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Carl Cestari’s Fundamentals of Unarmed Combat, Volume 1
A Video Review by Phil Elmore
For quite some time I’ve heard in World War 2 Combatives circles that
the instructional videotapes by Carl Cestari were incredibly good and impossible
to get. Cestari is spoken of very highly by those who know him and his
material. I was pleased, therefore, when Zenshin Martial Arts, Health, and
Fitness in New Jersey made the first of Cestari’s tapes available once again.
The tape is simple and straightforward. A single long take focusing on
two black-clad, booted men standing on a training mat, the video is dimly lit
and slightly fuzzy. Overall production values are mediocre, but, to be
honest, on par with many of the tapes produced by companies like Paladin Press.
There are a few tape jumps and garbled frames, the sound is somewhat hollow (but
intelligible), and if I didn’t know the man speaking was Cestari I’m not sure
his image would be recognizable.
Buy the tape anyway, if you can find it.
With regard to actual content, this is one of the best videos on self-defense
I’ve ever seen. Following the Close Combat philosophies of WW2 instructors
Applegate and Fairbairn, Cestari describes — comfortably, smoothly, and
confidently — the basics of combatives.
The intent of these techniques is to teach you to defeat an aggressive
attacker, maximizing your efficacy while minimizing the training time required
(not to mention minimizing the potential for injury to you). The
combatives student learns to use axe-hands (the edge-of-hand blow) and palm
heels (the heel-of-hand blow) because it is much harder to hurt one’s hand using
them. (Punching effectively, by contrast, requires a great deal more
training to be done safely — and even then the potential for injuring the
clenched fist is greater.)
Cestari explains that attacking the torso is much less effective in harming
or unbalancing the opponent than is attacking the head, neck, groin, and legs.
Emphasizing distance, momentum, and balance, he points out that the weakest
point in your enemy’s defenses is the imaginary and direct line perpendicular to
a line intersecting the enemy’s feet.
After elaborating on the target areas of the head, neck, groin, and legs,
Cestari speaks on the importance of distance and positioning. He also
emphasizes the need to strike first in a physical encounter, for you
cannot possibly anticipate everything the opponent will throw at you if you
allow him to strike first. Move first, Cestari urges — for once
you perceive a credible physical threat, you must take the initiative.
Cestari is a joy to watch. His teaching is concise, effective,
practical, and worldy. The man himself is incredibly fast. More than
once I had to rewind the tape to watch a segment again, as Cestari moved through
a series of the repetitive, explosive movements that characterize close combat.
I’ve heard Cestari described by at least one individual as “the best
martial artist I’ve ever met,” and after seeing him in action I don’t doubt
that description.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the tape is Cestari’s explanation of the
drop step, the stomping movement that accompanies one’s strikes. (Stomping
movement, Cestari explains, is the only effective way to move on uneven terrain.
He dismisses the sliding, gliding movements of many martial arts as
ineffective.) One’s weight should be placed aggressively on the front leg,
and Cestari works through a brief series of exchanges with his training partner
to show the benefits of this. Your blows should land before your drop step
lands, he explains, which enhances the power and momentum of your strikes.
After discussing the drop step, Cestari explains the edge-of-hand and
palm-heel blows in more detail. There is no chambering, no circling, and
no tensing of one’s muscles. Cestari refers frequently to the teaching of
Applegate and Fairbairn, insisting that the movements snap out naturally,
quickly, and directly.
Cestari has much good advice to offer. Keep your hands higher than your
opponent’s hands. Repeat your blows quickly and viciously. Keep
those elbows up. Don’t wind up past your body. Hit the opponent’s
shoulders to stop his blows. As Cestari moves calmly and efficiently
through his training agenda, tips like this fall fast and frequently.
At a bit less than an hour in length, this tape left me wanting more. I
can only hope that the rest of Cestari’s videos will be made available. If
not, I’m extremely glad I was able to obtain this one. As a concise
treatment of Close Combat fundamentals, this tape rivals all others on the
topic. It is available from
close-combat-video.com.
It is worth your time and money.