Our reader Bob sent this link, which is very nice. All I knew about Mister Cestari before viewing this was that he trained with a kenpoist from Jersey who told me that I was working on the same thing as Cestari while he was driving me to a coffee shop before a seminar we were attending in Baltimore County.
Cestari's method for rolling the fist is the old bare knuckle method and can only be improved upon by holding dimes or pennies in the hand, which coin and how many depending on your hand size.
The doctrine of not taking a stance or recognizable fighting posture is clutch to any sensible survival situation.
Everything about Cestari's instruction is sound.
His advice on hitting first and continuing to hit is absolutely essential if you are going to through hands.
Considering the proliferation of knives in today's society I would stress [this was 2004] to lead with the right if at all possible, to get your heart and guts away from the knife hand.
Cestari's stress on landing the blow a fraction of a second is a way of loading the falling step so that the puncher will be more likely to hit before than after the step, which is bad, even though the desired synchronizing of the foot and fist landing is the theoretical goal which can be attained a lot on boxing canvas with heeless shoes, but is much harder on uneven surfaces and in a spontaneous situation where there are few opportunities to establish and break rhythm.
The best sign that Cestari is intimately versed in the art is the fact that he continually stresses the footwork and makes sure to base the hand technique on it, rather than add the foot motion.
The First Boxers
link › jameslafond.blogspot.com
Coinage in the palms reminds me of the movie " Hard Times " reminded me of my father, and his stories about the depression, he was born in 1914.
All of Cestari's Old School videos are excellent. The difference between an art and an exercise in killing/maiming/disabling. The emphasis is not on mechanistic, routine moves, but opportunistic attacks (preferably pre-emptive) to vulnerable areas using a small number of basic blows; stress favouring gross over fine motor skills, and reality presenting a myriad of different scenarios.
Clint Sporman was Cestari's protegée and carries on his mentor's tradition. Judo in its original, martial form:
youtube.com/watch?v=nbzBvHd5Lio
Check out 10:41 for bare knuckle boxing techniques:
v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTAxODAwNzc2.html
A tribute to Carl Cestari by some of those who knew him, scroll down or...read the tribute to Tim Carron.
attackproof.com/in-memoriam.html