Girl Karate Kicks Guy in the Nads!

Revenge of the Karate Ball Kickers!

I had been learning karate for a few months, and one day a girl showed up.
Okay, that’s fine with me. This was back in the sixties, it was the stone age of Karate in America, and a time of serious bra burning.
So this girl matches up, and the first thing she does is kick a guy between the legs.
That’s cool. Except it was a little hard.
Guy fell over, turned white. He was wearing a cup, but it still hurt. I mean, she really kicked hard.
So, next time she matches up, first technique out of the shoot, she kicks her partner in the groin.
He falls over, turns white. She bows back and waits patiently, and there is no expression on her face.
And, a third guy falls, and the rest of us got it.
For several matches we dodged, backed up, tried to avoid her lightening kick.
Some of us made it, and some of us didn’t.
Then, an interesting thing happened.
One of the guys kicked back.
Bang!
Right between the legs.
I know, girls don’t have anything, right?
But doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. We are talking about a sensitive area.
And, suddenly, it was open season.
Snap kick! Kiai!
And that poor girl didn’t know what hit her.
She had to have gone home bruised and sore.
She didn’t cry, but she suddenly learned a lesson.
Be gentle.
Later classes she was. Got to be real fun to fight with her.
And, what is the lesson here?
Use your weapons gently.

If you want to learn world class karate, real karate that only hurts if you want it to, then head over to MonsterMartialArts.com. Girls or guys, you’re going to have a ball!

There is No First Strike in Karate

Hitting First in Karate

There is no first strike in Karate is an old saying. It s also, as plain as it seems, very misunderstood. To explain it people always say things like, ‘you have to let the other guy strike first,’ or, ‘we believe in non-aggressive behavior,’ or something like that. So here is the truth about ‘there is no first strike in Karate.’

Let’s say you’re driving your car home from work every day, and you learn what the community driving patterns are. There’s always a traffic jam at the Main Street light. Kids let out of school late onThursday on 4th street. If you turn left at Town street it is one way with almost no lights.

In other words, you learn to ‘know’ what the driving patterns are in your town, and you adjust your driving to take advantage of those patterns. In the martial arts, such as Karate, or for that matter, Taekwondo or Aikido or whatever, the same holds true.

You face enough students you learn that a shoulder dip presages a kick; a blink is an attempt to hide an attack; a subtle breathing inwards is a prep for a rushing attack. In other words, you learn to ‘know’ what your opponent is going to do.

The beginner, of course, doesn’t know anything. But he faces enough people, pays attention long enough, and these fighting patterns become obvious, and he learns to ‘know’ his opponent.

There are many things that can get in the way of learning to know your opponent. If you let emotion cloud your perceptions then you can’t see clearly enough to ‘know’ your opponent. If you study a system that believes in fighting, instead of developing awareness, you won’t ‘know’ your opponent. If you practice a system that preaches things like ‘adrenaline dumping,’ then you won’t learn to ‘know’ your opponent.

Things like emotion, the joy of combat, using adrenaline in your strategy and practice, these things all interfere with looking at what is happening, and being able to learn to know your opponent.

You see to know somebody you have to look at them, and the looking must not be distracted, and that means cultivating a stillness within, a stillness without such things as emotion or other errant thoughts or occurrences in the awareness.

If you learn how to achieve stillness within, which is to say if you learn to pay attention without being distracted, by emotion, by other things, then you look, and you learn to know.

Now, let me ask you a question: if you can look at your opponent, and if you ‘know’ that he is going to attack, would you striking first really be a first strike?

I hope you see the obviousness of the answer. But if you don’t, then simply continue with your practice. Look at your opponent, learn how to recognize, and to act, upon the twitches, the broken breathing pattern, the dip of the shoulder or the turn of the hip, and you will learn how to know your opponent, and then there will be no first strike in Karate.

The author has near 50 years of karate training. You can tap into his knowledge, learn how to know your opponent, by checking out the books and video courses he has written/produced. His website is MonsterMartialArts.com

How to Fight; How to Beat the Crap Out of Somebody!

Learn to fight and beat the crap out of somebody!

 A fantastic day to you!

And you can make it so…

with a work out.

And that’s the truth.

Learn how to fight the right way and take out the trash.

I think I mentioned this in an earlier newsletter,

but I want to go over it again.

The question is:

why does it take so long to learn how to fight.

I had had five lessons,

and I had signed a contract,

so it was time to introduce me

to the facts of life.

It was time for my first lesson in kumite

Oddly,

I don’t think they knew it,

but if freestyle had been my first lesson,

I would have signed a contract then and there.

Most people,

however,

would have run out the door

after a lesson like what I received.

So the instructor,

his name was Rex Blaine,

put me in a karate stance,

put my hands in the read position,

and told me to block what he threw.

Don’t try to hit him back,

I didn’t have any control,

just protect myself.

Sounds fair, eh?

Rex was like liquid lightening.

He was small and quick.

His favorite trick was standing a brick on a table,

and punching it with a half fist.

The brick wouldn’t break,

it would shatter,

almost explode.

And it was due not to his power,

but to his speed.

Well,

he went to work on me,

I was big and slow and lumbering,

and didn’t know anything,

and he cut me to pieces.

He punched me gently in the ribs.

He slapped me delicately in the face.

He chopped me in the neck and kicked me in the groin.

And,

as the lesson progressed,

he started hitting me harder.

Touches became bruises.

Slaps became welts.

He rocked my head with a punch.

The lesson ended when I struck him.

I know,

I wasn’t supposed to,

but the flow of energy into me was so great,

and suddenly I lashed out

and weak ass punched him in the shoulder.

He grinned and bowed,

I was confused,

he was pleased,

and that was the lesson.

Now,

I loved fighting.

I stayed extra late at night,

I worked out with other fellows after my classes.

I showed up an hour earlier

for the saturday kumite class,

and stayed an hour late.

I went to every tournament.

I broke bones in my hand

and insisted upon lessons while in a cast.

I broke bones in my feet,

and didn’t tell anybody.

I just wanted to fight,

and,

in my heart of hearts,

I wanted to get over the complete and utter humilation

of that first lesson.

I didn’t want to be somebody’s rag doll.

After two years

I was okay.

Not good,

but okay.

They told me I would be better

after I signed my next contract.

When I went to the Kang Duk Won

things were different.

I was made to do forms endlessly,

and to work on the techniques,

and,

at the end of class,

I would get to do a freestyle drill,

and then I was allowed to do ‘limited freestyle.’

The freestyle drill

was a same old same old drill,

a chop to the neck or the hip,

and I was expected to learn the difference between

a low block and a middle block.

The limited freestyle was

freestyle using only the right side.

freestyle using only kicks.

freestyle using only chops,

and that sort of thing.

But my opponent knew my limits,

so nobody won,

and,

like as not,

we just ran into each other

and caused arm bruises.

I stayed there because

it was a place of power.

Instructors came from other schools

and watched the classes.

Hells Angels and other outlaw bikers attended class.

When we did forms

you could feel the swoosh of energy

sloshing through that old building

like water in a bathtub.

And,

after two years

I was actually allowed to freestyle.

Interestingly,

I kicked ass.

Not in a mean way,

I had,

through two years of bruises and pain,

learned to respect my opponent.

Not to play a mindless game of tag,

but to focus myself in the moment,

to be aware,

to be polite.

When I went against the upper belts,

I still lost,

but I lost gently.

They would point me,

(with fists that could kill a bull)

and,

if it looked like I didn’t understand what they had done,

they would advise me politely and kindly,

and work with me

until I closed the chink in my armor.

A couple of years of this,

and I was near unbeatable.

I don’t say this with pride,

but with certainty

and a gratitude

for those who took the time

not to beat me,

but to educate me.

I had the opportunity to freestyle

with a fellow who attended my old school.

From the moment we bowed,

he was dead meat.

But I shifted away,

slapped his punches aside,

and gently placed my fist

on his torso.

And though I was polite with my advice,

I could tell he didn’t get it.

He still wanted to play the game of tag,

of gotcha,

of man beat man.

True freestyle is not man beat man.

True freestyle is an education for children.

So,

let’s return to my question.

Why does it take so long to learn freestyle?

It takes long because you don’t trust the fellow who is teaching you.

Simply,

you don’t want to input the data,

you don’t trust the data,

if it comes from somebody who is beating you.

Now,

I have explained this to people,

and watch their eyes glaze over,

and this is a classic case of

people are asleep dreaming that they are awake.

They think they trust their instructor.

But,

at heart,

they don’t.

But they are in a position

where they are committed

and end up lying to themselves

and living the lie.

Now here’s an interesting experience for you,

the guy who taught me push hands,

he was one of my students.

I trusted him

because I was better than him,

so I was willing to input the data.

It took me a half hour to learn push hands.

And now the question becomes,

how can I get somebody else to learn that fast?

Well,

I had matrixing,

but it is more than that.

Matrixing allows me to align the data,

makes it easy to understand and apply.

But what we are talking about here

is a filter

a person puts in front of himself

to slow or control the flow and input of data.

The key ingredient here

is to enable trust to occur.

To not beat somebody up,

to not get in the game of fighting,

to not let the student erect barriers and filters.

Once I understood what I was trying to do

it became incredibly easy.

The reason I was able to was simple,

I actually wanted to teach.

I didn’t want to fight.

I wanted to learn.

That was the core of my genesis.

So I came up with the freestyle methods I use,

and they were easier than two years of bone bashing bruises,

and they didn’t allow for people gaming people

over who was better.

Key to this method was one simple datum.

Don’t fight,

teach.

When I freestyle with a guy who has NO experience,

my directions are simple.

‘I want you to slowly strike me,

and teach me how to block.’

This one simple command

opens the door.

It reverse ALL the gamesmanship of fighting,

and makes the student

from the first second on the mat,

take the viewpoint and attitude of a teacher.

He becomes a person giving,

instead of a person taking.

Take a look at the pictures of the old masters,

the ones not posing grimly,

but laughing,

smiling,

loving life.

They got over fighting,

got into sharing their knowledge,

and they ended up smiling.

Not firm jawed talk of respect,

but knowing grins and laughter.

And that is what real freestyle training should be.

And,

if it was,

the world would be a kinder place.

Here’s the URL for Rolling Fists.

http://www.monstermartialarts.com/Learn_How_to_Fight.html

It is just one of the methods I use,

an advanced method for black belts,

but anybody can use it.

If you want to outgrow the need for beating people,

and get into the joy of real instruction,

of actually sharing the unique art that is you,

try it.

Okey dokey,

time to go out and work out,

so don’t forget that URL

And I will talk to you later.

Al

 Roman Emperor and all around good guy Marcus Aurelius said…

Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.

I found it interesting, because if you conceal a flaw, your concealment becomes a blank spot, and the world will wonder, and imagine the worst, about that blank spot. After all, if you’re concealing something, it must be bad, right?

Okey donkey, who said this gem…

An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.

Going from Karate Freestyle to Kung Fu Freestyle

Learning how to progress from Karate freestyle to kung fu freestyle in the martial arts is most interesting. Most people don’t understand the bits and pieces, and so make it a long, drawn out thing. It doesn’t have to be. It can be quick.

Martial Art Testing by video is the latest rage.

 

The first thing is to get the gross motions down. I use Karate freestyle training for this. The attack comes form a distance, and so the defender is able to see it and build a response. Start slow, build response, get faster. It’s pretty straight forward. My next step, in this thing of martial arts freestyle tends to be different.

In a fight, distance collapses. So karate freestyle will only work for a while, then the distance has collapsed, and one has to enter the next stage of fighting. Here is where we slide into kung fu freestyle.

There are many types of kung fu freestyle; there is sticky hands from wing chun, pushing hands from tai chi chuan, and so on. One of the core drills is called loop sau, or rolling fists. The drill is usually done as an arm pounding exercise, to toughen up the arms, not as a freestyle drill. If it is done as a freestyle drill it is usually used to show tricks, and it is very one dimensional.

There are actually six pieces to the drill, and then some methods for expanding the drill, and shifting it into other distances.

In doing the Rolling Fists video I taught a fellow over three months. These are ten minute segments, a total of three hours of instruction, where I take him through each of the pieces, then slide him through the methods by which one shifts distances, enters other freestyle methods, and so on.

The result is his karate freestyle opens up the fight, then he enters what I call ‘the funnel.’ In the funnel he uses rolling fists to blast away, and then slides the attacker into a different mode.

Talk about shock and awe.

You start simple with karate fighting, and by the time the attacker figures it out, you change into kung fu freestyle, then =when he thinks he’s got that figured out, you are already shifting into another one.

And you can move back, out of the funnel, anytime you want.

What this means is that every time the attacker thinks he’s got something, you change. And I tell you this…in a fight, the fellow who changes, who controls the changes, is going to win. He doesn’t have to be stronger, or even faster, he just has to change better.

Anyway, that’s the overview of what my basic freestyle methods are. I’ve had great response to the Rolling Fists DVD, which I released last Friday, and it is obvious that some eyes are being opened. If you don’t know the Rolling Fists freestyle method you are seriously missing something good. The method moves you into close quarters at increased efficiency, and it creates a higher degree of intuition.

You see, most people are stuck in the karate mode. It is effective, builds strong bodies twelve ways, and I love it. But, that is only about one sixth of the fighting distances, and you have to know them all if you are going to stand a chance of winning.

You can’ rely on just knowing a part of the martial arts, you have to know them all. If you’re going to learn how to fight in the martial arts, you have to know how to progress from karate freestyle to kung fu freestyle.

Karate Kumite…Emotion And Mad Dog Survival

Karate Kumite and Clint Eastwood, I never thought I’d say those two things in a sentence. In the movie ‘The Outlaw Josie Wales,’ Clint lectures some sissy pioneers about how to get mad dog mean when you’re fighting for survival. There is truth in his statement, but there is, especially if you are involved in classical martial arts training, a lie.

The truth is that you have to raise up your desire to survive. You have to be willing to do more than you have ever done before. You have to be willing to fight harder and never give up.

The lie is that emotion increases your desire to win. To understand this, and other things concerning emotion and the martial arts, we have to define what, exactly, emotion is. The odd thing is that if you look in a dictionary you will not find a good definition.

Emotion isn’t ‘mood,’ or an ‘instinctive state of mind,’ except in the vaguest of terms. When somebody is unable to accept reality he/she creates a mental turmoil that is labeled emotion. That’s a good definition, and I know because I made it up myself, but we have to look deeper if we are really going to understand emotion and how to use it.

The Neutronic way of defining emotion is: ‘Motion inside the mind.’ You feel rage, and in your mind you want to make motion towards somebody (hit them in the face with a baseball bat). But it is all in your mind, and it is not really real.

When you punch somebody, would you put energy into your knee? That would be a waste of energy, right? What you want to strive for, as a martial artist, is to put energy only into the fist.

When you direct energy into body parts other than the one(s) being used you are not being efficient in your motions. This same idea holds true in the subject of emotion. Energy put into emotion is not energy put into the desire to win; to win it is best if we get mad dog cool and determined, not extra angry.

Emotion is not to be discouraged, for emotion is something we can use to read others, vent our feelings, experience love, and that sort of thing. However, emotion in a fight can stultify a person’s desire to fight. When it comes to Karate Kumite , or any other type of classical martial arts freestyle, you must increase your desire to win without falling into emotion, or trying to use emotion in any way.

Alzheimers Takes Toll on Martial Arts instructor!

I see those people in their wheel chairs, lugging cannisters of oxygen around, struggling on their walkers, and, tell the truth, I don’t think they should be allowed behind the wheel of a car. As soon as I see that handicap placard hanging from the mirror I start to worry. Here’s somebody who is slow. Now, I know you think I’m being mean, but I’m a martial arts instructor, and I’m over 60, so let me tell you the truth about these folks, and what really happens when you grow old. Check out the video first, I’m celebrating sixty-one there, and then I’ll tell you about drooling fools.

A small percentage of these handicappers are actually handicapped. They have problems, need a little help, courtesy is appreciated, and so on.
But, the majority of them are lifelong slackers. They smoked, they drank, they never did an ounce of exercise, and now they end up slowing everybody else down.
I’m telling you, don’t think harshly of my words, consider this, instead.
At age 55 I noticed that I couldn’t remember words. I had to think for a moment, then I could figure out the word I was trying to remember. This didn’t slow me down in conversation, it was only in writing a novel or something like that.
Then, I noticed my endurance was slipping. I could still run a marathon, but it was going to take me a while to finish it.
And, I found I couldn’t kick people in the head as easily. I had to settle for kicking them in the body, or lean back a little. So my flexibility was going down.
The big thing, however, was I was losing strength. Unless I got the top position quick, these young guys could actually out wrestle me!
So, are you feeling sorry for me, with all this growing old crap?
Well, don’t. It’s all relative. You see, the other night I took on a couple of guys in karate freestyle and left them winded. I ran them around the mat, struck them at will, and found that though I was as quick as I was, I was still a lot quicker than they were, and they were 19 or 20 years old!
So, Alzheimer’s is a joke if you eat right, don’t some and drink, and here is the important thing…if you train in the martial arts.
Look, training in anything is going to be good, but martial arts training pits you against others, so while you might think you’re getting weaker, relatively, you’re not. And, in fat, as you use some of those tricks you picked up over the years, you find that you’re a little smarter.
So, take two work outs and call me in the morning.And that’s what this old martial arts instructor has to say about that!

The Right Way To Learn Martial Arts Freestyle

My favorite part of the martial arts is Karate Fighting. Sadly, nobody knows the best way to do martial arts freestyle. They keep insisting on teaching the stuff that ends up in pain and bruises and body injury.
Check out the video, then I’ll tell you more.

I know, the reason for Karate, or Kenpo or Taekwondo, and martial arts in general, is to hurt somebody, correct? Sorry, it isn’t. If you think that, then you’ve got it wrong…totally and dead wrong.

The real reason is to control an attacker, and modern martial arts freestyle methods do not teach you how to control, only to hurt. Interestingly, I was there when the freestyle scene went bad. Further, there are methods which teach one how to freestyle easily and without the pain within a couple of hours.

In my first lesson in kumite my kenpo sensei beating the stuffings out of me. The theory was that martial arts were a rite of passage, you had to go through pain, that was the only way to get better. While I survived the lesson, and even thrived on it, other students quit, and now you know why so many people quit the martial arts.

Towards the end of my kenpo training the school owner began making us wear (buy) protective gear. Instead of offering protection, however, it just encouraged us to strike each other harder, and we actually suffered more injuries. I quickly realized it was just a way to increase dollars for the dojo.

I then went to a traditional karate training hall, and, with no protective padding, stopped getting all the injuries. I still got a some bruises, you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, but no more broken bones. The sensei was teaching us how to control control, not to destroy.

This lesson, the benefits of control over destruction, stuck with me, and when I opened my own training hall I played with all sorts of methods to teach Kumite effectively, without the pain and trauma. And I finally understood a basic truth…people stop perceiving when you strike them. Isn’t that an interesting concept to come to grips with after years of beating people up?

Thus, I teach freestyle in stages, and I use methods which do not close the eyes of the student, but rather opens their awareness. It’s incredibly real and effective, and I guarantee my students will survive on the street better than most. Simply, they haven’t been trained to shut down their perceptions, but rather to open their awareness, and the shocker is that using my methods people can learn Martial Arts freestyle within a couple of hours.

Find out the right way to learn freestyle within a couple of hours! Go to Monster Martial Arts and check out the Three Month Black Belt Course.

How to Really Screw Up a Student in Martial Arts Freestyle

What I’m going to say here has to do with Martial Arts Freestyle. Doesn’t matter if it’s karate freestyle, or kenpo or taekwondo or whatever, the teaching methods absolutely suck, and do more harm than good. Check out the video, then I’ll tell you about my method for teaching kumite.

My first kumite lesson in kenpo the instructor told me to raise my hands, to block what I could, and then he proceeded to beat the living crap out of me. WEll, that started the game, and 45 years later I still love to freestyle.
But, most people are just blown right off the mat and out of the school.
Why do you think so many people drop out?
Oh, you disagree? Think about it this way.
You go to college and want to learn about some kind of history. But every time the teacher gives you a piece of data, he punches you. Do you still want to learn history?
And the justification for this is that the martial arts are a ‘rite of passage.’ You have to be tough to defend yourself. You have to get faster. All of which is so much bushwah.
My training methods are different, and I can train somebody to defend himself, about as good as a black belt, and in one hour.
That’s right. One hour.
And I’ve got the proof. I filmed myself taking somebody to Black Belt, and of the over twenty hours of filming we did, only about one hour is spent in freestyle. That’s all.
But I taught my student without brutalizing him, I just gave him data, and the truth of the matter is this: knowledge is more important than beating people up.
Let me repeat that in different words. If you give knowledge without beating your student up, the result is a quick rise to competence.
Well, you can lift your nose and think that your system is different, is better, and that my student isn’t so hot. And, while you’re doing that, make sure you pay three or four years worth of tuition, and get the crap beaten out of you a couple of times a week every week for those three to four years.
Of course, if you want to learn how to be competent without getting beat up, if you want to defend yourself, and really learn martial arts freestyle, whether it is karate or kenpo or taekwondo or whatever, then drop by Monster Martial Art and check out the Black Belt Course. There’s a free book on the home page that explains something of my martial arts methods.

Five Things That Will Insure You Win At Karate Freestyle

Doing Karate Freestyle is actually one of the most efficient ways of learning to fight in the martial arts. The frantic action can be translated into street combat, it sharpens all the senses, and it tunes the mind and body to a fine pitch. This article is going to tell you five things to work on that will make your karate kumite top notch and hard to beat.

First, watch your opponent’s eyes. Watch everything, but watch where he is looking, how he is looking, whether he blinks, when he blinks, and so on. The rule is simple here…you can’t fight what you can’t face.

Second, use your stances to load the legs with power. This means the closer your opponent gets, the lower you get to the mat, and the more energy you build between the front leg and the back leg. When it is time to fight, lift a leg, release the spring, and let that power propel you faster than a rocket on steroids.

Three, don’t ever bother to think about your emotions. Emotions are weird things that happen inside your skull, they run around inside your mind. Simply, if you let yourself pay attention to emotions, then you aren’t using your senses and intention to pay attention to combat.

Four, have a good and well planned strategy for anything that might happen. If he is moving in a certain manner, then analyze that motion and move with him. If he is motionless, figure out how to angle yourself to best benefit and greatest advantage.

Five, realize that making mistakes are the secret of learning. Don’t get angry because you messed up and got tagged, figure out what you did to get hit, and what you need to do in the future to not get hit. This is probably the most important of the five things listed here, because it is the key to all learning, and not just in the martial arts.

These five things are simple concepts, but they must be adhered to, refined, and made to make sense. My first lesson in freestyle consisted of the instructor telling me to raise my hands, letting me know that he was going to beat me up, and then doing so. It was a terrible teaching device, except that I watched him, and I learned.

The next time I freestyled I did so against a student who hadn’t had that lesson. So I did the things that the instructor did to me, and I came out on top. So the five things are eyes, legs, emotions, strategy, and always learn when you make a mistake, and these are the key points that will help you become a full time winner at Karate Freestyle.

Drop by Monster Martial Arts and pick up a free book on Matrixing.

Where do You Focus Your Eyes in Combat!

Eye Placement During Karate Kumite

There is, of course, the simple yet devious concept of blindsiding. This is to sneak attack, from the rear, by misdirection, or some other means. Assuming that you are going to have enough awareness to survive and avoid the blindside, what are you going to do?

Very Powerful American Karate Style

Where are you going to focus your eyes when some mugger or thug wants to blindside you on the street? The other guy wants you to blink, to be unaware. You have to remain aware, and you have to figure out where to look, where to place your gaze, how to keep the visual line of perception open.

The first place I was told to place your eyes, when doing kenpo karate kumite, was on the chest. One was supposed to open up the gaze, see peripherally. In this manner one could use the eyes to perceive a larger area, and not be fooled by an attack from a smaller area, or vector.

The problem here is that when you look at the body you don’t see the human being, and it is the human being, after all that is attacking you, not the body. The body is just a meat machine, and, especially in the martial arts, it is being thrown by the human being. You must perceive the human being if you are going to see who is making the decisions as to how the body is going to be thrown at you.

One Kang Duk Won karate instructor told me to look at the body when doing kumite, and especially the Sticky Hands drill out of Wing Chun kung fu, because the eyes could fool you. I found this extremely interesting, and not good data. It was years before I figured out the error in this type of thought.

The error in looking at the body during freestyle or combat is that the eyes are the windows of a man’s soul. The soul is the human being, it is the soul, the being himself, that is making the decisions. If you look at the eyes long enough, cultivate the concept, through good, solid karate kata training, that you are looking for the source of the thought that is driving the action that is the attack, then you see the human being, and you see the thought behind the action.

In the martial arts, no matter if it is kang duk won or hung gar or Silat, there is no action without a thought behind it. Even a drunk behind the wheel, as unconscious as he can be, is making the decisions. And a fighter, even and especially an MMA fighter, honed to a technical perfection, is going to exude a stillness which, with a little practice, you can perceive the thought within.

So in martial arts, even and especially Mixed Martial Arts, you must look at the eyes if you wish to see what a fighter is thinking. You must look, and train yourself to keep looking, and not be distracted by anything, through all the phases of freestyle. This is the way to cultivate martial arts intuition and the sixth sense you are going to need should you ever have to fight for your life.

About the Author: Al Case has written such classical Martial Art Books as ‘Fixing MCMAP: how to Make the Marine Corps Martial Arts into a True Martial Art, and How to Create Kenpo Karate: The Real History.