Martial Artist Releases New Algebra Book!

An Algebra Book by a Martial Artist!

This is the sort of article that is going to get a few martial artists angry, and they will join more than a few modern day teachers, who will get even angrier!

New book on Algebra written by a martial artist!

After all, the martial arts are about fighting, and how can a fellow who practices thie fighting stuff know anything about Algebra?

And, martial artists who have been upset by this ‘matrixing’ thing will be discouraged to learn that there was some real science behind the creation of the thing.

Which brings us to the crux of the matter.

When I was in school I was apprised, courtesy of those day long tests, that I should be an architectural engineer.

Zowie! Design bridges and rocket ships! How cool is that, eh?

And my father, an official engineer who designed prototypes for a small firm called Ampex, and then for another small firm called Memorex, was pleased.

But, I didn’t care for this architectural engineering stuff. I wanted to learn Karate!

So I slogged through a few classes, bored out of my mind, and…and an interesting thing happened. I began applying architectural engineering to the martial arts.

Those cantilevers and arches, where were they in the human body? The analysis of geometry and materials, how did that support a horse stance, or that technique where you threw the bad guy across the room?

Could it be true? That the body is merely a structure whose motions can be reconfigured by the scientific application of formula?

The interesting thing is that, while I didn’t think I was doing anything unique (doesn’t everybody think like this), I was.

Most people can’t get outside their body, take an exterior viewpoint of their body, and consider as a machine, a vehicle, a thing of struts and beams, of forces and flows that can be analyzed with modern science.

Most people are fascinated by the ancient teachings, the immersion in other cultures, and they fall into the trap of ‘sciences’ that are passed down by oral tradition, and are based upon myth.

So, that brings us to now. Amidst all the punches and kicks, throws and blocks, I had to support myself, and I was a teacher in a private school, and then owned my own private school, for a number of years.

And I taught algebra.

But I taught it differently.

I had learned, you see, through some forty years of martial arts, that a punch was not complex, but simple.

And I looked for the simplicities of algebra.

And there were two.

The first simplicity is that algebra can be taught by asking three questions, the same three questions, for aNY algebra problem.

Once the student understands this, and starts asking himself/herself the questions are their own, the teacher can sit back and read a book, because algebra has been effectively solved. Kids, naturally exuberant, will take a joy and whistle through those long and daunting algebraic equations.

And, the second simplicity: there are two, only two, questions that a teacher must ask when teaching ANY child ANY algebraic function.

This last, in particular, is going to please home schoolers to the max. No longer struggling to lay out the problem and twist and turn it, but just ask two questions, one and two, and watch the lights go on in the child’s head.

So, if you have a child who is having trouble with Algebra, or maybe you are a teacher and want the latest method, if you are anybody who wants to clear the head of dust and debris…then the name of the book is ‘The Simple Truth About Algebra.’

Or if you are a martial artist who wants to see the truth behind theMartial Arts, from a scientific viewpoint.

The author is Al Case.

The website is: http://homeschoolmychildnow.com.

The book is available on Amazon, and here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Truth-About-Algebra/dp/1507724721/ref=sr_1_1ie=UTF8&qid=1422987899&sr=8-1&keywords=the+simple+truth+about+algebra

Dead Martial Artists Speak!

What do Dead Martial Artists Say

Okay, speaking of dead martial artists, a nurse who tends the dying observed that her patients had five specific regrets. So let’s put these in context of the martial arts and see what happens. And if you’re not a martial artist, that’s okay. You can always go start a class in Karate, of jujitsu, or tai or hung fu or whatever.

Military Martial Arts…Hooyah!

Number one,  they wished they’d had the courage to live the life they wanted, and not the life expected of them by others. This is interesting because there are actually a large number of people out there who see the martial arts, watch Bruce Lee movies, and they just shake their heads and don’t do it. They’d prefer to be couch potatoes, not enough strength and courage to get up and walk out the door and down the street to the nearest dojo.

Number two, they wished they hadn’t worked so hard. In other words, they never took the time to smell the flowers, or to appreciate the opportunities that they had, like walking out the door and down the street to a dojo. Heck! They could have been the next MMA champ! (Insert) I coulda been the champ!

Number three, they wish they’d had the courage to express their feelings. That’s something that martial artists don’t worry about. After a night of jousting and freestyle they are pretty laid back, say whatever they want. Oddly, they are so zen empty they almost always say the right thing.

Number four, they wish they’d stayed in touch with their friends. That is true. I remember all the fantastic people I’ve crossed fists with, wrestled with on the mat, traded ideas and done martial arts drills with…but because the martial artist has done it so intensely, and because he’s reached the depths of himself, he never lacks for friends and good times.

Number five, they wish they’d let themselves be happier. This is a no brainer for a martial artist. If a guy has the courage to get up and go learn something, to become healthy and calm and find all his fantastic attributes, if he is willing to plumb to the depths of himself, to work himself to the bone to get that coveted black belt, then he is happy. A lot happier than ANYBODY who hasn’t done the martial arts. And that’s the truth.

About the author: Al Case has been having no regrets since he walked into a dojo in 1967. You can tap into his source of happiness, you can get up off that couch and start the journey in your own living room by checking out his home study martial arts courses at MonsterMartialArts.com.

Are you still here?

 

Three Ways to Transform Yourself in the Martial Arts

Three Martial Arts Drills… 

Merry HanaKwanMass!
it’s time to think about a New Year!
What art do you want to learn next year?
What arts do you want to learn?
Make the thought now,
get started now
on making your plans.

Let me tell you something you don’t know.
My Xmas pres to you,
something you don’t know.
It’s the present that will last,
because you’re going to think about it,
and it will change you,
and you will find that this simple fact
has a LOT to do with the martial arts.

Here go…
Did you know that emotion is 90% hearing,
and 10% seeing?

It’s true.

Music is filled with emotion,
people’s voices are filled with emotion,
but you look at somebody
you don’t feel much emotion,
actually,
unless you know the person,
and even then have been apart from them for some time,
you actually tend to judge them.

Now,
there are ALL sorts of ‘what ifs’ to this,
but generally speaking,
it’s true.

So what does this have to do with the martial arts?

Simply this,
when you face somebody,
on the mat or on the street,
you trust your eyes.
Heck,
if everybody is yelling,
then you have to trust your eyes.
You use your eyes,
and you analyze what is happening.

So the breakdown goes like this.

Hearing is emotion,
seeing is judgmental,
and seeing through the martial arts is analysis.
Thus,
the importance of the martial arts
as a learning experience,
as a way to get over the desire to judge others,
instead of see them as they are.

Now,
if you are astute,
then you realize that I have given you the key
to world peace,
and,
to peace within yourself.

understanding this datum,
that hearing is emotion,
seeing is judgmental,
martial arts transforms judgment into analysis,
and thus wisdom,
will change you,
a subtle but immeasurable but infinite change.

Now,
the problem is that this change
from judgement to the ability to analyze
takes a long time.

Most martial arts take two to three decades
to transform the individual.
So a guy takes the martial arts,
learns to beat somebody up,
and thinks that’s all.
Quits the arts.
Yikes!
He is actually going AGAINST world peace,
and peace within.

(You can’t have world peace
unless enough people have peace within)

So you either have to do the martial arts long enough,
or do them intensely enough,
to transform yourself from judgement to analysis.
And that’s where Matixing comes in.

The biggest enemy Matrixing has
is the martial artist who thinks he knows it all.

At best,
he passes down the art,
transforms people in the same old same old
slow
way.
At worst,
his art has time to warp and twist and leave the true.
And,
let me tell you,
the worst is more likely to happen
than the best.

But when you matrix
you learn to find the things you don’t know.
You find the blank spots
the things you didn’t understand,
and the art speeds up.

Awareness progresses
according to the speed at which
you discover what you don’t know.

This is an absolute.

The problem is that people go only as fast as they are bound.
Bound by what they know,
which hides what they don’t know.

Okay,
you’re probably swimming by now,
so let me back off a bit,
and give you a couple of exercises
to help you grok this data.

First,
do matrixing.
Matrix your forms,
matrix your art,
matrix yourself.
That’s easy to do,
just get a MonsterMartialArt.com course
and go for it.

Second,
go out in the woods,
where there are no sounds of civilization,
sit,
close your eyes,
and listen.

Listen as if you are watching TV.
The same attention,
the same raptness,
but the whole world is now your TV.
At first thoughts will intrude,
but keep shoving them aside,
and learn to listen,
and you will shortly enter a world,
a world of emotion beyond emotion,
that you never knew existed.

Third,
take a day and don’t talk.
Tell your friends the day before,
have a card printed up if you need to,
but don’t talk.

Obviously it should be a day you don’t have to go to work.
Then,
wait a week or two,
and do it again.
A few days of no talking,
and you will enter a realm
where you learn to communicate with the eyes,
and you will see things
that have been passing you by.
Your eyes will open
and you will see a different world.
A world without judgment.

Okay,
those are your three steps,
fun to do,
takes some discipline,
but the results will knock you for a loop.

Okaley dokaly
Remember,
I have two specials on…

One,
Rolling Fists is half price,
because I have a bunch of labels
that faded.
Email me for details.
(aganzul@gmail.com)

Two,
the HanaKwanMass two for one special!
Good until Jan 1.
Get any course,
and email me afterward
for any other course
of equal or lesser value!

Simply go to
http://monstermartialarts.com
and run wild.
Kid in a candy store,
Eureka!
And find the martial arts you want to learn this next year.

Remember,
learn the truth about emotions,
transform judgment into the ability to analyze,
and Matrix yourself.

The world will be a better place.

Happy New Year
and have a great work out!
Al

Special Martial Arts Xmas Present!

Newsletter 721
A HanaKwanMass Present to You!

Hi.
Thanks for being a martial artist.
Wouldn’t it be a better world
if everybody was a martial artist?
Strong, calm, competent…
able to look their fellow man in the eye,
fulfill their purpose on earth
without all the bushwah?

Well,
in that spirit,
I’m going to explain Hanakwanmass,
then offer you a deal.

In the last few years it has become politically incorrect
to offer a Merry Christmas to somebody.
Heck,
if they are Black, or Jewish,
or purple or have feathers instead of hair,
or something else,
you might offend them!

Oh,
horrors!

So I started saying
HanaKwanMass.
Which stands for
Hanukah/Kwanza/Christmas
and that way
I could offend EVERYBODY!

Specifically
I could offend everybody who doesn’t understand
that Merry Christmas,
or Happy Hanukah,
or Kool Kwanza
is a good wish to all,

And if somebody is so stupid to get offended
just because somebody gave them a well wish
then they should move to a war zone,
or a prison,
or maybe just go to the movies and chill out.

So..
Hanakwanmass to you all!

And,
in the spirit of Xmas,
and in the interest of making everybody
into calm and capable martial artists,
Two for one until Jan 1 2015.

Get one course,
email me with your choice of a second course,
and I will send it to you.
(Please make sure they are of equal value)

And,
for anybody who doesn’t understand,
Buy one and get one free.
Two for one.
You can get one for yourself,
and one for your friend,
your mate,
your son/daughter
aging grandpa who can’t get up out of the rocker
but, man, would he like to learn the martial arts!

Remember…
TWO FOR ONE
(Please make sure they are of equal value)
and…

HANAKWANMASS TO EVERYBODY!

And have yourself a mighty, fine work out!

Al

(email is: aganzul@gmail.com)

The One Thing That P’s Me Off About Martial Artists

The Stopping Point for Martial Arts Knowledge

‘Just one thing p’s you off about Martial Artists, Al?’ you ask.

Yeah, really, just one thing.

Do you remember back when you were first starting, and you would encounter the attitude that ‘my school is best/my art is best.’

Now, after having done a few martial arts you have the overall picture, and you know that not one art is best.

And, if you are pretty savvy, you understand that people need to think their art is best, at least in the beginning. It is a mark of loyalty, of fanaticism that is necessary to truly immerse yourself in your studies.

You need that degree of commitment if you are really going to learn anything.

Martial Arts are tough, and it takes a person with zeal to make it through them.

Now, having said that, what is the one thing that p’s me off about Martial Artists?

Well, interestingly enough, it is an extrapolation of that stupidity of which we are all necessarily guilty.

It is an attitude that, since we have done martial arts we know everything.

It is a stopping point that happens after somebody has learned something significant, and then doesn’t know how to proceed, and thus doesn’t want to proceed, and falls back on, here it is, ‘I know that/we have that in our system.’

Yep, it is the refusal to move, the inability to learn more, and simply because we think we know it all.

But if you knew it all you could make an orange appear in your hand. Out of nothing.

Or vaporize a rock, into nothing, without the pesky atomic explosion that might accomplish such folderol.

Now, I encounter that attitude more than most, and this because I have gone past it. There is a residue, you see, which accumulates. And this residue of which I speak insulates those who wish to know, but don’t know how, who have succumbed to the one thing that pisses me off about martial artists.

So, you don’t know everything, and I say, ‘Look, here is this matrixing thing, and it can show you what you don’t know! Doesn’t matter if you don’t know what you don’t know, it works for everybody, and it finds out what you don’t know, even if it is different from what everybody else doesn’t know!’

Most people are polite, think I am just drumming up a little internet business with an internet gimmick, and they simply slide over my claims of a science…and the fact that I have over 600 pages of testimonials, and almost no detractors.

Well, I have a few detractors, but the odd thing–every one of those detractors has never taken one of my courses!

But to return to the sane ones, most martial artists smile, relax in their hard won competence, and say, ‘Oh, yeah, I understand what he’s saying, so I must have that in my art. No need to look.’

But if asked if they have ever seen a matrix graph? Whether they have ever come across something called a matrix of blocks? Whether they have seen the martial arts listed as a geometrical arrangement? They can’t say that they have.

Or, sad, if they have, the graph or arrangement is wrong. It is just a compilation of kenpo (or other) techniques that, given enough techniques, will invariably slide one to the other.

Not a logic, but a happenstance when one has information overload.

Not a slim, streamlined way of understanding all arts, of accessing all arts, but a jumble of everything piled in a bucket so you can’t see the bottom.

Well, there you go, that’s the one thing that pisses me off about Martial Artists. The fact that they have reached the top, and don’t understand it is a beginning for a whole new thing. A relaxation into self-satisfaction, and the end of the climb.

An inability to learn because they think they know it all.

Martial Arts Bowing and What It Really Means!

The Truth About Bowing in the Martial Arts!

The two martial artists faced off to fight. They did their ritual bows, and one ran off screaming. “You belong to the School of the Flying Dragon Who Passes Gas in the Clouds!” The remaining Martial Artist sneered, and thanked the Gods he had at least learned the ritual bow of that esoteric school of Gung Fu.

Sounds like a movie, eh?

Why and how to do your Martial Arts bow!

But it does bring up the question…what is with all this bowing stuff?

When this writer walked into his first martial arts school, and walked onto his first mat, he was told the secret of bowing.

‘You are paying respect to all the martial artists who have stepped on this mat before, to all who have made the martial arts what they are.’

Okay. I can have that. I always greeted my grandfather with joy, why not consider the martial arts a family, or at least community?

And I quickly bought into bowing when you enter or leave the building, which showed respect for the school, and bowing to your opponent to show respect to him.

Heck, it was simple, polite, and quicker and safer than a handshake. I liked it.

Then I found out that in Japan, if the degree of your bow was off by a fraction of an inch…you were guilty of immense social disgrace.

And I found out that in China, if you didn’t do your ritual bow, the one where you step into the deep back stance, twirl the hands through a covered fist into a sword and shield, then into a mystical hand shadow of a dragon flying, and then do a backflip, you would be dead meat to the ancients!

And all the other gung fu schools would laugh at you.

But, that wasn’t the worst!

What was worse was that if you didn’t clamp your feet together harder than a Prussian snap! If you didn’t shoot your fists downwards like lightening bolts. If you didn’t bow severely and to the proper degree at the waist…you could be docked for points while performing kata at a tournament!

I really had no idea that the ancients were so militaristic.

But do you see how far afield we have come in this matter of bowing?

When I was at the Kang Duk Won, back in the seventies, I figured out this thing called a Martial Arts bow.

You are communicating with another person(s).

Maybe they are dead, maybe they are about to clean your clock on the mat, but you are saying… “Hello.”

And, you know, that’s what I tell my students when they first walk into my dojo, when they first step on to my mat.

You are saying hello. ‘Hello’ to the school when you walk into the building, and ‘Thanks’ when you leave.

You are saying “Hello” to all the other students, past and future, when you step on to the mat, and maybe ‘See you later’ when you leave.

You are saying “Hello” to your opponent. And when he gets a good punch or kick in on you, or you on him, you both bow and agree that that was a good punch or kick. “Nicely done!”

And when you disengage from fighting with him you are saying, “thanks.”

But you are not engaging in militaristic ritual, or going to be graded by society or a judge for the degree of your bow, or even trying to do a backflip so high that you can pass gas in the clouds.

First Case History written in years. But you can find more Case Histories here.

Monkeyland is the Place for the Martial Arts!

Monkeyland is Now Open!

I’m here! At Monkeyland! The Church of Martial Arts has actual physical presence and location!

I’m sitting in a small cabin, the wind is howling hard enough to blow monkeys out of the trees, if there were any monkeys in the trees. Heh.

Do you know the truth of the martial arts?

And, I have no clue what is going to happen.

I just knew I had to get here, had to have a perfect place to work out. Had to have a place where there weren’t any low grade human beings, and only the faithful to train.

I know what Mas Oyama felt like when he disappeared into the mountains for two years to train himself.

I know what people who removed themselves from the world to pursue the ideal of perfection felt.

But, enough about me. I’m not one of those ‘me, me, me,’ personalities. This is about you.

Do you want perfection? Do you want the real martial arts? Do you want…Monkeyland?

So what’s stopping you?

Heck, hop a plane for a couple of hundred, live cheap, work hard, and dedicate yourself to training.

You know, I don’t want to just turn out martial artists…I want to turn out people who can train martial artists.

There’s one of me and millions of martial artists. I need help if I am going to spread the true arts, fix the corrupt arts, and elevate the martial arts to the highest level on this planet ever.

Heck, if you live in California you could come for a weekend.

If you’re out of California you could fly/drive/swim in over the weekend, spend a week in heaven, and leave the following weekend.

Seriously, this is the best deal, monetarily and martial arts wise, you could ever find.

How much does it cost you to live for a month? $1000? So spend half as much and live here!

I’ll work you, I’ll train you, and you will walk out a matrixed human being. You will walk out with a complete system or two, totally jazzed, and wide awake!

So, seriously…what is stopping you?

Here’s a series of articles that will tell you about the Martial Belief system at the Church of Martial Arts.

Heavy Bag Workouts are the Way to Go!

Heavy Bag Workouts  Make for Power!

One of the most fun things you can do, be it martial arts, kickboxing, or just plain on your own conditioning, is a heavy bag workout.

There is nothing like setting, and whomping that sucker with all your might! Whether you do a heavy bag workout for beginners, women, for weight loss or whatever, there is a satisfaction that comes with watching that bad boy fly to the ceiling!

Let’s do it, Dude!

Now, the trick is to have the best bag you can. You have to select a weight that is right for you, and a texture, and so on.

Hard core martial artists will claim that you have to kick something as heavy as an attacker, maybe a couple hundred pounds. The problem is that the bag doesn’t have enough give for you, especially in the beginning. Simply, you kick it, and it doesn’t move that much, and you don’t get satisfaction, and the muscles don’t get that feeling of having pushed something.

Now, we don’t want a speed bag, like boxers use. That’s too light, and the muscles don’t get the feel of resistance necessary for weightlifting.

And it is weightlifting, be it fast and violent, and you need to find the exact weight that will work for you.

A 70 pound bag is perfect. It has give, and it weighs enough that it will fly away, but still last you for a while as your muscles get stronger and stronger.

The next step would be a hundred pound kicking bag. After that, you play it by ear, but a 20 to 25 pound increase is about all you want at one time.

No, it doesn’t weigh as much as an opponent, but you need to raise the level of resistance in accordance with how your body grows, not form an unworkable ideal right off the bat.

Now, a couple of interesting facts, and then I will tell you where I get my kicking bags.

Before he died, Bruce Lee ordered a bag that was 300 or 400 pounds. He weighed 135 pounds, and I have no idea how much fly he was expecting to get out of that bag, but…man! If anybody could do it, it was Bruce.

And, did you know that kicking bags are stuffed with clothes? True. I think a lot of them have furniture filling, but it was clothes for years for many.

And, the way they fill heavy bags is with baseball bats. They just have a couple of guys pile drive the end of the bat into the top of the bag until everything is squooshed down, weighs the right amount, and doesn’t have any…edges.

Anyway, think about what I said here, before you buy anything for your heavy bag workout.

And, if you want to know how I pack my personal bags – yes, I do it all myself – then go to cheap punching bag. The story of how I discovered my method, and the things I went through…it’s quite interesting, and it will help you on your journey to the best heavy bag workout you can have. Pick up some free martial arts books while you’re there.

Bagua Zhang opens the Door to an Entirely New World!

Bagua Zhang Creates a New Universe!

Bagua Zhang founder Dong Hai Chuan was most likely a Shaolin Kung Fu stylist. Like many martial artists of his day, he wandered the land, looking for employment, and looking for opportunities to improve his Chinese martial art.

He would look for chances to use his Gung Fu as a bodyguard, fighting off bandits with spear and sword and hand.

Bagua Zhang was created by Dong Hai Chuan

 

One must wonder then, how he became involved with a band of religious zealots.

It is doubtful whether the monks of this obscure and unnamed sect could beat him in a hand to hand fight, but they had to have something, or he wouldn’t have stopped his travels for eleven years and studied with them.

For the first nine years, it is reported, Dong Hai Chuan walked in circles, possibly chanting religious phrases. He walked and he walked, and one can imagine the unspooling in his mind. It is invariable that his martial arts would start to manifest.

Around and around, making kung fu motions with his hands, bending his legs into kung fu stances, and imagining how walking the circle could enable him to move better through hordes of bandits.

After nine years of doing these kung fu movements, which would become the basis for his Bagua Zhang martial art, he told the monks that he felt that the trees were bending after him, actually chasing him.

Trees Chasing a human being? Now how could that be?

Have you ever met eyes with somebody sitting on a bus? They are in travel, in a different world, and for a moment the spirits see each other. Across separate universes they bridge.

Or, have you ever played in a soccer match, run next to somebody, and been immersed in your own separate communication with that person, created a world that is different, that seems stable while the ‘real’ universe of the crowd and the stands passes by?

This is the universe that Dong Hai Chuan entered. This is the universe he created, a universe so strong that mighty trees bent to the wind of his passing.

The question here, however, is not about Dong Hai Chuan, it is about you. Can you use Bagua Zhang (also called Pa Kua Chang), and walk in a circle so long that the universe bends to your will?

Can you go around in circles and learn the fascinating hand movements of Bagua Zhang until a horde of attackers is confused by your simple walking the circle self defense?

An interesting question, this Bagua Zhang thing, for it opens the door to a new universe, and a new you.

Here’s another great article about a Bagua Zhang universe. Monster Martial Arts has a great Bagua online martial arts course you can do.

The Truth about the Ed Parker Mess Up

The Ed Parker Debacle!

Let’s talk about the Ed Parker Debacle.

Before I start,
you have to understand
how much respect I have for Ed.
He did amazing things,
but…
he fell into the same traps
as have all martial artists
for thousands of years.

In the beginning there was no Kenpo.
There were a few judo schools,
fewer karate schools,
and along came Edmund Parker.

He knew if he put up a poster
with Kenpo on it,
nobody would sign up.
Nobody knew what Kenpo was!
So he called it Karate.
Don’t know if he called it Kenpo Karate,
or just Karate,
but he called it Karate
so people would know what it was
and sign up for it.

Now,
the interesting thing was that it WAS Karate.
I have had people argue this point with me,
but I look at the pictures in his very first book,
in which he demos the techniques he taught,
and he is teaching a string of techniques
that if assembled…
are straight from Karate.

Now,
as time passed,
Ed couldn’t get more martial arts from his Master,
William ‘thunderbolt’ Chow.
(Chow had studied with Mitose,
so there was great lineage there.)
So Ed started looking elsewhere.
He met and trained with many Martial Artists,
and this undoubtedly effect him.
The most significant influence,
however,
was Jimmy Woo.
Jimmy was a Kung Fu stylist from China,
and he knew his stuff,
and he helped rewrite the Kenpo curriculum.
So we have two specific versions of Kenpo,
with multiple influences.

Now,
here is where the problems,
if you wish to call them that,
started.
During the course of his career
Ed evolved five different Kenpo systems.
That’s right.
Five.
He would get tired of what he was teaching,
figure out some new stuff,
and change the whole thing.
And he did this five times!

There were probably many things influencing him in this.
There was the fact that he had a black belt in Judo
before he earned his brown belt in Kenpo.
(I don’t believe he ever earned a black belt under Chow)
Then there were his studies with people like
Ark Wong
Haumea Lefiti
Jimmy Woo

He even knew Bruce Lee,
and Bruce was sure to have had some sort of influence.

And then there were things like
tournaments
adjusting to sales contracts
introductionof protective gear
and other arts and people we know nothing of!

So Ed Parker was a genius,
and he put together a massive system,
a system that evolved five different specific times,
but…
it was all a put together,
and a re-put together,
and a re-put together,
etc.

Look,
no disrespect here,
everything in the martial arts is a put together!

We just happen to know the specifics of Kenpo and Parker.

And,
here is the problem with put togethers…
they don’t always jive.
They tend to follow specific concepts
that the founder liked,
but they don’t always fit together.

Yes,
you can thread from one technique to another in kenpo,
but that is serendipity.
Not a plan.
But an evolution of opportunity.

And that is true of ALL arts!

Now,
I tried to Matrix Kenpo,
I tried hard.
I collected all the systems of Kenpo that I could.
I had videos and books
and various instructor manuals from schools,
and my own notes from when I studied Kenpo.
And I tried to make sense out of it,
and it didn’t work.
I just couldn’t do it.
To be fair to me,
I had managed to matrix Karate,
but I was still evolving,
and I didn’t understand how many arts and influences
were in a thing like kenpo.

Interestingly,
I could matrix kung fu systems.
But they had been around for thousands of years,
and they had been ‘shaken out.’
Evolution had shaped them into ‘closed combat systems.’
They were sets of techniques
that resulted in specific body and personality changes,
and even zen states of mind,
and so on.

But,
kenpo…
sigh.

But,
the big breakthrough came
while I was doing the research for Blinding Steel.
Or what I call Matrix Kung Fu.

I describe the full sequence of events
on this page

http://www.monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-kung-fu/

but let me say now,
that there was a process of elimination.
When I had matrixed enough other arts,
and saw what was left,
the blinders came off,
the lights went on,
and I figured it out.

And,
I didn’t want to matrix Kenpo.
Among the reasons was the simple fact
the system was big and unwieldy
and I felt that the concepts of the martial arts
were better presented in the string of courses I had already created.

Kenpo would have been doing everything over again,
except that I would have been separating everything
into kenpo styles of the arts I had done.

I just didn’t want to do all the work over again,
and slant it towards Kenpo.

That said,
Kenpo can be matrixed
if you just do a few courses,
Matrix Karate,
the Master Instructor Course,
and…
Matrix Kung Fu.

Mind you,
it is probably choppier than official Kenpo,
but it will include all angles and potentials of motion.
But it is much more to the point.
Not the endless variations,
not the mystery of what to connect to what,
but a simplicity of a body and art
defined exactly and correctly.

If you like that notion,
if you are a kenpo stylist,
you should check out Matrix Kung Fu.

http://www.monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-kung-fu/

Now,
that all said,
if you click on the Matrix Kung Fu link,
you get to see the new website!

So,
have fun,
see you there,
and have a great work out!

Al