Martial Arts I Study after 55+ Years!!

Happy Summer!

You should set a goal,

choose an art,

and learn it this summer.

Let me be specific in what I study,

the martial arts I practice.

I get this question every once in a while,

and if you’re not not interested,

pass on by and I’ll talk to you next month.

I do Sanchin.

I don’t do the rock hard version

where people beat on you,

where you learn to ‘take it.’

The reason for this is that 

there are two sides to the martial arts,

avoid…or get tough.

I prefer to mix the two,

seek a type of harmony between them.

So the Sanchin I practice I will…

…sink the weight

…turn the hips

…execute a slap and grab motion

…and punch.

And,

I use a matrix of blocks

in applying the slap grab,

and develop the slap grab

from strike to lock to takedown.

This makes the art totally workable.

Now,

I play with other forms.

I practice with weapons 

and I do other arts,

but…

Sanchin is my gold.

It gives me breathing,

dynamic tension,

grounding,

loose-tight,

a whole body,

energy,

and so many other things.

For the soft side of the art

I do the material from…

The Last Martial Arts Book:

Nine Square Diagram Boxing

It includes concepts from Tai Chi and Pa Kua Chang,

and follows the matrixing logic of Sanchin.

It is a complete ‘soft style’ art.

And,

to round out the art,

and to make sure I  can use everything I study,

I do…

Rhythmic Freestyle,

lop sau (aș originated by me and described in book/video)

sticky hands (from wing chun)

Push hands from Tai Chi chuan.

And,

of course…

freestyle.

This is the actual training routine I do.

Every day.

Every day.

This routine is totally defined in two books,

How to Fix Karate (comes in two volumes)

and

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

All the instructions are in there.

including instructions on what the forms really mean,

how to make the applications work,

complete instructions on matrixing,

and so much more.

I wrote those books so I would have a path

should I choose to come back to this planet

after I die.

It’s the best I could do.

And, I should mention a couple of things.

There are two versions of The Last Martial Arts Book.

One of them has five hours of video instruction.

And,

How to Fix Karate has hours of video instruction.

And,

you shouldn’t discount the other books and courses I’ve done.

I sincerely hope that somebody gets excited

and starts researching,

seeing how I came up with this stuff.

Research is how you go deep in your understanding.

Anyway,

I thought I would mention all this

and encourage you to

learn a totally different martial art this summer!

Have a great work out!

Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

Want a FREE Martial Arts Video Course?

Good morning!

Want a FREE course?

Check out this offer

http://monstermartialarts.com/free-course/

Now then, let’s get to the good stuff.

Want to be real smart in the art?

Have you ever considered playing chess?

It’s an oriental game, a lot of martial arts are oriental, and there are some incredibly smart comparisons between chess and martial arts.

I was reminded of this because my wife wanted me to teach her how to play.

So we broke out the chess board  and I went over some simple concepts for her.

There are eight pieces (plus pawns) You must learn what each piece does…and how it relates to other pieces.

The first major strategy is to control the center four squares on the board. You can’t win if you sit back in your own space, you have to go through the center (usually) to get to the opponent’s area.

There are only two questions you must ask yourself. Who is trying to get me? And, how can I get them? You ask these questions before you touch a piece, and you must stay your hand until everything makes sense.

The board is a matrix. If I was going to teach a computer  to play chess I would matrix each piece’s potential of motion.

If two people play perfect games white would always win.

OKAY…How does this relate to the martial arts?

There are eight basic blocks and you must learn what each block does, and how it relates to other blocks (moves).

Controlling the center four squares is like positioning the elbows precisely between you and your opponent so you can extend, retract, guide or block the incoming attack.

You must ask yourself what weapon is coming towards you, and position yourself so your weapons are at advantage.

The direction of attacks creates a matrix, and the defense is defined by a matrix.

If I study hard and analyze all motion I enter an intuitive state. I will be at cause, and I will see anything he does before he does it. (mushin no shin—Mind of no mind)

Do you see the analogies between chess and martial arts?

And, by the way, my wife wanted to learn chess because she saw ‘The Queen’s Gambit,’ a series on netflix.

If you watch it, when the girl begins to see chess pieces on the ceiling you will understand that the mind doesn’t figure this stuff out, the human being does, without the distraction of the mind.

Now, don’t forget to click on

http://monstermartialarts.com/free-course/

By the way, this newsletter is going out only through blogs.

Sign up at MonsterMartialArts.com.

Have a great work out!

Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

A Simple Martial Art Work Out!

A Funtastic day for doing your forms!

No bull!

Before we get going

remember,

it’s a BOGO month!

Buy One and Get One (free)

So head over to the Monster and pick an art.

Buy the art,

then email me at aganzul@gmail.com,

and tell me what art you would like for your freebie.

And,

the newsletter will be disappearing

at the end of this month.

Sign up for the blog at

https://alcase.wordpress.com

or

http://monstermartialarts.com

Check your email and see if this newsletter shows up,

if it doesn’t,

you need to sign up.

Now,

let’s go…

These are crazy times we live in.

People rioting in the streets,

mass murders,

criminals being encouraged by the courts

to rob, pillage, steal…

and worse.

Even the cops go crazy some times!

There never has been a time

when you needed martial arts more.

Now,

if you’ve read my book on

‘The Science of Government,’

you know where this society is going,

and you need to learn all you can,

practice to make it work,

and stay away from crazy people.

So,

what do I recommend?

First,

if you’re hard core

and are going to do the martial arts 

for the rest of your life,

you don’t need this advise.

You understand that you should study everything,

select what uniquely works for you,

and create your own method of self defense,

and that you should practice 

for hours and hours

every single day.

But,

there are a lot of people

\who aren’t interested in that immersion.

For them,

I recommend a basic course in Karate.

First,

build your muscles with body calisthenics.

Weights are good,

but body weight calisthenics are better.

You can argue with that at your leisure.

Second,

spend some time stretching.

Yoga is recommended.

Third,

get a bag and work on it.

A lot.

You need to feel the weight 

when you punch.

Fourth

Learn a few forms

and practice them.

BUT…

Fifth

learn Sanchin.

But not the way it is commonly taught.

I talk about this in some of my books, 

specifically

‘How to Fix Karate.’

Learn Sanchin,

but change the basic blocking move

that is repeated through the form

into a slap and a grab.

The slap/grab is more efficient,

as it is more efficient

to simply slap something aside,

then grab it.

It is intuitive,

and it reveals a basic weakness

that has been instilled into Karate.

Karate was developed by a woman.

Do you think she bashed forearms endlessly?

Or did she practice slipping and slapping,

and getting out of the way?

But for hundreds of years we guys

have been obsessed with bashing our arms.

Oh, I don’t disbelieve in blocking methods.

I think they are necessary,

so learn to block,

but focus on the slap grab method.

It’s in

‘How to Fix Karate’

if you want to see it,

and there are lots of hours of video

through links in the books.

But to continue…

Sixth

Get a few friends

and go over the applications

until they are second nature.

Seventh,

work on your freestyle.

When you can apply the techniques of the forms

during freestyle,

then you have mastered karate.

And that’s about it.

You don’t have to kill yourself,

although the more dedicated amongst us

are encouraged to do so.

You just have to set aside an hour every day

and be serious.

Here’s the link to the book with videos…

HOW TO FIX KARATE!

Make sure you get both volumes,

it’s a big, hefty piece of work!

Have a great work out!

Al

Remember to vote for Angelo!

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

Using Mental Ability in the Martial Arts!

A Funomenal day for a work out!

And I ain’t kiddin’!

Before we get into today’s headline,

remember,

the newsletter will be ending.

Go to

https://alcase.wordpress.com

if you want to keep getting it.

The sad truth is that though I like Mailchimp

(a newsletter distributing service)

they are getting too expensive for me.

So,

back to the basic wordpress blog format.

Okay, secrets of the universe time…

To understand what I’m saying

you’re going to have to realize that the mind

is just a bunch of memory.

You don’t use it.

It’s just a data base that,

ideally,

you just draw data from.

So what are you using?

There is the body

which is meat.

There is the mind,

which is memory.

Then there is you,

which is spirit.

Most people confuse mind with spirit.

Most people think the martial arts are about beating people up.

If you study a good martial art,

you‘ll be past that in a few months, 

maybe a year,

two at the most.

The first step is to learn how to stare at something

without being distracted.

I love a good candle.

But other things will work.

I don’t recommend objects like diamonds

or other such shapes.

You use this is in freestyle,

focusing on the opponent so that there is only him,

and you ignore distractions.

It took me a couple of decades,

but I ended up looking at an opponent

as if through a tunnel,

and I could then predict

what he was going to do.

it shouldn’t have taken so long,

but there were no instructions

and I had to figure this out for myself.

What is happening is that you are

unconfusing the blend of mind and spirit

and viewing the opponent without the distraction

of the body or the mind.

YOU are looking at the opponent,

and you are not confused by having to look 

through the meat mechanism of the eyeballs.

That is one way to use the mind in the martial arts.

The second way is different,

and there’s no way to train for it,

except through a rounded and intense

practice of the martial arts.

You are walking down the street

you suddenly step to the side,

don’t know why,

just do,

and the attack misses.

ESP,

sixth sense,

whatever.

Here is the weird thing,

you don’t get this unless you have

no concerns, no stress, no bothers.

If you are stressed

you don’t have this ability.

If you are not stressed,

just bopping through the world

happy as a clam,

it works every time.

I started having this ability

after I got my black belt.

Three and a half years in the Kang Duk Won.

When I did start doing this

I redoubled all my efforts

at living a stress free life.

I’ve lived in dangerous areas,

done dangerous things,

and I always made it through

by being happy,

greeting everybody cheerfully,

and staying away from a-holes.

But it all starts with dedicated practice,

intense practice of the arts.

And you MUST have a good art,

and your progress will be ten times faster

if you understand matrixing

and apply it to your martial arts.

I usually recommend an art at this point,

shameless advertising,

don’t you know,

but I’m having a BOGO month.

Buy One and Get One (free)

So head over to the Monster and pick an art.

Buy the art,

then email me at aganzul@gmail.com,

and tell me what art you would like for your freebie.

monstermartialarts.com

Have a great work out!

Al

Remember to vote for Angelo!

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6L5DSD1?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

BOGO Martial Arts!

What a fantastic morning!

Especially for a work out!

I haven’t said it recently,

but I’ve always felt that

a form is a like a prayer.

It just cleans out the body,

soothes the spirit,

and makes the mind sharp!

So,

you all know what a BOGO is, right?

That’s right.

Buy On Get One (free)

I’ve always felt that they should include the F

BOGOF.

But then people would read it like 

Bug Off!

So…BOGO.

If you buy a course,

you get another one 

(of equal or lesser value)

FREE!

The way it works is this…

you head over to MonsterMartialArts.com

and select two courses.

I don’t care which two

as long as they are about the same in price.

Then you order one of the courses,

and email me at aganzul@gmail.com

and tell me what your second course would be.

Email me if you have questions…

So,

why am I doing this?

Why am I giving stuff away free?

Because it’s the end of an era.

The newsletter,

in its present form,

is ending.

No big deal,

to get the newsletters all you have to do

is sign up for my blog

https://alcase.wordpress.com

You know, 

I’ve got over 1060 issues of the newsletter.

That’s a lot of newsletters.

I’m sure I’ve written a few clinkers,

maybe offended a few people,

but I’m pretty proud of the quantity and quality of the newsletter.

I’ll put out a couple of more issues,

just to let everybody know.

But,

right now,

remember this offer…

BOGO

Buy One and Get One (free)

monstermartialarts.com

Have a great work out!

Al

I beat you this month, Kumar.

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

Highest Level Martial Arts!

Good morning!

I’ve always felt that

Karate is like chess

and boxing is like checkers.

They are played on the same board,

or in the same ring.

In essence,

they are games that analyze motion.

The motion of the body

the motion of the limbs

the motion of the opponent

In boxing,

the motion is dedicated to 

collisions of the fist with flesh.

In karate,

and the majority of other martial arts

the motion is dedicated to 

collisions of the fist and foot with flesh,

entangling limbs to trip, lock, throw, etc.

Some arts specialize more than others.

But,

still,

it is all about the analysis of motion.

And here we come to something interesting.

The highest stages of martial art

are dedicated to non-motion.

Simply,

you analyze motion

until you enter a state of non-motion.

The easiest example of this

that I can think of.

You and Joe Blow are playing soccer.

You are racing for the ball.

You are running next to each other 

at the same speed,

and you notice that you and Joe are motionless

compared to the background moving behind you.

You and Joe are in your own world.

Strange things happen when you are in your own world.

Time can be manipulated.

Between the two of you

you can agree to a passage of time

that is different from

the passage of time in the ‘real’ universe.

Now,

if you practice long and hard

you can create this sense of time without Joe.

You just look at an opponent

and different rules apply.

Motion becomes different.

it becomes uniquely adjusted by one person

agreeing for both people.

Read that one again,

it’s so damned simple it’s difficult.

It took me decades to find that reality,

that different sense of time,

that place where my sense of self

was strong enough to affect

the universe outside myself.

So,

how do you find this place?

First,

meditate through forms.

Second,

meditate through form applications (techniques).

Third,

when you freestyle with somebody,

eschew violence for staring at them so hard

that you end up feeling like you are in a tube.

One day I asked my instructor

if he had ever had any mystical experiences.

He said that one day

he was working out

and was looking down a long tube at his opponent.

He said the tube felt like it was 60 feet long.

He could see everything before it happened.

He even knew what his opponent was thinking.

When I was in my fifties,

some twenty years ago,

I had that experience.

I only felt like I was about 10 feet from my opponent,

but it was a stable experience,

not a one time thing.

At that time I started doing a mental drill.

And I think it helped me.

I would do forms,

often with my eyes closed,

or in a dark room,

and visualize myself as fifty feet above myself;

looking down ast my body.

I would tell my body,

 way down there,

how to move.

This brought an incredible sense of peace to myself

and I truly felt like I was expanding

as a martial artist,

and as a human being.

Have fun with this.

And, have fun with this little video clip.

MB 114 slap grab options

And don’t forget to drop by

http://www.monstermartialarts.com

Have a great work out!

Al

Hi, Kumar.

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’

ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

And don’t forget to drop by

http://www.monstermartialarts.com

Have a great work out!

Al

Hi, Kumar.

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’

ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

Ban the Martial Arts Now!

Okay people!

Dust off your nunchuks

and carry them proudly on the street!

They are no longer illegal!

In 1974 New York politicians made nunchucks illegal. 

Which, of course, made people want to buy them even more.

And, if you’re a student of the 2nd amendment…

was an entirely unconstitutional law.

Fortunately,

people recognize that politicians are a danger to the country,

and that they should be outlawed,

and it is very easy to get nunchucks and practice with them.

That said, let’s talk about James Maloney.

In 1981 he was arrested for using nunchuks in a demonstration.

He graduated from law school in 1995

and set about challenging the law.

He’s 60 now, and he was successful.

Judge Pamela K Chen ruled that nunchuks

were protected under the second amendment.

WAY TO GO JAMES!

You know,

I am reminded of a bumper sticker.

When guns are outlawed,

only outlaws will have guns.

Yowza!

When nunchuks are outlawed

only outlaws will have nunchuks.

And…

when politicians are outlawed…

we will all be a little safer.

But,

I did not call you here to rant political!

But since you are here…heh heh…

IF…somebody breaks into your house,

and IF…they allow you one phone call,

and IF…the 911 operator isn’t too busy,

and IF…the bad guys don’t leave before the police get there

(five to ten minutes on a good day)

then you better pray you know martial arts.

And, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that

the best courses in the world

on how to do the martial arts

are at Monster Martial Arts.

It’s true.

Your Attacker will have a Weapon!

Snuck that ad right in there…didn’t I?

Okay, guys and gals,

time to hit the home dojo

and crank out the punches and kicks

and become a better person!

Have a great work out!

Al

Hi, Kumar.

Don’t forget to check out the interview

https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’

ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

The Method to My Martial Arts Madness!

When I was beginning my martial arts practice

my intent was to learn every single art I could.

These days I practice forgetting every martial art I can.

I can’t wait to see what people make of the above statement.

Without context, 

it sounds stupid, idiotic, and can be used against me.

But with context it is a different story.

Here is the context…

To understand the Martial Arts you need a large data base.

You need to understand how different arts do their kicks,

how combat strategies differ.

And so on.

But once the database is large enough

you have to focus on the techniques that work for you,

and the number of techniques that work

is surprisingly small.

So you go through a thousand techniques,

you become able to do them,

but some of them you are able to do better.

Some of them work better,

and work better in combat,

and work better with your body.

So you pare down the thousand techniques

into ten or twelve.

My ten or twelve techniques are based on specific concepts.

For instance

First concept = control the distance

Second concept = move left or right

Third concept = up or down

Fourth concept = open or close

Fifth concept = right weapon for right distance

Sixth concept = collapsing the distance

Here’s the breakdown:

control the distance so you can be the one attacking.

Move left or right so you can disrupt his analysis of distance.

Up or down refers to whether he will kick or punch, although it can be constructed differently.

Open or close refers to whether you can trap his limb or not.

(are you working on the outside of his arm, or the inside?)

Right weapon refers to if he is at punching distance

can you beat him at that distance,

or shift to a distance (weapon)

you can beat him at.

Collapsing the distance refers from going from 

kicking distance to punching distance

to knee distance to elbow distance

to grappling/takedown distance…

Ir shift to whatever distance is your strength and his weakness.

Pretty simple, eh?

So at first I practiced specific arts for specific concepts.

TKD for kicking

karate for punching

Wing chun for elbows,

aiki/jujitsu/etc

for grappling.

And so on.

I distilled all this from the breaking down of thousands of techniques,

And I broke everything down using matrixing.

And i found that individual arts are nothing but smaller modules,

and if you can study a half a dozen modules

you’ll have your dozen techniques or so.

Anyway,

that’s the way I did it.

Obligatory ad here…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’

ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

Have a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

The Martial Arts Night Before XMAS!

HanaKwanMass!

And, I’ve got my yearly 

‘Night Before Xmas’ rendition for you.

But,

first,

HanaKwanMass means

Hanukah plus Kwanza plus Christmas!

You might offend two thirds of everybody you meet,

but you get three times the gifts!

Yahoo!

Now,

in the interests of offending everybody everywhere

is the Martial Arts Night Before Christmas!

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

Twas the night before Christmas

I was in my shack

primed and ready

for the red fat attack.

my weapons were loaded

the windows were barred

all would be safe

while I was on guard

The chimney was decked

with concertina wire

I crouched by the couch

ready to fire.

I had an M60

with ammo to feed

I didn’t care

if the red fat did bleed.

A loaded shotgun

and grenades to spare

when red fat came down

I’d blow him out of there.

Throwing stars and knives

and a really long sword

and if that didn’t work

I knew a bad word.

Sitting there late

my eyes started to close

when suddenly I heard

a bunch of ho hos.

Off with the lights

safety off, too

I  watched the fire close

and heard a sound from the flu.

‘Ouch and gosh darn it

who put the wire here

those are my undies

starting to tear!’

Then a shower of soot

and a grunt and a groan

he landed in the fire

and gave out a moan.

He was rubbing the place

where the wire did tear

so I held down the trigger

and lead filled the air.

belt after belt

did I deal the red fat

he danced and he jumped

I knew he felt that!

then quicker than spit

I ran out of lead

but enough was enough

he had to be dead.

Boy was I shocked

to see him stand tall

stepping out of the fireplace

not bothered at all.

So I grabbed up the 16

to mow him down

he had to be hurting

cause I saw his big frown.

Then I was empty

and he came straight for me

I pulled out my knives

and sliced him with glee

He jumped to the side

moving real quick

disarmed my knives

with a well placed kick

then he dropped the big bag

he had on his shoulder

reached forth his arms

and his anger did smolder

He grabbed hard my neck

and held me up high

I tried kicks and punches

but I was like a fly

Not karate nor judo

no art did work

and he grinned a mean grin

and called me a jerk

‘Don’t you know

you stupid little man

Christmas is forever

in spite of your plan.’

Then he threw me aside

and proceeded to work

giving presents to all

and to me a great smirk

And when he left

the great big red fat

he left me a lump of coal

the big red fat rat!

HANAKWANMASS TO ALL

and to all a great work out.

Al

BTW…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

And don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

The Geometry of Fighting in the Martial Arts!

T-Day is over!

Long live HanaKwanMass!

You’ve been warned! ;0)

Many people think the martial arts are all about fighting.

they are about a lot more than that,

but let’s just consider the fighting aspect.

I was okay as a fighter.

Some people thought I was good,

some people could kick my ass.

It happens.

But I didn’t care about fighting

I wanted to understand.

that was my goal.

I consider martial arts as a way to understand life.

As time went by I became better at fighting.

I was aging, 

I didn’t have the strength,

but I found that with intense practice

i could see what people were going to do before they did it.

Then I wrote the Flow Chart.

Take a glance at it below

and then I’ll tell you what it means.

What this weird thing is is an analysis of motion in the martial arts.

The squares are the footwork.

I probably could have used a key,

or better terminology.

But if you think about it

it gets understandable.

You’re standing about where the ‘wing chun’ label is

and you either step out,

or you cross step,

with the right or the left foot.

The oval refers to hand techniques.

I had a lot of fun making this,

trying to make sense out of where i would be

what direction I would be traveling,

which foot or which hand,

and so on.

I was influenced in the creation of this by Eddie Rickenbacker.

He was a WW1 flying ace,

and he would imagine himself in the center of a bubble,

and try to imagine all the directions he could be attacked from

and what he would do for each attack.

My Flow Chart is more concerned

with facing a person,

and imagining incoming directions, motions, hands, feet,

and so on and so on,

and what to do about each possibility.

The take away from this,

was I was able to understand each art

as it relates to each art.

Taekwondo at the kicking distance

Karate at the punching distance

Aikido moving in the direction of a circular punch

Pa Kua Chang against the direction of a circular punch.

What I have said here

is VERY simplistic.

Every art has solutions for every incoming attack.

But by isolating the concepts of an art

I was able to use all arts together.

So I began using these concepts in teaching.

I would freestyle with a student

and restrict myself only to the footwork of a specific art.

Some of my conclusions were:

No trouble with Karate because I had trained

that specific art and was familiar with specific solutions.

We had kicks in karate so I was able to understand 

and isolate taekwondo.

I was not able to use Aikido purely,

but it became the most powerful of my tools

when I was able to isolate Karate and Wing Chun

and then put them together

(understand at what distances they could be used

and developed Lop Sau (circling fists)

I was never able to use Pa Kua Chang.

At all.

When I limited myself to X stepping

every student I had,

from the lowest white belt

could kick my ass.

Interestingly,

I would see people use it who had studied only Pa Kua

and it was very effective.

My training methods,

being eclectic,

hurt me in this one instance.

So here’s some ways you can use the Flow Chart

help yourself isolate concepts from other arts.

help yourself understand how concepts

from various arts have become mushed together

and how that interferes with your understanding.

figure out to be more specific in your training and drills.

Do these simple things

and you will find a lot of gold in the Flow Chart.

Okey dokey.

I was looking at Amazon,

and I have some highly rated books.

Look for my author’s page if you want all my books,

but here’s a short list of my highest rated books.

The Last Martial Arts Book has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

The Book of Five Arts has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

The Science of Government has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

Chiang Nan has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

And a whole bunch of books have 1 or 2 ratings for 5 stars.

Search for the Al Case author’s page

if you want to examine those,

or the lesser starred efforts.

And,

that’s about it.

HanaKwanMass is coming,

so think about what art you want to gift yourself,

or some one else.

Have a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’ve got nothing but five star reviews on 

The Science of Government.

It’s really nothing more than applying matrixing to politics.

Matrixing + Politics = Sanity

I told you matrixing works with anything.

Here’s the link…

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…