Taken From an Audio Recording from one of Calasanz' Students.
(names removed for privacy)
==========
"Calasanz' knowledge... Calasanz has so much knowledge in the Martial Arts man. He told _____, 'You're not ready for the tournament. You're not going.' See he didn't want to take no for an answer. He insisted. Even the day before the tournament I was sparring with him. He was going crazy trying to kick me and trying to... you know. And I was there just blocking. Calasanz got mad at me and gave me ... I think it was 50 push-ups because I didn't want to counter punch. I didn't want to hurt ____ to stop him from going to the tournament. It was crazy man."
"Spinning roundhouse kick... I saw the kick coming miles away. I could have called him on the phone and said, '____, you got a spinning roundhouse coming. Get your hands up.' But it was too late. I mean I saw the kick coming when the guy was lined up and then the first spin.... I like the guy, but... if you can't walk the walk don't talk the talk. You understand?"
"When did you go?"
"When? Ehhh ... What year was it? 1996.
"It was nice man. I was fearless. I didn't care. The fights were pretty much easy 'cause the system and the way we fight and in tae kwon do, the way they fight it's different you know. They rely a lot on their kicks. I tried to play their games for the first 2 seconds. The guy started jumping around.
The first one started jumping around and I just countered him. He went with a spinning kick which is very popular in tae kwon do and I hit him with a counter round kick. Boom. I knocked him out."
"To the head?"
"Yeah."
"The second one was the same thing. The second one I move up to him, I shuffled. I shuffled. We used to do a lot of shuffling here. I shuffled and hit him with a round kick. He went down."
"The third one threw a kick at me. I blocked it. Then I hit him with a round kick. It was all round kicks. It was 3 round kicks. 3 knockouts."
"The 4th guy I was supposed to fight was a guy from here because he was beating everyone from his end and he bowed out to me because Calasanz didn't want us to fight. So I ended up with the first place. The gold. He got the bronze medal. Excuse me, the silver. Yeah, [the forth guy was a student from Calasanz and he bowed out to me because we had a rule that whenever we end up facing each other at a tournament, the student who had been training the longest gets bowed out to and get the points.]"
"That was the trial, did you end up going to the Olympics though?"
"I didn't go because I tore my ACL playing soccer. I had to have a surgery on my left knee."
"Did anybody else go (to the Olympics) from here?"
"I was the guy with the first place. The other guy won the silver medal.. you know what's crazy I think they found out that he was from here, they didn't give him the medal. They said they ran out. If you know you're supposed to have so many fights how can you not have enough medals? It's all bullshit."
"Was it because they didn't like the fact he was training here?"
"Well they knew we were students from here. But we didn't go to the tournament under this school because it was a strictly Korean tournament; Tae Kwon Do tournament."
"But there is only one direction that is going to be done and delivered and that is the simple way."
- Calasanz
==========
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.
"Don’t be afraid to correct perfectionists because you feel it will upset them. An instructor who feeds into this is not really teaching. Constant praise is counterproductive and doesn’t help the student learn."
I appreciate martial arts students who want to do everything perfectly. They are usually very committed and hard working. They sign up for classes ready to train and full of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm disappears very quickly. The one problem is that perfectionists worry themselves to death. They start off with a very positive attitude, but set the bar so high that they get depressed and disappointed if they can’t meet their expectations often times allowing the slightest error to completely deflate the moment and block reception of the lesson.
Students with such high anxiety also tend to ask a lot of questions and over-analyze the lesson or the techniques. What happens then is that instead of enjoying their martial arts training, it becomes stressful. Some don’t want to take promotion tests because in their minds, they are never really ready. Usually they are of the mind that nothing they do is ever good enough.
I’ve taught martial arts for over 30 years because I love teaching. I've said it again and again, I don’t like to give up on anyone, perfectionists included. They can be superior athletes if trained properly. My best approach is to encourage them to lighten up. I have to constantly remind them not to be so hard on themselves.
I will limit the amount of questions I allow during a class. As a sincere teacher and instructor I can’t ignore all questions because some are legitimate but sometimes the barrage of inquisitions gets out of hand. A martial arts class, however, should not consist of a lot of chit-chat. Most people want to work up a sweat and learn the art; talking simply inhibits the experience. Too many questions can also bore and even agitate the other students so maintaining focus on everyone getting a good workout is important. During open workout sessions, I specifically direct perfectionists on what they should work on for that hour. Some students are so self-directed that they show up to an open workout with an agenda of what they want to work on and can keep themselves busy for an hour. Although, if the Perfectionist needs a plan... Give it to them! They will rise to the occasion.
Don’t be afraid to correct perfectionists because you feel it will upset them. An instructor who feeds into this is not really teaching. Constant praise is counterproductive and doesn’t help the student learn. Make constructive corrections and tell the student how to improve!
Above all, focus on the overall learning experience! When directed by a knowledgeable instructor perfectionists have the potential to be, to become, outstanding Martial Artists. Encourage them to enjoy the journey!
In the world of engineering often times the most celebrated solutions are also the most simple. When it comes to martial art there is none more simple than Wing Chun
Review this video, especially those of you who have studied Wing Chun traditionally. We love traditional wing chun programs but have also managed to cross the threshold by developing Wing Chun into something practical for more than just self-defense and street survival.
Calasanz studied Wing Chun under Moyat privately investing probably 3 times more than those who just love to talk. When it comes to Wing Chun, even if you are not an expert or even if you are a beginner, just by taking Wing Chun you are already better than many other martial artists. No matter what you do, no matter how abysmal your Wing Chun is, you are still getting 90% more than what you would get from any other martial arts school granted you are not making a concerted effort to ignore the lesson or refuse any sort of attempt at understanding the system.
Calasanz built his name by giving lessons to professional fighters who needed it. You see, Wing Chun on the street is unmatched, but most guys who fight on the street don't know how to fight. It's easy to win a fight on the street. Watching a Wing Chun guy take down 10 guys on the street would only naturally make one of the mind that Wing Chun is best. But again, those guys on the street probably are not good fighters. So, when it comes to stepping into a ring, or now a cage you encounter a completely different animal. Now you are fighting a fighter, a gladiator. Now you are fighting someone who trains to fight.
That being said, Wing Chun designed for competition has to
be more than just the traditional. It has to evolve into something
beyond. While the traditional has much to offer in the marks of
technique, body mechanics, spiritual development and general fitness it must be augmented for the cage when faced with the reality of fighting and with the knowledge and input gathered over
time in order to participate in evolution proper. Keep in mind,
however, that evolution does not imply greater complexity. In fact, it
may even imply a step in the opposite direction towards greater
simplicity.
Jeet Kune Do developed by Bruce Lee for example. Lee introduced that concept of 'longest weapon attacks nearest target' which is undeniably and obviously sensible yet was strangely overlooked or undervalued for so long until its more recent revelation. JKD was developed by Bruce Lee because upon coming to America he ran into trouble taking traditional Wing Chun into competition; meaning it needed to be converted into something effective for use in the ring against those trained to fight. Behold the creation of JKD, behold the evolution of Wing Chun.
"I was on the circuit myself for years and was competing in tournaments
and that's how I got to meet a lot of people throughout the country. Some
were real while some were just tackin' 'em in there."
An Ex-Instructor Describes His Experience with Calasanz
==========
Over the years we would host tournaments at the local YMCA for forms, fighting, weapons and breaking. Calasanz would perform in the breaking events to demonstrate his breaking ability which was pretty fantastic. He performed an incredible amount of breaks. At the time he did Ed Brown's tournament he did the most amount of breaks I have ever seen at any point in time in my life, it must have been some sort of record. I believe he broke a baseball bat with his shin and generally, anything I heard about Calasanz I usually took as true because I had seen what he would do and could do in real life.
Ed would run these tournaments twice a year which would draw in the top competitors locally, and more than that. People would come from all over the North East. It gave the top competitors quality competition in those disciplines of: forms, fighting, breaking and weapons without having to travel into New York City. I first met Calasanz at one of these local tournaments.
Calasanz, as long as I've known has always been an innovator when it comes to martial arts. He was always working on developing new programs and classes; always trying to do something to better the martial arts. I remember he called me over to his school years ago to have a look at a new class he was running. He wanted to know what I thought about it. Today they call it "cardio - karate". He was an innovator of this and he had it going before all those names came out which I thought was really interesting, and again Mr. Calasanz as far as I was concerned was a quality, was a real martial artist. He was a guy that just kept doing, kept training, kept making his art and is someone I've always respected. He teaches martial art as something to be real, not just a place to pay money and get a 5th / 7th / 10th degree belt.
One of the hang-ups I had years ago was that you could have a school and if you were a real "traditional" martial arts instructor you weren't going to make any money. So a lot of those real teachers left the industry. The reason was that everyone wanted their kids to look like a black belt. They wanted their kids to be able to throw 55 different leg kicks. People didn't want to take the time to do what they needed. They needed forms, meditation, exercises... the real stuff.
Most places having anythingto do with martial arts at that time was more for show and tell than anything else because it was such that in those times you could only survive by teaching a lot of kids, and that meant doing a lot of things that weren't so much the traditional way. There are still a lot of those places around that want to get 1000 students and keep them coming in for prizes [belts].
There were, however, at that time other instructors that really were teaching traditionally. I call them traditional martial artists, that really stuck to the old ways. They knew how a martial art was performed, how it was received and how it was really taught. I always think of "Karate Kid" you know, 'paint the fence'. I've always respected that Calasanz taught Martial Art as something to be real. But let's say you went to Japan to learn martial art. You would sit outside for months to get in and you would just sit outside waiting to get in.
So there was a difference between Martial Artists even before I was there. What I saw in Calasanz was a REAL martial artist. He was always real. He meant to perfect his craft, always trying to progress it.
He was a for real guy is what I am trying to say. A good guy. I really like him. He was one of the guys that had real fighting going on back then. He was having full contact fights at his school, [similar to MMA today], "Friday Night Fights" I think they called it. It wasn't so big because the laws of the times wouldn't allow you to openly do what they were doing; but I remember that at one time he was trying to get that going. The boxing commissioner was giving him the hardest time because they didn't want it to take away from Boxing's lime-light.
That you set out to find another man more determined, more mental, more spiritual, more physical, more super crazy than me? You won't find it on this earth. Even if they find people on mars, never can you find it.
We had started testing at 4 in the morning but then at some point Renee decided that she was going to give me the finger and leave because she was angry. I couldn't say why she was angry, its a mystery to me. Why would she go and get angry at a saint like me?
So, she left and I said to myself, "You believe that you're gonna make a mess out of me? No way Jose, there is not going to be a mess."
I had over 100 students testing that day and I did it all. I held boards, picked up
the broken ones; I got the belts, I lead, I coached, I held more boards, I talked to them, I talked about philosophy, I bowed again and again, I gave the exercises. I did it all by myself. I did not use anyone to even write down who
payed. I did it all, collected money, collected whatever. I didn't take any time to eat, just tested. I ran the show, I ran the whole thing. I did it all without even a bite of food.
Then at around 11 o'clock that night I had a vision, I saw the building falling
in on me. I picked up the phone and I pushed the number 9 to dial 911. I didn't know what was happening to me. After pressing '9' I caught a glimpse of the water fountain. I ran to it immediately and began to
drink. I probably drank enough water to drown myself, but after
drinking that water I was restored to some degree of normalcy.
That was when I really found out about the curative properties of water. From drinking that water I was able to come
back to be myself again... and I realized then also that... "Wow, I didn't
drink any water all day." I hadn't eaten or drank at all that day being so busy.
You see, nobody came and told me, "Calasanz, you can do this by
yourself without eating food, but without drinking water, it will kill
you." Nobody told me that. Seems like nobody cared or maybe because I didn't speak up, or I didn't talk about it. I am not stupid, but I was so busy I couldn't even remember 'I am supposed to drink water'. Maybe I could have gotten away with not eating food for that time, but then without drinking water, it nearly killed me.
To tell you the truth, it was one of those times that you remember and go thinking back on and say, "My goodness, they could have found me dead over here."
I remember another incident like that when I was very young.
==========
I was painting cars at one of those well known car dealer repair shops in the Dominican Republic.I
worked therebecause I was going to school and working; working and going
to school. Of course I had to make a little extra money because my father
couldn't pay for everything.
But
that was the purpose, that was in the DR [Dominican Republic], I remember... I have history,
still up to today there, I did so much stuff over at that well-known dealership, Albreo. The car racers in the mid 80's and 90's they were known
all over the world for having some of the best cars and racing in the
DR.
I went over thereand in just 1
hour I would make more money than probably any one over there because I could
paint in 20 minutes or 30 minutes what another person takes 5/6/7 hours to paint. I was so energetic and so focused
that I could do that, so that was me. Like I
said...
Anything I do, I do it with courage,I do it with passion and
whatever, but that day I can never forget because I said after an event... "I'm supposed
to be dead!"... the electricity burned everything around me and left this 14 / 15
year old kid there, alive like nothing had happened. I remember
standing there watching electricity and sparks go all over the place.
It was like
fire works.
I was standing downstairs painting in that auto-shop with cars all around, then... something happened. A loud bang came. Something had broken on one of the cars and all this electricity came from nowhere and was all around me like
fireworks going everywhere. Everything was whizzing, sparkling and
burning, another guy who was working there painting outside came running. There he was and he saw this kid about 14 years old in the basement. He looked
at me and his face said it all. It was saying,
"How this guy is alive? He's supposed to be electrocuted..." Meanwhile the manger was sitting there thinking, "I'm gonna get sued."
The other workers, they couldn't
get into the place because of the explosion, but I just was there, I stepped into the water, I stepped
out of the water and I got out. But no, the electricity didn't come to me... It would have electrocuted anything standing in that water but no, this child lived. I was alive, I survived. Thinking on it now, probably I survived only because I was wearing shoes.
And I have the same feeling, about that day when I had over 120 people testing... I ask myself now... How could you not drink any water??
But I proved my point that day, that I really was a mentally strong, spiritually strong and physically.. forget it... super strong person. And that was me.
Today I had a tremendous experience with one of my students.
We were talking as we all eventually get to to talking. We came to how we have all sorts of instructors. We have a good instructor of tai chi, one of the best, we have another that teaches Wing Chun, we have another to teach Karate and another for Ti-Kwon-Do. All sorts of instructors.
As we went talking I said listen, still up to today there are people who tell me, "Calasanz do you want to learn this?" [referring to a type of martial art]
For example, a guy comes here and learns Cheng Chuang Long Fist, and then he wants to learn the snake. Fortunately here he can ask that question and we can do that because we have a good instructor. And next he wants to learn the dragon... Then the next and the next, and again, lucky for him that we can do that. But listen, guy, you just need 1 technique.
Anyone can go and say, "Okay, I know the snake style, I strike here like that. Now I want to go to another guy that I can learn another snake style."
I don't mind that because, yeah, its understood that Kung Fu when it comes to Kung Fu as the way of life. Anything you do in Kung Fu is good. Any one with the right time and dedication can have 90 forms but really you just need only 4 forms. First one that is basic, then one in the middle, and then one a little bit more advanced, the last one advanced. But 90 forms? What is the purpose of that?
The purpose is here, it is to keep your body working. So now, Kung Fu means work. Work. Patience. Work. Patience. Work. Patience. That patience, that is Kung Fu. To keep working, To keep the body active. So that is the reason behind learning many forms.
But many styles? Guy... why you want to waste that time? If you have 10 forms of Cheng Chuan, spend your life mastering that. But if you get bored, if you want to apply yourself in something else, then go to something completely different. Go to kick-boxing, go to Wing Chun, go to Chinese Boxing, go to boxing... But don't go and keep doing the same thing.
So... whats going on wrong? Just learn.. I'm going to let my guy teach you. I'm going to give my guy the opportunity to teach you the system of Wing Chun, but not just becasue of what you pay; just for love because you do a lot for me. But don't come to me talking about you want check about this or that... please! And he was laughing, he was laughing and laughing.
Study with him I'm going to let him help you. That is the way, and yes you can become more well balanced here. Just remember, UFC fighters are some of the best most well balanced fighters in the world today, but that doesn't mean that these people can teach; that these people can carry you further in body mind and spirit. They are fighters, not instructors.
Calasanz on the other hand, that is exactly what he does, what his school does. Calasanz can take you further in body, mind and spirit down any way that you want to go. Professionally we're the best. Simple. I have 300 terabytes of information. All that information can be reduced down. One gigabyte is all I need to give to you to make you the best fighter in the world. All that information though we cannot use all of it because it takes a lifetime to master.
And this is for my students, so they don't get confused. Go and learn something first. Go and get the equivalent of a black belt in Wing Chun... learn that, but don't keep going and getting 20/30 forms of the same style. What is there? Not even if you would be me.. born with it. See, you can teach me 300 types of martial arts, 300 forms and I can learn it and distinguish them and I can talk a little bit about each.. okay that one emphasizes this, this one emphasizes that... but that is me... born with. But you are not.... so you know what; learn something simple. Go and finish learning Wing Chun from my guy under my direction... go and learn something, but don't be dumb anymore.
We recount an unfortunate training accident which occurred at Calasanz Physical Art and Martial Arts Center.
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A guy, [we call him J for confidentiality purposes], he was here training for over 5 years. He is a kid that just wouldn't grasp the lesson when someone was teaching him, either out of incompetence or stubbornness... at least any lesson involving martial art. There was nothing you could do. So what I did was I remembered the system. "We can teach anybody." "We can teach ANY body." and J was somebody, so we taught him.
What did I put J to do? I put him to get stronger. I gave him techniques to build power. He got over here at age of 16. He had been training here for 5 years, he was 21 years old now. Just knowing the kind of punch that this guy capable of delivering after 5 years of training with me. And I prepared him to do it. I trained him to throw a punch like that.
Just imagine I have you hitting that bag here all the time because you cannot learn the form, you cannot learn the kata, you cannot learn the dummy, so you know what I said... "I'm gonna make him good.. I'm gonna make him as good as anyone." Because you know he cannot learn the kata, but with this training at least he can survive, he can kill the person. So that's what I did with this guy.
And then all that turned.Turns out he was preparing. The reason that the punch got up so... Because the punch was so hard...
It was.. I was just in the office and I came out to explain something to the boxers training here because I was watching them from the office. But you know, if you are like Bruce Lee, if you are like me and you love the martial art you want to help no matter what. So I came out to explain to them a little bit about blocking, about closing the gap by showing them blocking different techniques.
I put J to demonstrate, for the others to help me show them something in training, in calm training. But here I was sitting on the ring and he was in front of me with no weight on his front leg. I saw that at the time, that he was waiting, getting ready to deliver something big, getting ready to unload a punch, just to see if I could block an unreserved shot delivered purposefully, hard and fast towards my head. But even that was not enough, as my gaze shifted to one of my boxers to explain the concept J goes and throws the punch.
He throws a punch like he is in a fight; as if he was in immediate and express danger even, as if his life depended on that punch. He throws that punch so hard, and fully extended with everything he had, it was 100%, nothing held back. He threw every ounce of power his body could generate into that punch. With that power I had helped build for him, that I had taught him how to build over the last 5 years. That amount of energy was thrown straight at me in that punch. If my head wasn't in the way it would have finished well behind my head, that punch was ready to go through my skull, but then it landed, it landed straight into my eye.
There has not been one person who did that ever before, who punched like
that in training, in that cool atmosphere. That punch was so hard, he threw
that punch to pass through. It was a punch, he was trying to test me.
He was delivering this punch trying to test me.
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(Perspective Shift)
As an outsider and witness to this event, [call me K for confidentiality purposes] I was stretching on the low
table when it occurred not 20 feet in full view in front of me. I can assure you this was no ordinary punch. It
caught Calasanz just in they left eye socket as he was turning his head
to speak to another student, a boxer named Nick, seated on his right. Calasanz reacted as a blind
man to a silent punch, meaning he did not react at all. (and as we all know the first thing he'll teach you is "head movement" plus he's always made it look the best with that hair) But no, he did not react; with vision averted it could properly be labelled a 'sucker punch'. Without movement of his head it landed solidly.
It barreled him backwards from his favourite seated position on the outside of the ring into the
ropes then swaying back forward slowly. He grabbed his head immediately,
almost curling up, and did not move for several breaths. He went to the
bathroom as he was ready and re-emerged to ask me how bad it looked. Somehow he kept his composure with student J. There was a small cut on his eyelid
which was bleeding slowly and a slightly swollen redness began to emerge around his eyes
before my very own.
He would heal from this punch over the next 4 weeks
or more wearing an eye patch to hide the injury. Every so often he would adjust it to
reveal a rainbow, ranging from deep purple to an almost indistinguishable
yellow-green radiating outwards from the eye. Still sometimes when he
is tired you can almost see something lingering about that area.
This was no ordinary punch.
As a first hand witness observer I
can assure you this punch was purposefully thrown the way that it was thrown, but I
also believe the pugilist was oblivious himself as to why he performed it suchly.
Perhaps he had built someone up so much in his head,
perhaps he'd seen too many Dragon Ball Z episodes and just somehow
forgot he was dealing within tangible reality, facing a fallible human and not an immortal, fictitious, super-powered psychic-warrior. The world may never know, but this was no ordinary punch.
Just watching this video of super flexibility, it is something that has never been seen in Martial Arts before. Nobody, nobody has done something like what is being done here. The discipline, the technology, the time, and dedication necessary to prepare the body to be capable of something like that is too much work. You have to be so precise, you have to know so much about the joints and the muscle. But before we talk about joints and muscle let us go to the beginning. When I first saw Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon I walked out and knew I had seen what I really wanted to become. And then, after coming to America, the USA, I started doing all this crazy training to catch up, to be as good as him. In only one year I had managed to destroy my entire body. I destroyed every joint in my body. I went to I don't know how many chiropractors, and doctors. They all gave me the same assessment. "You wore out every muscle, every joint in your body." And that was after only 1 year.
You see, back then I was on my own. I didn't have anybody to hold me back, so I just went for it; training intensely day
in and day out. Nobody held me back. Now since learning that lesson on
my own I do everything I can to make sure my students don't get hurt
like I did. I will tell them, don't over do it. But of course if they
keep going with very hard and very heavy training I simply tell them,
"Okay maybe not now but sooner or later you are going to regret it. It
is up to you, you are an adult but I tell you, you cannot be pushing so much for so
long on physical arts."
I understand now that at that point I believed in ankle weights as an effective and viable training tool but also, I did not know yet or understand yet how to use them. I didn't know what I should do with them. I hadn't yet developed the science behind the use of ankle weights; but now we have it.
One day I remember, I was training with these guys who were already Gold Medalists or were training to compete in the Olympics. Watching them and moving around with them it was easy to see that they were faster than me. Their kicks were faster, but I was stronger. After witnessing their speed I spent 3 days kicking with two and one-half pound ankle weights on. In those three days I changed my kicks to be just as fast. I did that, I changed that in just three days. The next time I went there I was kicking as fast as or faster than any other student I might confront over there. That same dedication, that same process, I did it with my punches, throwing punches for 3 days. I trained everything in that same way. That year, it destroyed me. I was over-training my body. I was over-doing it. After taking the days, weeks, months to heal from that overly intense training year; going through the proper process, listening to my body, I would make the realization. I would go back and start listening to my body. I said to myself, "Wait a minute, I am doing too much to the muscle, now I know how I can do it, this is how it follows."
This is what I did to be able to put 120 - 130 (I believe I can do 140) pounds on each leg without getting hurt. This is not a thing that any one can try. If an injury happens doing that, especially with that massive weight it is the kind of injury that will cost you many many years to heal if you are luckyand it doesn't end your career because this is VERY dangerous. But yes, probably everybody has read about the history about how we have gotten here, how we have come up from so far and made such progress. All of it has progressed to this point based on science. By going slowly. Don't go and try to get a split in one day, something like that, it takes time. But then again, it is not just time that determines the progress, there are plenty of people working for 10 to 15 years trying to get a split but can never get there because their process is flawed and ends in stagnation. If you come to me for 6 months and you follow the system closely, my program, it does not matter how tight you are. I can get you into primarily a Japanese split and a Russian split and it doesn't take too long, especially if you are under the age of 30.
Even if you give me a guy over 90 years old, as long as he doesn't have a terminal illness I can have that guy completely raised, I can have that guy build every muscle. I can do that because I have done it. I have done it and I have done it even with people that are sick. One of them, John Ryan from a neighboring town. He had an illness and I brought him from being already 3 or 4 inches hunched over, I brought him to be straight. One of our more widely recognized trainers, Alex Sascha, from Russia trains very hard and demands a lot from his students and is not afraid to push them far beyond their limit; but within 6 months I had John Ryan go from being ill and hunched over to being capable of taking a class with Sascha. So the facts is thatthere are many ways that I can help people. I can help them one-on-one and train them in person or I can custom train someone through focused instructional videos. For example, people with love handles I can give them videos of 4 or 5 exercises to take home, watch, learn and perform them on their own. Someone else says, "Calasanz I want to get a split." So we start from the very beginning and I give the first video, then the second, the third, the fourth. By the time you have 10 videos, or whatever, in 10 months you will have the split WITHOUT getting hurt. But what makes us unique is our approach. Again, it is scientific, it is based on logic. Many don't realize its important to train strength AND flexibility. You will not achieve the same results training just flexibility without the strength or vice versa, you cannot be doing just strength without the flexibility. If you do too much strength then you just get tight. So it is a combination of many different aspects being put to work with our system under science. The science means you have to follow certain processes.
It's like a pressure point. With a pressure point you have a circle, then you press for example in the middle, go 45 degree angle up, 45 left, right and so on. You go pressing all the different points, that is how pressure points work. Death Touch for example is the same way. If you want to deliver that shot to a person you have to deliver it specifically to that pressure point. That Death Touch or impact must be 100% precise, it has to be performed exactly the way its supposed to be done, otherwise it doesn't work. It's just like doing a bong shou or a tan shou. One little bit off means your center line or your chi is not applicable, it is not a proper representation or expression of the concept, or of the structure. And the same dedication, precision and focused attention are necessary in order to train and accomplish something like that split... especially after knowing how muscle can become frail. I experienced first hand how tender muscle can be when I was a little bit younger. I would do a lot of pounding, stomping on concrete. I was pounding one day from 4 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. Pounding, pounding with 10 pounds on each leg. In each class that I taught I would be pounding more than the students I was training. I remember my last student that day, his name was John Winking. I am teaching this young guy, 22 years old, and I am pounding and pounding. The muscle over the course of that day got so warm... its like taking a wire and you twist it, twisting, twisting, twisting. It gets warm and then it will break. That is what happened to me. I over did it and my calf exploded, but again, over time I would fix it.
After that happened I knew what I was supposed to do with the tendon. And that was when I started combining strength and flexibility training simultaneously into my exercises. Before that I had the flexibility, but I did not have the strength necessary to manage that flexibility. Now we have both. But that is a perfect example. The explosion of my calf, I've never seen something like it before. My calf exploded such that it swelled to probably 5 times bigger. But I knew exactly at that point what I had done, that I had overworked it.
Some of our students they pick up on that very quickly. These pupils have an understanding of what they are doing and the meaning behind Physical Art. They can understand the meaning.
(I asked him then...)
How long did it take you to develop to the point to accomplish the ability to do a split like that with so much weight?
(Paraphrased response)
"I would say that to get to that point, if I wasn't working and could completely devote myself to that... I could have reached something like that in 4 years or less. But working, having to rest, having to be careful.. it can take someone up to 10 years to develop up to that. You see, if you push too hard trying to get it faster, faster, faster you are going to burn out or get injured. You will be healing for 2 years doing nothing. Nothing you can do for 2 years or more, that is a big set back. This is the science behind it. It takes 10 years or maybe more but just because I work, and sometimes I am so sore and burned out from doing something like that... Just understand, that when I did that it took me around 5 weeks to just come back and be able to do it again because the muscle is so internally, and the last thing you want is to go and pull that muscle, that going in cold or without developing you are going to get hurt. So, I would say not working, just doing that, doing a camp or something dedicated, someone working like that trying to accomplish it and safely can probably do it in 2 years. But again, working teaching on top of attempting that accomplishment it takes longer. It's like me trying to do this fight. I could have done this fight in 1990 but I couldn't because I had too many problems in other areas; so now I am building what I need to do to do that fight slowly... But I would love that I wouldn't have to do that, that I could have enough sponsorship that.... I did have enough sponsorship back then but again, too many problems so I have to go slowly, building. It might even take me another 10 years before I say, 'I am ready.'"
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Transcribed from an audio recording of Calasanz
Provided by: Calasanz Transcribed and Developed by: Alan Wedell
