Carl Cestari is a legend among adult martial artists dedicated to self-defense training.
Cestari began studying traditional martial arts such as judo and karate at an early age. After a stint in the US Army, he became a law enforcement officer. During this time, his interest in WWII combatives quickened.
He became a consummate researcher into his subject, relentlessly gathering books, magazines and other materials with which to master his subject. Not satisfied with an armchair mastery of his subject, he sought out hand-to-hand combat instructors from special operations units and elsewhere.
His death in 2007 was a great loss to adult martial artists for whom self-defense training was their top priority. His legacy is a loyal cadre of students dedicated to preserving his system of self-defense training and, alas, an all-too-small library of videotapes that are now available as DVDs.
CARL CESTARI’S OLD SCHOOL SERIES
These DVDs are a MUST for any serious adult martial artist who takes his or her self-defense training seriously.
Fundamentals of Unarmed Combat Advanced Strikes Ground Fighting Defense vs. Grabs and Holds Bare-Knuckle Boxing
The videos are shot in black and white. Nothing fancy. The set is simple and Spartan. Cestari and his partner are dressed head to toe in black. Their presence is ominous yet intriguing. The bleached-white, rough-finished walls behind them create a sense of the surreal.
The quality of the instruction, however, is anything but surreal.
These tapes are a veritable combatives goldmine. They are affordable. (You can buy them either singly or together as a package.) More importantly, they are packed with proven principles and combat-tested techniques essential to any serious self-defense training.
THE SECRET TO SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING
“Do your worst, fast and first.”™
—Carl Cestari
A fundamental premise governing Cestari’s self-defense training is that “under the duress of a real attack” you will not have the time to execute the techniques you learned in the dojang. You won’t have time to recall a specific technique in response to a particular attack, say, a wrist grab, a punch or a rear bear-hug.
If you waste precious time trying to do so, your attacker, Cestari says, “is going to beat you into the ground.”
So what do you do to defend yourself against a sociopathic criminal in the streets?
TOTAL BODY ASSAULT
Instead, you have to stay focused on one goal and that is an all-out attack on your opponent’s body.
You want a total body assault. You want to strike his head, neck, limbs, groins, shins, knees, ankles…you name it. Repeatedly, too.
You want to unleash “a battery of blows” that incapacitates him. “The goal is to attack and keep on attacking,” says Cestari. If you do that “you can defeat even a highly skilled adversary.”
And you won’t achieve that total body assault if you’re trying to recall “technique #14A” against a spinning back-kick or “technique #21C” against a right cross.
You simply won’t have the time.
Besides, your assailant will probably have outmaneuvered you in the meantime.
HOW TO REALLY DEFEND YOURSELF STARTING TODAY
What you need to master are basic moves and principles you can adapt and execute immediately under any conditions in any environment against any opponent regardless of his size or strength.
In short, they have to be straightforward, effective and devastating.
And that’s where Carl Cestari really delivers.
In the Old School Series, Cestari teaches you both the moves and principles you need to know to stay safer in the streets or wherever you are.
You can learn these principles and self-defense techniques in the Old School Series very quickly, especially if you can train with a qualified martial-arts instructor. (But you could probably get the hang of many of them on your own.)
They’ll work for women as well as for men. They’ll work regardless of your age. They’ll work even if you have two left feet.
Work with these tapes for a couple of months and you should be better able to defend yourself in the street. You’ll definitely be a better martial artist for it.
Frankly, I don’t know of any other self-defense training program that offers so much value for the price.
A WORD OF WARNING
Accept no substitutes.
There are pretenders out there who think they are Cestari’s successor.
Pass them by.
When you want to drink pure water, always go to the source.
Go to www.CarlCestari.com, the website run by Carl Cestari’s widow and Clint Spoorman, who was in fact one of Cestari’s top students.
You won’t be disappointed.
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