Tag Archives: shotokai

Making Beginning Karate into Advanced Karate

Newsletter 943

Defeating the Linearity of Karate

I was watching videos
of people doing karate on the internet.
This included demo teams,
old masters,
and whoever,
and I was struck
by wrong they are doing karate,
by how they didn’t really know karate.

The funny thing is
karate is one of the most powerful arts I know,
yet everybody is doing it wrong.
Let me give you one example.

Watch a video on youtube,
watch a demo team for karate.
They are fast, powerful, explosive.
It is not good karate.
Why?
Because their arms and legs move back and forth
in a linear manner,
stopping and starting.
Real karate is liquid,
it does not stop and start.
At the end of every movement there is a circle,
often too small to be easily seen.
this circle avoids the stopping and starting of the muscles.
It takes effort and muscular exertion
to stop and start muscle motion.
When you have a small circle
somewhere in the end of the motion,
which leads into the beginning of the next motion,
you are doing real karate.

Now,
those who don’t understand will argue,
that is okay,
they will remember
and eventually come around.
For those of you who are frowning,
standing up and checking to see
if you have a little loop on the end of a punch or block
(both ends)
the truth is dawning.
Karate is not linear.
It is not a rigid piston effect,
it is a looping,
neverending effect.
And,
what do you get out of it?

The loop helps change one move into the next
the loop saves energy and is more efficient
it is faster
your body becomes more liquid,
more fluid,
you start to develop ‘pulsing power.’
Pulsing power is when you…
push with the legs
turn the hips
throw the punch.
Not exactly together,
but one…two…three,
so fast that the punch becomes one motion,
each action lending power and energy to the next action,
and yet becoming more and more fluid.

Now,
I read of this concept originally
while reading books on Chinese martial arts.
And,
I observed my instructor,
who was quick and whippy,
fluid like a striking snake.
And I read about a more fluid karate in Shotokai
(not shotokan)
which is supposed to be the style
funakoshi handed down his lineage to.

And I thought about it,
and developed it,
and came to realize the truth of it.
So take your time,
practice your forms,
and search for places where you can
add a loop at the end of a technique.
Maybe it is in the motion of the hand,
maybe it’s a turn of the hip,
a sink of the hip,
and flip of the shoulder.
Whatever it is,
you’re now on the path to true karate.

And,
all these guys doing wrong karate?
They are phenomenal,
not to be disrespected,
but it is a simple matter of physics
that reveal them to be expert beginners,
even master beginners,
who haven’t made the transition past beginner,
into the real thing.

When I teach karate to newbies
I usually let them work on the piston effect.
But when they are starting to remember everything,
I shift them to the looping effect.

Now,
I don’t talk about the whiplike effect much,
I instead recommend people do Matrix Karate,
but if you have matrix karate under your belt,
you could look at Temple Karate.
I do more advanced forms there,
and you can probably,
if you have a quick eye,
see how I add the teensiest of loops
to make my karate fluid.

But your eye has to be quick,
because the longer you train,
the smaller your loops become
until no one can see your loops.

Have a great work out!
Al

Matrix Karate

1a Matrix Karate

Temple Karate

3c Temple Karate

Following is a great win that shows one thing…you aren’t going to get the answers, you are going to get the questions, the questions that lead you to understanding your own martial art. Do you have the kind of mind that can do this?

A WIN!

I picked up Matrix Karate from you; and I definitely get it.  My area of study is Kajukenbo; and based on watching the Matrix Karate DVD last night, I am reasonably sure that matrixing Kajukenbo would be very straight forward.  Time consuming, yes, difficult no.  I think it would be best to break Kajukenbo into its 7 arts (Karate, Judo, Jiujitsu, Kenpo, Boxing, Kung Fu, and Escrima), and matrix each of those.  My questions are: do you think that is the right approach? Is there a particular order you think these should be taught in? Do you teach each matrix’d art to completion, then move to the next? And, how does sport karate fit in?  And finally; for the traditional forms, would those be one entire section? Or would you recommend splitting them into each sub-section of the art?

How to Teach the Martial Arts After an Injury!

Newsletter 813 ~ (subscribe now!)

Teaching Karate Again!

This is turning out to be the best summer ever!
The reason is simple…I’m teaching again.

kenpo karate training manual

150 Kenpo Techniques matrixed ~ Click on the cover!

It feels so good,
after the shoulder injury and surgery,
to get back out on the mat.
If you don’t recall,
I fell off a skateboard
and killed a ligament,
and the whole shoulder went south.

BUT,
doc said surgery would get me back to 99%,
and he was right.
He was really right, because he had no idea
of the rigors of the martial arts.

What I did,
when I decided the time was right,
was go to a place in town,
walk in,
and ask if the guy needed help.

He said yes,
and after a few classes of helping,
I am sometimes being handed the class
and told to have fun.

And,
as all you guys know,
there is NOTHING as fun as the martial arts.

Here’s the interesting stuff,
the martial arts have totally changed
since I learned them.
I don’t consider all changes bad,
but there are things I have to accept
if I want to teach.
And,
there are things that have stayed the same,
which leaves a huge door for me
to introduce stuff that is so old it has been forgotten.

It is fascinating
to pull out an old drill,
hand it to the students,
and watch their eyes bulge.

But,
I have to present the drill differently
than how it was handed to me.

When I was learning,
the teacher gave you something
and you were expected to do it.
Didn’t matter if it hurt.
I mean,
so what if it hurt?
You’re here to learn karate,
so don’t waste time sniveling,
just do the drill.

And we would do the drill
with manic intention.

Now,
when I teach those drills,
I have to make them soft,
and very, very gently
lead the student to harder versions
and real workability.

Currently,
I am working on a series of drills
to bring fighters in freestyle closer together,
to cut down reaction time,
and make sure that blocks work,
and punches have the desired effect.

All without giving nary a bruise.

But,
I can’t tell you,
it is more fun than I have had since…since I don’t know.
After being sidelined for a couple of years,
limited to nothing but forms,
the feel of working techniques on real bodies
is absolutely and totally and utterly exhilarating.

So,
I get letters sometimes,
from people who can’t find workout partners.

I tell them:
teach your wife,
work with your brother,
or cousin or nephew or whoever.
Put up a flier at the local gym,
or the Y,
or just be seen working out in the park.

There are 7 billion people on this globe of dirt,
all will turn their head to a car crash,
many will become instantly fascinated by martial arts,
and you are telling me you are alone.
That nobody cares.

Don’t make me sigh.

Just get out there and do it.

And,
as this newsletter indicates,
you can always just walk into a school,
ask if you can help out.
You won’t make money,
but you can do the martial arts,
you can play with other people,
and the information will trade back and forth like magic!
That is a supreme blessing,
on this planet or any other.

Here’s the obligatory page
that you DEFINITELY need to go to…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-kung-fu/

It’s where I go to get lots of drills
for teaching martial arts.

HAPPY WORK OUT!

Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-kung-fu/

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http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei