I practice real Aikido, 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.
That said, let me give you a rundown on real Aikido, 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 Aikido. And, hey, while we’re at it, this statement extends to other classical martial arts, such as karate or tai chi chuan, 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 Aikido. 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 important 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 Aikido, and that is the dividing line one must find in their own art if they are to win the martial art war.
There are three things you need if you are going to teach yourself Martial Arts, and a couple of secondary things you should know.
The three main things you need to teach yourself Martial Arts is a good Martial Art, a good teacher, and a good student.
We can assume that you are going to be a good student, set aside time every day, and stick to the program you come up with. In this case, if you are a good student, then you are a good teacher.
So we have to select a high grade martial art, and here is where we come into the secondary considerations you should think about when undertaking how to teach yourself Martial Arts.
To teach yourself Martial Arts you have to ask yourself why you want to learn.
Do you want to be strong and flexible? Excellent. Do you want to be tough? Not so good. Do you want to bully people? Uh oh.
The best martial Art to teach yourself, to be honest, is probably Karate.
If you want to learn Aikido you need a partner all the time.
If you want to learn Kung Fu there’s too much mysticism, meaningless chi exercises, abstract concepts that you might actually need a teacher to help you with.
Some arts are unbalanced. Taekwondo, for example, has too many kicks, and doesn’t give enough weight to punches and throws. Jujitsu has too many throws and not enough punches and kicks.
Mixed Martial Arts isn’t bad, but most MMA fighters got their start by learning a classical martial art first.
Karate, on the other hand, is based around self defense, so their isn’t a bunch of mystical concepts to mess up your mind.
And, it is well rounded, with a balance of throws, kicks, and punches.
Having selected the type of Karate you wish to learn, you now have to find the best courses and information in order to teach yourself Martial Arts.
Serious about learning How to Teach yourself Martial Arts? Check out KangDukWon.com.
For part two of this article, go to How to Find the Best Online Martial Arts Instruction at MonsterMartialArts.com.
A Paper Tiger is a person who has a certificate and no real knowledge.
To be precise, it is a person who has bought a certificate, or otherwise convinced some fellow to give him one, and he can’t really do the things listed on the certificate.
We used to call this idea, of bought certificates instead of earned, as ‘Paper mills.’ Some guy would just charge money and send paper, and it was just a money making scheme.
A Paper tiger is something that seems as threatening as a tiger, but does not withstand challenge.
And, it was pretty cruel, because it misrepresented the martial arts, and it misrepresented the individual with the cert in hand.
Now, I don’t particularly like the notion of Paper Tigers. So let me define what is happening here, and what I decided to do about it.
Some fellow goes to a martial arts school, then stops. Maybe he should stop, maybe he shouldn’t, but he is still left halfway through the ranks, he still wants what he was working for, he still wants to earn his black belt.
Or, even worse, a fellow that never went to a martial art school, but still wants the diploma.
Sometimes these fellows look for the short cut.
Sometimes the head rationalization is massive.
‘Oh, I knew what he (the instructor) was talking about.’ Or, ‘I can fight good, I deserve it.’ Or, ‘well, I’ve been practicing, sort of, so I’m at that rank.’
Do you see all the potential variations here?
But the fellow hasn’t done the work!
Now, I’ll be honest, there will always be people who manage to get away with this. Sometimes they’ll just print up their own certificates.
But I want my signature to mean something when I put it on a certificate. So I did several things.
One thing I did was eliminate ‘poser’ techniques from my courses. These are techniques where the attacker has to wait, to pose, while the defender makes the technique work.
Another is to align the techniques so they are more logical. This makes them easier to learn and make work.
And, then there is video. I can tell when a person is faking it. I can spot even a mental hesitation and ‘think’ in the middle of the form.
And it is easy to see when a technique isn’t working.
And, because of The Master Instructor Course, I can give a person spot on instruction that will help him make it work.
I don’t care if a person comes to me and isn’t quite competent, I only care if I can’t make him competent. I just want to make him into a real tiger!
So by the structure of my courses, and video testing, and the VERY high worth of the art I am teaching, I’ve had good results, and, as far as I know, no Paper Tigers.
See, the thing is this, let’s say a guy comes to me with head rationalizations, and he wants a certificate…when he sees the logic, when the error is pointed out without making him feel bad, then the Paper Tiger becomes…a Tiger.
That’s what I want, martial artists who are real tigers, and, truth, that’s what the people who sign up for courses want. They WANT to be real martial artists. And it is my duty to get them there.
The reason I tell you this is so that when you sign up for the Kang Duk Won Karate Course, the Best Online Karate Course in the World, you will know that you are in good hands.
This has been a page about making a real tiger out of a paper tiger.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It’s true, Light Gung Fu can be made out of any martial art you study, and that includes Karate, Silat, Aikido, whatever! In fact, it is incredibly easy!
All you have to do is go get some cinderblocks, set them on end, and do your forms (kata) on them! Instant Light Gung Fu!
But whatever you believe…chi energy power exists!
Here are some key items to help you out in this search for light body Gung fu.
You don’t need a lot of cinderblocks. As little as four, but you can use as many as you want.
It is best to lay them sideways the first few times you do this. After you are comfortable (won’t take but a day or two), you stand them on end. After a week or two, you can lay two on the side. Then you can go to one on end on top of one on end, and then two on end, and so on.
You want to pick a good surface to eliminate brick wobble. And when you purchase the cinder blocks, set them on end and pick out the ones with the most stability.
IMPORTANT: when you fall, learn to pick up your legs and search for a place to land. You don’t want to break a leg by stepping on the falling cinderblock.
Now, this method of light Gung fu has been around for years. It is called sunken post, or sunken pillar training. Usually you dig holes and sink them, and climb the poles until you are six or eight feet off the ground, striking Gung fu postures and dancing around like a kung fu crane.
But, that’s a lot of digging, so my method is simpler and quicker, and saves a lot of digging and measuring and leveling and basic construction work.
Nothing wrong with the ancient sunken pole tricks, especially if you are an official Gung fu school, but, my method of light kung fu is much simpler.
Now, the main area where you grow is going to be in balance.
Everything is balance. From being able to stop yourself in an aggressive karate move without falling forward, to the delicate hourlong meditation of holding the bowl. Everything is balance.
So standing on a couple of cinderblocks on end is going to give you tremendous balance.
First, you will feel awkward, the body will shift back and forth in attempts to keep your balance.
After a while your kung fu maneuvering will become easy as pie, and it will be as natural as walking, and you will likely feel a nice, little glow developing in your tan tien.
The muscles on both sides of the leg, you see, are going to fire up, work back and forth, and that will start up the body energy generator, which is what the tan tien actually is.
And that is how you create light Gung fu out of Karate, or taekwondo, or pa kua, or…ANY…Martial Art you might happen to study.
Here’s a great article in which the author demonstrates light gung fu. And here’s a great article on how to learn Shaolin Kung Fu.
Dragon Gung Fu refers to internal martial arts training, and tiger Gung fu refers to external martial arts systems.
Dragon Gung Fu would include such Chinese martial arts as Pa Kua Chang, Tai Chi Chuan, and so on.
Official Symbol of Gung Fu at Monster Martial Arts
Tiger Gung Fu would include such systems as Hung Gar, but would go outside the Chinese to such systems as Shotakan Karate (Tiger Emblem), Kyukoshinkai, and so on.
The main difference between the hard and the soft, or the external and internal martial arts systems, is emphasis on muscles in the hard, and emphasis on the growth of Chi from the Tan Tien in the hard.
Though, to be honest, do the Tiger Gung Fu styles long enough, and you will morph into the harder Tiger systems.
Now, most people consider that all you have to do is gear your training to development of tan tien based martial arts, and that will transform you into a dragon gung fu stylist. And this is true. But, there is an easier way, one that works more in conjunction with Tiger Gung Fu styles.
This means that if you do what I am about to tell you, you can easily transform your hard style into a soft style with just a little shift in your training.
To make the transformation from tiger Gung fu methods to dragon, first learn how to make grab arts out of the self defense techniques you practice in the forms.
This can be easily done, and probably the best example of this is the Matrix Aikido method.
Now, here is where the change really starts. You must learn how to use less and less force when doing those grab arts.
Instead of slamming with the hips, learn how to nudge and unbalance, and let the unbalancing technique take its course.
Now, I could tell you dozens of things, but I shant. It would turn into a complex discussion, instead of a conceptual principle.
Heck, take apart those techniques by the thousands, get complex, but always refer back to this principle of using less and less effort.
And that is the way you transform Tiger Gung Fu into Dragon Gung Fu.
Here’s a great article on how to make Dragon Gung Fu out of Tiger Gung Fu, and here’s an interesting online martial arts course on the subject.
Secret Gung Fu refers to martial arts principles hidden for millennium. Here is the data you’ve been seeking.
I’ve always wanted to know secret gung fu techniques. I’ve studied Southern Shaolin and Northern Shaolin and Wing Chun and Tai Chi and Pa Kua and…I can’t stop.
This is not bad, of course, for the health benefits and the clarity of mind are absolutely phenomenal.
There is one problem, however, that I wish to address here, concerning the martial arts, and this secret gung fu thing.
Secret Gung Fu shouldn’t be secret, and that is the heart of the Shaolin Butterfly
It can take several years to become expert in a system of Gung Fu. It can take more than a dozen years to master a system of Gung Fu. This is much, much too long.
My solution to this problem was to concentrate on isolating the main concept–and motion–behind a system of gung fu, and concentrate upon just that concept.
I didn’t want to learn by memorizing series of tricks, you see, I wanted to go for the gold. I wanted to find out the real secret gung fu behind any system I studied.
Every system I studied, however, was based on a different concept. Wing Chun slipped and angled , and the Mantis pulled with a hook. Pa kua made circles and deflected, and Tai Chi guided by absorbing. None of the systems seemed related, and this made finding a secret gung fu difficult, to say the least!
But, I reasoned, fighting is, at heart, fighting! There had to be a simple concept that tied them all together. There had to be some simple thing that was common to each fighting system, no matter how different the fighting system seemed to be! There had to be an underlying principle that I was missing.
And, in the end, I found it.
No matter what type of gung Fu you are studying, the body is the common denominator.
Gung fu, flower arranging, dance, taking a walk…they all need a body. And the body is constructed the same, for the most part, from person to person.
Thus, I dissected and analyzed all the arts, and found that there is a principle of body motion, relating to and coming from the body, that is the same for virtually all arts. And the arts I was studying suddenly made sense, and I could see the connections. I had found my secret gung fu.
I had found the source of it all!
Eventually, I formed my own system, and it is based on this common principle of body structure, and the only potentials of motion that a body is capable of.
I call this system the Shaolin Butterfly, and the true glory of it is that is includes virtually all potentials of motion from all other systems of Gung Fu. Oh, and one other thing about this secret gung fu system that is great–it can be learned in a couple of months.
This blog on secret gung fu was originally published 2009/06/03 on the Matrix Martial arts blog.
Go to the Testimonials in the menu and do a search for your martial art!
Hi Sensei Al!
(On the Black Belt Course) Everything is working great! Thank you for the quick responses. I am enjoying the one on one videos. It may be cliche, but I do feel like I'm there. I also like the conversational style and the way you explain how you're teaching and why. You've got a new student for life. Thank you. ~ Daniel
What's interesting about Al Case's writings and teachings is there isn't any emphasis on 'the unknown' or 'mystery' behind martial arts. Al will slam this information in your face! Quite frankly the data isn't hidden, you'll find you're blind. ~ WG
Al Case is a powerful presence to be around, but if you can confront it, then you will not be sorry, for there is no one like him, and it is an extreme privilege and honor.
I used to read your articles in Inside Karate and was excited when I found your web site. ~ RV
As an old timer with thirty-five years of experience I was really bored, but your works have peaked my interest and shown me that there is much more to learn. I Thank You Again, Sincerely ~ CC
Where was this information 24 years ago? This course is one of the best things to ever happen to me. Thank you Al Case for the gift of knowledge!
Be blessed my teacher, ~ Rev. Ernest R
I bought the Infinite Fist tape YEARS ago and you know? I Keep going back to it! ~ KS
You are a master. You have opened me up to things that I have never thought of before. ~ KFM
I purchased your course on "Create Your Own Martial Art" and absolutely love it. I believe that your matrixing system is very unique. ~ DW
In my entire experience twenty years as a student and an instructor since, no one has contributed more to my martial arts education than you have. I started following your works twenty years ago and although I was young then I knew you had the True Art it was obvious to me even then. ~ Charles C
Students will know longer be slaves of poor instructors and practitioners. ~ Lonnie M
Win from Master Instructor Course
Let me start out by saying thank you. Thanks from all the martial artists who asked why. Al, I'm in the Security and Law enforcement field and carry Instructor credentials, so effective methods in combat and teaching them is what I constantly look for.
Win from Matrix Aikido
I just had to write to you to say WOW. Your INSTANT AIKIDO is great!!! ~ SD
My students have started coming up to me after class telling me how much more they are enjoying it, and that the classes have stopped being so ridged and now flow in a kind of give and take between me and them. I have stopped being a task master and started having fun and letting them teach me as well.
I did the Master Instructor Course and it hit me. The Basics that are so concisely communicated in this course including the Matrix principle IS the solution. It doesn’t matter what “style” I call my art, because all styles follow these same principles. It doesn’t matter how hard I train or how many repetitions I do if I don’t train the right way. And I would never become a master if I didn’t know how it all fits together. Now I do! I can honestly say that I am now on the path that I have always sought as a martial artist. Thank you Al!
I conducted a Matrix Aikido training class for a Security Team at a local manufacturing plant. I tailored the training according to their Use Of Force policy. As you know they need control and takedown skills. I knew Matrix Aikido would be the answer. The training plan you shared was boss. The class went so smoothly. The participants learned very quickly. By the end of the class you could see techniques of Monkey Boxing coming through. They were also able to create their own techniques. There was one female officer in the class who asked to become my private student. She was throwing, locking and taking down guys twice her size. The Security Supervisor wants me to come back and with more participants! I'll keep you posted. ~ L M
Have found your books and dvds excellent. My background is mainly in medical qigong but I practice Sun Style Tai CHi, BaGua and HsingI as well as Eagle Claw, Snake Style Kung Fu and several Wudang weapon styles. This is the first time I have had the underlying principles so clearly explained and in a way that they are immediately workable and demonstratable. I have worked through the Master Instructors Course, Aikido and Butterfly Bagua and have started to breakdown the Sun Hsing I using your matrix method. I was even able to teach a 70 year old friend of mine with no martial arts background your instant aikido where she was able to do some very accomplished locks and throws after the first lesson
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HERE'S SOME FREE MARTIAL ARTS BOOKS, MY THANKS FOR DROPPING BY.
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