Forteza Fitness

Victorian Martial Arts: Bartitsu Relaunches May 25th!!!!

Posted under: Bartitsu, Events

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The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes is BACK! 

Bartitsu and the old Bartitsu Club were key components as we were designing the Forteza studio. Designed as a way to introduce other martial artists to the unique “fusion” and “combat improvisation” of Barton-Wright, the one major request we had from students was a more structured way to introduce new comers to the fundamental boxing, kicking, throwing and stick-fighting skills upon which Bartitsu is based.

We listened, and after a year of fine-tuning, Bartitsu returns to Forteza on May 25th with a five hour workshop taught by renowned Victorian martial arts historian and Bartitsu Club of Chicago founder, Tony Wolf. A highly experienced martial arts instructor, Tony has taught Bartitsu intensives in England, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Canada and throughout the USA. Tony also edited the two volumes of the Bartitsu Compendium (2005 and 2008) and co-produced/directed the feature documentary Bartitsu: The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes (2010).

New “Introduction to Bartitsu” Course

But the relaunch does not end with the workshop.  Tony will be ably assisted by Forteza instructors Nathan Wisniewksi and Treyson Ptak, who will then be taking the lead with our newly designed Introduction to Bartitsu course. Beginning June 5th, 6-week class is designed to instill basic striking, kicking, cane-fighting, grappling and safety skills. Perfect for those new to martial arts as well as those who are not familiar with the particular art which comprise Bartitsu, this course is high-energy, skills-focused and designed to lay a foundation that students will bring to on-going training in the Bartitsu Club of Chicago. The club meets twice a month for advanced training and “combat integration” – the unique blending of its component arts that makes Bartitsu an unique fighting art in its own right.

A Whole New World of Victorian Martial Arts

But Bartitsu is just one aspect of Forteza’s new Victorian Martial Arts program, which includes a wide-range of antagonistics, the study of fencing, boxing, wrestling and stick-fighting  typically combined with physical culture (calisthenics, gymnastics and weight-training) that was popular in Britain and America in the late 19th century. Forteza’s Antagonistics courses include:

  • Sabre and Bayonet Fencing;
  • Stick Fighting;
  • Bowie Knife and Tomahawk combat (most distinctly American weapons);
  • Physical Culture; a truly “old school” workout regimen of calisthenics, Indian clubs, and more!

As we have done previously with our wildly popular Bowie and ‘hawk seminars, Antagonistics will be taught in a series of workshops and short courses, allowing students with limited time and busy schedules to get chance to sample the breadth of 19th century martial culture.

How Can YOU Get Involved?

Whether you’ve trained us before or are brand new to any martial arts, there are many ways to jump in to the relaunch of our Victorian Martial Arts program, and the sooner you get involved, the more affordable it is!

Bartitsu Seminar Date, Sunday May 25th from 12-5pm
$60, $75 at the door

Introduction to Bartitsu Course, Starts on Thursday June 5th from 7-9pm:
Length – 6 weeks
Cost – $125, discounted to $100 for seminar attendees!

Pre-register for both the seminar and introduction for $150, a $50 savings!

Continuing Classes: Bartitsu Club of Chicago Starts on Friday July 11th from 7-8pm:

Classes are on the second and fourth Friday of each month

Cost: $50/month and includes on-going access to the Introduction class, providing 10 hours of training a month!
Antagonistics Courses
One day workshops and short courses are held throughout the year and registered for separately.
As you can see, if you are called to by the rough-and-tumble and gentleman duelist side of the Victorian-era calls to you, there are multiple ways to get involved and start training today!
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After Action Review: Spartan SGX training.

Posted under: Events, Fitness & Physical Culture

By Jesse Kulla Forteza Fitness, Physical Culture &Martial Arts Personal Trainer and Martial Arts Instructor

Obstacle or “Adventure” racing has become one of the most popular ways to test your mettle and inspire yourself to a new level of training. At the top of the obstacle race food chain is the Spartan Race – a race of pure craziness. When you are going to call yourselves “Spartans” and label your skill levels as “Beast”, “Ultrabeast” and “Death Race”, you pretty much have to be ready to throw down and throw the kitchen sink at competitors. And oh how they do, as you can see at the Spartan Race website.

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The pyramid of excellence – and pain – racers can challenge themselves with at a Spartan Race.

As an athlete, I’ve taken part in the Spartan Race for several years now, as a personal trainer, I’ve respected the Spartan’s goals of seeking excellence, and then pushing one level further. Of course, that means that once there was an opportunity to become an actual certified Spartan trainer – the first in Chicago – I wasn’t inspired to go, I had to do it! So, what do the founders of the Ultra Beast put would-be trainers through?

Wow, Where to start? I carried myself to Atlanta, in hopes that the weather would be nice, and so it was. We call that a small mercy, because it would be the only gentle thing that weekend. Got some sleep. Woke up, and got to the venue. It was a fancy gym, with everything you could want in a health club and spa. Not what I expected – I was thinking more like a sand-pit with ropes and stones. Nor did I expect that the first thing I would become acquainted with wouldn’t be the gym, but the first rate conference room. (More on that in a minute.)

Introductions were made, and stories from races that we have all run were shared. I did not win the farthest traveled award, there was a gentleman there form San Francisco. I also met the winner of the 2012 Spartan Death race. It was inspiring and humbling to learn that he had absorbed over 60 hours of punishment to claim that title. Yeah, 60 hours. I have some new standards of “toughness”.

Before we got started, we took a 5 minute burpee test. Yes, that means we got up, paired up, and did “hands off the floor” burpees for 5 minutes, to see who was could hack it. I was not at the bottom of the heap, but 63 was nothing to brag over either, I think 84 was the winning number. Now, I expected something like “drop and give me 5 minutes of burpees” – these are the Spartans, right? But see, like the Spartans of old, who were both warriors of supreme physical skill and tactical warcraft, we were here to hone our minds alongside our bodies.

And that was why we went from burpees to that conference room, where my brain was filled with science data, recovery charts, and the importance of Mental Grit. Vital to all racers, and more so to those who profess to learn the arts of defense, Mental Grit is the power to preserve despite terrible odds, nasty surprises, and truly “long haul” exercises. We then did a little work out before breaking for lunch: about 300 meters of bear crawls, just to whet our appetites. Lunch was all business, talking with other trainers, sharing success stories and work out tips.

Of course, having just filled our bellies, it was time to dive into nutrition as soon as we got back. That was extremely in depth, and changed how I viewed athletic nutrition. After a few hours of that, we broke, and did an hour long “level one” work out, which is just the Spartan way of saying “Good job in the class room, see you tomorrow”. I went back to my hotel and soaked for an hour, rehydrated, and got ready for day two.

Day two was all talk of program design and goal-setting. This was partly a refresher course, but had a lot of insight into helping clients set goals, as well as getting to the root of clients’ health issues. The program design was intensive. We talked for hours about how to “Spartan folks up”. Far and away, this was my favorite portion of the weekend. Skipping lunch, we broke into groups and went running, with one group running their work out, start to finish, and the other two groups sweating through them. Three hours of pure brutality. It was hard, but I got through all of it. Not everyone did. Survival is the first step on the road to excellence!

I now know why the Spartan gym has a full spa – you need it just to go home. After some time in their hot tub, I felt better, I limped to the hotel, packed, returned my car, and spent 18 hours In the airport getting back to good old Chi-town. This was a mind-blowing weekend, and my ideas about training for peak performance will be broken into before SGX and after. My clients are already profiting from the new ideas and strategies, be they there to cut weight, increase functionality or race train, and I can’t wait to share more of the techniques for honing Mental Grit.

Later this summer, I’ll begin my preparation to run the Beast. I’ve beaten the Sprint, and I’ve beaten the Super. Time to go for the gold, and come home with my running shoes or on them. I hope to see you there, because I’ll need a team. Spartans, are you ready? Aroo!

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2012: The Year in Physical Fitness

Posted under: Events, Fitness & Physical Culture

FIGHTINGFIT! CHICAGO’S MOST UNIQUE BOOTCAMP

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Martial arts is one of the most effective forms of cross-training available. It combines aerobic and anaerobic exercise with a diverse workout that builds core strength, cardiovascular fitness, hand-eye coordination, balance, and timing. There are plenty of cardio-kickboxing routines out there, but we wanted something a little more challenging, and more in keeping with what Forteza is all about. Thus, FightingFit!

FightingFit! is a solo training program that combines a great way to build confidence, bust stress, and get in touch with your inner warrior through a combination of weapons training, basic boxing skills, body-weight exercises, Kettlebells and “old school” fitness techniques that literally extend back hundreds of years, you can now use the tools of the warrior to build endurance, agility, raw power, reaction time, and fluid motion.

This was something that hadn’t been tried and we weren’t sure how it would do. The good news is that the program has seen a lot of service this year. Students from all of Forteza’s other programs, and some folks who just wanted a new way to get in shape came together to train. A lot of pounds were lost, and no one failed to get stronger. 2013 is off to a great start, and we are looking at new drills, new routines, and yet another season of fighting our way to fitness!

(The FightingFit! program was also a big hit with the media, being showcased in the Chicago RedEye, and with WGN’s Jonathon Brandmeier. Jesse Kulla explained FightingFit to Johnny B on this PodCast (starting at 6:50), and was later invited to demonstrate on his TV show.)

BRING ON THE SPARTANS: ADVENTURE RACING

Forteza had a busy adventure race season, participating in not one, but two Spartan Races!  The Spartan Race is known as the most difficult mud run out there, with only a 70% success rate.  Three of our athletes traveled down to Indiana for a 5K Spartan Sprint in April, and in October, we had a whopping eleven Spartan compete in the 9 mile Super Spartan.  As if the obstacles and mud weren’t enough, the weekend of the Super Spartan also dropped into freezing temps.  However, even through cramping and near hypothermia, the entire team made it through the end.

You can read more about Forteza’s The Road to Sparta on our personal training blog.

TEMPLE BURNING

Bootcamp groupIn order to prepare for the challenge of two Spartan Races, we had to run two Temple Burnings in 2012.  The Temple Burning is an annual tradition of a full day of physical training designed to push each athlete to their breaking point.  Temple Burnings aren’t just for the Spartan Racers; there is a mix of martial arts students, personal training clients, and weekend warriors.  The first Temple Burning was done along the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan, and highlighted such fun activities as uphill burpees, a pull-up contest, and sand sprints.  The second Temple Burning was even harder, and only included the Spartan Race team.  Each athlete had to keep a 25-35 pound kettlebell in their backpacks as we ran through the 5 mile course, which included break out kettlebell circuits, tabata rounds, and the dreaded hill sprints.

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How “Old School” is Old School? Personal training for fitness – and survival – in the 15th century

Posted under: Fitness & Physical Culture
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Sweating to the Oldies, 15th Century-style: Fencing, weight-lifting, stone-throwing, wrestling and tumbling were all considered excellent ways for members of the Renaissance upper and middle classes to stay in shape and gain “a nimble and elegant body in concord with a healthy spirit”.

You may have noticed that at Forteza we talk about “going old school” quite a bit. After all, our martial arts classes cover subjects that are 100 to 600 years old, and our Gymuseum is comprised of a wide collection of working,19th c training apparatus. Nor is this just “retro-geek-cool”; much of what are now considered to be the height of modern training regimens is based around a new understanding, appreciation and application of “old school fitness”: body weight exercises, kettle bells, performance-based training, etc. But to most people, “Old School Fitness” probably means “before Pumping Iron came out.” Most people probably do not realize just how “old school” the notion of systematic functional fitness training and cross-training, especially in conjunction with the martial arts, really is. The Olympic Games are about to begin, so everyone will be reminded of the Ancient Greek interest in the gymnasium, where wrestling, running, javelin and discuss throwing and vaulting were all cultivated and practiced as part of building a natural, athletic body,  But somehow, in the popular mind, we went from naked Greeks wearing laurel wreaths to Arnold Schwarzenegger and now to Cross-Fit, without much in between.

In truth, the Greek idea of the gymnasia was carried forward, and its martial aspects emphasized, in the Roman palestra, or public training ground, which combined gymnastics with boxing, wrestling, swordsmanship and javelin throwing. The palestra was essentially the ancient world’s precursor to the modern fitness studio.

It turns out that, as people who lived much more physical lives than we do today, our ancestors knew quite a bit about how to train for functional strength, so we take our inspiration in this from 14th – 16th century texts on health and fitness, which advise the following activities as being the idea set of exercises for achieving health, endurance and grace:

  1. Running – cross country, over-hills and in sand.
  2. Tumbling
  3. Lifting, carrying and tossing heavy stones.
  4. Throwing javelins.
  5. Wrestling
  6. Fencing

While it is clear that throughout the Middle Ages, interest in regimented training exercise, based on the Greco-Roman model never truly disappeared amongst the European warrior elite, the idea of “exercise for exercise sake” did not begin to reappear until the 15th century, when the Renaissance obsession with Classical culture gave the palestra a new lease on life.

The 15th c fencing master, Hans Talhoffer also recommended these same exercises, along with recommendations on diet and creating a specific training regimen, for someone who found himself forced to prepare for a judicial duel. This advice has been translated and presented in a short, evocative video by the fine folks at Blossfechter, a medieval swordsmanship and traditional martial arts club in Germany. The guys put a lot of heart into this clip, do yourself a favor and take three minutes to watch it!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pwHK2n44OA&w=420&h=315]

Seem like it would be a challenging way to get fit? And more fun that more time on a Stairmaster? (At least, if you didn’t have to fight a duel at the end.) We think so! Since this same idea of the palestra was at the heart of the Victorian physical culture movement, particularly at Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu Club, how could we not?

Our historical European martial arts classes all begin with a combination of various calisthenic exercises, that would have been at home in any medieval training hall; amongst the most popular (with the instructors, if not the students!) being throwing medicine balls, stick-wrestling, rolling and falling and tug of war, then followed by the actual sword, dagger or wrestling classes themselves.

While many of these training methods are warm-ups for our martial arts classes, for those who really want to push themselves to lose weight, tone muscle and develop coordinated grace by going really old school, these same activities, combined with Indian clubs, kettle bells and a variety of fitness games, is at the heart of our FightingFit! program: our 2012 answer to 1512 physical fitness! And since, no one is going to make you fight a duel at the end, you can just enjoy swinging swords, throwing javelins, pulling ropes and basically doing all of the things you loved doing when you were ten…only now with a focused way to get in shape and stay there.

You may be fit, but are you FightingFit? Only one way to find out….

(Oh, and you don’t have to wear the “tights”!)

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Gymuseum 1: Indian Clubs

Posted under: Fitness & Physical Culture

Circa 1900, schools of “physical culture” offered a wide range of tools and machines to develop strength, endurance, agility and flexibility.  Sadly, many of these devices have been lost over the generations, but some have survived in working order.  The Forteza gymuseum includes both a unique “living museum” of antique exercise equipment and an inspirational gallery of 19th century prints portraying combat sport athletes in training. One of the most readily noticed parts of the museum is a large collection of odd wooden bowling-pin shaped objects, known as “Indian clubs”.

The exercise of club-swinging was first introduced to Europe during the late 19th century, by British soldiers who had observed similar exercises performed by wrestlers and other athletes in India.  By manipulating the clubs in complex swinging and flourishing patterns, exponents were able to develop their co-ordination, strength, endurance and flexibility.

Club-swinging spread throughout the Western world via public gymnasia, military physical training courses and physical culture classes offered in schools. A “flourishing” trade also developed in home study manuals, further establishing Indian club swinging as a fitness craze that lasted through to the early-mid 20th century.

Some of our gymuseum clubs are modern and some are antiques dating back to circa 1900. All Forteza members are welcome to make use of them during their training; and remember, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkFtaw9LB6I?rel=0]

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