Newsletter 978

Why Martial Arts Changed

That the martial arts have changed is obvious.
They have changed in many ways.
Arts have intermixed,
forms are looked down upon,
people want more reality in their sparring,
and so on.

For me the change is drastic,
and I always focus on a single aspect
or characteristic of the martial arts.
I think it is the real reason
for the decline of martial arts.

When I began training we didn’t know anything.
Nobody knew karate,
or any of the other martial arts,
it was all new,
and nobody knew anything.

We were told stories.
The fellow who could hold onto a horse’s tail
and run as fast as the horse.
The fellow who could catch a samurai sword
and snap it with his palms.
Catching arrows with the bare hand.
Breaking rocks with a single chop.
And so on.

Now,
we didn’t know if these stories were true,
we simply believed
because we knew no better.
And,
as time went on,
some of the stories were bogus,
and some…were true.

What I noticed
as time went on
was that less and less
had people heard these stories.
Less and less
they tried to do the tricks in these stories.
More and more they fell to fighting,
and stopped being able to catch an opponent mid technique
and do what they wanted.

In short,
people stopped believing.
And stopped striving for those mystical feats,
stopped developing mystical abilities.

Why?

Because of the people who trained before,
who had no success in achieving mystical ability
and so denounced it.

I’ve heard people say karate punches are inferior.
And they tout the endless boxing drills
as superior to karate.
Yet I have never seen a boxer
thrust a finger through a board and leave a hole.
I have seen a karate man do that.

I’ve heard people say karate blocks don’t work in a real fight.
Yet I have seen a fellow
break a leg bone,
break it in two places,
with a simple low block.

I’ve had people say chi doesn’t exist,
it is a trick.
Check out the video here…

4c Matrixing Chi Power

Or simply google such things as ’chi power.’

Here is the point.
In the beginning we didn’t know better,
so we believed that tales
just like a bunch of goofy kids.
Most couldn’t figure out how to do those cool sounding tricks.
But a few could.

But the kids of today listen to the trash talk
and they never hear of the ‘chi tricks,’
they never hear about people dehorning and killing bulls
with a single chop.

They listen to the fellows who failed,
and don’t seek out the ones who succeeded.

It seems that the fellows who couldn’t succeed,
are happy to shout their failure to the world,
and denounce the arts they failed in,
instead of figuring out the tricks
and practicing until they could succeed.

And the fellows who succeed,
they are self satisfied
and they have no reason to shout to the world.
Humility, you know.

I tell you this:
the most important element
in your success or failure
is going to be your ability to believe.
To believe that you can do.
To believe some of those old fables.
And to train in a manner
so that your belief is made stronger.

Believe.

Have a great and believable work out!
Al

Here’s that link again…

4c Matrixing Chi Power

A WIN!

…you’ve changed the way I approach the arts that I love. 2018 marks my 40th year as a martial artist, and I believe that what you do is so important to us true believers. Please remember that innovation is always going to be violently resisted initially. What you do is absolutely logical, and it’s impossible for any sane man to argue with logic. Press on with pride brother. You ARE making history and a legacy. Best wishes and thanks ~ Sean

“The doubters said, ‘Man can not fly,’
The doers said, ‘Maybe, but we’ll try,’
And finally soared In the morning glow
While non-believers Watched from below.”
– Bruce Lee

Newsletter 968

A SHORTAGE OF MARTIAL ARTS!

A fellow showed up at our school the other day,
taught excellent kung fu at the community center here.
And now he was out of business.
After thirty years of teaching for the center
they let his class go.
It was popular,
had long time students,
but they let him go.

But the story only starts there.
I was trying to get a teaching gig at the local YMCA.
Not interested.
Used to use the Y for a feeder.
Taught a bunch of students,
when they were done with the beginning courses
I would transfer them over to the school.
No more.
The Y has canceled all martial arts classes
(and they used to have a lot of classses)
except for Tai Chi Chuan (for old folks)

Hmmm.
And it gets worse.
The city next to mine has canceled all karate classes
in their community centers.
And the ONLY martial arts allowed
are Tai Chi (for old folks, no techniques allowed)
No MMA,
no jujitsu,
no karate or kickboxing.
No judo or Krav Maga.
Just good old wave your hands in the wind
but don’t you dare use it Tai Chi Chuan.

And here’s something interesting,
we have three commercial schools in town,
almost right next to each other,
and we are all doing well.
So something that is extremely popular
and makes money
is being passed over by cities and the like.

So what is happening?
To understand what is happening
you need know only one thing.
I live in California.

If you don’t live in California
you may not understand our plight.
Think about it this way…

In a city filled with potholes…
we build speed bumps.
We tell people
don’t drive fast,
just shut up and pay your taxes.

In a city where we have crime coming out of our ears,
(and we do)
the powers that be want to discourage
the ability to fight back.

Think about it,
good, old, liberal California,
home of so many great ideas,
has decided that people shouldn’t be able to fight back.
We have more illegal immigrants
than anybody in the world,
and this includes some pretty hard core criminals,
and we are supposed to open our hearts
and unclench our fists.
Don’t fight back,
you might hurt some victim from another country.
Don’t fight back against that home invasion,
just think about how fortunate the poor are
to be able to have somebody to plunder.
Don’t fight back.

You know,
when I started Karate,
way back when,
there was unbelievable excitement.
We didn’t have anybody telling us it was wrong,
or trying to shade us into some political belief.
All we had was sweat and blood
and a massive curiosity.
We wanted to learn to fight,
to fight back,
to be proud but humble.

And that’s sort of what I wanted when I started Monster Martial Arts.
Here’s the truth about where the name of my business came from.
I used to watch ‘Monster Garage.’
I would see these gnarly mechanics,
old school dudes,
who would tear apart cars,
put them back together,
make something better,
and I was inspired.
I wanted people to understand the martial arts.
I wanted them to get out of the age old rut,
to take them apart,
to forget about the idiots telling you ‘no,’
or that you couldn’t do something for some stupid reason.
I really wanted a true Golden Age of Martial Arts.
So I started Monster Martial Arts.
And it has been one of the more successful internet businesses.
But at heart is one simple credo…
don’t pay attention when someone tells you it can’t be done.

When the school near you disappears remember this…
Monster will be here.
And when the internet goes away,
my books and vids are out there,
just waiting for somebody to pick them up,
somebody who doesn’t understand the word ‘No,’
and who only wants to say ‘yes.’

Here’s the obligatory ad.

3a Evolution of a Martial Art

Three martial arts for one low price!

You guys and gals have a great work out!
Al

A WIN!

Hi,
Just wanted to take the time to thank you.  Having now watched and read through the Matrix Karate system it is exactly what I was hoping it would be when I originally made the purchase.

I have begun working my way through the material and am enjoying every second of it!  I have since also bought (I’ve been treating myself each pay day) your monkey boxing and within the last few days your Aikido course.  Both I have found instantly applicable, and although I have only watched the Aikido seminar once so far, I have quickly identified that together they are so much more than the sum of their parts!

Within just a few days of the monkey boxing course arriving, I found that I was suddenly able to lock and manipulate to restrain far higher grades than myself in the club I attend, and now have found I have members of all levels, and even my own instructor asking me to just go over techniques so they can see what I did.  Suffice to say that the guy (every club has one) that is like an immovable object was lying face down the very first time I tried a technique you had discussed… and I see no reason why my skills won’t take on a similar bound forward as I absorb the Aikido course.
I am sure you hear such stories all the time from people like me (over enthused with what must seem mundane to yourself) but I really felt I ought to say thank you.

Thanks for the recommendation to read ‘As a man Thinketh’ I really took a lot from it.

Anyhow, I’ll leave you be, and stop pestering you with my ramblings.
Many thanks one last time,
Adam.

“Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement, un-rhythmic movement, as we as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.”
– Bruce Lee

Newsletter 967

Defining the ‘Anti-Martial Artist’

I get a lot of questions.
Lately,
a lot of people have been asking questions on Quora.

Some of the questions are less than serious.

‘Who would win a fight,
Bruce Lee or an Orangutang?’
So what would Bruce Lee be doing out in the jungle?
Or did he break into a zoo
just to test his abilities against a fat monkey?

‘I’m 15 years old,
what martial art can I learn really fast?’
Why would you want to learn fast?
Doesn’t ‘slow and steady’ cut it anymore?
Do you really want to miss out on the whole journey?

Or,
my least favorite…
‘Which Martial Art is best?’
And two arts are offered for the answerer to choose from.

Usually,
I’ll call the fellow who asked the question a dope.
Politely, of course.
But still…a dope.

I realize you don’t know anything…
or
For the profundity challenged…

The reason I get rude is simply that I hate the question,
and it reveals a ‘anti-martial artist.’
An ‘anti-martial artist’ is a fellow
who is opposed to the martial arts.
Rather,
he encourages people to fight,
he advocates fighting to establish worth
(now there is an oxymoron if ever there was one)
and so on.

I know,
you’ve heard me rant on this before,
but this sort of thing is so rampant
it deserves an extra say or two.

The real answer to this question,
of which art is best is that
every art is a piece of the larger martial arts.
A puncher has to learn grappling,
a judoka should learn karate,
a tai chi chuanist
should explore boxing concepts,
and so on.

There are
weapons,
kicking,
punching
kneeing,
elbowing,
grappling

Each range results in certain arts,
in pieces of arts,
and all pieces should be explored…
UNTIL THE ARTS MAKE SENSE AS ONE ART

That is the key to matrixing.

think about it.
When the Gracies won with BJJ,
it just proved that they knew something nobody else knew.
As soon as people figured out what they were doing
the advantage was canceled.
And why did the Gracies win back then?
Because people had gone too far in one direction,
explored only one piece of the pie.
So they canceled the advantage.

So remember this:
You need to know a force art like karate or boxing
you need to know a force/flow art like wing chun
you need to know a flow art like tai chi or Aikido

You need to analyze the different arts so you understand
what is the concept behind…
krav maga
hsing i
shaolin
taekwondo
kenpo
or whatever!

Choose the arts that will enable you to understand all the distances,
all the forces and flows,
and how they can work together.

And you need to dig in so deeply
into each art,
that you understand the concepts behind the arts.
Guaranteed,
once you learn the concepts
the art become a unified whole.
All the pieces become a simple puzzle,
easy to understand,
easy to use,
easy to shift from one piece to the other
depending on situation and whim.

Here’s the package I recommend
for putting together the arts as a single, unified whole.

1e Core Package

Or check out the kung fu version…

2e Kung Fu Package

Have a great work out!
Al

A WIN!

Guru, Sabunim, Sensei, Shifu, Sijo Al Case;
I just want to tell you that I have had your Core Package plus the Blinding Steel for quite a while. I have only been looking it over until today. Today I decided to start the Matrix Karate and to my surprise I am seeing threads that lead into the other parts of the Core Matrix Martial Arts. So far I have only learned the first six moves from the White Belt form and through the movement of the Buddha palm I can see the correlation of movement within Blinding Steel. This is awesome to see how learning one thing will relate to other things within the martial arts. I am excited and jazzed about learning this new information and can not wait to continue my practice of Matrix martial Arts. Thank you. ~ Matthew F

”Obey the principles without being bound by them.”
– Bruce Lee

The Value of a Mistake!

Okay, let me lay some truth on you.

This is a world that penalizes mistakes.
You make a mistake somebody will tell you,
might even call you stupid.
And then how do you feel?

BUT…here’s something to think about.

A mistake is an opportunity to learn.

So if you rip into a child for making a mistake
you‘re telling him (or her) not to learn.

In your child’s mind: Don’t make a mistake = don’t learn.

Here at the dojo we love mistakes.
Every time we see a mistake we get to teach,
to contribute to the growth of a better generation.

Why do you think,
every once in a while,
a child comes up and gives one of the teachers a hug?

Because we didn’t make them wrong, we helped them learn.

Mistakes are a god given opportunity to prove your worth.
for the child,
for the instructor,
and yes…even for you great parents!

So enjoy your mistakes, and…

SEE YOU AT THE DOJO!

Al