Tag Archives: self defense

Injuries Grow in Brazilian Jujitsu!

Martial Arts Injuries in Jujitsu!

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Recently read an article that claimed
Brazilian Jujitsu was causing lots of injuries.
I find this fascinating.

When I started Kenpo Karate back in 67,
within two years I had broken my toes twice,
my hand once
and needed to repair a cracked tooth,
and I attributed these injuries to two things.

First,
poor instruction.
Can’t argue with that.

Second,
protective gear.

Our instructor came out to the freestyle class one day.
He had a couple of large boxes filled with protective gear.
“Okay, guys,
now we can fight without getting injured.”
Oh, Lord, the injuries piled up.
Everybody thought they could hit harder,
everybody thought they had to hit harder.
They stopped learning control
and started punching harder.

When I went to a classical school
(Kang Duk Won)
I learned what power was.
By learning what real control was.
This school was ten times harder than the Kenpo school,
I ended up with so many bruises I couldn’t press the clutch pedal.
But I never received an injury.
Good instruction and no protective gear.

We learned to be protective of our partners,
and to be precise in our control.
We learned the consequences of poor control
through the ministrations of our ‘gentle’ seniors.
in other words,
if you showed poor control
a higher belt would step in and show you consequences.
But they did it with good control.
It was actually a very humane lesson.

Brazilian Jujitsu has lots of injuries.
There is no arguing that.
I have seen good schools with lots of injuries.
Especially to the hands and wrists.
Poor instruction?
Maybe.
But I would tend to think it is young turks
getting over excited by the action.

But here’s the thing…
if you do jujitsu correctly
if you find the angles
and use gentle force,
it works.
That’s what the name means.
Jujitsu means ‘gentle trick.’

But I see people,
especially in the cage,
where victory is more important than your opponent’s body,
who use full force
and crank to the max,
and who,
in rare matches,
can’t even be pulled off their opponent.

It is interesting,
we live in degraded times,
where honor is not as valuable as a punch in the face.
Thus, there aren’t many voices asking for
more rules to protect the fighter.

To be truthful,
I am not fond of rules.
Rules are needed in contests
where the participants might be out of control.
they don’t have self control,
and there is a need for ‘other’ control.
such as referees,
fines and punishments like being banned.

It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out.
But,
in the meantime,
I’ll stick with the classic arts
who preach honor and virtue,
over ‘winning at all costs.’

Okay,
obligatory ad.
If you want to know the right way to do Karate,
check out

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Comes in Two Volumes)

These are the real techniques behind the forms,
techniques that can be used on the street,
and even in the ring.
The books have over FIVE HOURS of video links!

That’s five hours of video training
for the price of two books.
That is THE BEST deal anywhere!
And it will make your karate technically correct
and give you all the real techniques!

There it is,
check it out,
and enjoy the rest of this winter.
It’s almost spring,
and that is training time in my book!

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

Eight Fighting Techniques to Base Your Martial Art On!

Only Eight Martial Arts Techniques!

Yep,

there are only about eight martial arts techniques,

everything else is fluff and stuff.

Of course there are a thousand deviations,

and they are valuable for your overall education,

but,

when you get to the down and dirty,

there are only eight techniques.

Now,

this is not boxing.

This not padded gloves to dissipate force,

and eliminate grabs.

This is somebody strikes

or is going to strike,

and you either slab and grab his arm,

or you shoot straight in

going for the one punch knock out.

One strike one kill,

you know?

Of course,

as everybody knows,

a plan only works until the fight starts.

SO,

once you have tried to stick your fingers in his eyes,

and MAYBE tried a follow up body shot…

you will find yourself on the inside of his arm

or on the outside of his arm.

You don’t have time for a poser,

he’s not going to wait while you do all your tricks.

You only have one chance.

And,

derivation here,

what I am going to tell you works best,

and perhaps at all

if you ‘shock and lock’ him.

Which is to say,

you simply distract him with a slap or an elbow or something

so that you have an opportunity to  apply one of the eight techniques.

If you have twenty years experience

you can consider not doing the ‘shock and lock,’

but that’s at your own risk.

If you are on the inside of his arm

elbow the head and push his arm up into a ‘chicken wing’ elbow lock.

Or, elbow the area under the armpit and snake your arms around

to a ‘figure four’ armlock.

Either of these can deviate out to arm bars or splitting techniques

(lower body goes in the opposite direction of the upper body)

or spinning him around and angling him up to what I call

a ‘vertical arm pin.’

that’s two techniques with a few deviations.

third, foot sweep,

can be deviated into knee to groin

or various kicks,

but you want to pull his leg viciously

and make him face plant

so you can walk on his neck.

Four,

if you haven’t locked in that body shot,

do it now.

Reverse punch,

and I often teach the ‘pubic punch,’

which is angling the punch down towards the hip joint.

He collapses on the ground and it takes no special force or effort.

Now,

if he strikes,

and you end up on the outside of his arm,

cool.

Inside means you have targets,

but you have also presented targets.

Outside means you have less targets,

but have presented almost no targets for him.

Slap and grab,

or perhaps just let him punch between your arms.

First technique is simply an arm bar,

or an elbow roll deviation.

Second technique,

elbow to the head and extend your arm in front of his face,

and slide your leg behind him to split him.

(top goes one way, bottom goes the other)

Third technique,

elbow under the arm,

split him by going under the arm.

Whether you split him by going under or over his arm

is often dependent on the relative height 

of your opponent.

You can add sweeping to this,

because there is an inherent sweep in the split.

fourth technique, punch.

Hard.

Break things in his body.

So that is the list of eight techniques,

which eight lead to a variety of deviations,

if you enter one of the eight,

the deviations become apparent with practice.

He punches and you are inside.

1) elbow head and elbow lock over his arm

2) elbow armpit and elbow lock under his arm

3) Punch (pubic preferred)

4) Sweep w leg options

He punches and you are on the outside

5) break and/or arm bar/elbow roll

6) split above the arm

7) split under the arm

8) punch

Now,

I know there are going to be all sorts of objections here.

Some of the objections will be that you simply don’t understand my terms,

but if you examine the description of the techniques,

you will find them in your art,

or your art is severely lacking.

Some of the objections will be that you have a thousand techniques in your art

and you simply can’t give them up.

But I am not asking you to give up your data base.

I am merely asking you to focus on that first punch in a fight

and do some real karate.

Some of the objections will be because there are no pictures

and it is difficult to mock up these techniques in your mind.

Why don’t you kick?

Kicking is for when you are far away

and kicks take time to become ‘one strike one kill,’

and you want to close and break or disable

as much as you can in a direct and short period of time.

Karate is not a far away polite business.

It is mean and nasty and as brutal as you can make it.

Why are you not making the split one of the techniques on the inside?

Because you have to go through the closure of distance,

and that is the progression of closing distance after the fight starts

What the heck is ‘shock and lock,’ and do I have time for it?

It is hitting on the way in,

and the way I have set it up there is extreme fluidity of motion

that will make the progression from slap and grab to shock and lock

 and to the final technique incredibly fast and virtually unavoidable.

What about wrist locks?

They are there,

but it is difficult to grab a fist in the middle of a fight.

It is easier when he is there,

and maybe trying to back out of his predicament.

And there are other objections.

But if you study what I said here,

and just drill the eight techniques for a short time,

and just explore your position…

everything will become apparent.

Incidentally,

what I say here is in all my courses,

but I never really talk about it

except as the technique progresses.

But it really is the essence of my Monkey Boxing.

I really should write a book on this little thing I have said here.

But…time. Sigh.

Okay,

guys and gals,

hope you got something out of all this,

and feel free to look at…

How to Fix Karate:

A Karate Training and Workout Book

 (Two Volumes)

https://www.amazon.com/How-Fix-Karate-One-Training/dp/B0B6L5DSD1/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1RWF2LRFTSRZO&keywords=how+to+fix+karate&qid=1699188789&s=books&sprefix=how+to+fix+karate%2Cstripbooks%2C136&sr=1-2

(There is a version with five hours of video

but you have to hunt for it on Amazon)

And don’t forget to give me five stars!

Have a great work out!

Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview

https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.

The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

A Weird Martial Arts Question

Happy almost Thanksgiving!

You know,

violence escalates.

It just goes up one notch at a time.

A guy says something,

the other guy shoves,

the first guy shoves harder,

a guy punches,

a knife appears,

bang, bang.

It just escalates.

So I started thinking,

what would it take to escalate you to fighting.

So here are the questions:

Would you fight if somebody called you an idiot?

Would you fight if somebody called your girlfriend a B word?

Would you fight if somebody was picking on a child?

Would you fight if somebody was picking on a girl?

Would you fight if somebody was picking on a woman?

Would you fight if somebody was picking on a woman and they had a knife?

Would you fight if you surprised a burglar and he tried to flee?

Would you fight if a burglar attacker you and you knocked him down and he tried to flee?

Would you fight if you were caught in a riot?

Would you fight if the guy was a cop and was beating somebody with a baton?

Would you fight if somebody wanted to jab you with a needle?

Would you fight if you went to vote and somebody stopped you?

Would you fight over a political disagreement?

Would you fight if somebody kicked a dog?

Would you fight if the person was a woman and they were punching you hard?

Would you fight if the woman punching you was a trained martial artist?

Would you fight if you were in the army and they told you to?

Would you fight if somebody started breaking all your windows?

Would you fight an old man who was out of shape who kept pushing you?

Would you fight even though you knew you were going to lose?

Would you fight if a guy said he was going to go get a gun and kill you?

Now,

I know some of these questions need context,

maybe a little explanation.

But, just take them as they are.

AND…

don’t quibble.

Don’t weasel out of answering by making up. something like…

‘well, I’d try to talk him out of whatever…’

AND…

no saying something stupid like, ‘Id try to control the situation.’

The situation is what it is,

and you have to make a decision.

At what point do you make the decision to fight?

Simply, at what point would you fight?

And,

there’s no need to really answer these questions,

just to do a little self interrogation

and say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’

Because while they’re all sorts of grey areas,

the moment you start to fight is and on-off switch.

It is a yes or no.

Of course,

if you have an opinion, 

fill up comments.

I like opinions (not!)

Well,

I hope I made you think,

one way or the other,

and here is the obligatory advertisement…

https://9squarediagramboxing.wordpress.com/order/

Best and fastest martial arts in the world,

easy to understand, easy to use,

and…if you order the whole package,

hard and soft,

you get The Master Instructor Course free!

All right,

‘nuff said,

I hope I haven’t stepped on anybody’s toes this week,

or,

if I have,

that I’ve stepped on them REALLY hard.

have a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

BTW

Have you ever checked out 

‘How to Kill?’

It’s not about the techniques of killing,

it’s about a guy who is so put upon he finally decides to kill.

Calmly,

logically, 

sociopathically.

Here’s the interesting thing,

it’s based upon my own actual experiences.

Not that I killed,

but I was driven to that point,

and totally understand why people would kill.

I just couldn’t take that last step.

And,

here’s another interesting thing…

only two people have reviewed it on Amazon,

but they both give it 5 stars.

That amazes me 

because I just threw it out.

Typed it in a few days.

Spurted out of me like a coffee break.

Well,

if you do read it,

make sure you give it five stars.

HOW TO KILL

Master of Karate Defeats a Mugger!

How Gichin Funakoshi Dealt with a Mugger!

Good Morning USA, and world, and, uh, guess I’ll throw in the universe.

Never can tell, some gloopy alien with three eyes might be keeping track of those strange critters on earth. Might be reading this article right now making sure we’re not being contentious and guilty of sedition to the alien galactic empire.

alien

Hello, Gloopy Alien.

I wonder if he knows what this here finger of mine is for? Hah.

Speaking of weird and Gloopy Aliens, the founder of modern Karate, Gichin Funakoshi, was about 80 years old, and was out for his nightly walk. The night was ominous, Japan was in an unsettled state, and he saw a mugger waiting on a street corner.

Gichin knew, deep in his heart, that that mugger was going to try to mug him. Hey, you think a mugger’s going to risk picking on somebody who is big? Nope, muggers want to get on with their work with the least amount of personal risk, you know? Smart guys, these muggers are.

Anyway, Gichin keeps on walking makes sure he looks feeble, and as he passes the mugger and the mugger leaps at him he whirls and grabs the mugger.

Now, you might be wondering where he grabbed the mugger. A death lock on the carotid–a specialized nerve center that immobilizes totally?

Well, uh, he didn’t do any of those things.

He grabbed him by the, um, cajones. The apples, you know..the coconuts. He grabbed him by the children he might sire some day, by the future, by his only source of fun on those long, lonely nights that frustrate a mugger when he is all by himself and can’t find anybody who even remotely likes him.

Now the founder of modern Karate has a mugger by the embarrassment, and what is he going to do next?

Does he flick a set of knuckles to the throat and crunch the Adam’s apple…cause it to swell up and stop the mugger from breathing? Does he launch a spear hand thrust to the chest and yank the mugger’s very heart out and take a big bite while the terrified mugger watches in terror? Or does he just start to close his hand. Close his hand slowly, and watch the life blood drain out of the mugger’s face, and the very life right out of his quaking and pain infested body, and the happiness out of his future? Squeeze, until the nutty pulp runs out from between his gnarly, old fingers. Squeeze, until a loud popping sound fills the night air. Squeeze, until the mugger screams like a little girl and falls to the pavement, never to enjoy the feel of loving again.

Gichin called for the cops. Yep, he stood on that corner and held that man and called for help.

And the mugger was totted away to think about his crimes, and the terror of having his manhood held by another man.

An interesting lesson for a mugger, eh?

Another interesting lesson would be if you looked up the real meaning of the word testament and where it comes from and all that.

Anyway, the point of all this is this don’t walk down that dark alley. Yep. My students have heard me say this, and they know what I mean. When you have a choice of a long walk down a lit street, or a short trip through a dark alley, take the long way.

You can tell you’ve made it, that you do understand what the martial arts are all about when you can see a dark alley before you reach it.

Hey, a sunny street in the heart of town might be a dark alley if there’s some idiot waiting for you. And you should have developed the extra perception, through those endless hours of practice, to know the difference between a dark alley and a well lit street.

Here’s the best Karate course in the world!

Killer Self Defense Tips for the Ladies!

Five Self Defense Tips for the Ladies!

Rape seems to be a rising statistic, so I thought I’d run out a few tidbits of self defense advice for the more valuable members of our society…the ladies.

Before we get started, let me say that you should always trust your intuition. Ladies seem to have better intuition than men, so why not trust it? Especially if it could save your life!

self defense tips

high side kick


Self Defense tip one: if you have a guy feeling when you return home, call neighbor. Don’t push your intuition aside, trust it, and when that darkened house seems…odd, call the big guy who lives next door to check it out for you. And here’s an extra…don’t go in with him, let him do his work and stay out of the way. Stay at the door and be prepared to run or scream if a ruckus starts.

What, you don’t want to bother a neighbor or seem weak?

Silly you. Men were built to thump on their chests and do valiant deeds for fair damsels. You actually make us feel good when you ask us to do our job as your protectors!

Self Defense tip two: Travel in crowds. One women is a victim. Two are not. It is that simple. So when you go to the theater, or to the garage to get your car, have company. And, if anything happens, make sure you scream loudly.

Remember, one of the first things an attacker is going to do is try to get you to shut up. That’s because he doesn’t want anybody to hear what is going on. And that means that if you scream loudly enough you might be able to attract what he doesn’t want…lots of attention!

Self Defense tip three: scratch the eyes. Kick the mangoes. Bite. Do not go quietly into that dark night. An attacker is not just lustful, he is depraved and more than likely into dominance and torture. So when a bad guy grabs you, let him know that you won’t go down, and you are going to leave your mark on him! Leaving a mark on him is good stuff, because it makes it easy to convict the perps.

Self Defense tip four: this may seem a bit contrary to the last tip, but bide your time. Yes, I know I just said fight, but this is a judgment call. Yes, struggle and fight, but, consider the situation and then consider whether you should bide your time, act compliant, get your attacker to ease up long enough for you to…struggle, fight, bite, scratch and scream!

Self Defense tip five: this is the big one…learn some martial arts. Get in shape. Learn how to protect yourself.

Look, a self defense class is fun! And you learn stuff! And you are going to feel better for being in good shape. And…you will cultivate the calm mind and clear thinking that might just get you through a lady’s worst nightmare!

The point here is this…you can’t depend on others to protect you. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, a cop arrives AFTER the crime. So it is up to you to protect yourself. So start with a fun self defense class at the Y, then go to a regular martial arts school and pick up some Karate or Kung Fu or Taekwondo.

Heck, one of the best things you can do is order a martial arts course online. You can see what it is about, do a little working out on your own, and be that much better educated when you go looking for a good self defense class, or martial arts school.

Honestly, there is NO reason ANY woman should ever have to suffer the degradation and terrible effects of rape.

Here is a great article on Self Defense when being carjacked. And, I would be remiss if I didn’t let you know that Monster Martial Arts has a fantastic course on how to handle martial arts weapons.

Martial Arts Training That Is Incredibly Slow!

Martial Arts Training at its Best!

Okay, heres a shocker for you to think about–you aredoing martial arts training using the slowest method of education in existence in the world. Its true. And it is propagated through the mysticism and awe of attaining something that, should you use an updated method of learning, would speed up your learning up by a factor of ten.

martial arts training self defense techniques

Martial Arts Training makes for Excellent Self Defense!


Martial arts training works on a method that has worked for the history of the world, for monkeys. This is the monkey see monkey do method of education. Using the monkey see monkey do method of education, you are trained to memorize random strings of data.

Thats absolutely right, random strings of data. In fact, to be perfectly accurate, it is random strings strings of random data, and everything is tied together through mystical concept. Not logical concepts, but mystical concepts.

That system of kung fu you’re pracrticing, the one based on an animal–I have never heard of an animal being logical. Oh, you fight like an animal would fight, in concept. What youre saying is that the movements that resemble how an animal would move have been gathered together so you could copycat them.

Copycatting is not a concept, and it is not being logical in any sense.

Copycatting is doing what youve been shown…or, in the martial arts world, sold. Lots of money in selling copycat methodology, because you can just keep rearranging the strings of data and fooling people into thinking they are getting something scientific.

Now, you might think that I am down on martial arts training because of what I have said. The opposite is the real truth, however–I am so in love with the martial arts it is unbelievable. I dont, however, believe in learning through antiquated methods.

What I do is take the mysticism of the martial arts, utilize logic to line it all up, and learn ten times faster than the next guy. This method, a vastly different than any method you have ever seen, is called Matrixing. Matrixing is an actual scientific method–it is not the latest fake-scientific-wordage (cyber cranial digitation, neural brain synapses, and that sort of made up so on) that internet marketers use to sell their gimmicks.

The inquiry I often get is how does it work. Consider: if you had 4, 5, 3, 8 and a shaved donkey, you wouldnt know how to count. If you had 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on through all of your digits…you would know how to count.

What I do is align the martial concepts in the correct sequence, so there are no missing numbers, no out of order numbers, and no ridiculous concepts tossed in. When people learn the martial arts in this fashion it is possible to learn, as I said, as much as 10 times faster. Of course it all depends on the person learning, and whether they have a basic education, and etc.

The above all being said, it was not an easy thing to figure Matrixing out. In fact, it took me over 30 years, as there was no precedent for what I was doing. The job is completed, however, and martial artists the world over need no longer be trapped by–the slowest method of martial arts training in existence.

Here’s a great article on a more brutal form of martial arts training using…a Tiger!

(classic post on martial arts training from 6-1-09)

Martial Arts Training That Is Incredibly Slow!

Martial Arts Training at its Best!

Okay, heres a shocker for you to think about–you aredoing martial arts training using the slowest method of education in existence in the world. Its true. And it is propagated through the mysticism and awe of attaining something that, should you use an updated method of learning, would speed up your learning up by a factor of ten.

martial arts training self defense techniques

Martial Arts Training makes for Excellent Self Defense!

Martial arts training works on a method that has worked for the history of the world, for monkeys. This is the monkey see monkey do method of education. Using the monkey see monkey do method of education, you are trained to memorize random strings of data.

Thats absolutely right, random strings of data. In fact, to be perfectly accurate, it is random strings strings of random data, and everything is tied together through mystical concept. Not logical concepts, but mystical concepts.

That system of kung fu you’re pracrticing, the one based on an animal–I have never heard of an animal being logical. Oh, you fight like an animal would fight, in concept. What youre saying is that the movements that resemble how an animal would move have been gathered together so you could copycat them.

Copycatting is not a concept, and it is not being logical in any sense.

Copycatting is doing what youve been shown…or, in the martial arts world, sold. Lots of money in selling copycat methodology, because you can just keep rearranging the strings of data and fooling people into thinking they are getting something scientific.

Now, you might think that I am down on martial arts training because of what I have said. The opposite is the real truth, however–I am so in love with the martial arts it is unbelievable. I dont, however, believe in learning through antiquated methods.

What I do is take the mysticism of the martial arts, utilize logic to line it all up, and learn ten times faster than the next guy. This method, a vastly different than any method you have ever seen, is called Matrixing. Matrixing is an actual scientific method–it is not the latest fake-scientific-wordage (cyber cranial digitation, neural brain synapses, and that sort of made up so on) that internet marketers use to sell their gimmicks.

The inquiry I often get is how does it work. Consider: if you had 4, 5, 3, 8 and a shaved donkey, you wouldnt know how to count. If you had 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on through all of your digits…you would know how to count.

What I do is align the martial concepts in the correct sequence, so there are no missing numbers, no out of order numbers, and no ridiculous concepts tossed in. When people learn the martial arts in this fashion it is possible to learn, as I said, as much as 10 times faster. Of course it all depends on the person learning, and whether they have a basic education, and etc.

The above all being said, it was not an easy thing to figure Matrixing out. In fact, it took me over 30 years, as there was no precedent for what I was doing. The job is completed, however, and martial artists the world over need no longer be trapped by–the slowest method of martial arts training in existence.

Here’s a great article on a more brutal form of martial arts training using…a Tiger!

(classic post on martial arts training from 6-1-09)