Lessons from My Masters 34: Observations - The Grandmaster Chronicles Part VI

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”

• Steve Jobs 

I always liked Steve Jobs, he always had these "pithy" little "haikus" that while seemingly obvious in hindsight you realized were more profound than the first reading. Like Yogi Berra his quotes were timeless. This is the thinking of Grandmaster Perkins, as he often says, "A minute of proper Contact Flow is worth more than several hours of people just moving." or words to that effect. His emphasis on quality over quantity while often said is not often followed.

I remember when I was in college I guess I was about 20 years old and one summer while home from school I was training at my local gym Flex Fitness. The owner Felix Corona use to bring in Pro Level Bodybuilders to put on clinics. One summer he had Lee Haney who was something like an eight-time Mr. Olympia Champion during his career come in and do a clinic. So anyway as he was doing his clinic and this was standing room only, and for those who never saw him in person when he was in competition shape, he looked every bit as unreal as he did in the magazines, which actually did him no justice.

So after he finished talking he demonstrated a shoulder routine that he does so he starts off with the 50-lbs dumbbells and one of the guys at the clinic say, “Mr. Haney, nothing for nothing, and I don’t mean to be rude but I use those…”

Lee Haney just smiled and looked at him and I’ll never forget what he said, “Yeah… that’s probably true but I get quality workouts”, and he proceeded to rep them some crazy number of times.

Now… there’s a school of thought that thinks when you do Contact Flow that more is better, that the more you practice it the better you’ll get. That if you reach the mythical 10,000 hours as Malcomb Gladwell observed in “Outliers” that “poof”, all of a sudden you’re going to stop being a frog and become a prince. Oh… I don’t think so!

Not if you aren’t doing it right…

“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”

• Steve Jobs

You know there’s nothing worse than doing something for the sake of doing something and going through the motions. People who think this way confuse activity for work and want to call it good. But as what Lee Haney alluded to, it doesn’t matter if you’re not getting quality workouts in. Like Steve Jobs says above,

“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there…”

The point is don’t cheat yourself in your training your time is finite and you want to spend it wisely getting quality workouts in. So if John says work slow, then work slow, if he says don't move your feet, then don't move your feet, etc. it's because he's trying to help you develop something but if you keep messing up the exercise you only mess up you.

In the last Blog Post, I delved into Contact Flow and stated it is literally the single greatest training tool we have at our disposal that allows us to develop an almost unlimited range of movements and possibilities within the bodies we have. In this post, I’m going to get into some of the methods and variations my Grandmaster Perkins has created over the years to develop other qualities and skills in your body through this all-important exercise.

To reiterate, of all of the exercises within the art of Guided Chaos, Contact Flow probably the greatest training exercise we have and is probably the single most important exercise that we do because it allows for a total fusing of the principles in one place and when done right offers unlimited opportunity for growth and the development of virtually any skill you wish to develop within the art. Through proper training, we are able to develop the attributes of total freedom of action and creativity. 

Contact Flow is a “free-flowing exercise” designed to train your mind and body on a neuromuscular level to develop the feel or “touch” if you will necessary for dealing with another person’s motion.  It is an exercise that allows you to develop and experience “in the body” an infinite number of sensations, body positions and possibilities within time and space throughout the movement while dealing with another human being.  If you have any other understanding of what Contact Flow is you are wrong!

“You want to do what you do so well that when people see you do it, they want to come back and see you do it again and bring someone else to show them.”

• Walt Disney]

If you’re an Instructor in the art or really any martial art for that matter,  you need to keep what good old Walt Disney says above in the back of your mind at all times. You need to bring your "A" Game at all times because it's that important. Remember the true essence of combat/self-defense, is rooted in total self-preservation and ending a conflict in the most efficient manner. This concept is non-negotiable. If you are an Instructor in the art when developing student’s bodies, students must learn and study from the mental and physical considerations of how to take out their attacker as quickly as possible within the given capabilities or limitations of their body.  This is important for two significant reasons at least:

• They cannot know what another person may bring to the fight since a real fight is nothing less than the beginning of an assassination attempt on your life.
• The position we teach of killing people in the most efficient manner possible, affords the student the most options to choose how to respond short of killing in every conceivable situation, in other words when you know the “end game” you can take whatever the most appropriate actions are in getting there, and stopping before arriving there now becomes their choice, not a necessity.

There should be absolutely no ambiguity in your mind or actions about this!

If you are a Guided Chaos Instructor consider it an inviolate rule!

Just An Idea on Movement

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” 
              ― Aristotle

Now, this is just as a brief example of what I’m talking about here. Understand what I’m showing is a small sliver out of a billion possible things that can be done, I merely present this for educational purposes. Okay, enough of the disclaimer stuff.

In the sequence of photos below you can see that as I flow with Al Tino, Close Combat Master and 4^th Dan Guided Chaos, you can see that no matter where the other person moves because we are staying light to the touch with our arms as well as our hands. You want to point out to students that they are able to follow the other person’s movements and negate potential strikes since when performing Contact Flow, they can feel the other person’s intentions as they move.

This level of sensitivity can only be accomplished through the proper practice of Contact Flow. Now, once again, what I’m showing here is just an example of a billion things that can happen when doing Contact Flow. I merely show this to give you an idea of how to "focus" when performing this exercise.

Notice that in photo sequence above, in photo’s 3 through 5 that as I feel his elbow come up against me rather than trying to stop his elbow, which would be impractical under high-speed conditions if not impossible, I simply move out of the way and redirect his energy. Now notice in photo 12 that as he strikes my midsection rather than try to do something that may be impractical such as attempting to block his strike I simply “pocket” my body becoming the “sponge with the spike” and move out of the way. In other words, the one place I cannot be when that strike is thrown I simply ensure I’m not there in the first place thus the expression, “don’t let it happen in the first place” Just don’t be there! 

"When I have won a victory I do not repeat my tactics but respond to circumstances in an infinite variety of ways."

• Sun Tzu

Now, if you’ll notice in photo 13, as I was trying to explain something notice that “Al” in photo 14, actually tries to sneak attack me and “elbow me in the face”!

Okay… like for real… that was just “rude” man!

The nerve…

However, as you can see in photo 15, using my “Sith Like Powers™” I had already “foreseen” and anticipated this attempt to ascend in the Sith Order (because that’s how we roll) and competently became “unavailable” and avoided his treachery.

Okay… I made that last part up but because I know Al reads all of my Blog Posts, I just couldn’t resist busting on him a little.

Anyway…

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”

• Steve Jobs

This sort of back and forth and flowing within the Contact Flow exercise is what you want.  At this level, there are no winners or losers just two people moving with each other within the principles of Guided Chaos trying to develop the attributes “in the body” so that when summoned it already resides in us. Pretty cool right?

Remember, when you can feel them they can also feel you so you need to be able to always anticipate their motion as you train to build this anticipatory adumbration in the body.  Also, and this is key since you can’t change the density or structure of your body through your sensitivity you must remain light throughout your entire body and not just through your arms. By remaining light throughout your body and not just through your hands and arms you are able to achieve the “Ghost-like” quality like John expounds upon throughout Guided Chaos.

The real point is as shown, in photos 1 through 6 below is as you will notice that as my arm moves back and forth I am describing an aspect of Contact Flow for folks that the reason for my movement is as I sense through my “sensitivity” subtle changes in his movement I am able to adjust without thought. Remember that when performing the “Contact Flow Exercise” it is just that an “exercise” so no matter where the other person moves you’ll want to be able to respond to a variety of movements based on what you feel.  Do not limit your movement to moving in just one direction, also do not get caught up in developing patterned movements as you flow but accept what you feel for what it is and nothing more.  

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

• Marcus Aurelius

When it comes to “Contact Flow” depending on the “attributes” or “skills” you are trying to develop there are various methods on how to practice it. I will now describe the various types of Contact Flow as they relate to developing different skills within students but you can even practice this on your own with a training partner. I will describe their purpose and how to properly practice them to achieve the desired results you are trying to develop.

Again “Contact Flow” is a free-flowing “exercise” designed to train your mind and body on a neuromuscular level to develop the feel or “touch” when dealing with another person’s motion.  In other words, and I will correct it once again, it has nothing to do with love or any of that other BS but learning to deal with and neutralize another person’s motion. If you have any other understanding of what Contact Flow is you are wrong! Period.

Methods of Contact Flow

"Day by day, what you do is who you become."

• Heraclitus

While there are different methods of Contact Flow all designed to develop the different attributes of the art the essence of Contact Flow and its purpose does not change. Most of this is geared towards Instructors who are working with students but the same applies to people training with a partner.

Here we go…

Slow Introductory Contact Flow - Okay… because it needs to be said.

When practicing Contact Flow especially for the first time you want to move “slooooooooooowly”.  I cannot overemphasize this point because the faster you move especially in the beginning believe it or not the less you will learn and the slower your development.  I know this sounds paradoxical to what people think they need to do to be able to develop the ability to deal with the utter chaos of a real fight but think of it this way.  Just as when you first learned how to drive a car, throw a baseball or play a musical instrument you started off “slowly” and then as you gradually developed proficiency you were able to increase the speed tempo, etc.  It doesn’t mean you stay stuck in first gear, of course not! But you need to give your muscles a chance to learn. Whether it takes five days or five minutes you have to start slow and then gradually build up to full speed. And this goes for every iteration of Contact Flow as you train. Crawl, walk, run, “sprint”.

Well, Contact Flow is no different except when you start off you want to generally stay at a very slow speed when you practice it. One of the analogies I like that Master Joe “Zen Gorilla” Martarano uses is when you are driving your car and are following directions you intuitively drive at a slower speed to ensure that you have time to see where you are going.  It allows you to pay attention to where you are going otherwise you will miss when you need to turn, get off on an exit, etc.

When working with students during Contact Flow I start them off being very light at first, moving slowly so that they learn to “feel” everything by listening to my body as I listen to theirs. I’m trying to develop something in them not prove that I can kick their ass. They already know I have some skill or they wouldn’t feel the need to train with me.  Now, and please pay close attention to this when flowing when your arm or hand is on top [Fig-1a below] with your hands or arms you are just there, when you’re on the bottom [Fig-1b] you’re just there and so on.  

Contact Flow (No Stepping) – Okay, because as with the previous skill, people mess this up all of the time in both explanation and execution mainly because they really don’t understand what they are trying to develop when moving in this fashion. When performing this you want to learn how to move your body without moving your feet!

This is a “crucial” fundamental skill to develop in the beginning because it teaches you how you can “feel” and “negate” the effects of another person’s movement through the principles “in the body”, and as you refine your movement over time develop the ability to move as little as possible again “in the body”.  This is the beginning of learning how to listen to another person’s body as well as learning how to develop that internal feel in your own body when moving with another human being. The time to move your feet comes only after you have done this.

You want to start off with you and your training partner or if you’re an instructor with the student standing in the basic “L” Stance with one foot forward and the other back almost as if you’re in a boxing or fencing stance with your feet about shoulder width apart (I usually tell people no more than shoulder width apart but this is also a personal comfort thing as well).

During the flow, you’ll both want to switch foot position from time to time so that you do not develop the habit of thinking you must always have one foot forward in favor over another. Remember in a fight both of your arms are equal so it really doesn’t matter which hand or foot leads, you have to learn to “kick that ass” no matter where your feet are. This is all done in order to help you develop the ability to move as little as possible changing your body based on what you perceive while doing Contact Flow.

Contact Flow with Some Stepping - When performing this have students understand that they want to employ the step drills in order to develop the ability to step to a new root point while doing contact flow. Be mindful that they do not step too far or more that is necessary by stepping for the sake of stepping.

Ultra-Slow Contact Flow - When performing this you want to move “ultra-slow”. You want to move so slow that both you and your training partner are moving as if you were the hands of a clock. Resist the temptation to speed up otherwise you throw off your sense of timing as well as develop an unnatural sense of timing since there is no way that you could move twice as fast as another human being if you are both moving at full speed.

Contact Flow with Uprooting - This is where you apply the principles of flowing to “uproot” each other focusing on gathering the other person in order to break their balance. I stress the point of breaking their balance since you do not want to push them away otherwise all you have done is created space for them to regroup. Later on, you will use this same skill to develop both your external and internal dropping power since they rely on the same interplay and coordination of muscles.

Contact Flow with One Arm and One Arm vs. Two Arms - Have the students perform Contact Flow facing each other with one arm while placing the other arm either behind their back or in their pocket.  This will force them to engage their whole body in order to cut off angles and find openings at the same time moving in the most efficient manner possible. Once they have the feel for this have one student place one of their arms behind their back and flow with their training partner against their partners two arms.

One Legged Contact Flow - Have students conduct Contact Flow against each other on one leg. When their leg gets tired have them switch legs focusing on maintaining “without hopping” or using the other person to balance off of to develop their one-legged balance.

Ultra-Close Contact Flow (Or Tied Together) - Have students stand no more than four to six inches from each other and have them perform Contact Flow. In some cases, because most people especially men have an aversion to getting almost “kissing close” or as I like to refer to it as “uncomfortable man distance” they have a tendency to push off and back up. One method Grandmaster Perkins uses to prevent this is to tie them together around the waist so that every time they attempt to flee the situation the rope pulls taught forcing them to remain in the battle. In order to develop the ability to strike at close range or what is referred to as “grappling range”. One must be able to “create” space for themselves at close range something that cannot be done unless students are willing to remain close during the Contact Flow exercise.

Contact Flow on the Wobble Boards - Have students stand on the wobble boards first on the easy-side close enough to touch each other’s chest. Have them focus on slow movement as they flow attempting to knock the other person off the board without using the other person to balance off of. Once they gain some proficiency at this level flip the boards over on the more difficult side and repeat the process. When the student needs to regain balance they can either sink into their root on the board or drop on the board. If they feel they are really going to fall they need to “drop” off the board this will teach them how to drop when they need to regain balance rather than trying to fight against falling. The only rule here is when they come back on the board they must immediately attempt to strike. This will simulate losing balance and regaining it quickly and then following up on your attacker. It is not realistic to think in a real fight you may never lose balance so this is one of those opportunities to train yourself to do something in the similar fashion that we do say the Fright Reaction drill.

Contact Flow on a Box or Elevating One Person - This is something that can be done especially for tall students who often don’t have the opportunity to deal with someone skilled. Have the shorter student stand on a box or platform and perform Contact Flow with the taller person in order to give the taller student more of a challenge in order to develop skills they may not develop since they sometimes need to be challenged in order to develop a better understanding of how to apply the principles.

Contact Flow on a Hill - Have students perform Contact Flow on a hill with one person higher than the other at times and standing where both students are standing sideways on the hill at the same level. This will teach students to control their root as they flow working on an uneven surface. It will become obvious that there are different openings and vulnerabilities at different levels depending on where the student is standing.

Contact Flow on Stairs – This is performed in a similar fashion as doing Contact Flow on a hill or a box, however, this is something that should only be done slowly with lots of supervision and not a lot of movement for the students until they have been taught the “Stair Fighting” concepts. Have students stand on the same level of the steps and perform Contact Flow slowly moving up and down the steps no more than a step at a time in order to learn how to maintain contact in the fight at various levels. This can be dangerous if done wrong because of the multidimensional aspect fighting on stairs. Caution is a must but it can be done safely.

Ultra-Pliable Contact Flow – This is a lot of fun to do with students, have them perform contact moving slowly and gracefully to the most extreme positions possible exploring the boundaries of their movement. Their movements should be fluid and extended similar to when performing polishing the sphere.

Deep Legged Contact Flow – This is right out of the Kung Fu movies and something that’s a lot of fun to do and will absolutely “crush” your legs. If you’re looking for “glutes of iron” right before the summer starts, then this is the exercise for you (in a manly way of course). Just as with the Ultra Pliable Contact Flow you want to do the same thing only now you are going to have the students long step with all of their movements stepping as far as they can smoothly on balance striking within the movement. They should not bounce as they move but have a graceful sinking parabolic motion as they flow. 

Medium Speed Contact Flow – This is Contact Flow performed at medium speed for the development of smooth graceful fluid motion when performing at this speed student’s must still resist the temptation of moving faster than the agreed upon speed. Otherwise, they throw off their timing and ability to seamlessly change direction at will.

Fast to Extremely Fast Contact Flow - This is Contact Flow performed at a high speed to extremely high speed for the development of smooth, graceful, fluid yet explosive motion, when performing at this speed student’s must control the over travel of their movements by not overcommitting when the move. Otherwise, they will throw off even at this speed their timing and ability to seamlessly change direction at will. One final note on this as students move faster they must understand that because they are moving at a high speed they need to also learn to relax and not move more than they need to. They also need to learn how to shorten their weapons since their speed will allow them to close distance sooner than they may anticipate again causing for overcommitment on their part.

"With the right attitude, self-imposed limitations vanish."

• Alexander the Great

Key points to remember when performing Contact Flow

• First of all, have “fun”, no really have fun because if you’re not having fun your just not going to learn or at least learn as fast. So have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously
• Always, always, always focus on applying the principles of Guided Chaos
• Always, always, always focus on fighting for your life or that of your loved ones and move as if your life depends on it because someday it might
• Focus on moving your body first then your arms to develop your body unity and try to remain as smooth and as graceful as possible. As you learn to develop more speed you want to still try to stay in this state as much as possible so that you develop the proper timing and tempo as you develop
• Train to develop as many experiences with as many different body types as possible
• Train and teach your mind and body simultaneously to deal with another person’s motion both externally as well as “internally” (Heh… I’ll save that one for another Blog Post)
• When practicing for the first time you want to move extremely slow then build up speed
• Do not “rest” your arms or hands on top of their arms, or lean your body on people or like “holy cow” you will burn in Hell! I’m serious because, like people who back up all of the time, this is one of the most fundamental flaws that people have that prevents them from developing other skills later on. Also, if you do this, not only will they feel this pressure, but you have now given up control of your arms like they do in the heathen schools, something you should never do. Unlike what Nike would say, JUST DON’T DO IT!

[Final Note: Oh did I mention it? If not? Once again, do not, do not, do not, do not, do not “rest” your arms or hands on top of theirs. DON’T DO IT!!!  Just thought I’d mention it again…]

Well that’s it I hope I provided you with some useful insights and training tips from my Master's training bag.

Thank you.

LtCol Al Ridenhour

Senior Master Instructor

GUIDED CHAOS

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