The Stolen Secrets of Aikido

Posted on October 20, 2026 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 1150

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A student once went to the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. “I don’t understand the reasoning behind the square, the circle, and the triangle?’ O Sensei smiled and explained, “You must steal those secrets.”

Now stealing is not something a spiritual person should be engaged in doing. One can well ask what O Sensei truly meant with his answer. What did he really mean when he recommended ‘stealing’ to his student?

What he meant was that the student must learn to observe the art. He must observe other people and find the square, the circle and the triangle in what they did. Above all, he must observe his own technique and discover these three geometrical figures.

There are lessons in the martial arts that can be taught. And there are other lessons that must be learned. Obviously, this student had reached the stage where he had to stop looking to others for his instruction and start learning on his own.

The geometrical figures in question are the secret of the universe. Everything in the universe may be broken down to these three geometries. From the shape of the sun to the house you live in to the molecules of an insect, these three symbols describe the architecture of the universe.

In the martial arts you will find the triangle describing the formation of the body. Every two bones that are put together make up a triangle. Even the way you stand, foot, foot and Tan Tien (the one point, a place of energy below the navel) show a triangle.

A circle is even easier, as it describes every potential motion of the hands. Whether you block or strike, kick or throw, you will be describing a circle. To move the hands without making a circle is quite difficult.

That brings us to the square, and there is no reason for the square. You might be able to find the square inside a house, or a computer, or a TV, but there is absolutely no place in the martial arts that you can find a square. Unless, of course, you have reached that place in the martial arts where you are ready to give up being taught and are ready to start looking, learning…and stealing.

About the Author: Al Case began martial arts 60 years ago. He has been a writer/columnist for the magazines, and has produced hundreds of hours of martial arts video instruction. He once taught Aikido to a group of students in 80 minutes. Sound crazy? He recorded it, and the video is available at:

Matrix Aikido

Have a great work out!
Al Case
MonsterMartialArts.com

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The Secret of Pan Gai Noon

Posted on October 12, 2026 | 1 comment

Real Chinese Gung Fu

Newsletter 1148

Pan Gai Noon means ‘half hard/ half soft.’ It is an old Chinese kung fu with a difficult to trace lineage. It resulted in the art of Uechi ryu, and has had impact on all Okinawan and Japanese styles of martial arts.

Pan Gai Noon consists of three specific forms. These forms are called Sanchin, Seisan, and Sanseirui. There is a specific reason for each form.

The Sanchin is a power form. A student is taught to hold his stance and walk, and perform three simple, yet difficult to understand movements. These three movements are the secret of the first form of Pan Gai Noon.

The first movement is a simple thrusting of the hands. This movement is done twice through the form, and it represents a single line. It does not have to be done so hard you suffer whiplash, it can be done gently, as long as you put your mind and intention into it.

The second movement is a circular blocking movement. It is set up by holding the hands, palm upward, in middle blocks. You then make a horizontal circle of the hands which ends with a slightly angled thrust of the fingers.

The third movement is done towards the end of the form. You simple execute a pair of palm blocks, low and across the face. You then circle the hands in a vertical fashion, and slowly push (thrust) the palms forward.

Now, if you have done this form, especially in an older version that hasn’t been changed into a breathing exercise or some such, then you understand what I have described here. What most people don’t understand is the simple geometry of the thing. Most people don’t understand that I have described a sphere with a line through it.

That’s right, the three movements of Sanchin, the first form of Pan Gai Noon, describe the three axis for a sphere. The three movements define the x axis, the y axis, and the z axis. A sphere of energy, held in the hands of a martial artist, which can absorb all attacks, and yet, through a concentrated spear hand, offer an attack of devastating power.

This is the secret of the first form of Pan Gai Noon. This is the power that a student works on by doing the form endlessly. This is the power that will be translated into techniques on later forms.

BTW ~ If you are interested in Pan Gai Noon it is part of a course that includes THREE martial arts. It is called ‘Evolution of an Art,’ and it presents the complete arts of Kang Duk Won, Kwon Bup and Pan Gai Noon. That’s three complete books and
7 video segments (almost 2 1/2 hours) 50,000 words, 500 pages, 1000 graphics. Check it out at:

Evolution of an Art

https://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/evolution-of-a-martial-art/#url_2

Have a great work out!
Al Case 
MonsterMartialArts.com

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Learning Kung Fu Fast through the Shaolin Butterfly!

Posted on October 9, 2026 | 2 comments

You don’t need years to learn to defend yourself!

Newsletter 1147

Click on cover to order!

Common opinion is that it takes decades to learn Kung Fu. Some people even say it takes lifetimes. Using western methods of logic, however, kung fu can be learned in a few months. Easily.

When I first began learning Kung Fu it was in bits and dribbles. This was back in the seventies, and the martial arts were just starting to explode across America. I had to travel many miles just to go to a school, and there was no guarantee that the school I went to would be any good.

One fellow taught me pieces of Wing Chun. Another fellow claimed to be expert in the spear. Normally, however, I would pick up books and videos and try to apply those concepts to my study of Karate.

Eventually, I began learning whole systems, and I found out something interesting…kung fu is a bit of a mish mash. I don’t mean to be insulting, but the whole thing is badly put together. This is because, for thousands of years, the art has been inbreeding.

Using physics and good old western logic, I began taking arts apart and putting them back together. The results were sometimes disastrous, and sometimes incredibly mind blowing. Eventually I formulated a method for this procedure, of analyzing and handling arts, which I called Matrixing.

Using Matrixing, I was analyzing Fut Ga. Fut Ga is one of those basic Shaolin arts with the ancient classical forms, and it had had a long time to get messed up. Inside one of these ancient forms, however, I came across a unique footwork pattern.

This unique footwork pattern enabled a student to learn how to go forward and backward, and side to side, and introduced the concept of angulation, or angling off to the side during the motion. This was a tremendous breakthrough. This was a basic method which cut through to the heart of the art.

Again, using Matrixing, I analyzed the footwork, and began sorting through every possible usage of the hands. It was simple, and yet comprehensive, and resulted in some very core techniques. I decided to call this uniquely Shaolin art the Butterfly.

So if you want to learn Kung Fu fast, you need look no further than the Shaolin Butterfly. The Shaolin Butterfly includes the concepts of virtually every kung fu, but it is so logical it literally downloads into the students brain. A student who has decided to learn Shaolin Kung Fu is going to be extremely expert within a few months.

Here’s a clip from my video/book,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jR4Wskx8I

The glory is that there are almost an hour and a half of video links, showing every single facet of the system.

Read this page on the course (same as the video/book) for full details… https://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/6-shaolin-butterfly/
Have a great work out!
Al Case
MonsterMartialArts.com

 

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Solving the Puzzle of the Martial Arts

Posted on October 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

martial arts instructor course

To my knowledge, no one in the history of the martial arts has asked this question. No one has ever considered the Martial arts as one big puzzle. No one has ever taken the time to assemble the puzzle and see what the martial arts really are.

When I asked the question and, eventually, solved the puzzle, I was left with a rather astounding concept. I discovered that fabulous True Art that people talk about but never realize. I also found out why people never discover the True Art.

Interestingly, the True Art depends on hard core physics. Physics is at the heart of understanding all motion in this universe. Physics is the single thing that one must understand if they are to realize the True Art.

The first thing I did, when solving the puzzle of the martial arts, was to study as many arts as I could. I grew up in the Golden Age of the martial arts, and I saw movies, read books, studied video tapes, visited every school I could and talked to everybody I could. Eventually, I entered the digital age, and this brought a whole new wealth of information to my fingertips. With a simple computer I could access martial arts across the planet.

The second thing I did was write down every single technique I knew. I wrote these on the backs of business cards and spread them out across my living room. There were thousands of cards with the techniques of hundreds of styles.

The last thing I did was sort through them and put them in groups. I tried sorting them by specific attacks, by kick or fist or weapon or whatever. I tried sorting them by art, soft or hard, which country they came from, and whatever other grouping I could figure out.

Slowly, I began to filter out the duplicate techniques. I threw away all the poser techniques; those techniques in which the attacker has to wait for the defender to do the technique. Eventually, the number of cards grew smaller and became more manageable. In the end I was left with 40 techniques.

That’s all the martial arts are, you know, forty techniques. Every other technique in every other art is, in some manner or other, nothing more than a copycat of one of the forty techniques. But the real blessing wasn’t just that I came up with the source forty techniques of the Martial Arts, the real blessing was that I began to see threads of commonality that no one else had ever seen.

Yes, I have solved the martial arts, and they are a big puzzle. But that puzzle, once viewed in complete is so astoundingly magnificent that it takes the breath away. With the forty techniques the future of the martial arts is golden, and it is starting now.

About the Author: Al Case has been practicing the martial arts for 60 years. The original course on matrixing, Matrix Karate, can be found at:

Matrix Karate

This is a complete system, two videos and and a book. Click on the link and find out about it.

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How to Win a Fight!

Posted on October 6, 2026 | 3 comments

The correct martial arts mental attitude

Newsletter 1146

Life is a fight.

A bunch of us students were talking with our instructor and somebody popped the question: “What’s it all about. What is the point of it all?”

The answer was simple: “To survive.”

I liked that answer, it was true, but I wanted something more. I finally settled on the answer: ‘To seek existence as.’

To survive reduces us to the level of animals. To ‘seek existence as’ elevates us. But, ‘seek existence as…what?’

That was the point at which I realized karate, any true martial art, was spiritual.
To survive doesn’t work because eventually you won’t. We all die.

But to do the forms, to seek perfection through endless repetition, to exchange strikes with a partner with an eye to improvement and not to ‘beat’ them, that sheds awareness on this fact of body, this illusion of mind, this…spirit.

You shouldn’t fight to beat somebody, for that reduces the race by one awareness. You should contest to improve the self, to create more awareness, and that enhances the race by more than one awareness.

Thus, my intent, when studying the martial arts was not to destroy, for though there is an art to destruction, the true art is in control.

Control yourself until your mind is calm and peaceful and an interesting thing happens…you learn to control others.

I learned to kill people decades ago, but learning to love through deadly skills…that was the trick.

Here’s a clip from my video/book, ‘The Last Martial Arts Book.’ This is probably the most advanced martial art in the world. It goes from hard technique to soft.

It is like Pa Kua Chang because it is modular, so you can learn it in pieces that all fit together. It is like Tai Chi in that it creates very subtle energy throughout the body. It is extremely effective on the street, the ring, or wherever. Most of all, it creates spiritual awareness.

The glory is that there are almost 30 video links, hours of detailed instruction, showing every single facet of the system.

Read this page for full detail… https://monstermartialarts.com/the-last-martial-arts-book/#url_2

Here’s the sample clip…
https://youtu.be/9Tfwomk5348

Have a great work out!
Al Case
MonsterMartialArts.com

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How Many Fights Will You Get In?

Posted on October 1, 2026 | 7 comments

A Martial Art Statistic…

A man gets in three fights during his life. This is a statistical fact. Of course some get in none, and others get in dozens. But regardless, when a fight happens several things are sure.

An attack will come from the blind side. This includes from the rear, a sneak attack, in the dark.

There is a 90% chance the attacker will be larger and stronger than you.
There is an 85% chance the attack will come from the attacker’s right hand.
A lesser statistic is that the attack will come with a weapon.

Looking grim, eh? EXCEPT, there is an almost 100% chance that if you face the attack with awareness, it will not happen.
Unfortunately, 98% of the people who are attacked lack the ability to muster the degree and type of Awareness necessary to forestall an attack.

So how do you develop the degree of Awareness necessary? You learn to fight. This could mean boxing, fencing, martial arts, and so on.
Mere physical conditioning will NOT develop Awareness.

The problem with boxing is that it is a sport. It may develop a bit of Awareness, but the mindset developed will tend to push one into fights, not into avoiding fights.

Fencing is fine, but there is a monstrous difference between thrusting a weapon and punching somebody. You might have spatial awareness, but the feel of encountering weight when the strike connects can crumple a person in itself.

So, martial arts. A study of force and direction, the development of physical fitness, and the emphasis on politeness as the true cure for encounters.
Of course, you might be one of the few who will never endure a physical altercation. Though…I wouldn’t bet on it.

But even if you never have to fight…if you have no martial arts you will lack in physical condition, you won’t understand the physics of impact, and, most important, you won’t experience Awareness.

Without Awareness you won’t appreciate life, and you will walk through life as though you have a target on your head. Hit me, I’m not as smart, or aware, as you. You won’t be responsible in your fields of endeavor, and you won’t enjoy interactions with Aware people.
.
I wrote a couple of books. They are based on the video courses I offer at MonsterMartialArts.com. and they have LOTS of links to the original videos showing how to do the Shaolin Butterfly.

The first one is called ‘Shaolin Butterfly Gung Fu.’ It is based on Fut Ga Gung Fu, which is one of the original five family arts from the Shaolin Temple. It has been rearranged so it is ten times easier to learn, and that much more efficient. A true fighting art.

Check it out on Amazon. And don’t forget to read the course description for the Shaolin Butterfly course at MonsterMartialArts.com.

Have a great work out, and don’t forget to subscribe to me on substack (MonsterMartialArts.substack.com). You can subscribe for free, but paid subscribers get my Monkey Boxing Video Course for cheap ($8 a month)
Many of you have started school, so make it your purpose to learn this art by next summer.
Have a great work out!

Al Case
MonsterMartialArts.com

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How to Matrix Feet in Martial Arts

Posted on September 21, 2026 | 4 comments

Logic applied to operating the body in the martial arts

Newsletter 1143

People often want an example of matrixing in the martial arts. They want to see this so called ‘logic’ in action. So let’s start with the foot.

Number one: always walk softly. To slap your foot down causes impact, and that impact can result in foot problems.

Number two: align the feet when walking. Point the bones of the foot so that they are pointing in the same direction of the legs. If you don’t, you will twist your knee, and cause a ‘grind’ in the joints. This may result in such things as knee replacements and hip replacements.

Number three: roll the foot when walking. Figure out how to get the best use of the arch (a spring). Doing this increases awareness in and of the foot, and causes the foot to move with efficiency. (Awareness also tends to cure injuries).

Number four: when doing a front kick bring the knee up, and synchronize the drop of the knee with the raise of the lower leg and the unfolding of the knee. Make sure you use the hips.

Number five: when doing a side kick never kick with the knife edge. If you doubt this, then simply take off your shoes and walk a few feet on the sides of your foot. No padding, bones misaligned, and it hurts.

That’s a brief matrix of the foot. There’s a lot more, but understanding those basic principles will open the door to further and deeper understanding of the foot.

But that is JUST the foot! What about the knee, the hip, every other joint in the body? How do they align? What about thrusting, hip rotation and sinking the weight? Those are the three factors involved in putting weight into a strike, and increasing energy! And why does increasing weight increase energy?

You can see there is a LOT of things to consider if you are going to move your body with maximum efficiency. The problem is that most martial arts these days are poorly taught, with absolutely no attention to the physics and dynamics of the human body. In fact, I have met many martial artists who have ended up getting knee replacement, shoulders rebuilt, and so on, and I always suspect that the reason behind their infirmity is a simple lack of understanding of how to use the body correctly.

And, last word, lack of understanding of how to use the body is only half the problem. The other half is a lack of understanding, and TRUCKLOADS of bad information, on striking, kicking, forms, techniques, and even the philosophies of the martial arts.

Hope I’ve shed a little light, or at least lessened the darkness.

Have a great work out, and don’t forget to subscribe to me on substack. You can subscribe for free, but paid subscribers get my Monkey Boxing Video Course for cheap ($8 a month)

Al Case
MonsterMartialArts.com

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Why Bother Studying the Martial Arts?

Posted on September 16, 2026 | 4 comments

The Real Reason to Study the Martial Arts…

Because the world is going to the end!
The Demos say it’s because of the Repubs, the Repubs say it is because of the Demos.
Social Security is going out of business!
AI is going to kill us all!
Russia, China/NK, and now Iraq is going to drop an A bomb on us.
The justice system is a lie, the corporations are in collusion, prices are going up, our water is contaminated…and on and on and on!

EXCEPT…life goes on. And what can you do about it? Heck, if it’s all that bad maybe we should let it end, and start everything anew!

WHICH MEANS…because the world is going to end we should live our remaining days with the highest quality possible. Learn a new language, frequent museums, avoid Google and improve your health.
What’s the best way to improve your health?
Martial Arts. The exercise builds muscles. Putting your body through exotic motions increases flexibility, energy flow, and increases awareness.
And if that isn’t enough…you learn to defend yourself, so that if the world does explode, if cities riot and dogs all have rabies…you can come out on top!
And, if THAT isn’t enough, there is one reason above all others that one should study the Martial Arts. It’s a secret, known only to the sacred few masters living on mountain tops in Tibet, or the basements of Hackensack…IT’S FUN!

HERE IS A SAMPLE OF FUN!

Just think, you, too, can find pressure points, explore joint locks, rag doll opponents, and be the. last man standing when the world ends and there are no more Demos, REpubs, Social Security, AI, Russia/China/NK/Iraq, corporations, bad justice, bad water, and the A bombs have all fizzled out!

Have a great work out!
Al

PS ~ Here’s the link for the Tai Chi I show you above…

2ba Matrix Tai Chi Chuan

 

Learn about my martial arts at MonsterMartialArts.com

Have you read Insanica?

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A Pa Kua Lesson!

Posted on September 12, 2026 | 5 comments

She Said She Could Outlast Me!

Newsletter 1141

One night I went to a party. Music playing, people dancing, everybody having a good time.

A fellow, who I thought was a friend, came up to me. He pointed at a good looking girl across the room and said, “That’s Sue. She takes Karate at your old Kenpo school. She said she could take you in a fight; she could outlast you.”

I stared at the guy who I thought was my friend, but was really just trying to get me in a fight.

I had trained for a couple of years at her Kenpo school. I had been an instructor, written the training manual, and I knew the system well.

I was studying at a different school now, and for the simple reason that it was better. It was hard core, and I was working out with Hell’s Angels and other one per centers. I was learning about REAL fighting. I wasn’t worried about some girl half my size with half my experience ‘outlasting’ me in a fight. What I was really worried about was the a$$h0le who I thought was a friend.

Normally, I would have met this girl, asked after people I had known, maybe discussed techniques, and we both would have come away happy.

Instead…I was being set up for a fight.

People. Hunh!

And I found this type of idiocy a lot in the old days. People wanting to pound their chest, prove their system was better, prove they were better.

A real martial art teaches one how to fight. It is not a fantasy.

But a real martial art also cultivates politeness in the individual, and self-reliance and competence and all manner of other virtues.

Only fools fight. Only fools risk their bodies and souls for a little self-gratification. 

And this is why, when I teach people my arts, I focus on relaxing and controlling the body so that they can…CONTROL THEIR EMOTIONS!

Not to change arts in the middle of the stream, but one of the most significant arts I studied, in learning to control my emotions, was Pa Kua Chang. Imagine spending a couple of hours a day doing things like walking in a circle, your attention focused on your upright index finger, which is the center of the circle. The world slides past you, you become apart from the world. You become your own world. Emotions and distractive thoughts turn into mist and evaporate. There is only you…and only you are responsible for you. That’s a Pa Kua lesson.

Speaking of Pa Kua Chang (how did you know I was going to say this), I just republished a video/book on Pa Kua. It is an original, derived from the video course I offer at MonsterMartialArts.com. To find it on Amazon you have to search for ‘Butterfly Pa Kua Chang Al Case.’ The book has links to over an hour of the original videos from the video course. A mountain of real knowledge for a pittance of pennies.

Have a great work out!

Al

PS ~ Here’s the link I used to find my Pa Kua book:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=butterfly+pa+kua+chang+al+case&i=stripbooks&crid=35R88JA7TGCQY&sprefix=butterfly+pa+kua+chang+al+case%2Cstripbooks%2C151&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Learn about my martial arts at MonsterMartialArts.com

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How Fast Can You Get to Black Belt?

Posted on September 8, 2026 | 4 comments

Truth in Martial Arts!

Pretty fast, if it wasn’t for progress.

What progress?

Well, Chuck Norris got his black belt in a year and a half.

Mike Stone, who many considered the best karate fighter in the world, got his in about seven months.

Of course this was back in the sixties, before…progress.

The progress I am speaking of was the Tracey Brothers.

The Tracey Brothers are responsible for the spread of karate (Kenpo) throughout the United States. I believe they had over a thousand schools.

But with that expansion came certain business decisions that weren’t always the best.

For instance, people came in, signed up for Kenpo karate, then left. It was a struggle to keep students. Their solution was to hire a fellow from the Arthur Murray Dance Studios to write up contracts for them. The contracts tended to keep students from leaving, and they were designed for four years. The length of a car contract at the time, which led to many referring to these contracts as ‘car contracts.’

The system was expanded to eight belt levels to black belt, and the number of techniques was expanded to 40 techniques per belt. Teaching the student a technique or two a week took about four years. Thus, it now took four years to get to black belt, instead of a year. So the reason it takes so long is rooted in the greed need for money, not for any reasons having to do with quality or how long it takes a person to ‘mature’ as a martial artist.

To be honest, there were some truly good martial artist back then. For the instructors were not far removed from the original Asian teachings. But, as time went on, and instructors no longer spent their lives learning, but could absorb a system in four years, and then go start their own school, the quality of instruction, and the the quality of the resulting students, tended to fall badly.

I was very fortunate. My instructor was taught by the original Asian instructors, fellows who spent their lives in the martial arts, fellows like Mas Oyama, who could kill bulls with a single chop.

And, as time went on and I saw the quality of the martial arts falling, I focused on the arts and techniques from before the four year contracts. That’s how I came up with the concept of Matrixing, the idea of organizing the martial arts with logic. The idea that a fellow could earn a black belt in a year, or less.

My idea was successful, so successful that I have over 700 pages of wins, of testimonials to the efficiency of my matrixing methods. You can read a few of them on the lower right hand column of the home page of MonsterMartialArts.com. Or you can read a bunch of them here…http://monstermartialarts.com/testimonials/.

Of course I got attacked a lot for my ideas, people had invested a lot in four years and didn’t want me to speak ill of the ‘method’ that got them there.  And, a lot of people think that they are right and I am wrong, simply because people have an aversion to learning anything new.

But, the proof is in the pudding. You should go to the testimonial page and do a search for your art. There’s a chance somebody who studied your art got enlightened by my matrixing methods.

Well, that’s about it for this newsletter, you guys and gals have a great work out, and may the Matrix be with you.

Al

PS ~ A little treat, here’s the real way to do the second technique from Pinan/Heian one.

https://youtu.be/ORI5NNLXm70

Learn the right way, the matrixed way, to do your martial arts, and you will end up chuckling at some of the so called ‘masters.’

A Caution: When you order one of my courses, all my videos are on Youtube. They should stay up there forever. EXCEPT, sometimes Youtube says ‘This video is no longer there!’ But it is.

If a link doesn’t work, try copy and paste.

If C and P doesn’t work, try a different browser.

If a different browser doesn’t work, try a different computer.

If a different computer doesn’t work, just try loading it a few times. (This is the method that worked best for me.)

If all else fails, write me at aganzul@gmail.com.

Have you read Insanica?

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