Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Kicking Bag that Broke Your Foot!

Posted on November 2, 2026 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 1154

“Go on, kick it!” I was standing in the darkened garage of my instructor to be, surrounded by his high ranking black belts. The bag they were telling me to kick hung ominous and silent form the ceiling.

It was only a bag, should be simple, I’ll impress the heck out of these guys. I’ll show them what my school is made of? I mean, it’s only a bag, right?

I drew in breath and set my stance. I eyed the canvas thing, and studied my opponent. It looked to be about seventy pounds, not too tough, and I didn’t notice that the ceiling had been re- enforced to support the bag.

With mighty shout I thrust my sidekick out. My sidekick was my strongest kick, and it should bounce that bag off the ceiling like it was a ballon. My foot impacted, and nothing happened.

Well, something happened. The bag moved an inch and I bounced off, and a tremendous shock shivered my nervous system all the way up my leg and into my spine. And all the high ranking black belts rubbed their faces in a way that would conceal their grins.

My composure lost, I stared around in shock, and then stepped up to the bag. I ran a hand over it and asked, ‘What in the world is in here?’ I looked at the fellow who would soon be my instructor, and he merely smiled.

When I started martial arts they didn’t have kicking bags. My first bag was a two dollar duffel bag filled with sawdust. I spent hours packing that thing, and I kicked it until my legs were short. I thought I knew what a bag was about.

What Bob, the fellow who became my instructor had done with his bags, however, was sheer genius. His first bags were like mine, filled with sawdust and pounded and packed until it was solid and meaty to the foot. Then he started adding a cup of sand every week, and the thing became ungodly tough, a real foot breaker. But it became too heavy for the rafters. But that was just a starter bag for him. His next bag, the one I near broke my foot on, showed his true genius.

He cut newspapers in a circle and put them in the bag. Newspapers, and all the news that’s fit to…kick. It probably weight 150 pounds, and if you could kick that one full power you had a kick that would shatter bones!

About the Author: Al Case began martial arts in 1967. He became a writer/columnist for martial arts magazines, and has produced 100s of hours of martial arts videos. He’s got a course that includes three separate martial arts, it shows how the martial arts evolved, with forms, techniques and drills…check it out at:

Evolution of an Art

Have a great work out!
Al Case MonsterMartialArts.com

Outlaw Karate Defeats the Muggers!

Posted on October 29, 2026 | 1 comment

Newsletter 1153

Click for Outlaw Karate

My son was fifteen when he finally asked me to teach him the martial arts. At the time I had twenty years experience. I had lots of arts under my belt, and I actually didn’t know what to teach him.

Living in Los Angeles, I decided to teach him karate. The problem was I had a half a dozen systems of that art. So which version should I teach him?

I began to examine each system, and I took from each what I felt were the best techniques. I then selected the forms which best represented these techniques. Finally, I altered the forms very slightly so that all techniques could be found within them.

I taught him for a year, and it was the hardest class I ever taught. Five other guys joined in, they were constantly bruised almost to the point of breaking. To this day, when I see these fellows, there is a look in their eyes like the grin of an eagle.
Now the point of karate is self defense. One hopes never to use what they learn. But, if they have to use it, they’d better win, else…why bother?

So one day my son was walking to work. It was a bright, sunny Los Angeles Day. He walked down the sidewalk without a care in the world.

“Hey, man, got some change?” It was a bum, and my son said no and shook his head, and he noted that while the first bum followed him, there was a second bum. The second bum walked around the corner of the building that my son was walking past.

“Hey, man, gimme some money!” The first bum advanced towards my son, who was backing away with his hands up. Suddenly my son felt something flying towards him, and realized that the second bum had circled the building and was jumping off a fence at him!

Spinning, Aaron kicked the second bum in the chin, and the bum flopped on the sidewalk. The other bum grabbed his shoulder and spun him to punch, and Aaron ducked and executed a jointlock to the elbow, then started bouncing the bum’s head between his knee and his elbow. The other bum got up, staggered towards Aaron and punched, and Aaron blocked and knocked the fellow six feet through the air and into a parking meter pole, which pole bent severely.

The fight was over, and Aaron looked around in confusion. Shrugging his shoulders, he continued on to work. The bums were bigger than him and had outweighed him, but his art, the art I had created out of the meanest, nastiest, most functional karate I knew, had worked.

It’s been years since that fight, and I never taught that system again. Since that time I learned more arts, and I have other things that I prefer to teach. Still, that breakthrough art, which I called Outlaw Karate, was really something.

About the Author: Al Case began martial arts in 1967. He became a writer/columnist for martial arts magazines, and has produced 100s of hours of martial arts videos. If you want to look at Outlaw Karate, with forms and applications, go to:

OUTLAW KARATE

Have a great work out!
Al Case

MonsterMartialArts.com

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Tagged karate, karate fighting, Martial Arts videos, self defense

Matrix Karate is a Faster Way of Learning Martial Arts!

Posted on October 27, 2026 | 1 comment

Newsletter 1152

matrix karate course Wham, bam and slam! You end up on the ground! You have just been beaten within an inch of your life!

After you heal, you explore the martial arts. But they are so expensive, and people want to put you on expensive contracts, and it takes years to earn a black belt. Well, it used to take years to earn a black belt, unless you know about Matrix Karate.

Matrixing is the analysis and handling of force and direction. It enables a person to learn entire art forms within months. Not in the years and decades previously thought, but in mere months!

To understand Matrixing you have to make a couple of analogies. First, the mind is like a computer, accessing data at a phenomenal rate. Second, you have to understand the theory of fragmentation.

I don’t intend to take you on a long trip here, but to understand fragmentation you have to analogize the mind to a library. Information is stored in the mind like books on the shelves of a library. Solving a problem can be related to finding a book on a shelf in that library of your mind.

When you go looking for a book you can run to the card index and find where the book is. Then you run down the rows to where the book is. Then you simply take the book to the front desk and check it out.

Fragmentation is when there are spaces in the shelves, and the books have been put in the wrong places. Simply, the filing system is messed up. The information is there, but you can’t find it.

The martial arts, to be honest, are taught in haphazard fashion. Arts are put together conglomerations of tricks from different countries, different cultures, tainted by vested interest, and so on. Simply, everybody who has ever taught the martial arts has ‘spun’ them, and the result is that they are a hopeless mangle.

What Matrixing does is put the books back on the shelves and in the right order. It arranges your martial techniques in an order that is so easy to access that it becomes almost instantly intuitive. When the muggers comes at you next time he is going to find himself on the wrong end of a very fast and intuitive fist!

About the Author: Al Case began martial arts in 1967. He was a writer/columnist for the MA magazines back in the 90s. Check out his course on how to Matrix Karate…

Matrix Karate

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The Deadliest Weapon in the Martial Arts!

Posted on October 25, 2026 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 1151

The deadliest weapon in all the martial arts world is…the towel. This weapon is so deadly it should be outlawed. In fact, anybody caught with a towel in hand should be arrested and thrown into the darkest prison!

When one considers the towel, one should consider the vast speed it moves at. The hand flicks, and the tip of the towel can exceed one hundred miles an hour! Thus, the tip of a speeding towel can split skin and create mighty welts!

The deadly towel can be made even deadlier by doing one simple thing. If one dips the tip of the towel into water, the towel can become even more cutting and cause even more pain. A tip dipped in water gains weight, and the integrity of the strike is increased multiple times!

Another thing to consider, when considering the towel, is that it is easily ‘hidden. In fact, it is hidden in plain sight! Who, on earth, is scared of a simple towel draped around the waist, eh?

And, speaking of this ‘hidden’ factor, when are you most susceptible to attack? When you have no weapon! When you have a spear or sword, or even a simple knife in hand, people are much more loathe to attack you!

If you are standing with no weapon, maybe dripping from a shower or dip in the pool, that is when people are not scared of you. In fact, when you are apparently unarmed is when people are most likely to attack you! That is the time when you are, apparently, most unable to defend yourself.

When attacked while wearing but a towel, you don’t scream and look around for a weapon when attacked. You merely drop your towel, which (hopefully) affords a severe shock to the attacker. Then you flick and snap, dance and writhe, and chase the intruder from your realm!

You think this article is a joke? Consider that Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest swordsman that ever lived, was once accosted in a bathhouse by a dozen sword wielding attackers. Using only his towel, and his, uh, natural talents, he chased the swordsmen from the bathhouse and down the street!

About the Author: Al Case began martial arts 60 years ago. He has been a writer/columnist for the magazines, and has produced hundreds of hours of martial arts video instruction. Check out his video on how to Matrix Martial Arts weapons…

Blinding Steel

Have a great work out!
Al Case

MonsterMartialArts.com

The Stolen Secrets of Aikido

Posted on October 20, 2026 | 1 comment

Newsletter 1150

Screenshot

A student once went to the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. “I don’t understand the reasoning behind the square, the circle, and the triangle?’ O Sensei smiled and explained, “You must steal those secrets.”

Now stealing is not something a spiritual person should be engaged in doing. One can well ask what O Sensei truly meant with his answer. What did he really mean when he recommended ‘stealing’ to his student?

What he meant was that the student must learn to observe the art. He must observe other people and find the square, the circle and the triangle in what they did. Above all, he must observe his own technique and discover these three geometrical figures.

There are lessons in the martial arts that can be taught. And there are other lessons that must be learned. Obviously, this student had reached the stage where he had to stop looking to others for his instruction and start learning on his own.

The geometrical figures in question are the secret of the universe. Everything in the universe may be broken down to these three geometries. From the shape of the sun to the house you live in to the molecules of an insect, these three symbols describe the architecture of the universe.

In the martial arts you will find the triangle describing the formation of the body. Every two bones that are put together make up a triangle. Even the way you stand, foot, foot and Tan Tien (the one point, a place of energy below the navel) show a triangle.

A circle is even easier, as it describes every potential motion of the hands. Whether you block or strike, kick or throw, you will be describing a circle. To move the hands without making a circle is quite difficult.

That brings us to the square, and there is no reason for the square. You might be able to find the square inside a house, or a computer, or a TV, but there is absolutely no place in the martial arts that you can find a square. Unless, of course, you have reached that place in the martial arts where you are ready to give up being taught and are ready to start looking, learning…and stealing.

About the Author: Al Case began martial arts 60 years ago. He has been a writer/columnist for the magazines, and has produced hundreds of hours of martial arts video instruction. He once taught Aikido to a group of students in 80 minutes. Sound crazy? He recorded it, and the video is available at:

Matrix Aikido

Have a great work out!
Al Case MonsterMartialArts.com

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The Secret of Pan Gai Noon

Posted on October 12, 2026 | 1 comment

Real Chinese Gung Fu

Newsletter 1148

Pan Gai Noon means ‘half hard/ half soft.’ It is an old Chinese kung fu with a difficult to trace lineage. It resulted in the art of Uechi ryu, and has had impact on all Okinawan and Japanese styles of martial arts.

Pan Gai Noon consists of three specific forms. These forms are called Sanchin, Seisan, and Sanseirui. There is a specific reason for each form.

The Sanchin is a power form. A student is taught to hold his stance and walk, and perform three simple, yet difficult to understand movements. These three movements are the secret of the first form of Pan Gai Noon.

The first movement is a simple thrusting of the hands. This movement is done twice through the form, and it represents a single line. It does not have to be done so hard you suffer whiplash, it can be done gently, as long as you put your mind and intention into it.

The second movement is a circular blocking movement. It is set up by holding the hands, palm upward, in middle blocks. You then make a horizontal circle of the hands which ends with a slightly angled thrust of the fingers.

The third movement is done towards the end of the form. You simple execute a pair of palm blocks, low and across the face. You then circle the hands in a vertical fashion, and slowly push (thrust) the palms forward.

Now, if you have done this form, especially in an older version that hasn’t been changed into a breathing exercise or some such, then you understand what I have described here. What most people don’t understand is the simple geometry of the thing. Most people don’t understand that I have described a sphere with a line through it.

That’s right, the three movements of Sanchin, the first form of Pan Gai Noon, describe the three axis for a sphere. The three movements define the x axis, the y axis, and the z axis. A sphere of energy, held in the hands of a martial artist, which can absorb all attacks, and yet, through a concentrated spear hand, offer an attack of devastating power.

This is the secret of the first form of Pan Gai Noon. This is the power that a student works on by doing the form endlessly. This is the power that will be translated into techniques on later forms.

BTW ~ If you are interested in Pan Gai Noon it is part of a course that includes THREE martial arts. It is called ‘Evolution of an Art,’ and it presents the complete arts of Kang Duk Won, Kwon Bup and Pan Gai Noon. That’s three complete books and
7 video segments (almost 2 1/2 hours) 50,000 words, 500 pages, 1000 graphics. Check it out at:

Evolution of an Art

https://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/evolution-of-a-martial-art/#url_2

Have a great work out!
Al Case  MonsterMartialArts.com

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Learning Kung Fu Fast through the Shaolin Butterfly!

Posted on October 9, 2026 | 3 comments

You don’t need years to learn to defend yourself!

Newsletter 1147

Click on cover to order!

Common opinion is that it takes decades to learn Kung Fu. Some people even say it takes lifetimes. Using western methods of logic, however, kung fu can be learned in a few months. Easily.

When I first began learning Kung Fu it was in bits and dribbles. This was back in the seventies, and the martial arts were just starting to explode across America. I had to travel many miles just to go to a school, and there was no guarantee that the school I went to would be any good.

One fellow taught me pieces of Wing Chun. Another fellow claimed to be expert in the spear. Normally, however, I would pick up books and videos and try to apply those concepts to my study of Karate.

Eventually, I began learning whole systems, and I found out something interesting…kung fu is a bit of a mish mash. I don’t mean to be insulting, but the whole thing is badly put together. This is because, for thousands of years, the art has been inbreeding.

Using physics and good old western logic, I began taking arts apart and putting them back together. The results were sometimes disastrous, and sometimes incredibly mind blowing. Eventually I formulated a method for this procedure, of analyzing and handling arts, which I called Matrixing.

Using Matrixing, I was analyzing Fut Ga. Fut Ga is one of those basic Shaolin arts with the ancient classical forms, and it had had a long time to get messed up. Inside one of these ancient forms, however, I came across a unique footwork pattern.

This unique footwork pattern enabled a student to learn how to go forward and backward, and side to side, and introduced the concept of angulation, or angling off to the side during the motion. This was a tremendous breakthrough. This was a basic method which cut through to the heart of the art.

Again, using Matrixing, I analyzed the footwork, and began sorting through every possible usage of the hands. It was simple, and yet comprehensive, and resulted in some very core techniques. I decided to call this uniquely Shaolin art the Butterfly.

So if you want to learn Kung Fu fast, you need look no further than the Shaolin Butterfly. The Shaolin Butterfly includes the concepts of virtually every kung fu, but it is so logical it literally downloads into the students brain. A student who has decided to learn Shaolin Kung Fu is going to be extremely expert within a few months.

Here’s a clip from my video/book,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jR4Wskx8I

The glory is that there are almost an hour and a half of video links, showing every single facet of the system.

Read this page on the course (same as the video/book) for full details… https://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/6-shaolin-butterfly/
Have a great work out!
Al Case MonsterMartialArts.com

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Tagged chinese martial arts training, gung fu self defense, learn kung fu, teach gung fu

Solving the Puzzle of the Martial Arts

Posted on October 7, 2026 | 2 comments

martial arts instructor course

To my knowledge, no one in the history of the martial arts has asked this question. No one has ever considered the Martial arts as one big puzzle. No one has ever taken the time to assemble the puzzle and see what the martial arts really are.

When I asked the question and, eventually, solved the puzzle, I was left with a rather astounding concept. I discovered that fabulous True Art that people talk about but never realize. I also found out why people never discover the True Art.

Interestingly, the True Art depends on hard core physics. Physics is at the heart of understanding all motion in this universe. Physics is the single thing that one must understand if they are to realize the True Art.

The first thing I did, when solving the puzzle of the martial arts, was to study as many arts as I could. I grew up in the Golden Age of the martial arts, and I saw movies, read books, studied video tapes, visited every school I could and talked to everybody I could. Eventually, I entered the digital age, and this brought a whole new wealth of information to my fingertips. With a simple computer I could access martial arts across the planet.

The second thing I did was write down every single technique I knew. I wrote these on the backs of business cards and spread them out across my living room. There were thousands of cards with the techniques of hundreds of styles.

The last thing I did was sort through them and put them in groups. I tried sorting them by specific attacks, by kick or fist or weapon or whatever. I tried sorting them by art, soft or hard, which country they came from, and whatever other grouping I could figure out.

Slowly, I began to filter out the duplicate techniques. I threw away all the poser techniques; those techniques in which the attacker has to wait for the defender to do the technique. Eventually, the number of cards grew smaller and became more manageable. In the end I was left with 40 techniques.

That’s all the martial arts are, you know, forty techniques. Every other technique in every other art is, in some manner or other, nothing more than a copycat of one of the forty techniques. But the real blessing wasn’t just that I came up with the source forty techniques of the Martial Arts, the real blessing was that I began to see threads of commonality that no one else had ever seen.

Yes, I have solved the martial arts, and they are a big puzzle. But that puzzle, once viewed in complete is so astoundingly magnificent that it takes the breath away. With the forty techniques the future of the martial arts is golden, and it is starting now.

About the Author: Al Case has been practicing the martial arts for 60 years. The original course on matrixing, Matrix Karate, can be found at:

Matrix Karate

This is a complete system, two videos and and a book. Click on the link and find out about it.

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Tagged learn martial arts, real karate, self defense instruction, self defense techniques

How to Win a Fight!

Posted on October 6, 2026 | 3 comments

The correct martial arts mental attitude

Newsletter 1146

Life is a fight.

A bunch of us students were talking with our instructor and somebody popped the question: “What’s it all about. What is the point of it all?”

The answer was simple: “To survive.”

I liked that answer, it was true, but I wanted something more. I finally settled on the answer: ‘To seek existence as.’

To survive reduces us to the level of animals. To ‘seek existence as’ elevates us. But, ‘seek existence as…what?’

That was the point at which I realized karate, any true martial art, was spiritual.
To survive doesn’t work because eventually you won’t. We all die.

But to do the forms, to seek perfection through endless repetition, to exchange strikes with a partner with an eye to improvement and not to ‘beat’ them, that sheds awareness on this fact of body, this illusion of mind, this…spirit.

You shouldn’t fight to beat somebody, for that reduces the race by one awareness. You should contest to improve the self, to create more awareness, and that enhances the race by more than one awareness.

Thus, my intent, when studying the martial arts was not to destroy, for though there is an art to destruction, the true art is in control.

Control yourself until your mind is calm and peaceful and an interesting thing happens…you learn to control others.

I learned to kill people decades ago, but learning to love through deadly skills…that was the trick.

Here’s a clip from my video/book, ‘The Last Martial Arts Book.’ This is probably the most advanced martial art in the world. It goes from hard technique to soft.

It is like Pa Kua Chang because it is modular, so you can learn it in pieces that all fit together. It is like Tai Chi in that it creates very subtle energy throughout the body. It is extremely effective on the street, the ring, or wherever. Most of all, it creates spiritual awareness.

The glory is that there are almost 30 video links, hours of detailed instruction, showing every single facet of the system.

Read this page for full detail… https://monstermartialarts.com/the-last-martial-arts-book/#url_2

Here’s the sample clip…
https://youtu.be/9Tfwomk5348

Have a great work out!
Al Case MonsterMartialArts.com

3 Comments

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Tagged karate power, martial arts instruction, pa kua chang, tai chi chuan

How Many Fights Will You Get In?

Posted on October 1, 2026 | 11 comments

A Martial Art Statistic…

A man gets in three fights during his life. This is a statistical fact. Of course some get in none, and others get in dozens. But regardless, when a fight happens several things are sure.

An attack will come from the blind side. This includes from the rear, a sneak attack, in the dark.

There is a 90% chance the attacker will be larger and stronger than you.
There is an 85% chance the attack will come from the attacker’s right hand.
A lesser statistic is that the attack will come with a weapon.

Looking grim, eh? EXCEPT, there is an almost 100% chance that if you face the attack with awareness, it will not happen.
Unfortunately, 98% of the people who are attacked lack the ability to muster the degree and type of Awareness necessary to forestall an attack.

So how do you develop the degree of Awareness necessary? You learn to fight. This could mean boxing, fencing, martial arts, and so on.
Mere physical conditioning will NOT develop Awareness.

The problem with boxing is that it is a sport. It may develop a bit of Awareness, but the mindset developed will tend to push one into fights, not into avoiding fights.

Fencing is fine, but there is a monstrous difference between thrusting a weapon and punching somebody. You might have spatial awareness, but the feel of encountering weight when the strike connects can crumple a person in itself.

So, martial arts. A study of force and direction, the development of physical fitness, and the emphasis on politeness as the true cure for encounters.
Of course, you might be one of the few who will never endure a physical altercation. Though…I wouldn’t bet on it.

But even if you never have to fight…if you have no martial arts you will lack in physical condition, you won’t understand the physics of impact, and, most important, you won’t experience Awareness.

Without Awareness you won’t appreciate life, and you will walk through life as though you have a target on your head. Hit me, I’m not as smart, or aware, as you. You won’t be responsible in your fields of endeavor, and you won’t enjoy interactions with Aware people.
.
I wrote a couple of books. They are based on the video courses I offer at MonsterMartialArts.com. and they have LOTS of links to the original videos showing how to do the Shaolin Butterfly.

The first one is called ‘Shaolin Butterfly Gung Fu.’ It is based on Fut Ga Gung Fu, which is one of the original five family arts from the Shaolin Temple. It has been rearranged so it is ten times easier to learn, and that much more efficient. A true fighting art.

Check it out on Amazon. And don’t forget to read the course description for the Shaolin Butterfly course at MonsterMartialArts.com.

Have a great work out, and don’t forget to subscribe to me on substack (MonsterMartialArts.substack.com). You can subscribe for free, but paid subscribers get my Monkey Boxing Video Course for cheap ($8 a month)
Many of you have started school, so make it your purpose to learn this art by next summer.
Have a great work out!

Al Case
MonsterMartialArts.com