Learn to Fight like a Girl!

 

Think You’re a Real Martial Arts Man?

Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Throws like a girl?’
What a put down, eh?
Some guy so weak, so uncoordinated, that he…’throws like a girl.’
Awkward, the arm all wrong, and the baseball sails a few pitiful feet.
And, that attitude has pursued us. We think of women as lesser, and even treat them with disrespect.

Click on the cover to find the source of the martial arts…

Not the Amazons who propel the race, but weak sisters.
Tell me you haven’t been rude to a girl. Laughed at her. Didn’t show up when you were supposed to.
Well, fellows, I hate to tell you, but the sisterhood is about to make you pay for your disrespect. The next time you answer the door, bow on to the mat, even laugh at a girl on the street, a dark shadow will fall across your grave. You will look up at that shadow, your jaw will drop, and…Rhonda Rousey!
OMG! The bitch who knuckle slaps men, women, and people who don’t know better!
And you didn’t know better.
No fear, however, for there are a couple of things you can still do to salvage your honor, retain the upper hand, and come out with your skin intact. Maybe.
First, remember, women don’t have those hangy downy things between their legs, so don’t go for a groin shot!
Second, normally, if you are fighting a guy, pulling hair is a no no. But Rhonda’s a gal, so it’s all right if you pull her hair. Just watch out for a scissors takedown and rear naked choke.
Third, you’re a guy, you got weight, so fall down and roll away. Make her stoop to your level.
Fourth, you could always offer to shake her hand, then sucker punch her. Nah. That might piss her off.
Fifth, and last, start crying for your mommy. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll take mercy on you. Of course the world will know that you are a whining crybaby, not fit to kiss the hem of a real woman. But that’s okay. You were that anyway, or you wouldn’t have to worry about a mere slip of a girl handing you your fanny on a platter.
Oh, and one last thought: you know that phrase, ‘Throws like a girl?’ It’s been replaced by ‘Punches like a Rhonda.’
Think about it. And be respectful while you do.

There you go,
hope Rhonda sees it,
hope she likes it,
because I don’t feel like trying to pull her hair.

And,
on the serious side…
here’s the link for
Binary Matrixing in the Martial Arts.

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

The book is selling well,
people are saying good things,
and it really opens up the martial arts.
I mean,
wouldn’t you like to know the one secret
from which ALL martial arts grew?

So check it out,
then check out Blinding Steel,
the one and only perfect martial art.
Guaranteed,
scientific learning is so-o-o-o much better
than monkey see monkey do mysticism.

Remember,
Matrixing has the real reasons behind the martial arts,
and Binary Matrixing is the start of it all.
It is the acorn from which the might oak grew.

Now,
have a fantastic week!
And an even more fantastic work out!

Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/5a-binary-matrixing-in-the-martial-arts/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Martial Arts Super Powers!

The Actual method for getting super powers from your Martial Art!

Hey, got a great win from Mylan B.

A few days ago, I was practicing my punches using a candle. It’s one of my favorite tools. Anyway, what I would do is practice a form or two, then go to the candle for a bit, do a couple more forms, back to the candle, etc. After awhile, putting the candle out became easier and easier as I began to relax more and sink into my stance. It became near effortless.

Then something very interesting happened; the candle (and a few things around it that were also sitting on the table) began to vibrate. I stepped away, and it stopped. Stepped back up to it, and it began again. I stepped up very softly so I didn’t cause the table to shake from my footsteps. When I was within two feet of the candle, it would vibrate. Very strange.

Have you ever experienced anything similar, or heard of anything like that before? Could I be starting to CBM?

Great win.
thanks Mylan.

And,
a couple of points.
CBM is an ongoing thing,
a bottomless pit of more abilities.
You actually start CBMing
when you read the simple definition.

Start all parts of the body in motion at the same time.
End all parts of the body motion at the same time.

And:
Every part should contribute to the whole.

Once you read this,
once you start looking at yourself,
seeing if the hands and feet start and stop at the same time,
the knees and elbow,
and so on,
then you are starting to CBM.

At Black Belt there is usually a big realization,
but it depends on what system you are doing.
People, systems, training methods,
they are different,
and realizations can happen at different times.
And the realizations can be quite different.
And the abilities that CBMing gives you
can be REALLY different.

Mylan talks about everything vibrating around him.
Yes.
The universe is vibrating,
and something in him
nudged up against the universe,
and all heaven broke loose.
That’s cool.
So he reached a high point of CBM.
He’ll go up and down a bit,
but generally up.
That’s what happens when you apply yourself.

Now,
I’m big on candles,
you’ve seen the video of me
putting out the candle form over a foot away.
And there’s even more impressive stuff
if you look around on the web.

So one day I was working with a few guys,
and one of them was doing the candle trick,
and getting frustrated.
I happened to be walking by,
he turned and said something like,
‘I just can’t make this work,’
and I, from six feet away, flicked a finger.
The candle went out.

His eyes got big.
I kept my eyes from getting big.
And he said,
‘How’d you do that?’
I said,
‘Just keep practicing.’
And I walked quickly away.
Heck,
at that time I had NO idea what I had done.
And later, having figured it out,
I could only do over a foot.
I couldn’t do six feet if my life depended on it.
Yet,
once,
I did it.
And I know that sometime,
somehow,
I’ll be able to do it all will.
It’s just a matter of thinking things through,
getting the discipline,
and dedicating myself to making it happen.

So,
with that in mind,
did Mylan CBM?
You bet your boots.
but how much?
Well, it doesn’t matter.
He’s doing it,
and there’s no end to it,
and it’s just a matter of how far he wants to go.
Heck,
it makes a great goal.
Flicking that candle out at six feet
drove me on to being able to do it
consistently at over a foot,
and I am looking forward to more feet.
So it drives me.

And I know that Mylan is driving himself now.
He couldn’t not drive himself.

And what about you?
i have one student who,
when he was a kid,
would walk down the street at night,
and the lamp posts would flicker.
Man, shades of a horror flick.
But it drives him.
He’s not sure how he did it,
but if he did it once
then he can do it again.

So what have you done
that will drive you?

Or,
what have you seen others do?

Or,
heck,
what have you even seen in the movies?

Look, anything is possible,
it’s just a matter of letting your imagination grab hold,
and then backing it up with good, hard work.

And,
that said,
check out The Master Instructor Course.
It’s got the basic definition of CBM inside it,
but it also has other things,
for instance,
how to CBM to make internal power happen.
And this is interesting,
for it is CBM,
based on hard core science.
It is not a whim,
or crossing tea leaves and meditating,
or wishing your chi power
through the macrocosmic orbit
while sitting in a lotus stance
for ten years.

It is science.
Unarguable.

Check it out.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/

Okley donkey,
have yourself a funominal work out!

And don’t forget to send your wins to me.

Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/

Before People Knew What Kenpo Karate Was

Back in the Beginning of Kenpo…

I began studying Kenpo in 1967.
It was so unknown that it was called Kenpo Karate so it could be identified with the art of Karate. Not that that many people knew what karate was.

Check out How to Create Kenpo by Al Case. Fifty years of martial arts knowledge turned loose!

Kenpo was born in Japan. There are many lineages, but the specific Kenpo that is so widely known these days came from James Mitose, Thunderbolt Chow, Ed Parker, and finally, an instructor near you.

Martial Arts were not studied widely at the time, and usually it was fellows who were tough, who looked forward to the street fight, who studied them.

Kenpo came from Okinawan Karate and Japanese Jujitsu. There were other sourcss, many and varied, but the American style Kenpo you might study was likely based, at least in the beginning, on these arts.

Right from the outset Americans realized that Kenpo could be marketed more easily through tournaments, so we studied our freestyle rabidly, and we looked forward to the weekend trips.

For such a violent art, the participants at these tournaments proved to be a polite bunch. Schools were located a distance apart and there wasn’t much competition. Instructors actually looked forward to seeing each other, to comparing notes, and even learning a ‘secret’ technique or two.

And, outside of school, fights did happen. Proud warriors, Kenpo stylists, all martial artists, were happy to step up to a challenge, take umbrage at a veiled insult, trade fists with a goon.

We were more rabid back then. We didn’t do ten or twenty kicks and think we were done, we would do a couple of hundred and chide ourselves for being lazy. We would do forms by the hour. See if we could do 60 forms in an hour.

In short, we would exhaust ourselves. We would go for a run, do some weightlifting, and then freestyle for a couple of hours in class, and know that we were doing it right.

Mistakes? We made a ton of them. But over time we fixed them; the martial arts tend to be self fixing; the turn of the foot, the line of the wrist, the physics of the universe corrected us and were out teachers.

And now, near fifty years later, all we wish is one thing: to do it all again. To do Karate and Kenpo, to throw and kick and punch to our hearts content.

And we feel sorry for all those people who quit early, or who were born too late, or who were just too lax in their training to really find the truth: You are what you do, that is your measure, and that is your worth.

If you want a REALLY good book on Kenpo, consider ‘How to Create Kenpo’ by Al Case. It has the real history, the one you don’t hear much about, plus a section on how to do forms, plus 150 kenpo techniques, thoroughly analyzed so that you can be the best Kenpoka you can be. That’s How to Create Kenpo, available on Amazon. The hard work is up to you.

Here’s a fascinating bit of history: The Man Who Killed Kenpo.

Karate, Kung Fu and Aikido Against Voodoo Martial Arts

 Martial Arts: a Destructive Method as Opposed to a Real Method

What you are really trying to do, in martial arts such as Karate and Aikido, and the various types of Kung Fu, is to increase observation while decreasing distance. This is not an exactitude of martial arts practice, but it is the accurate analysis of what we are trying to do.

So you have a beginning martial arts student from one of these classical disciplines, and you launch a slow attack from six feet away. And, as a the months go on, you speed up the attack, and the student gets better and better, faster and faster, and once he reaches a certain point of comfort – that it is comfort is very important, you shorten the distance.

So you launch the attack from three feet away, and you do it slowly, and again, you speed it up over the months. The student gets ‘comfortable’ – remember that word – and you shorten the distance again.

And, you keep shortening the distances until the student is able to stand and observe, not flinch back, and see what is happening, and he is simply becoming more aware.

It’s funny, the martial arts, such as aikido, kung fu, karate, especially the classical ones, are one of the few methods for increasing awareness on this planet. Things like school actually decrease awareness. They jam facts and figures into the head, and it is a rare student, probably a non-existent student, who comes out smarter than when he went in.

But that’s because education doesn’t deal in the real world, except for the sciences, which most people shy away from, and which schools, to remain viable, allow them to. Poor, little darlings (keep writing the check Mommie!)  we’ll get them through something tough, like music appreciation.

Anyway, sorry for that aside, but it is important that you understand the importance of the martial arts on this planet and in your life, so let’s get back to time and distance and awareness.

Awareness is how much of the world you see. And in the martial arts you present a motion, make the student look at it until he is comfortable, then cut the time and make him see more. Cutting the time will enable him to see more.

Now, here is the trick, some of the more modern martial arts, arts based on reality training and so forth, don’t take the time to go through this method, or any other similar working method for increasing awareness.

What they do is increase reaction time.

Now, the student may become more aware in a certain realm, but it is out of his control, he is not able to summon awareness at will, and his body and senses are at risk.

It is the procedure of going to war and depending upon the fact that you are in deathly danger to raise your awareness. It is not a tried and true and scientific method.

It works, but how are you going to teach it without hurting people?

And this method, of forcing increased awareness, of a sort that can be erroneously compared to a real discipline, by putting people in harm’s way usually relies on such terms ‘adrenaline dumping,’ or builds a terminology that is scientific in nature, but psychological in fact. And, the sad thing, psychology is not a science, but merely a voodoo accumulation of whimsical tricks and that sometimes work, if you blunder along long enough. The simple fact of the matter is that psychology, while it has enabled some people under mental stress to go on with their lives, it has never gotten to the bottom of why they weere under stress int he first place, except in the most superficial manner, i.e., some bizarre explanation of wanting to have sex with their mother or father, it’s some one else’s fault, and so on.

The real key here is in the concept of ‘comfort’ under stress.

If your martial art, if  your karate or aikido or kung fu, or even your eclectic discipline, is causing you to relax, to be ‘comfortable,’ when the fist flies towards your face, it is a true art.

And, if you are relying on adrenaline dumping, or touting the fact that you must, simply must try it all out in reality, in a real situation or real fight, to make sure it works, then you are practicing one more savage method, thought up by savages, to retain their savagery.

Savage methods, voodoo training theory, they are a poor excuse for increasing awareness by relaxing, for seeing more of the world simply by applying yourself and making yourself grow through hard work and forcing yourself, I say ‘forcing yourself,’ to see more of the world by learning how to relax under stress.

While the martial arts theory  presented here is pure, it is not practical to apply except in specific exercises; the process of matrixing is the accumulation of many of these specific, and scientific, methods. Further, by being an actual science, and by addressing the actual fact of increasing awareness through such theory as described above, matrixing increases speed of learning by up to ten times, and this in ANY martial art, be it karate, kung fu, aikido, or whatever.

You can find specific Matrix theory and methods at Monster Martial Arts. This includes exact matrixing courses such as Matrix Karate, Matrix Kung Fu, Matrix Aikido, Matrixing weapons, and so on.

 

Classical Martial Arts are Better than Street Fighting Methods

Classical Martial Arts Have the Edge!

Street fighting methods are aimed at survival on the street, and the classical martial art is aimed at evolution of the individual.

Interestingly enough, the street defense is better…for a while. Then the classical kicks in and becomes better.

street fighting method versus classical martial arts training manual

The reason for this is simple, the higher purpose will hold sway.

Survival is important, but to seek a higher existence is more important.

How long a while before classical becomes a better fighting method? Depends on the system and the individual, with a third but slightly minor factor being the instructor.

Think about it this way: street fighting self defense systems are aimed at survival on the street, beating somebody else up so that one is not beaten up themselves.

But classical methods are designed to evolve the character of the individual until there is no fight, not on the street, and this because of the enhanced ability of the artist to transform even a substantial altercation into no fight.

Have a great work out! Al Case from MonsterMartialArts.

 

Check out Al’s methods for teaching classical martial arts…they are truly different.

The Power Hour Martial Arts Show

Interview on the Martial Arts Power Hour Show!

Hey,
speaking of martial arts power,
I was interviewed on the
Martial Arts Power Hour show!
The show is done by Israel Velez,
and is quite a good show.
They interview martial artistsa,
go into important martial arts happenings,
and provide a real contribution to the martial arts.

This guy did the Yogata Course! Click on him to find out more!

Now,
I am not much of a public speaker.
I can run a class,
but the funny thing is
standing up in front of people and public speaking
is sort of unnerving.
BUT,
Israel is quite a powerful individual,
he knew what to ask,
kept me going,
and it turned out to be a really fascinating experience!

We talked about matrixing,
how it got started,
moved into various things in the martial arts,
and by the time the show was over
I felt really comfortable.

And,
most important,
I learned.
I learned a lot.

If you want to hear the show,
it is episode 67,
and the URL is

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=78795&cmd=tc

If you like it,
make sure you shoot Israel an email and let him know.
Oh,
and not to forget,
Bob Choate came on,
and that was a blast.
He was ordering Matrixing courses
right after I put monster together,
an early matrixing student,
and we had talked by email over the years.
It was a real joy to finally be able to talk to him person to person.

So,
that’s the Martial Arts Power Hour,
done by Israel Velez.

AND,
if that isn’t enough,
I was asked to do a book signing.
This was mostly for my novels,
but that was a real learning experience, too.

Like I say,
I haven’t done much public speaking,
and I spend most of my time
isolated in the clouds of Monkeyland,
but it was really incredible
to talk to people,
to have to explain my books,
to hear what they had to say about my books.
Really interesting.

So I am going to have to push myself on this
and get better at public speaking,
interviews and so on.

If I’m going to be interviewed,
I have to do my best
not to let people down.
I have to present matrixing in a good light,
and novels would definitely get me good exposure.
So,
it’s interesting times,
and thank god for the martial arts.

Look,
when some novel reader asks me a question,
one I never thought of,
one that requires a precision answer
with no bushwah,
the martial arts enables me to face those people,
to grin even in uncomfortable situations,
and to stand my ground.

When some fellow asks me a question on the radio,
I have to,
again,
stand my ground,
go mushin no shin,
get right in the moment,
allow no distractions,
and have a good time with that fellow.

I know you know what I am saying.
When you bow and face your opponent on the mat,
it teaches you to bow and face
ANYBODY
in life.
When somebody is upset at you,
you stay calm,
the lessons of the mat stay with you.
When the boss gets pointed in his instructions,
the martial arts enables you to face him,
give him the right answer,
and do your job without being distracted.

So think about it.
Never look away from a problem or person.
Don’t flinch.
Don’t duck or avoid,
and treat that problem or person
just like you would treat somebody on the mat.
Accept the attack,
block it,
or divert it or whatever,
and move forward with your own initiative.

It’s funny,
people think martial arts is nothing but fighting.
But fighting is the last thing it is about.
It is not about fighting,
but how to stand your ground in life
and handle everything without fighting.
The guy who gets in a fight
has already lost.
That is something that real martial artists know.

When I was getting interviewed,
right towards the end,
we were talking about the best martial artist in the world.
It’s an interesting back and forth we had,
I think you will really enjoy it,
but it made me think of something.

As martial artists we tend to judge ourselves by freestyle,
by winning fights.
But,
in the end,
in the final analysis,
the real martial artist knows it is not the fights we get into,
but the fights we avoid
that make us who we are,
that we should be judged by.

So,
was Myamoto Musashi the greatest fighter?
Got in 60 fights and never lost one?
Or is the guy who went through life
meeting incredibly difficult situations,
and didn’t get in any fights…
is he actually a better martial artist?
It’s something to think about, eh?
Sort of an upside down statistic,
if you get what I mean.

Anyway,
I recommend checking out
The Martial Arts Power hour
with Israel Velez.
Episode 67 is me,
and it gave me a lot of stuff to think about.
Mostly,
I just need to get better.
I don’t want to let anybody down in spreading this matrixing thing.
The Martial Arts really needs
this comprehensive logic,
so I have to come through.
It’s a fight I have to win.

Now,
you guys and gals,
remember,
it’s summer,
plan out your work outs,
make a plan,
set a goal,
and make it happen this summer.

The summer of 2014.
The summerm that you get where you’re going.
Nice sound to that, eh?

Have a great work out!
Al

If you need a little help getting stronger,
rehabilitating an injury,
beating encroaching old age,
try this…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/yogata-the-yoga-kata/

It is a REALLY nifty
Martial Arts way
of doing Yoga.
Will really help you focus your awareness.

Thanks again,
Israel and Bob.

The Evolution from Martial to Art

How the Martial Arts Change…

Man, end of the week coming up,
getting ready,
did two work outs yesterday,
Felt S-O-O-O good.
And it’s just from working out.

Get a free PDF of the Martial Arts novel ‘Assassin.’
Read it, and if you find it worthy, review it.
Write me at aganzul@gmail.com for your free PDF.
Click on the cover for more information about the novel itself.

Now,
here’s how it happens.
Somebody learns how to kill somebody.
This is using his bare hands.
Maybe it is to fight against bandits,
or as part of a military mission,
or whatever.
Then,
he practices,
and he lives,
maybe he survives,
and maybe he teaches.

Interested in the killing ways,
this fellow keeps his eyes open,
learns all manner of techniques,
and he practices.
And practices and practices.
Eventually,
he accumulates enough data
to realize a truth about himself.
By accumulating pieces of art,
he puts the arts together,
and
in the process
puts himself together.
At this point the killing techniques
become an art.
A matter of self expression.
Enlightenment.

As this fellow passes his art down,
maybe to his sons,
maybe to paying students,
whatever,
the things he learned and taught
become quite methodical
and more and more people
realize the things he did.

His system becomes a CCS
a Closed Combat System.

It has sufficient breadth and depth,
to always work
if people do it as prescribed.

It is a matter of evolution.
It is a matter of generation after generation
honing the material,
figuring out more and more things
to make that system work.

And,
it is a matter of students
not changing the system,
except in ways that bolster the system.

The few students who don’t complete the art,
or leave with improper understanding,
end up without a complete system,
and they are at risk of adding things to that system
that don’t belong.

That brings us to the modern age.
And students who hoped on a plane in Japan as green belts,
and got off the plane in America
as black belts.

That brings us to students who quit their system
and
because they didn’t have enough to teach,
started adding things indiscriminately.

That brings us to people who destroyed
the evolutionary accumulation
that is what we call a Closed Combat System.

That brings us to an age
where there are so many systems,
the glut of information is so much,
and well meaning instructors try to include everything,
swelling their systems
without regard for how everything fits together.

Go on,
learn Aikido,
then introduce a front punch in the middle of every technique.
There goes the concept of harmony.
There goes Aikido,
no longer a CCS.

Or,
how about taking a system of jujitsu,
and altering every technique for tournament play.
There goes jujitsu.

Or,
or…or…or…
There are actually very few Closed Combat Systems left.
There are actually very few teachers
who understand what has been done to their art.

Think of it like software.
You are learning algebra through a software program,
then,
7th lesson,
you are handed all sorts of material
having to do with growing watermelons.

Man,
would you shake your head or what?

You might obsess on watermelons,
or you might give up algebra,
or you might start teaching people
the necessary algebra
that you just made up
to grow watermelons.

Weird, eh?

Here’s the thing.
There is martial,
which is war,
which is how to kill somebody.

Then,
if a person learns enough,
if he learns enough stuff
so that the whole thing makes sense,
then it becomes an art.

If you know a single art,
you only know one viewpoint,
and you have little chance of learning the whole.

If you learn an art that is corrupted,
bereft of unified concepts,
then you will degrade the art to martial.
You will go from learning to express yourself as a human being
and devolve to espousing tricks to kill people.

So what is the value of being a human being?
Well,
if you are learning tricks to kill,
then you don’t know,
and all I can say is…
learning to express yourself
is higher on the evolutionary chain
than killing people.

Interesting concepts, eh?

here is my page…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/the-true-way-of-the-martial-arts/

So here’s my page,
got most of my stuff on it,
It’s the largest accumulation
of pure martial arts knowledge
in the history of the world.

Oh, there are larger collections,
I’m sure,
but they are going to be collections of systems
that are not CCS.
Massive put togethers
without regard for concept
where the ‘software’ is corrupted,
and the student doesn’t come together,
but falls apart.

True.

Okey dokey,
have yourself a great week end.
Party hearty,
and workout like you mean it.

Al

Don’t forget to subscribe to this blog.

Defining the Ultimate Karate Form…Sanchin

The Real Truth of Sanchin Kata

Guest Blog by Alaric Dailey

It has been said that if you don’t know Sanchin, you don’t know karate. I suppose there is some truth to this.

Sanchin is taught in many variations, the least modified version of which, appears to be the Pangainoon/Uechi-ryu variation.   This is because of all the Naha-te styles, Pangainoon has been “out of China” the least amount of time.  This also happens to be the version I know, so I will be comments from the point of view of how it was taught to me, and why it is that way.

Release of NEW book on Pan Gai Noon! Click on the cover for more data.

Sanchin means three battles, those three battles are “order”, “form” and “breathing”.  These are the same 3 battles that you fight every time you learn a form.  You learn the order of the moves, how to do them properly, working out how they flow together (the form), and how to extract every ounce of internal and external power, both of which are enhanced with breathing.

Part of the proper form is “loose-tight”, which is quite the trick in Sanchin, since it is a dynamic tension form.  However, you have to loosen, your muscles to strike with force, to block with speed, and to tighten them as you are struck with the body checking.

Part of every form is to clear your mind and attempt to perform it with “mushin”, the “no-mind” of zen.

Truly Sanchin, is a very difficult form.  Pangainoon/Uechi-ryu, teaches it as the first form, and expects you to test on it at every belt, and to improve on it.  Other styles, such as Isshin-ryu, Goju-ryu, Kyokushin, and Okinawan Kenpo treat it as an advanced kata, in some cases styles have made it the shodan (blackbelt) kata.

It is interesting, that you also see the “aikido unbendable arm” as the guard, or Wing Chun stylists would recognize it as Tan-sao. I see many people holding their sanchin arms much lower than I was taught, Sensei always said your fingertips should be eye-level. My Wing Chun Sifu says the same thing about tan-sao, of course NOT holding the tan-sao at this level meant that Bruce Lee found it useless, so he through it out of JKD.

Just for a point of interest, here are a few different versions of the form.

And here is a White Crane form named the same thing that appears to be the same form

 

 

I personally don’t believe that the unaltered white crane form was the one taught to the Okinawans, we see far too much tiger in the Okinawan karate versions, a greater emphasis on external power, tiger claw strikes etc.

About the Author: Alaric Daily began practicing the martial arts in 1992. Martial Art she has studied include Pangainoon, Karate, Kenpo, Wing Chun, Krav Maga, Judo, Jujitsu, Aikido, Bagua Zhang, and Tai Chi Chuan

The Death of the Martial Arts

The Martial Arts Died in San Francisco in 1969…

Good morning from Monkeyland!
Fog is thick everywhere up here…
except in my brain.
My brain,
because of the martial arts
is like a steel trap!
Doesn’t rust at all!
That is what a martial arts work out does for you.

You know,
thinking about what I just said,
I have always believed in motion
as a cure.
You put your body in motion
blood circulates,
everything gets rejuvenated.
It’s true.

Well,
let’s talk martial arts.

I saw the death of the martial arts.
When I was in Kenpo,
this was back in 1969,
I used to love to go to tournaments.
Now,
there were only a few schools in the area.
Maybe 20 for the whole SF Bay Area.
So tournaments were big deals.
I remember going to the big one
the National Karate Championships,
and there were only 500 people there.
That’s not many.

Anyway,
loved to fight,
went to tournaments,
and the quality of fighters varied.
Some bad,
some good.
But there was an immense amount of respect.
Even when instructors were in direct competition,
they knew each other,
and looked forward to getting together.
There just weren’t that many of us,
you know?

So the last tournament I went to,
there was a fellow
and he would run across the ring
and start hitting his opponent.
Not the point technique,
where people acknowledged good form,
but he literally ran across the ring
and started whaling away.
Punching with all his might.

Now,
he was a white belt,
didn’t show ANY martial arts at all.
No stance,
no technique,
just ran and punched.

And,
instructors just sat there and stared.
Nobody complained about lack of control.
Nobody said anything.
So the judges,
instead of calling fouls for loss of control,
started awarding him points,
and matches.
And he just keep beating people.
Made it up to the semi finals
before somebody started fighting back
and clocked him a good one.

But,
here’s the point.

Last tournament I ever went to
because I saw what was happening.
People were questioning whether the art worked.

Sure enough,
within a year or two
point karate was dead,
full contact was in,
people wore protective gear.
Even people like Chuck and Superfoot and so on
they went to full contact.
At least for a short while.
Then they quit,
it just wasn’t fun,
and people were getting beaten up,
instead of sharpening their art.

Here’s the thing,
that guy was encouraged to fight
by his instructor.
You could hear his instructor talking to him,
telling him to hit harder,
go for the face,
kick the knees,
all sorts of things.
All sorts of things that weren’t considered fair back then.

And,
the big mistake here was this:
he should have been placed in the black belt category.
He didn’t come there to learn,
to trade technique,
he came there to fight,
to beat people up.

Different from the art.
In a sport you beat people up.
In an art you refine your technique.

The black belts had experience,
they wouldn’t have been cowed by his onslaught and attitude.
They would have cleaned his clock.

I mean,
the guy didn’t know any martial arts!
He walked into a school,
started fighting,
beat a few guys up,
so they figured he was good to go.
They could win some trophies,
and nobody ever thought about the effect on the art.

Interesting.
I remember watching that match to this day,
and knowing,
totally,
what the result was going to be.

And,
shortly after that I went to the Kang Duk Won.
No tournaments.
No pads.
You learned control,
or you got bounced around.
Kindest guys in the world there,
unless you lost control.
They were all old school,
and they knew that the art was based on
how much control you could learn.
And that there is no end to the amount of control,
if you just kept at it.

Interesting.

Well,
this is a new generation,
very few remember the bad old times,
and maybe that is good.
After all,
the art never dies.
It gets forgotten sometimes,
but then it just gets remembered again.

Okay,
if you want to learn control,
it starts with learning how your body actually works.
Not the physics of the apple falling on your head,
but the physics of energy,
the physics of how things work on the deeper levels.

Did you know that physics defined is…
how matter and energy relate?
the odd thing is that chi is energy,
but western physics has never defined it.

I do.
Many ways,
but the main thing is that
in The Master Instructor Course,
I tell you how to use this energy.
Very simple.
It’s the seven simple principles,
which I go into
each and every one,
with explanation,
picture,
and video.
I show you egg-zackly
how energy runs through the body,
and how to make it run more,
and how to use it.

Okley donkey,
time to rock and roll,
turn up the music,
turn up life,
and have a good time.
You know…
work out.
So have a great work out,
and don’t forget to check out
The Master Instructor Course.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/

Al

Matrixing Karate: The Series!

The Release of Matrixing Karate

Good week!
It’s only Monday,
and I have already had a work out
and
released a five volume encyclopedia.
Not bad for a Monday morning,
eh?

Well, maybe I haven’t completely released it.
But I have started.
And this is not
The Ultimate Karate Encyclopedia,
which came out last month.
This is…

MATRIXING KARATE: THE SERIES

Yep.
I rewrote Matrix Karate,
expanded the single volume on the course,
into five books.
Put more complete instructions in them,
detailed all the techniques of the matrixes,
and all sorts of other stuff.

Now,
if you have been a long time student of Matrixing,
you might not need it.
But,
if you have been wondering,
scared you’ll get taken advantage of
by an internet charletan…grin.
Then here you go.
Easy,
bite sized pieces.
More complete descriptions.
More details.
A whole new media to spread the word.

First book is out,
Matrixing Karate: White Belt.
But it’ll probably be a few hours till it shows up on Amazon.
If you know your way around createspace,
you might be able to find it,
but…probably Tuesday morning
it’ll be somewhere on Amazon.

And,
of course,
as soon as it shows up
I’ll have links to it
from my websites.

And,
over the next couple of weeks I’ll release the remaining books.

Now,
Matrixing Karate: White Belt,
deals with basics.
Some people think they know their basics,
good for them.
But I’ll tell you this,
after almost fifty years in the martial arts
I don’t worry about learning new techniques,
I just work on polishing my basics,
and this book should change the way
a lot of people look at basics.
I mean,
there’s a lot of poorly understood information out there,
and this book will fix it.

The fact of the matter is,
there are no new and better techniques,
there are only better basics.
Heck,
techniques won’t work
without better basics.
That’s the total truth.

Now,
the real matrixing starts with the next books in the series.
Green, brown and black belt matrixing levels
deal with making matrixes and applying them.
This will enable you to analyze techniques
so that you thoroughly understand them,
and know all techniques,
so there are no missing pieces
in your martial arts education.

Now,
I have missed the last newsletter,
that is because I was knee deep in this stuff.
There is a TREMENDOUS amount of work
that goes into publishing a book,
let alone five of them.

So,
sorry about that,
but I think you’ll understand.

So,
that’s it,
check it out on Amazon
probably tuesday morning,
and I’ll let you know
whent he other books come out.

Now,
Got to run,
I’m still knee deep here,
but I knew I had to write a newsletter
and let people know
I hadn’t dropped off the face of the earth,
and that good things were really happening.

Have yourself a GREAT work out!

Al