Martial Arts I Study after 55+ Years!!

Happy Summer!

You should set a goal,

choose an art,

and learn it this summer.

Let me be specific in what I study,

the martial arts I practice.

I get this question every once in a while,

and if you’re not not interested,

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

I do Sanchin.

I don’t do the rock hard version

where people beat on you,

where you learn to ‘take it.’

The reason for this is that 

there are two sides to the martial arts,

avoid…or get tough.

I prefer to mix the two,

seek a type of harmony between them.

So the Sanchin I practice I will…

…sink the weight

…turn the hips

…execute a slap and grab motion

…and punch.

And,

I use a matrix of blocks

in applying the slap grab,

and develop the slap grab

from strike to lock to takedown.

This makes the art totally workable.

Now,

I play with other forms.

I practice with weapons 

and I do other arts,

but…

Sanchin is my gold.

It gives me breathing,

dynamic tension,

grounding,

loose-tight,

a whole body,

energy,

and so many other things.

For the soft side of the art

I do the material from…

The Last Martial Arts Book:

Nine Square Diagram Boxing

It includes concepts from Tai Chi and Pa Kua Chang,

and follows the matrixing logic of Sanchin.

It is a complete ‘soft style’ art.

And,

to round out the art,

and to make sure I  can use everything I study,

I do…

Rhythmic Freestyle,

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

sticky hands (from wing chun)

Push hands from Tai Chi chuan.

And,

of course…

freestyle.

This is the actual training routine I do.

Every day.

Every day.

This routine is totally defined in two books,

How to Fix Karate (comes in two volumes)

and

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

All the instructions are in there.

including instructions on what the forms really mean,

how to make the applications work,

complete instructions on matrixing,

and so much more.

I wrote those books so I would have a path

should I choose to come back to this planet

after I die.

It’s the best I could do.

And, I should mention a couple of things.

There are two versions of The Last Martial Arts Book.

One of them has five hours of video instruction.

And,

How to Fix Karate has hours of video instruction.

And,

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

I sincerely hope that somebody gets excited

and starts researching,

seeing how I came up with this stuff.

Research is how you go deep in your understanding.

Anyway,

I thought I would mention all this

and encourage you to

learn a totally different martial art this summer!

Have a great work out!

Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

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

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

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

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

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

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

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

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

The Martial Arts Night Before XMAS!

HanaKwanMass!

And, I’ve got my yearly 

‘Night Before Xmas’ rendition for you.

But,

first,

HanaKwanMass means

Hanukah plus Kwanza plus Christmas!

You might offend two thirds of everybody you meet,

but you get three times the gifts!

Yahoo!

Now,

in the interests of offending everybody everywhere

is the Martial Arts Night Before Christmas!

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

Twas the night before Christmas

I was in my shack

primed and ready

for the red fat attack.

my weapons were loaded

the windows were barred

all would be safe

while I was on guard

The chimney was decked

with concertina wire

I crouched by the couch

ready to fire.

I had an M60

with ammo to feed

I didn’t care

if the red fat did bleed.

A loaded shotgun

and grenades to spare

when red fat came down

I’d blow him out of there.

Throwing stars and knives

and a really long sword

and if that didn’t work

I knew a bad word.

Sitting there late

my eyes started to close

when suddenly I heard

a bunch of ho hos.

Off with the lights

safety off, too

I  watched the fire close

and heard a sound from the flu.

‘Ouch and gosh darn it

who put the wire here

those are my undies

starting to tear!’

Then a shower of soot

and a grunt and a groan

he landed in the fire

and gave out a moan.

He was rubbing the place

where the wire did tear

so I held down the trigger

and lead filled the air.

belt after belt

did I deal the red fat

he danced and he jumped

I knew he felt that!

then quicker than spit

I ran out of lead

but enough was enough

he had to be dead.

Boy was I shocked

to see him stand tall

stepping out of the fireplace

not bothered at all.

So I grabbed up the 16

to mow him down

he had to be hurting

cause I saw his big frown.

Then I was empty

and he came straight for me

I pulled out my knives

and sliced him with glee

He jumped to the side

moving real quick

disarmed my knives

with a well placed kick

then he dropped the big bag

he had on his shoulder

reached forth his arms

and his anger did smolder

He grabbed hard my neck

and held me up high

I tried kicks and punches

but I was like a fly

Not karate nor judo

no art did work

and he grinned a mean grin

and called me a jerk

‘Don’t you know

you stupid little man

Christmas is forever

in spite of your plan.’

Then he threw me aside

and proceeded to work

giving presents to all

and to me a great smirk

And when he left

the great big red fat

he left me a lump of coal

the big red fat rat!

HANAKWANMASS TO ALL

and to all a great work out.

Al

BTW…

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

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

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

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

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

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

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

And don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

Beating Up a Crowd of People!

Have you ever wondered what you would do

if you were caught, or targeted, by a mob?

This is actually not an inconceivable situation

considering the antics of such as BLM or Antifa,

In 2020 these groups caused:

$2 billion in damages

rioted in 140 cities

caused the injury of 2000 cops

resulted in the deaths of 25 Americans.

There weren’t any congressional hearings on this

nor any real reporting from the media,

but these are the figures

as far as I have been able to figure.

And it is a distinct possibility

that such riots could happen again.

So,

the question…

what would you do if you were caught up in, 

and especially targeted by

a mob of crazy people?

I took Aikido in the early seventies,

and I was fascinated by the videos

of people doing multiman combat.

I also had many situations during karate classes

where we would fight multiple attackers.

Eventually, basing the material on Aikido

and on certain karate concepts,

I filmed the ‘Matrix Aikido’ course.

This is a great course, 

as it is based on concept

and not memorizing endless techniques.

One day I was visiting one of my student’s classes.

There were about 20 young men (age 18-25) in the class.

I was asked many questions,

and the subject of fighting large numbers of people 

was brought up,

and the students’ challenged some of my assertions.

‘Okay,’ I said.

‘let’s see if I can make my theories work.’

I always remember the surprise on their faces,

they asked me how many of the students

should attempt to lay hands on me

I said, ‘Everybody.’

Man, they were blinking,

then they looked at each other and grinned,

and the melee was on.

It was some ten minutes

before anybody laid a hand on me,

and I will tell you EXACTLY what I did.

Mind you,

I was theorizing and training in pure concepts at the time.

First,

there are three directions

that a punch will take

generally speaking,

and this tended to hold true

for my situation.

First,

 the punch might hit you.

Second,

if you move back,

it will pass in front of you.

Third,

if you move forward,

it will pass behind you.

There were a few kicks,

but I just used the same theory,

but adapted it for kicks.

I then attacked.

Yep,

you heard me right,

I went forward,

into the mass of twenty men.

They were trying to create enough room

so they could punch (kick) me.

This moved them away from each other

just enough so I could slip between.

I wouldn’t always recommend a charge,

but we were in a big park

and I had plenty of room to maneuver.

As they turned to chase me

they were now in each other’s way.

As I recall,

Aikido holds that three people

is the worst scenario for people attacking you

because they have enough room.

More than three and they get in each other’s way.

Now I had only two concepts in mind.

I moved in and grabbed their bodies and ‘danced’ with them

and flung them away.

Or,

I slowed down as the punch came in

pushed their punch across their body

then they were tangled and I pushed them away.

And I kept throwing them in front of each other 

At all times I went forward.

This gave me the initiative.

I never went backwards.

Everybody chased me

and was constantly having to step around bodies.

It was one of the easiest fights I had ever had.

Now,

the only other thing of interest in this

is that when I started I noticed one person looking at me.

I knew he was going to be the one to get me.

I made it my strategy to always avoid him.

But at the end,

he got close and tagged me in the back with a punch.

Now,

what I did was that simple.

It was not complex.

If I had tried complex maneuvers

they would have got me in the beginning.

Though, as I progressed

and figured things out,

I did mix in specific techniques,

appropriate to the ‘punch in front or punch in back’

that I was conceptualizing.

And,

I knew what I was doing 

would hold true for clubs and such.

It might even hold true for firearms,

but there would be considerable limits

on what I could do in that situation.

Which brings us to the Antifa/BLM riots.

Buildings burning,

people with guns

and

Kyle Rittenhouse

Kyle wasn’t trained in the martial arts,

he was only trying to get away,

and only the fact that he had a gun 

enabled him to do so.

If he tried to get away and hadn’t had a gun

he likely would have been killed,

at least severely maimed.

If he hadn’t had a gun,

of course,

he might not even have been attacked.

But that is a probability I wouldn’t bet on.

So,

imagine yourself in that situation.

Do you understand the concepts I outlined,

always attacking,

stepping in front of or behind the strike,

how to adapt it to kicks

or to weapons like clubs or even swords.

What is most interesting is seeing how many techniques

you can come up with from the 

‘punch in front, punch behind’ concept.

This will define an entire martial art.

It will be logical,

and you should avoid poser techniques.

And,

if you find fault with my method,

or think it won’t work,

what can you come up with?

Anyway,

have fun with this.

And thanks to Kumar for asking.

Here is the link to Matrix Aikido

where I give a seminar and show

the actual conceptualizing of Aikido.

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

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…

Comparing Karate Over the Decades!

Hi guys and gals, 

I want to talk about the differences

between freestyle over the years.

But, first…

I am closing a few sites.

I’ll keep the monster up,

and a couple of others,

but I’ve got 7 or 8 websites that are going down.

Simply,

the webhoster is so incompetent,

and moving the sites and repairing them…

it’s just not worth it.

The KangDukWon.com website is gone.

If you are mid lesson, let me know.

And,

there is a bigger reason.

Advertising on Google is silly,

and I have found the best way to market my courses

is to change them into books on Amazon.

So I’ve got the How to Fix Karate books up there,

and The Shaolin Butterfly.

And I’ll have more,

but I’m making these changes

because the internet is changing.

And I will consider certificates for a couple of the courses.

The Matrix Karate course,

the Master Instructor course,

and a few others.

Okay,

Karate has degraded over the years.

Badly.

I do all arts,

but my base art is karate,

and this degrading of art is hurtful.

So this is what I want you to do.

Go to Youtube and find 1970 Karate.

That was when I learned,

and you can see hard techniques,

lots of good control,

and sportsmanship.

I knew a lot of the guys in this clip.

Then look for 1980s karate.

These guys are marginally better,

but they are dancing around more

(courtesy of Bruce)

and their control isn’t as good.

Then find

Old School Karate VS Modern Karate Tournaments

The music probably wasn’t needed,

it becomes a put down,

but the point is…

what happened?

Parents.

Children.

Politics.

Money.

protective gear.

Some other stuff, too.

Society has become drugged out,

education has become political indoctrination,

but I don’t really want to go into those things.

I want to discuss the big five.

Parents sign their children up to defend themselves,

but if there is an ‘owie,’

bang—those kids are gone.

I’ve taught classes to kids,

as soon as I get even the teensiest bit down and dirty,

the parents glare at me like I’m abusing their children.

Children.

If the kid goes home and complains that it’s too hard,

Bang—those kids are gone.

Parents have totally bought into the idea

that their little snowflake dumpling needs reassurance

and not hard work.

Politics.

People would rather talk than work out.

Whenever I had a talker I would focus on him till

he started working, or left.

I had no room in any of my schools for people 

who didn’t want to sweat.

Money.

To stay in business you need it.

But if you are lowering standards to keep people

you aren’t teaching karate.

Protective gear.

People think you need to hit harder,

or can hit harder,

so they give up learning control.

And control is CRUCIAL to the martial arts.

But people buy into protective gear because 

the school owners push it because

it makes them a profit

and they can stay in business

and lower their standards.

So,

what do you do?

Find a hard class that works hard.

Find the fellows that work the hardest and pair up with them.

Teach a hard class and take no prisoners.

I couldn’t believe it,

I was astounded,

I was actually shocked,

the first time a fellow stepped off the mat

so he could get a drink of water.

“But I was thirsty!” he explained.

And I said,

“In a real fight you’re going to stop everything

and get a drink of water because you’re thirsty?”

Want a real story of tough?

I was teaching a bunch of guys,

and my son was among them.

After some six months

Aaron complained of chest pain.

When I looked

he had an indentation on his sternum.

Somebody had actually punched a dent in his chest.

Doctor said to take a few weeks off,

it would heal.

I said, ‘Okay, you’re off for a few weeks.’

Aaron said, ‘No, I’m not.’

We argued and I put down the law.

I was a bit surprised when he showed up for class.

I said, 

“Get the F out.”

He said,

“You’re going to have to make me.”

Argh!

So I could have gotten physical

which would have caused damage,

or I could let him stay,

in which case he only ‘might’ get damaged.

So he stayed.

I was always proud of the fact

that he had the real spirit.

Willing to work

even to the point of injury,

and beyond.

Mind you,

I still don’t think he should have been in the class,

I believe in taking care of injuries,

but he was so tough

that I couldn’t stop him.

And that means he can’t be stopped in life.

Because the dojo is a microcosm.

It is a little life in which lessons are learned.

And when I watch these pattycake sessions

that people think are real Karate,

I feel so incredibly sad.

Okay,

obligatory ad…

Chiang Nan

here’s the page

Here’s a sample

CHIANG NAN

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…

Fighting Without Fighting!

I want to talk about 

fighting without fighting,

but first…

Thanks to everybody for making How to Fix Karate a Success!

It’s on Amazon.

Now then…

Fighting without fighting.

First, you have to learn to fight.

Nothing stops a fellow from trying to mug you

like him knowing you’re going to come out on top.

Get your black belt,

get zen confidence,

nobody is going to bother you.

You learned to fight so you don’t have to fight.

This is the crux of the second amendment,

for those of you who wondered.

So, 

somebody STILL wants to fight.

This is the one that it took me years to figure out,

and that nobody knows.

I figured it out while figuring out Neutronics.

In this universe there are only objects that move around.

So you’re sitting there peacefully,

and some guy starts moving towards you

and he wants to conk you.

I simply say,

‘you’re coming towards me.’

And he goes away.

Isn’t that weird?

His body is part of the universe,

and his motion has been detected,

and let me tell give you a little bit of data.

The guy that wants to hit you

doesn’t want to be hit.

Except for the truly insane,

nobody wants to be hit,

and the insane don’t really want to either,

if you dig into them a bit.

So you can defeat anybody

simply by observing that they are coming towards you.

They know you see them,

and they don’t want to get hit,

so they leave.

Now,

here is the truly amazing thing about this,

it works against almost any sentient thing.

I’ve used it when a dog wanted to bite me.

A couple of times.

I’ve used it against salespeople.

Isn’t that a kick in the head?

But salespeople who seek you out,

or are a little too much in their sales pitch,

are trying to bully you into something you don’t want.

you just look at them and say,

“You’re coming towards me.”

I’ve used it against people who were bullies.

I’ve used it against people who simply bugged me.

I’ve even used it against those most dangerous of souls…Karens!

However, 

it might not work if you haven’t studied martial arts

and gained that peace of soul

that is the end result of the real martial arts.

And I would be careful in a combat zone.

People in riot are not sentient,

take a look at the Kyle Rittenhouse situation if you doubt.

You can use deviations.

‘I see you’ is good.

And there are others.

But the main thing is to see them,

and let them know they’ve been seen.

Okay,

hope you have fun with this one,

and here’s the obligatory ads,

this for the two two volumes I just published…

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

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…

Neutronic Fighting in the Martial Arts!

Good morning!

Hi to Kumar and Jerome this week.

A quick announcement,

I’m not going to be issuing certificates any more.

Just don’t have the time.

In fact,

going to be changes around here,

and I’ll let you know of them in the coming weeks.

The book is done,

just waiting for proofs.

Proofs are copies just for the author

so he can see what the book looks like.

So, a couple of weeks and the book will be out.

Been a saga,

and I’ll talk about that on the official release newsletter,

but the thing that I want to talk about here

is more neutronic,

and how neutronic relates to fighting.

I believe I have said some of this before,

but it’s worth a second go around.

Neutron means nothing.

No weight, no mass, no intention, no direction.

It is the frame of mind you want to achieve.

And,

specific to the martial arts,

no emotion.

When somebody wants to fight you

they have to come for you.

I’ve actually stopped people from being aggressive with me

by simple saying,

‘You’re coming towards me.’

And who would come towards me in an aggressive manner?

The most obvious ones were people who,

when I was a teacher,

were upset about their child.

Parents can be really obtuse and mean.

But,

the thing is this,

there are actually two waves of attack.

Three if you count the idea of attack.

So,

first a guy gets the idea of attack,

second the guy has the emotion of attack,

third the guy attacks.

The thing that screws people up is this emotion thing.

Nobody understands emotion.

Especially not the psychiatrists

and the so called mental health ‘experts.’

Emotion is motion inside the head.

So the guy decides he wants to beat you up,

he throws rage at you,

then launches his body.

The rage is designed to intimidate you,

and to bolster himself.

The rage hits you

and you are slowed,

and the fight,

as your emotion starts to ratchet,

becomes a wallow through the currents of emotion.

I can’t tell you how to wallow through emotion.

That would be like telling somebody how to swim without water.

BUT,

you need to take emotion out of the equation.

Let the emotion wash past you,

not touch you,

observe without receiving his emotion,

or mounting any of your own.

This is one of the reasons people

should study such things as Yoga,

meditation,

or the martial arts concept of 

motion without having emotion.

(Mushin no shin ~ Mind of No Mind)

Don’t get angry.

If a guy throws a punch at you it is a gift.

He is communicating with you.

Rejoice,

look at it,

enjoy it,

handle it.

If you’ve got emotion going on yourself,

 it is difficult to handle other’s emotions.

Oddly,

I learned how to do without emotion by fighting.

I would do freestyle and focus on the opponent so hard

that I ended up in a sort of a tunnel,

looking at my opponent.

This put me out of my head

and out of emotion.

BUT…

I couldn’t have done that with fighting

if I hadn’t studied the forms first,

and learned the peculiar discipline that goes with that.

You can fight all you want and never get into the tube.

But once you dedicate yourself to learning about forms,

and about your form (your own body),

it becomes surprisingly easy.

It only took me about 20 years.

BUT…

with matrixing you can probably do it within a year.

Maybe even faster.

Matrixing aligns all the data,

arranges your understanding of incoming force

so that nothing surprises you.

Matrixing educates you as to how the body functions,

and about ten times faster than classical karate.

BUT…of course,

don’t give up that classical karate.

There’s gold in them thar hills,

especially once you have the pick and shovel of matrixing in your hands.

Here’s the obligatory ad…

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

Okay, everybody,

I hope you’re working out every day this summer!

It’s the only way to get where you’re going!

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…

All the Styles of Karate!

What’s with all the different styles of karate?

I get asked about styles every once in a while,

and this is a tricky question.

It’s tricky because there are no styles.

Oh, there is the appearance of styles, especially for a beginner,

but a kick is a kick,

a punch is a punch,

and they can be fixed with an accurate application of physics.

So what are all these ‘styles?’

They are different methods for becoming expert…

and beyond.

Up to the point of expert a person is often enamored

with styles and differences.

Past expert,

if he really is an expert,

he realizes that no art is better or worse,

there is only better or worse training.

There is only better or worse application of the self to training.

Methods,

or what we call ‘styles,’

are just the means by which we get to expert.

Or beyond.

This idea,

that there are no styles,

is mentioned by old masters,

especially in Okinawa before Karate was exported,

Kanken Toyama states it directly.

Also, Jesse Enkamp has a nice episode on the subject.

One time I was talking to my instructor,

Bob Babich,

He had just left the Korean Karate Association

and was no longer allowed to use the term ‘Kang Duk Won,’ 

so he changed the name to Kwon Bup.

I asked him what Kwon Bup meant.

He had a book on his coffee table,

written in Korean,

which language he couldn’t speak or read.

He pointed at the book and said that his instructor gave it to him

and that the title was ‘Kwon Bup.’

Which means ‘Fist Method.’

So he decided to relabel his art ‘Kwon Bup.’

I asked him what the difference was between ‘Do,’ ‘The Way,’

and a method.

He shrugged and said,

“Is there one?”

He didn’t care about organizations (politics)

or styles or labels…

he just cared about the most efficient way to learn the art.

I hope that illustrates what i’ve said here.

Here’s the obligatory ad…

Blinding Steel!

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

Because your opponent will probably have a weapon!

Okay, everybody,

summer is around the corner, so start now!

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…

Newsletter 1038

13 Reasons People Degrade the Martial Arts

You survived Thanksgiving!

And now it’s almost time for Christmas,

or as I call it,

HanaKwanMass!

Happy HanaKwanMass!

Okay, let’s talk about people who degrade the martial arts.

I’m not talking about people outside the martial arts,

we all know they are idiots,

talking about something they know nothing about.

I’m talking about people inside the martial arts.

People who say things like,

or hold the opinion that…

My art is better than your art.

That art sucks cause it wouldn’t work in the ring.

and,

of course,

the dreaded…

IT’S A MCDOJO!

So I was just sitting around

and popped out 13 quick reasons

why these people say bad things about the arts,

or other martial arts.

Here they are:

1. people who have not studied it completely
2. people who have not been able to make it work
3. people who received inadequate training
4. people who received an incorrect form of the art
5. people listen to other people and aren’t able to think critically about what they hear
6. people of low character (negative people)
7. people who have been trained/influenced by negative people
8. people who think you have to beat somebody up (joy of combat)
9. people who have studied a little and think they know something
10. people who have a need to be ‘the’ authority
11. people who practice putting other people down to make themselves ‘bigger’
12. people who are general malcontents (disgruntled)
13. people who are ignorant and can’t think

Of course,

some of these reasons overlap,

and there are doubtless more reasons,

but they boil down to one basic thing.

People who speak ill

of others, of other arts,

are ignorant.

Go on,

read the list again

and you will find that common denominator.

Haven’t been trained enough so they ignorant…

haven’t gotten a true version of the art so they are ignorant…

can’t make it work so they are definitely ignorant.

Now,

what do you do about ignorant people?

What’s that old saying?

You can’t live with them but you can’t kill them.

So the choices you have are two,

and only two.

First,

if they can be educated

you can educate them.

Sit down, talk with them,

show them where they are wrong.

This one,

quite honestly,

doesn’t work.

First,

you are talking to somebody who is so ignorant 

they are holding on to their ignorance like it was a banner.

Here’s the thinking behind that:

I’m right and if you try to educate me

then you are attacking my rightness and I will kill you.

Go on, 

read that again.

If you try to smarten me I’ll hurt you.

That’s a mantra for idiots,

and yet it is prevalent in the world.

It is probably,

if you think about it,

political rule number one.

But don’t get me started on government.

So,

the first solution,

while it is the preferred,

is only rarely able to be applied.

And that leaves us with rule number two.

Now,

I’m going to speak French here,

just to let the easily offended know,

so they can plug up their ears.

But,

my personal solution,

the way I get through life while surrounded by idiots is

Stay away from assholes.

There it is,

I think this is the first time in over a thousand newsletters

that I have used bad language.

Sorry.

But we can transcribe that to English…

STAY AWAY FROM IDIOTS!

Simply,

if you rub elbows with idiots,

with the truly ignorant,

you risk getting their ignorance all over you.

You will get involved in all sorts of unpleasantness

as they hang on to their ignorant ‘rightness’

and try to hurt you.

Now,

why do I speak of this here?

First,

because people should learn how to survive

the stupidity of this world.

Second,

there might be an ignorant person reading this.

Right now.

And I am really hoping

that they scratch their head,

wonder if I could actually be talking about them,

and perhaps even start the arduous journey

to the land of critical thinking.

Okay,

obligatory ad here,

close your eyes and go nah nah nah

while reading…

So,

it’s HanaKwanMass

everybody deserves a present,

so here’s my present to you…

Purchase the download version of

Rolling Fists

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/rolling-fists/

I will give you

absolutely free

the Blinding Steel course.

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

Just buy one,

email me at aganzul@gmail.com

and tell me you want the rolling fists/blinding steel deal.

I will then email you the link for the second course.

Easy peasy.

And there you go…

HANAKWANMASS!

And 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…

The Curve of Martial Arts Systems

I’ve been playing with this thought over the years,

it’s pretty firm now,

so let me shoot it by you.

If you study the martial arts long enough,

you will undoubtedly trip over a concept.

The guys who do this often become ‘founders.’

They ‘invent’ a system.

Maybe the concept has been discovered before,

but it’s new to the guy,

and he starts working it,

and he groups techniques around that concept

and he keeps discovering new things

and that all becomes his system.

Now,

he understands the concept.

And because he understands

that understanding translates into superior technique,

into being able to use it on the mat,

and so on.

And,

the guy may become well known.

And,

I hate to tell you this,

but we are talking about people who lived

thousands of years ago,

for the most part.

Hey,

there’s a guy in a village,

and he punches a tree long enough,

figures out how to step over roots and duck under branches

and he invents ‘Tree Fu.’

Now stop laughing,

I’m trying to make a point here.

And the point is that a version of Tree Fu

is being invented in a lot of different villages.

But civilization encroaches

and styles of Tree Fu agree or disagree,

we have fights and wars,

and even polite sit downs over tea,

but,

everybody agrees,

nobody can make it work

like the founders.

Okay,

the first students

of these ‘miracle Martial Artists,

they study Tree Fu,

and they have the direct hand of the founder

to help them understand the concept.

They do pretty good.

But the next generation

only has the first students,

so they understand,

and they get good,

but not as good.

And so on and so on

through the generations.

And the art becomes less understandable

the further away we go

from the founders.

Now the students aren’t even studying the basic concept,

they are being monkeys,

monkey see monkey do

And they get good over time,

but the days of miracle martial artists are behind them.

Finally, we reach a point where the art has become so diluted,

so monkey see monkey do,

so ritualized,

that it stops working.

For the most part.

Oh,

a few talented students can make it work,

but the rest of us,

we’re stuck in car contracts,

duped into believing that tournaments are important

(they are, just not as important as some people would believe)

and if we’re caught on the street

we’re going to get our muscle bound asses handed to us.

Do you see the curve here?

The art is invented,

the curve goes up for a few generations,

then it starts to go down

and crashes,

and it is linked to this one simple idea:

WHAT IS THE CONCEPT?

The concept behind Tree Fu was simple.

Step over the root

duck under the limb.

The concept behind Karate,

for instance,

is amazingly complex.

What block do I use when,

kicks over punches?

Why…why…?

point fighting vs full contact.

Is a bow respect…or something else?

Why is the horse stance?

Do you see all the garbage that are concepts…

but not THE concept?

And that is true for every art,

and ESPECIALLY for modern arts.

Modern arts,

for the most part,

are reworkings of concepts that have already had their day

and not are crashing and failing.

That’s why everybody says,

‘I take what works from everything,’

and never understand

that they are making a new garbage heap.

They are just making more kindling out of Tree Fu.

So,

what to do.

I mean what’s the point of this rant

unless I give you a solution,

or a way to get to the solution?

Right?

Okay.

Here we go.

First,

understand that there is a concept behind everything.

You have to look at a low block

until you understand the concept of a low block.

And the concepts,

from one version of Tree Fu to the next,

will often be different.

I believe the purpose of a block is to cut the line of attack.

Many people believe it is to ‘stop’ the attack.

Many believe label a block for a distance,

or for a specific attack.

Okay,

gather all the data,

make sure you understand it,

then

isolate what works for you.

Simple dimple, 

right?

That’s basic Bruce Lee.

Want the basic concept of Bruce Lee’s art?

Jeet Kune Do?

It is matrixing

kicking, punching and trapping.

Take a look at 

‘Jeet Kune Do’s Wing Chun roots with Guro Dan Inosanto’

on youtube.

Towards the end of the clip,

you’ll see these three concepts

form to make JKD.

All the rest is context,

to make that concept work.

What a lot of understanding Bruce Lee had.

What a lot of concepts he went through,

to find his basic understanding of the art.

Not saying he is right or wrong,

he was obviously right for himself,

but you need to do more than monkey see monkey do.

So work his concept until you understand it,

and go looking for more.

Anyway,

sorry for that aside,

no matter how enlightening it is,

but…

gather the data,

understand it from ALL viewpoints,

and search for the concept that ties it all together.

The central concept of Matrixing

is the Truth Table.

Go on,

Google that.

You’ll find the most confusing array of concepts in the world.

All abstract and weird and…

and underneath it is a simple concept.

A diagram of columns and rows.

So,

we come to the crux of the matter.

You are a student of a student of a student…to the Nth.

Even if you are studying a brand new system,

just invented,

it’s just another confusion of data

mixed up crap over the millenium,

and it would take a Herculean effort

to make sense out of all that garbage.

OR,

you can devote yourself to defining 

the simple concept behind each move,

each form,

ech art…

and the arts.

The concept behind the martial arts is simple:

hit without being hit.

But very few arts understand that.

Boxing you are expected to get hit.

Karate is a dance to get in and out,

which fails because (drum roll) people haven’t isolated concepts.

And so on for ALL arts.

The only art I know that tries to stay true to this concept,

and even that isn’t foolproof,

is Matrixing.

Anyway,

I could go on and on,

I’ve already probably gone on and on too much,

I mean,

how do sift through my garbage and find your truth?

Right?

But the thing to remember is this.

Isolate the concepts

work on the concept that is most true for you.

That is the way out of and to the top of the garbage heap.

That is actually the way to understand the martial arts.

Mind you,

I am not telling you to bad mouth arts,

or to give up your art,

I am telling you to work hard enough to understand what you are doing.

That is the secret of life.

Now,

the grim moment in time,

where I must lambast you with…

the obligatory advertisement!

(yea!)

I would say that the

Create Your Own Art course

is one hell of a step in learning

how to understand the martial arts.

The course is old,

the quality of the tapes is not great,

but it is definitely understandable.

The course leads to an understanding of footwork,

how to tie hands to feet,

and,

eventually,

how to conceptualize an art and create it.

And there is definitely NO other course like it.

It includes bonuses and complete arts

to make my points.

Here’s the link…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/2d-create-your-own-art/

Okay,

thanks for being there,

thanks for being martial artists,

and have a GREAT work out!

Al

PS

don’t forget to check out

Dale Gilliland’s great interview with me….

BTW

Have you checked out my novel?

Monkeyland?

It’s on Amazon,

but you’ll probably have to look for it.

Amazon tends to hide the good stuff.

A New Fourth Black Belt!

Newsletter 1003

Justin Earns a Fourth Degree Black Belt

Happy Covid!

Hope you’re enjoying your vacation,

and that all is well with your friends and families.

Haven’t been writing much lately,

well I have,

actually I’ve been writing 8 hours a day,

but it’s been in other fields.

Simply,

I need to make some money.

That lame excuse out in the universe,

let me say…

CONGRATS TO JUSTIN HARRIS

Justin just earned his black in Shaolin Butterfly,

which, with the other arts he has studied

earns him a fourth degree black belt.

WELL DONE!

Now that’s a guy who takes advantage of the Corona crisis!

Okay, 

Since I haven’t been writing much lately,

you can always catch up on old writings.

First,

the inexpensive way,

just go to

https://alcase.wordpress.com

and start reading the blog.

There’s probably

a 1000 blogs there.

Or,

if you want to go a bit more in depth,

I compiled all my articles in a ten book series.

The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson

That’s a lot of articles,

near a thousand,

and they cover EVERYTHING!

 Or,

you could just start ordering courses,

stop reading about and start experiencing.

You know,

I came across an interesting question today.

It was something to do with how many defenses you need

to really protect yourself

I started to chuckle,

cause the guy had it backwards.

You don’t worry about how many things you can do,

you just worry about what he is going to do.

If you are worried about what you will do

you are introverting,

and not looking out,

to where the danger is.

So look outwards

and learn to analyze strikes.

Do you know how many punches there are?

Six.

That’s all.

So let me cover this in more or less logical (matrixed) fashion.

There are two punches left and right

There are two types of punches straight and circular

There are two modes of punches snap and thrust

When you matrix these, and toss out things that don’t work (you don’t snap a circular punch, for instance) You end up with six possible strikes. Of course they could sail in fron odd directions, but still, only six…

left straight snap

left straight thrust

left circular

right straight snap

right straight thrust

right circular

So,

first, watch for the kick.

No danger from punches or other strikes,

maybe from weapons,

but you will usually see if there is a weapon pretty quick.

Second, as you step in

the kick gets jammed,

easy to handle with a retreat or a turned hip, etc.

Now you have to worry about the punch,

but worry introverts,

so you just watch him.

I know some people say you have to train

for punches from the rear,

yes,

but as soon as you turn to him he is in the front,

so front training is where the punch is coming from.

Watch his feet to see if he is angling for a punch

watch his shoulders to see if he is loading

sidestep slowly,

always being ready,

and always moving so he can’t quite fix on you.

Third,

don’t worry about knees and elbows,

he has to close to use those,

and that is so obvious it is ridiculous.

And there it is.

Fighting is easy,

reading an opponent is easy.

Of course,

it all means nothing

if you don’t spend some time

hitting things so you can feel what it feels like

practicing forms so your body is in top top shape,

and just training like your life depends on it

because,

darn it,

it does.

Anyway,

that is sort of how you apply simple logic (matrixing) to fighting.

And,

obligatory ad,

you really should look into my courses,

because they are all like this,

simple and thorough,

realistic and fun.

That all said,

don’t worry about the Covid crisis,

because worrying is introverting

and life is out there.

Instead,

train hard and strengthen the immune system,

best medical advice I can give you.

Sensei Case

Have a great work out!

Al

Here is ‘The Last Martial Arts Book,’

Best one I have ever written,

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/nine-square-diagram-boxing/