What A Looker....No, A Hooker

That line makes me laugh, think it was either in Castle, Psych or Supernatural; it's got to be one of those three right? Anyway, despite the meaning behind it, there's another term for Hooker most people don't know and that's to describe a wrestler. It's a term used back in the days of Lou Thesz, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Ad Santel and Karl Gotch. By definition, this means a wrestler was at the top of the food chain when it came to such serious submissions to the extent that these holds were not only dangerous, but could cripple a person in the blink of an eye. In other words these guys were the nastiest bastards in the sport. 

Today in some circles, hookers are also called Rippers meaning the submissions they would use would tear most people to shreds by crippling an opponent by ripping their tendons and bones. There was a story in Lou Thesz's Bio about one of his mentors George Tragos teaching a boy not only a lesson but by today's standards would be thrown in jail. This kid was cocky and thought he can take on the old man and Tragos proceeded to not only tear this kid apart but finished him off by tearing his shoulder in a Double Wrist Lock. The guy just put enough pressure on to break him and the kid ended up having that arm amputated because there was no anti-biotics back then and that arm developed a hideous infection of Gangrene. That's just pure cruelty man.

The closest I ever came to understanding even a few of these holds was when Tom Puckett put them on me while we were working out at this gym down the street from me. Cross Face, Double Wrist Lock, A Couple Neck Cranks and another one that slips my mind but I felt them all. Neck and Back were cracking and he didn't let up on me because he wanted me to understand what these holds can do to a person. Thank god I didn't end up like that kid. I'll never forget how those things felt and he hardly put any strength into them, it was incredible. 

Hooking in retrospect is a lost art in wrestling and very few in comparison to the old timers know them with such intensity. Guys like Joel Bane, Harry Smith (son of the British Bulldog), Josh Barnett, Sakuraba and some others are the last remnants of an earlier age and are incredibly skilled at these submissions it's almost baffling that these holds still exist in this time. If you haven't been put in these holds, you can't understand the magnitude of what they feel like and that near fear of them tearing you apart if you pissed these guys off. Catch Wrestling is rising from the ashes but unless you've been around someone who even remotely has small knowledge of the sport or even one of the holds, most don't even know what Catch is. Catch is more than just hooking, it's the violent art of wrestling that even some of the best freestyle wrestlers would be afraid of. Say if you took Ad Santel in his prime against Dan Gable in his Olympic days, it would be a decent match but no disrepect to Gable, Santel would most likely end up putting him in a hold that would have him begging for his life. That's just my opinion, other than that by today's standards, most wrestlers in Gable's weight class would have a hard time with him. 

  Catch and Hooking are fascinating aspects of wrestling and it's important to understand the History and the men that defined the term Superhuman when it came to the sport. Think only a few women on the entire planet have definitive knowledge of Catch and the current famous one is WWE's Shayna Baszler who learned some stuff from Barnett & Fujiwara (Fujiwara was Karl Gotch's best student according to the man himself). It might be inappropriate to call her a Hooker since some would take it completely the wrong way but in terms of wrestling and the knowledge of dangerous submissions, think it might be safe to say she's the only woman right now who can claim that title. 

If you like the shirt above, grab one for yourself here and support Catch Wrestling. I've got books, dvds and have been in the company of a man trained by Gotch himself, I fully support these guys and have a great deal of respect for them. Keep being amazingly awesome.  

Rare Footage Of Karl Gotch Training With Antonio Inoki

When I first started out way back in 2005, Matt Furey was my first intro in the world of Physical Culture with the recommendation by Logan Christopher of Lost Empire Herbs & Tyler Bramlett of WeShape. Things slowly began to change for me from then on and learned about all kinds of people in that area of old school training. I learned about the legendary Karl Gotch who had mixed reviews of those who knew him or interacted with him at one point or another. Some praised him, others saw him as this sadistic wrestler with a pension of beating the crap out of guys. 

The two people I knew who was around the man for an extended period of time was Bud Jeffries and Tom Puckett (Both RIP). Bud respected Karl as a wrestler but didn't see eye to eye with him and didn't get along with him which at the time would be understandable. Tom saw the man as a father figure and told me a story about him when we went to the gym together and got in workouts. He showed me his style of the exercises Karl taught him and I did my best to mimic him but even when he was sick, Tom was a machine and could still go in some fashion. 

Karl had this mystique about him and his workouts were about as crazy as you can get. His legacy lives on with the likes of Jake Shannon, catch wrestling legends such as Yoshiaki Fujiwara and current Japanese star Minoru Suzuki. His skill set was beyond what most would comprehend and is arguably the greatest wrestler of the last 50+ years. I never got to meet the man but I've heard enough stories to last a long time. 

After his stint in the states, Karl found fame in the Japanese culture where to the point the wrestlers called him a God even though the man himself never really liked that moniker. His conditioning methods were torturous and it showed in certain footage you can find on Youtube. One of his students became the Hierarchy for Japanese wrestling Antonio Inoki who owned New Japan Pro Wrestling which has been the top of the food chain in Pro Wrestling in that part of the world for decades. His training under Gotch has rarely been seen on screen to the point where even with all the research, there's less than a handful of videos of Inoki training under him. 

Now as a side note, Karl's idea of conditioning was taken from the Indian Style of wrestling called Kushti. The Great Gama is the most famous man in this style of wrestling. Karl learned it from a practitioner in England who taught him what we now know to be Hindu Push-ups, Squats, Bridges, The Clubs, Mace and others. He was fascinated by this to the degree where he took the approach to another level and worked other wrestlers into the ground to show them what they had to do before even stepping foot on the mat. Karl's numbers alone in his own conditioning were so impressive that he put them into a watered down entity for others to even try to accomplish or be consistent with. 

In this past week, some footage popped up on Youtube that was uploaded in Japan of Gotch putting Inoki through a workout (edited of course) that shows not only what Inoki was capable of back then but what is even more rare is seeing Gotch himself who was in his late 40's early 50's at the time train. His style of Hindu Push-ups is not the same as Furey taught decades later, this was actually the same variation Tom Puckett taught me to do when I went to the gym with him. I like this style better because it mimics the movement on the Push-up board that you see in the video. He was doing mobility drills long before what most do today so even way back then, Gotch was ahead of his time and his bridging was just phenomenal to watch. The man was thick and had a powerful neck and thoroughbred legs that could go on forever. He was just incredible. After seeing this footage, it gave me another perspective of what the man did and have a higher sense of respect than I already did. Barrel chested and was one of the most flexible and durable men that was a heavyweight. Think at his peak he was about 6'3 and 260 and could do thousands of squats if he wanted to, push-ups that would make most men puke their guts out by the end, tremendous agility and mobility and had stamina that was right up there with the likes of Lou Thesz, Ed Lewis, Frank Gotch & others. 

If you're serious when it comes to conditioning, wrestling and understanding the history of the game, this video alone can give some great insights and something that should be respected and shared. I may not completely agree about certain things about Gotch but he deserves respect beyond what he's already been given and was one of the last remnants of an era of wrestling that is now long gone. He truly was a man among men and had levels of conditioning that is still talked about today. 

Hope you enjoyed having a small bit of a history lesson and watch the video linked above here, it's really awesome stuff. Have fun, get conditioned and keep being amazingly awesome.

Lost Empire Herb Of The Day: Elderberry  

Rippers & Hookers

Sounds like a bad serial killer novel involving the world's oldest profession doesn't it? The funny thing is, it's far from what you might actually think. Back in the day, wrestlers who were known to literally break and tear people apart were called Hookers where they would hook or put an opponent in a dangerous hold where they could if given the chance cripple the guy and be one feared motherfucker. You would not want to get on the bad side of these guys.

These days, nobody would use the term hooker to describe a wrestler, now the word ripper is another story. Like the Hookers of yesteryear, a ripper can be used to describe a wrestler or grappler who could handle himself and tear limbs, tendons or ligaments. Some of the most feared wrestlers of the day were guys like Farmer Burns, George Tragos, Ad Santel, Tom Jenkins and even the legendary Robert Fredrick aka Ed "Strangler" Lewis. These days, the last of the Hookers or Rippers of the old school were men like Karl Gotch & Billy Robinson. 

The men I mentioned above were specialists in knowing the dark side to physical anatomy and could make you tap before you really had a chance to take a breath. These were WRESTLERS and had levels of stamina and mind that they were considered inexhaustible geniuses of their time. Catch Wrestling has it's roots mainly in England for the last 150 years but long before that, you had other cultures that would showcase styles of wrestling that were brought to other countries and became a molded sculpture in today's world. The old timers are long gone and quite a bit of their style of Catch has been left in the dust. 

Now in today's world, Catch Wrestling isn't as big as it used to be and other arts such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing and Amateur Wrestling dominated the landscape in how we see today's MMA. If BJJ is considered the "gentle" art, Catch is considered the violent aspect according to Former MMA champ and current Catch Teacher Josh Barnett. There are competitions purely on Catch and has taken extremely small steps to becoming a larger form of fighting since the early 1900's. You can arguably say the last known competitor in the art was Billy Robinson. The man would be considered the Einstein or Steven Hawking of Catch Wrestling. 

Although the hookers and the rippers don't have that fear factor today, you can still learn some form of that old school style with a small group of fighters, teachers and students of the old art. It's used more of a competition but can it be used in the streets? Afterall, street fights are very unpredictable and sometimes what you may think you know could get you killed or be sent to the hospital but if you were able to not necessarily make a shmuck tap but to save your life using techniques that won't kill the man but put a damper on the limbs he uses would it be worth it? Would it be worth it to save a loved one, defend yourself against attackers or send a message telling them not to fuck with you (in the sense of not upping up somebody like a douchebag but making sure you're not some weak punk). 

Now if you're in law enforcement, would certain techniques help restraining a suspect or defending a fellow officer? Catch can be used in many ways and possibly lifesaving if it came down to it. There are people out there who may understand Catch but wouldn't know how to use it, others have incredible knowledge and have great success, it just depends on whom you learn it from. There isn't a one-way of learning this art and everybody who teaches it especially today can be a gamble as opposed to back in the day where you could go just about anywhere and learn from the masters. All in all, whether a competitor or someone going down on the wrong side of town, Catch can be beneficial.   

 

A World Without WAR

You’re probably wondering why I put war in capital letters. What does it have to do with Physical Culture? Believe it or not I'm not talking about military combat or exercises that help you become a soldier but it’s an actual name of a legendary wrestler that recently passed away; William A. Robinson aka Catch Wrestler Billy Robinson. Born in 1939 in England, he came from a family of boxers but as fate would have it, he became a wrestler.

            A man named Billy Riley opened a wrestling school in England in a town called Wigan, he trained some of the toughest wrestlers not just in Europe but just about everywhere else. The two most famous to come out of that gym were Karl Istaz aka Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson. In the 1950’s when Billy was just starting out, he got tied up in knots, worked his ass off, learned the secrets of Catch Wrestling and ventured off into the world of Pro Wrestling. He won countless titles all over the world but never forgot where he came from. Wigan Wrestling back then would be the equivalent to Dan Gable’s Championship formula of the 1980’s at the University Of Iowa, rough, tough and the most conditioned wrestlers of it’s time.

            In the 1970’s, Billy was considered one of the top if not the top most talented wrestler of that era. He wrestled many top stars of the day. His style of wrestling was unique in that it was scientific, he read other wrestlers like it was a chess match. He had agility very few had and can lock you in a hold where he could cripple you if he had the chance, he was that good. He trained countless wrestlers over the years, some you may even heard of that are hall of famers in pro wrestling such as 16-time World Champ Ric Flair and quite possibly the most hated wrestler of his era The Iron Sheik. In Japan he coached many of the Japanese wrestlers of the time including “Gracie Killer” Kazushi Sakuraba.

            Billy passed away earlier this week leaving a legacy that has long been forgotten but has slowly risen with a new generation of Catch Wrestlers and to continue his legacy before he died he put together a book called Physical Chess which told his life story from his very own words. He was the last of the old-time catch wrestlers of the old Wigan days. To even get a glimpse of his legendary wisdom and training now is to go to Scientific Wrestling and get the DVD series W.A.R which shows his philosophy, training and techniques in the art of Catch As Catch Can Wrestling. I never got the chance to meet him but I've talked to those that have and they said he was the best and was a great man. Maybe one day if I learned some catch I'll be hearing the voice from above “Do it again.”

            One of his many facets on life and wrestling is what he referred to as “Learning how to learn.” I've heard this phrase a few times and what I believe it to be is that you don’t stop learning, if you think you know it all, you haven’t learned a damn thing. He uses it for wrestling for what I use it as fitness, you can do so many things but there’s always something that can be taught that keeps you finding other ways to better yourself no matter how long it takes and mastering it is part of the mystery. Even if you master something you’ll always be a student because knowledge is what keeps us going and how it absorbs who you are and what you want to do. RIP Billy and hope wherever you are, you're having fun wrestling old comrades and crippling those who need to get their ass kicked. 

Swing Away With A Mace

            One of the oldest tools of the ancient warriors is the Mace or Gada of Indian Culture. It was a soldier’s prominent weapon for combat which he also used to train sufficiently with. When he swung it, it was beautiful but also powerful. A Mace can range in weight to well over 70 lbs. and an expert of the Gada took no exception to master its intimidating look. It’s come into prominence lately in the last few years even though it’s not as popular as the clubs; it’s still an effective exercise.

            In wrestling, circular movements are the foundation of mastering the art like the Hindu Squats & Hindu Push-ups, the Gada and the Clubs. These things build a level of strength & endurance that works the whole body from head to toe and give you a workout that will have you begging for mercy. In its heyday, Indian Wrestling or Kushti was the dominant sport and nobody made it more feared all over than the Great Gama. He used these very same exercises and tools to become the only undefeated man in his sport with a record of 5000 matches won. Using the Gada in a circular fashion works your body like very few can compare.

            There are many ways to use the Mace, the main one is what’s called 360’s where you put one hand over the other, push up and let the Mace swing over the shoulders as you keep a tight grip. I love this exercise as it works your upper body like crazy and the heavier it is, the more balance you’re going to need to do this with ease and that’s where great strength and coordination come into play. Other exercises like spearing, chopping, shoveling, curling and others work the body like I said before that very few can compare. Karl Gotch also used this and can be do well over 100 reps with a 50 lb. Mace and did it with ease even into his 60’s. A workout just with this can help you gain flexibility in the shoulders, hits your obliques, strengthens the arms and works your back to give you that muscular look but have the strength to go along with it. Never underestimate this.

            I've always emphasized old school training because quite frankly it works but more than that it gives you a chance to feel like you’re back in time to a place where training was not that huge on society and fitness was more of health and natural strength & conditioning. Take into consideration that at this point in History, if you wanted to get in awesome shape you used basic weights, odd objects if you were in a job that required that, trained outside climbing, swinging clubs and a mace, plus diets back then didn't exist. To get the most benefit, think old school training and eating because when you come to grips with this, it gives you a perspective on why it’s so much better for you and less confusing than the crap being thrown around today. Give it a shot and be shocked on how simple real exercise can be without the wear and tear of isolating every single thing in your body.

Catching If You Can

             

              In the realm of Martial Arts there are those few that a not practiced often today but yet one has become a dying art with a little heart beat left and that’s the sport of Catch As Catch Can Wrestling. It is a style of wrestling that requires great practice (as does most Martial Arts) but yet it has a scientific feel for it, it’s a mind game like Physical Chess, you have to think certain moves ahead in order to defeat an opponent but it never gets easy. It may be a dying art but it hasn't sunk into the grave yet and has been rising in the last decade. This is the pinnacle of Submission Wrestling.

            The first rule of Catch is to get into the best condition possible. The reason why is because if you’re in a fight and you have your technique down but don’t last too long, you’re a goner before you can say “Damn.” Before you ever step on a mat, you should train with great intensity to become a conditioned individual. No one knew this better than the great Karl Gotch. To be able to get something, you have to earn it. I've heard about a lot of guys that love wrestling but never get down to condition because they don’t care about the work that goes into it. You want it bad enough; get your ass into gear.

            There aren't many who are left to teach the sport of CACC because most of them are gone including the late Karl Gotch but there are those that are out there that can help bring the sport back from the dead with the new generation. The one that sticks out the most now is the legendary Wigan wrestler Billy Robinson who coaches and helps out with seminars around the country with Scientific Wrestling front-runner Jake Shannon. Learn from who you can because it’s not everyday you learn about wrestling from the old school ways.

            Catch Wrestling has been around for decades has its roots in England, Eastern Europe and even in America with greats like Frank Gotch, George Hackenshmidt, Tom Jenkins, Farmer Burns, Fred Grubmyer and possibly the greatest American wrestler Ed “Strangler” Lewis aka (Robert Julius Fredrick). It is important to learn about our roots about mankind’s oldest sport and how it became what it is today. It is man’s birthright to wrestle, you didn't start out with a ball or a track or a racket, you started by getting your man to the ground and making him cry uncle to be the dominant man. You didn't have the Romans duel to the death by shooting a basketball, you certainly didn't have the Mongolians take down half the world by scoring touchdowns, they fought with powerful weaponry and the might of their body to wrestle and kill if needed to. From my understanding Catch is probably at the top of the list of being the great self-defense program and if you can strike, kick and wrestle masterfully, you’d be a dynamo.

            Not many want to earn their place because of how tough it is to get there. Look at this from a perspective, the conditioning is actually the easy part, it’s the consistency to keep it up and wrestle over a period of time is the hard part but that’s the beauty of it. Training is a constant state of motion and yeah it takes guts and the balls to get through it but at the same time it’s a preparation to help you stay in the game. Very few see that perspective and the rest bitch that they can’t handle it so they just up and run away like a scared mutt. I love wrestling and I've learned that if I want to be good at it, I have to earn my way to get there just like when I had my accident, I wanted so bad to train and walk again but I had to earn it through progression, drive and the will to get what I wanted and I made it happen. If I want to wrestle and learn the holds, I have to go through the trenches first to get there and if it means getting up to 500 Squats and 250 push-ups consistently so be it.

            To learn Catch Wrestling, you have to catch yourself and grab a hold of your conditioning and your will to get to where you want to be, if you want it bad enough, you won’t turn it into a nightmare, you’ll turn it into a dream you’re making come true and knock down the metaphorical brick wall to make that happen. Get at it and catch that light that is Catch As Catch Can Wrestling.