Martial arts Injuries are Stupid…Here’s How You Deal With Them

Posted on July 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 934

Martial Arts Injuries!

I don’t usually get injured,
And when I do it’s usually something stupid.
I detached a tendon in the fourth finger of my right hand.
Stupid.
And it takes six weeks to grow back.
But,
Every tragedy is an opportunity,
So let me elucidate on that.

First,
When you are injured
You figure out better ways to do things,
You are forced out of the same old same old,
And start to think,
How can I do this technique?
Should I change angles?
Use the other hand in a different way?
And so on.
And,
There is a bump in awareness.
You have to move so that you don’t impact,
But rather match the trajectory
Of whatever is incoming.
So you learn stuff,
And get smarter.
But stupid injuries are still just that…
stupid.

And,
At this point,
Let me offer the injury formula,
If not for your benefit,
Then mine.

Speed plus Ignorance equals Injury.
S + Ig = In

Geez.
You’d think I would have that down,
eh?

Except that it is a caution to go slow enough
to engage your ability to analyze,
And not a guarantee.

Anyway,
That all said,
Let me point out that
‘Chiang Nan’
Is the book that teaches you
how to make karate into Tai Chi.
I’ll be doing a lot of Chiang Nan
For the next six weeks,
And I urge you to look into it.

Chiang Nan


It has a TREMENDOUS amount of knowledge,
And a whole new way of looking at the martial arts.

And,
One other reason I am pushing this book,
I am about to come out with a new one.
So get caught up,
Don’t get left behind.
I’ll let you know about it,
Probably the next newsletter.

Okely Doggone Dokely,
I wave my busted finger at you,
And caution you…
WORK OUT HARD
You never when you’re going to get busted.
(insert a trickle of a tear down my cheek here)

Al

Chiang Nan

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The Right Way to Teach Martial Arts

Posted on July 10, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 933

A Different Method for Teaching Martial Arts

One thing I noticed,
Over the years,
Is that people like to make things harder.
In the beginning,
Mac was easy,
intuitive.
Tried a Mac lately?

Or,
How about a car?
Used to be you could take your car apart,
Fix any little problem,
And even the big problems.

You know how we used to work on Volkswagons? (Beetles)
We would drive the car over a couple of four by fours,
Let the air out of the tires,
Loosen four bolts,
And lift the car off the engine.
Try that with your new Lexus!

And,
The sad thing,
The same thing has happened to the martial arts.
They have become so difficult.
Memorize a couple of dozen routines,
Make a couple of hundred techniques work,
And so on.

But…
Here’s something interesting,
You hear it all the time,
But it’s still interesting…
You never use forms in combat.

And,
I should correct that…
You never use forms in combat…in modern times.
Back in the sixties and seventies we did.
Used the heck out of the forms.
Taught us incredible things.

So what happened?

People started making the forms difficult.
Instead of letting people just do the forms,
Until the forms taught the people,
Teachers started getting nit picky,
Explaining things that didn’t need explaining.
Foisting BS concepts.
Mixing pieces of different arts together,
Without understanding what either art was.
And so on.

Got real difficult,
You know?

But the mind doesn’t like difficult.
And,
Let’s face it,
A fight isn’t difficult.
You either trained in your basics,
And those basics are intuitive,
Or you didn’t,
And they aren’t.

In matrixing you make things logical,
And this makes things simple.

You don’t have to memorize techniques
you would never use in combat.
We use an entirely different method
For learning techniques
That WILL work in combat.
Here is how I teach.

Let’s say I give a person the matrix of blocks.
This is a handful of blocks that,
Through a simple trick of logic,
Becomes over 60 techniques.
The student starts working his way
Through the circle of blocks.
He reaches one which doesn’t work.
He comes over to me and says,
‘Al, this doesn’t work.’
I say,
‘Oh, you can’t make it work.’
They say,
‘No, it actually doesn’t work.’
So I say,
‘try changing which foot is forward.’
It doesn’t work.
‘Try changing the timing.’
It doesn’t work.
‘Try changing…’
It doesn’t work.
And so on.
Finally,
They throw up their hands.
They say,
‘I told you…it doesn’t work!’
I say,
‘Oh,
Why didn’t you say so!’
They blink,
Their eyes open,
Sometimes we get a little frustration popping out.
I say,
‘So,
Did you learn anything?’
And…they did.
They usually say ‘yes.’
If they say no,
I ask them,
‘Well, would you use it in a fight?’
‘No.’
‘Then I guess you learned something.’

Now,
You may think I’m being ridiculous,
But the Martial Arts are full of techniques
That people try to make work,
And they don’t work.
Yet people train and train,
Never actually coming to grips
With the fact that the technique doesn’t work.

Let me light this method of teaching up.

You get frustrated by your ‘smart’ phone.
You curse the thing for being dumb.
We’ve all been there.
But a child picks that phone up and programs it for you.
ARGH!
Makes it even worse, doesn’t it?

Now put that child in the cockpit of a stealth fighter.
You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?
Grin.
And that brat,
Making a super techno gimmick like that work,
Is all the more frustrating.
Repeat…
ARGH!

But the child has not been taught that doing something wrong is…wrong.
So he just makes his mistake,
corrects,
Never inputs society calling him stupid,
And flies the plane.

I don’t have to train him,
By using methods like the one I described earlier,
To accept his mistakes.
He’s already quite happy making mistakes!
And he is willing to learn from them.
Doesn’t have all that ‘grown up’ distraction stuff.
Heh.

So,
Let’s bring it home.
The martial arts are every bit as complicated
As flying a super stealth fighter jet.
The proof is that so few do it right.
They end up fighting,
And not handling the incoming missiles,
And downing the attacker,
In a simple, scientific manner.

Unless,
Of course,
They have embedded themselves with
A heaping helping of…
matrixing.

Guaranteed,
You have been infected by grown up things like…
‘YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!’
How many times have you heard an instructor say,
‘No, no. Do it like this.’
‘No, no. Use your arm like this.’
No, no. Don’t kick in a situation like this!’
About a million times.
Even the best meaning instructor
infers,
implies,
Tells the student he is wrong.
And the student,
Having been educated in school,
Knows that he is wrong,
And somebody else is right.
His parents have told him he is wrong.
His teachers have told him that he is wrong.
Even his friends have told him that he is wrong.

You know how I teach?
Let’s say I see somebody eating a kick.
Trying the same wrong block over and over.
I don’t tell him why he is wrong.
I never tell a student he is wrong.
I simply say,
‘Move to the left.’
The student doesn’t.
I repeat,
‘Move to the left.’
The student doesn’t.
And,
After a few dozen times,
He finally moves to the left.
Kick slides by.
‘What are you going to do?’
Student looks blank.
‘Do it again.’
The kick slides by.
And,
eventually,
The student blinks,
Hooks the kick,
And body bumps the hip.
Opponent goes flying.
I never told the student what to do…
I never made him wrong,
Or tried to tell him what I would do.
I just gave a simple direction.
Move this way.
Move this way.
Never getting frustrated.
Never making him wrong.
Never lecturing him.
Just…
LETTING HIM DISCOVER THE TECHNIQUE!
I don’t teach,
I back off and let the student fall forward.
When he finally catches himself…
He has educated himself,
And he has learned how to educate himself,
And educating himself is going to get that much easier.
And my job gets easier and easier and…easier.

Okay,
I should wind it up here,
I’ve blatted your ear long enough.
If you want to jump out of the trip
Where people tel you you are wrong,
Then come on over to the matrixing trip.
Guaranteed.
It I fun.

The Circle of Blocks is in the ‘Matrix Karate’ course.

1a Matrix Karate

But if you think you’re smart,
And want to cut to the chase,
Try the Master Instructor Course.

1d Master Instructor Course

Now…
HAVE A GREAT WORK OUT!
Al

1e Core Package

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Small Steps to a Big Black Belt

Posted on June 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 935

Problems with Promoting People to Black Belt

Just to warn you,
there is a lot of meandering this newsletter,
so get your head ready
to turn left or right
on a whim or a blink.

I was talking with another instructor,
and he told me how he got black belt.
He spent five years at the belt below black belt.
He was in his mid thirties,
and he finally went up to the head instructor and said,
‘Promote me,
I’m not getting better,
I’m just getting older.’

Just getting older.
How grim.
Which brings us to the point of it all.

In the beginning,
a person was promoted when he finished
the requirements necessary to promotion.

Chuck Norris did it in a year and a half.
Mike Stone did it in 7 months.
Joe Lewis earned THREE black belts in a year.

Sure,
they are superstars,
but why can’t we finish our requirements and get promoted?

It was Kenpo that established the standard,
they introduced the famous ‘car contracts,’
which were contracts designed by an Arthur Murray dance instructor.
Kenpo spread out the material
so the contract would last four years,
keep the student paying tuition for four years.
Survival, man.
And within a couple of years
all systems of martial arts lasted four years.

Then we have people like my friend,
who are kept at a belt level,
brown or purple,
or whatever,
for five years plus,
until they finally confront their instructor
and demand to be promoted.

Or,
let me digress a moment,
I knew a fellow,
it was kenpo,
who set up a program for his students
to reach black belt in…17 years.

That’s right.
His students were signing up for
SEVENTEEN YEARS!
Zowie.
What’s funny is that,
at the time,
he had 12 years experience.
That’s right,
he had never completed his own system.
But he was demanding students do…what he hadn’t.
Can somebody spell ‘crazy’ for me?

Anyway,
back to the issue at hand,
when should a person be promoted?
When he shows competence at the level he is at.
If he is required to do a form,
a certain set of techniques,
he must show that he understands
the form and the techniques…
and can do them.

So how long does it take to become competent?
If your system is properly arranged,
3 – 6 months per belt.
If your system is matrixed
1 – 3 months per belt.

And some individuals can go faster.

The test is simple.
If you are doing a form…
do you understand what the moves mean?
Can you take a move and apply it?
Without thinking?
To anybody?

You don’t need Bruce Lee’s speed.
You don’t need to pluck arrows out of the air.
You just need to know what something means,
and show that you can do it.

It’s like a plumber.
He knows what length to cut the pipe,
how to connect the pipe.
And that’s it.
for one level.
No mysterious standards,
just simple level
after simple level.

I remember somebody telling me
to sail a boat they needed to take a course,
read a 500 page book,
take a test,
and hope they remembered enough to pass.

But I was told that there is a rudder,
and a sail.
Two moving parts…plus the wind.
500 pages and a test to learn how to point the rudder
away from your destination,
and fill the sail with wind.
Hmmm.

My ultimate instruction for karate is…
don’t get hit…hit the other person.
Sure,
it is sadly lacking,
but once the person fills his sails
you can tell him about currents.
And once the person is looking at a fist in his face,
you can tell him about blocking.
Really.

Now,
with all these sad understatements,
let’s talk about what you are really looking for.

You are looking for control.
Not whether a person can remember a pattern,
or a series of techniques,
but whether he can control his body.

Is he falling over…
I like to call this falling off the floor…
because his stance isn’t being used to sink his weight?

Is his butt wiggling because
he is putting power in his butt instead of his fist?

Is he out of breath because
he isn’t breathing properly?

Do his blocks collapse under impact?

These are the simple questions I ask,
and I ask them of ALL belts.
No hidden standards.

Sure,
a white belt is sloppy,
and a black belt is snappy,
and in-between there are gradient steps,
never too big for the student,
never so small.
Just a staircase of simple steps
leading to more and more body control.

I once observed that white belts and black belts,
in a class,
were doing the same things.
The black belt just looked better at it,
didn’t get out of breath,
and so on.

Nothing mysterious,
no hidden tricks.
Just…a slow climb to competence.

Now,
let me make some points.
These are the points I usually lose readers at,
they read this stuff,
disagree so loudly,
that they immediately cancel the newsletter.

There was a rumor,
once upon a time,
that a student had to fight,
AND DEFEAT
100 other black belts
to earn his black belt.

This was a rumor taken from Kyoshinkai,
where they have a 100 man kumite.
Nobody ever defeats all the 100 men,
in fact,
by the time they are in the last 50,
they are pretty badly bruised and beaten.
By the time they reach the last 10,
they are usually getting beaten pretty regularly.
But the question is…do they finish?
Or do they quit?
It is a matter of spirit.
Do they have it or not?

Interesting reality behind this rumor.

I have seen schools
where they do demand a brown belt
to defeat black belts before they are promoted.
But there is a severe wrongness to what they are doing.

To beat somebody doesn’t show any degree of competence,
it just means you can beat up people.
And beating up people is not the point of the martial arts,
learning how to be a competent human being is.

And,
when somebody is enrolled in a type of school,
where they are expected to ‘roll’ for four or five years
on a single belt level,
before getting a black belt,
that does not show competence.
It shows endurance,
and a variation on 100 man freestyle,
and…
proving that you can beat somebody up
to qualify for black belt.

But I just told you,
if you are learning how to beat people up
you are not learning martial arts.
Sure,
you can beat people up with the martial arts,
but the martial arts are really about…competence.
Achieving a skill level.
Not proving that you can ‘take it.’
Or endure.
Or beat people up.

And,
the people i lose?
They are the ones stuck in a belt level for half a dozen years,
they are stuck,
can’t take any perceived criticism,
need to beat those people up,
and quit the newsletter.

The people who need this advice the most
are the ones the most put off by it.

Ah,
well.

My advice is this:
select a system with standards,
even steps between the belts,
without dominating personalities
demanding you to beat people up.
Find a system where you can see
the small differences between belts.
Where you can see people taking small steps
to make the big leap to black belt.

And,
if you can’t find one,
better learn some matrixing.
Learn how to understand the martial arts,
it will be ten times easier to learn an art then.
Even an art that demands endurance instead of competence.

Here’s the first course on matrixing…

1a Matrix Karate

Have a great work out!

Al

Here’s a link for an article about when I first started doing this book on Kenjutsu.
I intended to finish it quickly, but it’s actually been five years!

New Book About the Samurai Sword is Coming

here is the page on the new book on Matrixing Kenjutsu

Matrixing Kenjutsu

 

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How to Become Truly Creative in Your Martial Arts Training!

Posted on June 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 934

Outside the Martial Arts Box!

I used to ask my instructor
what he did to get better.
What did he work on?
What were his training methods?
He answered me:
‘I just do the forms.’
But he could stick his index finger
through a board and leave a hole.
Obviously,
there had to be something more.
It took me a while,
but I figured out the ‘extra ingredient.’
Going outside the box.

For instance,
I’ve written about his kicking bag.
We couldn’t go to a store and buy a bag back then,
we had to make our own.
I bought a duffle bag,
packed it with sawdust,
used it for a while.
It was a true piece of…stuff.
But it worked,
and I practiced,
and my kicks got better.
He did the same thing,
sort of.
He was able to find the canvas ‘sleeves.
He filled it with sawdust,
and the thing was too light,
didn’t pack right,
fell out of shape after a few hundred kicks.
So he experimented,
going ‘outside the box,’
and packed it with sawdust and water.
It got moldy.
He tried adding bleach.
Got soggy,
and he tried other methods.
His stroke of
outside the box
genius?
He cut newspapers in circles,
and stacked the circles in the bag.
Rock hard,
never fell out of shape,
light enough to hang without bending the rafters,
and so on.
This is true ‘out of the box’ thinking.
He did something totally unique,
nobody had EVER done anything like this,
and likely haven’t since then.
But his kicks were truly…
outside the box.

So,
let me describe the trap you are currently in,
which stops you from thinking outside the box.
I came across a fellow on the net,
and he was talking about if bags get too hard
you can’t kick them.
And he’s going into the physics,
and how it is physically impossible
according to the rules of the universe,
and so on.
If my instructor had ever paid attention to the physics…
he never would have made that bag.
He would have been trapped by,
not the physics,
but the belief system surrounding physics.

I was once told that a bumble bee can’t fly.
His weight is too much,
his wings too stubby,
according to physics,
the bumble bee can’t fly.
Thank god the bumble bee doesn’t know physics.
Thank god the bumblebee has his own belief system.

And we get all these athletes
training by physics,
eating the food,
using the training devices,
following regimens described by people
who know physics.

Before the four minute mile was cracked,
it was considered impossible.
No human could ever do that.
Now,
on the top tier of runners,
you’re sort of a wannabe
if you can’t break the four minute mile.
But the physics didn’t change.
What changed was people’s belief in physics.
Or,
they didn’t accept the physics,
and they went ahead and broke the rules.
Went outside the box.
Did something that nobody believed they could do,
just because,
in their supreme moment of ignorance,
they believed in themselves,
and ignored the idiots.
They went outside the box.

When my instructor kicked that bag,
it was too hard,
he should have broken his foot.
But,
he figured out how to kick the bag a little,
and his foot got stronger,
but more important,
his belief that he COULD kick that bag got stronger.
And,
as he kept kicking that bag,
his kicks slowly improved,
and his belief system,
his idea of what it was possible for him to do,
changed.

So that is how you go outside the box.
You get an idea,
you chip away at it,
you look at it,
and you expand your belief system
beyond the belief system
of those that are trapped by belief systems.

Now,
you don’t have a unique idea?
Yes,
you do.
When the instructor has you do ten kicks in class,
do eleven.
Go home and do a hundred.
I noticed that the fellows in my school
who had the best kicks,
were practicing 200 kicks per kick per side.
So I went home and started practicing
250 kicks per kick per side.
And,
man,
am I glad I did.
I’m 70 now,
and when I practice with these young kids,
my front kick is still faster,
and they really don’t like blocking it,
it hurts them to block it.

And,
what about forms?
Do you do your forms twice or thrice
and then call it?
How about doing your forms ten times?
Or,
have you ever done a form100 times in a row?
It changes you.
It changes the way you think about forms.
It changes your belief in forms.
Something I used to do,
I was practicing Tai Chi,
and I decided to pile stance it.
There are about 108 moves
in the classical form,
I took a full minute to do each move.
Took me two hours to do one form.
But,
Lord,
I was different after that.
My Tai Chi was different,
and I started to really understand
what the old Tai Chi masters were talking about.

Anyway,
I hope this gives you an idea on how to think outside the box.
The only advantage you’ve got is your imagination,
imagination IS thinking outside the box,
so put in a little extra sweat,
and put yourself outside the box.

And,
obligatory ad,
The book,
Chiang Nan,
is definitely outside the box.
I combined Karate and Tai Chi,
and got some interesting results,
results not covered by the fellows spouting their physics.
Here’s the link.

https://www.amazon.com/Chiang-Nan-Al-Case/dp/198767765X

Have a great work out!

Al

Here’s a link for an article about when I first started doing this book on Kenjutsu.
I intended to finish it quickly, but it’s actually been five years!

New Book About the Samurai Sword is Coming

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Really Secret Martial Arts Techniques…Whoa!

Posted on June 15, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 933

Finding the REALLY Secret Martial Arts Techniques!

Happy Father’s day,
Mother’s day,
son’s day, daughter’s day…
Happy Everybody’s Day!

And it really is Everybody’s Day for the martial arts.
Cause you can celebrate EVERY DAY!
Just by working out!

I had the most interesting conversation the other day.
I was talking with a fellow instructor,
he has lots of experience,
and he told me about when he was a beginner in Brazilian JJ.

“At the end of the beginner’s class the instructor came out and told us we had to leave. The doors were being locked, and we had to be on the other side. I asked him why. And he said, ‘because we’re going to have an advanced class. These are the secret techniques, we don’t want to risk them getting out.’”

Woah.
Secret Techniques.
So secret only a special few can know them.
Woah!

Then my fellow instructor laughed,
and he said,
‘I went through that school,
I learned all the ‘secret techniques,’
and then,
to make sure I was doing them right,
I looked them all up on the internet.

So there’s the story on secret techniques.

Now,
there are techniques that people don’t know.
You’ve heard me rail about the Okinawan Karate Masters,
who made a secret pact,
not to teach karate.
What a bunch of boneheads.
And I think that,
whenever I see a picture,
or a write up,
on one of these sacred fools.
Karate is suffering to this day,
other arts are more workable,
just because of these boneheads.

The good news is that,
with a little work,
you can figure out what wasn’t taught.
You can’t learn much on the net as a beginner,
but if you’ve put in some quality work time,
you can use the youtube.

You can figure out all the stuff
the boneheads didn’t want you to know.

And,
of course,
there’s Chiang Nan,
my book,
and all the stuff I’ve put together through matrixing.
No secret,
just hard work,
a little thought,
and those secrets aren’t secret any longer.

Heck,
it’s better than suffering through a class
where they kick you out
if you are about to learn anything.
Huh!

Here’s the Chiang Nan link…
https://www.amazon.com/Chiang-Nan-Al-Case/dp/198767765X

Now,
you guys have a great summer,
put those work outs together,
and make yourself something to be truly proud of.

Have a great work out!

Al

Here’s a link for an article about when I first started doing this book on Kenjutsu.
I intended to finish it quickly, but it’s actually been five years!
New Book About the Samurai Sword is Coming

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Martial Arts Weapon Does Something Really Sneaky To You

Posted on June 6, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 932

The Sneaky Secret of Martial Arts Weapons!

GOOD MORNING!

Don’t mean to shout,
but it really is a good morning.
Absolutely PERFECT for working out!

Hey,
I want to tell you something that you don’t know.
Makes it a secret,
right?
So here’s the secret.

Take a stance,
extend your awareness.
Your opponent moves towards you,
and as soon as he steps on your territory,
you move.

Pretty simple,
right?
Everybody knows that.

What people don’t know
is that if you stand upright and extend your hands
the tips of your fingers define your personal space.
Oh,
not exactly,
there’s some fudge here and there,
but generally speaking,
if you were to stand and simply spin,
with your arms outstretched,
you could draw a circle on the ground
and find that the tips of your fingers
define your personal space.
More or less.
Close enough for government work.

Okay,
that’s cool,
a lot of people don’t know that,
but maybe you did.
So here we go.

Stand upright,
half a weapon,
and spin,
and the tip of the weapon
defines your personal space.

I find this so fascinating.
A weapon isn’t alive,
yet your personal space,
the distance to which your awareness of body reaches,
expands appropriate to the distance of a weapon.

We are talking about how much space
your awareness fills.

We are talking about expanding your awareness.

If that doesn’t twiddle your pork chops,
I don’t know what will.

Educators say you can’t get smarter,
you can only get dumber.
People accept the shrinking of their awareness
as a result of livingness.

Yet awareness is the real you,
and you can extend it,
make it bigger,
get smarter in a way
that educators and other dopes
have no understanding of.

So you practice the martial arts,
you are as effective as far as you can extend awareness,
which is to say,
you’ve got as much space as a pup tent.
But by the mere fact of picking up a weapon,
the tent gets bigger.
You get bigger.

And,
as you figure out how to move that weapon,
you become ever more aware of the space around you.
Cool.

Now you understand why I push my latest course,
Matrix Kenjutsu.

You see,
you don’t need to study a course
that takes years and even decades.
You don’t have to follow a line of techniques
that meanders here and there,
and might make you a bigger awareness,
and might not.

Now you can go straight to the bigger awareness,
fill in all of the space with real you.
And that is the glory
of the logic
of Matrixing Kenjutsu.

Onkly Doggie,
I’d tell you more,
but all I’d be doing
is telling you how to get bigger and smarter,
and the truth is not in my words,
it is in you picking up the sword,
the staff,
and growing your awareness,
finally realizing the truth of that old saw…
‘A weapon is an extension of the self.’
Now you know why,
and that should make your next work out…
TRULY FANTASTIC!

Al

Matrixing Kenjutsu

Here’s a link for an article about when I first started doing this book.
I intended to finish it quickly, but it’s actually been five years!
New Book About the Samurai Sword is Coming

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One Terrorist, One Bomb, One Martial Artist!

Posted on June 3, 2018 | 4 Comments

The Martial Arts Question of a Terrorist!

I get tired of hearing about school bullies, secret fighting techniques, and which martial art is best, especially when the real problem is one terrorist, one bomb, and you’ve only got time for one martial arts technique!

You step onto an elevator in Trump Tower, there’s one person in the corner, but, in this ‘eyes down’ society you ignore him and lift your hand to press the button for the fourth floor.

The button is already lit up. Huh! The other guy is going to the fourth floor, too. The fourth floor is a family planning clinic, and your eyes inadvertently flicker up.

He’s wearing a long, dark coat, it is open, you can see rows of dynamite sticks! And he’s trying to plug in a dead man’s switch!

You mutter the F-bomb here!

He’s going to kill expectant mothers! Innocent children! Insert another F-bomb!

You have got less than three seconds before he’s armed. Three seconds in which to disarm him and save half a hundred morning families. Three seconds in which to make sure he doesn’t plug in the switch, render him helpless and save the world!

Here’s the question: WHAT TECHNIQUE WILL YOU USE!

Now, while you’re blinking, maybe uttering an F-bomb of your own for this writer, and your mind is wildly trying to come to grips with this scenario, let me throw a few parameters in here, lay out some ground rules, and play a very serious devil’s advocate.

If you punch him in the head, you might break your hand. Skulls are hard, boxer’s wear gloves for this reason, and one punch actually isn’t a very sure thing for a knock out. Watch a boxing match, or any good MMA tournament, and you will see hundreds of punches thrown, and very few knock outs.

If you grapple, try a single leg takedown and wrestle him to submission, you are taking a big chance. He might not care if you break something as long as he gets that switch plugged in, and a single leg takedown will leave his hands free. Besides, do you really want to get in a wrestling match with a guy wearing 20 sticks of dynamite?

The coat is open, which leaves certain targets open, and certain targets closed.

He is the same height and weight as you. Slightly bigger if you are a lady.

Within one second he will notice that you’ve noticed him. Two seconds he is plugged in. Three seconds and…BOOM!

So, one second to thoroughly assess a situation, at the end of that second you have to know what technique you are going to do. And I don’t care what martial art you study, this is not a ‘my art is best’ question, it is a ‘what are you going to do when the world is about to end’ question.

So, you’ve got one second. Pick your technique and explain it in the comments, or…BOOM!

About the Author: Al Case, 8th degree black belt with over 50 years experience, has written/produced over 100 books/video courses on the martial arts. You can find out the fastest, best, most efficient method for earning a black belt click on the Matrix Karate box at his website, http://monstermartialarts.com.

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The Importance of Teaching Martial Arts

Posted on June 2, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 931

Teaching Matrix Kenjutsu!

All right!
The disk button is working!
And thanks to all those who have purchased!

Matrixing Kenjutsu

Now,
lets talk about why we should teach.
Because if we teach…we learn!

When you are a beginner somebody is showing,
and you are working your way through the confusion.
When you are no longer (quite) so confused…
you turn around and show somebody else.
This is teaching.
You are not just doing the other side of ‘copy catting,’
you are looking at the art from a different viewpoint.
You are ‘outside’ the technique,
learning what you looked like
when you were learning,
seeing things that you are doing that,
no matter how long you practice,
you will never see as just a student.
But as soon as you have to take control of somebody else’s body,
then you get the other half of the viewpoint,
the other half of the martial arts,
and you start to understand the whole technique.

You see,
martial arts aren’t just things we copy,
they are things we have to look at,
analyze,
understand.
And,
inside that all of that is the fact that you are…
‘controlling another person’s body.’
And what better way to learn how to control another person’s body,
than to teach.

I’ll tell you,
I almost feel sorry for those fellows,
who punch the bag,
and think they have worked out.

They have,
but only to the halfway mark.
They’ve worked out their body,
but not much is happening inside their mind.

So that’s why I wanted to present the Matrix Kenjutsu
from the teacher’s viewpoint.

Now just have you copycat me,
but see what student’s do,
see mistakes,
and learn from them,
sometimes without even having to make them yourselves.

Okeyly Donkey
Have a Stupendous Work Out!

Al

Matrixing Kenjutsu

Here’s a link for an article about when I first started doing this book.
I intended to finish it quickly, but it’s actually been five years!
New Book About the Samurai Sword is Coming

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How to Matrix the Samurai Sword (and the Staff)!

Posted on May 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 930

Matrixing the Samurai Sword and Staff

One of the things that people have asked for
ever since the first matrixing course hit,
is for me to matrix the sword.
Specifically, the Samurai sword.
So I done it.

You can find a Matrix Kenjutsu box on the monster,
or there is a link down below.

The course is based on the book
‘3rd Level 6th Sense Sword Fighting.’

I actually wrote that book back in the 90s,
and I always received the best comments on it,
so it was time.

Now,
the course consists of 2 parts.

First is the Matrix Kenjutsu part.
I simply filmed each of the cuts, blocks,
how to do directions, and all that sort of stuff.
And I felt it was too simple.
I needed to predict any questions people might have.
The segments were too short.
The whole thing is only an hour long.

I always want to give people more than their moneys worth.
So I filmed a second part.
Teaching Matrix Kenjutsu.
In Teaching Matrix Kenjutsu
I filmed about 20 segments,
long segments,
in which I teach Matrix Kenjutsu to a student.
This ended up being over three hours of instruction,
showing not just the art,
but how to teach it.
You’ll see the mistakes made,
the questions asked,
the ‘what ifs’ that arise,
and so on.

Now,
if you do this course,
and have done the Master Instructor Course,
and send me a video of yourself doing the art,
just showing the strikes, the footwork, the two man defenses,
I’ll be happy to certify people.

And,
I’ll tell you right now,
you can teach this as a seminar to get people in your school,
or as a complete course along with whatever other art you teach.

I am about helping people become competent,
understand the truth of the martial arts,
and this really entails making teachers.

So,
the door is open,
whether you just want a new art,
an expanded viewpoint of matrixing,
or something to teach,
Matrix Kenjutsu is the real deal.

I’ll be talking about it over the next couple of weeks,
but for now,
head over to the monster page

Matrixing Kenjutsu

and check it out for yourself.

And,
just put it up,
so if anybody encounters any problems,
in ordering or the downloads themselves,
let me know at
aganzul@gmail.com.

And,
for now it is just Instant Download.
Sorry,
my printer is refusing to print disks,
so until I get that fixed,
instant downloads only.

Okeyly Donkey
Have a Stupendous Work Out!

Al

Matrixing Kenjutsu

Here’s a link for an article about when I first started doing this book.
I intended to finish it quickly, but it’s actually been five years!
New Book About the Samurai Sword is Coming

→ Leave a comment

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Why You Have To Study Lots of Martial Arts

Posted on May 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 929

I Really Want to Kill Someone with Just One Strike!

I get this every once in a while,
somebody wants to find the ‘magic technique,’
the technique that works for everything.
Somebody wants to study just one thing
and be able to kill anybody with it.

Now,
I am not going to teach you how to spell comic book,
and for a simple reason,
there actually is a technique,
a perfect technique,
that will do this.
And,
not to be mystical,
or obfuscate,
it is the last move at the end of Seisan.
Go ahead,
find it,
see what it does,
figure it out,
and practice just that one technique.

BUT,
that having been said,
I want to describe the philosophy behind
why you have to learn a whole martial art,
spend years studying,
instead of just buying a gun.

Okay,
first,
let’s consider celestial navigation.
You want to take your rocket ship to Arcturus.
You blast off,
you’re sailing away,
but…where is that durned star?
You’re confused by the time you reach Jupiter.
There’s the big dipper,
bunch of stars over there,
and the seven sisters,
and..Beetlejuice?

Wish you had a map, eh?

Now,
let’s compare that to taking somebody DOWN!
You punch for the throat,
except he’s punching too,
so you shift, and he misses, but you miss.
But his arm is there,
so you go for an elbow roll,
except he’s twisting in response,
but your foot is…

Do you get the idea?
The same as going for a star without a map,
there is amazing confusion in a fight.
So you have to make a map.
You have to make it with your experience.

You punch,
he strikes,
but you’ve studied slipping in JKD,
the elbow roll comes,
he shifts,
but you know about shifting from Tai Chi.
he strikes,
but you know about dropping an elbow from karate,
and you finally strike him in the throat,
AND…manipulate him,
AND…take him down.

Now,
the analogy may not be quite clear,
so let me elucidate.
You find arcturus by your knowledge of what and where the other stars are.
AND…
you achieve your takedown by navigating a map of the human body,
by knowing where the joints are and how they turn,
by understanding leverage,
by subtle shifts of anatomy,
his and yours,
and you navigate to the final strike and takedown.

So when you study a whole art,
instead of buying a gun,
or searching for that mystical one finger technique
that reverse spirals the energy
so that the chakra explodes
in the fourth lumbar…
what you are doing is studying
a method for navigating the body.
No star will confuse you,
no motion or joint will confuse,
and you will find your way to…
better health,
understanding that common folk don’t have,
and the certainty that martial arts bring.

So, the best map for understanding the body,
because it can be applied to ANY martial Art!
Is
The Master Instructor Course.
You learn how the body works.
You learn how techniques work.
You can make any art work,
any technique work,
you understand forms better,
and…and it just gets better.

Here be da link!
http://www.martialartsinstructortraining.com

Have a great work out!
Al

Here’s the link for the ‘One Terrorist, one bomb, one martial arts technique… http://www.sooperarticles.com/sports-articles/martial-arts-articles/one-terrorist-one-bomb-one-martial-artist-1657952.html

http://www.martialartsinstructortraining.com

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