Training session with Ari-Thursday, August 20th, Burlingame, CA

[Steve]

I wanted to share with the forum members a training session myself and
a few friends had with Ari. There were four of us plus Ari and we
trained in his hotel room on the date noted above.
We were all newbies to KCD to some extent, although most of us had a
fair amount of training in other combative systems. Three of us were
definitely there to "vet" the system.
Let me just say, it was an EYE-OPENING experience! Three of us had
read portions of the "Attack Proof" book and watched some of the
DVD's, but we had no idea what was in store for us!
Let me just say...Ari is very hard to hit and he can hit back very
hard. I begin to understand the whole concept of balance and
sensitivity, as during contact flow, he would keep taking my balance
which made it very hard to launch any kind of attack.
I tried to explain it to some of my other training partners in my
combatives training group. I told them that it felt like the "rug was
being pulled out from under me" every time I tried to attack Ari. That
is exactly how it felt.
It was interesting that at one point, Ari and I tied up in a wrestling
clinch. I was able to easily move him around as I outweighed him by
about 25 lbs or so and wrestled for 6 years, plus a few years of other
grappling system. However, once he turned on the KCD skills , it was
all over. He would just shake me off using his sensitivity, etc. and
that was that.
Going into this session, I was a bit of a skeptic of the system. I
respected Ari's opinion, and also Al Tino's. (I knew of them from some
combatives forums back in the early 2000's. However, I had heard a lot
of claims that KCD was BS. Therefore, I still had a healthy amount of
skepticism.
It only took a few minutes and I was a believer! Ari easily dominated
me in contact flow, etc. The harder I hit him or pushed him, the
harder I would end up getting hit as he basicaly used my own energy
against me.
Amazing stuff. I HIGHLY recommend training with Ari if you get the
chance. My friends and I are hoping to train with Ari again and
hopefully Ari might be coming to your town soon! ;)
Did I mention he is a great teacher, a really cool cat and a funny
guy? That never hurts either!
Thanks for letting me speak my peace.
Ari-Thanks you so much!
Sincerely,
Steve Philliber
PS-Sorry for the rambling but it is late. I just wanted to mention
that we covered many of the attribute drills, contact flow, weapons
defenses, etc. Great session!

[Ken F.]

Welcome aboard Steve. That was an interesting read for many of us
because it sounds similar to most of our experiences when we first
came into the circle of Guided Chaos.

[Steve]

Thanks Ken. I am glad you and the others can relate to it. I have
tried to explain it to other people I train with, with little
success. (We primarily train gutterfighting type stuff, etc. in a
"garage" combatives group).
One wanted me to "show him" what I learned from Ari. I told him you
have to FEEL IT, EXPERIENCE IT, from someone like Ari that is highly
skilled. I don't have the skills to show him or anyone else. I can
only say that Ari turned a partial skeptic into a committed believer.
Take care,
Steve

> > defenses, etc. Great session!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[joe m]

Good Job “Ambassador” of Guided Chaos. Ari is a good instructor, he
explains and teaches in a way people understand.
Steve,

Welcome to the art of Guided Chaos. If you stick with the principles
and teaching of Guided Chaos you will go far in your training. Use the
book ,DVD’s, and the form as a guide in your training. I do and I
train Under the Grand Master and appointed Master and peers three days
a week.
Now that you touch hands with an Instructor your understanding has
begun. It is a different touch especially the Grand Master, Appointed
Masters and High Level students. I am amazed at their abilities and
that they teach me to have the same ability. I am truly Humbled and
Honored to train and know such people.
Do your best to attend a Seminar or class in New York.

Good Luck,
Joe M.

[Steve]

Thanks Joe for the insight. I appreciate the guidance and will take it
to heart.
I really want to get out to NYC to train with you guys.
I have actually owned the "Attack Proof" book, vol 1, for many years.
(Probably since it was published in 2000). (Just bought the 2nd
edition also). If it wasn't for Ari, my involvement with GC would have
never progressed past buying vol 1 of the book and having it gather
dust on my bookshelf.
You are right...he is definitely an "Ambassador of GC!
Take care,
Steve

[Kevin]

Hey Steve "the former GC Skeptic",

Welcome to the transformation from skeptic to true believer. I don't
know how many people are in your training group but it seems like the
perfect opportunity to get everyone (San Fran and beyond) together and
sponsor a seminar. Have you been on the GC Training group page to see
others in the San Fran area as well as others in California who might
be interested in attending. In fact we use to have a gentleman from
San Francisco travel to NY to attend a couple of seminars here so if
he is still out in your area he might be interested.

But definitely when the opportunity arises come to NY for an even
greater demonstration of GC. You will not only see how diverse the GC
population is here but also see how different students here look and
feel performing GC but still doing the same thing based on the
principles. It is truly a sight to behold.

[Steve]

Thanks Kevin. My combatives group has about five main members and a
few others that attend occasionally.
Unfortunately, they are still "skeptics" re. KCD. I tried really hard
to get them to attend Ari's session but only one showed-up.
My KCD group only has three members. I want to develop my skills and
then try to bring in more people.
I'd love to hold a seminar. Ari and I talked about that. Only problem
is that, as you know, you really have to "feel and experience" this
stuff vs just seeing it on a dvd or reading about it. Therefore, the
skeptics remain skeptics.
I did try the training group page a few years back. That is where I
met one of my KCD partners. (It took us two years to finally get on
the right track as he was doing KCD off and on and I was really
focusing more on hard-style combatives).
I will definitely try to send another set of emails out again to
contacts on the page. I contacted everyone local last time but only
recv. one response back, (my current training partner). Maybe this
time I will have better luck. ;)
Appreciate the guidance and I definitely plan to make it to NYC to
train with you guys.
Best,
Steve

[Evan]

A few questions from a relative GC noob...

1). What did your training partner think of the whole thing?

2). What was your skepticism before regarding GC?

3). Was there a particular standout moment during your training
with Ari that made you start to take GC more seriously?

Wrote about my own experiences with GC on the blog a ways back. Was
an eye-opening experience...

Evan

[Steve]

Hi Evan,
My KCD partners, the male and female, were both pretty impressed. One
of them was already pretty "into" KCD so that wasn't surprising. The
other was probably more skeptical.
My combatives training partner was impressed also.
My skepticism before was basically not ever having been exposed to it
and only having the first edition "Attack Proof" book as a guide until
very recently. (A few months ago I got some of the DVD's and that made
me less skeptical, as I could see it "coming alive," so to speak).
(Actually, seeing that Ari was into it a while back made me less
skeptical also. Seeing Al Tino on a KCD dvd also reduced the
skepticism. (His response to an email I sent him further reduced it).
Another reason for my skepticism was associating on forums, and in my
own combatives training group, with guys who are into Carl Cestari's
system, reality based MMA, etc. Most of the people on the combatives
forums don't post favorably about KCD. I think the main reason is due
to them never having experienced it. Another reason is that a few ot
the guys in my combatives group are pretty big, 245 lbs, 250 lbs and
260 lbs. Those guys are aggressive and powerful. They prefer to just
go apeshit using their size advantage. They don't feel they need to
explore KCD.
However, once you feel it, the skepticism just disappears. (That is
why I really tried hard to bring them to the session. Not much luck
though).
Re. a "breakthrough" in training, I would say it was pretty much
immediate when my skepticism disappeared. Ari "owned me" from the
start.
Sorry for rambling. ;)
Take care,
Steve

> > > principles.  It is truly a sight to behold.- Hide quoted text -

[Ken F.]

Great information. I wanted to address something you said in an above
message however. At this point you understand that there's really no
one who is going to train with a skilled GC practitioner and not
realize that we can deliver. On the other hand, I can assure you that
if someone comes in with a negative view of GC and gets their
viewpoints dramatically altered, unless they have a very deep sense of
humility, they won't continue. People such as yourself who are really
only interested in the most efficient methods of hand to hand/weapon
combatives don't have this problem.

Theres a very deep egotistical aspect of people getting so emotionally
attached to their past ideas that they simply can't let go. As for the
bigger guys, they probably won't ever truly need Guided Chaos.
However, if they want to push themselves to the limits of their
capacities it would be wise. Anyone involved in Combatives or ANY non
sportive fighting system would be well served to use Contact Flow as a
form of "sparring" imo. Also, if you continue training consistently
and absorb the principles, even a bigger guy trained in Combatives
simply won't be able to deal with you.

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[David Randel Jr.]

I'm one of those bigger guys, and its nice to be able to not have to
use much energy to deal with aggressive people. One day all those big
aggressive guys you train with will be older and they won't have the
strength they do now. They wont be able to get away with force and
speed on vital targets alone. It is less of an issue for Guided Chaos
practitioners with skill as we have seen what Marty can do. He's
70ish.

Combatives or Close Combat are simple and run a cycle of growth that
is linear after the initial understanding is absorbed. Deadly as it
may be, Guided Chaos brings your training into a dimension that is
beyond the physical set of understanding many martial arts have.
Everything has an exception if you look at combat from a perspective
of decision making leads to action, but the mind can not decide in a
fraction of a second the correct thing to do without the sense of feel
and correct understanding of what you are feeling. Our sense of touch
gives us the trajectory information we need to be out of the way. Many
times getting out of the way also allows us to attack and sometimes it
is because of what the other person did that they are attacked back in
the same time frame. They walked into it, and missed. This cycle of
growth is endless. Guided Chaos is limited only by what you can
perceive, understand, and what your body is capable of. When any of
these factors improve, so can your ability to fight and protect
yourself.

P.S. I opened class (After a warm up by Adam C., thank you) last night
in NYC with a short explanation of how ego plays a role in our
learning to fight. Ego is a product of the self. The more we put our
self into what is happening in combat, the more we will be blind to
reading what the other person/s is/are doing. Being driven by wanting
to do a chin jab, or yield, or defeat someone, or some other idea can
be identified and can be broken. The people we train with in Guided
Chaos don't know what they are going to do. They do, because that IS
WHAT IS required in that time frame.

[Steve]

Hi Ken,
I wish I could add something to what you said but you really said it
all. My thoughts exactly, including the comment about the ego involved
in terms of "letting go and moving on"...
That is a great point and I think many practicioners are reluctant to
do that on so many levels. (For actual instructors, there could be a
monetary issue involved in letting go also, especially if there is a
student base involved as the instructor now becomes a student of an
entirely different system).
For myself, I have moved on entirely. It actually means no longer
training with my former training group. I realize that as much as I
enjoy it, I would enjoy having solid kcd skills even more. I believe
that training in my old environment would probably hamper my skill
development in KCD.
Have a great weekend.
Steve

[Steve]

Hi David,
Thanks for your insight. Re. the first paragraph, that is exactly what
I tell them. I am one of the older guys in the group. (I am 41). I
know that at 41 I cannot do with the same effectiveness some of the
things I could do at 31 in terms of sheer physical combative skills.
(I can only wonder how I'll be at 51).
What you brought up in the first paragraph is part of the reason I am
here. It's ironic that guys will beat the crap out of their bodies
when they are younger in the quest for solid self defense skills but
then when they get older, and are much more vulnerable to attack, and
more desirable as a victim, their bodies are damaged much more than if
they had pursued a system that was at least partially, if not fully
based on "internal concepts," etc.
The oldest guy in our group is 50 and used to be a competitive
powerlifter. He has lots of old injuries but still keeps on doing the
stuff that was largely responsible for getting him injured in the
first place. Go figure.
I have to admit, I had to read everything after the first paragraph a
few times in order for it to "sink in"...this stuff is deep. ;) I
really liked the comment re. the "endless cycle of growth" and the
"PS" re. ego in a combative situation. Great stuff!
Best,
Steve


On Aug 28, 11:09 am, "David Randel Jr." <attackproofd...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[paul]

Guys
I want to train this. I will make it to NYC one of these days...
I am interested in any Bay Area group.
Let me know when you meet +/or about any seminars.
Thanks
--Paul

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[Steve]

Hi Paul,
I just sent you an email re. training, etc.
Thx,
Steve