Alain currently lives in Montana, where he attends the
University of Montana School of Law. He will receive his Juris
Doctor in May 2001. Besides being a full-time student again,
Alain has the opportunity to apply what he learns at school to
actual legal problems in his job as a law clerk. Alain relates
this to his self-defense training: "Reading a book or
watching a video will do nothing for your self-defense
capabilities if you do not actually practice what you learn,
and that means getting out on the mat with a training partner
and trying the stuff out and getting where you can do it
proficiently. The law, like almost everything else, is the
same. You learn a lot at school from books, but until you
actually work through a case and apply the book learning to
real situations, you won’t know what being an attorney is
all about. I’m very fortunate to work at a firm that
provides such a learning experience for the three student
clerks there."
Q. How
is hapkido different from tae kwon do?
A. That’s not an easy answer, since there are both
philosophical and physiological differences. I’ll try to
touch on a few of the more obvious ones. First, tae kwon do
is sport oriented, whereas hapkido is still taught as
self-defense. This does not mean that someone studying tae
kwon do can’t learn self-defense; it’s just that the
emphasis and focus of the arts are different. Tae kwon do is
known for kicks, but the way many tae kwon do people train
for kicking is to focus on scoring points. The hapkido
practitioner also learns a wide variety of kicks, but they
are geared more for power to hurt the opponent, rather than
to score points. Again, this doesn’t mean some tae kwon do
practitioners can’t or don’t kick with power, but there
is a fundamental difference in training for sport and
training for self-defense.
Another difference that is readily apparent is that
hapkido generally teaches a wider range of applications than
tae kwon do. Hapkido teaches strikes and kicks along with
breathing exercises, falling, joint locks, pressure points,
throws, and weapons. Many tae kwon do schools do not teach
this combination of skills. For example, most tae kwon do
practitioners train in kicks and punches that will help them
win at a tournament. You are not allowed to grab legs and
arms and apply joint locks, throw opponents, sweep
opponents, etc., in these tournaments, so tae kwon do people
do not practice those skills. (Or if they do, it is to a
limited degree, and usually the extra techniques come from
hapkido.) That is why many tae kwon do classes are conducted
on a hard floor. This just doesn’t work with hapkido,
because in addition to performing kicking and striking
drills, you will be hitting the floor over and over again
each training session. Weapons are also a part of hapkido
training, whereas they are absent from most tae kwon do
schools. The staff, baton, cane, belt, and sword are all
taught in hapkido. For these reasons, I feel hapkido is a
more rounded Korean martial art because of the inclusion of
these additional components of fighting and self-defense.
There is a difference in movement as well. Taekwondo is a
very linear art, while hapkido is very circular. Master J.R.
West says he subscribes to the belief he heard from a
hapkido master that tae kwon do practitioners think in a
straight line and hapkido practitioners think like a
corkscrew. I would agree, since circles are an important
part of hapkido’s concepts and techniques. My instructor
in Korea often said to remember the circles.
I always liked David Carradine’s description of hapkido
in The Spirit of Shaolin: "A system which
seems to concentrate on doing the greatest amount of damage
in the shortest amount of time, bringing the fight to a
brutal end as quickly as possible." I agree that the
hapkido practitioner can and will do that when needed, but
the hapkido practitioner also has the ability to regulate
the amount of injury sustained with the techniques used. A
joint lock that can break someone’s arm when necessary can
also be used to control a person without changing the basic
motion of the technique. There are numerous other
differences in the styles, but these are a few of the more
prominent ones.
Q. Have
you studied any other Korean arts?
A. I trained a little in tae kwon do while in the army, but
not much. I also trained in karate and hapkido under Shihan
Dennis Dallas. In Shihan Dallas’ 30 plus years of training
and teaching, he studied under both Korean and Japanese
instructors. So the classes he teaches are influenced by
Korean and Japanese arts. So indirectly, there was a tae
kwon do influence there as well, but my primary Korean art
influence has been hapkido.
Q.
How is training in South Korea different than in the U.S.?
A.Well, the first big difference is the instruction is given
in Korean. Since I don’t speak the language fluently yet,
that made the training challenging in a different way.
Luckily I was not new to fighting or martial arts when I
started, so I was able to understand many concepts despite
the language barrier. I was also fortunate to have an
instructor like Lee Jun-kyu who helped make sure I
understood the concepts and techniques he was teaching.
Another difference that readily comes to mind is the
amount of time training. It seems like a lot of people who
train here in the U.S. go to class three times a week. Sure,
this varies from school to school, but in Korea most
students trained every day, or at least six days a week. My
school offered four hapkido classes and two qigong classes
five days a week, and one hapkido class on Saturday. Most
students attended one of these classes daily. I was a little
unusual; I went to two Hapkido classes and one qigong class
daily, as well as attending the Saturday class.
Another difference is the training halls. Most of the
schools are not as big and fancy as many of the schools here
in the States, but then most of the businesses in Korea are
not as big and fancy as the ones in America. The dojang, or
choiyukwan, where I trained was simple with no fancy
equipment, but people trained hard. In the summer, doboks
would be drenched with sweat, and in the winter you were
working out hard just to stay warm. This kind of training is
not for everyone, but I sure miss it and can’t wait till
my next trip back.
Q. Are
you a member of any Korean martial arts organizations? If
so, which ones?
A. I hold dan rank from the Korea Hapkido
Federation in Korea, and I will continue to return to Korea
to learn from my instructors there and advance in rank. In
the United States I do not currently belong to any of the
numerous martial art organizations. However, there are two
that I recommend and that I may affiliate with after law
school: the United States Korean Martial Arts Federation
with Master J.R. West and Hapkido Moo-Ye-Kwan with Master
Harold Whalen. These organizations are headed by two
outstanding hapkido instructors. If you have a chance to
learn from either of these men, you should do so.
Q. Why
are so many martial arts ineffective on the street?
A. This goes to the person and training, rather than style.
Almost every style of martial art teaches one or more of
these basic things: how to hit, kick, throw, and grapple.
Some arts emphasize one area, while others emphasize
another, and some arts combine all of them. But the fact is
that there are individuals from almost any style you can
think of who will win in a street fight, and then there are
individuals from those same styles who will get stomped when
it’s for real. Any style can be effective when employed by
the right person.
The reason so many people in these different arts will
lose on the street is that they do not really train for
actual fighting, or combat. Face it--fighting is physical,
and it hurts. To really fight, you need to train hard.
Strength and size do matter, and, more importantly, so does
mind-set. Training hard helps develop this mind-set. Many of
the martial art schools around the country do not train for
real fighting. That’s okay; many people train for
different reasons. Some train for sport, some for exercise,
and others for the sake of the art. There are some great
benefits to be had from training for all of these reasons,
but it won’t necessarily make you a fighter.
To be effective on the street, the martial artist needs
to not only learn the techniques of the style, but train
realistically as well. This means training hard with contact
and partaking in a strength and conditioning program. This
means pain. You will be sore, and you will received injuries
from time to time when you train like this. While I caution
people to train safely and not seriously hurt their training
partner, I also think that getting a black eye or fat lip in
your training, as well as taking a groin shot and receiving
numerous bruises from time to time, will better prepare you
for an actual fight. You do not want the first time you get
hit to be on the street, but unfortunately that is what
happens to many martial artists.
Q. In
your opinion, what is the most important tactic for
effective self-defense?
A. First of all, we have to clarify this question. I
consider tactics to be the applications of a person’s
techniques or tools. These tactics will differ from art to
art, from strategy to strategy. Take a fight between a
wrestler facing a boxer, for example. The wrestler’s
strategy is to take the boxer to the ground, where he
neutralizes the boxer’s strength of punching and
capitalizes on his grappling superiority. His strategy is
his plan for fighting and beating this kind of opponent. His
tactics will be the specific maneuvers to carry that plan
out. These tactics may include getting the boxer's timing
down so he can slip inside, perform a takedown, and thus
control the fighting range to his advantage. As you can see,
tactics will vary depending on the situation. It’s almost
like asking which technique is the best. The one that works!
You must be able to select the tactics and techniques for
the situation, opponent, and openings present.
With that said, let me change the question a bit. What
are the most important principles for effective
self-defense? Principles are more like universal truths that
do not change, and they can be applied regardless the
situation or opponent.
The first and foremost principle for self-defense is
awareness. Being alert and aware will enable you to avoid
most situations that may get physical, and that is the
number one way to remain safe. And isn’t that what
self-defense is all about?
Having said all that, I realize that when most people ask
a question like the above, they are wanting to know about
the physical aspects of fighting or self-defense. So, I feel
the most important ingredients to winning a street fight are
a person’s mental state combined with decisive continuous
action. To survive a hostile attack or win a street fight,
you must have the mind-set to do what ever it takes to be
the victor in that situation, and you must act without
hesitation or deviation. When things go down, there is no
time to ponder what you will do; you have to just do it, and
do it now! What you do is often not as important as just
doing something, and then continuing your attack until the
opponent is neutralized or you can safely escape. Fighting
is fast and furious, and to win you must be faster and more
furious than your opponent. Stick with simple, efficient
techniques, and be decisive in using them. Don’t go at it
halfway, or without full commitment. And when you commit to
an action, keep up the continuous attack until your attacker
is no longer a threat to you. Do not give him a moment to
regroup orh a second cance. Your objective should be to end
the encounter as quickly as possible.
Q. How
long did you train with Marc and Peyton?
A. Marc has influenced my training both with his books and
videos as well as in person. The first time we hit the gym
together was in Montana for a couple days when he was up in
Missoula putting on a Crime Avoidance seminar for the
University of Montana. Then in 1995 when I returned from
Japan, I headed down to southern California where Marc was
living at the time. I was down there from October until
February of 1996. During that time we spent the daytime
hours training and worked security and bodyguard jobs at
night.
Peyton’s influence has really been through his books
and videos. The times Peyton and I have been together have
been to have a drink or two and share ideas in that setting.
Naturally, during those sessions people get up and have to
show things to each other, but I wouldn’t say we were
"training," but rather sharing ideas,
philosophies, techniques that worked, and a lot of stories
(which can be very educational.)
I read both Marc’s and Peyton’s first books while I
was stationed in Korea with the 2nd Infantry
Division. At the time, I was spending a lot of time in the
bars, and that meant a lot of fights. When I read these
books, I didn’t just read them and put them back on the
shelf. I realized that they both knew what they were talking
about, since I was seeing and participating in the same
things. That’s when I started taking the things they were
writing about (and later the techniques taught in their
videos) and applying the concepts and techniques to my own
training and fighting. I would work on things with my
training partners and then use the things we practiced and
learned when we hit the bars on the weekends. So in that
way, Marc and Peyton both had a big influence before I met
them.
Q. How
did you get hooked up with them?
A. As I stated, I read both of their books and watched a
number of their videos. So I decided to write to Marc one
day. He wrote back, and that’s how our friendship started.
Letters turned to phone calls, which led to his coming to
the University of Montana to give a seminar on crime
avoidance. We hit it off during those four days in the gym
and around town, and we kept in touch after I left for Japan
a few months later. When I returned from Japan, we hooked up
at the Soldier of Fortune convention in Las Vegas. It was
there that I met Peyton and Mike Haynack as well as others
with Paladin Press. It was after this convention that I
moved down to California.
Now, with e-mail, that’s how we all keep in touch, with
phone calls thrown in every once in a while, and
get-togethers when we can. We toss each other ideas, share
things we have learned, and support each other's projects.
Q. How
did you end up writing for Paladin?
A. Before I left for Japan, Marc and I stayed up late one
night talking about a bunch of things. One of the topics was
the idea I had for Hard-Won Wisdom. He encouraged
me to write it, and I started it while living in Japan. When
I returned to the States, I finished the rough draft and
took it with me the SOF convention. Marc thought it looked
good, and when we were in California, he gave me suggestions
to make it better. So after some editing, I sent it off to
Paladin, and that was the beginning.
I have several other book ideas in the works now, but
they are going slowly because of my law school schedule. A
couple of my ideas are not really for the type of books
Paladin publishes, but I’m hoping to get a manuscript
written for Paladin in the next year or two, as well as
shoot a new two-video set on self-defense that is currently
in the works.
Q. Tell
us about your video Hapkido Hoshinsul, which we
released this month. How is it different than other Korean
martial arts videos on the market?
A. I had a couple objectives with this video. The main
objective was to teach some of the principles and techniques
from hapkido that a person can actually use in a
self-defense situation. I cannot teach the art of hapkido in
a video, but I can teach things from hapkido that will
complement any martial art or self-defense system you study.
As I stated earlier, hapkido incorporates a variety of
skills, including striking, kicking, falling, joint locks,
etc. Hoshinsul means self-defense or self-protection, and
typically the hoshinsul portion of a hapkido class is
devoted to working on techniques against a variety of
attacks. Many of these techniques involve joint locks or
throws. For this video, I selected several areas to attack
on your opponent, such as the wrist, elbow, or shoulder. In
it, I show techniques that can be applied to that joint. I
also show how the same techniques can be used to counter a
variety of attacks. And I teach techniques that I like for
controlling a person, as well as a couple throws that I have
found very useful in actual fights. So the main purpose was
to teach some concepts and techniques that can be applied
when it is for real.
Another objective I had with this video was to give the
viewer a little taste of what hapkido is like. While I
can’t teach the whole art of hapkido in a video, I hope
viewers will see that hapkido has a lot to offer and will
seek out hapkido instruction in their areas.
The big difference between my video and a lot of the
videos out there is the way the material is presented. A lot
of videos are nothing more than catalogs of techniques: this
is what you need to know for yellow belt, this is what you
need to know for green belt, etc. That is okay if you are
going to spend the time to learn the complete art, and
that’s how I learned them. When I was a white belt, all
the hoshinsul defenses I learned were from a wrist grab
attack. This is the traditional method of teaching hapkido,
and as long as you study the art long enough, you learn to
use the techniques in all situations.
For this video, I thought it was more practical to
combine similar techniques. So I teach the white belt
defense, and then I show the similar blue belt and red belt
techniques that utilize the same joint lock, but instead of
defending from a wrist grab, you are defending from a punch,
or initializing the attack yourself. In this way, I include
techniques ranging from white to black belt in the same
segments. You are not learning the entire curriculum from
white to black belt, but the concepts and techniques you do
learn are ones you can use in a variety of situations, and
that is better for increasing your self-defense
capabilities. Remember, my aim with this video is not that
you learn the techniques in a specific order so I can give
you a different colored belt, but so that you learn the
skills on the video to better be able to defend yourself in
a real encounter.
Alain
Burrese tries to live by a number of guiding principles, two
of the most prominent of which are to learn as much as
possible and to try as many different things as he can.
Combine this with a passion for Asia, and it is no wonder that
his studies and travels have taken him to the teachings and
lands of the Far East.
At
a very early age, Alain became fascinated with everything
Asian, especially the different martial arts and ancient
warrior traditions. It is no surprise that he journeyed to
Japan and Korea to live and train in the martial arts and that
his fiancé, Ham Yi-Saeng, is Korean. Of the traditional
martial arts Alain has studied, the Korean art of hapkido is
his favorite because of the emphasis on self-defense and the
relationship he formed with his hapkido instructors.
Throughout
his army and college years Alain also found himself in a
thundering herd of barroom brawls, barracks ruckuses, and
dormitory disturbances as a result of his hot temper and
attitude. Added to this mix was a heaping dose of realistic
training methods taught by the likes of Marc
"Animal" MacYoung and Peyton Quinn. Alain quickly
applied these lessons to the actual physical confrontations he
engaged in, modifying and adapting them to his own build and
style. It is this combination of traditional martial training
and hard-core brawing that influences the hapkido and
self-defense that Alain teaches and writes about today.
From
the time Alain was very young, his father, Robert Burrese,
instilled in him the importance of strength and fitness. Alain
immediately saw the benefits of this when he joined the army.
Not only did his physical strength and conditioning help him
succeed as an infantry paratrooper with the 82nd
Airborne Division and as a sniper with the 2nd
Infantry Division in South Korea, but, combined with attitude,
it was what enabled him to prevail in so many physical
encounters.
Alain’s
studies have always included learning about training methods
and incorporating a variety of these into his own training.
This includes his becoming certified by the International
Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) as a fitness trainer and a
specialist in martial arts conditioning. Alain states that
size and strength do matter in a fight, and that a solid
program of exercise and strength training can be more
essential to a person’s self-defense capabilities than many
of the "self-defense techniques" taught at most
martial art schools. (Not that a smaller person cannot defeat
a larger opponent; it's just that strength and conditioning
are important for fighting and many other activities.) It pays
to be in shape, for many reasons.
Self-defense,
physical training, and warrior studies are not Alain’s only
pursuits. In fact, one thing that has always puzzled him was
that he has such a broad spectrum of interests and feels
comfortable in such an array of circumstances. He was as
comfortable discussing politics with President Ronald Reagan
as he was being alone in the sleaziest of bars in Bangkok,
Thailand. He is as comfortable walking into a courtroom
wearing a suit in his current job with a law firm as he was
walking out into the street with Marc MacYoung to break up a
fight while doing security and bodyguard work in southern
California. His memories of instructing at the 2nd
Infantry Scout Sniper School, Camp Casey, South Korea, are as
fond as those of attending the Asian tour of Les
Miserables in Seoul.
And
what does Alain do if he is not at school or work? His top
priorities every day are to study, exercise, train, practice
Korean, and read. He teaches hapkido to the UM’s Big Sky
Taekwondo Club on Fridays and does informal personal training
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon. These sessions
cover a variety of martial skills and always include some form
of submission wrestling, boxing, or other contact training.
Naturally, Alain also hits the weight room five to six times a
week. On top of that, he finds time to work on writing and
video projects, go new places, keep in touch with friends and
colleagues, and enjoy life to the fullest while following the
priorities of Admiral Yi Sun-shin, one of Korea’s greatest
warriors: virtue, integrity, and courage.
