The Zen of the Martial Arts

Good morning!
I’m going to go all zen on you today,
so check out now if you think philosophy is garbage.

It’s funny,
probably the best definition for philosophy I ever heard
came from Bill Cosby.
He was asking the question,
‘Why is there air.’
All the philosophy professors would ask this
and that would lead them into a discussion of the cosmos
and God,
and life and everything.
And he said it’s a dumb question,
Just ask any coach and they’ll tell you
‘Air is so we can fill up balls.’

With that bit of droll humor in mind,
zen is supposed to be very philosophical.
It isn’t,
but we’ll just let that sit for a while.

So when I was about 15 or 16
my brother comes home and he tells me a joke.
He asks:
‘What is the difference between a duck?’
I look at him blankly,
it makes. no sense,
I shake my head
and he says:

‘One leg is both the same.’

And he walks off laughing hysterically.
Idiot brother.
Probably doesn’t even know what a ball is for.

But here’s the funny thing.
When I think back over my life,
that 73 long years that went by in a snap,
I don’t remember the jokes I heard.
I must have heard THOUSANDS of jokes!
But none of them were worth remembering.
But that joke about the duck,
and one leg being both the same,
it is vivid,
seared into me.
and I can’t forget it.
So my brother’s joke has had incredible impact on my life.
Which makes it the greatest joke of all time.
At least for me.
And,
it has zen implications.

After all,
the most famous zen saying of all time
is probably
‘what is the sound of one hand clapping.’
Tell me that doesn’t make as much sense as:

‘what’s the difference between a duck?’

And,
let’s translate that zen ‘joke’ to the martial arts.

‘What is the difference between a martial artist?’
And there are two very distinct un-zenlike answers.
And the answers,
applied to life,
result in two types of people.

The first type of person is one who needs to be entertained.
The second type of person is one who doesn’t need to be entertained.

And what the heck does that mean?
A lot, thank you, and here we go…

People are either creators,
or they are created.

People either search out something to entertain them,
or they produce.

This isn’t an absolute,
of course.
It’s one of those scales like:

to the degree that one produces
to that degree he doesn’t need to be entertained.
And,
to the degree that one is entertained,
to that degree he doesn’t produce.

I look at kids today,
needing to be entertained by a brainless video game.
and I would be disgusted,
except I used to bury my head in a book.
I needed to be entertained.

Where this would have gone I don’t know,
because I discovered martial arts,
and,
as you all know,
the martial arts seriously warps personalities.

But,
instead of needing to be entertained,
to read the latest book,
to go to the latest movie,
to waste time chattering over the latest stupid joke,
I started working.

I worked out,
learning and doing forms,
repeating them endlessly,
looking for some odd concept called…’perfection.’
Could I turn the hand right,
could I snap the foot perfectly,
could I perceive the attack before it came.

It didn’t happen fast,
it was more like a slow cook,
but I stopped needing to be entertained.
I started creating.
Instead of reading books
I started writing books.
Instead of wanting to be absorbed by a movie,
I wanted to be absorbed by a form.
Instead of needing to be entertained,
I entertained myself…by producing.
I became a totally and utterly different human being.

What a weird metamorphoses.
Hopefully you now understand the point,
you see the zen of it all.
Don’t play,
work.
The end of life comes too fast
and you need to hurry to get everything done,
but you won’t get anything done
if you’re sitting around trying to be entertained.

And that’s the difference between a duck.

have a great work out!
Al

!!!OBLIGATORY ADVERTISEMENT!!!
Go to…

http://monstermartialarts.com/matrixing-kenjutsu/

Stop being entertained by fake movies
and learn how to use a real weapon

And don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

BTW
I’m always pushing my novels,
did you know I write other stuff?
If you want to know the truth about government,
why we have riots and why idiots keep getting into office,
why the government seems to do the exact wrong thing
almost ALL the time…
then check out:

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!

http://monstermartialarts.com/matrixing-kenjutsu/

Newsletter 1034

The Proper Mental Attitude in the Martial Arts

Good morning!

I haven’t written for a while,

I’m finishing up a REALLy cool book.

It’s a complete matrixing of traditional karate.

Hope to open some eyes.

So I’ll let you know when it is ready…

The proper mental attitude.

Well, 

that’s an interesting pickle.

First,

there’s humility.

But under the humility you want to be

the most arrogant sucker

this side of suckerville!

Simply, you have to believe in yourself.

You have to believe in the arts,

and in the magnitude of your own soul.

Can’t get where you’re going without that mental attitude.

But,

the proper mental attitude I am speaking of

is actually a frame of mind,

a discipline,

a place where your head goes when you do martial arts.

When you read a really good book

time passes without notice.

You are just engrossed in another universe

to the exclusion of this universe.

That’s how you should be when you practice the martial arts.

When I go work out

I judge the value of my work out

by how well I adhere to this attitude.

Am I sunk into the form,

so engrossed in checking angles,

imagining techniques,

extending my sphere of energy,

or am I…thinking.

Distracted by thoughts,

tossing myself out of the form

by letting my mind wander.

Now,

the funny thing is

you have to control your life,

get rid of distractions

or it’s hard to find this place.

If you are thinking about work,

or a relationship,

or something else,

then you aren’t doing karate,

you aren’t developing the correct mental attitude.

So before I work out

I try to make sure my life is calm and content.

No problems.

Everything either solved,

or on a list to be solved at an appropriate time

(the next day as soon as possible)

It’s funny,

because sometimes you need the martial arts

to attain this mental attitude,

but sometimes you need to handle life

before you can handle your mental attitude

and really sink into the pure bliss

that is the state of real martial arts.

A catch 22, you know?

Well, that’s it.

Simple, eh?

Yet one of the more difficult things you will ever do.

The obligatory ad…

check out:

Nine Square Diagram Boxing

It’s really worth it.

Now…

have a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’m always pushing my novels,

did you know I write other stuff?

If you want to know the truth about government,

why we have riots and why idiots keep getting into office,

why the government seems to do the exact wrong thing

almost ALL the time…

then check out:

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!

https://9squarediagramboxing.wordpress.com

The Right Way of Making Chi in the Martial Arts

I should probably call this the ‘Al Case’ way
of making chi in the martial arts
I haven’t seen anybody else talk about this,
which is one of the great mysteries.
What I do is that simple.

The body is a machine.
A machine has to be attached to the ground.
Then the machine must have a dynamo of sorts.
Think windmill,
then translate that to the body
and you have it.

Of course,
there is more to it.

When you do Tai Chi this is what you are doing,
unfortunately,
the Chinese didn’t have such things as logic and physics,
so we get ‘mystical’ terms
which are really just rooted in the science of their day.
Instead of talking about ‘grounding’ your energy
as you would in electricity,
you get ‘rooting’
as you would for a society that is more agrarian.

I know,
weird,
and probably a bit misleading,
but accurate,
especially if you do understand something of physics,
and are willing to apply it to the body.

So your stance becomes the ‘grounding’ mechanism.
You sink your weight,
shift between stances,
and the energy goes up one leg and down the other.
passing through the tan tien,
and out to the arms,
and when you ‘windmill your arms,
make circles,
and make ‘energetical connections,’
the chi starts to build.

But here’s a better way to understand it.
Make a circle with your thumb and forefinger.
Have somebody pull it apart.
They do it easily.
Now draw a circle on your hand,
making a circle of the thumb and forefinger.
Suddenly your hand is strong enough to resist great force.
You’ve just used energy.
Not muscles,
which are up in your forearm,
but the idea of energy running around and around your hand.

Okay,
now imagine that for your whole body.
When you do a move
you imagine energy running through your whole body.
Maybe you make a circle of your arms,
easy to do in,
say,
the first move of Pinan Two,
or Pinan Four.
Now imagine the energy running in a circle
around your arms.
Bingo.

Now,
you have to change that concept for different moves.
My favorite is to add a circle to the move,
and pretend I am drawing circles in the air,
and making my arms into a dynamo.

While I don’t talk about this energy,
this way of making energy,
in the Chiang Nan book and course,
that is the place where
I probably best demonstrate the concept.
Monkey Boxing is probably the art I use it the most
and specifically for combat.
But Chiang Nan is more concise for the concept.

Here’s the link…

Chiang Nan

I hope you have fun with this concept,
it is a wonderful way to start to understand
all those mystical Chinese arts.

Okay,
guys and gals,
Have a superpendous summer of martial arts!
Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

BTW
I wrote a whomper stomper of a novel called

The Bomber’s Story

It’s all about who owns the United States,
filled with conspiracy and shootings and riots and…
there’s even some martial arts woven into the plot!

http://monstermartialarts.com/how-to-translate-karate-into-tai-chi-chuan/

The Secret of the Martial Arts

Do you know why Karate

and other martial arts

make better people?

This is an interesting question because people say

it’s the discipline.

It makes for virtues like patience,

and all that sort of stuff.

The truth is simpler,

yet more difficult.

You face an opponent

you focus on him,

try to exclude the world

and all distractive thoughts

and focus on him.

Now,

you must reach him.

You have the target fixed,

and you slap or block his hands out of the way

and touch him.

So you are engaged in a very intense project

slowing the mind down

getting rid of distractions

achieving your target.

To understand what this means

you have to isolate each of these three things

and ask what they really mean.

To slow the mind down

means to get it out of the way.

You must perceive without the mind getting in the way.

If you can get rid of the mind completely,

you are there.

The mind is just a bunch of memories.

Memories intruding on your awareness

when you are focusing on a target

are just distractions.

That’s one.

To get rid of distractions

is to eliminate things that get in the way

that are generated

from the outside world.

For instance,

you are focusing on a guy

and somebody yells at you.

You should be able to ignore the yell

and continue to focus.

That’s two.

To achieve your target.

To get what you want.

That’s three.

If you don’t understand that you

are trying to get what you want in life

there’s no way I can explain this to you.

So,

you practice karate,

or kung fu,

and you learn to ignore distractions of the mind.

No,

I am not going to go get drunk tonight.

I am going to work out.

That’s discipline.

And that grows into…

I can get this job done.

I can finish this class.

I can handle all the problems that life hands me

And you practice more,

and you ignore distractions from the world.

“No, Joe, I’m not going drinking.

I’ve got to finish this job.”

and that grows into

I can get this job done.

I can finish this class.

I can handle all the problems that life hands me

And you practice some more,

and you get that A in class,

you get that job,

you finish that project,

You achieve what you want.

So,

aside from being able to beat somebody up,

which is a very minor ability,

you become a person

who cannot be swayed from achieving things in life.

While the rest of the world blunders about,

gets drunk and gets DUIs,

while the rest of the world grouses

about how the boss in unfair,

or the wife picks on them…

you get what you want.

People think you are being disciplined,

but that is only the face

of your intense personality

that doesn’t settle for less.

Now,

here’s the bad news…

a system that has been diluted,

weakened or combined with other arts,

is harder to use for growing

the type of person I am talking about.

And most systems are this way.

Most systems are put togethers,

or influenced by other arts,

and it becomes more difficult to achieve

what I am talking about.

You want to get where you’re going?

Fast?

You want the type of personality I am talking about?

You need to take the distractions out of your art.

You need to strip off the other influences.

You need to get rid of poser techniques,

time wasting exercises,

drills that don’t have much to do with 

what I am talking about.

And,

I would be severely remiss

if i didn’t point out

that that is the whole point of matrixing.

And you can matrix any art,

and return it to a pure state,

but Matrix Karate has the skeletal structure

upon which you can hang the meat

of any other art,

and lots of stuff

besides the martial arts.

It is a system of logic that can be used

in any number of ways.

Okay,

I know,

that’s all I talk about.

Sheesh!

Can’t i get a life?

Well,

tell the truth,

the reason I keep doing this

is because I don’t allow inner distractions,

or outer distractions

to get in the way of me achieving my goals.

Okay,

here’s the link…

Matrix Karate

Have a funtastic work out!

have yourself a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I wrote a whomper stomper of a novel called

The Bomber’s Story

check it out.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

Newsletter 1031The Secret of Karate Bunkai

We actually didn’t all them bunkai,
we call them ‘Promise Fights,’
or ‘form applications,’
or simply techniques.
But the real description was…

‘Promise Fights.’

It was explained to me that
they were the ‘promise of a fight.’
It was decade before I figured out
what the phrase actually meant.

Before there is action there must be thought.
Action does not occur before thought,
action cannot occur at all without thought.
Period.
The actual word would be…

‘postulate’

A postulate is the thought before the action.
So without a postulate
there is no action.

And,
to drill those techniques until you are sweating blood
is to make the postulate work.
It is to make the idea work,
is to make the concept work.
It is the postulate…
or it is
the promise that your technique will work.
The more you drill
the more your promise will come true.

Now,
a couple of things.
If the technique is flawed the promise won’t come true.
If the technique is a poser the promise won’t come true.
If the technique is inappropriate,
poorly put together,
or mechanically or dynamically unsound…
the promise won’t come true.

But,
if the technique is correct and appropriate,
if the technique matrixed…it will come true.

But,
all conditions being met,
this where the magic starts.
Endless drilling = martial magic,
and in the most extreme sense of the word.

I remember one time I struck a fellow in the face,
pulled my punch,
didn’t touch him,
and he staggered away holding his chin.
My promise,
my postulate was so strong,
he thought he had been hit.
I had actually changed his reality with a thought.

That takes a LOT of drilling
with the correct techniques.

We took our techniques form the forms.
Basic techniques from pinan one through pinan five.
Up to green belt we had about 20 techniques,
real basic things,
block and counter.
We drilled those until we
NEVER HESITATED!
And never missed our target,
never flubbed a block.
We would do the technique twice on each side.
If we made a mistake we would do the technique
more than twice.
Sometimes a lot more.

Come the green belt test
we would run through the promise fights
in about five minutes.
And that was considered slow.
And we were judged for perfect form.
We had to have perfect form in the middle of a fight,
and every technique was considered a fight…
with ourselves,
could we meet the demands of discipline.

Think about it,
ten seconds for two attacks,
ten seconds for us to attack our partner twice,
20 seconds and we had done one promise fight.
20 promise fights times 20 seconds,
400 seconds
6 1/2 minutes
No hesitations.
You can’t hesitate in a fight.

Okay, brown belt we had maybe 50 techniques,
fifty promise fights or ‘bunkai.’
20 seconds for both partners to get through each technique
times 50 = 1000 seconds.
Or…17 minutes.

Sometimes the instructor
would have us do just the techniques
from a specific form or two
and we would really focus on getting things perfect and fast.

Black belt we had about 70 techniques.
1400 seconds,
or…23 minutes.

About the time we were ready for black belt testing
you would see fellows sweating blood after class for hours
trying to get the promise fights into the required time frame.
Once the black belt test started
the instructor would just sit there and watch,
and you NEVER wanted him to make a check on his clipboard.

A green belt test you could make a few errors,
same with the brown belt test.
There were NO errors allowed on the black belt test.

Do you know what kind of mental focus is required to achieve this?
Superhuman is the only word that comes to mind.

And we did it in about three years.
And we ended up being totally intuitive.
Simply, we were not allowed to think about what we were doing,
so we didn’t,
and the only choice we had,
the only result
was intuition.
We had to know what we were doing
with no hesitation.
You can’t hesitate in a fight.

Now,
if this seems brutal,
it actually wasn’t.
It was just demanding,
and done on a gradient,
first you only have to do 20 techniques,
then you only have to do 50 techniques,
then 70 is reachable.

So that is the secret of the bunkai,
of the form application,
of the…promise fight.

Here’s the obligatory ad…

Matrix Karate

Matrix Karate will help you understand the martial arts
so that a black belt test will be easy.

Have a funtastic work out!
have yourself a great work out!
Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

BTW
Have you read ‘The Bomber’s Story?’
It is the ultimate conspiracy novel,
tells you who owns the US and the world,
and there’s even a little martial arts in it!

THE BOMBER’S STORY

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

Will the Real Karate Stand up?

Got an interesting email.

Fellow asked me which version

of the basic forms in matrixing

are the real ones.

The reason is that there are small differences

in the forms over the years.

And, he’s right.

So, what’s my excuse?

Aw, heck. I don’t have an excuse.

I just kept tweaking and tweaking.

The first version is going to be just as good as the last version.

So how can I say that about a science?

Because there is an art to the science.

I don’t break certain rules, 

the body has lines of energy,

the body must be mounted on a base,

and so on.

But I do things like tweak entries,

explore different set ups,

that sort of thing.

And I expect you to do the same.

Back in the fifties

Gichin Funakoshi made the remark

that he didn’t recognize Karate as it was done,

that it bore no resemblance to the art he had been taught.

Well, of course.

Young turks in the colleges took it and ran with it.

Power was more important to them.

To an old man like Funakoshi

technique would have been important.

This would result in a MASSIVE shift

in how forms and techniques were done.

And, 

I have said this:

that the karate I see in schools, on youtube, and so on,

bears NO resemblance to the art I was taught.

And it is obvious why,

I have spoken of this many times.

Karate has been adapted for tournaments,

for politics and children and vested interest.

Now,

ideally,

once people are done exploring the arts,

playing with this concept of styles,

once they undo the silliness of politics,

of being watered down for children,

and so on,

they will reach the same conclusion I did.

All martial arts are the same.

The physics of the body work only one way,

and so a body will eventually be tweaked to what works,

and what works is physics.

So much for the argument of which art is better.

They are all good,

but only as good as the man who

understands physics can make them.

All right,

One of the last versions of classical Karate I did was…

Temple Karate

Check it out.

It isn’t the perfect matrixed forms,

but it is classical karate

as seen through a physics filter.

Should make you think.

Okay

have yourself a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’m always pushing my novels,

did you know I write other stuff?

If you want to know the truth about government,

you will find some startling matrixing going on in

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!

The Rather Nifty Pubic Punch

An interesting type of Punch

I’m not much into hitting pressure points.
Oh,
they work,
but the skill required,
and the time required to master,
better spent perfecting your punch,
the angles of your form,
etc.

But,
there are certain angles which I pursue.
Passing a punch can I put a finger
on a fellow’s shoulder and take him down?
Can I body bump somebody so they fly away?
And,
one of my favorites,
the pubic punch.

You block,
then you place your fist on his waist
POINTING DOWNWARD…
and you push down.
His legs collapse,
just like they have no muscle at all,
and he falls all the way to the ground.

If you examine this move,
it’s almost like a low block,
which tells people that a block
can be a hell of a lot more than a block.

Now
A BIG AND HUGE WARNING.
Be careful.
Don’t punch,
don’t cause impact.
The top of the leg is a small bone
that fits into the hip ‘socket.’
If you break this,
we are talking BIG surgery
and 6 months before any walking.
So you don’t punch down,
you gently push down.
Unless,
of course,
you really want the guy’s lunch money.

I can actually use this in freestyle.
I’ve have used it.
Very difficult,
requires exact positioning,
and you have to know what the guy is going to do
before you do it.

And,
I call this
‘THE PUBIC PUNCH.’

But,
the good thing,
once you have this technique down
the skill required offers itself to other techniques.

Anyway,
try it,
let me know if it works for you.
And let me toss the obligatory ad in here.

There are a lot of cool things like this
in Tai Chi Chuan.
Tell the truth,
I ransacked TCC for techniques
to use in Karate.
Quite interesting,
very beneficial.
So,
here’s the course that shows
all sorts of subtle moves
that will really work in freestyle.

Five Army Tai Chi Chuan

Now…
have yourself a great work out!
Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

BTW
I’m always pushing my novels,
did you know I write other stuff?
If you want to know the truth about government,
you will find some startling matrixing going on in

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!

The Essence of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune

I wrote

a couple of newsletters ago

about the essence of Bruce Lee’s Art,

Jeet Kune Do.

Let me expand just a bit on that.

Bruce was concerned with the initial point of contact,

the entry into the fight.

So he figured out that there were five places

where you could ‘attack an attack.’

And that one concept

really sums up

The Way of the Intercepting Fist,

right?

You can interrupt an attack before it starts,

you can stop an attack on the way in.

You can attack and attack at the point of contact.

You can attack when the attacker is on the way out.

You can beat an attacker after the attack.

Obviously, each one of these points

has certain considerations.

Number five, for instance,

attack after it is over.

That’s like saying start anew,

but i fully understand Bruce putting it

with the five points of attack.

Now,

his attack could be summed up 

with three steps,

kicking, punching and kneeing/elbowing.

So his basic drill was

kicking,

punching the pads on the way in

and closing for the knee elbow.

Now this is simplicity,

and it is genius for its simplicity.

So where do I differ from him?

I analyzed lots of arts like he did,

but I decided the essence of the martial arts

was not to obsess on attacking.

Yes,

you have to throw the punch

or do the throw,

but you should see it coming

before it happens.

This idea,

seeing something before it happens,

was a product of the karate style I studied.

It’s very zen.

I often wonder 

if Bruce had studied Karate,

I mean in a ritualistic setting,

he would have come up with similar idea.

Maybe.

But the point is this,

I decided that the time to handle the attack 

is when it reaches a certain physical point,

and that point would be when it enters ‘slapping’ range.

I structured Monkey Boxing around this idea.

Don’t charge in a fight,

rely on the sla[ping distance.

Part of it was that I’m 6 foot and 200 pounds,

so I encountered smaller guys

who were faster.

When I stopped trying to get them,

and relaxed and waited for them,

then I started winning.

I was no longer the big ‘sitting duck,’

but a guy who’s punches they ran into.

Now,

obviously,

there are many different ways

of looking at this matter of fighting.

Bruce isn’t right or wrong,

neither am I.

We’re just people with strategies,

tactics,

and preferred methods.

And the real point is that you

have to look into each art

and play with the techniques

until you understand the concepts,

then put what works for you together.

The martial arts are not a set in stone methodology.

They are a changing, adapting tactic.

Now,

obligatory ad…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/3a-blinding-steel-matrixing-weapons/

My method.

amongst all my other studies and methods.

It sets you up for weapons, hands and feet and takedowns.

Check it out.

Okay,

one last thing…

I get wins from people all the time,

and ometimes I like to share them,

hope somebody else’s wins 

can inspire oyu.

So here is Justin Harris…

I just had a hell of a workout with my Matrix Karate forms plus House 1, House 2, and Moon form. The interesting thing about a matrixed form is how well it stays in memory. I hadn’t practiced these in a while but I busted em out today and let me tell you they are so natural and intuitive, they just flowed right out of me. I can’t remember many classical forms I learned years ago. But the interesting thing is that the logic of a matrixed and organized form sticks in the mind and body better than random stuff. Not saying classical forms are bad, I do quite a few of them sometimes but logic and a clear sense of how to make the art True makes things so much easier. 

Many thanks!

Sifu Justin Harris

Dragon Palm Tai Chi and Kung Fu

Thanks, Justin,

I appreciate the kind words,

and I love it when Matrixing works for people.

Now…everybody…

have a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’m always pushing my novels,

did you know I write other stuff?

If you want to know the truth about government,

you will find some startling matrixing going on in

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!

A NEW MASTER INSTRUCTOR!

Congrats to the latest Master Instructor…

Mr. Francisco Sierra de la Rosa

Here’s his win…

In my case, being a person who already practiced martial arts before, both Chinese and Japanese styles, the concepts I was looking for were not so much technical concepts as the possibility of learning elements related to teaching, body structure, and the science behind the movement of the body when practicing martial arts.

I consider that in the course there are really useful and important tools when it comes to martial arts and their application, very important is the lesson on grounding and how it affects the movement of our body and the ability of this to relate to an opponent.

Another concept very well treated in the course is the explanation to the student of concepts such as the generation of energy and the importance of dantien … or at least a simple way to understand the Chinese teachings on how force works.

I consider that one of the most interesting elements that I have learned is the importance of angles in martial arts, it is true that this concept I had dealt with before, almost without realizing it, but not with this clarity, applicable to different situations.

In short, if we are able to combine our physical structure, with the world around us, we find the practical application of lines, angles, circles and elements that undeniably build the world, the result of this I consider these concepts of the most important during learning in the course, and applicable in all systems that someone works, with their differences and details of each art.

Thank you, Francisco, and well done!

He’s really pointed out three crucial items.

teaching, body structure and…

the science behind body motion.

Teaching is easy to understand,

take something from your mind

and put it into your student’s.

But…so few can do it.

Body structure is another bug a boo.

It is crucial,

but nobody understands the six secrets

that will make ANY martial arts technique work.

The big item, however,

is what is behind motion.

Would you like to know what I was thinking,

when I wrote about 

what is behind the Martial Arts?

It’s real simple,

but unless you get it,

you don’t understand what is behind motion.

The best way to explain this is this…

You are looking through binoculars.

Who is looking?

You.

The binoculars are but a tool.

Okay, you are looking through your eyes.

Who is looking?

You.

The eyes are but a tool.

Now,

I have said everything,

that is the secret.

And to understand the martial arts,

the universe and life, 

all you have to do is understand one thing:

Who are you?

Okay, obligatory ad…

The Master Instructor Course.

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

All the secrets

easy to understand,

easy to teach.

You’re welcome.

HAVE A GREAT WORK OUT!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’m always pushing my novels,

did you know I write other stuff?

If you want to know the truth about government,

you will find some startling matrixing going on in

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!

Getting Rid of Reaction Time

I had the most interesting letter the other day,

the fellow described his problem like this…

‘When I freestyle

these young guys dart in and punch,

then get out before I can get them.’

Now,

who among you hasn’t encountered this?

And it points up to a truth of the martial arts.

The purpose of the martial arts

is to deliver a force or flow

without receiving a force or flow.

In other words,

dart in and hit,

then get the heck out of Dodge

before you get hit.

Now,

what is the cure?

I know,

a lot of people will say,

‘train harder!’

And they are right,

but there is something else you can do,

that will make your training more efficient

and get you there faster.

Consider what time is.

I think I mentioned this a newsletter or two ago,

but…

TIME IS DISTANCE

Specifically,

time is used to measure distance,

or how fast you can go from point A to point B.

So these guys who are darting in and hitting

have ‘faster distance.’

I know.

It’s weird,

but here is the secret.

When people launch strikes,

they punch to where the person is,

and that is a HUGE mistake.

They should be punching where the person will be.

Think about it,

if you punch to where he is,

by the time your fist

travels from point A to point B,

the opponent has moved from point B to point C.

Your fist whistles through the space

where the fellow was.

And he hits you,

darts out,

and…sheeesh!

He gets the point

and you get the frustration.

Now,

let’s look at this problem a little.

The problem is not that he’s slow,

or that he needs oodles of training,

it is that he is punching to

where the fellow is when he gets hit by him,

and by the time his punch gets there

the guy is gone.

This is called reaction time.

And the secret of the martial arts is that you must train

until you don’t have it.

You move when he moves,

not after he moves,

and that means not to where he was

when he punched you.

I know,

it seems complex.

But if you think about it for a while

it turns really simple.

So here is what this fellow should be doing,

anticipate where his attacker is going to be

and punch there.

Anticipate.

Ah,

what a wonderful world.

What it means,

the function here,

is that you punch when the guy is moving forward.

Not when he sinks his weight and punches,

and certainly not when he is darting out.

Now,

this is incredibly simple,

but it hinges on something that nobody does.

Nobody actually looks at what they are doing.

They get in the game,

they build reaction time,

and they don’t lose reaction time

by…LOOKING.

Watch some people freestyle.

Study them, and see if you can tell

when they are going to strike.

Do they bounce a certain way to set up?

Do they dip their shoulders?

Do they sink their weight?

Do they shift the focus of their eyes?

There are a THOUSAND tells (hints, clues)

as to when a fellow is going to move.

So if you take the time to LOOK at somebody,

and learn what the ‘tells’ are,

then you can punch when they move in,

and they will,

at best,

run into your fist.

At worst,

they will become gunshy.

Remember,

they are darting in because they don’t want to get hit,

which is to say they are scared of getting hit.

On some level,

they are scared,

and you attacking without waiting

is going to rock their boat.

And,

a last word on this…

watch a boxing match,

or an MMA match where the opponents are into punching.

Study the moments

before the knock out comes.

Watch,

and you will see the guy who is going to lose

get tired,

or in some manner…

stop looking.

That’s the proof, right there.

And,

where did I get this idea?

From freestyling for over 50 years,

and I wrote a matrix for timing,

which is a matrix for distance,

in Matrix Kung Fu.

But the course is not about time and distance,

it is about jointlocks and takedowns and such.

But when I put these things together

I was faced with the problem of developing entries,

and that’s what started me on the path

of figuring out what to do 

with the simple equation…

time is distance.

Okay,

here’s the obligatory link…

MONKEY BOXING (MATRIX KUNG FU)

And,

have yourself a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’m always pushing my novels,

did you know I write other stuff?

If you want to know the truth about government,

you will find some startling matrixing going on in

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!