Tag Archives: karate bunk

First Martial Arts Technique

Martial Arts Technique Number One

Hey guys and gals!
We’re into summer now
and I hope you decided to pick an art
and learn the whole darn thing before fall.
I mean,
why waste time?

I wanted to get into ‘The First Technique,;’
or ‘Technique Number one.’

I think I may have written about this before,
but it bears repeating.
After all,
nobody in the world understands this.
I’m serious,
nobody in the world knows what technique number one is
or why it is number one.
So, here we go.

A fly is buzzing in front of your face.
Do you do a high block?
Smash that fly with a high block?
Nope.
You swat it.
Simple.
Easy.
And,
in many arts,
and should be in all arts,
there should be a ‘preparatory’ slap
before you do the block.

That slap is technique number one.
Think about it.
You have NEVER seen a high block done in freestyle.
It’s a worthwhile block,
teaches all sorts of things about structure and timing,
but…
it is never used.
But the slap is used constantly.
It’s used in boxing,
jujitsu,
virtually every other art.
So the slap is Technique Number One.

After Number One you move your hand towards the block,
but before you actually block
you grab.
Grabbing is second.
Then, finally,
you block.
Blocking is the third technique.

Now,
it is important to learn blocking.
Like I say,
it teaches a little reality,
it teaches timing,
it teaches you how the body is structured
and how energy runs through the body.
BUT…
slapping is first.

oh,
you have various patterns,
and drills coming out the wazoo,
but EVERYTHING is based upon
that simple slap.

Now,
can a slap do damage?
Well, yes,
but that’s not the essence of Monkey Boxing.
If you put the steam on it,
you can break bones and even split skin with a good slap.
I especially advise people to learn
all about iron palm techniques
and how to slap the crap out of
a good, old bag of beans.

The purpose of the slap in Monkey Boxing
is not so much to do damage,
though that can EASILY happen.
The real purpose of the slap
is to guide the attack into a grab.

You see the slap is first,
but before you even start trying to to get to technique two,
or three,
you guide the attack into a simple grab.
A guy punches,
you slap softly,
so softly he doesn’t feel it,
and then he slides his arm right into your control.

You break, you guide,
you unbalance, you lock,
if you must,
you hurt him.

But try to control him before you have to hurt him.

So there you go,
a punch is slapped,
grabbed,
and finally blocked.

And,
you either try to stop something,
going man to man,
or you slip it,
guide it,
and control it.

And,
I have said it before:

While there is an art to destruction,
the true art is in control!’

And,
i would be sadly remiss,
and miss my chance for obligatory advertising,
if I didn’t tell you that there was a whole art
devoted to slapping?
It’s Monkey Boxing.
Yes.
And Monkey Boxing is completely taught
in the Blinding Steel course.

Here’s the Monkey Boxing Link…

4a Blinding Steel (Matrixing Weapons)

Have a GREAT work out!
Al

don’t forget to check out
Dale Gilliland’s great interview with me….

BTW
Have you checked out my novel?
Monkeyland?
It’s on Amazon,
but you’ll probably have to look for it.
Amazon tends to hide the good stuff.

Really Secret Martial Arts Techniques…Whoa!

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