Indian club swinging

Some basic Indian club swinging exercises from a new article on that subject courtesy of the popular Art of Manliness website.

Antagonisticathlon!

On Sunday, March 11th of 2012, members of the Bartitsu Club of Chicago took part in the first ever “antagonisticathlon” event hosted by the Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts studio in Ravenswood, Chicago. This was their graduation from the recent six-week introductory Bartitsu training course.

During the late 19th century, the word “antagonistics” meant all manner of combat sports and self defence skills. Antagonisticathlon participants represent Victorian-era adventurers fighting their way through a gauntlet of obstacles and ne’er-do-wells, inspired by Sherlock Holmes’ escape from Professor Moriarty’s assassins in The Final Problem:

My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass grow under his feet. I went out about mid-day to transact some business in Oxford Street. As I passed the corner which leads from Bentinck Street on to the Welbeck Street crossing a two-horse van furiously driven whizzed round and was on me like a flash. I sprang for the foot-path and saved myself by the fraction of a second. The van dashed round by Marylebone Lane and was gone in an instant.

I kept to the pavement after that, Watson, but as I walked down Vere Street a brick came down from the roof of one of the houses, and was shattered to fragments at my feet. I called the police and had the place examined. There were slates and bricks piled up on the roof preparatory to some repairs, and they would have me believe that the wind had toppled over one of these. Of course I knew better, but I could prove nothing.

I took a cab after that and reached my brother’s rooms in Pall Mall, where I spent the day. Now I have come round to you, and on my way I was attacked by a rough with a bludgeon. I knocked him down, and the police have him in custody; but I can tell you with the most absolute confidence that no possible connection will ever be traced between the gentleman upon whose front teeth I have barked my knuckles and the retiring mathematical coach, who is, I dare say, working out problems upon a black-board ten miles away. You will not wonder, Watson, that my first act on entering your rooms was to close your shutters, and that I have been compelled to ask your permission to leave the house by some less conspicuous exit than the front door.

The “stations” of the antagonisticathlon (not all shown in the video compilation) included:

Charging shoulder tackle to punching bag (“knocking an assassin out the window and into the Thames”)
Precision cane thrusts through suspended rings
Overcoat and cane vs. dagger-wielding assassin
Weight-lifting on antique pulley-weight apparatus
“Death Alley”; cane vs. three stick-wielding assassins
“Rowing across the Thames” on antique rowing machine
“Rescuing Dr. Watson”
Cane vs. stick combat
Shoulder roll and hat toss to finish

Bartitsu Club of Chicago in “New City” Magazine

A short video impression of the recent Open House held at Forteza Fitness, Physical Culture and Martial Arts, featuring demonstrations by the Chicago Swordplay Guild, the Bartitsu Club of Chicago and the Asylum Stunt Team.

Click on the highlighted text to read the article Martial Arts, Victorian Style: Bartitsu at Forteza Fitness Brings Back the Lost Fighting Art of Sherlock Holmes, by New City journalist Kristen Micek.

Another new article on the Bartitsu Club at Forteza Fitness is available here: Blast into the Past.

Part of the Forteza "Gymuseum", a collection of antique physical culture equipment.

Bartitsu at the 2011 Western Martial Arts Workshop (Racine, Wisconsin)

A photomontage from Tony Wolf‘s Bartitsu seminars at the 2011 Western Martial Arts Workshops in Racine, Wisconsin.

Experimental Bartitsu sparring in Naucalpan, Mexico

Members of the Elite Fencing Club in Naucalpan, Mexico practice Bartitsu stick fighting.

Classic pugilism gloves now available

Announcing the new Empire – Broughton pugilism gloves, the first commercially manufactured gloves specifically designed with classical (“bare-knuckle”) pugilism in mind.

The gloves were named for Jack Broughton, the English champion pugilist circa 1734-1740. Broughton’s innovations included formulating a set of seven rules for the prize ring as well as a codified system of scientific defence including the skill of “hitting away” (striking on the retreat). Fittingly, Broughton is also credited with the development of the first boxing gloves, called “mufflers”, designed to “”effectually secure (his students) from the inconveniency of black eyes, broken jaws and bloody noses.”

Go to the Weapon Store website for technical and ordering information.

Bartitsu seminar in Veldhoven, Holland

Announcing a seminar in Bartitsu, a mixed martial art system created the late 19th century, which combined French boxing with the Vigny system of stick fighting, English bareknuckle boxing and jiu jitsu.

Knowledge of other martial arts is a plus but is not necessary. Given the nature of some of the techniques taught during the workshop, the minimum age for participants is 12 years (only with the consent of parents/guardians). Please wear clothes that allow freedom of movement. Only gym shoes are permitted in the gym.

Date: March 25, 2012
Instructor: J.Jozen
Register via: johjoz@yahoo.com
Time: 13.00 t/m17.00
Address: Messermaker 4 Gymnasium, Veldhoven
Cost: 10 Euro

Bartitsu at Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts (Chicago, IL)

When threatened with an attack from an assailant who is armed with a superior stick to your own, it is wise to attack him before he realises that he has you at a disadvantage.

– E.W. Barton-Wright, 1901

Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts instructors Keith Jennings (left) and Jesse Kulla practice canonical Bartitsu cane defence techniques at the introductory seminar held at Forteza on June 22nd.

Upcoming Bartitsu stickfighting seminar in Wuppertal, Germany

On the 10th and 11th of March, Stefan Dieke of the Alte Kampfkunst historical European martial arts academy will be teaching a two day seminar on Bartitsu cane self defence, including:

- traditional 19th c. stick fencing
- canonical Bartitsu cane techniques – Pierre Vigny’s innovations
- Bartitsu Concepts: applying the concepts of the canonical material to non-canonical situations.

International guests are welcome! The seminar will be held bi-lingually in German & English.

Location: Alte Kampfkunst in Wuppertal, Germany

Cost: 130,- for two days.

Further information (in German) available here.

Report on a Bartitsu seminar at the Gallowglass Academy

A guest post by Allen Reed, reporting on his recent Bartitsu seminar at the Gallowglass Academy in Leaf River, Illinois.

On Saturday, February 11th, five new Bartitsuka gathered at Gallowglass Academy to find out more about the art of Bartitsu. Four out of the five had previous Oriental martial arts experience. The other student had previously taken my classes on Bowie knife and tomahawk.

I started with the standard precis of the history of Bartitsu and how it got to where we are today. We then started in on 19th century pugilism. I like to start with pugilism as I find it provides a good warm up and starts building a sense of body movement and contact.

We covered the standard left lead and right rear punches both in slow motion and then with focus mitts so everyone got to actually feel how powerful the punches can be. We then covered defenses against these punches. First the standard blocks with the opposite arms and then the Jack Slack elbow block. From the Slack guard I showed how to counter with a “chopper” to the nose of the opponent. We then returned to standard blocks and worked on using the elbow and hammer fist as a counter strike.

We then moved to the two savate kicks I include in my Bartitsu teachings, the coup de pied bas and chasse bas (both front foot and rear foot versions). First we worked them slowly using each other to see how they can be used against knee, shin and foot. I then had each student use the kicks with full force against a kick shield. We then went back and worked on combinations of kicks and punches in slow motion on each other, using “pushing” force to examine how each strike impacts an opponent’s posture and balance.

During the discussion of pugilism I showed how the pugilistic left foot and arm forward stance can be modified for modern self defense with the “fence” stance of both hands open in front of you to provide a physical and psychological barrier to an attacker. Yet the hands up in front also allow for powerful strikes.

This brought us to lunch time. During the lunch break I discussed the modern legal ramifications of using force in a self defense situation.

After lunch we put the mats down and worked on how to do break falls. Two of the participants had experience with falling before but the other three had not. I then started work on the back heel throw from pugilism which is close to the throws that Barton-Wright uses in many of the jujutsu techniques.

This then moved into doing jujutsu from the Canon. Since we had been doing the back heel throw I first taught the defense from a face strike that is blocked and you end up tripping the attacker up with a rear throw (back heel.) We then did a failure drill of allowing the attacker to block the “back hander” strike so the defender had to do some other strikes to set up for the throw or take the attacker down another way.

We then worked on the defense from a one handed lapel grasp, since this is pretty much the same defense as the face strike but we did the grasp with the left had so everyone could learn that these techniques can be done on both sides. The failure drill for this technique was that the attacker steps back with his left foot so you can not get the trip on the first attempt.

The final technique we worked on from this series of throws was the belt grab or reaching for the pocket watch defense. I switched this to a neo-Bartitsu grab on the wrist since none of us wear swords or carry pocket watches very often. For this I showed the pain compliance grab at the throat version showing how this can also be used as a choke.

Next I taught the “How to Escort a Man Out of the Room” with the figure four lock on the elbow. We then worked on a neo-Bartitsu version using the same arm lock for a knife defense.

With that I thought it was time to start work on the Vigny cane techniques. I explained how Vigny advocated using a walking stick with a heavy ball on the end but that I liked to use a crook handled cane for modern defense since it is legal any where you go and does not stand out as much as a walking stick does in our modern world.

First we worked on Guard by Distance. We started by doing the Canonical technique slowly to get the feel for the move. I then had one of the partners in each pair put on a focus mitt on their “cane” hand so the defender could actually strike with power to the incoming hand. After seeing how powerful the blow to the hand could be we switched to a neo-Bartisu move with the attacker wearing a hockey glove while armed with a knife. So again the defender could strike with some power while facing a more realistic modern attack.

For the failure drill I had the neo-Bartitsu attacker with the knife decide if the strike to the hand was hard enough to disarm them and if not the defender had to follow up with other strikes with the cane.

We then worked on the first of B-W’s defenses using a light stick against a man with a heavy stick where again the idea is to trip the attacker up. First we covered the Canonical technique and then switched to a more modern neo-Bartisu “heavy stick” of a baseball bat. We then worked on how to do the same basic technique but using the crook cane to hook the knee or ankle of the attacker.

I then showed the technique of hooking an unarmed attacker at the neck and pulling his head into a knee strike.

As a prelude to doing a series of failure drills against an unarmed attacker I went back and showed how to use the head control movements that B-W uses in the jujutsu techniques. For the Canonical technique we used the two handed lapel grab. We then did a series of failure drills where the defender with the cane has the cane grabbed or taken away by the offender.

The grand finale of the day was everyone put on some head protection and we did individual drills with everyone rotating through being attacker and defender one at a time so they had the mat space all to themselves. After the first series I stood by as coach and second attacker who came with a baseball bat in case any defender got too tied up with their offender.

After it was all over we did a quick after-action review. Everyone said they enjoyed themselves and learned new things. In particular they liked the failure drill since their previous martial arts training had never included that kind of follow up in case the first plan did not work.