Tag Archives: kung fu

Training in Horse Stances for MORE Power in the Martial Arts!

Newsletter 864

A Simple Exercise for Sinking the Weight in the Martial Arts

Happy after Easter!
Hope you don’t run over any eggs
when you mow your lawn.
Yuck!

Okay,
here is one of the exercises I use,
especially for kids,
but great for anybody
who wishes to find
the true foundation of karate
or any other martial art.

Grounding.
It is when you sink your weight into the ground.
Simply,
you have to sink your weight,
to attach the machine that is your body
so that you can use that machine.
This is basic mechanics.

I am always,
when I teach forms,
telling people to sink their weight.
They have to bend both legs,
feel the weight,
let the weight reach the ground,
so that the tan tien will create energy.

You don’t reach the ground,
you have no energy.
You have no real energy building inside your legs.

It’s funny,
people doing boxing,
kick boxing,
modern tournament type freestyle,
they bounce.
They want to look like Bruce Lee.
But before Bruce,
everybody sank their weight,
shifted their weight between their feet
as they edged towards the opponent.
It was the gunfighter mentality.
Sink,
edge forward,
spring.

Nowadays,
unfortunately,
everybody has forgotten this.
Everybody wants to bounce.
Bouncing uses up muscles.
Sinking the weight creates…endless energy.
Energy that can be used to spring like a cat.

Okay,
the best stance for teaching this is the horse stance.
The horse stance can be used in freestyle,
quite easily,
but the true glory of the horse stance
is simply for the creation of energy.

So you have the kids face in a direction.
You say back, they pop their horse stance to the rear.
You say right, they pop it to the right side,
left is the other side, front is back to the front.

When I say ‘POP,’
that is key.
Here’s the secret,
you must NOT let the body raise in the air.
The head must not bob up and down.

You must ‘swap’ your feet
so fast that you don’t have time to fall,
and you must do so without popping up.
This is not an exercise in falling,
it is an exercise in moving so fast you don’t have time to fall.

The secret here is that you have to use the tan tien.
To properly pop your stance,
to move both feet so they start at the same time,
and land at the same time,
you must explode from the tan tien to make this happen.

simple exercise, eh?
And,
when teaching a class,
it’s sort of fun.
Kids love it.
They’ll bob up and down all over the place,
but you just go around and hold a hand over their head,
and tell them not to touch it.

Works every time.
Here’s a link to the actual forms and exercises that I use to build Chi.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4c-matrixing-chi-power/

Have some great tan tien exploding energy!
And a great work out!

Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4c-matrixing-chi-power/

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:

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Remember,

Google doesn’t like newsletters,

so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

The Secret of Strong Martial Arts Muscles

Newsletter 863 ~ Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter and get some FREE BOOKS!

The Secret of Strong Muscles in the Martial Arts

And there is a secret.
Before get to it,
let me go over the basic understanding
of how muscles work in the martial arts.

First off,
the forms are calisthenics.
The horse stance is a squat,
the front stance is an almost lunge,
and so on.

And,
every time you snap the muscles,
close them violently to a focus,
you are using plyometrics,
plyometrics is contraction and expansion of muscle
designed to increase strength.

And everybody knows
how studying the leverage of muscles,
and using those muscles,
when throwing people around
is fantastic exercise for the body.

After a lifetime of doing forms,
tossing people around,
striking and kicking,
I am in top shape.
I shake my head in dismay
when I see people younger than me,
tottering around on canes,
clutching walkers,
hauling oxygen bottles.

All that stuff could be avoided.

A little fun in the martial arts every day.

Just playing tag with your fists,
gotcha with kicks,
and a little grab and toss with bodies…

And, it’s not too late!
You can eat right,
exercise right,
and turn your age back.

Anyway,
I promised you a secret.
and it’s good one.
One that I’ve never heard anybody talk about.

At first,
you work out hard.
You build your strength,
you push yourself until you can do those techniques
without any problem.

And,
when it isn’t any problem
you stop working so hard.
In fact,
you start to go backwards.
you use less and less muscles.

The work outs you do won’t be as hard,
but the mental focus is greater,
until you don’t use muscles at all.

Effortless martial arts,
putting somebody down with a finger.
Isn’t that a great ‘death strike?’

Or tossing somebody with a shrug,
everybody stares at you and says,
‘What’d he do?’

And what you do is simple,
you use muscles
until you don’t need muscles.

The fact of the matter is
there are three aspects to the martial arts,
Speed…Power…Technique.

Speed and power diminish with age,
but technique done right,
will never fade.
Good technique uses the muscles less and less,
until you don’t need them.
A weak guy can throw a strong guy.
If a guy was actually to stay weak,
after doing some intense martial arts.
Grin.

But that’s the secret,
do your techniques,
put awareness into your techniques,
until you don’t need muscle,
you just know the angle,
and your correct body alignment
lets the energy flow.

Well,
there’s a lot more to it,
I’ll talk more about this stuff on this blog
at MonsterMartialArts.com

In the meantime,
if you’re interested in some very streetwise stuff
that really works the muscles,
fast changes
lots of good, clean fun,
and exercises that will build muscles
until you reach the stage
where you don’t use muscles,
try this:

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/3a-blinding-steel-matrixing-weapons/

It’s a weapons course,
very logical and quick to do,
and, heck,
the guy who comes after you on the street
will likely have a weapon.
Might just as well learn how to swing a little quick weight at his head,
eh?
Grin.

Happy Easter!

Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/3a-blinding-steel-matrixing-weapons/

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:

https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,

Google doesn’t like newsletters,

so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

Real Martial Arts are Easy to Find…

Newsletter 861

Where to Find Real Martial Arts Knowledge

Happy spring work out!
It is so beautiful today…PERFECT for a work out!

I once said,
I don’t know if anybody recalls this,
that if you want information
there is a definite sequence of material to consider.

A newspaper provides a headline
a few facts that might or might not have anything to do with anything.
Because a newspaper sells tragedy by screaming it out.

If you want more information,
a magazine works well.
People buy magazines because
the articles are more in depth.

If you want to learn a lot,
read a book.

This is actually pretty obvious stuff.

BUT…have you converted it to the internet?
That sort of media?

Most people watch the TV to get mad.
They listen to the news and walk away pissed off.
The news is just bad gossip,
no real information,
just inflame you
so you’ll tune in tomorrow.

Then there’s the internet.
Blogs and newsletters, oh my.

But the internet is written by boneheads,
for the most part.
People who want to get rich,
or who are easily titillated.

There are a few good sites,
mine foremost,
but…lots of crap out there.

But, it is a good way to find out about…videos.
You can order videos,
the equivalent of a book,
and if a picture is worth a thousand words,
a video is worth a million.

That said,
let me pick on one bad guy on the internet,
the one bad guy that we all (me included) latch on to.

Youtube.

Here’s the problem with youtube.
People end up not looking for information,
they don’t want to learn,
they want titillation.
They want entertainment.

Here’s the comparison.
When there was no internet,
and people commonly read magazines,
we would pour over those mags.
We would borrow them from friends,
read every word in them,
including the ads,
and even the publication notices on the front page.

It was our only source of information!
We were starved for information!

Now, with the glut of everybody and their cat
showing off their poorly imagined kata,
and techniques that could get you killed,
the replacement for magazines does more harm than good.

People don’t look for information,
they click from vid to vid,
looking for…the latest knock out.
The guy getting hit by the car.
The two girls catfighting.

People, entertained by the net,
have become seduced by the salacious.
They don’t want to learn.

I can’t tell you how many times I have people
who think they know karate,
but really are only enraptured
by the joy of combat.
They fight,
without thought of learning.
They spend too much time on the net,
bruising their brains with people who don’t know anything,
bloody headlines,
and gimmicks.

Now,
why do I tell you about this?
Merely so you’ll think about it.
I don’t suppose to change the world,
only a few people who get it.

That’s just the way it is.

So the next time you start searching
for the latest nose-flattening,
eyeball bleeding,
kidney squashing knockout…

remember to finish up the night by coming to a site
like MonsterMartialArts.com.
Think about getting videos that are a couple of hours in content,
with accompanying books,
filled with illustrations,
and the exact method of how to do the martial arts.

You’ll be glad you did.

Real knowledge will make you feel a lot better
than salacious, titillating knock outs.
It will make you a better person,
and last your whole life.

Here’s a link to make you think:

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/2f-matrixing-the-master-text/

It is the big record of matrix research,
it will tell you how I came up with the science of matrixing.

Now,
have a FANTASTIC work out!

Al

 

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/2f-matrixing-the-master-text/

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:

https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,

Google doesn’t like newsletters,

so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

How to have the strongest punch, the most powerful punch, in the universe!

Newsletter 860

Gordon Liu, Cal Worthington, and the Most Powerful Punch in ALL the Martial Arts

Let’s talk about perfection in your work outs.

I’m pretty lucky.

I grew up through the so called

golden age of martial arts.

Though,

truth,

I think the golden age is just over the hill,

we’re on the cusp of great things,

things that the ancient masters would eat their hearts out for.

So,

in this golden age of martial arts

were some wild ass chop sockies.

Chop sockies are the name we’ve given kung movies

of the seventies and eighties.

Special effects consisted of trampoline kicks,

and the most terrible acting imaginable.

But for a country that had no martial arts

this was the holy grail.

Gordon Liu was the ringleader

of this massive influx of kung fu.

‘Thirty-six Chambers of Death,’

you know?

And,

one night I was watching late TV.

During the eighties

late night was supported by Cal Worthington.

Stick with me now,
I’m going to take a little trip…

Cal Worthington sold cars on late night TV.

He would put a tiger on the hood of a car

and call it his dog ‘spot.’

One day I needed to buy a car,

so I headed over to Cal Worthington’s place,

kids and wife in tow.

Now Cal had a song that played on TV.

The song went…

‘Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal!’

And I didn’t know that my two boys couldn’t understand the song,

and had replaced Cal’s lyrics with their own.

So we hoped out of the car

a bunch of sales men were leaning against a nearby car,

and one of my boys went up to them

and asked if this was really where Cal Worthington  lived.

The salesman smiled and said yes.

My boys immediately launched into their own version of the Cal song.

‘Pussy Cal, Pussy Cal, Pussy Cal!

Needless to say,

the salesman were lying on the ground and holding their guts.

They couldn’t stop laughing.

I tried to get one to stop laughing.

I said, ‘We need a car.’

Between laughs he said, ‘I don’t care!’

And the laughter started up again.

Okay,

that was a long way to go,

but here’s the thing,

amongst those bad, old movies that Cal supported

was a little gem called, ‘Mad Monkey Kung Fu.’

At three in the morning,

one summer night,

I was watching that thing,

and the hero gets his ass kicked,

and he is training in this weird stuff called Monkey Kung Fu,

and suddenly I see the training gimmick.

He hits with his outstretched fingers,

then, without retracting his hand,

he goes forward with his knuckles,

then, without retracting his hand,

he goes forward with his fist.

I looked at that.

I started going around the house,

hitting walls, doors, anything that was a surface.

Fingers, knuckles, fist…

Fingers, knuckles, fist…

Fingers, knuckles, fist…

And,

I knew it was a movie gimmick.

I knew it was bogus,

but I couldn’t stop practicing it.

Fingers, knuckles, fist…

And,

over the course of months

I tweaked that sucker into different forms,

explored different timings,

and things started to happen.

When I began kenpo,

back in 1967,

I used to hang a piece of cardboard,

and strike it with a backfist.

Eventually,

I was able to make hole on the cardboard,
but I stopped because there was no place to go.
I make a hole and…so what?

What was the next step?

Then,
years later,
I found the Mad Monkey Punch,

and this obsession gripped me again,

‘and over the months I began to put holes in things.
cardboard,
pieces of drywall,
whatever.

Now,

everything is connected in this universe.

somebody touches your little toe,

and even the hairs on your head feel it.

When I started practicing the Mad Monkey Punch

I was already at the point
where I could make holes in cardboard with a backlist,

and I could do push ups on two straight fingers.

And, I had done  a ton of Tai Chi,

Tai where I shifted the body back and forth,

causing weight to go back and forth,

causing a feeling of energy going back and forth,

like water in a  bathtub,

as it were,

and I suddenly began putting that into a fist.

Here is the equation:
Kenpo snapping backfist.

Push ups on two perfectly straight fingers.

The Mad Monkey Punch.

Tai Chi sloshing around inside my karate body.

equals

a fist that can penetrate the body.

There are three depths when striking,

strike the skin,

hitting as hard as you can,

but leaving no pain.

strike the muscle,

causing bruise.

strike the bone

causing the bones to shiver and break.

I sometimes am teaching people,

and when I want to make a point,

I strike for the bone.

The students INSTANTLY crumple up.

They jump back and rub their shoulder,

and wonder how the heck an old man can hit so hard.

I don’t hit so that the body is flung back,

in fact,

I hit and the body doesn’t go anywhere,

it is just revulsed from the introduction of total body invalidation,
invalidation that the student can feel
from the little toe
to the hairs on his head..

Sometimes you can see me do this kind of punch on videos,

but not often.

I’ll have to shoot a video on it,
showcase it for you.

it really is easy,

but it took a long time to develop,

especially since I didn’t know what I was doing.

And I really didn’t know what I was doing,

but it was like I was caught in a current,

and bouncing off significant rocks,

until an idea or two formed in my head.

Connections.

Everything in the universe is totally connected,

but it takes awareness to see it.

The martial arts grow that awareness,

but you have to have patience,

and a wee bit of faith.

Anyway,

I hope I have inspired a few of you

to explore some of these things,

snapping backfists
totally straight two finger push ups,

mad monkey punches

tai chi until you are sloshing bathtub of energy.

Or maybe something I’ve said

has connected with something you already know,

or caused a spark to happen,

or something.

You know,

if you wish to know what I know,

to tap into my 50 years of martial arts obsessing,

it’s all in the videos and books.

Try this one…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/hard-punch/

That’s a book written on punching.

A whole book,

listing ALL the exact methods I used,

how I figured out the sequence of energies,

to make a perfect punch,

and the exact drills I did.

Actually,

there’s three books bundled here,

read about the other two at the bottom of this page.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/hard-punch/

Thanks for being martial artists,

and have a great work out!

Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/hard-punch/

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:

https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,

Google doesn’t like newsletters,

so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

Perfection in the martial arts

Newsletter 859

Perfection in the Martial Art

May you have Perfect Art
in your Perfect Work Out!

Perfection.
Interesting concept.
After you read this newsletter
it will be easy to attain.
If you can count every blade of grass in the field.

Perfection means
free from flaw or defect.

Most people don’t even know what a flaw or defect is in the martial arts.
They hit and focus on how hard they hit.
Or they box and exult when they make a good punch.

These things are not even close.

When I was doing Aikido
way back when
the instructor said an interesting thing.

The perfect circle has no corners.

Hmmm.
The context he was talking about,
the technique we were involved in,
was a simple shoulder roll.

We would roll,
following instructions as best we could
and we would hit a hip,
or flop a foot at the end,
or find any of a thousand other ‘corners.’

So we worked and we worked until our rolls were silent.
A silent roll is a perfect roll.

Interesting concept.

But how do you apply that to the rest of the martial arts?

In aikido it is easy,
if you have impact with your partner
while doing a technique,
you knock him out of harmony,
you knock him out of the perfect arc of the technique,
instead of merging with his lunch,
you nudge it out of true
and the technique fails.
The technique has corners.

And,
you can apply the concept of silence to this,
a silent technique has no flesh slapping,
no bones knocking,
no collisions,
either with each other or the floor.

But that’s aikido.
How do you apply this technique to other arts?

You look for silence.
Don’t slap the feet on the floor.

Don’t ‘collide with an arm when blocking,
rather cut it effortlessly.
You are silent…he goes ow!

Now,
obviously,
there are times when you will make sound.
Say you hit the floor with your foot to supercharge a technique.
There is sound there.
But is the sound of the foot hitting the floor the only sound?

Is the sound of the kiai,
when you deliver a punch,
the only sound?

Does your fist hit and create sound?
But sound is excess energy
thrown out from a technique that isn’t truly pure.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

The interesting thing is trying to move with no sound.
I sometimes work out late at night,
everybody asleep,
and I try to work out with no sound
except those that are part of the technique.

When you can punch somebody with no sound
the impact is pure,
the transference of weight from one body to another
is pure.

So think about it.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it in class,
it’s one of those work on it…in silence.
By yourself,
exploring how little you can do
to do a lot.

Anyway,
probably the best art
for learning to create silence in your technique is Tai Chi Chuan.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/five-army-tai-chi-chuan/

Have a great work out!
Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/five-army-tai-chi-chuan/

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

Getting Smart in the Martial Art

Newsletter 850

Knowledge in the Martial Arts

Fantastic day to you!

Do you remember when you were in the fifth grade?
You were smarter than the fourth graders,
you could,
let’s be honest,
kick their little butts.
But those sixth graders…
man, they were big and mean!

And,
you realize that I have honestly depicted the martial arts.
This is the way the belt structure works,
just like grades in school.

Those purple belts,
they’ll never toughen up.
Little dweebs.
But those brown belts,
man!
They are mean!

But they aren’t bigger.
The sixth graders are bigger,
but the brown belts…they’re about the same size.

If you take a black belt and a green belt,
and you give them a bunch of tests,
push ups, sit ups,
that sort of thing,
there usually isn’t a great difference.

So what is the difference between belts?

The simple answer is:
the upper belts have better kicks and punches and stuff.

But there is a more important answer that most people miss out on.

Knowledge.

The upper belt has more knowledge.

But what is knowledge?

There’s car mechanic knowledge,
and farmer knowledge,
and mathematical knowledge.
All sorts of fields of knowledge,
but martial arts knowledge is different.

What I am talking about is the experiential knowledge.

For upper, upper belts,
it is simply referred to as ‘polishing.’
A guy doesn’t learn something new,
he ‘polishes’ his technique.

In other words,
he does something with more and more attention to detail,
and in that minutiae,
in that painstaking examination of motion,
is more knowledge.

Sometimes,
the differences of knowledge,
on that level,
seem inconsequential.
But,
let me tell you,
the differences,
the smaller they are,
are ginormous.

How do you know when somebody is going to do something
before they do it?

Today’s modern black belts
often can’t do this.
Yet this ability,
to tell what somebody was going to do
before they did it,
was considered normal
for a good black belt
a few decades ago.

But today’s modern black belts
are usually interested in running a school,
or somehow translating their activity into money.

Today’s black belts don’t actually work out much.

They teach,
and there is knowledge there,
but it is not the same thing
as creating silence around a technique
until you can see the technique
before it comes.

This is the knowledge of which I speak.

You do a technique
looking at it harder and harder
until you see some difference,
some odd thing
you never saw before,
and then you have a bit more knowledge.

Don’t get me wrong,
I’m not telling you teaching is wrong,
just that there is a field of knowledge
which teaching doesn’t plumb into,
and which isolating yourself into endless repetitions of a technique does.

Teaching provides a database of knowledge,
but you still have to build a high mountain on that database.

Okay,
so what does it feel like?
What does this higher knowledge look like?

I’m 68,
I teach a couple of hours a day,
but I work out intensely.
Sometimes not as much as I want,
but I still try to work out EVERY DAY!
To look at an inch,
and slice it into finer lengths.
To look at a kick
and find some awareness of body in it
of which I was not aware.

Let’s say I am doing a replacement kick.
Specifically,
stand in a front stance facing a bag or wall.
Now…

replace your front foot with your rear foot
and strike the wall with your front foot.

Both feet move at the same time,
fear to front at the same as front to wall.
The rear foot plants on the floor at the same time
as the front foot impacts upon the wall.

And you reverse the motion to the beginning and original posture.

Okay,
you do this,
and you do this,
you begin to appreciate
how the angles of the feet,
the muscles of the leg,
and all the minutiae
must come together in an instant.
And,
if you keep doing this and doing this,
maybe for years,
one day you will be watching your feet from above,
just watching,
sort of marveling,
and thinking,
‘Huh, that’s good, that’s working.’

No joy or pride,
just deeper appreciation,
a satisfaction for the days work
that nobody,
unless they do the martial arts for decades
will ever understand.

But here’s what I didn’t mention.
You watch your feet,
without taking your eyes off your target.

HUH?
HOW CAN THAT BE?
HOW CAN YOU WATCH BOTH THE FEET AND THE WALL YOU ARE HITTING?
DON’T YOU HAVE TO TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE WALL TO SEE THE LEGS?

Here’s where it gets tricky,
but pay attention to what I’m about to say.

The eyes are a bio-mechanical device
through which you look.
They eyes don’t look.
They are the ‘binoculars,’
the ‘glasses,’
the ‘microscope’
and you have to ask this one important question…
who is looking through the microscope?

Who?

Who is doing the technique?

Who is operating your body?

If you are watching it from above,
without eyes,
then who are you?
What are you?

This is the knowledge of which I speak,
this is the higher levels of the martial arts,
lost in calisthenics and tournament training,
never seen by people obsessed with bullying groups of students.

So I kick,
and,
outside my body,
outside my eyes,
I watch the kick,
and in the watching comes a power unlike anything an earthling has ever imagined.

It makes me want to do martial arts every single waking moment
of every single day
for the length of my life.

And,
when you finally get that removed viewpoint,
I call it a ‘Neutronic Viewpoint,’
all sorts of things can happen.
Things that have nothing to do with the body.

You can fill a room with energy,
you can put it in a student to help him understand,
you can shoot it at an opponent to overwhelm him.

And yet this energy,
too,
can be sliced into infinity,
made to create a whole new and different body of knowledge.

As getting a black belt opens the door to new experiences and knowledge,
so does this achieving of a new viewpoint.

Now,
how do you get this knowledge and ability?

First,
you study,
and you DON’T STOP!

And,
you teach.
And you gather bits of knowledge,
whole arts if you wish
and you put them together as a whole.

Think,
what kind of a car would we have,
if the makers of tires believed that steering wheels weren’t important
because they weren’t tires?

You can’t toss out any part of the art
for any other part of the art,
you have to make everything come together in one picture.

So you study,
and you put the arts together through matrixing,
and you search for that unique outer viewpoint.

Seek,
as in…
‘he who seeks will find.’
You have to be that religious about it.

Okay,

Here’s a little birthday gift to you.
I don’t care if it’s not your birthday,
you were born sometime,
and if I missed your birthday,
then I’m making up for it,
here’s the gift.

http://www.monstermartialarts.com/MonsterJournal3.html

I don’t think the PayPal buttons work on it,
but maybe the links do,
have no idea.
If a button or link doesn’t work,
sorry,
nothing I can do about it.
But if you find something that works,
on this old website,
good for you.
I’ll honor it.

AND…
take a look at the last graphic in the mag.
It is an image of how the arts develop,
and it actually shows how people can be distracted and fall off,
even with the best of intentions.

So enjoy,
and remember what I said about…
‘work out, teach, and never hold yourself back.’

Have a great work out!
Al

PS,
any trouble with courses,
any questions about anything,
drop me an email at:

aganzul@gmail.com

http://www.monstermartialarts.com/1monsterJournal1.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

The Purpose of Closed Combat Systems in the Martial Arts

Newsletter 849

The Blessings of Closed Combat Systems!

Hey!
An EXCELLENT morning to you!
And a great work out!

Gonna talk about Closed Combat Systems,
or…CCS.
But first…

You may have noticed that the site was down for a couple of days.
My host server moved me to a newer computer,
and lost my site.
Couldn’t believe it.
I kept calling them,
even getting nasty,
which is something I don’t do.
They finally got it back up,
but,
man,
I was actually irritated.

I don’t usually get angry,
or even irritated because when things happen,
that’s life.
You solve it.
You don’t let emotions get in the way.
Anyway,
it’s back up,
so let’s talk about CCS,
or ‘Closed Combat Systems.’

There used to be nothing but CCS in the martial arts.
That’s because martial artists tended to be paranoid.
Didn’t want to talk to the competition.
So the growth of the arts was slow,
and things tended to…here comes the word…
‘circuitize.’

To understand this word consider:
a move in the martial arts is a series of small steps.
A simple punch,
for instance,
consists of:

sink the foot,
push with the leg
turn the hip
rotate the shoulder
extend the arm

And,
aside from these five basic points,
there are ALL sorts of minor points,
minor points that are ABSOLUTELY crucial to a good punch,
to a REAL martial arts punch.

breathing to the tan tien, breathing as if into the strike, turning the wrist or not, focusing the eyes, focusing the energy, turning the limbs so that proper alignment is achieved, coursing energy the right way, and on and on for everybody part every motion every notion.

A good martial artist will be aware of ALL these things, and conduct them,
just like an orchestra conductor conducts a 100 piece orchestra, and all in a split second.

To make this all happen the martial artist visualizes,
and causes to come into being,
a ‘circuit.’
That is,
a sequence of awareness impulses that drive the nerves,
muscles and bones of the body machine.
And there is a lot more to it than that.

Now,
some people think it is all ‘muscle memory.’
Muscle memory is a small part of it,
and the term isn’t even accurate.
For it is not the muscles that remember,
it is the spirit setting up a circuit of awareness.

Setting up a ‘robot action,’
as it were.

The point behind all this silliness and significance
is that one practices a move until it becomes intuitive.
Until he doesn’t have to be aware
of all the little pieces.

And one practices these moves until the individual aware pieces disappear
and one is left with…
intuition.

So one establishes a circuit
just to make it disappear.
One piece at a time,
through endless practice,
the circuit becomes an intuitive move.
The circuit disappears.
The student is left with himself,
and is now n expert,
on the way to becoming a master.

Now,
the point of this is that…
old arts, because they didn’t change,
became heavily circuited.
Changes occurred in small increments,
and the whole art could absorb them.

Fast forward to the twentieth century.
Books, magazines, internet.
Tournaments every week,
Dojos on every corner.
The appearance of LARGE corporations!
Heck,
these corporations would even enlist
people from OTHER schools
to fill the demand as they expanded.

And…
systems changed.
Ed Parker went through multiple organizations,
five different systems,
hundreds and hundreds of schools,
and he was just one of the thousands of people
causing havoc to the CCS.

The CCS method broke down.
The art changed.
The age old method that caused intuition ceased functioning.
And…
the quality of black belt went down.

I know because I was there.
I started martial arts in 1967,
studied MANY different arts,
wrote for the mags and saw TREMENDOUS evolution.

Now,
let’s be honest,
there were a few problems with the CCS.
It wasn’t efficient,
but it did work.
But it was replaced by something less efficient.

People who put aside forms entirely and taught fighting.
People who put tournaments above individual awareness.
Vested interest aimed at slanting the art for making money.
A nationalistic bent that caused SEVERE tweaking of styles.
And,
of course,
the utterly despicable rise of politics.
And so on.

So the CCS died.
And that brings us to me.

Interestingly,
I had a fellow who wrote me the other day,
asked me what my purpose was.
Purpose is an interesting thing.
I am speaking,
of course,
of the purpose of one’s life.
Why a person exists.
Why one would choose to have boringness in this universe
on this planet in this geography at this time.

We all have purpose.

I laughed when I was asked the question,
and I responded.

‘To make a science of the martial arts.’
And,
I further said,
‘I accomplished my purpose,
now I’m just playing.’

And it’s true.

Look,
let me give you a little perspective on me.

My father was an engineer.
I grew up reading such mags as
popular mechanics,
popular science,
all sorts of ‘how to do’ mags,
and,
a little bonus,
my father was a golfer.
So I read all these mags with the most fascinating pics.
Pics of men with planes placed over the body
to show how the hips moved
to swing the club
to drive the energy
the analysis of the blade of the club
on the dimple of the ball.

I applied this to the martial arts.

In fact,
when I picked up my first martial arts book,
(Super Karate Made Easy!)
I was stunned at the lack of clarity.
hundreds of drawings,
showing moves and techniques,
self defense situations,
AND NOT ONE PIC SHOWED HOW IT WAS DONE!
No planes through the body,
no analysis of how the hips joined to the legs to the feet
to sink the weight
to provide torque to the shoulders,
so the wrist could snap at the right time,
and…
the moment of impact.

THERE WAS NOTHING,
NOTHING AT ALL,
WRITTEN ABOUT HOW THE ART WORKED.

So there came my purpose,
to put the ‘how to,’
the REAL, PHYSICS INSPIRED how to.

And,
as my life passed
I realized that I was obsessed with putting science
into the martial arts.
Something NOBODY had ever done.

Now,
I succeeded.
Got over 600 pages of testimonials
letting me know that I succeeded.
And I didn’t pursue these testimonials,
they came out of the blue.

So I succeeded.
I’m not famous,
not rich,
don’t care.
Because money and fame is not the purpose of life.
The purpose of life is to become competent in something,
and to share that competence.

So I succeeded when I sold my first matrixing course.
I succeeded because that fellow,
whether he bought into my scheme of arts or not,
was putting science into HIS OWN art.

And he was going to pass that science down
for one simple reason:
it was true.
It worked,
and you can’t argue with the universe.
Only a fool would want to.

And,
heck,
people can disagree with me all they want about art.
Art is subjective,
it is the expression of the person,
and every person is different,
but…
NOBODY
has ever disagreed with matrixing.
Matrixing is the logic,
and it is an analysis of,
and is based upon,
cold, hard science.

Not the limited science of the colleges and western influence.

A science that includes such things as chi power,
and all manner of ‘sixth sense’ phenomena.

So,
now you know what CCS is,
and,
for what it’s worth,
you understand what drove me,
what inspired this obsession of mine,
and how it all worked out.

But,
of course,
there are a few loose ends here.

The main being…
what do you do to reinstate CCS.
And that,
interestingly enough,
is where we come to matrixing.

With matrixing you go through certain evolutions.

First,
you realize how to make your system work.
You apply the principles,
start to streamline your art,
and therefore create your own CCS.

Be sure,
you will learn 10Xs faster and more efficiently,
heck,
1000Xs faster and more efficiently,
if you create your art.

When you take apart the art you learned,
be it Taekwondo, Aikido, or whatever form of Kung Fu…
and put it back together,
you are involved in a form of creation.
You are the artist.
You are no longer
‘monkey see monkey do.’
You are the one making something that is unique to you.
Even though it is based upon other arts,
it is unique to you.

Second,
you start to create your own art.
You finish aligning the systems you learned,
and you start expressing yourself,
creating an entirely different martial art
than anything you’ve ever learned.

This is the ultimate stage of CCS.

Yet…
you never close your mind to others.
Matrixing won’t allow you to.
You learn a system,
you IMMEDIATELY start figuring out
how to make that system mesh with everything else you know.

Matrixing IS a CCS.
Matrixing allows you to put ALL arts,
all the pieces,
into one ‘picture.’

But,
of course,
it requires you to obsess.
Just as it required me to obsess.
But,
just as I said the purpose of my life was to put science to art,
and as I said the purpose of life itself is to become competent,
the purpose underneath it all is…
to put order to everything.

You put order to the tools in your garage.
You tune your car so it is in order and can run.
You talk to people at work
to make sure you are on the same page,
thus putting order to your work.
Everything…
EVERYTHING…
requires order,
and it is the obsession of every right thinking human being
to make that order happen.
On that scale it becomes almost religious.

And,
let me say one…last…thing.

As I said,
I have achieved the purpose of my life.
I achieved it when I sold my first matrixing course.
And I achieve it when you buy my course.
And,
at the end,
when you have achieved your purpose…
you play.

That’s what is at the end of Matrixing.

Not fame and riches,
not dominance and subjugation,
not corporate ownership and king for a day,
but the single and sole ability…

TO PLAY.

So get a course,
start the journey,
and come play with me.

Have a great work out!
Al

PS,
any trouble with courses,
any questions about anything,
drop me an email at:

aganzul@gmail.com

http://www.monstermartialarts.com/1monsterJournal1.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

Ooops! Martial Arts I Forgot…

Newsletter 847

I’ve Taught You All I Know!

(Want to Know What I’ve Forgotten?)

Man!
This is a freaking great year!
So many things to do!
Have you made a list of things to do?
I hope your list starts with
doing martial arts every day,
and learning a new art every month!

Every month?
But Al!
Nobody can do that!

Oh…
Bullstuff!
You can do ANYTHING
you want to do!

You think not?
You just set your goal,
take one step at a time
and watch the goal grow closer.
It’s that easy.

But…
twelve arts in a year?
NOBODY
can do that!

Oh…
BULLSTUFF!

You could if you wanted.

Look,
each art builds on the one before it.
Let’s say it takes you three months
to learn Matrix Karate.
It’s only going to take a couple of months
to learn Shaolin Butterfly after that,
because you have a LOGICAL database.
Matrix Karate is so logical,
so intuitive,
and each matrixed art you study after that
gets easier and easier.

You could
towards the end,
learn a couple of arts a month.
Easy.
You just need the true and accurate data
on what the martial arts really are.

The work outs get to be fun.

You get done with Matrix Karate,
then you look at Shaolin Butterfly,
or whatever art you choose,
and the thought blasts through your head…
THIS IS EASY!

Yeah, this is just a second step,
oh, this relates to that,
oh, that’s how it fits.

Your mind gets excited,
you start ABSORBING the martial arts.
Not grinding at them,
but ABSORBING them.
In fact,
it’s almost like they are eating you.

It’s like getting drunk,
each drink getting easier to toss down the old gullet,
except it is knowledge you are tossing down.
And the work outs are not boring grinds,
they are exciting times
with your mind leaping through the material,
your body not even knowing it is working.

I’m not kidding.

Or,
you could sit there and say,
NAH!
Nobody can do that.
That’s impossible.
I’M NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY!

You guys and gals want to know something?

I’m a beginner.
I was a beginner in 1967,
and I’m a beginner now.

Do you remember what it was like to be a beginner?
To be swamped with new concepts?
To travel through each work out
with your brain going…OMG!

With matrixing,
every work out is like that.

At least for me it is.
But then…I don’t think anything is impossible.

Okay,
here’s the skinny.
I’ve written over two million words on the martial arts.
More than anybody else in history.
I didn’t even think about it,
just did it,
because it was FUN!

So here’s a little blast from the past.
I was trying to put order in my files
and I came across the six journals.

They start small,
the first one is only four pages,
and grow larger and larger,
and cover all sorts of things,
some original articles,
some original artwork,
some original thinking.
AND I HAD FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT THEM!

Well,
heck,
with over 2,000,000 words,
of course I’ve forgotten some stuff,
forgotten I’ve written some stuff.
So here is the link to the first journal.
No charge,
just something to get you thinking,
something to help you come to the conclusion…
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

Old Monster Martial Arts Mag!

And,
of course,
let me know if the link doesn’t work.
I don’t know if any links inside the mag work,
you can let me know,
but I probably won’t do anything.
After all,
I wrote the mags ten years ago,
and have gone through several websites, softwares, etc.

BUT…
here’s my screwup,
and you can take advantage of it.

I never deleted one of my old websites.
Oh, yeah,
it’s there.
In fact,
it is so old
that I can no longer fix it.
I made it with an old Mac program.
No longer works.
So you MIGHT be able to find links
to old prices.
Now,
if the link doesn’t work…
if a Paypal button doesn’t work…
I won’t honor it.
Sorry.
It’s broke,
I can’t fix it,
tough luck.
BUT
if it works,
you can order what you want.
I have to honor it,
right?

Now,
to tell the truth,
I don’t know what works.
Maybe everything,
maybe nothing,
probably something in between.

I don’t know,
and I don’t care to look because,
darn it,
I can’t fix it.

So,
a New Years blessing.
Something to get you going.
If the links work,
take advantage.
If they don’t,
if a product is no longer there,
I probably won’t honor it.
(Though I will refund, if that issue comes up.
I always guarantee everything,
even if I don’t know what it is.)

Okay,
welcome to the new year,
have a great work out,
and remember…
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

Al

Old Monster Martial Arts Mag!

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

Saying Dirty Words in the Martial Arts

Newsletter 846

A Martial Arts Dirty Word!

Happy New Year!
And a dirty word to you.
A dirty word?
But…which dirty word?

The word is…
ATARAXIA.

I will explain why it is a dirty word later.
Right now,
let me say that,
dirty or not,
it is the one word you should know,
especially if you wish to be
a real martial artist.

I do want to warn you,
that if you’re not prepared for a little concentration,
a bit of hard thought,
and the willingness to look your face right in the mirror,
you better skip this newsletter.

Here we go.

Ataraxia is derived from Greek.
it means…
‘not disturbed.’
It is freedom from distress and worry.

Or,
A state of serene calmness.

This is not just a philosophical word.
Philosophy,
as in dry old men
who sit around and talk about life.

This is freedom from worrying about
whether some fellow is going to attack you,
whether your car is going to make it to work,
or even where your next meal is coming from.
Heck,
it is even freedom
from the fellows in Washington,
who do their best to disturb
any tranquil state of the soul.

And here’s the real definition.

Ataraxia is an untroubled and tranquil condition of the soul…
THE IDEAL STATE FOR SOLDIERS ENTERING BATTLE!
(Caps mine.)

But,
we have just scratched the surface of the word.

Dig in a little deeper and we have…
‘live life modestly,
gain a knowledge of the world,
and limit one’s desires.’

Yikes!
That means you don’t need a Ferrari,
a cheap junker will do,
if it will get you from here to there,
which is the point of it all.

If you live modestly and seek knowledge,
you will become free from fear…
you will be happy.

But,
it gets even juicier.
A person who takes no position
as to what is good or bad
attains a state of ataraxia.
Good or bad,
you see,
is a judgment.
A person who judges others
has removed himself from humanity.

And,
yet more.
A person who pursues virtue
will achieve ataraxia.

So,
to become a warrior,
a real warrior,
possessed of virtues and honor,
you have to give up desires,
you have to stop judging others,
then you can become balanced,
and that balance will manifest
as a peaceful state of the soul.

Now do you understand why this simple word
is so important?
Do you understand why a year spent delving into it
will result in yourself as a higher caliber martial artist?

And,
of course,
a few work outs a day.
Work outs like in Monkey Boxing.
Every week you get more data,
old training drills that are now forgotten.
New training drills to fill in the pieces.
And an inspiration to work out.
To not stop.
To explore the martial arts
to delve into what makes you you.

http://monkeyboxingnow.com

Think about it like this,
think about this different way of looking at things:
if something bad happens,
you don’t get upset or emotional,
for it has already happened.
You don’t react,
but merely move to calm the situation.

And,
if you can do this,
then you start to see ‘disturbances’ coming,
and you start to act BEFORE the deed,
thus preventing a disturbance
to your ataraxia,
and helping others to achieve
this ideal state of spirituality.

That’s how it all works.

So why is Ataraxia a dirty word?

Because saying ‘dirty word’ makes people look.
I got you to look.
Hopefully,
you will forgive my terrible deed,
and consider a life filled with ataraxia.

And here’s something really sneaky about this,
if i can inject a final word.

You saw the term ‘dirty word,’
your mind reacted,
and you were compelled.
Not very ataraxic,
eh?

And the solution is to pursue ataraxia
if you wish to overcome
being a victim
to ‘anti-ataraxia.’

Here’s that MN link again.

http://monkeyboxingnow.com

Have a great New Year
with a great work out
EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Al

http://monkeyboxingnow.com

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

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

The Night Before Christmas…Martial Arts Style

Newsletter 845 ~ Sign up now!

A Martial Arts Christmas Eve!

HANAKWANMASS to all,
and to all…
here is my famous Christmas ditty,
designed to put joy in your hearts,
and bells on your swords.

martial arts law

Click on Cover for The Secret of the One Year Black Belt!

BUT,
before we go with my yearly rendition
of the Night Before Xmas,
let me say something.

First,
please forgive.
If I have offended you,
been late on an order,
said something you didn’t like,
please extend your forgiveness to me.
I’m trying hard,
but I make mistakes.
A little forgiveness
will go a long way.
Thanks.

AND,
before we start
on that bit of eternal poetry,
let me say something.
Did you know
more people have canceled their subscription
to this newsletter
after reading this poem
than…than…
I don’t know.
I just know that a lot of people cancel.
EXCELLENT!
I only want the serious martial artists.
And how can you be a serious martial artist
if you don’t know how to laugh?
Or at least groan at my poem?
So to you,
the grumps,
the misogynists,
the bank robbers and dog kickers,
the fellows (and gals) who don’t work out
and will live a dry,
mundane,
boring,
empty of excitement
life…
this poem is designed
to get rid of you.
TAKE THAT!
Heh heh!

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

Twas the night before Christmas
I was in my shack
primed and ready
for the red fat attack.

my weapons were loaded
the windows were barred
all would be safe
while I was on guard

The chimney was decked
with concertina wire
I crouched by the couch
ready to fire.

I had an M60
with ammo to feed
I didn’t care
if the red fat did bleed.

A loaded shotgun
and grenades to spare
when red fat came down
I’d blow him out of there.

Throwing stars and knives
and a really long sword
and if that didn’t work
I knew a bad word.

Sitting there late
my eyes started to close
when suddenly I heard
a bunch of ho hos.

Off with the lights
safety off, too
I  watched the fire close
and heard a sound from the flu.

‘Ouch and gosh darn it
who put the wire here
those are my undies
starting to tear!’

Then a shower of soot
and a grunt and a groan
he landed in the fire
and gave out a moan.

He was rubbing the place
where the wire did tear
so I held down the trigger
and lead filled the air.

belt after belt
did I deal the red fat
he danced and he jumped
I knew he felt that!

then quicker than spit
I ran out of lead
but enough was enough
he had to be dead.

Boy was I shocked
to see him stand tall
stepping out of the fireplace
not bothered at all.

So I grabbed up the 16
to mow him down
he had to be hurting
cause I saw his big frown.

Then I was empty
and he came straight for me
I pulled out my knives
and sliced him with glee

He jumped to the side
moving real quick
disarmed my knives
with a well placed kick

then he dropped the big bag
he had on his shoulder
reached forth his arms
and his anger did smolder

He grabbed hard my neck
and held me up high
I tried kicks and punches
but I was like a fly

Not karate nor judo
no art did work
and he grinned a mean grin
and called me a jerk

‘Don’t you know
you stupid little man
Christmas is forever
in spite of your plan.’

Then he threw me aside
and proceeded to work
giving presents to all
and to me a great smirk

And when he left
the great big red fat
he left me a lump of coal
the big red fat rat!

HANAKWANMASS TO ALL

and to all
and to all a great work out.

BTY
it’s not too late to forgive!

Al

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