Review of Tim Cartmell's seminar (Sept 23-24 2011 in PDX Oregon)

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Check out this interview with Tim at BudoVideos, where he shows technique, discusses traditional arts and compares training methodologies, his own Chinese arts background and its applications in his approach to self defense and BJJ:

http://www.budovideos.com/online/sho...-tim-cartmell/

[Hissho]

Jake Burroughs wrote a short review/note on the seminar and subsequent rank testing at his blog "The Ground Never Misses."

http://threeharmonies.blogspot.com/2...blue-belt.html

One of the things that I like so much about Shen Wu - what we call at the dojo "Shinbu Jiujitsu," is that it combines and builds upon pretty much all I did before: CMA, many things from classical jujutsu, Judo, BJJ, and MMA all adapted and integrated into one package, all without losing its eye on what is practical for self defense!

We pretty much did "no gi" for the seminar, with an eclectic group of students: a few of our own aikidoka-BJJers, and some other aiki-folks from outside our dojo. The standup material focussed on Tim's usual unique throwing material, "shaping" what are traditional Chinese throws into submission grappling/MMA effective takedowns. We work on recognizable "Japanese Judo/Western throws" with variants from Judo or wrestling in terms of how you move, and how you move the attacker, but still with some familiarity....but when you move on to the arm throws (e.g. some variants on two on ones) and some of his pickups and leg takedowns, it is an education on practical Chinese throwing. It "looks" like a typical throw until suddenly the guy falls down at a sharp angle that he wouldn't "normally" be
thrown, or simply feels like he sat down, or slipped. Some very intriguing stuff. Tim works with the "dead angle" theory that is familiar to some classical jujutsu schools, but how much some of his throws in this vein mirror things I have seen in the latter is interesting. Perhaps the xiang pu/sumo base that informed both folk and military wrestling in China and combat jujutsu in Japan is in evidence here.

Next was ground work. Tim's teaching is again just a bit different here. Being a small guy he can't muscle stuff, and so the way he teaches to set up your own body, and then to do so in relation to the opponent, some of the angles he takes are different than standard sport BJJ. He makes excellent use of kuzushi in his ground work, mainly based on position, posture, and small adjustments to angles when applying techniques.

More later!

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CONTd

I missed the third session due to having to work, but returned for the rank test the next day. It was great to see Tim very pleased at the performance of "Shinbu NW" in the test.

Tim comes up to the Pac NW 3-4 times a year. Many more traditionally minded martial artists that might otherwise find BJJ intimidating, too attribute based, or at the least not really their "cuppa," might change their view in training with him - I have watched this happen many times in the years I have been attending his seminars and he has been coming in to our dojo. As stated, his method accesses familiar, relevant traditional elements yet is focused and directed to modern MMA/submission grappling and self defense performance. I have also used his stuff for years in the LE field and found them highly effective.