Bruce Lee’s Secret of Formless MartialArts

Newsletter 976

Formless like Bruce Lee

There is a quote by Bruce Lee…

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”

Now a lot of people refer to this quote.
It is held up as an iconic concept,
a golden standard.
Be formless.

And it is almost entirely misunderstood.

I heard one fellow say,
I don’t want to study karate
because I want to be formless.

But how can you be formless if you don’t have form first?
Do you think Bruce didn’t study forms?
He studied Wing Chun,
which has forms.
And he studied the forms of the drills,
the form of the Sticky Hands.
The guy was a living,
walk and talking
form.
Then he was formless.

First comes form,
then comes formlessness.

I want you to google Fred Astair.
Old time dancer.
Probably the most graceful man who ever lived.
His secret?
He makes every thing look effortless.
Do you know how much effort it took
to make his moves effortless?

Now consider that same concept with form.

Do you know how hard Bruce studied
how hard he worked,
how he must have visualized and sweated
to become formless?

Fortunately,
you can choose from a lot of arts to study,
and you can choose from a lot of forms.
You can choose the ones which intrigue you,
which fascinate you,
which seem to be the best for self defense,
or whatever your goal is in the martial arts.

Here are some of my favorite forms.
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/6-shaolin-butterfly/

They are incredibly simple,
very short,
very easy to translate into formlessness.
(Read the win below…)

Have a great work out!
Al

A WIN!

Al,
I’ve sped through the Shaolin Butterfly, am learning the Five Army Tai Chi Chuan and the Butterfly Baguazhang. It seems to me that now I can look at classical forms and simply understand how to do them correctly. It’s absolutely amazing. The practice and learning process basically infuses a student with the basics to make anything work. To correct the whole of an art simply by looking at the forms and playing around with them. I’ve applied this to many classical forms I learned years ago. Thanks so much for the master key to all the martial arts right in my hand. ~ Justin

“The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness;
only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest.”

– Bruce Lee

What Bruce Lee Knew

Published a new paper on academia.edu. That’s an ‘upper brow’ type of website. I like it because I get thinkers there, and not the normal ‘low brow’ Beavis and Butthead type.

The paper is on What Bruce Lee Knew. Not actually, but the steps necessary to get his ‘mindset.’ It’s an interesting theme, with a lot of videos and graphs to back it up.

Here it is.

https://www.academia.edu/31518624/Would_You_Like_to_Know_What_Bruce_Lee_Knew

Enjoy. And hit the tweet and like buttons and all that.

Have a great work out!

Al

The Problem with Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do Martial Art

Bruce Lee’s Martial Art Defined

Bruce Lee, the Martial Arts icon of the last century, created his own martial art, which is called Jeet Kune Do, or the Way of the Intercepting Fist.

Bruce wasn’t just a movie kung fu item, he knew what he was doing, and this is especially obvious when one examines Jeet Kune Do.

What most people miss, and this includes martial artists and even the students and instructors of Jeet Kune Do, is that there is a weakness in the art.

This weakness is understood only when one understands what Bruce did. He codified the initial punch of a fight.

The initial punch is the most important, but it ignores other strategies, which strategies are presented in more classical martial arts, such as Karate or Kung Fu.

To explain this further, Bruce dissected the initial punch of a fight. He looked at the specific stages of the punch, so that one could understand how to ‘beat’ the punch. This one item can be understood thusly:

Do you punch before the attack?

Do you punch during the attack?

Do you punch after the attack?

To be precise, he breaks it down further, i believe there are five specific stages at which one could ‘attack the attack,’ but this will simplify for the purpose of this article, and make it easy enough to understand.

And, he followed this same, simple logic in describing methods of attacking the attack.

Do you attack directly?

Do you attack by combination?

Do you attack indirectly?

And so on.

The result of this magnifying glass approach is that one REALLY understands the opening punch of a fight.

The problem comes about when the fight goes past one punch. (Or one kick, one strike, etc.)

Now one must consider strategies of setting up for the second strike, strategies for handling two attackers (two potential first strikes), and so on.

To be honest, Bruce understood this, and this writer has no doubt that the advanced practitioners, which means the ons trained by Bruce himself, understand such points.

But as the art of Jeet Kune Do expands there is degradation, concepts are lost, and these advanced theories are ignored.

This highlights just one of the many potential problems in Jeet Kune Do, the Art of Bruce Lee.

Al Case began martial arts in 1967, became a writer for the magazines, and had his own column in Inside Karate. If you wish to explore more concerning the strengths and weaknesses of Jeet Kune Do, from the viewpoint of one who has studied martial arts for nearly fifty years, take a look at his book, ‘How toMatrix Jeet Kune Do,’ which is available on Amazon, or at Createspace. The author’s website is monstermartialarts.com.

Release of Book Matrixing Bruce Lee!

New Book on Bruce Lee!

Man!
Beginning of the week,
and it is looking good!
I mean,
good for a work or ten.
In fact,
perfect for a work out or ten!
So get started!
The only thing you have to lose is your slovenly ways!
Yee haw!

Okay,
the big news,
the release of a book matrixing Bruce Lee’s art,
Jeet Kune Do
(the way of the intercepting fist).

Now,
I released it,
then decided to change the title,
and released it again,
all within two days.
It should be available on Amazon this week,
probably wednesday.
BUT,
you can always pick up the instant download PDF here…

http://freebrucelee.com/martial-arts/new-book-on-bruce-lee/

Now,
this is a most interesting book.
First,
JKD is an advanced art,
so while I present a few matrixes,
and discuss how Bruce came close
to achieving matrixing on his own,
he was a VERY thorough cat,
I have to go into neutronics
to really give his art its due.

And this is why I released it
and then re-released it within two days.
The word ‘Neutronics’ was in the title,
and I IMMEDIATELY had people saying
‘What? What’s that?’
So many didn’t know what it was
I knew they would be scared off.
People are scared of what they don’t understand.
And,
it reminds me of when Karate first came
to the shores of the US.
It was advertised as Judo,
people didn’t know what Karate was,
so they equated it with something similar.
And,
the same thing happened with Kung Fu.
Kung Fu schools,
back in the sixties,
would advertise themselves as Karate.
People just didn’t know what Kung Fu was,
and,
as I said,
people are scared of what they don’t understand.

So,
what is the book about?
I explain matrixing and neutronics very quickly,
then I go through the JKD system
point by point,
comparing and contrasting,
showing where JKD almost matrixes,
discussing how Bruce created something
that requires neutronics to understand,
and so on.

I also give a couple of drills,
one of which hasn’t been seen,
except in the small book I wrote
‘Amazing Fighting Drills.’
Been out of print for a while.

Now,
the book goes for $19.95.
It is advanced,
deserves a slightly higher price.
BUT,
if you know about this newsletter,
then you know how to score this book
for $5 off.
That’s right,
the instant download,
the digital version (PDF)
is available at this address.

http://freebrucelee.com/martial-arts/new-book-on-bruce-lee/

So,
check it out.
Whether you’re interested in Bruce Lee or not,
it is a real charge to actually see how I use neutronics,
let alone matrixing
in the analysis of what is,
undoubtedly,
a very advanced martial art.

Now,
that all said,
one other thing,
it is a beautiful day for a work out or ten…

Have a great work out!
Al

http://freebrucelee.com/martial-arts/new-book-on-bruce-lee/

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

Release of New Book on Bruce Lee!

Bruce Lee Book Just Published!

The name of the book is ‘Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do, and Neutronics.’

Written by Al Case, a martial artist with near fifty years experience in the martial arts, this book takes an outside viewpoint of Bruce Lee, and his martial art (Jeet Kune Do).

Click on the cover!

Bruce Lee is often considered, specifically as to what drove him to his martial arts theories. The main focus of the book, however, is to compare and contrast Jeet Kune Do to the more classical martial arts, specifically, the author’s art of Karate.

This is a hard core book. While it is respectful, it is obvious that the author holds Mr. Lee in high esteem, there are some very hard questions asked concerning the formation of JKD, and the real purpose of the art.

It is also an intelligent book, going into Matrixing Technology, which is the first and only science of the martial arts, and Neutronic philosophy. The author claims that because JKD is an advanced martial art only advanced methods of thought can be used to analyze it.

Which is to say that if you are Beeavis or Butthead, you may want to avoid this tome. It won’t teach you Jeet Kune Do, and it may hurt your head to actually start thinking about it.

Mr. Case has, as said, near 50 years martial arts experience. He began Kenpo Karate in 1967, quickly became an instructor, and went on to study virtually every martial art that came down the pike during the Golden Age of Martial Arts. He became a writer for the magazines in 1981, and had his own column in Inside Karate. Thus, Mr. Case doesn’t enter the picture as a newbie, but an experienced fighter and writer. His compare and contrast with JKD should provide the most enlightened student with much thought.

Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do, and Neutronics, will be released and on Amazon within the week, and students interested in the paperback version should do a search on Amazon probably by the last week of April 2015.

Students who would like to save $5 and purchase the instant download of the book should go to FreeBruceLee.com.

http://freebrucelee.com/martial-arts/new-book-on-bruce-lee/

Did Bruce Lee Really Know Gung Fu?

Bruce Lee Gung Fu Lives

Bruce Lee was the martial arts icon of the last century. Ask people what the first thing that pops into their mind when you say gung fu, and they will say Bruce Lee. An interesting question about the Little Dragon is how much gung fu did he really know?

I know gung fu better than you, my friend!

Well, he knew some Tai Chi Chuan, his grandfather taught him when he was a child, that is on record.

And, he was accomplished at Wing Chun Gung Fu, under Yip Man, though probably not a master. He knew the first half of the system, the hard half, but had not delved into the soft half.

And there you go, that’s all the gung fu Bruce knew.

Whoa! You say. That’s all? But…but…but…

So here’s the thing, he grew up in China, and he was immersed in the culture, so he knew ABOUT lots of gung fu.

And, as time went on and he researched, he was familiar with some 26 styles of martial arts. Which is not to say he knew them extensively and in depth, but he was familiar.

But, what people don’t get is the depth of his drive. He was obsessed. He didn’t do ten kicks and think his kicks were good, he did thousands of kicks, and likely thought they were bad!

Thus, he dug deep, and in the depths was where his real gung fu was born.

So it’s not how wide your knowledge is that is important, but how deep.

Now, that said, here’s something else to think about. Bruce was not always using eastern martial arts.

If you look at his movies it looks like eastern stuff, but the fact of the matter is that he was much interested in such things as western boxing and fencing. And, he was a very accomplished cha cha dancer. And he put these things into his moves, and he used eastern discipline to make them shine.

Watch him. When he dances around an opponent, is he using a cha cha step? Think about it.

And when you read his books, like The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, isn’t he extrapolating fencing principles into the classical martial arts moves of the east?

An extremely interesting fighting system is Pan Gai Noon.

There’s a good website called FreeBruceLee.com.

Wing Chun Karate is Interesting…

Wing Chun and Karate?

Wing Chun and Karate, seemingly opposites, but not. Actually, I found more similarities between Wing Chun and Karate than almost any other martial arts.

Wing Chun, of course, is the Chinese Martial Art that has soft blocks, which is to say guiding blocks, and hard strikes. It has been around for hundreds of years, and it is quite sophisticated. A person who has actually reached the ‘inner circle’ of this Chinese Martial Art is quite untouchable, can fight blindfolded, has a full range of sixth senses having to do with anticipating attacks before they happen, and so forth.

The main difference here is the direction of the blocks.

Wing Chun blocks tend to come back towards the body.

In Karate blocks tend to go away from the body.

In either art, if you are moving the block sideways, you are doing the block wrong, for there is no body, and therefore no possible body alignment behind the block.

And, yes, whether you are blocking hard or soft there must be body and alignment of structure behind the blocks. You can’t overwhelm the attacker’s strikes (as inKarate) if you don’t have this body and structure, and you can’t effectively guide the attack if you don’t have this body and structure.

Now, that all said, take a look at ‘Wing Chun Kung Fu,’ by James Yimm Lee, and you will find a section on the eight gates and four doors. Is this not perfectly transferable to Karate?

And, once you understand this, and if you are in a real style of Karate, you will understand how the concepts of grounding and deep stances must be used. And, if you are in this style of hung fu, and come across Karate, you may realize ho more effective, especially the early training, would if you deepened the stances and worked on the grounding and alignment.

Thus, these styles of Japanese Martial Art and Chinese Martial Art do have more than surface similarities, and it is even of high benefit to study both systems. You must not try to blend them however, past what I have said here. That would muddle either art, cause confusion, and detract from both Wing Chun and Karate.

If you wish to go further with the concepts outlined in this article on Wing Chun and Karate you should examine Matrixing at MonsterMartialArts.com, a specific course that would apply would be the Master Instructor Course.

Bruce Lee Phenomenal, but What About You?

Are You Bruce Lee Phenomenal?

Bruce Lee said absorb what is useful, discard what is not.

Thus, though Bruce Lee left the outline of a system, he didn’t leave a complete Gung Fu system. This is revealed by his reluctance to promote people to teachers. Simply, he wanted martial artists to teach themselves.

Bruce Lee said…

Use what he had, but develop your own.

That brings us to now.

If you simply do as Bruce Lee said, you will be looking only as he looked, and not as you, yourself, must look.

You are different from him. You have a different body, different mentality. You must not parrot him, you must not fall into the monkey see monkey do trap that he himself warned us about!

Thus, you must not stop with merely studying his martial art, on his Jeet Kune Do, no matter how delicious it might be.

You must look further, explore the vast researches and discoveries that have occurred since he lived.

Then, when you have enough of the vast information out there…then you must take what is useful….

It is the only way, my friend.

Written by Al Case, MonsterMartialArts.com. Click on over to the Monster and find out what his research and discoveries have yielded.

Bruce Lee Website Reveals the Truth About the Little Dragon!

Free Bruce Lee Website Promises to be Significant!

Bruce Lee is the most famous martial artist of all time. He impacted upon America like a Kung Fu fist, shaking all our standards of Martial Arts style fighting and cinema alike.

Bruce’s Martial Art, Jeet Kune Do, would bring elegance to streetfighting, and a sureness of character.

Bruce Lee (The Little Dragon)

His movies would replace the pale chop sockie kung fu flix in a heartbeat.

It is only fitting, then that the most prolific martial arts writer of all time, Al Case, would choose to put up a website dedicated to The Little Dragon. Still in composition, the website is called Free Bruce Lee! And you didn’t even know he was in prison! (He he, snuffle snort–sorry, couldn’t resist).

Anyway, the website already has a handful of articles on Bruce’s life and times, including handwritten letters, articles his martial arts and insane workouts, and even pieces on his actual fights.

That Bruce Lee got in fights is no secret. He grew up in a tough town, was a member of a street gang called the ‘Tigers of Junction Street,’ fought in the Hong Kong Boxing Championships, and, of course, had that famous battle with Wong Jack Man.

The fight with Kung Fu stylist Wong Jack Man is, of course, the most interesting of all Bruce Lee’s fights, as it may be the one that Bruce actually lost, or at least came out on the sad side of a draw. There is MUCH controversy regarding this fight, and of particular interest is the article entitled: ‘Bruce Lee Battle with Wong Jack Man!‘

As has been noted, this website is in the beginning stages, but it promises to be the most valuable Bruce Lee resource on the whole net. It is in depth, written by a writer who lived through those times, and offers the unique perspective of a martial artist who has studied the life of Bruce Lee since 1967 (when the author began martial arts, and when Bruce Lee hit the small screen as Kato in the Green Hornet television series).

Interested readers should click over to Free Bruce Lee.

Matrixing Wannabes in Black Belt Magazine, in Jeet Kune Do, and on the Internet

People who fake Matrixing to take your Money

There are some matrixing wannabes in the world.

Nothing serious,

just a misrepresentation,

people trying to sell things using the matrix brand,

that sort of thing.

First instance is some guy on the net

is advertising matrixing.

His website is slick,

and obviously he is doing

internet marketing.

You know the kind of guy I mean,

the kind of website I mean.

‘I beat up four Hell’s Angels

in a barfight

using spetnatz techniques

taught to me by

Lieutenant X.’

The guy calls you friend,

tells you how he was picked on as a child,

until he discovered

the secret scientific method

where you knock bullies over

with mystical techniques.

Now the interesting thing about this internet guy,

was that he said,

‘writing a matrix is cool,

you can plug in techniques

and create all sorts of stuff!’

That was the point wherein be became

an idiot of godzilla proportion.

Yes,

you can do that,

but you end up trying to put together techniques

that don’t fit together,

and it makes you think,

but it doesn’t simplify the martial arts

and make them truthful and easy.

You end up thinking more,

and not thinking less.

And thinking less is what you want to do.

Remember,

if it is hard to remember

and hard to learn,

it will be hard to apply.

Figuring out all sorts of new techniques

doesn’t resolve the mess,

it makes it bigger.

The guy is using Matrixing

to go the wrong way.

Instead of solving the martial arts,

he is going to make them a bigger problem.

Good luck,

dude.

Now,

the other guy pushing Matrixing

was in the pages of Black Belt Magazine.

The guys name is Paul Vunak,

and he is pushing Matrix Jeet Kune Do.

I’ve been aware of Vunak for years,

seen some of his tapes,

and he’s an impressive guy.

But,

he has no clue about what a matrix is.

He is talking about slicing up pieces of systems

and putting them together.

I wrote about that in one of my articles

Read this

http://www.monstermartialarts.com/Art-Whats_Wrong_with_the_Art.html

and you’ll see that he is doing something

I wrote about in passing,

a couple of decades ago,

and you might see

some of the things he is doing wrong.

The real problem with Vunak

and you’ll see this if you watch his tapes,

is that he believes in barroom fighting

and MMA

as the measuring stick of a successful art.

At the end of the article

he says his art is the only true art,

and this based upon MMA bouts.

So if you can beat people up

you have the best art.

I warn about people

who teach arts based on that,

and how they slant the whole martial arts

for their personal bias.

This is one of the things that matrixing cures.

Look,

the true art is unique to each individual,

and matrixing can help each individual find it.

But you have to know how to write a matrix,

how to use the graphs I show you in the courses.

You can’t just matrix a bunch of techniques,

you’ll end up with an unresolving mish mash.

You have to matrix your arts

using certain basic techniques,

and then you have to let them evolve in a certain way.

Doing a matrix the way Vunak,

or this internet marketer proposes,

and you will create the problem of the martial arts,

and not simplify them into a workable truth

that is unique to you.

Well,

I wish them luck,

but I wish they hadn’t used my terminology.

I expected such a thing to happen,

I am not surprised,

but I am sad because there will be a few people

who buy into their bushwah.

Look,

I taught my first matrixing class back in the eighties,

twenty years before the movie,

and thirty years before these fellows

tried to use it as a gimmick.

It is based upon certain principles

which have not changed over thirty years.

It is a science.

It is not the latest buzzword

so somebody can sell something over the internet.

When I sell a course on matrixing,

I am available.

You can write and ask me any questions you want.

I get people who can’t matrix their art,

and I get into long discussions with them,

I teach science,

and the end result is that I’ve got over 500 pages of wins,

testimonials,

wherein these people

figure it out,

understand the martial arts in new lights.

I am not here to get rich quick,

I want to change the martial arts,

revolutionize them,

and get people to understand them

the way they’ve never been understood before.

Ah,

what can I say.

You believe me or you don’t.

You fall for the hype,

or you don’t.

Just understand this.

The true art isn’t how many people you can beat up,

it’s the unveiling of the unique spirit

that is you.

You are the True Art,

and that is what Matrixing is all about.

Here’s the URL for Matrixing: The Master Text.

http://churchofmartialarts.com/bookstore/master-text/

Look at the pictures on the right side of the page.

That’s 180 full size pages (8 ½ by 11)

page after page of charts, of tables, of graphics,

of forms and techniques and theory.

This is not a selling technique,

it is a body of knowledge.

Remember that when you read these fellows

trying to use my matrixing material

for buzzwords and quick sales.

Have a great weekend,

and a phenomenal work out.