Tag Archives: karate

Martial Arts Two for One Special!

Two for One Martial Arts!

Newsletter 1117

It’s time!
It’s been a year, and…
HANAKWANMASS!
I don’t care what your religion is
I want to celebrate it!
Something to be learned from everything,
you know?

In that spirit,
my present to you is
TWO FOR ONE!
Order a course at Monster Martial Arts
then write me at aganzul@gmail.com
and tell me what you want your second course to be.
I’ll send you the links if you are downloading,
or the physical disks if that’s your wish.
Oh, and try to make them of similar value.
please.

Now,
I remember reading a yoga treatise,
and the fellow said,
a year in yogic meditation
was like ten years of spiritual growth.
I like that.
It sure applies to martial arts.

And,
I remember reading
way back when
that it took three lifetimes to master the martial arts.
Hmmm.
I don’t like that.
I understand that,
but that only applies if you have a bad art
or maybe a bad teacher.
If you have even a halfway decent teacher
you can master the martial arts
in a couple of decades.
That’s a black belt in three to four years
and mastery in a couple of decades.
Of course
it only takes about a year to get a black belt
if you study a matrixed art
And maybe three to four years to mastery of the martial arts.

Why?
I’ll tell you what I said in my first advertisement
which was in the pages of Inside Karate
back when they had magazines.

If you have 3, 6, apple, 1, 9, 7, 3 and a zither,
it will take you a lo-o-ong time to get to black belt.
The mind just doesn’t want to remember things
if they are out of order,
there are missing pieces,
and just don’t make sense.
But if you have
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0…
the mind loves logic
and everything is easy to remember,
and it’s easy to make everything work.

When I first introduced that concept,
and presented my method,
I had amazing wins.
I had people starting self defense classes
and opening schools
all because they had the blinders off,
and were set free from the illogical construction
of the martial arts.
I remember one teacher
who used Matrxing in his math class,
and the grades went up 10% in a month.

So,
the point here is that if you’re not doing Matrixing,
if you’re not studying a matrixed art,
you are taking the long and twisty road
that goes over the mountains,
along the river,
under the ocean,
and you could have taken a jet plane on a straight line!

Okay,
end of my rant,
but think about it,
and think about getting two courses
at Monster Martial Arts
for the price of one.
Also,
think about this…

HANAKWANMASS!

Matrixing Kenjutsu!

That’s classical sword and stick fighting
done the easy way that makes sense!

Have a great work out!

Al

PS ~ sign up for the blog at
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF
THE MARTIAL ARTS BOOKS I HAVE REPUBLISHED!
You will probably have to do a search for them,
but they’re out there.

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!
Black Belt Yoga
Five Martial Arts!
Hidden Techniques of Karate
How to Fix Karate (book one)
How to Fix Karate (book two)
Matrixing Kenpo Karate: Creating a New Kenpo
Matrixing Kenpo Karate: The Real History
Matrixing Kenpo Karate: The Secret of Forms
Neutropia ~ Surrealistic Poetry
The Book of Matrixing
The Book of Neutronics
The Last Martial Arts Book
Pan Gai Noon: Kung Fu to Karate
Kang Duk Won: The Korean Contribution
Kwon Bup: American Power
Outlaw Karate: The One Year Black Belt
Buddha Crane Karate; The First Matrixed Art

Republishing the Book of Five Martial Arts!

A Book on Five Martial Arts!

Okay,
just republished ‘Five Martial Arts.
It’s on Amazon at

Five Martial Arts!

You’ll see the basic house forms from Matrix Karate,
the two man forms from Shaolin Butterfly
and from Butterfly Pa Kua Chang.
The lines from Tai Chi Chuan
and the basic training moves from Monkey Boxing.

This is a a hefty book with 164 pages and 300 illustrations

It’s also a nifty look at how I progressed from soft to hard,
included fighting techniques, and so on.

Most important, it’s easy to do.
It will change how you look at and do your martial arts.

I’ll keep you updated as to when new books come out!

HAVE A GREAT WORK OUT!

Al

PS ~ you should sign up for the blog at
https://alcase.wordpress.com
or
http://www.monstermartialarts.com

It’s expensive to pay Mailchimp and I want to cancel it.

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

The Last Martial Arts Book

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

How to Fix Karate! (1)

How to Fix Karate! (2)

Five Martial Arts

The Great Black Belt Rank Spectacle!

The Great Black Belt Rank Debacle!

Who was the first black belt?
Interesting question.
And, if someone was the first black belt,
who gave it to him?
It had to be a non-black belt,
so…does that make it invalid?
Does that make every belt since then invalid?
While you’re thinking about that,
let me do a brief history of the black belt.

My introductions to the belt system
was in Chinese Kenpo Karate.
We had eight belts.
white,
orange,
purple,
blue,
green,
three stages of brown,
and I never could figure out
how many levels of black belt there were.
Most people would get to 2nd or 3rd,
then,
over the years,
school owners,
without ever letting you see them work out,
became sixth and seventh.
Until there were eight.
Then ten.
Oh, and twelfth degree came along.

And I always wondered,
if a guy is a twelfth degree…
who promoted him?

I went to the Kang Duk Won
and there were eight belts.
This was my introduction to stripes,
but it was the same basic eight degrees
as I found in Kenpo.
The ranks were
white,
white with a green stripe
green,
green with a white stripe,
green with a brown stripe,
brown,
brown with a white stripe,
brown with a black stripe,
eight degrees of black.
My instructor was a 6th degree black belt,
but he was ‘official’ because
he had a certificate written half in oriental
with a ‘chop’ on it.
A chop was a stamp of hieroglyphics.

But,
while I was at the KDW,
I was told that originally there were two ranks.
White belt and black belt.
This was supposedly a hundred years before,
but it was probably only 30 or 40 years.
This aligns with certain Japanese systems.
You studied as a beginner
and graduated with a teaching diploma.
That was the only rank fact.

Then I read,
People were given white belts
and they worked until they became black with grime.
And these were the first black belts.
Which just goes to show
you can’t believe all you read.
Anybody who’s seen an old black belt
knows they fray and shred and
become white,

Eventually,
the teachers decided to separate the two ranks into four,
so they created
White,
green,
brown,
black.
Maybe aligning with the four seasons.

I don’t know why or when they started
adding stripes to the belts,
but it might have because of Kenpo,
trying to keep up with
the rainbow of belts Kenpo had become.

Kenpo hired a sales person from
the Arthur Murray dance studio
to design contracts for them.
These are sometimes called ‘car contracts.’
They last for four years to black belt.
Kenpo then rearranged,
expanded, made variations on,
all the techniques
to have forty techniques per belt
plus two forms.
Thus,
a black belt which had taken
about a year to gain in the beginning,
became a four year thing.
And everybody bought it.

Before people get out the loose
and claim sacrilege,
let me say that there are good and bad things
about the whole car contract set up.
First, it did keep students,
and it did expand the art.
But the real problem was that
learned 500 techniques,
as was common in some kenpo systems,
does not make a teacher.
In fact,
people went through four years,
promoted themselves a few times,
created their own systems,
and…the quality of Karate,
and the martial arts,
sank faster than the Titanic.

The last school I was at they had over 24 ranks to black belt,
and children attained rank by fighting in tournaments.
No skill required.

Now,
this little thumbnail sketch I have given you
leaves out a lot of things.
There are a lot of oddities and anomalies
in the belt systems
which pervade the various arts
of modern times.
But the gist of it seems to be fairly accurate.

But the real point here is this:
forget the belts…what makes a teacher?
Knowledge.
Repeating techniques endlessly,
monkey see monkey do,
does not create knowledge,
except in the most artificial sense.

What does make knowledge
is a profound study of the basics
and a thorough understanding of physics.
But even if a fellow does have that,
it doesn’t make him a teacher.
What makes a teacher is when you go beyond physics,
when you start to appreciate not just the physics of the game,
but of the mind playing the game,
of the ethics and compassion that arise
from a profound study of the martial arts.
Because a black belt is not just a rank,
it is a statement of maturity,
of responsibility,
it is to become a man.
Not in the physical or societal sense,
but in the kindness and understanding sense.

Okay,
ya gots it or ya don’t.
But now you understand why I write such things as

The Book of Five Arts

So you can understand basics better,
so you can see how the arts relate,
so you can get over tribal attitudes
and understand that no art is better.
The individual arts are just fingers on a hand,
and you have to pick up that hand and make it work
to be a real human being.

It’s the middle of summer
Go swimming,
play baseball,
read good books,
and…
WORK OUT!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

Making powerful Martial Arts Kicks!

Karate Kicks that Work!

I’ve been working out since 1967.
I started Karate the day after Thanksgiving
and have worked out every single day since then.
Sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot.
There have been a couple of times I was injured
and even bed ridden.
On those occasions I did my work out mentally,
visualizing myself going through forms,
doing techniques,
even freestyling.
Because you don’t get the martial arts
unless you do the work out.
Period.

In the beginning my work out consisted of
doing the warm ups and basics of class
and a few forms.
The problem was that I wasn’t getting good fast enough.
So,
here is what I thought.

Your arms must be as strong as your legs,
your legs must be as flexible as your arms.

Another one was that I should be as handy with my body,
as my hand was handy with a knife and fork.

But the real joy started when I realized
that the before class warm ups and basics
just weren’t making me strong.
They were designed to get your blood pumping,
but not to make one strong.
I was watching a fellow named Ted one day,
this was back in my early Kenpo days,
and he had phenomenal kicks.
“Ted, what’s the secret of good kicks?”
He said,
“I practice my kicks a hundred times.”
A hundred kicks?
Heck,
the class work out consisted of ten kicks.
No wonder I was weak and my kicks were worthless!

I didn’t put this bit of advice to work right away.
I went to the Kang Duk Won,
The Kang Duk Won was a different mindset.
We were fanatics,
we were crazy.

250 kicks, per kick, for each leg.
Every day.

I quickly realized a truth,
one can walk all day long,
so why can’t one kick all day long?
I
I did the front kick, the side kicks,
the wheel kick, the rear kick
and the crescent and reverse crescent kicks.
Within a week my legs were different.
Within a month everybody knew I had serious kicks.

And,
it did’t stop there.
Every time I entered a room
I turned the lights on with a foot.
I became involved in yoga to increase flexibility.

Now I had kicks.
Serious kicks that could break things
and people.
They were fast and they meant business.
Period!

Furthermore,
now that I had really applied myself,
I used that same mindset in other things.
When I wanted to pick up a new art,
I would do that art intensely for hours
every single day.

I did Pa Kua,
I did Tai Chi.
I did other arts,
using the same mindset,
and it worked.
But maybe I should tell you
of those work outs another time.

Incidentally,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

is selling well,
got a couple of five star ratings.
check it out…
and
have a great work out!

Al

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

Putting Chi Power into your Karate!

The Truth of Chi in the Martial Arts!

Chi,
that mysterious, invisible energy
that nobody can define,
is difficult to teach
and ‘real’ scientists scoff at.

The first thing you need to do
to cultivate chi power
is learn basic physics.

I was lucky.
My father was the prototype engineer at Ampex.
Ampex, in the 1950s was making
cutting edge reel to reel tape recorders.
In the 60s he was the prototype engineer
for Memorex tape.
They were making the first cassettes.
Our end tables were loaded with
Popular Mechanics, Popular Science,
and other like magazines.
I hated school
with their elitest BS instructions
for simple things like math,
but I was reading things about
how to make an airplane,
the latest advances in robotics,
how tires are made,
and that sort of thing.

One day I didn’t understand steam.
My father took a pair of tin snips
built a base, a spindle, and a propeller.
He arranged the propellor over
the spout of a coffee pot
and turned on the stove.
A minute later I understood steam.
I went to school and while every other kid
was asking what steam was,
and how did it work,
I knew.

One of the first graphics I came across,
in this matter of Chi,
was a drawing of a man with a fire in his belly
and energy waves emanating.
I understood chi.

Making your own body into a coffee pot,
however,
wasn’t realistic.
So…how?

I looked up all the words
connected to energy.
Do you know what energy is?
Go on,
think about it.
Make your best guess.
It is…(drumroll)
‘the capacity for work.’
There are about 50 other definitions,
and you have to understand them all,
and that means you’re going to have to
look up a lot of words
and actually understand them,
but…
the capacity for work.
If that isn’t invisible I don’t know what is.

Then,
during Karate,
I would be shown a block.
Instead of thinking of the focus and power,
I would be thinking of the angle struts
that support a bridge.
The cantilevers.
I would think about this as in where
were the muscles needed to support the block.
But I was also reading everything about chi,
and zen and oriental mystical practices,
and trying to understand them in terms of physics,
and I would visualize invisible cantilevers
holding my blocks up,
supporting the arm and…
resisting incoming energy.

As the years passed I stopped
resisting the incoming fist/energy.
Instead of hitting somebody’s arm with a block,
I let them run into my perfectly cantilevered body.

Then,
after a while,
I stopped punching people.
Instead,
realizing that there is space between atoms,
I put my fist inside their body.
Their own flesh could not withstand this concept.
Note that I said concept,
and not power.
I was now punching with an idea,
instead of muscle and bone
and all that inefficient stuff.

People who laugh at forms as silly dances
might punch hard,
but they don’t punch with minimum energy
to get the same, and better, results.

Want to know why chi manifests in older people?
Because they pass their peak,
their bodies are no longer filled with muscles and strength,
they have to use tricks, instead,
and there lies the chi,
because the tricks they learn are nothing but chi physics.

Chi physics,
different from Newtonian physics.
Newtonian physics the apple falls and there is gravity.
Chi physics you can undo impact
and even things like gravity,
by understanding a concept.

The old guys have spent a lifetime
slowly accumulating a slight knowledge
of Newtonian physics with their bodies.
When they get old they used the simple physics,
but backed it up with things like minimum energy
invisible cantilevers,
occupying a body with a fist instead pf punching.
They have figured out which parts of the body
respond to light touches.
They know a touch can unbalance the body,
because it unbalances the mind first.
and so on.

You see,
the ‘real’ scientists scoff at chi
because the physics measures the universe,
and they can’t measure what they can’t see.
They can’t measure a concept.
But when you master simple physics sufficiently
and start dealing in concepts,
you find a whole new realm of physics,
physics that the ‘real’ scientists don’t have a clue about.
They’ve never done a form until it is a concept.

And that is why forms are so important.
They teach physics.
The physics of the body
that lead to the physics of concepts.

The only problem is that most forms are done incorrectly.
They have been arranged by whim and preference,
and not by simple physics.
When is the last time your instructor said,
‘A little more (or less) oomph in the cantilever
will make that block work without effort.’

And that is where matrixing comes in.
In the Master Instructor Course
I explain all sorts of things about the body,
how to construct it efficiently,
and all this will eventually make chi manifest.

In Matrix Karate,
and to a lesser degree in my other arts,
the forms and techniques are corrected according to physics.

You turn the foot a certain way,
to increase traction,
to use the muscles on the legs properly,
to take advantage of the ‘spring’ that is the arch of the foot.

That is the essence of physics.
Now take that through the ability to hold a position
(grounding)
or cantilevering your blocks
by visualizing the energy structure of the body.
and doing your forms,
practicing these things,
and you end up with chi power.

The chi power will manifest quickly
if you understand all the physics words,
mass, energy, flow, etc.
It will manifest quickly if your forms
are scientifically correct.

But,
most people will not do these things,
so I wrote books like

How to Fix Karate

Personally,
I think the Master Instructor Course
and Matrix Karate,
are much more important,

But

How to Fix Karate

is wonderful entry point.
It analyzes the forms and techniques
and starts the student on how to think the right way
when it comes to learning karate,
or other martial arts.

Furthermore,
it comes in two volumes,
and it has links for

FIVE HOURS OF VIDEO

Now,
summer is here
so think about cleaning up your martial art,
get rid of the whims and preferences
that others have corrupted the arts with
and make your art perfect this summer!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

At the End of the Martial Arts Path!

The Secret of the Real Martial Arts

All right,
a beautiful day for secrets.
Of course, that means you might have to think.
NO! comes the scream.
I DON’T WANT TO THINK!
Too bad, so sad.
But if you want to learn the real martial arts you will have to think.
And specifically,
you will have to think about what I am about to tell you.

What is the purpose of the martial arts?
Why, it’s to beat people up!
And it is.
On a certain level.

But what is really at the end of the martial arts path?
What do you get if you are studying a true martial art and persist?
To love and trust your fellow man.

What?
What FN planet did this bozo study his fake ass martial arts on?
Let me explain.

A beginner puts out blocks,
ridges of energy,
and this pushes the opponent away, or back, or whatever.
It stops his opponent,
but it also stops his own ability to perceive.
Necessary in the beginning, maybe,
but not the end,
it’s the beginning of the real martial arts.

You go through the procedure of learning
how to put out a ridge of energy
so you can NOT put out a ridge of energy.
A ridge of energy will stop you from perceiving
the thought of the opponent.
You want to know what the opponent is thinking,
You want to know when he is thinking.
If you stop his thought from coming through,
then you can’t see the technique the opponent is planning,
and then you can’t do the right thing.
You’ve been reduced to simple blocking
which may or may not be the right thing.
You’re back to being a white belt.

So how do you stop yourself
from stopping the thought of the opponent?
You accept the opponent.
You don’t think of him as bad or good,
you don’t judge him,
you don’t stop him.

If he wants to hit you,
fine,
accept that.
Trust him to punch you.
Trust,
and here’s the crux of the matter:
like him.
That is the really real secret of real martial arts.
That is what awaits you if you study a real martial art.

You don’t make the other fellow wrong,
even if he is offering you a knife for your heart.
You don’t get upset if he wants to do bad things to your family.
You like him,
you appreciate him for the opportunity he has offered you.
You accept him as a seriously misguided individual
and do what you have to…while liking him.

If you refuse to like somebody,
even if you are right that he is evil,
then you will not see his true potential,
you will not read his body actions,
you will not see his thoughts
and you will have stopped yourself
from effectively handling him.

The only solution is to trust everybody.
Even Hitler.
Don’t trust him to treat you fairly,
trust him to be what he is.

I hope you understand,
but if you don’t,
don’t worry.
You will if your art is true and you persist.

And,
don’t forget to give me five stars…
when you purchase
The Last Martial Arts Book
(There is a version with five hours of video
but you have to hunt for it on Amazon)

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

Muscle Memory in the Martial Arts!

Muscle Memory in the Fighting Arts!

Good morning!
Every kata is a prayer.
It is a moment in time
in which I summon up energies
built by the repetition of moves
over over 55 years.

Let’s talk about muscle memory.
One trains to make the muscles move in a certain way.
This is a path, a circuit of nerve impulses.
A to B to C to…to Z.
As one gets better and better
he stops using this ‘muscle memory’ path
and goes from A to Z.

You see,
if you subscribe to the muscle memory theory
then you are saying that your body is doing the fighting.
But it is you that is doing the fighting.
The muscle moves
because the impulses travel through the nervous system
and who gives the nervous system the command to move?

I ask people this sometimes
and they give me some amazing answers.
‘My brain.’
That’s a common answer,
and it shows that people don’t understand the brain.
The brain is, at best, a switchboard.
And if the brain moves the nerves moves the muscles,
who commands the brain.
‘My mind!’
That’s a great one.
Except the mind is just a bunch of memories.
It doesn’t do anything except react.
And if one is going to get to the heart of the martial arts
one must do more than react.
They must act.
And,
to get to the heart of the matter,
who gives the mind the command
to make the switchboard brain
tell the nerves to work,
to make the muscles move?

Okay.
The answer.
‘You.’

And here is the secret of the martial arts.
If you do your ‘prayers’
(your martial arts moves)
long enough…you will go back through
these body and mind systems
and find…you.

You are the creator of your life.
You make the choices.
You are not meat muscle,
you are not nervous twitches,
you are not the switchboard brain,
or the memory mind.
You are you.

And,
obligatory advertisement…
you’re going to find you a lot faster if you matrix.

Try
‘The Last Martial Arts Book’

It has the meditation of Tai Chi,
the power of karate,
the easy and simple modular method
of pa kua chang.

(And, by the way,
get the one with the five hours of video included!
The one without the videos has all the five star ratings,
but $5 more gets you five hours of video instruction.)

End of advertisement,
so get back to your ‘prayers.’

And have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

How Deep Should You Strike in Karate?

Hitting with the Right Degree of Force!

Let’s take off the gloves.
Let me dispel a couple of illusions.
Let’s talk about how deep you strike somebody
in the martial arts.

There are three depths of striking.
First, you strike somebody skin deep.
Bare contact,
no harm,
point fighting.
Excellent stuff.
Trains people without harming them.
Sure, it lacks reality,
but you can get more reality
by mixing in other training.
Makiwara, sand box, punching bag.
Mix those with your point fighting and
you will become formidable.

Second,
you strike somebody muscle deep.
This is to cause pain and bruises.
It is not to kill somebody.
It is to bruise them and dissuade them.
It is the slap to bring them to their senses
before you stick a knife in them.
We use this in a very controlled manner
when we are doing form applications.
We build ourselves and our partners up
by striking them harder and harder,
but still don’t damage them.

Third,
you strike somebody bone deep.
This is the punch or block designed
to break a bone or…
to end a life.

To punch skin deep is to touch,
to punch muscle deep is to bruise,
to punch bone deep is to render them
broken and unconscious.

Good karate,
or any good martial art
will enable the student to progress
through the depths of strikes
so he can use the right one at the right time.

I think that being able to
strike somebody bone deep
is a skill worth acquiring.

I wrote a book on how to develop a third level strike.
it is called:

The Hardest Punch in the World

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

How to Fix Karate Extra Data

Stages in ‘How to Fix Karate!’

Sales on ‘how to Fix Karate’ are picking up
and I thank you all.
With that in mind I should probably explain
a couple of things about the book(s).
If you haven’t got the books
this will still be interesting,
but…you need the books.

The book is big,
two volumes,
and it’s got a LOT of data in it.
But the basic principles are very simple.
First,
the Pinans are taken apart,
every move is dissected for application,
and things that were missing are explained.
Things that were wrong are corrected.
But the Pinans are still random
and missing things.
Sure, there’s gold in them,
but when you look for workability
you look for two forms.
The first one is a Matrixing form
and it replaces Pinan one.
The second one is Sanchin.

I give you enough forms to make a system,
and to round you out as a martial artist,
but the essence is in those two forms.

Matrix One provides basics.
The Matrix of Blocks
makes those basics workable and intuitive.
The student gets a solid stance,
learns how the basics work,
and becomes strong.
He becomes like a tiger,
which is the animal symbol for karate.

Sanchin has been revised, too.
Yes, you get the power by sinking your stance,
but you don’t kill yourself
with blocks and getting beaten on.
You already learned the blocks in Matrix one,
instead,
you learn the real technique behind this form,
a slap and a grab function.
This is easier to learn than Matrix One
and the Matrix of Blocks,
but it won’t work without
the fundamental strength and blocks
of the matrixing form.

When you do the slap and the grab
you end up progressing naturally
into joint locks,
and secondary joint locks
and so on.

And it all works when you do
the freestyle method in the books!

So here’s the way to remember it,
Matrix One is like the Tiger
Sanchin,
when done the way I do it,
is like the Dragon.

The freestyle methods
work from a distance,
to a closer distance
to a closer distance.
The trick is to learn how to shift
from one distance to another.

Now,
that is the simplicity of the method.
Not endless years
trying to learn forms which are missing pieces
or are ill arranged.
Not two separate arts,
freestyle and the forms.
Not a glut of forms.
Just a couple of forms,
with abundant secondary forms
to teach you
but not confuse you,
Not random techniques,
but a cold, hard logic
which can be learned in a couple of hours
and will change you into an intuitive monster
who can see what is coming
before it is even launched.

I hope this clears up
any misunderstanding
concerning
How to Fix Karate.

The book is massive,
and chock full of stuff,
but I wanted to give you this data
so you can better understand it,
and more easily learn from it.

Here’s the link to the first book,
How to Fix Karate (Vol One)

And the second book.
How to Fix Karate (Vol Two)

If the links don’t work
just use the Amazon search engine
(How to Fix Karate Al Case)

Make sure you email me
if you have trouble with the video links.
They all work,
but I believe there is some trouble with
different computers or browsers.

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

Martial Arts after age 75!

Martial Arts I Study after 55+ Years!!

Happy Summer!
You should set a goal,
choose an art,
and learn it this summer.

Let me be specific in what I study,
the martial arts I practice.
I get this question every once in a while,
and if you’re not not interested,
pass on by and I’ll talk to you next month.

I do Sanchin.
I don’t do the rock hard version
where people beat on you,
where you learn to ‘take it.’

The reason for this is that
there are two sides to the martial arts,
avoid…or get tough.

I prefer to mix the two,
seek a type of harmony between them.

So the Sanchin I practice I will…
…sink the weight
…turn the hips
…execute a slap and grab motion
…and punch.

And,
I use a matrix of blocks
in applying the slap grab,
and develop the slap grab
from strike to lock to takedown.
This makes the art totally workable.

Now,
I play with other forms.
I practice with weapons
and I do other arts,
but…
Sanchin is my gold.

It gives me breathing,
dynamic tension,
grounding,
loose-tight,
a whole body,
energy,
and so many other things.

For the soft side of the art
I do the material from…

The Last Martial Arts Book:
Nine Square Diagram Boxing

It includes concepts from Tai Chi and Pa Kua Chang,
and follows the matrixing logic of Sanchin.
It is a complete ‘soft style’ art.

And,
to round out the art,
and to make sure I can use everything I study,
I do…
Rhythmic Freestyle,
lop sau (aș originated by me and described in book/video)
sticky hands (from wing chun)
Push hands from Tai Chi chuan.
And,
of course…
freestyle.

This is the actual training routine I do.
Every day.
Every day.
This routine is totally defined in two books,
How to Fix Karate (comes in two volumes)
and
The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

All the instructions are in there.
including instructions on what the forms really mean,
how to make the applications work,
complete instructions on matrixing,
and so much more.

I wrote those books so I would have a path
should I choose to come back to this planet
after I die.
It’s the best I could do.

And, I should mention a couple of things.
There are two versions of The Last Martial Arts Book.
One of them has five hours of video instruction.

And,
How to Fix Karate has hours of video instruction.

And,
you shouldn’t discount the other books and courses I’ve done.
I sincerely hope that somebody gets excited
and starts researching,
seeing how I came up with this stuff.
Research is how you go deep in your understanding.

Anyway,
I thought I would mention all this
and encourage you to
learn a totally different martial art this summer!

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.