The only way to get better at something is to seek out an external source of knowledge to educate yourself on the topic be that through a book, video, tutor or any other source you might imagine and practice. Even with all the knowledge and learning assistance in the world there can be little progress without practice. The blacksmith's apprentice can watch his mentor for decades yet will never be capable of creating good instruments if he does not at some point begin to wield the hammer for himself.
As we draw the comparison to martial training there is only so much someone can help you through explanation and word. At a certain point there is no more use for words and the only thing left is action. So do your learning. Read books. Watch instructionals. Get personal instruction. But mental training is only half the battle. You have to put in the work! Get physically involved! Much like the blacksmith's apprentice watching can only take you into a mental understanding of the techniques. It will never give you the experience as to how performing the technique actually FEELS.
So do me a favor, I want you to get up out of your chair or step away from you desk right now and practice your jab.
How does it feel? Is it a confident jab or are you still wondering what a jab is? Is your arm extending straight or is your elbow flailing? Do you have a stance or do you look like you are waiting for a bus?
Go on. Practice! It will do your jab much better than sitting here reading!
Calasanz Martial Arts Center has been in Norwalk for over 3 decades. When you set out to get started learning a martial art either for sport or for recreation you have to ask yourself why it is you would go to any particular school.
Let me be honest here. No matter what school you go to your first visit to a school / gym / dojo is going to be exciting and you're going to be very excited to get started. There is something inside every person that is awakened when you bear witness to and experience these different activities. You automatically can think to yourself, "Wow, I can do that!" or perhaps more inquisitively you might ask yourself "That looks so easy, why don't I do that?" and let me tell you, it is very simple. It is no secret as to how or why people are capable of what they do. It is just a matter of setting the mind to do it and going to do it. Even if you start out with very little skill keep in mind that everyone crawls before they walk and walks before they run. The only difference between those who can and those who can't is action. It is not so difficult to understand what makes someone great at what they do. It is, simply put, a matter of continued discipline, dedication and revision.
What makes our approach so effective and the reason why our school has been able to remain here is because of the simplicity and the approach we take to training. Come to Calasanz to take something home with you. Train to beat the competitor without competing. Learn the basics. Keep your training simple. Calasanz has been teaching and working with people and within the martial arts exclusively for decades and his skill and knowledge cannot be denied. If you want to come somewhere to learn something right this is the place. It is somewhere you will learn about yourself and you will learn the methods to improving your coordination, flexibility, power, grounding and technique developed by Calasanz over his career.
Countless people have come through to learn something here and left with something they will remember forever. Fledgling athletes improving their balance and coordination come to excel in their sport after training here for periods as short as 2 months. Great athletes even come here to improve and to become dominant on the field and court. Martial Artists come here to improve their fighting skill and broaden their horizons becoming well balanced and more open. There is something for you here no matter what you're looking for.
So when you want to learn how to kick, when you want to get into kickboxing for example, when you want to try something new and branch out to a new style of martial art, this is your school. You can learn it all here. We have trainers who teach Karate, Kung Fu, Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, BJJ, Fitness and Self Defense. There are countless avenues to take with your training all ready to be taken. Take the first step and call or email to schedule a free trial or just stop by during business hours. We are open 7 days a week!
The best martial artists are those with open minds. While every person has a style that speaks to them it is hard to be respected as a person or martial artist if there is not acceptance of others' ways and an openness to learning new approaches and methods.
It is commendable and demanding of respect when a person decides to dedicate themselves to a specific art and work within that sect of the martial arts community. Yet it is deplorable when this same person scoffs and sneers at others efforts within a different sect.
While it is no doubt true that certain styles or approaches are more effective there is still validity within the practice of those so-called "less effective" styles. Each person must decide for themselves why it is they practice. After all, Bruce Lee did say that in the end all knowledge is self knowledge, including knowledge of martial arts. Upon continued dedication the practitioner learns about himself in ways of which he was previously ignorant. For example you will learn by taking just one kickboxing class how flexible / inflexible you are.
Getting back on point, when it comes to the different approaches, styles and training methods of different martial arts it is of course still another thing all together to come to blows and to fight. That is to say that there can be a big difference between what you train for and the way a fight can go, especially out in the real world where there are any number of objects within the environment let alone the possibility of concealed weapons or firearms.
Now I could go on and say how useless it is for someone to spend their life learning empty hand forms and that they should instead take krav maga or Aikido to learn about disarming and control through joint manipulation. But it would be against common sense to say that it is useless to learn a form. For it has its own beauty and use there within. Discipline, control, learning body mechanics through movement and developing strength, power, flexibility and muscle memory of technique and perhaps the public performance of this form would even inspire others to seek out and enjoy the world of martial arts.
So what is the best and most effective martial art? It is a trick question. First you must ask yourself, "What is my goal through practice?" From there you poke around and decide which art is a good fit for you. Take note now as well and don't let yourself get brainwashed as so many do within their own space. The first martial art you dive into will forever be a large part of your life but don't let it weigh you down or cloud your mind when branching out to something new or conversing with someone with background in a different style. There is much to be learned but it is difficult for that learning to occur through closed doors.
Take your knowledge from school to school always filling your cup more and more. Remember what you learn and be open to receiving more and more. Again, when two martial artists meet it is not that there is one wrong and one right. They are simply different and it is through appreciation and acceptance of this difference that both can learn and grow.
"But there is only one direction that is going to be done and delivered and that is the simple way."
- Calasanz
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This is uh... something that I want to talk about first of all to bring it to the attention of Frank Dux even if I don't mention his name I just want to be able to tell him, "Read it."
Just like how ________________ has written before about me as a kid, I knew probably Martial Art since I was born but didn't know that it was Martial Art or Boxing that I was doing until I got to the city when I was 14 or 15. That was the time that I first went to a school and took my first class. As I was watching, everything that they were teaching did not make sense to me because it was just brutal. They were just hitting each other. The first day I remember sparring and they would throw a front kick or round kick at me and I was using techniques of closing the gap to block them. Lifting my leg and blocking the kicks. For me it was nothing new. It was something that I realized later on that I was born with.
I did not go back to take a class at the school or to train with Rafael Martinez their Master / head trainer or any of the other trainers there for about 3 months. After I came back from 3 months I could beat anyone there, but I could have beaten anyone there even on my first day.
You see, on my own I was already doing movements within the traditional forms and katas. I remember including some of those movements in a kata I put together in 1987 for a form we call "Bojitsu Ni". I remember Matellen Coves was performing a weapons kata put together by Tameyoshi Sakamoto, Bojitsu Ichi, but traditionally it was just too short. He was performing it perfectly but it was just too short and he was not winning. So I took that same form or kata that was related to kobudo and I elaborated on it to put together the Bojitsu Ni. In less than one year, or probably 3 or 4 tournaments he was number one in weapons Nationally and number one in New England for many of the other things that he was doing.
Now, Belts.
So, belts are not so important for me, but it is important and I do use them in our system. You want to have a black belt in Physical Arts under our system. Why? Because that is just a little taste of what is the most well balanced system in the world. Anything that we do we can divide a belt into whatever; 14, 300, 400... we can divide our belt system into any number of different levels by using our skill to bring people to the equivalent of a black belt and that could be in Karate, Kung Fu, Chinese Boxing, American Boxing, Wing Chun Ground Fighting... even for Boxing we have a black belt equivalent over here.
So belts are more of a respect for me. I respect the Martial Arts more than anyone out there. I spent a fortune in Martial Arts just out of respect for the teacher. "Here you are Moy Yat. I'm gonna give you a lot of money because you're teaching me the Wing Chun system. Then I am going to teach it." We had worked it out such that I knew that after three months of training under Moy Yat I would be certified to teach, and I did. And Moy Yat did not care because he knew what was the skill that I had. He said, "No, no, no. Why put Calasanz in a class to pay $50 and spend 10...15 years doing 小念頭?" No. Somebody sent me to 梅逸 (Moy Yat) and in 1 year I had the system of Wing Chun. Even myself, I had many students teaching 3 months after learning Wing Chun, Patrick Wilson, Pamela and many others. So belts are important for me as a respect. So many instructors like Mr. Chow in Wing Chun. Frank Dux in all that he did. Lee... in reality I retract that word, I don't want to mention that guy... but many others.
Whenever I went to a new school I had a way of talking with and working with their head instructors and owners. They would say, "Oh, Calasanz, why don't you get a black belt in our system?" You see, I can be a black belt in one day. My obsession was so excessive and my skill was so beyond that I could reach that level in a very short time. I remember when I went to Lee, I talked to George and taught him some of my skill and then he gave me in just one week all of their forms of Tae Kwon Do. It was easy for me because I did TKD in the DR and I knew how to deliver all the kicks as TKD as well as in the style of Goju Ryu karate.
So when I went to this guy on the Post Road to learn Hapkido the first thing I said was, "I want to do this because I came to this country to be Bruce Lee. I want to be well balanced. I am good at Goju Ryu but I don't want to confuse what I learned. I want to be at least the equivalent of a brown belt." But I could be the equivalent of a brown belt of any system if I wanted because that was my skill. I was born with it. I spent a lot of time in school but I devoted to this after my formal study for the love of it. I have 24 diplomas in all sorts of different fields. But I devoted myself to Martial Arts because its what I wanted to do. It was my obsession and my passion over anything else.
Now, all these writings and recordings that I am doing here are related to one thing. Respect. I love to have a belt from many different systems just to have it out of respect. But the fact is that belts are not so important for me, however, I like the respect of it. And that is one thing that I want people to understand. If someone offers me a belt, I want it. But at this moment I have a system. I have a system that I need and for me to accomplish my system and to leave it here; to give it to the world before I am gone I would need probably... easily, 10 lives. If I am going to be 90 years old then I need another 90, another 90, another 90 and so on in order to leave it.
Calasanz and Tameyoshi
So I am concentrated on what I am today and on what I know today and this is the skill that I want to leave in the world. Then to the world I leave those names that I respect and there are many of them, but one of them is Frank Dux. Another, Moy Yat. Another, Tameyoshi Sakamoto. Another, Victor Lillianao and of course ____________. But anyway, this is the fact of belts. I don't mind getting a belt from anyone. I don't mind learning today. Today is June 12th 2014. I do not want to learn a new self defense technique. I have so much already that if I could leave behind at least one percent I would be so happy in life. I want to talk about skillful people like Frank Dux for example, who is for real. Moy Yat if he would be alive. Tameyoshi if he would be alive. Rafael Martinez. Rafael Alvarez and many others. I love to share. I love kata. That I want to learn a new form or a new self defense technique or a new elbow.... look, I can portray an elbow strike in 20 / 30 different directions. But there is only one direction that is going to be done and delivered and that is the simple way.
We created our name by delivering 1 punch and 1 kick. A side kick that no one, no one could block and no matter who it would be, an MMA fighter in the UFC... we could apply that sidekick to any fighter beautifully. The System Kick we called it. A kick coming from a short distance with lightning speed and power with the heel. My guys just made people... you could call it shit. Maybe there is a different word that Alan can find but... that just made them... it was a kick delivered to the gut that just made them... you know. This is how we created the name. So we don't need so much about that, but again, respect.
Anybody tomorrow that contacts me, "Oh let me get a belt in your system." and I will spend 1 hour with you and give you a belt. But the belt is really not what is helping you. It is of course the time spent and what gets retained that is really important. Anyone can wear a belt, not everyone can throw a good kick. I don't have to do that but I respect those that love the Martial Arts. I respect those that love the Martial Arts and do the Martial Arts for real. No bull-shit.
Still I expect that this be written in a way that does not offend anyone. Bull-shit could be misinterpreted as someone who is not too good as a fighter but is good at teaching and helping kids to be confident at something. We don't criticize anyone. And certainly teachers such as that are not bull-shit. Martial Arts can be a lot of things.
It's like I told Kenny Lamara who said to me, "Calasanz, my kid goes to this school. I don't know why I didn't send him to you."
I said, "Kenny if you sent him to me he wouldn't be with me." He wouldn't have stayed with me because in those times I was tough on them. I was tough an anyone. It didn't matter their age or anything. So those schools over there that take their time to teach a kid just how to feel it. It's okay. Its okay. Good luck. It's like Bas Rutten said, "I respect you." You have a 3rd degree black belt in ____________, and I respect that. But I wouldn't respect you if you say now you're gonna step into the UFC or if you want to step into the ring with me because that would be an offense. You don't have to be a killer in order to have a black belt and have another Martial Art as a hobby. You don't have to be a killer. You can just be. You can enjoy. You can enjoy the Martial Art. You can do the Martial Art soft but you must be careful when you open your big mouth. [jokingly] You know, don't say that. But yes.... You know, this is what Bas Ruttan said. Alan, the minute you see and follow him you will be inspired by him. Every word that comes from his mouth is something that you want to save. He is one guy that is the same type as me. That is just logical. Everything works. Don't criticize some school because the guy just throws a kick and didn't do anything with the kick. No. They are enjoying that. You see? That helps them. That is what makes TKD today. That is why there is the big killer TKD and the other ones. Okay?
So that is related Alan, that is what I want and probably I give you some time tomorrow, I want that you write that and even words can come even from your own development; your own skill.
I respect.
I don't want belts. I do not want to learn anything. I just want to see if I can leave before I am gone to the world 10 to 15 percent of the most simple Martial Arts in the world. This is all I care about today. But I do care about respect. I do care about sharing with people and so on. This is what I want.
Calasanz as an instructor has always had a unique and real way of training his students. Not only through teaching but also by making each of his students partially responsible and accountable for their own training and learning. Calasanz' approach to teaching created the fiercest and most feared competitors in the world of Martial Arts out of local, every-day people. It is simple fact that he could, can and did take anyone with the guts and dedication to achieve and made them superb Martial Artists. His system and style of teaching continues to evolve further beyond and above anything else out there as it always has incorporating Body, Mind and Spirit.
"Do not forget. Not everyone listens or wants to understand the real meaning of coming to a real and unique system like the Calasanz Physical Arts System." - Calasanz
You can research and answer for yourself how he did it. The way he created the name and the way he trained those who brought the name to the highest level of fighting was by using the people that he trained under intensive training programs. This means action. He did it by putting his most apt and well-trained students up against those who wanted to compete. It is an action based system and Calasanz always knew that discourse based learning within Martial Arts is severely limiting, is no way to become talented and will never make you superb outside of theory.
There are stories upon stories about Calasnaz' students. Those every day investors or scientists coming in looking for a hobby or to get an idea of how to defend themselves ended up being more skilled even than those training to compete. He would regularly pit competitors walking in against his students, even those with limited training, many of those training to compete would then buckle under the trauma of their iron shins, throw in the towel, or even end up hospitalized. Why? ...How? Because this is a system based on reality. Head movement. Power. Coordination. Technique. Grounding. Endurance. The results speak for themselves and show how Calasanz as an instructor knew how to do it then and knows how to do it even better today.
The methods. The training. They're effective. It's undeniable how capable and talented his pupils are and have become through their training and time spent here. The people, the history, the reality, they are impossible to ignore and cannot be dismissed. Understand, this is not like anything else ever seen before, at least on such a transparent and global level. This is the birth of a rooted, universal, modern and evolved Martial System happening before our very eyes without veil, smoke-screen or diversion. Sober up and open your eyes. Calasanz is not teaching some other person's system (although he has many he can draw from). He is creating one. His vast background of study, his lifetime of dedication to The Art, his extensive training and voluminous experience teaching thousands of others are actual facts, not fantastical stories. His experience and knowledge of the Martial Art is something that will be near impossible for anyone to surpass. Calasanz, with the revelation of his system, has completely let the cat out of the bag for the world to see and indeed it is a VERY big cat.
