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.

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…

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/

Why Books are the Real Gold When It Comes to the Martial Arts

Newsletter 961

The Value of Martial Arts Books

One of the first Martial Arts books to hit the US…
Super Karate made Easy by Moja Rone.
It is pretty outlandish,
the descriptions are worth the book alone.
‘Give him a Sunday punch and he’ll wake up on Tuesday.’
Ha!
It’s part of my free books package
when you sign up for the Monster Martial Arts newsletter.

One of the first martial arts authors was Bruce Tegner.
He wrote a score of books.
Bad form, simple ideas,
a public that didn’t know better.
Yet his ideas are worthwhile;
they make you think.

Then there are the classics:
Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere,
an amazingly artful work,
that actually passes on the spirit of Aikido.
Karate Do Kyohan,
a thorough look at Karate by Gichin Funakoshi.
Tai Chi Touchstones…
Shotokan’s Secret…
and so on.

And,
of course,
‘The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson of All’
10 volumes of smarts and anecdotes and histories and so on.

Why is ‘The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson of All’ important?
Think back to the beginning of the internet.
The web was new,
all sorts of stuff was out there,
floating up and smacking you in the face.
Great times,
the wild west of martial arts information.
Amazing.
Then it changed.
Google was the big villain.
Google has almost single handedly brought the age of information to a close.
Go on,
do a search on martial arts,
you will find:
wikipedia, ads for schools in the area, and that’s about it.
Google is a ‘telephone book.
That’s all it is.
How does a telephone book make money?
It shows ads.
So Google isn’t even a good telephone book.
It is a paid telephone book.
Sort of like paid politics.
You only get what advertisers want to give you.
You only get the same old politician.
No real and useful information.

Yes,
you can find information,
but only if you know exactly what you are looking for.
But why would you look for what you already know?

I miss the wild west of the internet.
I miss finding out wild things,
meeting bizarre people,
searching my way through the maze of mystery
that was the martial arts nobody had ever known about.
Think about it,
the martial arts magazines are mostly gone.
TV only has MMA,
Books are…BOOKS!
And that’s why I wrote
‘The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson of All.’
I replaced the internet.
I give back what we’ve lost.
Obscure bits of history,
odd items of humor,
profound examples of martial arts,
styles of karate,
brands of kung fu,
arts you’ve never heard of and won’t ever again
because Google destroyed the window into
what you really want to know…
the things that you didn’t know.

I’ve written over 50 books on the martial arts,
I’ve written more books,
more words,
on the martial arts than anyone in history.
If you count my novels,
well over two million words.
And why?

Because books stick around.
People still discuss Bruce Tegner,
they pore over Bruce Lee’s books,
and books about Bruce Lee.
They are still fascinated by Moja Rone,
even though nobody knows who he is.
A fake name with a following!

So when you go to the dojo
and you hear some fellow expound on
why this art developed into that art,
the secret of Chi,
mysterious arts that nobody ever heard of,
you’ll grin.
And you’ll know the truth because you’ve taken…
‘The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson of All.’

You see,
my art will fade with time,
I’ll die.
But the books will be there.
In a thousand years people will be discussing (and doing) Matrixing quite avidly,
and they will still be enthralled
by the ten book collection of wit and wisdom,
the discussion of what Chi is,
the incredible abilities of those who truly dedicated themselves to the martial arts,
the histories and anecdotes,
the priceless gift of learning things
that they didn’t know.

My advice,
don’t bother with the Kindle versions.
They’ll be gone the next time your computer crashes.
Get the ten books themselves in real form.
Be able to thumb through real pages,
and not know what gem you will come across.
Look up at your bookshelves,
see the block of ten spines
that represent a real look at the real martial arts,
and have some real fun.

Use Google,
get back at the biggest villain,
and find the complete ten volumes of…
‘The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson of All’

HAVE A GREAT WORK OUT!
Al

(And don’t forget to drop me a letter if you like a book or course, and to give me good ratings on Amazon. It helps, believe me, it helps.

A WIN!
Master AL
Just a email to let you know I’m really enjoying the two new books of The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson. I got both from amazon and I look forward to getting the whole set. I’ve gotten all your books and they have changed my Martial Arts Practice and Study for the better …Your books and courses have given me the ideal way to teach and practice martial arts … I would like to give you all the thanks for showing me the True Way. Looking forward to the remaining books of The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson of All.
Sincerely
Sensei Danny M

‘Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.’
Bruce Lee

The Difference Between a Martial Artist and Practicing the Martial Arts…

Newsletter 939

Translating Karate into Everything

Hey Guys and Gals!
I just wrote the following newsletter,
and I just wanted to say thanks to you guys,
for being martial artists,
and making my path so worthwhile.
Hope you enjoy…

I was a black belt in Karate when I started Aikido.
I always remember the shock on the Aikido black belt’s faces,
I had a question
and I would walk right up
and ask the question.
If you’ve ever been around the classical,
that’s not how you do stuff.
You bow and scrape.
You practice speaking in a subdued manner.
You treat yourself like a humble dope
so they will take pity on you.
But I was a black belt in karate,
I was equal,
be it in another system,
so I would walk up and break the etiquette,
I would just ask.
Funny thing,
they always answered my questions.
I suppose they couldn’t figure out how to say no,
without themselves looking like a doofus.
So one day I’m asking a question,
and this black belt blinks,
and realizes.
‘You’re a black belt.’
Yup.
Then he took me aside,
we traded stuff madly,
really got into the art.
But here’s the interesting thing:
in Karate,
when you get to black belt,
you start figuring out how to use specific forms in freestyle.
Sure.
You’re intuitive,
you start reading minds,
guy thinks about an attack,
you think about a defense from a form,
and they match.
Not like today when people just fight.
Now,
at black belt I wasn’t interested in that.
Did it,
but wasn’t interested.
I was already reading everything,
looking at other arts,
and I wanted to make other arts work.
Of course,
the big problem was that I hadn’t really studied other arts.
I had read about them.
Big problem.
So doing the Aikido class,
I began to realize that I was performing the same body motions,
but going with the opponent
instead of against.
Instead of colliding with an inward block,
if I did a quick step and made the in block go with the attack,
I had aikido.
Zingo Bingo!
Then I looked at Tai Chi,
figured out the concepts,
applied them to Karate motions,
and I was doing Tai Chi.
And,
yes,
it was that simple.
Everything translated if you understood the concept behind the art.
Went through a few Kung Fu systems.
Did weapons,
and so on.
Matrixing was born,
and I wrote a million words
to describe everything
so everybody could understand it.
Do you study one system?
Silly you.
With a few tweaks you could be studying all the martial arts.
Now,
there are a few things to look out for.

First,
most systems these days
have become so muddied
they don’t have specific concepts.

Second,
most systems don’t have the right blend of forms and freestyle,
they end up with two arts…
the art of whatever their forms are
and the art of freestyle.

Third
most systems don’t stick to the path long enough
to become intuitive.
They end up putting boxing into their training,
mixing in MMA so they can advertise,
and so on.
You can recognize these systems
because people describe by using such terms as /muscle memory.’
Muscle memory is what you have until you go intuitive,
then it’s a whole new ballgame.
Then you are in the now.
And that’s a very zen thing.

The thing is,
when you have a system that works,
you can’t go hunting and pecking through other systems,
you have to do your whole system,
then you have to understand the concepts of the other system,
and you have to understand how these concepts work by physics and mechanics.
Then you have to work your butt off.

When I was figuring this stuff out
I was working out several hours a day,
even if I had no partner.
I would do air forms,
pound the bag,
work with weapons,
and write everything I did down.
And,
therein lies the difference
between a martial artist,
and a fellow who practices the martial arts.
We all start out the same,
going to classes,
blindly groping.
The fellow who practices martial arts,
however,
stops.
The martial artist doesn’t stop.
He becomes more and more obsessive,
finding new things to obsess about,
compelled to learn new things,
always dissatisfied with his progress,
always knowing that the truth is right around the corner,
if he could just see…a…little…further.
Anyway,
that’s the path from Karate to Aikido to everything else.
It’s not an easy path,
if you measure it in bruises and hours,
but it is the easiest path if you are obsessed.
Here’s to you,
I hope you’re obsessed.

Have a great work out!

Al

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

AN AIKIDO WIN!

Here’s a fellow who illustrates what I’ve been saying…

Hi,
Just wanted to take the time to thank you.  Having now watched and read through the Matrix Karate system it is exactly what I was hoping it would be when I originally made the purchase.  I have begun working my way through the material and am enjoying every second of it!  I have since also bought (I’ve been treating myself each pay day) your monkey boxing and within the last few days your Aikido course.  Both I have found instantly applicable, and although I have only watched the Aikido seminar once so far, I have quickly identified that together they are so much more than the sum of their parts!   Within just a few days of the monkey boxing course arriving, I found that I was suddenly able to lock and manipulate to restrain far higher grades than myself in the club I attend, and now have found I have members of all levels, and even my own instructor asking me to just go over techniques so they can see what I did.  Suffice to say that the guy (every club has one) that is like an immovable object was lying face down the very first time I tried a technique you had discussed… and I see no reason why my skills won’t take on a similar bound forward as I absorb the Aikido course.  
I am sure you hear such stories all the time from people like me (over enthused with what must seem mundane to yourself) but I really felt I ought to say thank you.  One thing I am not sure if other people have found, but I want to mention, I truly appreciate you laying ‘it all’ out for people, by which I mean I appreciate the reward  (in terms of knowledge) coming from hard work and ‘flight time’ rather than an arbitrary period between Dan Gradings no matter how often one trains in that time before the next chunk of knowledge is passed on.  I will continue to follow your courses and let each build on what went before.
One more thanks for the recommendation to read ‘As a man Thinketh’ I really took a lot from it.
Anyhow, I’ll leave you be, and stop pestering you with my ramblings.
Many thanks one last time,
Adam D.

Martial Art Work Outs to Kill For!

Newsletter 935

Why Do a Martial Arts Work Out?

Good and HOT day to you!
It’s over a 100 here in so cal,
And PERFECT for working out!

Hey,
Can I get in your face for a moment?
How much do you work out?
The whole purpose of this newsletter
is to encourage the work out.
So how much do you work out?

To me,
A work out is like a prayer.
I work out EVERY day.
Rain or shine,
Hot or cold,
In good health or poor.
Heck,
Because of working out I’m 70,
and feel like a 25 year old.
I think that makes it all pretty important.

When I work out I get in touch with me.
My thoughts are clearer all day,
Bushwah that bugs me
Suddenly recedes,
Becomes unimportant.
Problems become easy.
People who are difficult suddenly become…easy.
So how much do you work out?

Let me tell you something…
When I was working for my black belt
All those years ago,
I didn’t work out as much as I should.
I just worked out at the school,
Thought that was the only place to work out.
Boy,
Was I dumb.
Then,
Over the years,
I became aware of how much martial arts was doing for me.
I began obsessing.
Reading everything,
Studying everything,
Working out until the wee hours.
But,
You know,
I always have this little niggle inside.
I had wasted time.
I had not worked out obsessively back in the beginning.
I had only worked out at the school.
What wasted opportunities.
When I was fresh and full of vim and vigor,
I relaxed.
I wasted.
What a dope.

So that’s the message of this newsletter,
Now and always…

WORK OUT!
Agree with me or not,
Disagree or not,
The fact is that this is a reminder.
Nothing more,
Nothing less.

Here’s a recent win to encourage you.

Al,

I have gone through many of your courses and am currently going through blinding steel and eventually on my way to forty monkeys. I recently went through your book Matrixing Tong Bei. Several things clicked and the martial arts universe opened up after finishing that book.
Respectfully,
Tyler K

Come on,
Guys and gals,
Work out and make the universe open up for you!

Have a great work out!

Al

Here;S the Blinding Steel course, in it you learn how to matrix ALL weapons!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/3a-blinding-steel-matrixing-weapons/

Two and a Half Martial Arts Knock Outs

Newsletter 911

(In)Famous Knocks Outs in the Martial Arts

You’ve all seen clips of great knock outs.
Whether its Muhammad Ali,
Connor Gregor
Holly Hombs…
you can see great knock outs all over the net.
But here are some knock outs you haven’t seen,
and,
hopefully,
never will.
They are from my own personal trove of experience.

The first one isn’t a knock out per se,
but it sure qualifies for this newsletter.

Back in the late sixties kicks were just coming in to their own.
You see,
we mostly practiced front kicks, side kicks, wheel kicks.
Then Chuck Norris came along and showed us the spinning kick.
Man,
this drove us crazy.
Students at dojos everywhere were trying to spin and kick.
Spin and hook heel.
Spin and wheel.
Spin and whatever.
Out imagination FAR outran our abilities.
So one day this fellow shows me the latest and greatest…
it was a jump spinning rear kick.
And the kick was done with the leg straight,
really snazzy,
Man,
I watched this dude jump up and spin and knock coke cans off a fence…
and I was hooked.
So I practiced,
and practiced,
and in my mind I was a kung fu movie,
knocking down legions of bad guys.
In reality…
I wasn’t so good.
But I was trying…darn it!
I was trying!

One day I was playing baseball with some fellows.
There was a dozen of us,
it was a beautiful day,
and I was playing second base.
The field was a little dusty,
the sun was shining down,
and I waited for some situation to resolve.
A couple of guys arguing about plays,
or rules,
or some such.
And standing there,
my mind wandering,
I began to do spinning kicks.
The guys all knew I did Karate,
I was always doing something like this,
so everybody just stood around
and watched me,
and waited for the game to resume.
I spun and I spun,
and in my mind
I felt I had it.
I could see myself jumping,
soaring,
perfect arc of foot,
perfect balance.
And,
possessed by my fantasy,
I leaped into the air,
spun,
and collided with the ground.
I mean,
on a scale of 1 to 10,
ten being the worst,
I was a ten.
To the guys standing around,
it looked like I had dove into the sky,
jerked into contortions,
and threw myself on the dirt,
as awkwardly as possible.
For a moment nobody said anything.
They just gawked,
then they laughed.
And everybody was laughing.
What i had done was so stupid looking…
even I laughed.
I mean,
I had gone beyond the bounds of embarrassment,
even I could appreciate the heights of my stupidity.
That’s one.

The second knock out was real,
and,
interestingly,
it involved jump spinning kicks.
My instructor was not immune from the desire
to soar through the heavens,
and kick over a regiment of bad guys.
So one day he was practicing,
jumping and spinning,
and he was pretty good.
Except…
for that low hanging tree.
That’s right,
he leaped into the air,
spun beautifully,
and knocked his noggin on a branch,
and knocked himself out.
And he was really out.
He was unconscious for a half hour
before one of the guys found him.
Sprawled peacefully,
visions of spinning back kicks in his head.
That’s two.

And,
first place in this menagerie of misadventures,
goes to me.
You know,
it seems almost sad,
that such strivings for perfection
result in such…imperfections.

One of the tricks my instructor could do
was push ups on two single fingers.
We are not talking about a bend of the fingers,
we are talking about totally stiff index fingers.
A complete push up.
Now,
there were things that were beyond me,
there were things that people could do
that I would never be able.
But…
I knew I could do push ups on single index fingers.
So,
I began practicing.
I practiced regular push ups,
I practiced push ups on fists,
on the backs of my hands.
I imagined a rod of iron going along my backbone.
My visualizations were perfect.
I began doing push ups on half fists.
And,
I began reducing the number of digits.
I got to the point where I could do push ups on single index knuckles.
I began doing push ups on fingers.
Totally straight fingers.
Three fingers.
Two fingers.
It’s interesting,
it’s not strength,
it’s balance,
and it’s a frame of mind that pushes the world out,
and focuses awareness in the fingers.
Perfect balance.
I remember the night I got up on the single fingers.
Man,
what a charge.
I had made it.
Amazing.
I felt like I could do anything in the world.
And,
feeling so good,
I decided to do a couple of more push ups.
But…I hadn’t reckoned on the amazing amount of fatigue.
Focusing the mind like that
really drains it.
If I had waited for the next day,
I would have been okay.
But I was just charged up and ready to go.
I got up on the fingers,
and…
everything collapsed.
All that focus gave way…
as did all of the energy it required to do those push ups.
I felt right smack on my face.
And I actually knocked myself out.
I wasn’t out for long,
probably a couple of minutes.
No more than five.
But I was out.
Like a light.
Sleeping peacefully.
And that’s three.

So,
three knock outs
(two knock outs and a knock down)
that you will never hear about.
But,
you know,
that’s life.
That’s what happens when you go for something.
And the trick,
as we all know,
is not to accept it,
but to get back up,
keep going,
and really learn the martial arts.
That’s a life goal worth having.

Have a great work out!
Al

Get your black belt this year…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/black-belt-course/
It’s the ultimate video course,
over 100 lessons,
at a price you won’t believe.

http://monstermartialarts.com

A Few Fixes for the Martial Arts this Year

Newsletter 791
Martial Arts Mastery the Right Way

Great morning to you!
A great work out to you.
A year full of great work outs to you!

Here’s a few martial arts thoughts to start off 2016

I asked this question last year, and I’m going to ask it again.
Where do you want to be at the end of 2016?
What martial arts do you want to be expert in?
How far do you want to go?

Mastery comes from two factors,
hard hard you work,
and how scientifically correct is your art.

To make yourself work hard,
put notes up around the house.
Make yourself do fifty punches before you open the frig.
Do two forms before you go outside.
And inside.
Practice your applications as you walk
to the bathroom.
And so on.

Heck,
do your forms before you eat,
before you sleep,
and upon waking.

If you want to make it this year,
if you want mastery,
you need to be dedicated.

And,
here’s something to think about.
I was talking to somebody about the difference between
fighting and the martial arts.

You can be a fighter but not a martial artist.
You can’t be a martial artist without being a fighter.
You can’t be a good martial artist without giving up fighting.
It’s true.

It’s also true that
in a sport you attempt to defeat the other person.
In a martial art you attempt to control yourself.

You should know a minimum of two martial arts.
One with lots of force,
one with lots of flow.
Do that and your mind won’t be trapped by
being compelled to move in only one direction.

To win a fight the first thing you must do is control the distance.
While there is an art to fighting,
the true art is in control.

When it comes to augmenting your studies…
Some people learn best from a video.
Some people learn best from a book.
The best people learn from both.

One thing you should do,
if you really want to make it to mastery this year,
is sit down and make a list of polite things you can do.
Fighting is easy,
being polite,
especially when somebody wants to fight,
is not always so easy.
But it is the way to the true martial art.

Okey dogley.
That’s enough for now,
but think about spending a whole year doing nothing
but accumulating wisdom.
That’s going to give your martial art real legs.

Have a great work out,
and don’t forget to check out
the video on this page

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

Happy New Year!
Al

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

Martial Arts Training Gives a Great and Hard Body!

Martial Arts Training is the Way to Go!

The truth is that Martial Arts Training will put you in the best physical condition you’ll ever be in.

Doesn’t matter if it’s kung fu or karate or taekwondo, or whatever, the fact is that physical conditioning is part of the program.

I’m 61 in the above vid…and martial arts makes me young and fast!

So, do you want to grow old? Or are you ready to get good!

Now, here’s the key: when you do Karate kata, or Kung Fu forms, or whatever, you are doing physical conditioning. Take a look at the first Kata in Karate: Pinan One. When you do that form you are doing some twenty forward stances. That means you are doing twenty lunges! Furthermore, by doing the lunges on either side, and with the body balanced different ways for different punches and blocks, you are going to get different muscle groups working.

Now, beginners might repeat the form ten times. That’s 200 lunges!

And, when you figure in the different stances, a horse stance is a squat, a kneeling stance is a different type of lunge, and so on, then you end up with an amazingly well rounded and powerful set of legs!

Want to improve the upper body? Hold weights while you do the punches and blocks.

Now, here is the glory that traditional martial arts have, you can do them and do them and do them, and the risk of pulling muscles or otherwise injuring yourself is greatly reduced.

And, IT IS NOT BORING! I can’t tell you how many times I have heard guys complain about the long, boring work out. Well, it’s not boring in a martial arts training center! It’s exciting! Furthermore, in this day and age, you need the self defense training that comes along with this type of conditioning!

I tell you, this type of training will put you in the best shape of your life, and the competitive edge martial arts builds is absolutely cutting edge!

And, here is a great, little bonus! If you don’t feel like going to the gym, you can get yourself some martial arts training videos and really pump up the volume! You can not only work out and get in the best shape of your life, but you can experience all sorts of different martial arts training routines and patterns. Kung Fu, Karate, Aikido, or whatever.

And, here’s something you might like…the best martial arts training videos are available at MonsterMartialArts.com.

Iron Body Kung Fu Training

Iron Body training, sometimes called Golden Bell, is one of the Shaolin Kung Fu training specialties.
I actually learned it in Kang Duk Won Korean Karate. I didn’t learn any special techniques, we just beat on each other, did the techniques, and practiced breathing correctly when hit, and suddenly I had it.
When somebody hit me I could make up my mind that it wouldn’t hurt, and it wouldn’t. I would feel energy charge through my body and collect at the impact point.
Correct breathing. Breath out when you strike, breath out when you get struck, always breath as if from the tan tien.
As if, because you actually can’t breath from the tan tien. You can, however, breath to the diaphragm, and this will cause a sensation of energy to continue downwards to the tan tien.
With this method we could withstand strikes to the body or limbs. Some of the guys got so good they could take full kicks to the groin. I didn’t go that far. Grin.
But, when people ask me for specialized training, I sort of groan. Martial Arts aren’t a fantasy, they are a science, and one must do them, complete and thorough, and not get sidetracked by neat things they heard about. Anyway, that’s the scoop on Iron Body Kung Fu Training. Drop by my site, Monster Martial Arts, and pick up a free book.