No guarantee on any links,
don’t know if they work,
nor care.
That all said,
here’s a nifty, little drill for you.
Go dip the hands in water.
Just up to the knuckles.
Now,
punch until they are dry.
You must FLICK them like a towel.
Shake the water off.
This simulates flicking energy out of the hands.
It fixes people who have slow, muscular punches,
and puts the lightening in the frightening.
Now,
sorry to say,
I don’t have time right now,
I’m about to publish a book,
and I just don’t have the time.
I’ll write a nice, long newsletter in a few days,
let you know about the book.
But,
while you’re waiting,
try that punching drill,
enjoy the heat,
and don’t forget to go to this page
for the art this drill came from.
It’s weapons,
but that includes taking weapons away
from those poor, unfortunate muggers.
And that means you need to increase your hand speed,
your coordination,
and the fight in your heart.
Have an awesome work out!
Al
PS,
any trouble with courses,
any questions about anything,
drop me an email at:
The first time I ever actually hit someone I was shocked.
I had trained for 20 years, and I actually had no idea
what it was like to hit somebody for real.
Then I had to,
and it totally changed me.
The most important Martial Arts book ever written.
Here’s the deal:
to understand what I am about to say
you have to understand one thing:
what is a punch?
People say it is how hard you hit somebody,
they say all sorts of things,
but I haven’t heard anybody tell me the one thing
that I experienced on the day
I actually had to hit somebody.
Go on,
google it,
see if you can find out the truth
of what it is like to hit somebody.
I’ll wait…
.
.
.
.
.
Okay,
you’re back,
here’s the truth of a punch.
A punch depends on the transference of weight
from one body to the next.
It’s not how hard you hit.
It’s not how fast,
or anything else like that.
It’s how much weight you deliver.
Now,
those other things can enter the equation.
But,
the truth is…
how much weight can you put on the sucker’s body?
Can you put so much weight the other guy’s body breaks?
Can you control the weight so it is a push and not a punch?
Are you stuck in push,
instead of punch?
Does air punching really work?
Interesting questions,
especially once you have tried to do a real punch.
When I struck this fellow
I felt weight go through my wrists.
Because I was grounded he flew back,
went over a bed and hit the wall.
Thank God for grounding.
Thank God I had practiced aligning my bones,
because if I hadn’t I might have broken my wrist,
I might have flown away from that guy from my own punch!
I just didn’t understand.
BUT,
that one punch,
and I understood.
So,
try this special exercise.
We used to do it back in the sixties,
had no clue what it meant,
and it wasn’t until I actually had to hit somebody
that I understood what the drill was for.
Assume the push up position.
Go from the hands to the fists.
Just a little push,
like you’re going to clap your hands,
but then land on your fists.
Palms,
fists,
palms,
fists.
Don’t do too many at first.
Build up a little.
Do it from a knees down push up at first,
if you have to.
What happens here is that you get
the sudden shock of weight
going through your fists and wrists,
and that is what it is like to hit somebody.
A sudden shock of weight in the wrists…
and through the rest of the body.
You ground,
you root your stances,
so that you are braced upon the earth,
and he will fly away,
and not you.
You have a straight bone line in your wrists
so you can absorb the weight.
The actual weight here is going to depend on who weighs the most.
If he weighs more,
you will fly back.
But,
even if you weigh less,
if you ground,
if you are braced upon planet earth,
then he will fly away.
Or,
if you punch with speed and snap,
the impact will ripple through his body
(imagine slapping a pond of water with your hand)
and cause great damage.
Here’s a matrix Karate Kick
Try that,
adapt it to other parts of your practice,
and let me know what happens.
And,
got something else to talk about here…
new book coming out.
This one,
the working title is
‘Tiger and Butterfly’
is a condensation,
a blend,
of Matrix Karate and the Shaolin Butterfly.
The story behind it is interesting.
I walked into a martial arts school,
asked the guy if I could help,
and he said yes.
The school is pretty good.
Probably real good,
but they were teaching martial arts without forms,
specializing in freestyle.
The freestyle was,
depending on which class was taught,
points, MMA, or Jujitsu.
Quite interesting.
So I started helping,
and eventually came up with an interesting idea:
how to teach with fewer, smaller forms.
I used the shorter Butterfly forms,
and the Houses from Matrix Karate.
So far,
it is REALLY working.
Mind you,
I always advise the complete art,
in this case the complete Matrix Karate,
or the complete Shaolin Butterfly,
but considering that the school was established,
considering that I didn’t want to change things,
just enhance them,
you can understand what I was doing.
Anyway,
the book should be out in the next week or so.
Tiger and Butterfly.
Keep your eye out for it,
and,
in the meantime,
check out this book…
It’s one of the most important books ever written.
It describes what the martial actually are,
how they are grown,
and ties together all sorts of loose ends.
It should definitely change the way
people think about the martial arts.
Do you know what clunking is?
Of course you don’t,
I made up the term.
It describes the feeling of a real hit,
a strike that goes through the body,
a punch or kick that shakes the very bones,
sets up a wave of destruction,
shivers the heart of the person being struck.
You think I am being a little too exuberant in my description?
Nah.
You wanna break things?
Listen, there are three depths of strike.
One to the skin,
one to the muscle,
and one to the bone.
Punch skin deep and you are playing,
no bruises,
nothing but gotcha, with no impact.
Punch muscle deep and you create bruises.
Little welts to purple blots.
There is room to descend here,
into the muscle to varying depth,
and it is a very educational time
when you are playing with this strike.
Got to be careful,
too,
because it hurts.
Now,
to strike bone deep is something else.
You actually have the perception of hitting the bone,
not even bothering with the skin or muscle.
Oddly,
there are very few bruises.
but,
you can actually feel the bone shake,
and the guy who is struck has a queasy feeling,
and he rubs his arm
as if there was pain.
It hurts,
but none of that sissy ouchie stuff
that the kids cry about.
This is the deep touch,
the hello to one more bit of depth
and that bone is going to break
and if I did this to your kidneys you’d piss blood and die.
Not pain,
but knowing that the body is going to break.
Now,
how do you practice this depth of punch?
Well,
I’ll give you a couple of good clues.
One,
you relax.
You don’t put your perception in your arm,
in the sensation of muscle tightening,
except by the way.
Instead,
you put your perception in his arm,
you feel him with your fist,
and this leads to the second hint.
When you hit somebody,
plant your fist on his body
and gently push.
Now, you are working the exact muscles
of the punch
at the point of impact.
Can’t get more specific with any type of muscular training.
The exact and perfect range and motion of muscles
at the point of impact.
But,
remember,
don’t concentrate on the sensation within,
concentrate on the sensation of his body.
Feel the muscle and tissue retreat before your fist,
feel the touch of bone with your knuckles.
After a while
you can actually feel the wave,
the vibration
of the bone.
Bone doesn’t like to be touched in this manner.
Muscles and flesh, you see
hide the bone,
protect the bone,
and you have just passed all the safeguards and
touched the bone.
Now,
there is more to it than this,
but if you just practice this kind of punch,
gently,
then you will get it.
And,
when students get this kind of ability,
to punch a guy right to the bone,
I call it Clunking.
Clunking
is just sort of the appropriate word
for the sensation.
Think of it like this–
clunking is like
dropping a rock into a pond,
and having the rock strike the rocks
just below the surface.
You hear a splash
and a…clunk.
Well,
that clunk,
that sickening, splitting sound
of rock breaking
(or almost breaking,
other rock,
is what you want.
Clunk.
Deep,
dull,
thud.
You feel his bone,
he feels his bone worry and revulse,
and
clunk.
Okey doke.
Holy sweet heysoos,
I like talking about
breaking bones.
I’d think there was something wrong,
but such fun…such fun.
So,
dig into your wallet,
get out twenty,
hit the monster
and find the page on the punch.
It’s right here…
How to Make a Great Poison Hand Dim Mak with the Martial Arts
Dim Mak, the Poison Hand of the Martial Arts, is death by a single touch.
One of the more esoteric forms of Dim Mak is to coat the fingernail with poison. It is said that a serious assassin would coat his fingernail with wax, then apply the poison. Thus, he could scratch an opponent with a slight flick of the finger, not risk death himself, and cause death easily.
Just how Deadly is the Martial Arts Poison Hand called Dim Mak?
This is said to be a skill developed in certain less than honorable gung fu practices, and utilized by ninjitsu assassins.
Mind you, nobody has ever given any rock solid historical examples of this type of Poison Hand Dim Mak, but that is not to say it is impossible.
If the modern student happens to be a worker in a chemical factory, or perhaps have connections in the biological warfare department of the US Army, then such a thing as a poison hand dim mak is possible.
It is this writer’s opinion that there is a far simpler method for developing this technique.
In the saga entitled ‘Iron and Silk,’ by Mark Saltzman, a certain kung fu teacher would strike a piece of metal a couple of thousand times a day.
He did this gently, so as not to damage the knuckles, but with enough force to develop a punch that was ‘metal tough.’
In fact, during the filming of the movie, ‘Iron and Silk,’ the kung fu teacher was asked to demonstrate the technique, and the resulting sound of his fist smacking on his piece of metal caused the film crew to get sick to their stomachs. They ended up canceling the audio and dubbing in a less sickening ‘smack.’
The point is that anybody can develop the poison hand death touch if they simply train and train and train.
Something that is anathematic to many of today’s ‘go for the gold’ martial artists. Many martial artists, you see, go to class, do their forms, then discuss how deadly they are over tea.
The dedicated poison hand dim mak specialist isn’t going to do that…he is going to train.
He is going to hit pieces of metal, or slabs of wood, or some other substance. He is going to do this softly, but insistently, and for an hour or more every day.
And, he is not going to be satisfied with a couple of months, as if ‘earning a belt,’ or even a couple of years, as in ranking in another system.
No, he is going to do this for years and years. Decades. And, in the end, he won’t be satisfied until the mere touch of his knuckles is enough to cause an opponent to curl up and die.
Perhaps it is good that we don’t have people with the depth of personality to train in this intense manner.
After all, shake hands with a poison hand dim mak specialist who has trained in this fashion…and your hand may well just curl up and die.
If you want to see some real chi hung power, as in the Poison Hand Dim Mak, check out Matrixing Chi. Then put that together with The Punch. Both courses are at Monster Martial Arts.
One of the reasons Karate waned while Mixed Martial Arts grew was that people couldn’t knock people out or even down with a Karate punch. This does not signify that Karate, or kung fu or other classical martial arts don’t work, it just means that the knowledge on how to knock a person out with one punch has been lost.
The above noted, if you want to knock somebody out with one punch, it is going to take a bit of work. Even Mohammad Ali (Cassius Clay), relied on luck for his famous ‘phantom punch,’ which knocked out Sonny Liston. But there is a precise technology to make this stunning knock out punch work. The technology is in the martial arts, but has largely been forgotten.
One Punch Knock Outs are Possible!
Back when I started Karate training, in the sixties, the knock out punch was known and sought by martial arts students. They practiced the technique endlessly. And, in the non contact tournaments of the time, when accidents happened and contact was actually made, people went down.
The actual physics of the punch are quite simple.
First, the the punch must be a snapping punch. The student should work as hard on the retraction of the fist as the explosion outward. The reasoning behind this was that if a punch was extended and left out, if it was a thrusting punch instead of a snapping punch, the force would come back down the arm.
But, if you throw a snapping punch, then the impact was left in the body, as the force didn’t have time to come back down the arm.
And that’s all there was to it! Uh, almost.
As simple as that sounds, it does take fanatical practice to make work, and there is one more element that a person should consider.
There was an incident on a university medical campus where a student had taken a cell culture and was walking across the campus. He stumbled, dropped the culture, and it broke on the ground. All the cells in that culture, of course, died. Oddly, all the cells in the original culture also died.
So cells are connected. Well, of course, anybody knows that. If somebody steps on your toe, your whole body reacts.
So, if somebody hits you on the outer layer of skin, but hard enough to jar the cells themselves, the whole body is going to react.
What we are talking about is depth of strike.
You don’t have to hit deep, as, again, the arm will absorb part of the shock of your punch. You just have to hit right, snapping, and with the intent to leave all the trauma in the cells. And, of course, it helps if you hit a sensitive area. Hit the jaw just right, with enough snapping force, there is going to be reaction, and the body is going to crumble. Hit the testicles, or an area in which a pressure point is located, and you are going to have success…your opponent is going to go down.
The problem is that people don’t trust this method unless they have trained long years in it. And, people lack the intention, the idea behind the punch, which is one of the things that long years of practice will build up in the student.
Anyway, whether you study karate or kung fu or any other classical martial art, that is how you knock somebody out with one punch.
And, if you don’t study the martial arts and want to knock somebody out with one punch…then maybe you should head down to check out your local karate class or kung fu class.
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
Search the testimonials for your martial art!
Free Martial Arts Books
HERE'S SOME FREE MARTIAL ARTS BOOKS, MY THANKS FOR DROPPING BY.
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