Category Archives: free martial arts books

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.

How to Build Ki Energy with the Body in Martial Arts

Builds Lotsa Ki Energy!

Ki Energy in the Martial Arts is always considered one of those mysterious magician’s gimmicks. Nobody knows how to do it, let alone explain it, yet ki Energy, or chi power or qigong or whatever you want to call it, has grabbed the public imagination.

What is fascinating is that using the body martial arts style, there is an automatic input of energy. Unfortunately, most people never understand it, and thus the effects are unappreciated.

ki energy

Martial Arts Ki Energy!


In this piece of writing I’m going to set forth a couple of rules which should help you generate more ki energy. You’ll find that understanding what you are doing is going to really help your martial arts practice.

When you sink into a martial arts stance you are attaching your body to the earth. To hold the ground or to launch the body through space matters not, there is an attachment of the body to the planet, and from this you build your martial arts power.

When you sink into stance you need to analyze the geometry of the body. The geometry should be based upon a simple triangle. The tan tien (the ‘one point’ located a couple of inches below the belly button) is the top of the triangle, the line between the feet provide the base.

Doesn’t matter what martial arts stance you take – horse stance, back stance, whatever – just examine the triangle and make sure the angles of the triangle are functioning.

Functioning means that you are doing two things.

First, breath to the tan tien.

Second, lower the stance, so that you feel more weight, and thus create more energy.

Do these two things for a while, breathing and grounding, and you will find the function in your stance, and ki energy will start to build in your body and manifest in your martial art.

Karate vs Kung Fu vs Aikido…or whatever the fighting discipline…it doesn’t matter. The stance is the item. The art is a stylistic build upon the stance…and the techniques you do will all be mounted upon the stances.

Now, a couple of things to be wary of.

Don’t turn the feet too far to the sides, or turn them too far inwards, seek an alignment of the feet that supports the intention (direction) of the stance, and therefore the technique. This can be confusing until you realize the simplicity of how everything works.

Keep the tan then inside the base of the feet, lest your triangle topple.

Relax.

Breath rhythmically with your motion. Breath in when the body contracts, breath out when the body expands.

Do you see how basic these martial arts instructions for generating ki energy are? The difficulty lies only in thinking that the stances, which is to say the various postures, are complex, and then having to resolve them by inspection until they are simple and make sense.

Read that last sentence again, it is important, it tells you one of the reasons people make the martial arts such a lo-o-ong subject to study.

The truth of the matter is that the body can be rebuilt in as little as three months, and this includes making real and usable ki power. Watch the US army boot camp, or even one of the PX 90 infomercial ads on late night television.

Whether you change the body, and start manufacturing ki power depends not on years of rare exercises  and drills that you don’t understand, but simply resolving the simple stances and techniques and martial arts kata to the principles explained here.

For more data, check out this bit of writing on Martial Arts Chi Power. Or, if you want, all the principles that I’ve hinted at in this article on ki power are actually given in the Master Instructor Online Course at Monster Martial Arts.

To Mix the Martial Arts, or Not!

The question, of whether to mix the martial arts is a rather nifty one, but it doesn’t make sense, sort of reveals that the asker doesn’t really know what the martial arts are.

The fact is, whether you study kung fu or kenpo, aikido or escrima, every martial art that is in existence is a put together, a mix of jujitsu or shaolin or whatever.

martial arts

Can you mix martial arts like these? Monster Martial Arts did!


Every one of those ‘ancient’ disciplines is a mix. I quoted ‘ancient’ becuase most martial arts are not ancient at all.

Kenpo was invented (put together from other arts) by Ed Parker some fifty years ago. That’s not long.

Karate is a mix of kung fu styles.

Escrima is a trade off between tribes in the Filipines, and so on.

Simple, every art is a conglomeration and collaboration of other arts.

The latest mixes are quite interesting. They are the ones that pop up on the net. You know the ones I mean, ‘I beat Eight Ninjas Using a Secret Technique Taught to Me by Himalayan Nuns!’

And the guy who is selling this mess puts together a sampling of techniques, ties them together with a loose vrsion of a scientific theory, and calls it by a pseudo scientific name. Something like, Minderg Fighting concepts. Or, Psychop Blitzes.’ Something that sounds scientific, but is just rehashed theory, ancient languages translated into gobbledegook designed to befuddle any who ask.

And those who don’t ask are impressed (they paid money, they have to be impressed, right?) and they tell their friends, and somewhere in there somebody gets a bright idea, starts teaching, and says he has founded a new system.

Truth, sometimes there is a good system. Heck, if somebody puts in the hard work, distills the crapola, he’s going to find the grain of knowledge that started the crapola on its journey.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got to say.

In spite of all the bushwah out there, one should study the various systems, and he should mix martial arts until they make sense, and the best system I have seen is the Matrix Karate system by Al Case…that’s one that works, and actually is scientific!

 

How to Lose Reaction Time When You Do Kung Fu

Reaction time, when you do kung fu, is a fascinating monster. I say monster because it is the one thing people have that they should get rid of. It is one thing that can get you killed faster than a bomb in the diapers.

Reaction time is reaction, which means that it is something occurring after something else has happened. Do you understand what this means? If you possess reaction time, you are moving second and behind whoever is launching a punch at your face.

Now you are forced to move, and this because of the attacker’s move, rather than in keeping with what you want to do. That means you are the target, and you must get out of the way, build a good block, or whatever. It means you are not doing what you want to do.

The easiest way to understand this situation is if there is attacker A on the A spot. And a defender B on the B spot. And a third spot, maybe off to the left, which we will label spot C.

The time it takes A to move to B, B can move to C. But B MUST move at the same time. If B moves after A, then he is going to get clocked.

And, if B moves because of something he learned in a class, or because of an exercise, or because of anything else, then it is like he is moving yesterday. B must watch A ‘in this moment,’ and he must move as he wishes and not because of what A wishes. This is the only way for B to actually live to fight another day.

There is, oddly enough, how A sees this situation, and of actually being able to hit somebody. If you have seen how many misses there are in the mixed Martial Arts fights, then you will understand what I am saying. Simply, A is punching to where B is, but B is no longer in that spot.

In other words, for A to actually strike his opponent, he must strike not to where B is, because B is going to move, and spot B is where he used to be. And he must not attempt to change mid strike, for that will destroy his base and take power out of the strike. The trick is merely to understand and analyze the one sentence: in the time A attempts to move to B, B can move to C.

In summation, let me say that many people talk about timing and slipping strikes and that sort of thing, but they usually don’t really understand the equation I have given you here. To understand this equation-in the time A moves to B, B moves to C-you should write it out, along with every fight situation you can imagine, on a piece of paper. No matter what martial art you study, Kenpo, Kung Fu, Aikido, or whatever, this piece of data will enable you to shorten and even get rid of your reaction time, and elevate your martial art to a much higher level.

Download Martial Arts, 500 Articles, Instantly!

Download Martial Arts Articles Instantly!

Monster Martial Arts has just released a single volume containing 500 martial arts articles.

The volume is a massive undertaking which took years to write. Consider that it has over 600 pages, and nearly 250,000 words, and one quickly realizes that it is one of the largest martial arts books ever written. It is even larger than many dictionaries.



The instant download is nearly 6 Megabytes alone!

The 500 articles were written by Al Case over the last half dozen years, and were intended to bring attention to his Monster Martial Arts website. That they succeeded is obvious, as the website has become extremely popular, as have the martial arts courses on the site.

The courses cover a broad range of fighting disciplines, including karate, aikido, kung fu, pa kua chang, tai chi chuan, weapons, and more. The courses are designed to teaching one how to matrix the martial arts. Matrixing introduces a new form of logic which makes the martial arts easier and faster to learn.

The 500 articles also cover a broad range of interests. Consider the following titles.

4 Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li: Who‘s the Better Martial Artist?

37 Download the Martial Arts into your Brain like Neo!

60 How to Fight in the Dark

82 How to Tell if a Martial Art Instructor is Any Good!

124 Kung Fu Master…and the Secret of Light Kung Fu!

179 The Greatest Training Device in the Martial Arts Isn’t So Great!

209 The Fastest, Hardest Kick In The Martial Arts

250 I Beat Eight Ninjas in a Barfight Using Spetsnaz Karate Techniques!

276 Flux Theory and the Secret of Negative Tai Chi Chuan Chi

297 Martial Arts Breaking Techniques: Boards with a Single Finger

346 Five Martial Arts Exercises Make You Five Times More Stronger, Faster And Powerful!

369 Tony Jaa Threatens to Kill Himself, then Becomes a Monk!

402 Karate Kick Harder with These Seven Simple Tips

418 Take a Punch and Walk Away Smiling with One Simple Exercise

447 Karate Freestyle and the First Few Seconds of a Street Fight

456 The Yoga Kata

488 Is This the Most Powerful Punch in the Whole World?

The release of the 500 articles coincides with the upcoming ‘Great Matrixing Tour.’ The purpose of the tour is to bring Matrixing to the Martial Artists across the United States.

People who purchase the book will be contributing directly to the tour.

Again, the book is an instant download, and a complete viewpoint of the martial arts, including history, techniques, personalities, and event he new sciences of Matrixing and Neutronics. People interested in purchasing the 500 Martial Arts articles should go to:

http://churchofmartialarts.com/bookstore/500-martial-art-articles/

 

Pa Kua Chang, Aikido, and Controlling a Mob!

Control a Mob Using Aikido, Pa Kua Chang, or Other Martial Art!

I was reading a martial arts journal several years ago, I think it was Black Belt, and I stumbled upon this anecdote involving Morihei Ueshiba. O Sensei would go to different towns and put on Aikido exhibitions. I have no doubt the exhibitions were spectacular, however the thing that inspired the heck out of me was the tale his uchideshi (inside student) provided regarding O Sensei’s crowd walking procedure.

pa kua chang aikido

Build Unlimited Chi!

 

When traveling across a train station (for example) O Sensei would just walk straight forward, emanating his chi, and the masses would part. Individuals might turn and stare at this imperious titan, then the masses would close up. The Uchi deshi, packed with trunks and bags, would struggle through the closing people.

The thing that inspired me about this relating of event was not that a man could easily emanate effective chi and sweep back a masses, but that it reminded me of my very own crowd walking experiences.

When I was in eleventh grade I used to love to run through groups. I might be late for class, or merely playing tag with someone, and all of a sudden something would come over me and I would be in complete sprint. The halls would certainly be jammed, and I would be turning on the penny, scrambling full tilt, not able to be tripped (and a few of the teenagers would certainly make an effort). Young women might gasp and also offer little shrieks as I ran full tilt towards them, then turned and spun around them. The ground resembled a magnet to my feet, I never ever slipped, it was like I was flash, yet with magic glue on my soles.

O Sensei’s crowd walking blew me away, however it was so different from mine.

Emanating chi like he was a walking heater. It was the start of my martial arts calling, and control of chi in such outstanding way was yet a dream. Still, I had my very own strategy.

As time went on I acquired the capacity to exhibit chi, though not to the degree of O Sensei, yet, remarkably, I started to hold my very own approach up as perhaps not so scruffy.

The key, of course, was in engaging in Pa Kua Chang, in walking the circle. Particularly, I would focus on walking INCREDIBLY slowly. I would feel the chi go up and down the legs, and I started to comprehend a few things.

One, there was even more finesse in my procedure than merely turning it on and blasting individuals back.

Two, Pa Kua Chang in fact didn’t instruct individuals to crowd walk like I was doing it. Classic Pa Kua Chang was more into tricky hands, and not into fine tuning the walk itself. Walking slowly, concentrating the mindset on the generation and control of chi in the legs, made lightening in the legs. And this lead to the next understanding.

Three, I could show individuals ways to walk through crowds ten times more effortlessly and successfully, and there was a WHOLE LOT more contentment in the teaching.

Chi blasting a group is enjoyable, however it is pretty much a bully method.

Understanding ways to worm through the people at high speeds inspires the resourcefulness, it is subtle, it needs more entire body strategy. And this last is fascinating, and actually crucial to the expanding martial artist.

Contrast it to a musical instrument. Chi blasting such as O Sensei did is comparable to the opening chords of’ 2001: A Space Odyssey.’ (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). Crowd walking such as I explain and instruct with my unique Pa Kua Chang resembles playing Flight of the bumblebee.

One is spectacular, the other is elaborate. One is remarkable, the other is subtle. One is overpowering, the other is shading subtleties of colour unto infinity.

And, of course, when it pertains to crowd walking martial arts procedures, one shoujld understand both. Have the ability to be subtle, and blast at a second’s notice.

You can easily check into my specific Pa Kua Chang at Monster Martial Arts.

Real Shaolin and the Fight with Beavis and Butthead

The Case for Real Shaolin Kung Fu

I practice real Shaolin Kung Fu, and the rest of the world doesn’t.

Don’t you just love a knucklehead statement like that? I mean, the fellow who makes it has broken rule number one: he thinks he is the only one, and therefore he is knee deep in loco.


shaolin kung fu
That said, let me give you a rundown on real Shaolin Kung Fu, and what the rest of the world is practicing.

If you are learning a tradition with respect, no matter who the teacher is, no matter what the argument is between form and function, you are learning real Shaolin kung fu. And, hey, while we’re at it, this statement extends to other styles of Kung Fu, such as wing chun, hung gar, preying mantis, or whatever.

And, to put it another way…are you learning, or are you fighting?

Now, here comes the part where I offend people. The UFCers and the MMAers are fighting, so they are not doing a martial art. They are doing a martial sport.

A lot of people get upset with me when I say something like this, they take it as a personal attack,and then explain how their school is different.

And that is the dividing point, is their school teaching, or is it promoting fighting?

It is a simple question, with a simple answer, and Beavis and Butthead can’t answer it.

You know Beavis and Butthead? They are the fellows with bad grammar who go to forums and sites and drop comments like UR STOOPID! (note the misspelling), and F*** U! (No asterisks)

Brilliant fellows these, and they don’t study real Shaolin kung fu. They study ca ca humor and eat with their mouth open and it’s really important who won the fight.

But it’s not important who won the fight. What’s importnat is whethere an individual is actually learning, becoming more disciplined and aware, exploring the manifestations of spirituality that a human being is.

The real fight, you see, is not between the gladiators in the ring, it is between the edification of the human spirit, and the degradation of the human meatball.

That’s why I study real Shaolin kung fu, and that is the dividing line one must find in their own art if they are to win the martial art war.

A Fantastic Ving Tsun Wooden Dummy Training Partner

Better Martial Arts through Ving Tsun Wooden Dummy Training!

The Ving Tsun wooden dummy is a great piece of martial arts equipment. It strengthens the arms and the fists, and even the legs, and it is an opponent that never quits but always loses. The cost of a wooden playmate is sometimes high, so here are a couple of alternatives to help the wooden dummy aficionado meet his opponent.

wing chun wooden dummy

Logic...Karate Style...Resolves All Body Motion!

 


The Ving Tsun Wooden Dummy is popular in many martial arts, but the main art is Ving Tsun Gung Fu. This art has practiced with the wooden man for the longest, and even has a complete form for dominating it. Other arts, however, use the dummy, also.

This writer recalls seeing the Ving Tsun wooden dummy in Jackie Chan’s wonderful kung fu flick Rumble in the Bronx. Seeing the air fill with dust when Jackie lays into it is a great moment. Possibly the best flick to demonstrate the wooden figure is Ip Man, with Donny Yen.

In the beginning the martial artist will become adept at beating on kicking bags and speed bags, and perhaps strengthening the hands on the makiwara. It won’t be long, however, until the karateka or kung fu student puts a couple of rug samples on a pine tree and moves into tougher hand conditioning. The trick, however, is to get the wooden limb to fly out at you so you can block it.

This writer made a simple striking tool by wrapping a towel around a pole, and then having people jab at him with it. This rapidly turned into an advanced form of freestyle, where the block had to be done, and the distance to the pole holder closed. It is quite challenging to dash three or four feet in a moment to negate the distance the pole offers.

From there one might consider mounting a pole on some sort of swivel device. Bury a four by four in the ground, then place a moveable pole atop it. On can block the arm, and block it again when it swings around, and even get into ducking and blocking against the thing.

Eventually, one will want to get a piece of a log, drill holes through it, and set up some arms and even legs. One can then move around, palm the wooden limbs, and pretend that one is fighting a real attacker. What is really nifty is to put some large springs on the limbs so that they become more lifelike.

The cost of wood being high, or perhaps the difficulty of procuring a log when you live in in a city, one might consider different materials. There is PVC, if one can find thick enough material that won’t break, or perhaps even some sort of metal. This type of dummy and limbs would require towels or other material being wrapped around it to protect the hands and feet.

In closing, there are many ways to set up a fake opponent, and the martial artist is limited only by his imagination. Watch movies, read books, and start inspecting the materials available to you. Guaranteed, a Ving Tsun wooden dummy will go a long way in your martial arts training.

Learn more about <a href=”http://www.monstermartialarts.com/Art-Dearming_the_Arm.html”>Kung Fu Wooden Dummy</a> kinds of training. Head to <a href=”http://www.monstermartialarts.com/Master_Instructor_Course.html”>Monster Martial Arts</a>.

He Was Slow and He Didn’t Want to Be A Karate Instructor!

Karate Instructors and Slow People

Way back in 1967 I wanted to be a Karate Instructor. I had started at Chinese Kenpo, and we wore white uniforms and the Instructors wore black. I wanted to be a Karate instructor. I wanted to teach Karate. I wanted…badly.

karate instructor

Martial Arts Knowledge is the Key!



A year passes, a year filled with immensely hard work, where I NEVER missed a class, where I studied EVERYTHING I could, and I was  a Karate instructor. Then, one day this fellow comes in and signs up for some lessons, and I was given him to teach.

He was physically slow. He wasn’t stupid, he just had a body that moved slowly. There was nothing I could do to make him faster. I tried everything I knew, from stop watches to contests to whatever. He had a slow body.

The problem was that he didn’t understand how to move the body. I could tell he was sitting way back inside his head, firmly ensconced, knew that there was nothing but meat to him. He wasn’t even up to the point where he cold isolate muscles in the arms…he was just meat.

I thought of him many times over the years, and I tried to figure out ways to make people faster.

Speed is an interesting thing. In the beginning, speed is bound by your belief in the necessity of muscles to move. In the end…it is an illusion. Something you control by thinking at people and making them accept your viewpoint of reality.

The best and most efficient method for increasing martial arts speed is to be in one place, relax, and be in another place.

Don’t try to be fast, just visualize your body where it is, forget about it, then visualize the next position.

Don’t bother with the inbetween.

I am here…….I am there.

And that’s all there is to it.

And, you can use feedback of your body if you have a rough time doing this.

Listen to the sound of your uniform popping. Listen to the sound of the fist closing. These, and others, are good ways to travel through that inbetween land from slow to fast.

Eventually, with practice, you will be fast. It is just a matter of dedicating yourself, and cultivating proper thought.

This has been a page concerning one of my experiences as a karate instructor.

Neutronics And Chi Power In The Martial Arts

Chi Power is probably most measurable in the Martial Arts. There are instances in all the styles of kung fu, especially Tai Chi Chuan and Pa Kua Chang, of people using chi energy to accomplish spectacular feats. From breaking bricks to ripping the bark off of trees to balancing a handstand on one finger, chi has proven to be real.

pa kua book

This writer’s first introduction to chi was in the fact of breaking bricks. This was back in 1967, when he witnessed people shearing bricks with chops, and literally shattering bricks with half knuckle punches. Breaking bricks was just the start, however.

In the early seventies Inside Kung Fu magazine came out with a piece of writing which highlighted various chi power feats. The photographs in this article were grainy, but done in circumstances which didn’t allow room for fraud. The feats shown were not normal in any meaning of the word.

There was one photo in which an old man severed a six foot length of green bamboo in half–very springy stuff–while it was perched on a pair of eggs. Another excellent photo was the fellow who held an empty 5 gallon glass jar with an upside down, open palm. This writer’s favorite photograph, however, was the fellow who took a punch to the belly, then kept the punch ‘glued’ to his belly with Chi Power.

It is unarguable that chi power exists, and it is a fact that modern science cannot explain it. There is one technology, however that has made great strides in explaining Chi energy. This is the physics known as Neutronics.

You won’t find descriptions of Neutronics in any textbook, and even google will have a hard time finding the subject. This is because it is a recent discovery. It doesn’t help that neutronics was put formulated outside the empirical theory of modern day technologies.

There is actually good reason that this new technology was–had to be–formulated outside the realm of normal methods. Neutronics, you see, is the physics behind normal science. While normal science measures the universe, Neutronics defines the actuality of the universe.

Neutronics is not concerned with formulas having to do with distance and time and measurement of heat expansion or that sort of thing, but in the reality of that which is to be measured. What really holds a pebble together, that is the essence of this new technology, and this was more easily realized through a study of the martial arts, than in western laboratories. Neutronics is the study of the motors that hold this universe together, and any student can understand this, and chi power, once they begin learning martial arts such as pa kua chang, or tai chi chuan, and immersing themselves in neutronic theory.

To discover more about Neutronics and chi power in the martial arts, check out the new martial arts book, The Neutronic Motors of <a href=”http://alcase.wordpress.com/2012/05/19/release-pa-kua-chang/”>Pa Kua Chang</a>. Go to <a href=”http://www.monstermartialarts.com/NuetronicMotorsPaKuaChang.html”>Monster Martial Arts</a>.