Category Archives: Karate

A Guy Who Knows Karate Kung Fu-ed (Not)

Karate Kung Fu is Cool!

I got my Karate Kung Fu-ed the day this kung fu guy came to work for my company.

karate kung fu

Karate Freestyle is a special type of discipline


This was back in the seventies, and martial arts were all the craze. Chop sockies were hitting the drive ins, and stores were popping up with ‘Karate Kung Fu’ written on their faces.

Now, to be sure, I had been doing Karate for six or seven years, and all these new guys were coming in off the Bruce Lee craze. Some of them would stick, some of them would drift.

Anyway, I walked up to where this new guy was talking to the boss. This was a factory and we were all young and loose guys, just working and having fun.

Now, in fairness, I was exuberant. When I placed my hand on the kung fu guy’s shoulder there was a message there. It was friendly, it was silent, but he and I, even though he hadn’t seen me physically he knew who it was, knew it was a friendly ‘what ya got’ type of thing.

He spun, his arms outstretched. It was a windmill sort of kung fu double chop, one hand to my arm, and one arm to my neck.

I realized what he was doing, it was very different than how I had been trained, and I stepped back.

He managed to get my arm, and missed the neck, but he took it was a win. And it was. It was Karate Kung Fu-ed, and that was okay with me.

Heck, if I hadn’t been trained I would have been dead meat.

As it was, I had more experience, I could figure things out, I didn’t have that momentary gap of thinking when figuring out things, but he displayed good kung fu form, good kung fu technique.

So we grinned, I knew he would go back and tell his sifu how well his martial art worked, and that was fine.

And, as for me, I was struck by the difference of kung fu to karate. Over the years I would study kung fu, lots of it. Shaolin, pa kua, tai chi, exotic styles one nevers about. But I would always hold to Karate as a base art. As a fighting art it was superior. It is more explosive, straighter, and more efficient. There are other things to be gleaneed form Kung fu, and these things can’t be found in Karate, the way energy works, odd technqiues that make a difference.

Still, I hold to karate for basic self defense and fighting. That first experience, me, my karate kung fu-ed (not), has proven true over the decades.

What The Well Trained Mind Truly Observes In Karate Freestyle

With all the excitement of the UFC MMA type of fighting, most people have not seen the incredible qualities of Karate freestyle. When one undertakes training in traditional Karate or one of the old Kung Fu methods, certain things happen that are beyond human understanding. This article will go into what actually occurs when one trains enough to gain a ‘zen mind’ in combat.

karate freestyle

Karate Freestyle is a special type of discipline


First, it should be known that fighting is fighting. If one is training to learn just by fighting, they will not come into the qualities I will be talking about here. There is a difference, you see, between training oneself to enjoy combat and beat an opponent, and gaining the ability to stay aware, and grow even more aware, in the middle of combat.

Thus, one should study classical forms, learn the subtleties of body motion, and calm the mind down. Further, one should learn how to do karate freestyle through the taking of progressive steps. This is the only way to get to the zen state of mind I am talking about here.

When ones training takes effect and they start to appreciate a calm mind in combat they will observe that freestyle is not a matter of frantic reaction, but of reflection. One sees what is occurring, and a plan pops into the mind. This plan is often an image, of what is happening, and what is to be done.

The trick is to be able to recognize this picture when it occurs and to pay attention to it, rather than to thrust it away. The picture might be a quick snippet of an image, almost too quick to see, or it could be an actual cartoon overlaying reality. One must then focus on relaxing, no matter what is about to occur.

Many people, especially when first seeing a vision before a fight happens want to do something. They want to make a response before the action has happened. But if you move before the action has happened, the opponent may not do the action.

So one has to be patient, and this frequently involves ‘pushing down’ an energy building in the chest. The body wants to get going, but the mind must stay sane. The key is for the person to tell the mind to sit still, and to tell the body to wait.

So when does one go? If they are relaxed and secure in their vision, if they have a calm mind, they will move in accord with the action, and not before and not after. This takes some practice, but that is what training the mind in karate freestyle is all about.

Learn Monster Karate Now and Live Through the Coming End of Days!

Monster Karate and the Coming Apocalypse!

I just know that if I started a Monster Karate martial arts school I would get incredibly rich. I could teach all the secret martial arts techniques that the lmonsters use to rip the beating and dripping heart out of some fool who can’t run very fast. I could teach people the secret monster karate techniques that…maybe I should tell you where I am going with all this?

monster karate

The True Power of Karate!

My wife just knew that I was totally destroying my sons’ fragile, eggshell mentalities. We would perch on the sofa for hours and eat popcorn and watch monster movies. And then I would show them the secrets of the martial arts.

What she didn’t know was that we were learning several things which were vital to learning the martial arts. Specifically, we were looking at the use of wires and make up. Analyze these two things and it will change the way you look at the martial arts, and it will even educate you as to the less than beneficial effects of Hollywood movie makers.

First, we would spend long hours dissecting the methods by which Hollywood creates its special effects. How did that vampire soar across the rooftops? The answer, we would find, would be wirework, or a blue screen, a trampoline, and invisible platforms pasted onto the background.

This led to attempts to do certain stunts, with me holding onto the back of the pants, assisting the flip, or otherwise seeing if something could be done. This led to the boys understanding the need for people who actually knew how to spot (grin) and proper instruction before trying to do those things they do on television and tell you not to do.

The second special effects factor was makeup, and while we didn’t start roaming the streets dressed in monster drag at midnight, we did get in an educational analysis of how make up could be used to enhance death. If you bent the head just right, put a metal plate against the neck, you could set off a small charge and make it look like a throat was being exploded. Cool!

And, the method for inserting knives, bullets, spears, or whatever the weapon of your choice into the body part of your choice was quite educational. This led to analysis of how the body might really react when various weapons hit it. Nice!

I know this is a strange bit of writing, and I know that people may not like the way I raised my children. But my kids are not taken in by Hollywood special effects, don’t get bothered by a little fake blood, appreciate good movie making, know that no actors were harmed during the making of this movie, and understand better how reality functions. So maybe you should think about learning a little Monster Karate, that way maybe you’ll stand a chance of surviving when zombies rule the streets.

The Secret of Light Kung Fu and How to Walk on Water

Light Kung Fu is one of those ancient myths that has a lot of substantiation. There are directions in old textbooks concerning the discipline, and every once in a while you see something really astounding that makes people think that such things are possible. This article is going to be concerned with directions for reaching that high Kung Fu ability.


light kung fu

Creating the Sphere of Chi Eneregy

Basic instructions for learning light kung fu, and being able to do martial arts techniques like jumping six feet straight up, are usually childish, or esoteric. The childish are usually consist of directions like, ‘dig a hole and jump out of it one thousand times. Take one cup of dirt out of the hole every morning, and in ten years you will be able to jump out of a twelve foot pit.

Let’s see: one inch a day, 365 days times ten years, 3650 inches divided by twelve…guy should be able to leap over 300 feet vertically. Maybe it was a cup of dirt every week? But that would still be over near 30 feet vertical.

The more esoteric directions consisted of things like breath to the tan tien while you do the dragon farts move. The second chakra must be engaged on year three, and the sixth chakra will awaken on year eight. Meditate to Mohammad constantly while you do this.

The childish and the esoteric out of the way, more confusion is often introduced by scientists. I came across the following directions for light kung fu on a karate forum. Gigong is just the ability of transition of body weight between the two feet in such a way that the body weight never gets enough time to rest its fullness on to any of the legs in any period of time…and the paragraph goes on to analyze shortening the cycle of stepping.

This last description is most interesting, but there is always a problem when somebody tries to describe something that is beyond physics with…physics. What I mean by this is that physics describes how the universe works, but it doesn’t really tell you how the mind can manipulate it. I know scientists will argue with what I have just said, and try to inflict their reasoning on the phenomena, but science can’t define the supernatural, such as light kung fu, raising the dead, or, say, walking on water.

I had a student who managed to walk on water. His method was to run across the corner of a swimming pool. He would get a running start, do a couple of things with his mind, and run over the surface of the water without dropping into the drink.

What is of interest is what he was doing with his mind. Gravity can be measured, of course; it can be described by science, but it is still an idea that you must believe in for it to function. We are raised up to make physics work (trained by schools slanted towards the scientific method), but the secret of light kung fu is to untrain your mind, to overcome the idea of gravity, and that takes a lot of kung fu discipline.

First Time and Only Time I Ever Struck Somebody with a Karate Punch

You Don’t Want to Use Your Karate Punch Like This!

A Karate punch can be a terrible thing. Proper Karate training and you can shatter slabs of ice, stacks of boards and bricks, and even kill 1000 pound bulls. You can also make bad errors, such as I will point out in this martial arts article.

karate punch
I had been training for over two decades, striking the makiwara (punching board), practicing with friends, and even writing karate books on what I had discovered in the martial arts. Interestingly, in all that time I had never actually struck another human being. I knew I had a powerful punch, I had just never been in a situation where I had to use it.

I was in charge of a hotel in Los Angeles in one of the poorer sections of town. One day I leased a room to a pleasant appearing fellow, and shortly discovered that I had made a deal with the devil. This fellow had a second business of pushing drugs. Now, aside from actual medical marijuana cases, because of my martial arts training I don’t stand for drugs.

One sunny day I ascended upstairs and confronted the fellow, and told him that he had to stop selling drugs. At first he hemmed and hawed, tried to change the subject, but I kept after him. Finally, he just laughed at me, “The police don’t bother me, there’s nothing you can do about it, so leave it alone.”

Shocked, I blurted, “I want you out of here, you’re gone…now!” He just laughed at me some more. “It’ll take you months to get me out of this apartment.”

I suddenly went calm, and that is not a good thing, for it meant that I had been pushed too far. I dropped my weight into an hourglass stance, power surged up my frame and pulsed out my arms, and I struck him in the chest with two gnarly fists. What happened then was truly astounding.

Having never struck another person I had no idea what it would feel like, or what was going to occur. First, I felt this enormous weight surging back up my arms and through my body and into the ground…it was much more mass and resistance than I had realized. Second, a long second later–that’s right, there was actually a gap of time before the effects of my karate strike were realized–he began to launch through the air.

He flew up and over the bed and smacked against the wall, and he slowly struggled to his feet, rubbing his chest his hands, his eyes wide, “You can’t do that!” That just made me even more angry, and I started after him, then realized that he had told me something significant, “Why not?” “Because I’ve got somebody in the closet!

I went to the closet door and yanked it open, and a naked man stood there shivering in terror. That’s right, the drug dealer was gay, and his boyfriend had come to visit him, and…what the heck had I just done? In using my karate punch I had abused all the good things i had learned in the martial arts, I had struck another human being, and was left with a very sick feeling.

 

Make Your Own Karate Weapon!

Home Made Karate Weapon!

Say Karate weapon and people usually think of nunchucks and tonfas and that sort of thing. The truth of the matter, however, is that almost anything can be adapted for urban combat.

So let’s talk about some simple, easily made karate weapons for self defense and home protection. I’ve got three doozies that you might want to think about. The thing that is nice is that you can make these yourself.

Before I continue, however, I want to make a disclaimer. I do not advocate violence, nor the making of illegal weapons. What I offer here is solely for a time when law has broken down and you must fight for survival.

The first karate weapon I like is a Kubotan. These are nifty, little keychains attached to a small bar of plastic. You can make them with wood dowels (try spacing nails on the sides) and they can be used to stab, slash, bash, and even do a jointlock or two.

Second in the karate weapons line up is a tool that is great for older folk, but can be used by anybody. Take a cane, drill a hole in the bottom, insert a nail, put a hose clamp on the end, place a cork on it. This is for keeping legs away and stabbing feet when they get too close.

My third martial arts weapon is the belt. If you wear tight pants (don’t want them falling down) you can whip that sucker out and use it for a flail, or a whip, or a basher of indiscriminate nature. If you sharpen a heavy buckle, or have some projecting points on it, you have got a first class, medieval weapon.

Now, I have built these weapons, for cheap and quick, and I even practice with them occasionally. I sure hope the world comes to its senses, I hope the idiots in charge of governments come to an understanding that war destroys society, it doesn’t help it. But, when the food is scarce on the shelf and mobs of hungry people are roaming about, robbing and stealing for a crumb, the smart people will have quick and sneaky urban weapons of the type I have mentioned here.

In closing, let me say that when it comes to Karate Weapons I recommend Blinding Steel as the ultimate Martial Arts Weapons course. You learn all distances, all weapons, and in a matter of hours. That is the best way to be prepared if you actually have to use one of these Karate Weapons I have described in this article.

It was at a Karate School that I Learned to Fart on Your Food!

Karate School…and Learning How to Be Politically Incorrect!

As time went on, I realized that having gone to a Karate School, I was not the same as other people. I don’t think I realized how much Karate had made me different until the day I ran a social experiment where I had a Karate student fart on food. FYI, no food was actually harmed in the conducting of this social experiment…grin.

karate school

Do you have the gumption to actually fight back at what has been done to you?

I knew I was different because I don’t follow the rules of that are generally followed in society. I was always in trouble, always said the wrong thing, and always being the only person laughing and having a good time. The truth is that breaking the rules and having a good time go together pretty well.

And, I noticed that all the people around me were getting older, especially in their personal attitudes. They started thinking that politicians and other fools and liars were significant, and they grew grim lines on their faces. Me, I just kept studying and training in the martial arts.

One day I ordered this fart machine on the web. You press a button and it makes the wonderful sound of flatulence, and most people are easily fooled. Then I had one of my Karate students slip it in his back pocket, and had him back up to a table at a nearby restaurant.

Now, I expected to have to save him when somebody got angry, but I was wrong. It was a sidewalk cafe, and he would back his fanny right over the table, and hit the button. People stopped talking, looked down at their lunch, and kept right on eating.

I was in shock, farts are actually airborne fecal matter, and every person we did this to just looked down at their plates and kept eating. I would have gotten extremely angry if anybody ever did that to me. So why wasn’t anybody getting angry?

I would have gotten angry because I learned Karate and other martial arts, and I am trained to stand up to idiots who do things like that. Simply, I am not afraid, and especially of some fool who lets out a puffer. And all those people whose toast and sausages we were farting over had not learned martial arts.

The people of this nation, you see, have been trained in school, watched too much TV, and had the gumption socially acclimated right out of them. Political correctness has now replaced the instinct to survive, and people just sit around and be victims…they are afraid to stand up and say: that’s not right and don’t you ever pull that stuff again! So go ahead and continue the way you are going, encourage your kids to go to school and learn how to be politically correct, don’t go to a Karate school or learn kung fu or anything like that, and the next time you sit down and hear a strange sound blowing out the back of somebodys jeans…just look down at your plate and keep eating.

Toss out political correctness, click to MonsterMartialArts.com, go to a real karate school on the net, learn true karate…and start undoing what has been done to you.

Karate Kiai and Discovering The Enigma of Kotodama

Karate Kiai Defeats Attacker Without Touching Him!

Karate Kiai means ‘spirit shout,’ and it is the deadly scream that karate practitioners utter when chopping an opponent’s head off. Well, maybe I overstated that a bit, grin, but there is a truth to the karate shout that is unarguable and leads to some rather rare and mysterious knowledge. I am referring to the subject of Kotodama, which means ‘Word spirit.’

spirit shout

The True Power of Karate!

The idea behind a Karate kiai is to put all energies into one moment, one attack, and thus to enhance the power of the strike. The idea of scaring an attacker is somewhat secondary, but still very significant. Both of these ideas lead to rather interesting conjecturings and mysterious realities.

Kotodama is generally directed at the notion of creating soothing sounds, which sounds can engender a more spiritual feeling in a person. There is, of course, the flip side of this subject, the bad word belief, in which a sound is used to harm somebody. Either way, the study of kotodama results in the notion of kotomuke (soothing speech to bring peace), and kotoage, which is a way of invoking magic.

My first experience with the kotodama comes directly from a decades long study of karate, kung fu, and other martial arts. This gave direct experience with the power of screaming at an attacker and weakening him. In one case I used the power of the karate kiai to defeat a would be mugger…and he turned around stumbled down the street, his body shaking uncontrollably.

Experiences like this, which were brought about by the faithful practice of karate forms with correct emphasis on Karate kiai, brought me to a profound appreciation of the subject. Of interest in this is the speech mannerisms of salesmen and mentalists, and others of that sort. Observing how such people conducted themselves, the tones they used, the pitch of sound they used, brought me to the realization that we are talking about the subject of vibrations.

Vibration is commonly acknowledged to be the source of the universe. Between the idea of an Eternal Spirit and the rather short termed and solid life of objects (of which the universe is made), is vibration. This idea is true on the atomic level of protons and electrons, and on the larger scale of whirling galaxies and entire universes.

What we are more interested in, however, are the vibrations possible to us in our day to day lives as human beings. Can a person speak in such a way as to cause a vibration which can move the universe? The answer to this is as sharp and distinct as the phenomena of an opera singer singing a note that cracks a glass.

The method for achieving this ability is just as clear cut. First, one has to know, through the simple practice of virtue, that they are spiritual in nature, and that they can create vibrations which not only shatter glass, but which can rattle objects on tables, and, more easily, cause comfort or discomfort to their fellow human beings. Second, one has to discover and adhere to the exact disciplines which create this ability…then the result is that a simple Karate kiai can become Kotodama, can become a mystical spell or chant which has the power to harm or heal.

 

Three Secrets of True Shaolin Kung Fu Training

True Shaolin Kung Fu Training Methods!

The gains people get from true Shaolin Kung Fu training are absolutely incredible. The key to gaining all these benefits is to train in the correct manner. After all, you could have the sweetest piece of steak in the world, but cook it improperly and you’ll have a charcoal mess.

shaolin kung fu training methodsWhen one is learning Kung Fu one should always move the body as one unit. Six Harmonies Boxing proposes that one should move the hand with the foot, the knee with the elbow, and the hips with the shoulders. This is technical and sound advice, which tends to isolate body parts even as it unifies them.

As for the hands and feet, one should step or twist into a stance in conjunction with the starting and stopping of the hand movement. For the knees and elbows, one should properly align the body when doing any movement. For the hips and shoulderes, move them together and you will be putting all your body weight into whatever motion you are doing.

The second of the three secrets of Shaolin Kung Fu training is to use the waist when turning the body. This is something that people begin to learn naturally after understanding the points about moving the body as one unit. The advice here is to use the waist to make the body turn, don’t turn the arms first and expect the body to follow.

If you move the arms first, the body weight is going to be trying to catch up, instead of projecting weight and energy, and this tends to separate weight from action. Separating weight from action will delete real power from a move. If one studies this concept carefully they will end up developing the true chi power of Shaolin Kung Fu.

Lastly, one must focus on proper breathing. There is a commonly held principle that one should breath in when the body contracts, and out when the body expands, but there is more to this principle than just that. One must breath, and use that breath to guide awareness through the parts of their body.

To make this happen one should ‘swim with awareness’ when doing the movements of their kung fu patterns. This means to push the hands through the air as if moving great weights, this sometimes makes it look like one is swimming through molasses. Of course, this tends to be more true in the internal manifestations of Shaolin Kung Fu training, but that is fine.

To summarize, these are three very important points that many people neglect, or simply just don’t appreciate. Yet they are key to progress in the martial arts. Make the body parts work together, use the whole body, and put breath awareness into your motion, that is the simple and plain secret of true Shaolin Kung Fu Training.

shaoin training

Martial Arts Quiz to Find your Martial Smarts!

Take the Martial Arts Quiz now!

This Martial Arts Quiz will let you know how much you know in the martial arts. The questions cover a range of martial arts, and instructions for grading are at the bottom. Begin now and write down the answer to each question.

karate quizWho was the Chinese movie star named ‘The Little Dragon?’  What was the significant Samurai martial art learned by the founder of Aikido? What was the name of the brothers who built a national chain of Chinese Kenpo Karate studios?

Who was the founder of the Chinese martial art wherein the practitioner spends his time ‘walking the circle?’ Who was the first American President to take Judo instruction? What was the title of the movie that Bruce Lee didn’t finish before his death?

Which Karate system received the official blessing of Master Gichin Funakoshi to spread his style of karate (it was not Shotokan)? What is the name of the World Taekwondo Headquarters in Seoul? Who was the Taekwondo instructor behind the martial arts in ‘Billie Jack?’

What is the title of the book penned by the Samurai who killed sixty people and lived the last years of his life in a cave? What martial art trains one in the use of the weapon called a Parang? Who was the first owner of Black Belt magazine?

What length of time did it take Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace to achieve the rank of black belt? Which athlete did Bruce Lee watch the movies of in a mirror to make sure he got the movements of on both the right and the left sides? What was the title of the first book the founder of Chinese Kenpo wrote on the martial arts (listed in wiki)?

Who was the ‘spy’ who wrote the first book on Shaolin to receive widespread attention in the US, and what was the name of the book that he wrote? What was the name of the first chop sockie flick to really make it big in the United States? Who was the Chinese actor to kill a villain in a Chinese movie made in the late 70s, and then play that same villain in the movie ‘Kill Bill?’

To find any answers you don’t know do a google search. To figure out your score take the number of questions you answered correctly and divide by 18. Don’t worry if you didn’t score high, for now you know all the answers to this martial arts quiz and are a smarter person.

martial arts quiz