08 Jan

Forteza 2014 Year in Review and 2015 Teaser: Combatives

Posted under: Combatives, Events

The past twelve months of Combatives training at Forteza has been so epic, we almost feel bad for everyone who didn’t get to train with us. Almost.

In 2014, Forteza played host to literally the who’s who of teachers in the field of Combatives and Reality Based Self Defense training. We kicked off the year with an in house Bowie knife seminar taught by Forteza instructor Keith Jennings. Students learned the basics of American big blade fighting, and with many of the students having some training in historical fencing or Martial Blade Concepts, everyone took right to the weapon, and Bowie knife sparring has been seen at the monthly Fight Night ever since.

In the Spring we hosted an Urban Survival course taught by Johnny Tsai. This informative seminar was one half lecture, helping students with contingency plans and how to assemble a bug out bag in case of a local disaster, and the other half we went out to the woods and learned how to build shelters, how to start a fire with a variety of tools, and even practiced some self defense skills.

In May, Forteza played host to Martial Blade Concepts founder and head instructor Mike Janich for a two-day seminar. Since Forteza instructor Keith Jennings is one of Mike’s senior instructors, and most of the students in attendance had a solid training base, we were able to really amp up the training and focus on the more advanced aspects of MBC training. On the first day, Mike presented a state-of-the-art seminar on the MBC forward grip knife curriculum. Mike tuned up everyone’s basics, and then got everyone rocking out on flow drills, combat applications, and even a bit of knife chess. The second day was a bit treat for all of the attendees, as Mike showed his seldom taught interpretation of classical Filipino machete and sword and dagger training. Mike was able to blend the traditonal aspects of sword and dagger with the logic of the MBC methodology into a brutally effective big blade system.

Forteza was honored to host Lee Morrison for an absolutely epic five days of training in July. Lee is a UK Combatives instructor who is know for both his soft skills training, helping students cultivate the proper Combtives mindset, as well as the hard stills needed to survive a brutal street altercation. And when we say hard, we mean hard. Lee spent two days doing private training with the Forteza staff, focusing on developing explosive power and bone crunching power. Then the two and a half day seminar pushed everyone to the edge. Everyone took some hard shots, and gave just as much as they got. The increase in skill level and overall toughness by the end of the last day was a sight to behold.

Self defense guru Hoch Hochheim taught a two day seminar in October. Hoch is a legend in the field, and was one of the first instructors in the United States to teach self defense removed from the hangups of traditional martial arts. Hoch covered a wide variety of material in his two day seminar. We went over his empty hand striking skills, knife vs knife, and his modern version of traditional Filipino stick fighting. Perhaps the best part of the seminar was hearing Hoch’s war stories of his police days, as well as the many martial arts personalities he’s met over the years.

Lastly, Forteza was extremely honored end the year hosting Kelly McCann for a two day seminar. Kelly is the most sought after instructor in the field of Combatives, but until recently his training was never available to civilians. Thankfully, that has now changed. After Keith trained with Kelly at his Civilian Training Center in Virginia, he had been trying to figure out a way to train with him again ever since. When Kelly announced we was taking his Kembativs training on the road, Forteza jumped on the chance to be one of the first gyms to host him. Students were introduced to Kelly’s boxing training, both in the sportive sense and bare knuckle boxing for the street. We also did some classic Combatives training, doing everything from self offense, to stick and knife, and the dreaded pocket stick. After a weekend full of bare knuckle boxing, chin rips, and combative throws, the amount of pain induced by the little pocket was almost comical, especially to Kelly. It was an epic way to end an epic year of training.

COMBATIVES 2015

We are only a week into the new year, and 2015 is already shaping up to be an even better year of Combatives training. To meet the demand of our students, we are going to be offering more weekend focus classes on specific self defense topics, and launch our invite-only Forteza Combatives Club. Our first class of the new year is the Martial Blade Concepts Fundaments class. More details to come.

Also, for our first big Combatives seminar of the year will be hosting Dom Rasso of Dynamis Alliance for a two day seminar. We will be covering situational self defense, team tactics, car Combatives, and Dom will be showing the unique reverse grip knife tactics he used when he was an active Navy Seal. To register, please follow this link:

https://www.dynamisalliance.com/gear/situational-combatives-course

02 Oct

Video Recap of Urban Combatives Seminar

Posted under: Combatives, Events

This past July, Forteza played host to Urban Combatives founder Lee Morrison for a three day seminar. Lee specializes in combining high intensity physical training, with the mental stress of scenario training. The Forteza Combatives classes are integrating many of these training drills and methodology into our weekly classes.

On Facebook you can find a video compilation of some of the drills Lee taught over the weekend. Featured in the video are Dom Raso and Dylan Murphy of Dynamis Alliance. Dom is a 12 year Navy Seal veteran, and Dylan is the guy who Kelly McMann himself has said is one of the future stars of reality based self-defense. These two gentlemen will be teaching a two day Combatives seminar at Forteza in March of next year. More details to come!

19 Aug

Hoch Hochheim Seminar October 11 – 12, 2014

Posted under: Combatives, Events

2014 has proven to be Forteza’s year of combatives and practical, personal protection, welcoming famed instructors Michael Janich (Martial Blade Concepts) and Lee Morrison (Urban Combatives). Now we finish our “trifecta” by welcoming world-renowned instructor Hoch Hochheim for two days of training!

With over 30 years of military, police and civilian combat and self-defense experience, since 1996, Hock Hochheim’s mission has been to “bridge the gap between the military, the police, the martial artist, and the aware citizen.” Each group knows things about fighting that the other doesn’t. Today, we add to that mission statement the concept that you should: “use only that force necessary to win or survive.” All fights are highly, highly situational. We live in a mixed weapon’s world and a mixed peoples world with rules of engagement and use of force issues. This workshop will address two very different aspects of that world:

Saturday 10/11/14 11am-6pm

Day 1: Extreme close quarters knife training. Hoch’s close quarters knife module, called Death Grip of the Knife, will focus on face-to-face, nose-to-nose, grip-to-grip knife combat. Ground knife fighting will also be covered.

Sunday 10/12/2014 10am-5pm
Day 2: Military and police stick, as well as Filipino stick fighting. Hoch will cover striking, blocking, grappling and ground fighting. Hock has also organized Filipino single and double stick materials from so many FMA systems and programs down to their scientific, easily digestible essence.

About the Instructor

Hock Hochheim has taught force necessary combat strategies to citizens, the police and military all over the world in places like South Africa, Australia, Germany, Europe, The United Kingdom, Southwest Asia for the military and of course, throughout the United States. Hock has actually done more in real life than most people reputed to be…“ famous and experienced.” Currently hock teaches hand, stick, knife and gun combatives in some 40 seminars in 11 or 12 allied countries a year. Hock served as an MP in the U.S. military both stateside and in Korea. He also worked as a police officer and detective for 23 years in Texas working violent crimes and narcotics. Also during his career he worked as a security guard, doorman, private investigator, body guard and security consultant, most notably for “America’s mayor”, Rudy Giuliani.

As a martial artist, Hoch began his journey in 1973 with Ed Parker Kenpo Karate. Since that time he has amassed black belts in Filipino Martial Arts, Kempo, Kajukenbo and Aiki-Jutsu, and was voted by readers into the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame in 2001. Since the 1990s, he has been a pioneer in the integration of hand, stick, knife and gun training, and the use of the term “combatives” which was used by so few back then, but is now a widespread title today.

Seminars with Hoch fill fast, to register today by visiting Hoch’s site: http://www.forcenecessary.com/shop/combatives-seminar-hock-chicago.html

For more info, contact us at info@fortezafitness.com

20 Mar

Event Review: Combatives Training with Lee Morrisson

Posted under: Events

Dan Vigil gets a “love tap” from a Millwall Brick, courtesy of Lee Morrison.

This past February, Dan Vigil hosted a three day combatives seminar with UK instructor Lee Morrison. Originally scheduled for last year, the seminar had to be rescheduled due to a training injury Lee received. Seeing in person how hard the man trains, this isn’t too surprising!

I missed the first day of training, but Lee did his best to catch us up. The seminar began with going over the proper mindset needed for successful self defense, or what Lee calls combative psychology. A lot of self-defense instructors teach their students to not become victims; Lee pushes that much further, and instead teaches how to become a worse predator than the one you will potentially face on the street. A lot of emphasis was put on proper mindset in three distinct stages: pre-conflict, during the actual fight, and perhaps most importantly, post conflict. Lee makes it his mission to help develop your inner predator, with an understanding that it doesn’t have to hang on your shoulders like a burden. Instead, it is something you tap into when you need it, and leave it locked away when you don’t.

The structure of the seminar was interesting. There was a lot of downtime between actual physical training sessions, because Lee’s emphasis was on mindset, which required a lot of prepping us for the next training session, and some after action review post training. Lee’s approach was very module based; we would focus on a specific set of skills, recap, and then move on to more training. While there was a lot of classroom learning, when we were on the floor, it was all out, high intensity, and high impact training.

Instead of waiting for trouble to come to you, Lee is all about preempting. As he put it: you hit f@#$ing hard, and even more importantly, hit first. We worked a lot of pad drills, both against a single target, and multiple opponents. The holder would give the trainee feedback. If your hit was judged hard enough to do significant damage, the holder would fade back and allow you to engage the next target. If your strike was full of weak sauce, then the holder would keep the target in play, and you would have to blitz in with multiple strikes before turning your attention to the next target.

Other modules includemultiple opponent tactics, counter grappling/mma, and improvised weapons. Not much in the way of actual technique was covered. Instead, you used your preexisting skill set, and Lee focused his energy on getting the proper attitude and mindset, and working on developing power to all of your strikes. Lee talked a lot about how the guy on the street is going to be hitting you with hurt and anger, and you have to do the same to him. Emotional content, as Lee (both Morrison and Bruce) says.

A few of the drills we did felt as close to a real fight as I’ve felt in a long time. This is where the training got really interesting, as one of the best takeaways from the Lee Morrison seminar was just how hard you can train, and still be ok. Having shorter training segments allowed us to really amp up the intensity, and and then be able to recover as we transitioned to the next topic..

The last thing that really stood out about Lee was how athletic and explosive he was, and how necessary such attributes were if you are going to train in his blend of combatives. In the UK, all weapons have been outlawed, which of course criminals could care less about. When you don’t have guns or knives to rely on for protection, your empty hand skills need to be at the highest level. Lee trains as hard as a professional fighter; spending hours every week hitting pads, and dedicating himself to a rigorous strength and conditioning routine. The athlete in me really appreciated this, and because of my day job, I am able to dedicate a lot of time to training. However, for those with far less free time to train, I honestly don’t think it would be possible to emulate Lee directly.However, between his combat psychology, and the intensity of his training, any student of self protection will get a lot out of training with Lee. Even if you don’t have the physical attributes to fight like him, you’ll still get a lot out of it. Plus, it might inspire you to make a bit more time to train.

I would suggest that if you ever get to train with Lee, you bring your own training partner. That way, you can train as hard or as light as you want. Also, Lee really was one hell of a nice guy. I was able to go out to dinner with him and some of the group on Saturday night, and he was super cool, which makes training and hanging out with him that much more enjoyable.

Lee’s a great guy to spend time — with was probably a good thing for all of us, cause he can seriously deliver the goods!-Keith

05 Mar

Martial Blade Concepts/Sobadiwan Eskrima Progressive Skills Seminar May 3-4th

Posted under: Combatives, Events

Internationally-known and respected personal defense and protection expert Michael Janich returns to Chicago for a special, two-day workshop!

PROGRAM
In this two-day seminar, Michael Janich will present intermediate and advanced instruction in the skills of his MBC system, focusing on the latest refinements of MBC’s standard-grip methods. It will also include rarely-seen instruction in the MBC approach to traditional weapon skills, including single stick, double stick, sword/machete, and espada ydaga (sword and dagger) tactics.

Day One: MBC Practical Knife Defense
Day 1 of this course will provide step-by-step instruction the “state of the art” of the MBC system. It will review the critical skills of using a knife as a practical defensive weapon and maximize the efficiency of those skills by focusing on the details of structure, timing, body position, angles, footwork, and leverage. Day 1 will also fine tune the students’ execution of MBC’s reflex training drills and show how drills can be combined into strategic training sets to isolate, refine, and challenge specific reflex patterns.

Day Two: Practical Use of Traditional Weapons
In day 2 of the seminar, Janich will share his perspective on traditional Filipino weapon skills, applying MBC’s proven analytical process to classical Filipino martial arts technique to extract practical, combat-worthy skills and tactics. This session will address the use of sticks, swords/machetes, and sword-and-dagger tactics, as well as other aspects of Janich’s Sobadiwan Eskrima system.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Michael Janich has been studying and teaching self-defense and the martial arts for more than 35 years. He has earned instructor’s credentials in American Self-Protection (ASP – an eclectic art that includes elements of judo, aikido, boxing, fencing and French Savate), the Filipino art of Serrada Eskrima, and Joseph Simonet’s Silat Concepts and is a member of the elite International Close-Combat Instructors’ Association. He has also trained extensively in wing chun gung fu, tae kwon do, wu ying tao, Thai boxing, arnis de mano and military combatives. Janich is also one of the foremost modern authorities on handgun point shooting and is one of the few contemporary instructors to have been personally trained by the late close-combat legend Colonel Rex Applegate.

Janich served nine years in the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, including a three-year tour at the National Security Agency. fter completing his military service, Janich was recruited by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and served as an Intelligence Officer for that agency’s Stony Beach Program in Hong Kong and the Philippines. He also served as an Investigation Team Leader for the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA) and has led numerous investigations into remote areas of Vietnam and Laos in search of information regarding American prisoners of war and missing in action (POW/MIA).

Author of six books, co-author of seven more, he has also been featured in more than 20 instructional videos on defensive edged-weapon use, use of the Filipino balisong knife, the use of throwing weapons and exotic weapons, stick fighting, and combat shooting. Currently, he serves as the Special Projects Coordinator for the Spyderco knife company of Golden, Colorado. With Spyderco’s support, he continues to offer state-of-the-art tactical training as co-host of The Best Defense on Outdoor Channel.

REGISTRATION
Early Bird Registration (before April 1st) $150

Pre-Registration (after April 1st, before May 3rd) $175

Day of Registration $200

For more information or to register, please contact:

Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts
4437 N. Ravenswood Ave
Chicago, IL 60640
773.271.3988

info@fortezafitness.com

22 Aug

Tomahawk and Long Knife Seminar Review and Training Footage

Posted under: Combatives, Events

Meredith Lyons has posted a review of our recent Tomahawk and Long Knife seminar. This was the second part of our American Heritage Fighting Arts series, following on last month’s Bowie Knife Wokrshop. Next up: single-stick, both a training tool for the military saber, and a form of self-defense and fencing sport in its own right, and one of the martial arts of choice of the original Rough Rider himself, Teddy Roosevelt.

More on that soon, but for now, here is some video of both the recent ‘hawk and knife seminar, and some bowie knife fencing from the end of our first workshop:

‘Hawk and Knife
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzuqFhAFUG0&w=420&h=315]

Bowie Basics

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152103117427846&set=vb.505617845&type=3&theater

And you can find more Bowie sparring clips at the recent after action event review.

11 Jun

Tomahawk and Long Knife Seminar – July 14th!

Posted under: Combatives, Events

Forteza is celebrating the USA’s birthday in style with a special seminar on fighting with the Tomahawk and long knife!

The Tomahawk is a uniquely American weapon, and has seen service in every armed conflict in our nation’s history. In this unique seminar, we will explore the versatility of the Tomahawk and take advantage of its full potential as a weapon, and how to combine it with the long knife for a truly dynamic paring! Keeping one foot in history, and the other in the modern world, we will look at how the Tomahawk was used historically, as well as modern application.

This is the first in a series of seminars and classes offered through Forteza as part of our American Heritage Fighting Arts program!

When: July 14th, 2013 from 12-4pm
Cost: $40 for members, $50 for non-members

*Preregister by July 1st and receive a free Cold Steel training tomahawk, a $17 value!

(We will also have a few trainers for sale at the seminar.)

To reserve your spot, please contact us at info@fortezafitness.com

19 Apr

After Action Review: Mike Janich and Martial Blade Concepts at Forteza

Posted under: Combatives, Events, Martial Blade Concepts

The Forteza-MBC Instructor Crew

On April 6^th and 7^th, renowned self-defense instructor Mike Janich presented a two day workshop on empty hand combatives, and empty hand vs. knife tactics. Mike is the founder and head instructor of Martial Blade Concepts, which is described on the MBC website as:

Martial Blade Concepts (MBC) is an edged-weapon system specifically designed to meet the needs of today’s concerned citizen and armed professional. Based on Michael Janich’s extensive analysis of the Filipino martial arts and many other systems, MBC takes combat-proven tactics and adapts them to modern tools, threats, and legal concerns. The result is a practical, easy-to-learn system that is ideally suited to modern self-defense.

Mike Janich’s Martial Blade Concepts, as well as the adjutant systems of Counter Blade Concepts and Damithurt Silat (Practical Unarmed Combatves), is the base system four own Combatives program taught at Forteza. Students were very excited to train with the founder of the system they train in, most of whom had never met or trained with Mike before. Forteza instructor Keith Jennings also ran a prep seminar two months prior, so by the time Mike arrived in Chicago, all of the students in attendance had a solid base level of skill, which allowed us to skip right past the basics, and jump right into the good stuff.

Mike Janich takes Thayne for a big ride!

Day One was dedicated to empty hand skills. Mike focused on taking the instinctual startle response, and educating it to make for a functional tool that can be used under stress. Students were brought through variations of the cycling drill, Hubud, and shoulder stops. Saturday ended with a look at Junkyard Aikido, his expression of joint-locking techniques. Focus was on how to apply joint locks in an actual combative situation, and to use them to either viciously stop the fight, or use the lock to transition to either a weapon or escape. Special shout out to visiting MBC alum Thayne Alexander for taking so many hard falls on the hard wood floor! It was an impromptu school of hard knocks style clinic on how to fall properly.

Day two was Counter Blade Concepts, and how to transition from empty hand into knife deployment. Mike started with his signature video presentation which shows footage of actual knife attacks, and the aftermath of such an assault. The message was clear: knife attacks happen suddenly and violently, and seen over and over again in the footage were pre-fight indicators, off hand probing, and aggressive gross motor forehand thrusts and slashes predominately coming from right handed attackers. This reality check helped to bring a very serious tone to the day’s training, and with the problem clearly defined, Mike brought people through his counter-blade system. Rather than flashy disarms done against static attacks, focus was on shutting down the attack using a split X-defense, compression locking the attacking limb, mobility kills using low line knees and kick.

The MBC patented “Yojimbo” and its Chicago-legal little brother. Porkmen beware!

After lunch, Mike set-up his famous “Porkman” demo: a pork roast attached to a PVC pipe and rigged with twine and Ceram wrap to provide a model of bone, muscle, tendons and skin. Forteza instructor Keith Jennings did the honors with his newly acquired “Chicagojimbo”, a modified Yojimbo 2 with the blade ground down to the legal Chicago length of 2.5 inches. Even with the shortened blade, and with very little effort, the knife had no problem cutting straight to the bone. This impressive demonstration showed not only how capable even a small carry knife can be, but also how dangerous it really is to face off against a knife attacker. With the demonstration fresh in the students’ minds, everyone trained with newfound enthusiasm and respect for what even a small blade is capable of.

There were over forty people training on the floor, with room to spare. The positive feedback from the seminar was overwhelming, with everyone asking when we’ll have Mike back out for a follow-up seminar. The answer: as soon as we can! Thanks to Mike for making the trip out to Chicago, all of the MBC alumni from all over the Midwest who came out in support, and for all of the students in attendance who trained hard.

Full house!

14 Apr

Zombie Survival Seminar at Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts.

Posted under: Events

Saturday, May 25th Noon-5pm
Cost $50, $40 for Fortzea membership holders.

Z-Day is coming, are you prepared?

You’ve packed your bug-out bag, you’ve got your Survival Guide, and you know the truth behind the growing reports of “Bath Salts” and “Bird Flu”. But you still have to get out of the city alive! Our staff offers the best and most unique edged weapons training and combat acrobatics, and we will teach you how to hone these skills for when you need them most.

May is Zombie Awareness month! In order to prepare for the (hopefully) coming zombie hordes, the staff of Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts is proud to present a one day workshop on the key combat skills needed to survive the zombie apocalypse, based around three, simple truths of combating the Reanimate.

Rule One: Where there is one Zombie, there are a dozen.
Greg Mele, expert in Medieval weaponry and tactics, will show you how to put spear, sword and shield to use when the zombies horde swarms. Learn how to choose the best long weapons for the job, and how to form a phalanx, using teamwork to increase your chances for survival.

Rule Two: They WILL get close.
Keith Jennings, Chicago’s only full instructor in Martial Blade Concepts, will show you how to use small blade weapon tactics using both the machete and small folding knives to hunt down and destroy the walking dead. With the proper skill, these last ditch weapons can mean the different between life or undeath.

Rule Three: They keep coming! Sometimes your best offense is a good defense, also known as the RLH (RunLikeHell) method.
Brian Connely, stunt master of Asylum Stunts, will train you in advanced tumbling and evasion skills. When all of your weapons have failed you, and you find yourself surrounded by the undead, these evasion skills might be your only chance to escape and seek out your friends, or better yet, get to your weapon and turn the undead into dust.

No one knows when the Apocalypse will strike, so better to be prepared!

07 Jan

2012: The Year in Martial Arts

Posted under: Armizare - The Knightly Arts, Bartitsu, Combatives, Events, Renaissance Swordplay

From the clash of swords to a unique program for personal protection and self-defense, Forteza’s martial arts programs are not quite like anything else you’ll find in Chicago. Some of our programs have a long history in the city that precedes the studio’s opening by over a decade, while we are pleased to have given others their start.

HISTORICAL SWORDSMANSHIP: THE CHICAGO SWORDPLAY GUILD

Martial arts training at Forteza began with the Chicago Swordplay Guild, the city’s only dedicated school for the study of medieval and Renaissance martial arts. In 2012 our new digs allowed us to greatly expand our class offerings in both Armizare (medieval martial arts) and Renaissance Swordsmanship.

Our Introductory, or “Taster”, classes were offered in two separate tracks, a 12-week session on Saturday mornings and a 6-week, twice-weekly session on Monday and Wednesday evenings; both tracks attracted a steady number of new swordplay students. Once the basics were learned, CSG members had a choice of two Novice/Foundation classes per week, firming up basic theory and technique.

Armizare saw a significant spike in new students from a wide variety of backgrounds, age groups, and interests that drew them to the sword. The influx of new students meant that our Foundations classes have routinely been full and quite lively, as students take the basic lessons of stance, movement, body mechanics and simple attacks and defenses and learn to refine their skills and expand their application. Our expanded schedule also allowed us to introduce a dedicated Abrazare (close quarter combat) class where students learned basic grappling safety skills, body mechanics, guards, fundamental throws and joint locks, and the nine “Masters” of dagger combat: nine core concepts related to line of attack and type of cover (one or two-handed) upon which the entire, extensive curriculum of nearly 80 formal techniques, and countless variations, can be organized.

Focus classes were organized in bi-or-tri monthly themes, and included “Using Provocations to Break Distance”, “Advanced Use of the Twelve Poste”, “Using Complex Attacks”, “Mechanics of Breaking and Exchanging Thrusts”, and “Extrapolation and Improvisation”. In the dedicated Scholar’s class, students were introduced to two new weapons, the arming (one-handed) sword, and the spear. A number of students successfully completed their basic proficiency exams in the arming sword, and several more will be testing in the spear this February, two necessary steps on the path to the Free Scholar rank.

In the Renaissance Swordsmanship track, our weekly “Focus’” class on specific topics, open to all levels, proved to be most popular; topics covered this year included “Building an Aggressive Defense Using the Guards”, “Cuts and Their Counters”, and “Pressing the Attack”.

With a dedicated 90-minute class of their own on Saturday afternoon, advanced students spent the year focusing on advanced tactics in single rapier, including feints and invitations, and exploring Salvatore Fabris’ variations on his basic guards.

On Monday nights we instituted a Bolognese Swordsmanship Study Group. Open to Scholars of either curriculum, Bolognese fencing is the bridge between the late medieval style and the elegant rapier of the 17th century. A vast curriculum containing virtually every weapon of the 16th c arsenal, although Greg has been researching the material for years, this program is in its early stages of being taught as a formal curriculum. Training focused on fencing with the sword alone; looking at not only the basic actions of attack, defense and movement, but the unique pedagogical training tool of the assalti – long solo forms that can then be applied as two-person exercises.

Finally, the highlight of the year for both sub-programs was the spring Prize Playing, featuring an impressive performance by Armizare Novice Erin Fitzgerald, and a commanding display of arms by rapier Novice Robert Rutherfoord and his graduation to Scholar level. Rob is now a rapier instructor-in-training.

THE BARTITSU CLUB OF CHICAGO

The Bartitsu Club of Chicago is Chicago’s first and only martial arts club to focus on the Victorian-era cross-training system of Bartitsu. The Club began in January 2012 with a successful one-day introductory seminar that marked the first “public” use of the Forteza studio. The seminar was followed by a twelve-lesson basic course over six weeks, culminating with an Antagonisticathlon; an event in which participants represent Victorian-era adventurers running a gauntlet of obstacles and surprise attacks by “ruffians“.

Graduates of the initial course voted to keep training and so Bartitsu joined the roster of regular weekly classes at Forteza, combining the “canonical” unarmed and cane fighting techniques recorded by E.W. Barton-Wright circa 1900 with “neo-Bartitsu” exercises, combat improvisation drills and progressive sparring. Over the coming months we were prominently featured in several news media items including articles in New City Magazine and an article and video for the Chicago Tribune. We held the second Antagonisticathlon during July and the second annual Bartitsu School of Arms event in September (see Special Workshops and Events below).

FORTEZA COMBATIVES METHOD

This past year also saw the launch of the Forteza Combatives program. Forteza instructor and co-owner Keith Jennings is the only fully certified Martial Blade Concepts instructor in IL and the neighboring states. For years Keith has conducted seminars in Chicago and around the Midwest, but there has never been an official home for MBC training in Chicago. The opening of Forteza has changed all that. In the first half of the year, Keith introduced a weekly MBC class, building a small, dedicated cadre of students. But by summer it became clear that students wanted a chance to train more, and to explore other ranges and components of personal protection. Thus was born Forteza Combatives!

The Forteza Combatives Method focusing on the empty hand and counter-knife tactics from MBC, as well as combining elements of bare knuckle boxing, Catch Wrestling/ground survival, and improvised weapons training, making it one of the most well rounded self defense classes in Chicago! The program has been an unqualified success, quickly growing into one of our best-attended martial arts classes – so much so that we’ll be adding training days and special events – including a workshop with MBC creator Mike Janich – in 2013.

SPECIAL WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS

In August, Armizare students were given a look at the extensive collection of disarms, pommel strikes and throws that comprise zogho stretto, or close play, with the sword. Zogho stretto is where the lessons of the sword merge with those of abrazare and dagger, and the entire system is pulled together.

In September, the Bartitsu Club hosted the second annual Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture , a three-day conference and training event. Highlights included a field trip to the historic Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle, IL (with a special guided tour of the mansion’s unique Victorian-era gymnasium) and a trip to see the play Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride, which featured Bartitsu-inspired fight scenes. Then followed two full days of training (including our third Antagonisticathlon) and socializing in the Victorian-themed side room of O’Shaughnessy’s Public House. The event was a resounding success and now we look forward to a Bartitsu New Year.

A little later that month, the Chicago Swordplay Guild hosted Armizare Academy: A Celebration of the Knightly Arts. Originally held in 2010 to celebrate the six hundredth anniversary of the composition of the massive martial arts text The Flower of Battle (il Fior di Battaglia) by the art’s founder, Fiore dei Liberi, this event, affectionately called “The 600: Prepare for Fiore!”, was such a success with attendees, that we decided to make it a recurring workshop! Since “The 602″ seemed to be missing some flair, the event was been renamed Armizare Academy. This three day retreat featured six instructors from around North America and included both a tournament and a fully-armoured deed of arms!

Finally, in November the studio the privilege of hosting Roberto Laura for an immersion in the world of Italian stick and knife fighting arts. During Roberto’s five day visit, we studied three distinct tradtions. The first was La Scuola Cavalieri d`Umiltà or the Knights of Humility. This school derives from Manfredonia, Apulia (by tradition, from the 15th century). It is a highly elegant fighting system with the knife, shepherd’s staff and the razor. The second tradition was La Scuola Fiorata– The Flowery School, from Calatabiano, Sicily. The weapons taught within this traditional dueling art are the shepherd stick and the knife. Fiorata is technically a modern school, yet in many ways it is a return to older sensibilities. The school comes from a very old – and still living – tradition called the Scuola Rutatu (Circling School), but after WWII some masters of the system were concerned with the loss of close-fighting techniques and a transition to fast, but smaller, less powerful actions and developed a new school that would counter Rutatu, producing a system which combines the elements of open and closed guards, dynamic assaults. Finally, Roberto introduced us to la Scuola Cielo e Meraviglia (the School of Heaven and Its Marvels) which also comes from Apulia, and is about two-hundred years old. This is a close-quarter fighting system which uses grips, joint locks, throws. As very old traditions these schools use a wide variety of daggers and folding knives, including cloak and dagger techniques and improvised weapons. Roberto made it clear that he is only a student of this tradition, and that he was introducing us to his current understanding of the system a passed to him by his teacher, Maestro Domenico Mancino. It was an amazing workshop and Forteza will be introducing a stick and knife study group in the new year to continue to study and train in these priceless pieces of Italian culture!

2012: The Year in Physical Fitness

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