Newsletter 616
Putting Power in your Martial Art
Good morning, afternoon, or whatever!
No matter what time it is,
it is time for a workout!
Now,
let’s talk about putting power in your martial arts… Continue reading
Good morning, afternoon, or whatever!
No matter what time it is,
it is time for a workout!
Now,
let’s talk about putting power in your martial arts… Continue reading
Posted in chi power, karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial arts, qigong, tai chi chuan
Tagged karate power, kenpo power, kung fu power, martial arts power, taekwondo power
This article, the problem with Martial Arts Teachers, is not meant to be an attack, rather an enlightenment. Consider the points I make, then consider yourself as an instructor, see if you are a True Martial Arts Teachers, or…something else. Continue reading
Posted in karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial arts, shaolin, taekwondo
Tagged learn martial arts, martial arts instructor, martial arts sensei, martial arts sifu
Speaking of Martial Arts, I just read an ad, one of those cheesy internet ads, about unlocking the inner you.
You’re only using 10% of your brain, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could unlock the other 90%? Continue reading
Posted in aikido, chi power, kenpo, kung fu, shaolin, tai chi chuan, wing chun
Tagged aikido, karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial art, shaolin, taekwondo, tai chi chuan
Happy first day of the week!
Happy first workout of the week!
Make it a good one,
lose yourself in it,
and your whole week will glow.
True.
Okey doke,
thanks to all who are on the Kang Duk Won course,
don’t forget to set aside time each day,
whittle away at the art,
make it your own.
And,
congrats to Master Instructor Wilhem Stockinger!
Here’s his win…
I had a breakthru in the master instructor course yesterday, man the pieces finally came together…I was…screaming in ecstasy and joy…you are a genius master Al! I am so much more grounded and aligned in movement, it’s fantastic.
I finally got the missing pieces to what was once 6 years of Iu ryu jujutsu, 2 years of Gracie jujutsu,a few years of Muay thai kickboxing, and some Krav Maga and so on…I know I never mentioned my background since it fades away against yours and I was not enrolling into your course to talk about my past but to learn. And I did learn a tremendous amount, which not only corrected my faulty basics in form and execution, but also gave me understanding of form. Sensei, the 6 secrets, man, this is all Jujutsu theory I’ve been trained in for years, but nobody ever explained the principles, unless by practical example, but never the principles behind it. The why and how, not just the what. It was so enlightening. I am starting all over, but now the proper way. Thank you so much. I finally got the crack of technique over strength, of body mechanics over brute force. I am excited to be in the martial arts again. You are the real deal Shihan Alton Case. God bless you!
No,
thanks to you, Will.
Breaking through,
sharing your win,
somebody else is going to be
encouraged to make it, too.
And,
for everybody,
it’s easy,
it’s just how to fix your thinking.
Which makes it the hardest thing you’ll ever do.
Like Will says,
everybody talks about it,
without ever talking about it.
They talk about the surface
and never go into the depths.
They never go into why things work.
Endless drills,
endless techniques,
without ever telling you why.
So,
thanks again Will.
Persistence and tenacity in the martial arts,
that’s what you represent,
which are characteristics of good martial arts.
Okay!
I’m going to write an article on this,
it follows along with what WIll says above,
but I thought I’d mention it here, first.
I like to talk to the intelligent first,
then the masses.
Grin.
Do you know why I teach so many Martial Arts?
Why I am always open to new arts?
Why I listen avidly
when my fellow martial artists talk,
instead of opening my own yap?
It’s true,
like as not,
when the talk starts
I find it much more educational
to listen.
Well,
the reason is this.
If you were drilling a well,
you would need a stable base,
so you could build a high drill,
so you could drill deeper.
When you learn more martial arts,
when you toss the techniques around in your head,
compare and contrast,
fit them into the matrix of all techniques,
then you are building a wide database,
and you can then build a high drill,
and drill deep into your soul.
Data holds you together.
The more data you have,
the more held together you are.
Or,
think about it this way.
If you were going to build a telescope
to see to the furthest star,
then you would need a solid base,
so the telescope wouldn’t be shaken by wind or rain,
or any other force.
Then your sight would be solid and true,
and you could see to those far stars,
without them shimmying and shaking
and being a blur to your sight.
Do you understand?
The more you know,
the deeper you can dig into yourself,
the more of yourself
you can understand.
Simple,
eh?
Yet,
the work to make a wide database
especially in the martial arts,
with all the technique and styles and opinions and…
it can get pretty tough.
And,
it can get tough to keep it all in order,
which is one of the blessings of Matrixing.
Look,
people study,
they get a thousand techniques,
and it can take twenty years to sort it all out,
to learn to think about things in a way
that it all makes sense,
so that all of the data is at your fingertips,
instead of buried in the mass of
thousands of techniques.
So,
instead of lumping everything together,
and training like crazy.
You just put your techniques into a matrix,
fit that matrix to a larger matrix of all martial arts,
and the procedure gets REAL fast.
Oh,
like Will said above,
it can take time,
but not as much,
but,
the rewards once it all clicks,
there’s nothing like it.
It’s not just studying hard forever,
that is taken for granted…
it is making sense out of it quickly,
as fast as you input data and techniques,
that’s how fast you have to make sense out of it all.
Oinky Doinkey!
That‘s about it,
got nothing left to say,
and,
besides,
I’d rather work out than talk.
I’d rather dig deep
than open my yap.
My time of day…
workout time of day!
Don’t forget to straighten out your art…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/
Believe me,
it’s nothing but fun
when everything works
the way it is supposed to work.
Have a Great Work Out!
Al
When looking for the best online martial arts instruction you need to assess three things.
First, does the online martial arts course offer good and comprehensive training manuals. Well written instruction manuals are going to be extremely important. Written material is going to help you understand the concepts involved, and give you good reasons as to why you are doing something.
Second, does the online martial arts course have cleanly filmed and understandable videos? A good example of what the written material is talking about is priceless.
Third, does the online martial arts course give you lots of back up by email or other methods. This is crucial, because there are going to be questions. Many questions. About the material, and about your personal progress. So, look around and see if you can contact the instructor, either through comments on his website, or, better, through email. Try an email. Ask a simple question, see if he responds fairly fast, see if he makes sense. If he does, then his might be the martial arts courses you want to take.
Now, something very important to consider. Can the instructor get you to understand what he is saying.
The thing is, the martial arts concept is going to have to travel from his head to your head, and through a variety of written and filmed methods. So you should get a sample of his teachings.
First, check out his blog or site, and see if he is understandable. If you can’t figure out what he is saying, move along.
Second, see if you can find some examples of his video work. Check out youtube. As for myself, I have a few videos on youtube, and I also have a few videos on Karate basics on one of my websites, LearnKarateOnline.net. Simply go there, find the section in the menu that says ‘Free Karate Lessons,’ and start checking it out.
The things to ask yourself in this example of my karate videos is this: Have I moved so you can understand how to do the motions? Have I explained so you can understand why I am doing the motions? Are my instructions clean and neat? Can you actually do what I am showing?
If the answer is yes to the above, then I’ve done a good job, and you can consider me.
If not, then pass on me.
Okay, you’re ready to go out and check the net and see what kind of stuff is out there.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you to check out my own website, KangDukWon.com.
There are three things you need if you are going to teach yourself Martial Arts, and a couple of secondary things you should know.
The three main things you need to teach yourself Martial Arts is a good Martial Art, a good teacher, and a good student.
We can assume that you are going to be a good student, set aside time every day, and stick to the program you come up with. In this case, if you are a good student, then you are a good teacher.
So we have to select a high grade martial art, and here is where we come into the secondary considerations you should think about when undertaking how to teach yourself Martial Arts.
To teach yourself Martial Arts you have to ask yourself why you want to learn.
Do you want to be strong and flexible? Excellent. Do you want to be tough? Not so good. Do you want to bully people? Uh oh.
The best martial Art to teach yourself, to be honest, is probably Karate.
If you want to learn Aikido you need a partner all the time.
If you want to learn Kung Fu there’s too much mysticism, meaningless chi exercises, abstract concepts that you might actually need a teacher to help you with.
Some arts are unbalanced. Taekwondo, for example, has too many kicks, and doesn’t give enough weight to punches and throws. Jujitsu has too many throws and not enough punches and kicks.
Mixed Martial Arts isn’t bad, but most MMA fighters got their start by learning a classical martial art first.
Karate, on the other hand, is based around self defense, so their isn’t a bunch of mystical concepts to mess up your mind.
And, it is well rounded, with a balance of throws, kicks, and punches.
Having selected the type of Karate you wish to learn, you now have to find the best courses and information in order to teach yourself Martial Arts.
Serious about learning How to Teach yourself Martial Arts? Check out KangDukWon.com.
For part two of this article, go to How to Find the Best Online Martial Arts Instruction at MonsterMartialArts.com.
Posted in karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial arts, tai chi chuan, weapons
Tagged karate, kenpo, kung fu, shaolin, teach yourself martial arts
How much Karate can you learn for $2? Eh?
Well, maybe a lot, especially if you have $2 to spend on the Best Online Karate Lessons in the World.
This Karate Lessons are actually a course, and it takes a person right from white belt through black belt.
The question is…is it worth the money.
Consider the contents of the first of the karate lessons, the white belt to orange belt level. On that lesson you get a check list to go through. The checklist is thorough.
You get a section on how to do warm ups.
You get a link to a section on Karate basics, all done in video.
You get advice on how to do Martial Arts Katas and techniques.
You get a part on how to do the first Karate Kata, or form.
You get a section on how to do the applications so they will REALLY work.
And, you get a BONUS section on how to translate the movements into the methods used by the original founders of the art. This BONUS section itself is worth gold! It takes you back to how and why Karate was invented, and what the original moves had to have been.
And, the thing makes so much sense that you can’t argue!
And, even if you are slow to think and do wish to argue, you can’t stop thinking about this totally original take on what Karate is!
Now, with this much quantity, and, to be honest, this much quality, why is the price so low?
Because there are a lot of people out there who a) believe you can’t trust the net, b) believe that you can’t learn the martial arts off the internet, c) that the thing is a scam!
But who can argue if it only costs two bucks to find out?
The good news is that this lesson isn’t a ‘cheapie’ to entice to learn and then gouge, it is representative of a sequence of prices that are UNBELIEVABLE!
And, the ulterior motive here?
To teach people good, solid Karate. To make them think, to realize, to get strong and powerful.
To make the weak strong, and the bullies into non-bullies.
And, who knows, you might get to loving this spectacular art so much you order other courses!
Of course, it’ll cost you $2 to find out.
Al Case has near 50 years of Martial Arts experience, and was a writer for the Martial Arts Magazines. This course can be found at $2 Karate Lessons!
Posted in karate, kenpo, martial arts, taekwondo
Tagged karate courses, karate instructors, karate lessons, korean karate, robert j. babich
Oinkey Donkey
slop the hogs and shave the chicken,
I have something GRR-REAT for you!
I set up a website specifically for taking a person through Karate.
Now,
if you have Temple Karate
or the Kang Duk Won (from Evolution of an Art)
Then you have the working pieces of this site.
I simply took Temple and Kang Duk Won,
broke them down into lesson format,
added check lists
articles,
and included various other items.
So,
buyer beware,
I don’t want to get caught out
accused of just ‘re-packaging.
So I am telling you now,
it is repackaging.
You might want to get it anyway,
because it is in lesson format.
Now,
you go through the belt levels
one belt at a time.
First belt only costs…
$2!
Then you add a dollar for each level.
You download the check list,
you read the material and watch the videos,
and you work out.
Now,
this thing is complete with original drills and exercises.
In fact,
you get some pretty AWESOME bonuses!
As you go through the course
each belt level will have a bonus.
For instance,
the Imperial Karate form applications are on each of the first three levels.
Other BONUSES include…
The Punch (with Kick and Candle)
The Master’s Handbook
Amazing Fighting Drills
The Kang Duk Won
And,
at the end of the course,
free test for Black Belt!
Now,
there are all sorts of other little things,
so you should just check out the site,
see what’s what.
And,
let me tell you,
this price is ONLY going to be for a while.
I am just taking a short time to check all links,
make sure all paypal buttons work,
tweak the text and whatever,
get some feedback and wins,
and then the price goes up.
I don’t know if I’ll go to two bucks every level, or five,
or some other scheme.
But it will go up to about $120 for the whole thing,
which is what the course and all the BONUSES add up to.
And,
as stated,
the course is Kang Duk Won.
This is the original Pre-Funakoshi,
not slanted for tournaments,
not slanted for commercial dojos (McDojos)
not arranged for school children,
Karate!
Do it the way I list on the check lists,
follow all directions,
and you will be visiting Kang Duk Won Karate
the way it was taught to me almost fifty years ago,
just a couple of teachers removed from the original Karate
that existed before Funakoshi.
So,
that is the big announcement.
Head on over and check it out,
and remember,
when the prices go up,
they go up for everything,
no matter where you are on the course,
so…
don’t waste time.
Dedicate yourself.
Take advantage of…
The Best Online Karate Course in the World!
Here’s the URL…
So I’ll tell you more about this later,
but,
right now,
I have to get to work and get this site on the map.
So,
have a great work out!
And I’ll see you over there.
Al
Posted in karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial arts
Tagged al case, bob babich, kang duk won, karate, kwon bup
I’ve read a lot of stuff about using Karate gun techniques in a karate vs gun fight. Here are some things to think about.
There are three ‘gun shooting’ distances.
The Flashsight Picture method, wherein you pull and shoot without aiming, but just aim in the direction of the looming mass of a close target.
Point Shooting, where you draw and point the finger. This is for mid range targets.
Aimed Shooting, where you take aim and squeeze (don’t pull) the trigger.
Obviously, which method you use is going to depend on how close your target is.
Now, if an idiot has a gun jammed up against your skull, you are in trouble, but this is the second best place to work a karate gun technique whatever martial art you study.
Yes, the gun might go off from the pressure of your moving skull as you roll out from under the barrel. But, what you gonna do?
Well, best thing, in this karate vs gun confrontation, is to give him your money and don’t try any karate technique. But, if the gunman is obviously deranged and you know something is going to happen, you’ll be glad you practiced that gun disarm technique in that karate class.
Now, best distance is handshake away. This means no pressure of the body part on the gun, and you can do a slap before he pulls the trigger if you really did practice the technique in that Karate seminar. This, incidentally, might be equated with the Flashsight picture method. If he is close enough to shake hands, then the body is large enough to shoot without aiming, but just by pull and shoot.
Third best distance in this karate vs gun thing is going to be the Point shooting. For point shooting to be effective the range is going to be somewhere between six and twenty feet. Mind you, these distances are estimates, and will change according to the shakiness of the gunman’s hand. So, you’ve got to rush twenty feet. If he hasn’t drawn his weapon, you might make it. An interesting exercise to do in your Karate class is to have somebody rush 20 feet and time them. Have them rush somebody pulling a rubber gun, see if they can close the distance before the gunman says, ‘bang!’
The fourth best distance isn’t a best distance, but a worst distance for karate vs gun. Over twenty feet the guy usually will have time to draw and aim before you can close the distance and do any kind of martial arts technique.
Now, disclaimers.
First, give him your durned money. Who cares? He’ll get his sometime!
Second, never practice these karate vs gun tricks (closing distances, disarms) with a real gun. Brandon Lee thought the prop gun was unloaded, and guess what? No more Brandon!
Third, don’t take anything I say here for solid fact…test these distances for yourself.
Fourth, practice that gun disarm technique in Karate class. Practice, practice, practice. Even if you never use it, you might use those motor skills, that sense of timing, in other areas.
Here’s a great article, called Apprehending the Scissorsman, on the time I saw the police take on a man trying to stab a boy with scissors.
If you want the real skinny on using weapons, not just the karate vs gun situation, but ANY weapons, trot on over to the Blinding Steel course at Monster Martial Arts.
Posted in karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial arts, weapons
Tagged gun disarm, gun technique, karate, karate vs gun
One of the most fun things you can do, be it martial arts, kickboxing, or just plain on your own conditioning, is a heavy bag workout.
There is nothing like setting, and whomping that sucker with all your might! Whether you do a heavy bag workout for beginners, women, for weight loss or whatever, there is a satisfaction that comes with watching that bad boy fly to the ceiling!
Now, the trick is to have the best bag you can. You have to select a weight that is right for you, and a texture, and so on.
Hard core martial artists will claim that you have to kick something as heavy as an attacker, maybe a couple hundred pounds. The problem is that the bag doesn’t have enough give for you, especially in the beginning. Simply, you kick it, and it doesn’t move that much, and you don’t get satisfaction, and the muscles don’t get that feeling of having pushed something.
Now, we don’t want a speed bag, like boxers use. That’s too light, and the muscles don’t get the feel of resistance necessary for weightlifting.
And it is weightlifting, be it fast and violent, and you need to find the exact weight that will work for you.
A 70 pound bag is perfect. It has give, and it weighs enough that it will fly away, but still last you for a while as your muscles get stronger and stronger.
The next step would be a hundred pound kicking bag. After that, you play it by ear, but a 20 to 25 pound increase is about all you want at one time.
No, it doesn’t weigh as much as an opponent, but you need to raise the level of resistance in accordance with how your body grows, not form an unworkable ideal right off the bat.
Now, a couple of interesting facts, and then I will tell you where I get my kicking bags.
Before he died, Bruce Lee ordered a bag that was 300 or 400 pounds. He weighed 135 pounds, and I have no idea how much fly he was expecting to get out of that bag, but…man! If anybody could do it, it was Bruce.
And, did you know that kicking bags are stuffed with clothes? True. I think a lot of them have furniture filling, but it was clothes for years for many.
And, the way they fill heavy bags is with baseball bats. They just have a couple of guys pile drive the end of the bat into the top of the bag until everything is squooshed down, weighs the right amount, and doesn’t have any…edges.
Anyway, think about what I said here, before you buy anything for your heavy bag workout.
And, if you want to know how I pack my personal bags – yes, I do it all myself – then go to cheap punching bag. The story of how I discovered my method, and the things I went through…it’s quite interesting, and it will help you on your journey to the best heavy bag workout you can have. Pick up some free martial arts books while you’re there.