at very little. Take Bagua for example, some people learn a complete Bagua system in under 7 years! They learn all the basic body methods, stance training, 8 basic palms, 8 old palms, the straight line sets, the 64 palms, the chin na, the weapons etc etc! All in such a short time, and then you have a boxer who learns 5 basic punches and learns every way to apply those punches and evade and counter those punches and has serious ring time actually pressure testing these 5 punches, so who sill develope solid skill?

I have taken heat from some people in my own Gong Fu family as well as other Traditionalist for crosstraining, some say I am not being loyal to the system, others have said I am not really dedicated to the system, etc etc, to those Guys I simply ask- WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? Have you been through other systems before criticizing them/ Have you rolled on the ground for countles hours putting your ass on the line in order to gain functional experience? Have you gloved up with guys in boxing? Kickboxing? Give me a break, DONT BE A DINOSAUR. I laugh that some people in my own Gong Fu Family have said these things, our own teacher is a crosstraining madman, he tried everything and fought, and he gave me thumbs up for my contributions and experience. My teacher is open enough to have had me teach grappling in his Traditional Class etc. Other Traditional guys have said not to crosstrain because their teacher told them not to, yet their teacher never tried it, so how can he know whats best or not. Many Traditional Artist are living off their forefathers reputations and experiences, quoting fights that happened years ago in distant generations, etc, cmon whos is putting it out their now? Who is being innovators now? I am doing my part and I will continue to do so, and I have all my teacher blessings.

Bottom line on this blog is -Traditional Arts have valid methods, BUT SO DO MODERN METHODS! DONT BE A DINOSAUR! Be a realist, but don't just add anything to your art, you must have a roadmap and goals of exactly what you want to develope and why. Also of course add your health practices from Traditional Arts, as if your not healthy, you cant be functional, but stay away from the talk of Dantien and qi etc, until you first have had a few hundred rounds of sparring with competent people who can show you what your priorities should be in training if you plan on being functional.

Martial arts are very sophisticated and the sky is the limit on how far you can develope, but to first ignore learning the most easily applied tools and attributes is not only ignorant, but just plain stupid if function in a short period of time is the goal. You will not have the timing and speed,power etc to be able to use your close range tactics for your Traditional Arts like Dai Xinyi, Che Xingyi, Wing Chun and Bagua etc, if your getting pummeled by Jabs and round kicks from the outside. Each Art should have a Sanda or kickboxing aspect to it in the beginning.Yes these Traditional Arts can hold up on their own if you train like the old timers did, but my experience is that 99 percent of people do not have that time, or quality partners with the same free time, nor the hands on coach at access at all times to achieve these things. You cannot achieve the Traditional results without training the way they did.

If you plan on training with me, be prepared to work hard, and smart! I teach Traditional skills alongside proven Modern methods to form a complete system! Your base in a group class will be in Sanda or Jun Fan etc, unless you already have prior experience with a modern striking art. In private lesson format, we can work soley on whatever you want. Traditional Arts have self defense methods which will work fine against a drunk in a bar or in a schoolyard fight etc, you do not need to do MMA per se, but you must learn solid striking! The body methods of Traditional Arts takes some time.

DAI SHI XINYIQUAN ARTICLE

2010-03-04T19:54:00.002-05:00

I have an artciel out in the March issue of Kung Fu Taichi Magazine March issue. The article discusses some basic training and some basic history of Dai Shi Xinyi. The true history of the art as with many Chinese Arts is still debated and researched, so the history I wrote on is one common idea, but by no means is it the only possibility. Check it out and give me some feedback

DAI XINYIQUAN

2010-01-18T21:07:00.006-05:00

I have been asked several times to post videos of the Masters of this rare Martial Art. I have not posted these things as the Masters really do not feel comfortable putting up videos of the inside skills of the art. Many people have also asked who is qualified to show the Arts. I will post more on that later, however I can share that GRANDMASTER WANG YING HAI is the Grandmaster of this style under the direct instruction of Dai Kui himself!

Others may claim they are Grandmaster, etc, but be assured look at their lineage and you will see Master Wang is indeed the Grandmaster. Others may indeed be considered a Grandmaster in a certain branch of this art for sure. If we talk of who is Grandmaster under Dai Kui himself, it is Grandmaster Wang Ying Hai. As far as others who are qualified in this art to speak with authority, their are a few. My Master , Master Li Tailiang is actually related to members of Dai Family and has recieved instruction in this art for a very long time, he also is a disciple of Master Wang Ying Hai, and has trained with many Masters in the system. Master Li's father was a direct student of Bu Xuequan who also was a disciple of Grandmaster Che Yizhai, the founder of Che Xingyiquan. Che Yizhai studied Dai Xinyi for sure.

We will keep you updated on more about this sytem, and also check out my new article on this martial art in Taichi Kungfu magazine March issue.

Martial artist at times being delusional

2010-01-14T20:29:00.006-05:00

So I sit here again wondering how people gain such confidence without actual experience. I was sitting talking with some martial artists about how great all arts are and how the lifestyle is awesome,etc. Then I was hit with the "well our arts techniques are all for the street and deadly" so we really don't care about lifestyle, we care about defending our families and ourselves. I was like wow, "I guess you guys have had alot of street altercations?"Then they went on to tell me about all these fights they had. Most of the fights they had were in middle class neighborhoods in the local bar. Many of these fights could easily be avoided and also many were not a deadly situation. I have unfortunately seen and been a part of some bad situations in the street that really weren't easily avoided and most the scenarios arent covered in martial arts schools. Yes my martial arts helped me survive but again the situations were not like in any martial arts class i had trained.
One thing I notice especially nowadays is with some older Kung Fu systems and especially with mma schools, is a sense of very high confidence in the street. First I want to start by explaing the differences to life and death in the streets. First off their are NO RULES in the street, and this does not just mean it's ok to bite and to hit the groin and eyes. The streets have people who know the game, and they know their are no rules and they are ok with it and have nothing to lose because it is all they know.I was once slashed in a fight in the street, I never seen any knife taken out, i still do not really know if it was a knife, a box cutter or what. Bottom line is that theirs a scar on my back from something that slashed me and I am lucky it was not a stab but was a slash. I had also seen a young kid stabbed in the stomache in front of me on a side street in Flushing Queens. This poor guy never seen it coming either, it was a crowded street and someone walking towards him just stabbed him in the stomache! Their was no verbal exchange and this was most likely a gang hit. Point is that nothing could have prevented it as it happened. So back again to what is the defenition of the 'streets" and life or death. If your idea of your art being deadly is that you can defend yourself against the local bar thug, then yes, most arts are very deadly. If you relate to street experiences as I have mentioned and you know people who make a living on the street, you know that the scenarios are very different.
People on the street do not respect you because you do martial arts, they do not fear you and they really could care less. What gives points on the streets is how many people you have harmed, or robbed, or have actually killed. Nobody from the streets is gonna roll with you in a fight and then give respect and just move on. They look at that like losing face and will come back and stab you or shoot you when your not looking. They will set you up, and they will not sleep until they get even. The true street rats make a living conning people, stealing, lying, hurting and not losing sleep over how many people they have done wrong. They know the game, and unless you run on the streets yourself and have your own crew, you are better off not pretending to live in that world. It is not glorious and it only leads to two places, jail and the morgue.
Now let's look at some great Martial Arts, I will use a weapon based art like the Filipino arts as an example. I am not ragging on these arts as I teach them and they are incredibly effective and can save your life, however I want to make some points on training vs street. Fist off these Arts are Incredible systems that have been used in battle and have great ways of teaching you how to use and defend against weapons. The problem arises when people think that these arts alone will teach you how to deal with a knife in the street. YES many skills learned will help you in the street, but it is utmost important to do scenario training. Most schools that teach these arts hype up the arts to be taught to the Filipino military or the great warriors of so and so, etc. The way people square off and approach each other as a duel is not how stuff goes down in the street. If you can square off with someone, chances are you can also just run away.This is true of most Arts in how they train.I am very honest with students and if I teach them something that I feel works in the streets, I will tell them they have to try it against real life scenario training What we teach in class most times will give you skill sets and attributes which will help you become very functional,you still need to now play out the real life scenarios in which these skills will work. Most weapons attacks in the street are from very close range and you are very lucky to even see where the blade is coming from. An example is an attack that happened in a Bayshore mall in NY. Some group of people came running through the mall and slashing anyone with a certain color shirt. The only thing they looked for was a color and just quickly came up to you and slashed your face. This was a gang initiation, and they didn't care if the victims were men, women, kids, etc it did not matter.
In my opinion the number one skill for defending on the streets is awareness of your surroundings,and knowing when to run and when to stand and fight.Of course many situations can be avoided by just being off the streets at a certain time when crime is more prevalent. Now if you use an art like the Filipino arts to teach you the fighting skills and develope the attributes needed for defending a weapon and you train real life scenario training, you will be much safer, but many schools leave out the real world scenario training and students have this false sense of confidence of how to deal with the street attacks. Also lip service is really a big thing with many people who have no clue about the street. Many internet warriors talk a mean game and can be intimidating to many others. I myself have been threatened by kids on the net at one time or another, and funny thing is that usually these kids as I call them, are from wealthy families, living in a nice safe neighborhood with little crime and they might be the tough guy in their dojo so they feel superior, etc. They would be rudely awakened if they step out of their bubble and try their act out on the street. My experiences have truly been that guys on the street respect 'work' and that "work" is the things mentioned above, robberies, murders,stabbings, drive by shootings, etc.
I want to make one thing clear so their is no false images portrayed here, I myself and not a street person, I did put in some time hanging with bad crowds and doing bad things as a youngster, etc, but I was raised in a middle class neighborhood and had a great family and was not and do not pretend to be "from the hood". I did also see white middle class kids who were heavily involved in drugs, go hang out in the hood and do the "work" just as the locals their do. It is nothing I claim to have done, nor do I have any illusions of that lifestyle being "COOL"! I did however spend some time involved with the worng crowd and did see alot of things I wish I had not see.
In closing this article I just want to say that most people talking about how deadly they are or how deadly their art is, are insecure people who will never change, they will neither be successful in their ventures in martial arts, nor will they have the balls to put in the work on the streets, they will teeter totter on the fence of being a hard working martial arts hobbyist, and pretending to be some streetsmart tough guy. When someone has had 100 fights on the street in a middle class area and most were started in bars and disagreements amongst civilized people who just had a little to much macho that night, I don't really consider that meaning much in relation to street defense because 90 percent of those fight are about ego and can be avoided, and rarely is their a deadly threat involved. Ask any police officer who has worked the streets what he feels about deadly martial arts? He will first ask you"where are all the dead bodies left by these deadly martial artist?" Most often the replies will be about a historical event when martial arts were used in battles or most often a particular person who represents an art made a name for himself way back in time. Their are very smart and very functional martial artist in the world today, however the streetsmart ones know the differences between training for duels and training for street defense, and many others are just kidding themselves. Be yourself and don't pretend your art is superior at all things and anyone who doesnt agree is an idiot,I don't care what art it is, if it's great in the ring doesnt mean it's best for the street, or if it's used in wars, again it doesn't mean it works in the street as you would like to imagine. Some of the greatest Master of Arts I have met have all stated to avoid a street encounter at all costs, because it takes a pull of a trigger to end your life, choose your battles wisely.

I would like to present a few articles which may be worth reading.I am not saying martial arts won't help you, I believe Martial Arts are your best defense when used properly and of course I recommend everyone to train the arts. I also hope that everyone would leave the deadly talk for the criminals and the street people, as I feel it is our job as Martial Artist to teach our students the realities of the streets and to prepare them accordingly and rule number one is to be educated and humble on what material you present to them. Avoidance of encounters is rule number one in relation to the street. In relation to the basic bar brawls and the non deadly street encounters ,these scenarios are covered by most arts which train you in a dueling nature in any good martial arts school.These fights should also be avoided but many people will encounter bar type situations in which they need to stand their ground and Martial Arts will defenitley help you in these situations.I do not endorse any fighting other than in the ring or whenever their is a true threat to you or your family.
http://martialarts.about.com/b/2010/01/06/martial-arts-gold-medalist-killed-in-club-fight.htm
http://martial-arts-sources.blogspot.com/2009/12/muay-thai-champ-killed.html
http://www.usmta.com/ALEX%20GONG.htm
http://royalespot.blogspot.com/2009/02/bloods-v-crips-gang-members-from.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/11/04/2009-11-04_ms13_gang_puts_out_hit_on_fbi_agent_assigned_to_crackdown.html
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/2004/6/3/seven_leaders_and_members_of_netas.htm

Training with 8th Degree Master in Doce Pares

2010-01-01T21:56:00.003-05:00

I was fortunate to take private lessons with Master Erwin Mosqueda of the Doce Pares System. Master Erwin is real cool, down to earth and a great teacher. Doce Pares people from both branches(Diony ,Cacoy), have all been very nice anytime I had a chance to train with either group, I thank them all for sharing with me.

Some positive things that happened in 2009

2010-01-01T21:51:00.004-05:00

I was able to meet and talk with one of my favorite MMA fighters, Bas Rutten. I had visited his gym in Thousand Oaks California and it was very cool to meet Bas and his crew

2009 was very tough overall!

2010-01-01T21:15:00.008-05:00

The above pic is my mom and my son in 2008

2009 was a very tough year. I moved my family from NY to California to be near my mother who had moved their only weeks before me. She was very ill with late stage emphysema and she left NY to be near my other siblings she hasnt seen in years,and also because she just couldnt handle the Ny weather and tough summers and winters. Well we(my wife and I) were very confused if we should go to California, as I had a descent acupuncture practice going, I had a descent amount of students to teach Martial Arts as well, and we were moving to a state that is the only one that won't recognize my acupuncture license and allow me to work. Well with all that being said, we took the gamble because I knew my mothers time was running out(they gave her 2 years to live 12 years ago!). So me moved and yes we went to the worst state, or one of the worst in this economy. Their were no jobs, no money, lots of drama, but we had a happy grandma and my son was very happy, so we toughed it out.

My mom passed away in Oct of 2009 and along with all the other negative stuff this year I am glad to see this year pass, and am working on having a much better New Year. Dealing with my mom's death is very hard, she was a great lady who was raised very poor with nothing extra at all, much the same story of my father. Yet they managed to raise 9 children and my mom didn't have to work, and all of the kids are good people, and no drug addicts or problems, etc. WITH 9 KIDS, THAT'S A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT!

They made sure us kids had everything we needed.So I am very lucky to have a tough hard working father who has great integrity and takes no shit, and a great mom who had the caring side and would help anyone who needed anything! Our house was like the open door for the neighborhood when we were kids, all races, all good kids were welcome and if they ever needed anything, one of the Regan's would do what they could to help them. I have lost many friends through the years and some great friends of mine who were like second family, etc. Yet dealing with the loss of my mom is the worst. I was outside the room when she coded and they came running in to help her, she didn't know my father and I were outside, I was in the room and watched her take her last breathe as they tried to revive here, and then nothing could ever be the same after that moment. I thank my parents for raising me with integrity and the toughness needed to survive in today's world as well as teaching me about being compassionate and respecting people and trying to help people in need. To finish this up, all I can say is that if their is a heaven, mom for sure is their! I miss you mom, and we love you, thanks for all you have done.

SPECIALIZING IN ONE ART

2008-07-27T00:20:00.002-04:00

Specializing in one art

-SPECIALIZING IN ONE ART
I was reading my friends blog, he lives in China and he had a very interesting article on crosstraining, and I felt I would address the issue from a Western Viewpoint. I will base it on my personal experience and my personal reasons for crosstraining.

In America, for the most part, their are very few REAL Masters of a particular artform. And from that small pool, their is a few that teach openly. So it is very hard for a person to find a place to train under a REAL Master who will share his system. So what often occurs is that we find some teacher who has been training with a legite Master and has to travel, or host seminars to get the info from this Master. One of the groups at the forefront of this method was the JEET KUNE DO group of Dan Inosantos teaching. They kind of cornered the market with Guro Dan's ideas about what arts he felt were practical. They brought in Yori Nakamura who taught their Shooto, they have Ajarn Sirisute who leads the Thai Boxing organization, Salem Assli the Savate, the Machados teach the Brazilian Jiu JItsu, etc, and most followers of these guys have crosstrained in the other available arts. They do seminars all over, and the host usually offers a variety of classes at his school, some teach the Arts seperate, some teach individual classes.

As you should know, all Arts have a specific body method that allows them to function the way they do, as I see, many people who mix the arts believe that no one Art is enough. I felt this way in the past, but after being exposed to Internal Martial Arts, I feel they are close to being complete, however lacking groundfighting. Again, the problem is finding a Real Master to learn from. So what is an American to do? They either are very lucky to have a Master live near them, or they have to move, or just do the seminar thing, which forces them to fill in holes with techniques from other Arts. This is what happened to me, I learned alot of different Arts, and most times I trained under a local Instructor who was very good, and I also did the seminar thing throughout the year, bringing in the Master to test us and give us details.Later I started to travel and train with the head Master of each style whenever time would allow. I see that over the last decade it has been easier in the West to find a high level practicioner of Kali, Grappling and Wing Chun, due to the organizatuions like Gracie Jiu Jitsu,Machados, Leo Gaje and his Pekiti Tirsia, Doce Pares from Diony Canete and Cacoy,Tony Somera and his Bahala Na group, William Cheung, Leung ting, and Gary Lam, Moy Yat, etc for Wing Chun, and many other organizations who have great teachers available here in the West. More of these schools are now available.

In relation to Chinese and Indonesian arts,our situation is very different from those who live in Asia, where they recieve instruction from their Master daily or a few times a week, instruction from a true Master !(If your lucky enough to find one)

If I had the chance to train daily with my Silat teacher, Herman Suwanda, I would have been in my glory! I was lucky enough to train under competent teachers, but not a Master on a daily basis. At this stage of my life, I am lucky to have a Master of an art that I am interested in, and that is my focus for now. I share all the material I learned in the past with different Arts, and I refer my students to the Masters I learned from, and hope they will travel to train with these Masters. I will never abandone the Arts I studied, as I believe all people that have advanced any art, have been unique individuals who brought their past experiences to their present Art and improved it. I have made sacrifices to learn different Arts, I have had to travel coast to coast for Instruction, which is costly and time consuming. The advise I give others is that if you are interested in a certain Arts and have access to a Master, then dive deep into that Art and learn as much as you can.If you are real serious about one art, I will teach you all I know and get you to a high level, but you must also learn Modern Skills that you can apply more easily in combat for self defense.

As far as crosstraining, If you do not have access to a Master or high level teacher of an Art and you cannot relocate, and wish to crosstrain, you can learn to fight pretty quickly and do it well. Also, if you have a solid base in one Art and want to crosstrain, this is also a good idea. In America classes cost money, it is not like it is in China, teachers here have to either teach for a living, or have a fulltime job, and just teach on the side. Many teachers also have a hard time keeping dedicated students, as people here as they get older, need to work one to two jobs just to pay their bills and survive, so they push Martial Arts to the side every now and then.

In relation to similarities in Arts,I have found that some Arts have very similar body methods and are easier to blend, I have seen a similarity in Hebei Xingyi body method and Hong Kong Wing Chun, the Arts are different, but both use straight back power with whole body linking of the joints. I have also seen a big similarity to some Silat methods and Bagua. I see big similarities to many techniques in Wing Chun and Kali, etc. It is ok to mix and crosstrain, but do not believe all things blend easily, some do and some do not, you have to experiment and spar. I also really do advise learning as much concept and theory about each art you train. In this way, you can crosstrain more functionally, by knowing what technique contadicts another principle, or compliments it. So in closing, I would like to say that crosstraining is very good, and you can take a fighter out of his element if you know more than him, that being said, i advise all people to form a base in one modern art such as sanda, and then crosstrain. I don't think you need to Master one art first, but at least be proficient in understanding and usage. Their is also the adavantage in crosstraining to get ideas on new drills you havent seen in your art. I have used Wing Chun drills in my Xingyi training,as Wing Chun has a very detailed approach to trapping and gaining the line, I have used the ideas of these drills to form drills for Xingyi techniques. Another example is the Kali and boxing systems using an numbering system when training, each angle has a number, so you can call out an attack number and drill it, I have also used this idea in other arts.

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS AND INJURIES

2008-07-27T00:00:00.005-04:00

Mixed Martial Arts and Injuries
After I had put up a video of Grappling at my school from 1999 with James Boran, I had recieved alot of e-mails asking me why I stopped doing BJJ and MMA. I figured I would explain it here in the blog instead of answering more e-mails on this topic.

MMA and even BJJ cause severe stress on the bodies joints, and articulations, whether from positioning or from submissions, etc. I was about purple belt level when I was forced to stop training those Arts,I was a blue belt and was tapping purple belts often enough to move up in rank, I had a few herniations in my neck and back, and had to take a break. The herniation in my neck had caused me to lose function of my left hand for several months! I had what is called drop hand. This led to me getting acupuncture and also led to me studying acupuncture, but that is a whole different story for another time. One thing of course I regret is that I never got into competing back then when I was able to. The school I was at was all about training for combat as opposed to tournaments, but we did use the gi and had people from other schools always come down and roll with us. I am very fond of grappling arts and now they are in the limelight and the arts are in big demand as well. I may still teach what I know, as I did recieve my Shooter certificate in Shooto, and also had a bunch of years in BJJ.

Alot of people feel that MMA is safer then Boxing, I am not quite convinced of this. I believe their are more deaths in boxing, however their are also way more fights in boxing as well. This is changing nowadays as more organizations are having MMA fights and we will see what the future holds. I feel that MMA fighters sustain way more injuries that require surgery, I may be wrong and havent looked at statistics, but every guy I know who does MMA has injuries that can be very serious. I see alot of meniscus tears, alot of acl surgeries, alot of herniated disks in the neck back and lumbar, alot of bulging disks with nerve entrapment, alot of twisted ankles, and of course their are the injuries from submissions which are usually more minor. MMA has more of those inuuries than boxing in my guess, but again I havent done the stats. The most common injuries I had seen in boxing gyms is broken hands and wrists and rib breaks and fractures and nose breaks. We see more of these as well in MMA over the last decade as the stand up skills of guys is getting very very good.

One thing I think causes alot of injuries in MMA and BJJ is one of my favorite positions, THE GUARD! The guard is a great position in the sport, but theirs is alot of pressure placed in the back. I was always lighter than most my opponents and used the guard alot. The thing people do not realize is that back injuries usually happen from micro trauma over period of time. This is what I believe happened to me. I had other injuries that were on the spot like a broken collarbone, and broken ankle, dislocated shoulder, etc, all those injuries happened in the heat of things and you felt it happen right their and then. My back and neck injuries happned more gradual and then when the pain hit worst wasn't at a time of hard training, it was like the straw that broke the camels back, it was just time for something to give.

If people do BJJ or MMA, and it is just in class and a hobby, I seggest training with people near your own weight, as opposed for training against heavier guys. When I was hardcore into the sport, we had no weight classes and just matched up with anyone and went at it. I feel this is asking for trouble with injuries. My advise to guys is to be careful with using guard, when using it often, dont get stacked up and stay contorted for long, as this is where all the pressure is put on your spine and neck. If you compete on an amatuer or pro level, of course you do what you need to do to get paid and be a success, but for hobbyist, I say take it more easy.

I have seen many pro heros of ours have bad back and neck injuries, some names such as John Machado, Rigan Machado, Eddie Bravo, BJ Penn, and a whole slew of top level competitors, along with this, I have seen the hobbyist in gyms I trained at with many surgeries and many injuries that put people out of work for a period of time. So with the hardcore mentality of reality training, comes the hardcore reality of injuries. Many inujuries are minor and part of the game, however the back and neck injuries are lifelong, and when it hurts just to pick up my son, its quite an experience.

So that is why I stopped doing grappling arts for a while. I hope to someday be able to get back into it, as BJJ is the only Art I ever started and didnt make it to blackbelt, that is a sore spot for me, because I like to achive enough experience in any Art I love, and be able to understand it from that level of experience. A belt was never a goal for me, but average is like 8 years for a BJJ blackbelt, so I would have had a good understanding of the Art if rolling on the mat for that long.

I love MMA and BJJ and Sambo and Shooto! The grappling arts can help you gain confidence very quickly, as you can spar very hard and you know exactly what level you are at very easily. I of course do not like the guys who are new at the sport and need to make fun of other arts and put down Traditional Arts, as older Arts are very effective when someone really has a descent skill level. Even if it does not transfer well into the cage, Traditional Arts work very well in the street. I respect all styles and each has it's place, just as all food have their taste, different arts will serve different peoples personalities and body types better than others. So for my situation in an nutshell, I was forced to stop training those styles, and hope that with or without surgery later that I will be able to to train in those Arts again at a high level.

For now, I need to concentrate on what I can do, and get whatever info from the best teachers I can. My Xingyi and Bagua teacher is of the highest caliber,and lives near me, so I am trying to get as much info from him as I can while he and I live here, and I am also doing more Doce Pares while I have a great teacher as well,so that is where my focus is along with building my acupuncture business and supporting my family.

MORE DAI XINYI

2008-07-26T23:53:00.002-04:00

DAI XINYI
I was recently practicing Dai Xinyi, and had a few things I felt like discussing with others. I have been getting lots of calls, lots of e-mails, and even some crazy offers to teach this style. I feel I should at least put my ideas out their and let people know where I am coming from.

For starters, I do not want anymore e-mails or lengthy calls wanting to discuss the foundation training of Dai Style which is called Dun Hou Shi. Some people have been asking me questions on this as if it is some mighty thing out of a streetfighter video game! Lets get one thing straight off the bat, it is a foundation excercise which yields very good results for an art like Dai Xinyi after very long periods of time and dedication. It will not really help people training different styles, as the method is the basis for everything else in Dai style. It is used in Che style Xingyi because Che style as I was taught is based off of Dai style and share many things including body method. Their is a whole different article which may be done soon to go deeper into the connection. But for now, lets get back to the point. Dai style uses a very small on guard stance and uses alot of going small and going higher(contract and expand) in their fighting. So THE FOUNDATION TRAINING IS FOR BEING ABLE TO DO THIS WITH STRENGTH AND POWER. It is suited for the art. Dai style uses tiger step in which you can have a full rotation of the core, but squatting monkey does not allow one full rotation unless used in stepping, so again, it is baby steps first.

I have trained in many arts, I can say that Dai style is the hardest art for me to learn, the footwork is very hard to keep balance for a while, the standing and squatting excercises are easy to do, but hard to do CORRECTLY! The art on a whole is very un-natural and difficult to learn and very difficult to apply against todays high skilled and very fast boxers and MMA people. It can be done, but it takes a long time.Dai style is very good at close range, very close range, and again with the vast imporvement in clinch work from wrestlers and mma guys, some of the Dai methods are very hard to pull off unless you been doing it for a long time.

The main problem with arts such as Dai style is finding high level training partners, it has been my experience in other arts, that the only reason i excelled in many arts is because of the high quality of training partners that I had who were beating me up and pushing me. Had it not been for them, who knows what I would have been good at, but I do know I would not have been close to the level of understanding in certain arts that I am now. And I still do not have what I consider very high level skills in any art! Very high level in my opinion is being able to control the opponenet and his attacks using very little resistance and not having to be in trmendous condition. I have experienced this control from my Xinyi, Silat, and Wing Chun teachers, as well as a few of the better grapplers I have rolled with. It is awesome to have such skills and I hope to some day get close in just one art, to being that skilled.

With Dai Xinyi you want to learn, that is fine, however you must study the system, I will not teach guys who train other branches of Xingyi and just want to come and check it out. Why would I be interested in that? My teacher was told even a few years ago, not to teach Dai style, of course now things have changed and he has taught me and many others. The problem with learning this art is that you cannot keep a school open by teaching traditional Gong Fu methods to the masses. Most people simply quit, they do not want to just do standing and Dun Hou Shi and footwork. People want to fight, they want applications, they want training drills, etc. So what the Traditional teachers do is teach the foundation as part of the class, and of course move onto the material which is more in demand and then it is up to the student to go home and do his foundation training on his own. Many students never put the time in, due to family, work, or whatever, so the skill is never really developed.

The teacher does not hold back, but leaves it to the individual to train on certain things on his own.If someone wants to learn the art from me, we always start with Che style, as it has some modified more modern versions of fighting which can be developed quicker, but again it has its foundation training as well, and one also needs to practice alot on his own. Learning curve is based on what an individual shows he has progressed on. Then when the basic are down pretty well, which include the Dun Hou Shi method, then we dive deeper into the closer range techniques and more of the Dai methods.

I am far from great at Dai Style, I have not seen any non chinese that I feel is very good at this art either , because of the reasons stated above. It can be done, and all it takes is someone very commited and best if started at a young age, even as a young adult. Most students in Internal Arts classes are older people in their mid to late thirties and have much responsibilities outside of Martial Arts. So it is rare to find someone who has very high skills in these Arts. Of course they are out their, but they are few and far between.

For those who want some basic understanding of the squatting method here is a basic abbreviated poem, but as stated, it will do no good if you do not train Dai Xinyi. But to satify some curiosity---

Hold the dantien with both hands
look forawrd to one point
stretch the back, cave your chest,and shoulders
curve the body, tuck the hips
fingers go to knees
move qi to dantien
keep the three points
when changing yin and yang
straighten the body,stretch the chest,and kick the feet

In closing, their are other people teaching this art, and we all may have different views on history or some methods, but we are all brothers, and teach the art. We should be able to agree, disagree, debate, and even clown around, without people getting so sensetive.No one system or style has all the answers, and no one teacher has it all, so find a teacher and system you feel confortable with, and enjoy, because to get very good at these arts takes a big commitment and long time, so plan on staying with one family. I can say that within many Chinese Arts, teachers in general do not teach advanced material unless you have the prior skills needed to learn deeper methods, so you must practice. You can learn forms, apps and drills all day, but you will really never have anything different from kickboxers if you have no foundation training.

NOTE- This is not to say kickboxers are inferior as they are not, I am just pointing out that Chinese Arts have specific boxy methods that make their art applicable, if you do not have their body method, it would be wiser to study kickboxing as you will be a better fighter from that.

The people who state that Xingyi was taught to military and was quick to learn and hard to Master are very wrong in my opinion. The art has advanced and developed more and more by each of the generations great Masters, so the systems have become quite vast. The above statement about learning quickly would be true if you learned the ORIGINAL art (which nobody really has a clue what was originally taught), and if you learned what they taught military (which many believe military was never involved), so to say its a small art and the whole system can be learned very quick is total bunk! If someone learns the whole system in a year or two and does not even live in the same state with their teacher, or just goes to china once a year, do not believe them if they say the art is small in volume and the whole miltary comparison, etc etc, because it is nonsense. What it usually means is that they learned a bunch of forms and some apps and think thats all their is.

Any system which is a couple hundred years old, goes through many innovations. Look at BJJ today, it is very different from ten years ago. Most BJJ schools teach wrestling takedowns, teach sombo leglocks, teach muay thai stand up, etc and thats only in the last decade or so, imagine how much innovation has happened to an art that is hundreds of years old?

Bottom line, theres no majic method, no gimmick to make you better overnight, so if you want to learn, that is cool, but plan on sticking around for a while.

ShifuDan

Dai Xinyi

2008-07-20T20:41:00.000-04:00

After reading a recent article in a magazine, where I seen many mistakes in the suposed Dai form, I felt a need to creat an article on this style. I have studied Dai Xinyi for a few years, my lineage is straight from Shanxi China. My teacher is Master Li Tailiang, who had studied under Wang Ying Hai starting in his youth, he also studied Che style Xingyi since 5 yrs old, Che style includes elements of Dai style. My teacher has also learned Dai style from Zhou Shou Yun and many others as well, as his family is related to Dai family members. Dai style is gaining popularity in the west, due in part to media outlets like youtube and vcd that are now available. As is the case in everything that has potential to make money, I have come across several people claiming to teach this style, some had only a brief encounter with my teacher, and others just learned from a book or video, then went on to teach! This is one reason why I do feel that certification is needed in Martial Arts. There is often a big debate about the certification process, as many say that a piece of paper does not determine skill. I do agree with this idea, however a certificate is a degree of completion, as is a college degree. If one is a natural fighter or not, if they are teaching something, it is best to see that they have acquired a diploma of some sorts. This certificate is also a way to contact the one who issued it, and verify credentials.

Back to Dai Style! The main components of Dai style are their intense internal methods which take many years to gain any proficiency. One cannot really understand the idea of the dantien as used in Dai Xinyi just by words. It is not merely the center of the body, the elixir field, a point below the naval, etc. It is an actual muscle or ball! It is very hard to explain. You will be able to feel this ball rolling in a Dai practicioners abdomen, the ball rolls in and down while drawing in the huen yin point, and the ball rolls forward and down when expanding. It is not an esoteric concept it is an actual visible part of the body. The only way I can come close to describe it is when you see yogis roll their abdomen around, Rickson Gracie does this in his movie CHOKE. This rolling is similar but done very different. The yogi method is used for massaging organs, the Dai method is used as the basis of body method for this style. Their are only a few Dai teachers teaching in China and a very small amount elsewhere.

Now, this body method takes years to develope, and basically the art is not very useful without this method, because this art is based on contraction and expansion, it is not based solely on straight back, unified power as other Xingyi styles use. The Dai style is especially good at very very close range fighting where whole body contraction and expansion can be used. Unlike other Xingyi where they keep their back straight the Dai method seems to collapse, but really draws inward with contraction, and there is no space anywhere, the body is small and tight and can explode out when needed. It is very rare even in China to see very highly skilled Dai practicioners, because of time needed to develope this unusual body method. The training is slow and very detailed, mosyt people seem to rush to other arts which teach much quicker. I personally believe this is one reason why Farmer Li, the creator of more modern Xingyi changed the art somewhat. Farmer Li and his student Che both studied with Dai family, but taught a modified version which allowed people to excel faster, but also taught indoor disciples the traditional way as well. The modern way has some very good inovations as far as footwork and speed, tactics, etc, but the traditional method has a better internal component in my opinion.

The training starts with squatting monkey excercise, along with variations of this practice.Many practicioners have trouble lining up the points properly, which include lining up the knees, feet and nose. I would usually practice against a wall, so all three can line up properly. The next stage of training is to learn the basic footwork, then you would learn some retreating footwork, then you will add contraction and expansion with footwork. Some teacher will then go on to teach the three traditional fists(San Quan), while others will have you straight to the five elements(wu xing). This here is very little information for the student of JKD or other arts where varieties of styles and techniques are learned at a fast pace. But this info alone is the meat and potatoes of the art, this is as important as the shrimp crawl is to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as without it you have nothing. Then later we move on to Si Ba and other things.

In a nutshell, thats material that will take a long time to learn, later the low basin (Di Pan) will be added to the techniques, and this should keep you busy for a long time. If someone is claiming to teach this art, ask them where they learned from, and ask if you can verify it by calling the teacher. If someone teaches you the suqatting excercise wrong, you can cause internal harm especially with the intestines, stomache, and even the spine. All lineages of this art can be easily confirmed, as it is a small community and most of us are connected in one way or another. I hope to get back here and put up some pictures soon, but thats all for now, I hope you enjoyed the basic summary of this rare art. Their is anothe branch of this art teaching in New Zealand as well, and some in Japan, etc, so you can find the real thing, but is is a small group that's out their.

Mande Muda Silat

2008-07-18T14:55:00.000-04:00

Mande Muda is the creation of Uyuh Suwanda starting in 1951. Bapak Uyuh studied 18 styles of Silat, then married his wife mimi who was a Master of Cimande Silat, this formed the 18 styles of Mande Muda. The word Mande comes from Cimande, which many people believe is the oldest style of Silat, the word Muda means new, hence Mande Muda is both old and new, always looking to improve, yet founded on the traditional methods. Pendekar Guru Besar Bapak Uyuh dies in 1989 and his sone Herman was chosen as the family heir.

When Guru Besar Pendekar Herman took over the spreading of the art, he added several more styles to his family art. He continued training with many Masters and continued to improve upon his vast amount of techniques. He was trained in the arts since childhood, beginning in 1960 under the guidance of his father. He started training with other teachers in the year 1965. His father would send him to different teachers in order to learn more. After ten years of private training with his father and other teachers, he began teaching, and later began teaching in the USA in 1980. Mande Muda has grown to inlude 25 different styles of Silat. I was very fortunate to have spent time with Guru Besar Pendekar Herman, and to have had a very good relationship with him. Sadly Guru Besar Herman and his wife Shannon along with a few other people, were killed in a tragic accident in Germany in the year 2000.

I will be doing an interview with some of my seniors in this art in the near future, I hope this introduction to the art gives people a basic understanding of how the style began, and where it has gone. Their are many people teaching this art in the USA, some are very good, and very honest people with loyalty to the Suwanda family. If you decide to learn this great art, find an Instructor who spent some descent time learning the system.

Interview with Master L i Tailiang

2008-07-12T13:53:00.000-04:00

Master Li and I sat down very often, discussing ideas and just chatting as friends. I recently sat down with him and we laughed and had a great time, while also discussing Martial Arts. Here I will include some of our basic conversation.

Dan Regan- Master Li, how long have you studied Martial Arts?
Master Li- Since as far back as I can remember, it is part of our life in Shanxi, My father is a very high level Master of Xingyi as well as Traditional Medicine. There is not much more to do in Shanxi, Martial Arts is like baseball and soccer is here in USA.

Dan Regan- Do you like the changes in Martial Arts these days, such as UFC
Master Li- I like the UFC, it is good to watch, I also love the Traditional methods as well

Dan Regan-How do you feel the level of Xingyi is in the USA as compared to China?
Master Li- their are very fe people taught the Traditional way, even in China their are very few true Masters, but the ones that are their are very knowledgeable. I have not seen any Americans who have the understanding that Chinese Masters do. The true Masters of the art were raised on this art, it is the culture. Some americans may be good at pieces of the art.

Dan Regan- Do you feel any branch of Xingyi is better than another, I see many students trying to start arguments over the internet over this.
Master Li- If someone likes what they are doing, it is best for them. There is no reason to change peoples minds, let them be happy with what they choose. Of course I feel certain branches or families specialize in certain aspects of training, so they have better skills in certain areas.

Dan Regan- I see Dai style is gaining popularity these days, how do you feel about this?
Master Li- it is a good thing, for people to learn about Chinese Arts and Chinese culture.

Dan Regan- do you feel that Traditional styles are better than modern Sanda?
Master Li- I feel they both have good and bad points, I am fortunate to have learned both, and have seen where they are best. I feel that many Traditional Masters have not fought much, and are very shocked when they fight a very good Sanda person. One example was at my tournament in NYC, a very strong Taiji Master wanted to enter the competition, he had great power, he was scared he would maybe even kill someone and wanted to make sure he would not be in trouble. We let him fight someone and needless to say he was beaten up pretty easily, I asked him 'Where is your power?" He was not a fighter, but had good foundation, etc

Dan Regan- I see in our family, we do use conditioning methods for the body, such as banging against each other with different parts of the body during training, whereas other families say this should not be done.
Master Li- We need this excercises for real fighting, others do not use them for their own reasons, but for us we cannot say that forms and two people sets is all you need, we need the body to be tough, as well as timing, etc. Again, if you are fighting, you need to use your skills in practice as close to reality as possible

Dan Regan- How is your Sanda championships doing in China?
Master Li- the event is bigger and bigger, many countries enter and it is televised, it is very exciting.

Dan Regan- one thing that makes me be a loyal student of yours is that with your skill and credentials, you still remain very humble, this is rare in Martial Arts.
Master Li- if one trains internal Gong Fu, the skills are one thing, but the body is also healthy and the mind is settled, so one does not have aggression or anything to prove to anyone.

Dan Regan- This is very true, yet so many claim to have these skills, but just concentrate on being tough, or the fighting
Master Li- very few understand the Internal training, many think it is fake, or esoteric, because they just do not know it. I was not trained in the esoteric side of anything, just practical application.But there is a thing called qi, and it has to be harnessed to have internal power. Internal is not just body connection, all arts have body connection.

Dan Regan- How did your Sanda training influence your Martial ARTS?
Master Li- Professional Sanda fighters are very tough, have great power and are very very fast, Sanda is great eye opener for many traditionalist to see what is lacking in training. Not all Traditionalist need this training, but for me it helped very much for me to have this training when I was in college.

Dan Regan- do you see as I do, that many Gong Fu people get beat up by streetfighters because their Gong Fu training is not realistic.
Master Li- yes, I do see this, however I also see that real Gong Fu people do very well in the street, an example is when a Sanda Champ was cornered in a restaurant in China and told to fight by some local thugs, the Sanda player did not want to fight, he wanted to leave. The thugs told him he could only leave if he did fight, some had knives, and surrounded him. He kicked and killed one or two of those people, and the rest backed off, he actually killed one with one or two shots, he was very powerful,one kick to the head killed someone.

Dan Regan- sad that this happens, especially if the Sanda player didn't want to fight.
Master Li- yes, people do very stupid things.

Dan Regan- our family is well mannered in general, I see very few of our students getting into arguments on the net, and being arrogant, etc
Master Li- I do allow students to bring a bad name to us, I hope they all act very polite. We know what we train, and what it is supposed to look like.

Dan Regan- I am always amazed at your skill, I have trained with many of the best around , and I see your skill as very refined and pure
Master Li- Thank you, this is from the foundation training, as well as many years of practice. Xingyi foundation takes many years, and many Americans do not have patience. This is why we teach Sanda as well, so people can defend themselves quickly.

Dan Regan- It is always great sitting with you, I had a good time as always, I really am glad that people don't influence you with the greed, as I have seen many put ideas and money in your face, just to use your name, etc.
Master Li- money is important to survive, we all need money, but also integrity is very important.

Dan Regan- Thanks again Master Li, you are a true Master and Shifu, you have the skill and wude, and I think your students act appropriately because of your example.
Master Li- Thank you