EFFORTLESS Grab Defences

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EFFORTLESS
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Full-contact fighting pioneer Peter Ralston
Fighting in a competition that had previously been marred by the deaths of competitors, in 1978 Peter Ralston
became the first non-Asian to win the full-contact Martial Arts World Tournament in China. If s said the movie
Bloodsport was inspired by his efforts, rather than those of another controversial martial arts figure, Frank Dux.
A martial artist from a very young age, Ralston grew up in Japan and had Black-belts in Shotokan karate, judo and
jujitsu before discovering and devoting himself to tai chi. After his victory in China, Ralston founded Cheng Hsin, a
system developed out of this broad experience. He has since authored several books on his method — 'the art of
effortless power' — and teaches at seminars around the world or at intensive camps at his ranch in Texas, USA.
STORY BY MARK CRZIC
P
eter, why did you go to
the world tournament?
I was sick of
tournaments where
the results were based on the
rules and opinions of the people
watching. The karate people
would watch what I did and
because I had moved on to more
fluid stuff, they would claim I had
no power. I told them that I could
prove them wrong if they would
let me hit them. The tournament
in China was full-contact and that
aspect of it appealed to me, as
the results would be plain to see. I
went there as a middleweight, but
Ralston
demonstrates
the art of
relaxed combat
70 BLITZ Magazine
after a 22-hour trip, I had put on
so much weight from the water
and food that I was overweight.
When they discovered the
problem, they were concerned,
so I told them to put me into
heavyweight. I didn't mind; it
didn't matter who I fought. In
the end, I ended up in the lightheavyweight division.
Were the other fighters doing
single forms or did they do
various styles like you?
Single forms, as far as I could
tell. I didn't ask them but just
watching all the fights — you don't
have much else to do - it looked
like they were all pretty much in
their own thing.
In believe your first opponent
didn't even show up?
Yeah. A Korean. I was
warming up, getting ready to
fight and I had this student, an
ex-karate guy, helping me. He
had a badge on his uniform.
I had him hold his arm up to
block me, so there was almost
no space between his arm and
his badge. I would hit him twice
before he could move his arm.
I think the Korean saw that and
decided to not fight me after all.
And you didn't lose a fight in
the five days?
No, if you lost, you were out.
One opponent had won his way
through to my round by making
an illegal move. When I asked
about it, they told me that the
other fighter couldn't continue
and they expected that at this
level that fighters would be able
to stand up to this sort of thing.
In another fight, the fighter had
big gnarly legs and he kept trying
to break my knees. It was okay in
the rules, so I was fine with it.
How tough was the final?
My opponent was encouraged
by his corner, filled with his
supporters. It was clear to me that
he couldn't beat me, and I made
that clear to him as well, but he
was pushed to continue. To bring
it to a close, at the end of the last
round I kicked him in the body
and could feel I did significant
damage to his internal organs. At
this moment I backed up, since
in no way did I want to be forced
to engage and do more damage.
After this match his teacher and
trainer wanted to have me in a
picture with him. I told them to
take him to the hospital since he
was obviously injured, but they
insisted on the picture. I figured it
would be faster just to get it over
with rather than to argue. He was
having trouble standing up and
was pale and bleeding from the
mouth from internal injuries.
You didn't contest the title a
second time?
No, this was for free. As
anyone who does fighting can
tell you, if s rough, psychologically
and physically. It can be quite
brutal. I had done what I needed
to do. If they wanted me to do
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it again, they would have to pay
me. I wasn't going to do it for fun,
and besides, I'm not particularly
interested in going around beating
people up. Winning's nice but I
had already made my point there.
To do it again I wanted to be paid.
If s the same with those fighters
in the UFC. Full-time training
costs a lot: ring time, managers,
gym space. And so when you
are only getting $50,000 for a
fight, it's just not enough. You
attract only the people who want
to prove something or just like
fighting, which is fine, but if s not
going to attract really intelligent
people who could make a better
living through other means. As
the money gets better, we'll see
better, committed people coming
in. The money is getting better,
especially with the audiences
growing as they have been.
In your book Cheng Hsin:
The Art of Effortless Power, you
critiqued other martial arts and
said that many of them needed
a reality-check. What did you
mean by that?
I've been doing martial arts
since I was nine and I have
studied almost every martial
art there is. I could beat almost
every teacher, eventually, that
I had. There are many kinds of
martial arts where they just play
games, where they just do sets
of movements. Sometimes they
just do techniques, depending
on the art. Some play games
but they are limited to what the
games are about. Most don't have
serious or realistic competition
so they have no idea if their art is
viable or if they can use it. Doing
sets absolutely doesn't teach you
how to fight. It teaches you how
to move your body. Thaf s good,
but they don't teach you how
to fight. There are real martial
arts and non-real martial arts.
Aikido, nearly all the kung fus and
karates, kempo, are all non-real
martial arts. A real martial art is
where you accomplish a result
against the other person's will. In
judo, you accomplish a real result.
You throw them or make them
submit. Boxing, Muay Thai, all
produce a real result.
And the MMA format does
this too?
The MMA format is more
realistic. It is actually doing
something. You accomplish
something. If martial arts aren't
fighting, they are not a martial
art. Some are just focused in
one area. Judo is focused on
throwing and choking, boxing is
only hitting, so they have trouble
crossing over to the UFC. I crossed
over, a lot; lots of Western boxing,
kicking, throwing, grappling. I
had developed Cheng Hsin to
effectively cross over. At the time
though, you didn't often have
the chance to use all those skills
in the one tournament. This is
something MMA is trying to cure.
They allow effective crossing over
with a clear result.
So what is the future of
MMA fighting?
When UFC started, all the other
martial arts paled. The only time
72 BLITZ Magazine
Having heard the reports and read the books, Aussie aikidoka Mark Grzic
went to Texas to find out what Peter Ralston's martial art is really all about.
had first heard about Peter
Ralston when I was living
in Japan studying aikido. A
friend on mine swore that
Peter had mastered how to win
a fight while being completely
relaxed. I wasn't impressed. I
had seen relaxed stuff before.
My friend was adamant. Really
relaxed. Stupidly relaxed.
I didn't hear much more
about Peter until a few years
later when I read some of his
books, Zen Body Being and
The Art of Effortless Power. His
books were interesting and
filled with what he described
as his principles. Some of his
ideas were so out-there that
I was certain I was incorrectly
interpreting his writing. When I
saw that that he would run an
intensive martial art camp at
his Texas ranch, I jumped at the
chance to see what it was all
about. So here I am.
The intensives are exactly
what he promises: eight hours a
day of challenging how you have
always moved your body. Make
no mistake, the training is fairly
tough, but the level of mental
work was the big surprise. Cheng
Hsin is indeed designed for
martial artists who think. While
he does teach technique, the
majority of what he teaches is
based on his principles. He uses
terms like 'joining', 'leading',
'following', 'yielding', and 'folding'.
The mornings start with an
hour of stretching and rolls, taken
by one of his senior students.
The sessions are full, but at the
same time the atmosphere
remains pretty light. He reminds
his students that ".. .all martial
arts were made up by someone
at some time. Never believe
your teacher is absolutely right.
Question it all."
Questioning of what he
teaches is frequent. One student
I
has come from Minnesota
because when he was doing
some tai chi push-hands
with Peter, he tried to do a
technique and got thrown
across the room. He isn't sure
what happened. "I thought I'd
be smart but he got me." So
he is here to try and find out
how Peter did it.
Effortless power is the
basis of what Peter teaches
— not using force, not even
redirecting the energy of
the opponent. Peter's use
of relaxation in fighting is
based on a simple idea: you
will always come across an
opponent who is bigger and
stronger than you, so if you
can constantly yield to him
you can never be hurt. "If you
don't believe me, just check out
the extinct school of bull-fighting
that uses blocking."
He often jokes and breaks up
his classes with little anecdotes
and stories. You have to yield to
it all. I asked him about being
able to win if you just keep
yielding. What about punches,
strikes, kicks? He smiles a
little. I get the feeling that he
has answered this question
thousands of times before.
Be relaxed. It then takes me a
moment to realise that he has
punched me, then a few more
moments before I realise he hit
me three times. They are just
light punches to illustrate how
you can punch when you are
relaxed but at the same time to
show how fast you can be when
you don't rely purely on muscle.
His classes involve lots of
pushing — 'effortless' pushing, of
course. Peter uses the push as it
is something you can do that has
a clear effect on your opponent.
He tries to stay away from what
he likes to refer to as the aikidostyle "buffoon" attack. "Who the
hell ever attacks like that except
in an aikido class?" Trying to
get us to come to terms with
pushing without using strength
of any sort has to be a long
exercise in frustration. Certainly
the first few days I'm not even
certain I am actually relaxing;
more just trying to look relaxed
before a burst of strength at the
end.
I take a moment to ask him
about why he thinks relaxed
works better than anything. Peter
stops the class and is happy to
relate a story of how he would
try lots of different things; muscle,
strength, speed. The more he
experimented, the more he
would come back to relaxation
as the way to do everything
more effectively. He tells us about
when he decided to just focus
on relaxation only and see if he
could work it out. At the time
he was training in a basement
eight hours a day under the eye
of Grandmaster Wong Chia Man,
(the same Wong who supposedly
bested Bruce Lee in the famous
fight in San Francisco's China
town). "I failed," Peter says. "Pretty
much every single day for a year I
would fail and get ridiculed by all
the Chinese martial arts students.
If I can fail for a year the least you
can do is try and fail for a day." »
wvwu.blitzmag.net
martial artists won was against
other martial artists; as soon as
they came up against an actual
fighter, even just a good wrestler,
they got creamed. And so really
early on, the word was out The
other martial arts don't work. The
early years the grapplers won,
so then people set out to learn
grappling, either judo or Gracie JiuJitsu - though lefs be clear, Gracie
is just judo, though they wanted
to include punchy-kicky stuff so
they called it Jiu-Jitsu. Over the
years, everyone learned enough
to grapple, then the Gracies
started to lose. Now people have
started punching. Chuck Liddell
made people realise that if you
hit someone hard enough, they
go down. So now more and
more, the punching and kicking
is coming in, though they aren't
very sophisticated yet They are
focused on simply the knockout.
They are focused on hitting them
as hard as they can. Kicking, most
people aren't good. They are
just lucky if they pull off a kick. I
have fought people who kick and
they don't know how to kick and
what/s more, if s not necessary
either. You can keep people from
being able to throw kicks. At
the end of the day, fighters will
become more sophisticated with
their striking arts. As long as they
keep the fighting and don't let it
devolve into the 'act1 or pretense
that professional wrestling is, if II
remain grounded.
Any suggestions for those
wanting to be MMA fighters?
When you deal with most
people, weight, strength and
crude ambition win, but when
you start dealing with real
fighters, if they can get beyond
the crudeness and start to think,
then the other stuff doesn't
matter as much. As for training,
learn boxing from boxers,
grappling and throws from judo;
if you want kicks, go do some
Muay Thai, but ifs not necessary.
Train with the martial arts that
actually fight.
74 BLITZ Magazine
» 'The first thing," Ralston says,
"is to let go of the idea that
you need to produce a result."
Pushing is not the objective,
relaxation is. Let yourself get
compressed into the ground.
His use of games to keep
the exercises fluid and add a
degree of realism to the training
are useful as they can be easily
adjusted to the skill level of the
participants. Peter also uses the
games to teach his principles. In
a game simply dubbed 'Game
A' (the games work their way
through the alphabet), one
student will simply try to apply
pressure to the other student.
The one being attacked simply
has to yield to everything, even
if it means falling to the ground.
Not yielding is considered a
failure. The games get more
advanced as you go. The later
games involve trying to apply
some form of technique to your
opponent while yielding to their
attacks and without the use of
strength and power. If you have
to use strength or power, you
fail. (Amazingly, all the aikido
I had practised became much
more effective when applied in
this way than it had ever been
in aikido training. Certainly the
situations were far more real.)
The games are also used
when Peter teaches his version
of Western boxing. Constantly
teaching yourself to yield
allows you more time to find
an opening to strike without
getting battered as you go.
Peter's boxing intensive work
is also unusual. A lot of time is
spent trying to teach beginner
boxers to 'reach' using their
whole body. "The arms are just
a telegraph wire conducting the
message from the body," says
Peter. He discourages the use
of the word 'punch' as people
already have it in their head
what punching is and therefore
it's harder to train it out of them.
Watching Peter punch a heavy
bag gives one pause. For a
relaxed guy, when he strikes the
bag, it really moves.
Surprisingly, students often
remark that they feel more loose
and relaxed at the end of one of
Peter's classes than at the start.
Certainly the injuries sustained
by his students are minimal.
After three weeks of
intensive work, I would
definitely say that my skills have
taken a great leap forward. I
won't be jumping into the ring
any time soon but it certainly
has taken a lot of what I had
done in martial arts from
abstract and moved it into
something far more practical.
RALSTON ON WHY HE
FOUGHT IN 1978...
to read someone's disposition
accurately started to come. I
was able to see what people
were going to do before
they did it. As a result, when
somebody was going to hit
me, I would finish the situation
before they were able to, and
that was it... I suppose in one
sense you could say I noticed
their mind. I was seeing where
they were coming from, the
source of where the action
arose; seeing the bottom of the
ight and
actions through knowing what I
am and what they are."
- www.chenghsin.com
"I want people to listen to me,
to open up to what I'm saying.
Winning this world tournament
was done so that I could say:
'I did it. What I'm teaching you
is functional. It works.' Now
they'll consider it. People listen
to me now who wouldn't have
before, although I'm saying the
same thing."
RALSTON ON
HIS INTENSIVE
MEDITATION...
"It was after those
enlightenment experiences
that abilities like being able
Ralston on
the attack
Van Damme battles Bolo
Yeung in Bloodsport
Ralston throws an opponent
c
at the World
Tournament
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