Category Archives: kung fu

Teaching Martial Artists and the Inertia of Ignorance

The only thing that stops you from learning is…you

I should say the odd thing about teaching people, not just teaching martial artists. But the fact is…people refuse to accept information.

Let’s say you’re teaching Karate to some fellow. You can say something like ‘twisting the wrist on impact is dangerous. The joint is unstable and you are adding weight to it.’

teaching martial arts

Can you overcome ‘Inertia of ignorance’ and actually learn Martial Arts?


Now, this is a big thing, so many systems use the twisting wrist to teach newbies. But, they don’t teach the newbies why, or how to transition the technique to a more stable punch.

You see, the wrist is unstable, but it teaches people how to focus. Once they learn how to focus their strikes, they need to learn how to snap a vertical punch, or some other variation. But when you tell them that, they go into protest mode.

They shake their head, and continue doing what they are doing, and it is as if you never spoke.

It’s not the martial arts, it’s deeper, it goes to the person’s ability to listen, to actually process information.

That is, incidentally, why the martial arts are so important. Somebody disagrees, and you can show them on the mat. You can make them listen.

But, that doesn’t cure the person of not listening. Even somebody who has studied the martial arts for years has this problem. Here is the EXACT thing they think when you tell them something.

‘Oh, we have that in our system.’

They don’t say it, they just get this smug look on their face. But the truth is this: yes, they had it in their system, every system has everything, if you look far enough, BUT…they were not aware of it before you said it.

This problem, incidentally, I have given a name…‘The Inertia of Ignorance.’

Simply, people hang on to their ignorance. They protect it; they are not willing to admit it because, darn it, they think it will make them look stupid!

But holding on to your ignorance is what is stupid. If you don’t admit your were ignorant of something, then you can’t learn: your protection of your image as somebody who knows something stops you from learning something.

Do you understand?

Now, go ahead and read Monster Martial Arts. Hopefully, what you have read here has removed you from that attitude, and opened your skull to the input of new information. Because, I guarantee…the stuff you read on Monster, this Matrixing concept, has never been seen before. It is brand new material, not done by Bruce Lee, nor written down in Ninja scrolls, not anything.

Brand New, and that makes it very difficult for people who are more concerned with their image of worldliness than their desire to learn martial arts.

How to Make a Better Martial Art Weapon

What is the Best Martial Art Weapon

I’m always fascinated by martial art weapons.
It’s so nice to think that you can stand back and defend yourself
without ever getting your hands dirty.
The problem is that I don’t like many of the martial art weapons out there.

I like the Chinese sword.
It is delicate and quick,
like a knitting needle.

martial art weapons

Great martial art weapons


I like blow guns,
they are silent,
foldable,
you can make poison darts.

I like two sticks,
they are fantastic for training.

And I like a few others,
but most martial art weapons are too heavy,
or confined in their motion.

Now,
that said,
I probably never told anybody this,
but my father was an engineer.
Actually,
he made prototypes.
At first he worked for a small company named Ampex.
He was responsible for materials and machining
for the original tape recorders
back in the fifties.

In the sixties he went to Memorex,
became the prototype engineer,
again,
responsible for machining exotic materials.

Now,
let me bridge this to the martial arts.

In his spare time
he used to play golf,
and he started putting together weird golf clubs.
By weird,
I mean that he had access to space age materials.
And he started making golf clubs
with titanium shafts,
fibre glass shafts,
heads made out of…whatever,
and so on.

He probably invented a couple of things,
but he never bothered with patenting,
the companies he worked for
were pretty obsessive about patents,
so he didn’t bother.
He knew if he patented a golf club
one of those companies
would claim it was theirs.
Seriously.

Anyway,
the reason I bring this all up
is that I don’t see any martial art weapons
using space age materials.

There’s a couple of things out there,
especially knives,
and there’s some other oddities,
but when is the last time
you saw a sword made out of some exotic material,
kept a better edge,
even if you used it to pound in spikes?

I know there have a been a few things made,
but not a lot.

Wouldn’t it be cool to have a staff
as light as fiberglass,
but virtually unbreakable?

A sword that actually bends?

Now,
I can see problems with some of these things,
for instance,
something might not have the weight,
and you do often need weight in a weapon,
but if you put an exotic metal blade on the end,
it would be as quick as a knitting needle,
but longer than a Chinese sword,
and it might put a whole new slant
on fighting with weapons.

Man,
I can think of all sorts of problems,
but it would be fun to make something like that,
see what the probs are,
then reinvent it again,
and eventually focus
on something better.

The whole thrust of war
has been for better machines.

The machine gun revolutionized warfare.
Then along came the tank.
The submarine,
the blimp…and the plane.

So why not the martial arts weapons?

Think about it,
a heat seeking nine section chain dart.
Or,
a laser guided samurai sword…

Well,
perhaps I’m going a little too far,
but if necessity if the mother of invention,
imagination is the father of invention.

All right,
let me share a win…

Al,
I just wanted to say that I think that your Blinding Steel program is a great addition to my students escrima training. I have been teaching them the Heaven Six patterns and found that your concept of the Circle of Blocks is a great way to enter into these patterns. The ability to flow from the circle to the heaven patterns is a great way for the students to learn movement, striking and blocking with ease. The nine square concept made it very easy for them to see the angle of attacks that can be delivered at any given time. It also is a great way to remove the fear of being struck during the disarm section of Blinding Steel. Excellent info once again. Well done Al, well done. I just want to say thank you and keep up the great work.
Michael G

Thanks Michael!

And for everybody,
my programs,
and especially the Blinding Steel,
are martial arts by themselves,
but their real purpose
is to clarify all martial arts,
and you can use them
with your martial art
no matter what martial art it is.

Anybody who teaches martial art weapons,
should consider implementing blinding steel.

Anybody who teaches Karate,
should start of with Matrix Karate.

And the Shaolin Butterfly
should be taught before traditional Shaolin.

Don’t you understand?
These are unique and whole martial arts by themselves,
but they expose and clarify
and give a big, whomping, huge,
kick in the butt
to all the traditional martial arts.

I haven’t re-invented the martial arts,
I have just figured out better ways to teach them,
how to make them work together,
how to figure out the lost (concealed) pieces,
and so on.

It’s like putting space age material,
on ancient weapons,
and getting something better.

Oinkey Donkey,
here’s the URL…

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

have a great martial art weapons work out!

Speaking of Martial Art weapons…have you read The Bomber’s Story by Al Case?

What Training Beyond Black Belt Should Really Be

Beyond Black Belt…

Beyond Black means in any martial art, as you will see in this article.

When a person is beyond black belt it means he is ready for advanced training.

In Karate, and similar martial arts, the training is more advanced forms.

beyond black belt martial arts

What lies beyond Black Belt?


But these more advanced forms don’t always mean much. The movements are sometimes so esoteric that they aren’t workable, and they don’t seem to make only marginal advanced energy capability in the body of the student.

This holds true for just about every Martial Art, from Karate to Aikido to Taekwondo to…whatever.

So the real reason for these advanced but same old same old forms are that they afford the practitioner the means to ‘polish’ his art. To get better at…the basics.

To get better at the basics means that they become smoother, more intuitive, more usable.

And, there are other qualities to be appreciated here: calmness of mind, a certain type of wisdom, some sixth sense abilities (if you lucked out and got in a good system, very rare) and so on.

When I found myself in the position of teaching people beyond black belt I decided to do things differently. I began teaching whole arts for each level after black belt.

I might teach a Shaolin style to second black black belt, a pa kua style to 3rd black, and so on.

This gave me tremendous leeway in what I teach. I was actually able to shift programs around like shuffling cards, and fit the programs and specific martial arts much better to individual students, and yet still maintain a distinct discipline and structure in my classes.

Furthermore, the polishing consideration was not neglected, but rather enhanced. Basics are basics, from art to art, and there is little difference. Thus, not only was the student working on basics, but he was getting different viewpoints of basics, which helped him understand them in depth.

The truth of the matter is that this method allows me to teach more than art, but a viewpoint of art, a perspective that is not able to be taught in normal classes.

It is a matter of how much knowledge you can impart, not art, but quality of knowledge, and the ability to import more knowledge…at a glance.

What was really pleasant for me is that I often run into these old students, and they’ll say they learned some new art, and I’ll ask them about it, and they’ll say something like, ‘Oh, I got together with so and so and we traded systems.’

Traded systems. Just like people did before everything went commercial. As in trading Pa Kua for Tai Chi. Or Shaolin for Karate. As it says in various accounts of martial artists, especially those who created their own systems.

Able to trade a whole system because they have been trained not to do a million punches, but to do a million punches while absorbing several martial arts systems.

And it gets really interesting for me when I get around these old students, they’ll be talking about things like shifting the tan tien while making a kung fu kick work in a karate style, or retaining power without dropping their weight, or some other oddity that it took me decades to figure out, but they are doing in a couple of years…and they have a whole lifetime to go places I dream about.

Lucky guys.

But, that’s okay. When I give up this body I’ll get a new one and find one of these guys to teach me.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t let you know that the reason I am able to teach lots of martial arts beyond black belt is because of this Matrixing Technology I developed…it’s at Monster Martial Arts.

The Truth About Martial Arts Belt Ranking

Martial Arts Belt Ranking Made Understandable!

Martial Arts Belt Ranking does tend to be a little…strange. There are so many levels, and what does a black belt mean, what is a master, and so on. In this article I will tell you where the various levels of rank came from, and what they actually mean.

Martial Arts Belt Ranking came from Japan, where it was originally used in swimming classes.

blind justice

Martial Arts like Karate and Judo picked up on them because it made it easier to arrange the karate class, or judo class, and teach it.

Before then people would join a martial arts school and there were junior students and senior students, and the point was to get your Teaching certificate.

Some people didn’t want to go that far in the martial arts, but the serious students did. After all, why do something half way? And, of course, a person who knew enough to teach would certain have sufficient self defense skills to protect himself.

In 1967 I joined a Kenpo Karate school, and the belt ranks were eight to Black Belt, and then eight after one had achieved Dan ranking.

The colors were: white, orange, purple, blue, green, three stages of brown, and black. First Dans usually just put a tip, or a strip of white on the end of the obi for each advanced dan ranking.

Later, 1969, I jointed a classical Karate school, and here was where I experienced martial arts belt ranking as it was meant to be. Sort of.

There were three ranks to Black. These were white, green, and brown. But, to be honest, these had been subdivided into an eight and eight system.

The theory (one of the more predominant theories, I should say), was that one started as a white belt, like an unwritten piece of paper. Then one experienced the green of spring, became worn, like autumn, and finally entered winter.

This was an interesting sort of mythos. There was a logic to it, and it did describe the growing process, sort of.

But, what I noticed as the years rolled by was this: Martial Arts belt ranking doesn’t matter to people who have been in the martial arts for a while.

Yes, they are important, if only to spur the beginning student on. And, one should take pride in an achievement. It takes a lot of work, a lot of stick-to-ivity, to progress through the martial arts belt ranking systems.

But the real measure here is whether a person makes it to teacher.

Why do things half way, eh?

And that is the truth about Martial Arts belt ranking.

Here’s a great article on reality martial arts belt ranking. You can get started on Learning Martial Arts right here.

Best Martial Arts Equipment for the Money!

Here’s Some Wild Martial Arts Equipment!

You guys may think that this is a tongue in check article on getting the best martial arts equipment, but it isn’t. I have personally tried the methods here, and they are top notch body calisthenic methods.

First, I tried cinderblocks. I didn’t want to dig holes and sink poles for the Plum Flower Fist, which is a form of Praying Mantis Gung Fu. This was great. Jumping up down gave me strength, as well improving my balance.

martial arts equipment

Yeah, baby!

From there I look for other things to use for martial arts equipment.

Tires were great. I learned to use tires originally for swinging a wooden sword. Took a lot of strength and control to make the tire turn and bounce the way you wanted it to. So I grabbed nine of them, arranged them in a simple grid of three by three, and started walking the circle, Pa Kua Chang style. This was odd, hard to ground through the springiness of the tires. but, you often learn more from what doesnt’ work than what does, so I moved on.

My my next experiment in Martial Arts Training Equipment.I put four by fours on edge and practiced forms on them. This was interesting, and taken directly from Ton Toi Northern Shaolin Gung Fu. Ton Toi means springy legs, and I learned all sorts of things about balance while springing from beam to beam.

And, I tried doing forms on top of fences. It was wild. Trying to spin and move, six feet above the ground, without falling al-l-l the way down! I don’t know how much I got out of this martial arts equipment, but if was fun!

And, in between these things I tried hanging balls from the rafters, punching tennis balls at a wall, and other sorts of things. But my next big foray into martial arts equipment was at the old Los Angeles Zoo.

The old zoo, now sort of gone, or at least redone into a picnic area, was a mess of cages and bounders strewn about in the cages to give the animals some sort of sense of nature. So I worked out in cages…lions and tiger and me…oh my!

And I learned a lot! I especially grew in arm strength. Having to hang on to the side of a cage, or going across the top monkey style, built up a lot of strength in the arms. Trying to do kicks while so perched was especially educated. You get a whole new appreciation for how the hip joints work.

Now, last in my martial arts equipment were trees. At the Los Angeles zoo there were all sorts of low hanging trees. I could walk on the trunks of some of them, climb to joints, and generally swing around and do all sorts of stuff. The interesting thing about this was that I could practice sinking my weight.

One of the places I got this idea from, aside from my experiences in the cages, was a fellow wrote an article where he had to hang from a tree limb for an hour a day for a few months before the master would teach him.

Well, having done a little hanging myself, I can definitely attest to the benefits in the arms and shoulders. It stretches them out and gives truth to the old saying, ‘A long muscle is a strong muscle.’

Now, that about does it except for one thing…all of the equipment I used cost nothing. That’s right, I didn’t have to spend any money at my martial arts equipment suppliers, and I got a better work out than some big nautilus machine could ever give!

Here’s a good article with no martial arts exercise equipment. Here’s the Monkey Boxing Course itself.

Best Karate Form to Learn Karate Online

Learn Karate Online Now!

To learn Karate online one needs the simplest, easiest method possible. And if you want to learn kung fu online or aikido online, or whatever, this holds true.

Interestingly, there are a few simple forms out there.

learn karate online

Jackie Chan knows Kung Fu, but he doesn’t know Karate!


Classical Karate, for instance, recommends a high dedication to what is called ‘Three Step Blocking.’ This is a straight forward step to the front and block sequence of moves. You step and low block, step and low block, step and low block, turn and repeat. And repeat, and repeat.

The problem with this martial arts training method, as you might imagine, is that it gets pretty boring.

Learning it is fun, and doing it as a warm up in class is great and beneficial, but to do it by yourself, hour after hour. Boring.

Ed Parker had a great idea with his ‘Short Form One.’ This little Kenpo Kata is only about eight moves, but it covers the four basic blocks in four directions. Unfortunately, there isn’t much opportunity for change, and this basic karate kata tends to get a little boring, too.

Every system has their basic forms, and they are easily sampled. Probably the best one is the square form.

To do the Square form you simply move around a square. Fight foot forward to one side, left foot back to the next side, right foot forward to the third side, and left foot back to the last side, or the beginning side.

First do it by simply stepping, then, when you understand how simple it is, you can start exploring stances.

The official form is done in a back stance, and with three blocks, low, middle outward, and high.

Now comes the fun part, and the defeat of boredom. Three blocks, four sides. That means the form is constantly changing, and you have to go around the square a few times to get the low block back to the beginning square. You will find this confusing.

And, as you do the form, you keep forgetting where you are, and this tends to build up an awareness, to make you focus your awareness in the form.

The real bonus of this form, however, is that it is not just a beginning form. As you move around and do the karate blocks you will find that the hands tend to circle,a nd they circle in front of the tan tien (the one point) which is the energy center for the body. Thus, you start causing the tan tien to generate more and more ki, or chi.

Within an hour or two of doing the form you will feel the tan tien heat up, and you will feel energy snapping out of the hands, and far in advance of a simple beginning form.

This is the absolute best karate form to learn karate online.

Here is the form on video if you wish to Learn Karate Online. Another good page is this article on how to Master Martial Arts.

 

In the Best Karate Training Drills the Eyes Have It

Best Karate Training Focuses the Eyes

In the best Karate Training drills one should look their opponent in the eyes. This is a very interesting and powerful aspect to Karate training, so let me give you some data about it.

First, I have had a lot of people, during karate drills, ask me where they should look. The common answer that I have found over the years, and this is from Karate school to Taekwondo school to whatever Martial Arts school (style) you are studying, is that you should ‘unfocus’ your eyes on the chest. Look at the center of the body and become aware of all the stuff on the outside.

best karate training

You can’t fight what you can’t face!

 


This actually isn’t bad instruction, you want to see everything, but it stops forward progress for the martial artist at a certain point.

The real advice, if you want to experience the best karate training drills, is to look at the eyes.

The eyes are the windows to a man’s soul; look at the eyes long enough…and you can actually see what a man is thinking.

Look at the body, and you stop looking at the mind, and the martial art becomes a thing of reaction, or, at the very least, slow progress.

So you look at the eyes, train hard, do your forms for discipline, and eventually you will actually pick up on the very thought of the opponent.

Tell me this doesn’t give an incredible edge in combat…to know what an opponent is thinking!

Anyway, the point is this: you can’t fight what you can’t face.

And, as you progress, if you don’t look to the eyes, attempt to see the thought behind the action, then you wo’t make the jump from fighting to handling.

You see, in the real martial arts you learn to fight so you can give up fighting.

You don’t look at an opponent and fight him, you predict what he is going to do by reading his thoughts, and then making moves that undo him rather than harm him.

Can anybody spell the word ‘harmony?’

Only idiots fight all their lives. Smart martial arts students, people who want to experience the best karate training drills, watch the eyes and learn to read the mind.

And, eventually, they experience harmony, and greater control.

Opponents become as children, and as easily handled.

And that is why, when it comes to the best karate training drills, the eyes have it.

Check out this great article on Aikido style throws. Or, you could take a look at this course presenting a more combat Aikido style.

The Truth About Martial Arts Belt Ranking

Martial Arts Belt Ranking Made Understandable!

Martial Arts Belt Ranking does tend to be a little…strange. There are so many colored belts, what does a black belt mean, what is a master, and so on. In this article i will tell you where belt ranks came from, and what they actually mean.

Martial Arts Belt Ranking came from Japan, where it was originally used in swimming classes.

blind justice

Martial Arts like Karate and Judo picked up on them because it made it easier to arrange the karate class, or judo class, and teach it.

Before then people would join a martial arts school and there were junior students and senior students, and the point was to get your Teaching certificate.

Some people didn’t want to go that far, but the serious students did. After all, why do something half way? And, of course, a person who knew enough to teach would certain have sufficient self defense skills to protect himself.

In 1967 I joined a Kenpo Karate school, and the belt ranks were eight to Black Belt, and then eight after one had achieved Dan ranking, which is what a Black Belt is.

The colors were: white, orange, purple, blue, green, three stages of brown, and black. Black belts usually just put a tip, or a strip of white on the end of the belt for each advanced dan ranking.

Later, 1969, I jointed a classical school, and here was where I experienced martial arts belt ranking as it was meant to be. Sort of.

There were three belt ranks to Black Belt. These were white, green, and brown. But, to be honest, these had been subdivided into an eight and eight system.

The theory (one of the more predominant theories, I should say), was that one started as a white belt, like an unwritten piece of paper. Then one experienced the green of spring, became worn, like autumn, and finally entered winter.

This was an interesting sort of mythos. There was a logic to it, and it did describe the growing process, sort of.

But, what I noticed as the years rolled by was this: Martial Arts belt ranking doesn’t matter to people who have been in the martial arts for a while.

Yes, they are important, if only to spur the beginning student on. And, one should take pride in an achievement. It takes a lot of work, a lot of stick-to-ivity, to progress through the martial arts belt ranking systems.

But the real measure here is whether a person makes it to teacher.

Why do things half way, eh?

And that is the truth about Martial Arts belt ranking.

Here’s a great article on reality martial arts belt ranking. You can get started on Learning Martial Arts right here.

The Real Reason Karate Kata Are So Valuable in the Martial Arts!

The True Value of Karate Kata

There are several reasons why Karate Kata are so valuable to the martial artist. Mind you, we are including many forms of Martial Arts, kung fu patterns, taekwondo forms, whatever.

The first reason Karate Kata are so good for you is purely physical. Simply, if you are doing a form, you are doing body weight calisthenics. Many people over look this, but when you do the first form of Karate, Heian One, or Pinan One as it is sometimes referred to, you are doing approximately 20 squats on the front leg. If you do all five of these karate kata you are doing over 100 knee bends, and these calisthenics shape and power the legs in a multitude of ways. Simply, the leg is completely and fully powered up.

karate kata steps

Jackie Chan said he knows enough Martial Arts to start his own style! Why not you?


The second reason Karate Kata are so great for you is that they teach you control.

This starts with control of the body. You learn how to hold your body in a particular position in space, how to move to another position in space through the quickest and most efficient manner possible.

This fact of control progresses into technique, and here is where kata really shine. When you are doing a technique you are learning to take charge of another person’s body. You control it no matter how violent it is, and you learn to handle it without using effort.

Mind you, there are more efficient ways of learning fighting. You could punch a bag as in boxing for hours and hours, and not learn anything new about yourself body. And, to tell the truth, this author finds that method slightly boring.

So Karate Kata might take a bit longer to learn, but you are not learning to just destroy, you are learning to control, both your own body and somebody else’s body. Very valuable stuff. And that brings us to the third reason martial arts forms are good for you.

To control the body takes concentration, and thus you are learning to take charge of your mind.

Did you know that people who learn real karate, or real kung fu, usually do better in life? That is because they have learned not to just to control bodies, but awareness. They have learned to control thought.

And a person who can control thought can control the universe. Thus, the importance of martial arts forms, karate katas, or whatever you call them, cannot be underestimated.

Here’s a really good article on the secrets of the Martial Arts forms, or, you can always take a look at this online karate kata course.

How and Why Matrixing Will Work in Your Martial Art!

Learn a Martial Art in a matter of months!

A lot of people read my site, or articles on the web, and they raise their eyes and say, ‘Oh, right. A guy can learn a Martial Art in a few months? Ha!’

Lot of cynicism out there, and I understand it. Some fellow studies for years to learn Karate or learn Kung Fu or whatever, and I come along and say, ‘You could have learned it ten times faster.’

martial art

Don’t just look at the moon…BE the moon!


That guy is going to be upset! He’s going to think I’m full of it, just because if he doesn’t, then it invalidates all his years of training.

But, when somebody actually does matrix their martial art, and this works for Aikido and Kenpo and ALL other martial arts systems, then they find that I am not invalidating all they have done…I am making it count! I am organizing their data, making it more accessible, and that means their martial art is sharper, quicker, more intuitive…and so much more!

So how do I convince the doubter?

Try these facts on for size.

Take two pigeons and put them together for 6 weeks and they will mate for life.

6 weeks, and you cam MAKE a pea brain MAKE a life altering decision. Doesn’t even matter if Mrs. Pigeon is ugly.

Now this is a stupid fact, but it tends to open the door to facts more pertinent to you and the Martial Arts.

The US army takes a common, garden variety man or woman…and MAKES them into a soldier in three months. Another three months and we’re talking about a high tech soldier, able to use a computer, or some other complicated device, right in the middle of a firefight!

That’s a good fact. It speaks highly of dedicated, factual training.

Here’s another one: there are ads on TV that claim you can MAKE your body into a lean, mean muscle machine in three months. Three months and you no longer have a beer barrel, but, instead, have a six pack!

So the point here is this: if you are smarter than a pigeon, then you can change your mind and change your body in three months.

Or, in other words,

You can learn a martial art in a matter of months!

You don’t even have to believe! You just have to get a martial arts course and do it!

So now we come down to choice.

Do you want to sit around and tweet one liners…or do you want to join a brotherhood that has lasted for thousands of years…the brotherhood of the Martial Artist!

Do you want to be sweet meat for that home invader? That mugger? That guy who wants to take your girlfriend?

Do you want to watch Bruce Lee movies and think, ‘How cool!’ Or do you want to BE like Bruce Lee?

Okay. Nuff said. I hope I’ve changed your mind, gotten you to get up off the coach, inspired you to do something that will give your life value forever!

So take a look at this http://monstermartialarts.com site, check out the courses, and decide what you want to do.

Remember, the only person stopping you from being more than you…is you.

This has been a page about how to learn a martial art, and how you can learn them in a matter of a few months.