Category Archives: Martial Arts

Before I tell you how to Fix Karate by crossing martial arts, let me tell you that I am not a fan of crossing martial arts. People usually don’t dig deep enough to make this happen. Simply, they mix two arts, and they usually end up with mush. This is one of those things best left in the hands of professionals. Me being the professional, however, grin, let me point out a couple of interesting things.
It’s really a matter of getting enough data. A fellow who studies two arts and tries to combine them usually doesn’t have enough data. You need three or four arts before you even start. And, you need to learn how to matrix if you are going to be successful.
That all said, I used to look in Tai Chi books for ways to fix Karate. Oh, I know, heresy. All I can say to that is the pure martial arts takes precedence over pure tai chi, or pure karate, for that matter. And I am interested in the whole pie, not just a slice.
Consider the advice from Yang Family Secret Transmissions (Douglas Wile).
‘We must avoid fullness and emphasize emptiness so that our opponent lands on nothing.’
This is great advice, applicable to a great extend in a great variety of situations in Tai Chi. To a Karate man, however, it sounds a little mystical.
However, if you face a man and you both have your right foot forward, you are matching stances and balanced and symmetrical in stance. But, if you have right foot and left foot forward (opposing stances) then you would be full. That is, you are both trying to step forward on the same side, and thus colliding, and thus…’full.’ So, match stances, and when the fellow attacks, step back so that you are always matching, and in balance. So here’s the problem…how do you take advantage when you are in a matching stance? Karate strives to be full, to smash and take away our opponent’s area. This has nothing to do with balance. Tai Chi strives for balance, and then to give way in small manner so that the opponent over commits himself. When the attacker has over committed he will show weakness. This weakness will not be apparent to a karate man, at least until he has read these words and understood the intent. Now, I have given you a problem, in thinking about it (and you will not be able to avoid thinking about it), you will eventually come up with a technique, or a solution, or something that will enable you to take advantage of the situation. This will enable you to improve your freestyle. And, when your freestyle is improved you may tend to look at this thing of purity of art as a gimmick designed to stop your progress in the whole martial arts. I tell you, you want the whole pie, not just a few pieces, and crossing martial arts can fix karate, and kung fu, and aikido, and so on and so on. My site is Learn Karate Online, and there is a free sample lesson available there.