I practice real Aikido, and the rest of the world doesn’t.
Don’t you just love a knucklehead statement like that? I mean, the fellow who makes it has broken rule number one: he thinks he is the only one, and therefore he is knee deep in loco.
That said, let me give you a rundown on real Aikido, and what the rest of the world is practicing.
If you are learning a tradition with respect, no matter who the teacher is, no matter what the argument is between form and function, you are learning real Aikido. And, hey, while we’re at it, this statement extends to other classical martial arts, such as karate or tai chi chuan, or whatever.
And, to put it another way…are you learning, or are you fighting?
Now, here comes the part where I offend people. The UFCers and the MMAers are fighting, so they are not doing a martial art. They are doing a martial sport.
A lot of people get upset with me when I say something like this, they take it as a personal attack,and then explain how their school is different.
And that is the dividing point, is their school teaching, or is it promoting fighting?
It is a simple question, with a simple answer, and Beavis and Butthead can’t answer it.
You know Beavis and Butthead? They are the fellows with bad grammar who go to forums and sites and drop comments like UR STOOPID! (note the misspelling), and F*** U! (No asterisks)
Brilliant fellows these, and they don’t study real Aikido. They study ca ca humor and eat with their mouth open and it’s really important who won the fight.
But it’s not important who won the fight. What’s important is whethere an individual is actually learning, becoming more disciplined and aware, exploring the manifestations of spirituality that a human being is.
The real fight, you see, is not between the gladiators in the ring, it is between the edification of the human spirit, and the degradation of the human meatball.
That’s why I study real Aikido, and that is the dividing line one must find in their own art if they are to win the martial art war.
I practice real Aikido, and the rest of the world doesn’t.
Don’t you just love a knucklehead statement like that? I mean, the fellow who makes it has broken rule number one: he thinks he is the only one, and therefore he is knee deep in loco.
That said, let me give you a rundown on real Aikido, and what the rest of the world is practicing.
If you are learning a tradition with respect, no matter who the teacher is, no matter what the argument is between form and function, you are learning real Aikido. And, hey, while we’re at it, this statement extends to other classical martial arts, such as karate or tai chi chuan, or whatever.
And, to put it another way…are you learning, or are you fighting?
Now, here comes the part where I offend people. The UFCers and the MMAers are fighting, so they are not doing a martial art. They are doing a martial sport.
A lot of people get upset with me when I say something like this, they take it as a personal attack,and then explain how their school is different.
And that is the dividing point, is their school teaching, or is it promoting fighting?
It is a simple question, with a simple answer, and Beavis and Butthead can’t answer it.
You know Beavis and Butthead? They are the fellows with bad grammar who go to forums and sites and drop comments like UR STOOPID! (note the misspelling), and F*** U! (No asterisks)
Brilliant fellows these, and they don’t study real Aikido. They study ca ca humor and eat with their mouth open and it’s really important who won the fight.
But it’s not important who won the fight. What’s important is whethere an individual is actually learning, becoming more disciplined and aware, exploring the manifestations of spirituality that a human being is.
The real fight, you see, is not between the gladiators in the ring, it is between the edification of the human spirit, and the degradation of the human meatball.
That’s why I study real Aikido, and that is the dividing line one must find in their own art if they are to win the martial art war.
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.
I haven’t done much gun training, know only a little about gun control, so when my wife asked me about it I had to rely on what I’d heard and basic martial arts training. This all boiled down to five basic points. Continue reading →
I’m always fascinated by martial art weapons.
It’s so nice to think that you can stand back and defend yourself
without ever getting your hands dirty.
The problem is that I don’t like many of the martial art weapons out there.
I like the Chinese sword.
It is delicate and quick,
like a knitting needle.
Great martial art weapons
I like blow guns,
they are silent,
foldable,
you can make poison darts.
I like two sticks,
they are fantastic for training.
And I like a few others,
but most martial art weapons are too heavy,
or confined in their motion.
Now,
that said,
I probably never told anybody this,
but my father was an engineer.
Actually,
he made prototypes.
At first he worked for a small company named Ampex.
He was responsible for materials and machining
for the original tape recorders
back in the fifties.
In the sixties he went to Memorex,
became the prototype engineer,
again,
responsible for machining exotic materials.
Now,
let me bridge this to the martial arts.
In his spare time
he used to play golf,
and he started putting together weird golf clubs.
By weird,
I mean that he had access to space age materials.
And he started making golf clubs
with titanium shafts,
fibre glass shafts,
heads made out of…whatever,
and so on.
He probably invented a couple of things,
but he never bothered with patenting,
the companies he worked for
were pretty obsessive about patents,
so he didn’t bother.
He knew if he patented a golf club
one of those companies
would claim it was theirs.
Seriously.
Anyway,
the reason I bring this all up
is that I don’t see any martial art weapons
using space age materials.
There’s a couple of things out there,
especially knives,
and there’s some other oddities,
but when is the last time
you saw a sword made out of some exotic material,
kept a better edge,
even if you used it to pound in spikes?
I know there have a been a few things made,
but not a lot.
Wouldn’t it be cool to have a staff
as light as fiberglass,
but virtually unbreakable?
A sword that actually bends?
Now,
I can see problems with some of these things,
for instance,
something might not have the weight,
and you do often need weight in a weapon,
but if you put an exotic metal blade on the end,
it would be as quick as a knitting needle,
but longer than a Chinese sword,
and it might put a whole new slant
on fighting with weapons.
Man,
I can think of all sorts of problems,
but it would be fun to make something like that,
see what the probs are,
then reinvent it again,
and eventually focus
on something better.
The whole thrust of war
has been for better machines.
The machine gun revolutionized warfare.
Then along came the tank.
The submarine,
the blimp…and the plane.
So why not the martial arts weapons?
Think about it,
a heat seeking nine section chain dart.
Or,
a laser guided samurai sword…
Well,
perhaps I’m going a little too far,
but if necessity if the mother of invention,
imagination is the father of invention.
All right,
let me share a win…
Al,
I just wanted to say that I think that your Blinding Steel program is a great addition to my students escrima training. I have been teaching them the Heaven Six patterns and found that your concept of the Circle of Blocks is a great way to enter into these patterns. The ability to flow from the circle to the heaven patterns is a great way for the students to learn movement, striking and blocking with ease. The nine square concept made it very easy for them to see the angle of attacks that can be delivered at any given time. It also is a great way to remove the fear of being struck during the disarm section of Blinding Steel. Excellent info once again. Well done Al, well done. I just want to say thank you and keep up the great work.
Michael G
Thanks Michael!
And for everybody,
my programs,
and especially the Blinding Steel,
are martial arts by themselves,
but their real purpose
is to clarify all martial arts,
and you can use them
with your martial art
no matter what martial art it is.
Anybody who teaches martial art weapons,
should consider implementing blinding steel.
Anybody who teaches Karate,
should start of with Matrix Karate.
And the Shaolin Butterfly
should be taught before traditional Shaolin.
Don’t you understand?
These are unique and whole martial arts by themselves,
but they expose and clarify
and give a big, whomping, huge,
kick in the butt
to all the traditional martial arts.
I haven’t re-invented the martial arts,
I have just figured out better ways to teach them,
how to make them work together,
how to figure out the lost (concealed) pieces,
and so on.
It’s like putting space age material,
on ancient weapons,
and getting something better.
Beyond Black means in any martial art, as you will see in this article.
When a person is beyond black belt it means he is ready for advanced training.
In Karate, and similar martial arts, the training is more advanced forms.
What lies beyond Black Belt?
But these more advanced forms don’t always mean much. The movements are sometimes so esoteric that they aren’t workable, and they don’t seem to make only marginal advanced energy capability in the body of the student.
This holds true for just about every Martial Art, from Karate to Aikido to Taekwondo to…whatever.
So the real reason for these advanced but same old same old forms are that they afford the practitioner the means to ‘polish’ his art. To get better at…the basics.
To get better at the basics means that they become smoother, more intuitive, more usable.
And, there are other qualities to be appreciated here: calmness of mind, a certain type of wisdom, some sixth sense abilities (if you lucked out and got in a good system, very rare) and so on.
When I found myself in the position of teaching people beyond black belt I decided to do things differently. I began teaching whole arts for each level after black belt.
I might teach a Shaolin style to second black black belt, a pa kua style to 3rd black, and so on.
This gave me tremendous leeway in what I teach. I was actually able to shift programs around like shuffling cards, and fit the programs and specific martial arts much better to individual students, and yet still maintain a distinct discipline and structure in my classes.
Furthermore, the polishing consideration was not neglected, but rather enhanced. Basics are basics, from art to art, and there is little difference. Thus, not only was the student working on basics, but he was getting different viewpoints of basics, which helped him understand them in depth.
The truth of the matter is that this method allows me to teach more than art, but a viewpoint of art, a perspective that is not able to be taught in normal classes.
It is a matter of how much knowledge you can impart, not art, but quality of knowledge, and the ability to import more knowledge…at a glance.
What was really pleasant for me is that I often run into these old students, and they’ll say they learned some new art, and I’ll ask them about it, and they’ll say something like, ‘Oh, I got together with so and so and we traded systems.’
Traded systems. Just like people did before everything went commercial. As in trading Pa Kua for Tai Chi. Or Shaolin for Karate. As it says in various accounts of martial artists, especially those who created their own systems.
Able to trade a whole system because they have been trained not to do a million punches, but to do a million punches while absorbing several martial arts systems.
And it gets really interesting for me when I get around these old students, they’ll be talking about things like shifting the tan tien while making a kung fu kick work in a karate style, or retaining power without dropping their weight, or some other oddity that it took me decades to figure out, but they are doing in a couple of years…and they have a whole lifetime to go places I dream about.
Lucky guys.
But, that’s okay. When I give up this body I’ll get a new one and find one of these guys to teach me.
Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t let you know that the reason I am able to teach lots of martial arts beyond black belt is because of this Matrixing Technology I developed…it’s at Monster Martial Arts.
It’s true, Light Gung Fu can be made out of any martial art you study, and that includes Karate, Silat, Aikido, whatever! In fact, it is incredibly easy!
All you have to do is go get some cinderblocks, set them on end, and do your forms (kata) on them! Instant Light Gung Fu!
But whatever you believe…chi energy power exists!
Here are some key items to help you out in this search for light body Gung fu.
You don’t need a lot of cinderblocks. As little as four, but you can use as many as you want.
It is best to lay them sideways the first few times you do this. After you are comfortable (won’t take but a day or two), you stand them on end. After a week or two, you can lay two on the side. Then you can go to one on end on top of one on end, and then two on end, and so on.
You want to pick a good surface to eliminate brick wobble. And when you purchase the cinder blocks, set them on end and pick out the ones with the most stability.
IMPORTANT: when you fall, learn to pick up your legs and search for a place to land. You don’t want to break a leg by stepping on the falling cinderblock.
Now, this method of light Gung fu has been around for years. It is called sunken post, or sunken pillar training. Usually you dig holes and sink them, and climb the poles until you are six or eight feet off the ground, striking Gung fu postures and dancing around like a kung fu crane.
But, that’s a lot of digging, so my method is simpler and quicker, and saves a lot of digging and measuring and leveling and basic construction work.
Nothing wrong with the ancient sunken pole tricks, especially if you are an official Gung fu school, but, my method of light kung fu is much simpler.
Now, the main area where you grow is going to be in balance.
Everything is balance. From being able to stop yourself in an aggressive karate move without falling forward, to the delicate hourlong meditation of holding the bowl. Everything is balance.
So standing on a couple of cinderblocks on end is going to give you tremendous balance.
First, you will feel awkward, the body will shift back and forth in attempts to keep your balance.
After a while your kung fu maneuvering will become easy as pie, and it will be as natural as walking, and you will likely feel a nice, little glow developing in your tan tien.
The muscles on both sides of the leg, you see, are going to fire up, work back and forth, and that will start up the body energy generator, which is what the tan tien actually is.
And that is how you create light Gung fu out of Karate, or taekwondo, or pa kua, or…ANY…Martial Art you might happen to study.
Here’s a great article in which the author demonstrates light gung fu. And here’s a great article on how to learn Shaolin Kung Fu.
Karate pain might be good, and it might be bad. It depends on the circumstances.
I know, we’ve all heard the saying, ‘No pain, no gain,’ but that isn’t what this is all about.
In Karate Pain can be an instruction
You see, there are two types of Karate Pains.
One type of Karate Pain is the real injury. The broken bone, the accidental punch in the nose or poke in the eyes. These injuries, these types of Karate pain are real and should be attended to.
If you’re bleeding, stop the durned bleeding. If you’re nose is broken, see a doctor. A poke in the eye could result in all manner of eye problems.
So you take care of it.
The thing here is to be able to tell the difference between karate pain that is real, and karate pain that is in the mind.
A bruise isn’t usually serious. So just inspect it, take care of it if you have to, and move on.
A dislocated joint, better get that sucker looked at.
A bone bruise…hmmm.
Bone bruises, especially when they are the result of some fast and intense sparring, can be quite painful.
I remember a blocking exercise which kept me in bone bruises for years.
I remember overextending punches, and suffering bone bruises inside the elbow joint where the bones slapped together. That was painful for a long time.
But, bruises, even bone bruises, are just something you go through.
The karate blocking exercise I spoke of, it was called the eight step blocking exercise, and we did it every class, and we all had constant bruising of the forearms.
BUT, after a couple of years of this we would be doing freestyle, do a block, and our opponents would yelp in pain. Simply, we got used to the pain, started ignoring it, and got the abilities that we wouldn’t have gotten if we hadn’t persisted in our karate classes.
And there were other exercises, some quite painful, that gave us abilities that people who don’t take karate, or other martial arts like kung fu or taekwondo, would never get.
The ability to grip somebody with a hand and bring them to their knees simply by squeezing.
The ability to get calm and focused when terrible things are happening and everybody else is going into a state of panic.
There is a saying, you don’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. Man, is this true.
For seven years I broke eggs. I still have bumps on the bones in my forearms from the durned eight step blocking exercise.
But when it comes to getting things done, I’m the go to guy.
Simply, I have faced pain, and now no the difference between real pain, and fake pain, the kind of pain one should just ignore and go ahead with his work.
This is something that is not taught in school.
And, truth, this is something that makes people great.
Pioneers of America had this quality. There was nobody there when they broke a wagon or got shot with an arrow or whatever, and so they had to fix everything themselves.
In recent times this ability, to forge ahead when the going gets tough, has been weaned out of people. But the martial arts, especially exercises that result in the karate pain i describe here, bring this ability out again.
Here’s a great article on the toughest Martial Arts class I ever taught. And if you are seriously interested in finding out more about this Karate pain type of thing, and how it can help you, check out the Evolution of an Art course at Monster Martial Arts.
Bagua Zhang Technique is an easy thing to learn and simple to apply. The problem is that they might actually be to simple.
Too simple to learn because most people don’t have the discipline of mind, the mental ability, to make Bagua Zhang Martial Arts work. They get lost in the endless possibilities of intricacy, and lose sight of the simplicity.
Come on! All of you! At once! I know the best martial art!
When you walk the circle you must do so with an eye to developing Martial Arts Bagua Zhang Technique. These martial arts gems rely on one simple principle: the opponent must extend his arm, and the person doing the circle walking self defense must use the extended limb like a captain’s wheel. That is, he must turn the spoke, that the hub of the body would revolve.
If the punch is fast and hard, this is difficult to do, and what punch is not going to be fast?
The solution is to practice until you see the energy forming, until you see the punch generating, and then be willing and able to use whatever part of the arm you get.
For instance, the attacker launches a strike, and it is a short, circular type of jab. To make a bagua zhang technique work the student must go with the punch, let it pass, and push on the elbow, or even the shoulder.
This means you have to not only walk sideways, but you have to fine tune your distance, so that the opponent misses, passes, and is the right range for your push.
When you push you must not do so faster than the strike, nor slower. The best bagua zhang techniques are going to be the ones in which you harmonize with the motion, and therefore with the attacker.
Think: if he feels you touch him, he will resist, so if you use too much force he will change. But you don’t want him to change…you just want him to be slightly out of kilter, unable to follow up, at a slight disadvantage.
Now, what do you want to do? Continue your circle walking and tie him in knots? Spin him to the earth, circle the arm and reverse direction into a lock or takedown? These are all potential bagua fighting techniques, but the one you choose will depend on one thing: what is the most simple.
What is simple, that is what is difficult. You see, most people train to do something, but when you reach the point where you do nothing, then you can let the attacker guide you to his self destruction.
There is a phrase in The Tao: ‘Do nothing until nothing is left undone.’
Do you understand how this works with a bagua zhang techniques?
The point is that you must practice not the technique, but the concept behind the technique, then your kung fu will work, and then you will have the effortless Bagua Zhang technique that is easy and simple to do.
There is a great piece of writing on how to learn kung fu fast at Monster Martial Arts. Or you could just go to the ultimate bible on Bagua Zhang techniques.
Go to the Testimonials in the menu and do a search for your martial art!
Hi Sensei Al!
(On the Black Belt Course) Everything is working great! Thank you for the quick responses. I am enjoying the one on one videos. It may be cliche, but I do feel like I'm there. I also like the conversational style and the way you explain how you're teaching and why. You've got a new student for life. Thank you. ~ Daniel
What's interesting about Al Case's writings and teachings is there isn't any emphasis on 'the unknown' or 'mystery' behind martial arts. Al will slam this information in your face! Quite frankly the data isn't hidden, you'll find you're blind. ~ WG
Al Case is a powerful presence to be around, but if you can confront it, then you will not be sorry, for there is no one like him, and it is an extreme privilege and honor.
I used to read your articles in Inside Karate and was excited when I found your web site. ~ RV
As an old timer with thirty-five years of experience I was really bored, but your works have peaked my interest and shown me that there is much more to learn. I Thank You Again, Sincerely ~ CC
Where was this information 24 years ago? This course is one of the best things to ever happen to me. Thank you Al Case for the gift of knowledge!
Be blessed my teacher, ~ Rev. Ernest R
I bought the Infinite Fist tape YEARS ago and you know? I Keep going back to it! ~ KS
You are a master. You have opened me up to things that I have never thought of before. ~ KFM
I purchased your course on "Create Your Own Martial Art" and absolutely love it. I believe that your matrixing system is very unique. ~ DW
In my entire experience twenty years as a student and an instructor since, no one has contributed more to my martial arts education than you have. I started following your works twenty years ago and although I was young then I knew you had the True Art it was obvious to me even then. ~ Charles C
Students will know longer be slaves of poor instructors and practitioners. ~ Lonnie M
Win from Master Instructor Course
Let me start out by saying thank you. Thanks from all the martial artists who asked why. Al, I'm in the Security and Law enforcement field and carry Instructor credentials, so effective methods in combat and teaching them is what I constantly look for.
Win from Matrix Aikido
I just had to write to you to say WOW. Your INSTANT AIKIDO is great!!! ~ SD
My students have started coming up to me after class telling me how much more they are enjoying it, and that the classes have stopped being so ridged and now flow in a kind of give and take between me and them. I have stopped being a task master and started having fun and letting them teach me as well.
I did the Master Instructor Course and it hit me. The Basics that are so concisely communicated in this course including the Matrix principle IS the solution. It doesn’t matter what “style” I call my art, because all styles follow these same principles. It doesn’t matter how hard I train or how many repetitions I do if I don’t train the right way. And I would never become a master if I didn’t know how it all fits together. Now I do! I can honestly say that I am now on the path that I have always sought as a martial artist. Thank you Al!
I conducted a Matrix Aikido training class for a Security Team at a local manufacturing plant. I tailored the training according to their Use Of Force policy. As you know they need control and takedown skills. I knew Matrix Aikido would be the answer. The training plan you shared was boss. The class went so smoothly. The participants learned very quickly. By the end of the class you could see techniques of Monkey Boxing coming through. They were also able to create their own techniques. There was one female officer in the class who asked to become my private student. She was throwing, locking and taking down guys twice her size. The Security Supervisor wants me to come back and with more participants! I'll keep you posted. ~ L M
Have found your books and dvds excellent. My background is mainly in medical qigong but I practice Sun Style Tai CHi, BaGua and HsingI as well as Eagle Claw, Snake Style Kung Fu and several Wudang weapon styles. This is the first time I have had the underlying principles so clearly explained and in a way that they are immediately workable and demonstratable. I have worked through the Master Instructors Course, Aikido and Butterfly Bagua and have started to breakdown the Sun Hsing I using your matrix method. I was even able to teach a 70 year old friend of mine with no martial arts background your instant aikido where she was able to do some very accomplished locks and throws after the first lesson
Search the testimonials for your martial art!
Free Martial Arts Books
HERE'S SOME FREE MARTIAL ARTS BOOKS, MY THANKS FOR DROPPING BY.
Includes books on Bruce Lee, the Truth About Matrixing, the first Martial Arts book sold in America (It's a real hoot!), and much more!
