Category Archives: mixed 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 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.

Karate Throwing Techniques to Make You Grin!

Finding and Define Karate Throwing Techniques!

When this writer first learned Karate, there weren’t any Karate throwing techniques. There was just kick and punch, and so much of it that there wasn’t much interest in how to throw somebody.

Heck, if you wanted to throw, you took Judo, right?

karate throwing techniques

He could punch…and he could throw!

But, as time played out, and arts were learned, the subject of Karate throwing techniques kept popping up again and again.

Interestingly, there were throws in Karate before that art became a mass produced method of making money for US teachers.

I’m not trying to diss anybody here, but the US teachers were all saying ‘My art is the only Martial Art!’ And they were concerned with pushing their tournament fighting, which had no room for throws.

But Gichin Funakoshi was once taking lessons with Jigaro Kano, and suddenly Gichin did a throw that Kano didn’t really know. And when Kano was surprised, Funakoshi passed it off with, ‘Oh, there are a few karate throwing techniques.’

A few throws, indeed! Karate is LOADED with takedowns and locks and all manner of manipulative grappling techniques!

Finding Karate Throwing Techniques in Kata

My favorite example of a karate throwing technique is the move at the end of Pinan Three. You poke over the shoulder and elbow, and slide to the side. Absolutely perfect grab art, if, instead of poking the eyes, you grab an encircling arm and throw on the slide.

Anyway, we could get into a lo-o-ong discussion about the placement of throws in almost every single move of every single kata, but I will leave that up to the reader to explore on his own, and merely say: ‘the throws are there, you just have to learn how to look.’

I will say that the throws in Karate tend to be all over the place. Karate wasn’t organized logically, and the things are placed in haphazard arrangement. That may make your job of finding them harder, but it will also make it more interesting.

I will also say that, in the end, while this writer loves throws and locks, there is greater efficiency in one punching an opponent. I know that some people may disagree with this, but I recommend practicing the punch until it works, and exploring the throws and locks so that you don’t get trapped or fooled by them, and so that you may have options. An option, for instance, in the event that it’s only your drunk cousin…don’t punch him! Just do one of your Karate Throws, over the shoulder and into the trash can…he he!

Here’s a great article about Karate Throwing Technique. You can also check out Matrix Kung Fu at Monster Martial Arts, which is the bible of Karate Throwing Techniques.

Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate Hate Each Other!

Ronda Rousey and Miesha Prepare for UFC 18!

Actually Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate hating each other is old news. The two rivals have been at each others throats, literally, ever since women’s fighting at the UFC went big time.

Ronda Rousey, as everybody body a chicken farmer in the antarctic knows, is the gal who wins every match with an armbar. Got a mother who Judo-ed, and she judo-ed, and then she went into the fight game because it was a way to flaunt her charming personality.

Ronda Rousey

Ronda packs more than a punch!

 

Word has it that she pins by armbar because she is afraid of what is going to happen if she actually ever hits anybody. A humanitarian thing, you see.

Miesha Tate, a rough and tumble gal from the old school, is the girl Ronda armbarred back in 2012. Oops.

So it’s no wonder that these two titans of hair curling matches share no love.

The latest forum for their spit and claws is the training camp for UFC 18. That’s right, the Ultimate Fighting Championships…The House!

UFC President Dana White thought it would be fun to have girls coach the thing, so he enlisted Rabid ronda Rousey and Cruel Cat Zingano to be the coaches. Well, actually, Ronda was a shoe in, but Cruel Cat had to beat Malicious Miesha for the honor of coaching against the world ladies champ of twist and pound, Ronda (she ain’t no mousey) Rousey.

So, the stage is set, and the two gals are hiss and fizz POed at each other. Each and every week they trade barbs and insults, and dream about the day they will get to straighten each others curls in the Octagon.

And that day is coming right durned soon!

Dana White has compared the fun and frolics to the now famous season of Tito Ortiz and Chuck Lidell. And he has said of the girls “It’s pure F***ing mayhem every day!”

Well, mayhem is this writer’s meat and potatoes, and he will be following the season avidly and waiting fervently for the season ending match!

Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate, a match made in cat heaven.

Here’s a great article for gals who want to takedown the biggest guys! It’s from the website Puncher Harder Now!

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!

 

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.

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.

Keep Your Pants On…It’s the Deadliest Martial Arts Weapon

Deadliest Martial Arts Weapon my…!

I discovered this Martial Arts weapon many, many years ago. I had studied Chinese Kenpo Karate, and eventually earned my black belt in the Kang Duk Won, and I had hefted all manner of weapons.

kung fu master

I had used the sai and the sword and and the nunchucks and the staff and on and on…I even had my own samurai sword!

Then, one day I was over at a friend’s house, he was my Karate work out partner and we were talking weapons, and he suddenly grinned. You’re wearing the deadliest martial arts weapon in existence, and you don’t even know it.

“Wha…?”

So he took me outside, we walked across the street into a big orchard, and he asked me for my belt.

It was a thick belt, had a big, old, heavy buckle on it. Just the kind of thing a young man needs when he wants the world to know he has to keep his pants on.

He dangled that belt from the fist, holding both ends. The buckle tight, and the other end in one loose finger. He picked up a rock, put it in the fold of the belt, and told me to watch a tree some fifty feet away.

WHIIII! He let go the end, and the rock flew like a guided missile. It was a big rock, and he actually broke a small limb off the tree.

Holy %%%%!

I knew I could use the buckle for a flail, but I had never thought of the David and Goliath thing.

To this day I wear a heavy belt, one I can whip out and use to bash or beat, whip or snap…or use as a sling.

And, I keep a supply of steel balls. You can get them off amazon pretty cheap. I’m not pin point in my accuracy, mind you, and my friend admitted that he got in a lucky shot. But, still, I am fairly accurate, I can hit a three foot target from fifty feet, and what I hit stays hit. I tell you, a steel ball will go right through plywood, easy as a .22,  when you do it just right.

If you want to learn more about weapons, I suggest popping over to my Blinding Steel course at Monster Martial Arts.

deadliest martial arts weapon

From Martial Arts Tournament to Full Contact Fighting to MMA

Martial Arts Tournaments…

When it comes to Martial Arts Fighting, the times have changed, and changed again.

martial arts tournaments

Training for a martial arts tournament in 1974

When I first began Chinese Kenpo, back in 1967, you were expected to have control. Develop your power, but have respect for your karate opponent. We were all very careful, and we learned what hurt and what didn’t.

I remember whent he first full contact matches came about. People started wearing protective gear, started neglecting control (hey! They were protected…what did they care?), and the first full contact tournaments appeared.

Full contact didn’t work very well. A good boxer would go in and clean up. He had superior training methods for that specific form of fighting, and he had better conditioning. The karate tournament fighters didn’t really understand about this type of impact.

I remember watching some of the early fighters, and to hurt their opponent they would hit with ridge hands…on the wrist above the glove. No padding, and it worked better. Nobody figured out elbows.

To be honest, the change from no contact to full contact was not good. Pads and gloves changed focus points, and people with years in no contact were usually better than fellows trying to make the change to full contact. Think about it, people studying no contact could do more damage than people who were studying full contact.

But such factors didn’t matter. People want instant gratification, and full contact answered the call. A knock out, you see, is like a home run; people want to come to see the knock out.

So full contact had arrived, but its progress was slow and spotty. There were fights over rules, fighters tried to skew the rules so they would have an an advantage, and nobody really knew what was happening.

Then MMA arrived. Mixed Martial Arts. And the world changed. Training methods sharpened up, rules became more set in stone, and the real art was re-introduced. The thing became not a downgrade of bad karate, but a side step from good jujitsu.

The odd thing is that, for all the blood and teeth spilled in the ring, people much prefer no contact training methods, or at least very limited contact.

Yes, they want reality, but they don’t want to get mugged on the way to it.

And, one very interesting fact: people are finding out that there is more to learn when doing the older less contact artforms.

When you get into it with an opponent in many mixed martial arts schools, the contest tends to degrade, turn into a fight, a controlled fight, but still a matter of who is better.

This is in opposition to one perfecting one’s technique, which is what the true martial art is really all about.

Still, this last manifestation of lessened martial art is but one more signpost on a constantly evolving facet of martial arts training. From Martial Arts Tournament to Full Contact Fighting to MMA to…beyond, this is a sport that is evolving, growing, adapting…and getting better.

MMA

Would Tayvon Martin be Dead if He Had Learned Martial Arts?

Would Tayvon be in the ground if he had learned martial arts?

Interesting question, eh? But I often wonder if learning the martial arts would make a difference in people’s lives. Tayvon, of course, is supposed to have punched George Zimmerman in the face, jumped on him when he was down, and bashed his skull against the concrete.

learn martial arts

Martial Arts Knowledge is the Key!

 


Did he? I don’t know, but the pics I have seen of Zimmerman’s head seems to indicate yes.

So, would Tayvon Martin have jumped George if he knew Karate, or Kung Fu? Probably not. Kids get their anxieties taken care of on the mat, they don’t take them to the street. This is not a guarantee, of course, merely an opinion.

The other side of this question is whether George Zimmerman would have shot Tayvon Martin dead if he knew Kenpo or Taekwondo, or something like that?

Again, opinion, but probably not. He would have been more alert, would have kept more distance. Heck, if Tayvon did do the jumping, he would have seent he look in George’s eyes that he was ready.

There is one thing that happens in the martial arts, in a Karate dojo or a kung fu kwoon, and that is a look that comes into the eyes. ‘I know about fighting, so I don’t want to fight.’

Bad guys see this. And if Tayvon was the bad guy, then he would have passed on george and moved on to other prey.

Well, it is all conjecture at this point, except for one thing. The practice and discipline, the respect and mental health that come from a study of the martial arts is real, and kids everywhere learn lessons that George Zimmerman and Tayvon Martin never learned.

learned martial arts

This has been a page about learned martial arts.

Using the Karate Kiai to Discover the True Power of Kotodama

Can Karate Kiai Actually Cause Death?

Karate Kiai is a Japanese idea meaning ‘spirit shout,’ and it is the deadly yell that karate practitioners scream when chopping an opponent’s head off. Well, maybe I went overboard with that description a bit, grin, but there is a truth to the karate yell that is unarguable and leads to some rather mysterious knowledge. I am referring to subject of Kotodama, or ‘Word spirit.’

martial arts yellThe notion behind a Karate kiai is to commit all  of ones energies into one moment, one karate technique, and thus to enhance the power of the strike. The idea of scaring a somebody is somewhat secondary, but not to be discounted. Both of these concepts lead to rather interesting belief systems and mysterious realities.

Kotodama is the practice of creating soothing sounds, which sounds can engender a more spiritual feeling in a person. There is, of course, the flip side, the bad word phenomena, in which a sound is used to hurt another person. Either way, kotodama results in the practice of kotomuke (soothing speech to bring peace), and kotoage, which is producing magic.

My first experience with kotodama came from a decades long study of karate, kung fu, and various internal martial arts. This gave direct experience with the power of screaming at an attacker and rendering him impotent. In one case I drew upon the karate kiai to vanguish a would be mugger…he turned around shambled down the street, his body shaking and shivering.

Experiences like this, which were brought about by the faithful repetition of karate patterns with correct attention to Karate kiai, brought me to a profound appreciation of the subject. Of interest in this is the way of speaking of salesmen and mentalists, and other individuals of that type. Watching how such people conducted themselves, the tones they employed, the pitch of sound they utilized, brought me to the notion that we are talking about vibration.

Vibration is generally understood to be the source of the universe. Between the notion of an Eternal Spirit and the solid life of objects (of which the universe is made), is vibration. This concept holds true on the atomic level of protons and electrons, and on the gigantic scale of spinning galaxies and whole universes.

What we are more interested in, however, are the vibrations we can make in our day to day lives. Is it possible to cause a vibration which can move the universe? The answer to this is as simple as the phenomena of an opera singer projecting a tone that cracks a glass.

The way of achieving this ability is just as simple. First, one has to realize, through the projection of virtue into their lives, that they are spiritual in nature, and that they can create vibrations which not only break glass, but which can shiver other objects, and, more easily, cause comfort or discomfort to their fellow humans. Second, one has to discover and follow exactly the disciplines which bring one to this ability…then the result is that a simple Karate kiai can translate into Kotodama can morph into a mystical spell or chant which has the power to harm or heal as one sees fit.