Newsletter 1003
Justin Earns a Fourth Degree Black Belt
Happy Covid!
Hope you’re enjoying your vacation,
and that all is well with your friends and families.
Haven’t been writing much lately,
well I have,
actually I’ve been writing 8 hours a day,
but it’s been in other fields.
Simply,
I need to make some money.
That lame excuse out in the universe,
let me say…
CONGRATS TO JUSTIN HARRIS
Justin just earned his black in Shaolin Butterfly,
which, with the other arts he has studied
earns him a fourth degree black belt.
WELL DONE!
Now that’s a guy who takes advantage of the Corona crisis!
Okay,
Since I haven’t been writing much lately,
you can always catch up on old writings.
First,
the inexpensive way,
just go to
and start reading the blog.
There’s probably
a 1000 blogs there.
Or,
if you want to go a bit more in depth,
I compiled all my articles in a ten book series.
The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson
That’s a lot of articles,
near a thousand,
and they cover EVERYTHING!
Or,
you could just start ordering courses,
stop reading about and start experiencing.
You know,
I came across an interesting question today.
It was something to do with how many defenses you need
to really protect yourself
I started to chuckle,
cause the guy had it backwards.
You don’t worry about how many things you can do,
you just worry about what he is going to do.
If you are worried about what you will do
you are introverting,
and not looking out,
to where the danger is.
So look outwards
and learn to analyze strikes.
Do you know how many punches there are?
Six.
That’s all.
So let me cover this in more or less logical (matrixed) fashion.
There are two punches left and right
There are two types of punches straight and circular
There are two modes of punches snap and thrust
When you matrix these, and toss out things that don’t work (you don’t snap a circular punch, for instance) You end up with six possible strikes. Of course they could sail in fron odd directions, but still, only six…
left straight snap
left straight thrust
left circular
right straight snap
right straight thrust
right circular
So,
first, watch for the kick.
No danger from punches or other strikes,
maybe from weapons,
but you will usually see if there is a weapon pretty quick.
Second, as you step in
the kick gets jammed,
easy to handle with a retreat or a turned hip, etc.
Now you have to worry about the punch,
but worry introverts,
so you just watch him.
I know some people say you have to train
for punches from the rear,
yes,
but as soon as you turn to him he is in the front,
so front training is where the punch is coming from.
Watch his feet to see if he is angling for a punch
watch his shoulders to see if he is loading
sidestep slowly,
always being ready,
and always moving so he can’t quite fix on you.
Third,
don’t worry about knees and elbows,
he has to close to use those,
and that is so obvious it is ridiculous.
And there it is.
Fighting is easy,
reading an opponent is easy.
Of course,
it all means nothing
if you don’t spend some time
hitting things so you can feel what it feels like
practicing forms so your body is in top top shape,
and just training like your life depends on it
because,
darn it,
it does.
Anyway,
that is sort of how you apply simple logic (matrixing) to fighting.
And,
obligatory ad,
you really should look into my courses,
because they are all like this,
simple and thorough,
realistic and fun.
That all said,
don’t worry about the Covid crisis,
because worrying is introverting
and life is out there.
Instead,
train hard and strengthen the immune system,
best medical advice I can give you.
Sensei Case
Have a great work out!
Al
Here is ‘The Last Martial Arts Book,’
Best one I have ever written,
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/nine-square-diagram-boxing/
Matrix Martial Arts 