Category Archives: Okinawan Karate

Huge Dictionary Sized Volume of Martial Arts Writing!

A Huge Amount of Martial Arts Writing!

Monster Martial Arts has just released a single volume containing 500 martial arts articles.

The volume is a massive undertaking which took years to write. Consider that it has over 600 pages, and nearly 250,000 words, and one quickly realizes that it is one of the largest martial arts books ever written. It is even larger than many dictionaries.



The instant download is nearly 6 Megabytes alone!

The 500 articles were written by Al Case over the last half dozen years, and were intended to bring attention to his Monster Martial Arts website. That they succeeded is obvious, as the website has become extremely popular, as have the martial arts courses on the site.

The courses cover a broad range of fighting disciplines, including karate, aikido, kung fu, pa kua chang, tai chi chuan, weapons, and more. The courses are designed to teaching one how to matrix the martial arts. Matrixing introduces a new form of logic which makes the martial arts easier and faster to learn.

The 500 articles also cover a broad range of interests. Consider the following titles.

4 Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li: Who‘s the Better Martial Artist?

37 Download the Martial Arts into your Brain like Neo!

60 How to Fight in the Dark

82 How to Tell if a Martial Art Instructor is Any Good!

124 Kung Fu Master…and the Secret of Light Kung Fu!

179 The Greatest Training Device in the Martial Arts Isn’t So Great!

209 The Fastest, Hardest Kick In The Martial Arts

250 I Beat Eight Ninjas in a Barfight Using Spetsnaz Karate Techniques!

276 Flux Theory and the Secret of Negative Tai Chi Chuan Chi

297 Martial Arts Breaking Techniques: Boards with a Single Finger

346 Five Martial Arts Exercises Make You Five Times More Stronger, Faster And Powerful!

369 Tony Jaa Threatens to Kill Himself, then Becomes a Monk!

402 Karate Kick Harder with These Seven Simple Tips

418 Take a Punch and Walk Away Smiling with One Simple Exercise

447 Karate Freestyle and the First Few Seconds of a Street Fight

456 The Yoga Kata

488 Is This the Most Powerful Punch in the Whole World?

 

 

The release of the 500 articles coincides with the upcoming ‘Great Matrixing Tour.’ The purpose of the tour is to bring Matrixing to the Martial Artists across the United States.

 

People who purchase the book will be contributing directly to the tour.

 

Again, the book is an instant download, and a complete viewpoint of the martial arts, including history, techniques, personalities, and event he new sciences of Matrixing and Neutronics. People interested in purchasing the 500 Martial Arts articles should go to:

 

http://churchofmartialarts.com/bookstore/500-martial-art-articles/

 

Make a Karate Wooden Dummy

A Karate wooden dummy is a great piece of martial arts equipment. It strengthens the arms and the fists, and even the legs, and it is an opponent that never quits but always loses. The cost of a wooden playmate is sometimes high, so here are a couple of alternatives to help the wooden dummy aficionado meet his opponent.

Karate kick

Use this on a karate wooden dummy!

 


The Wooden Dummy is popular in many martial arts, but Wing Chun Ving Tsun) Gung Fu is the best known. This art has practiced with the wooden fellow for the longest amount of time, and even has a complete form for dominating it. There is no reason that karate can’t utilize the dummy, also.

This writer recalls watching the Kung Fu wooden dummy in Jackie Chan’s great kung fu flick Rumble in the Bronx. Watching the air become thick with dust when Jackie lays into it is a great moment. Possibly the best flick to show the wooden training Partner is the movie Ip Man, with Donny Yen.

In the beginning the Karateka will become competent at training on kicking bags and speed bags, and perhaps strengthening the mitts on the makiwara. It won’t be long, however, until the karateka or kung fu zealot puts a couple of rug samples on a pine tree and starts tougher hand conditioning exercises. A nice trick, however, is to get the wooden limb to move towards you so you can block it.

This writer made a simple striking tool by wrapping a towel around a pole, and then having people jab at him with it. This rapidly turned into an advanced form of freestyle, where the block had to be done, and the distance to the pole holder closed. It is quite challenging to dash three or four feet in a moment to negate the distance the pole offers.

The next step might be putting a pole on some sort of swivel device. Sink a four by four, then place a moveable pole atop it. On can block the limb, and block it again when it comes around, and even get into ducking and blocking.

Eventually, one will want to get a length of a log, drill a few holes, then arrange some arms and legs. One can then move around, block the wooden arms and legs, and pretend that one is defending against a real attacker. What is really nifty is to place some large springs on the arms and legs so that they become more realistic.

The cost of wood being what it is, or perhaps the difficulty of procuring a log in a city, one might consider alternative materials. PVC might work, if one could find thick enough plastic that won’t break, or perhaps even some sort of metal. This type of material would require towels or other material being wrapped around it to protect the arms and fists.

In closing, there are many ways to set up a false attacker, and the martial student is limited only by his imagination. Watch movies, read instruction manuals, and start inspecting the materials that you might use. Guaranteed, a karate wooden dummy will provide you with many hours of happy martial arts training.

Discover more about <a href=”http://www.monstermartialarts.com/Art-Dearming_the_Arm.html”>Kung Fu Wooden Dummy</a> forms of training. Head to <a href=”http://www.monstermartialarts.com/Master_Instructor_Course.html”>Monster Martial Arts</a>.

Should Karate Student Learn Pa Kua Chang

Marital Arts Cross Training…Karate to Pa Kua Chang

Well, we all believe in cross training, but isn’t karate and Pa Kua Chang trying to mate the dog and the cat? I mean, they are different martial arts, are they not? One is the straight line, and the other is the circle, and never the two should meet. Right?

bruce lee workouts

I like to learn ALL Martial Arts!

 


Well, an interesting bit of martial arts history might be appropriate at this time.

Karate was put together over hundreds of years on Okinawa. There was a heavy Chinese influence on this development.

One of the four major karate systems that came to Okinawa fairly intact and wasn’t put together, was an art called Pan Gai Noon. This art became known as Uechi Ryu.

If you examine the history of Uechi, and of Pan Gai Noon, you come up with three distinct animal (concepts). These are the tiger, the crane, and the dragon. And, you come up with the influence of several Chinese martial arts, among which is…pa kua chang.

So, should a karate student study Pa Kua Chang? He should if he wants to know more than the surface techniques. He should if he wants to delve into the background and history and actual source of his art.

And, the pa kua chang student might be advised to learn karate. After all, to know only the circle is to know only half the art. One should know both the circle and the line if they are to consider themselves complete.

The true martial artist must know both the circle and the line, the hard and the soft, both the internal and the external, if they want to make it to the top of the martial arts world.

This, incidentally, is one of the reasons I wrote The Neutronic Motors of Pa Kua Chang. To help martial artists to be complete. The book is a study in how to develop chi power int he martial arts. To be exact, it is a complete system, and it is the absolute fastest and most efficient method for building chi power in the world.

So, if you are a karate student, you should study pa kua chang, and vice versa, and my book is a wonderful way to make this happen.

bagua zhang

Gun Kata!

Perhaps you’ve seen the movie, Equilibrium. Great movie, with a ‘gun kata’ in it.
Interestingly, I ran into a fellow one day, and we started talking, and we got on the issue of mechanics and martial arts and gun control. There were some interesting points made, and I’ll tell you about them right after the video.

He described gun control the exact same way I was describing martial arts.
And we were both surprised, because other people don’t understand these types of physics.
A physics apart, and i had run into one of the few people in the world who could understand, and had even made inroads, into the physics behind everything.
Guns. huh.
I’ve seen them in Golf (probably got me started, my dad taught me gold and we had all these mags every month, and in the mags were geometrical renderings of swings and things.) A fe other plaes, but in all places only in bits and pieces.
It seems that the world can only see in pieces.
Anyway, it was interesting.
Gun mechanics.
Gun physics.
The Gun Kata.
Martial Arts.
It’s all he same if you can only put the pieces together.
Check out my further thoughts on the matter of Karate at Monster Martial Arts.

How to Train in the Iron Horse Form in Karate

Analyzing the Iron Horse Stance in Karate!

The Iron Horse Form is one of the best katas in Karate, and in all the Martial Arts. IT gives strength, power, energy, focus, and really makes you feel like you’re getting to the heart of the art. Here’s my version of it. Check it out, and then I’ll tell you more.

To practice this you should loop it and do it in sequence maybe ten times. Don’t do it just once, keep doing it.
Concentrate on the moment of focusing energy down, and letting yourself float sideways to the next position. Have the differences between these two things firmly in your mind.
Have a partner and mirror each other. Critique each other, and get lower and longer and more explosive. Be twins in motion and structure.
Practice just standing in the horse stance (called Kiba Dachi in Japanese). This is called Horse Meditation, and if you can hold the pose for just five minutes, you will have an immensely strong stance, and you will be generating tons of pure, raw power.
Above all, do it every day.
And, most important, look for applications,a nd practice those applications until you can make them work against anybody, and in situation or environment.
Remember, when you do the horse stance you are gripping the ground, enabling yourself to move over slick surfaces, and this could mean on wet grass, oily cement, or even through puddles of blood, and yet still hold your balance and footwork.
Drop by my site, Monster Martial Arts, and check out Temple Karate. I’ve got ten forms plus the one you see on this page, fully broken down and set for combat.

The Secret Behind the Hardest Punch in the World!

Within the Karate Punch is Great Spirit

I remember reading that Chuck Norris had 600 pounds per square in in his kicks. I always use this kind fo data when trying to figure out the secret behind the hardest punch in the world, or the hardest kick, or whatever.
You see, the idea is to get more weight in a smaller area.
If you swing a mallet with a big head, maybe three inches across, you are putting weight to nine square inches. So if you put ninety pounds into your swing, and you get ten pounds per square inch. This dissipates the force, spreads it out, and weakens it. You swing a screw driver, and maybe put only thirty pounds in it, but the force is into an eighth inch square. That means 64 times 30 pounds, and you are striking with 1920 pounds per square inch!
That’s why a screw driver penetrates, while a mallet flattens.
Now, you think there would be more to it than this, and, you’d be right. You see, time also enters into the equation, and you’ll find that this has a lot to do with a punch.
The longer the amount of time a fist is in contact with a target, the more some of that weight will go back up the arm.
So, if you punch somebody and the punch is a thrust, and travels through, and is in contact with the striking surface (his face) for a long time–let’s say a full second, which is not real, but it is a good number to illustrate what is happening–then one second times 60 pounds of weight equals sixty pounds of impact.
That’s cool.
But if you are in contact for 1/2 second, 1/2 times 60 = 120 pounds of impact! And if you get down to 1/8 of a second, then you have 1/8 times 60, which equals 480 pounds of impact! The force of the punch, you see, has less time to travel back up the arm, and more weight is left in your poor opponent’s ugly face!
Now, that is the physics, and that is the secret of the hardest punch in the world. All you have to do is understand these physics, and then do the exercises in The Punch (a book I wrote) and your punch is going to be able to knock down a freakin’ elephant! The physics are the secret, you see, but they are just the start. There is so much more to them, and so much you can do with them, once you understand them and what you are trying to really do with your punch. So check out The Punch at Monster Martial Arts. You’ll be glad you did.

What is Real Karate?

So many systems, which one is right? Which one is the Real Karate?
Well, let’s see. The Americans created their versions from Japan, for the most part.
The Japanese created their versions from the Okinawans, for the most part.
The Okinawans created their versions from the Chinese, for the most part.
Hmmm. Could their be no True Karate?
Well, there is, but it is not what you think. See, if you render Karate into simple moves based in physics, then you end up with MAtrix Karate, and from that one could extrapolate all versions.
That’s right, Matrix Karate isn’t a version. It is the scienctific breakdown of all Karate systems, and the result is something slick and sweet and easy to learn.
Don’t believe me?
First, check out the video right below. It shows me dissecting Pinan Five, maning sense out of a form that people say you have study for years to understand.
Next, head over to my site and take a free lesson. See if what I say is simple and easy to do…and makes sense. If it does, then you know you’re in the right place. The name of the site is Learn Karate Online, and it is the home of Real Karate.

Establishing the Perfect Karate Body!

Use Your Perfect Body to Find Enlightenment!


Here is what Leo DaVinci said (from his notebooks) about the perfect shape. This would be the ‘Vitruvian Man.’ In looking over these figures I find myself less than perfect, and some things can’t be corrected. At any rate, it does some wonderful food for thought as to what type of karate you should study, what your ideal shape is for the martial arts, and so on.

‘The length of a man’s outspread arms is equal to his height.
From the roots of his hair to the bottom of his chin is the tenth of a man’s height; from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head is one eighth of his height; from the top of the breast to the roots of the hair will be the seventh part of the whole man. From the nipples to the top of the head will be the fourth part of man. The greatest width of the shoulders contains in itself the fourth part of man. From the elbow to the tip of the hand will be the fifth part of a man; and from the elbow to the angle of the armpit will be the eighth part of man. The whole hand will be the tenth part of the man. The distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose and from the roots of the hair to the eyebrows is, in each case the same, and like the ear, a third of the face.’

This descirption does give me some problems. the main one is that I’m balding, so I either need to grow my body, or shrink my head. Hmmm.

Anyway, here is a further breakdown:
You should be
seven heads high
three heads shoulder to shoulder
four heads hips to toes
one head from tips of fingers to wrist
one head top to bottom of buttocks
two heads tips of fingers to elbow.

So, get out the measuring stick, measure your head, and find out if you are in perfect shape. Don’t be worried if you aren’t exactly in shape, Leo is said to have altered his measurements to suit his sculptures.
If you really want a perfect body, lean in muscle and able to move like lightening, you might want to check out Yogata (The Yoga Kata), it is Yoga designed by a martial artist for Martial Artists. Pick up a free book on the home page of the site.

Uncovering The Mysteries Of The Iron Horse Karate Kata


Tekki Kata, also known as Haihanchi, is one of the best forms in all the martial arts. Many people refer to it as The Iron Horse. As this name indicates, it is a horse stance form, and the karateka moves from side to side while performing it.

The power generated by this Okinawan Karate form is absolutely awesome. The deep stance works the legs, and the tan tien starts to pump up, and one feels the chi power course through the frame almost from the get go. It is usually taught around black belt level in systems such as Kyokushinkai.

When I first learned Naihanchi I would practice while facing a partner and having ‘kata races.’ We would mirror each other, and go back and forth, building our speed and perfecting our moves. Eventually, we would find a harmony of motion that one will not see in many martial art patterns.

When I asked my instructor about it, he said it was designed for fighting in rice paddies. The footwork enabled one to grip the ground no matter how muddy. The sideways motion paralleled the earthwork in the rice paddies, where other foot patterns would result in loss of footing.

As my studies continued I came across the concept that the form was designed for riding a horse. Even if a warrior lost his weapons while riding a horse, he could keep fighting while gripping the horse with the leg strength built up by the form. I found this a fascinating notion, but it didn’t ring quite true.

In time, I happened across the book ‘Shotokan’s Secrets,’ written by Dr. Bruce Clayton. The good doctor claimed that the kata were actually designed for actual fighting in the Imperial throne room of old Okinawa. This theory at first seemed odd, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made.

Imagine the scene: invading troops attempt to capture the king of Okinawa, and the front row troops use the movements from the Pinan forms (Heian katas) to create confusion. Meanwhile, the advanced bodyguards move sideways across the back of the room while the king is hustled through a rear door and to safety. This theory not only made sense when analyzing the specific movements, but in the historical and psychological sense, too.

What the truth is will be debated as long as Karate is taught. Of course, it doesn’t matter as long as that fabulous form generates good, old fashioned ‘chi power’ by the bushel. Call it Naihanchi, Tekki, or just the Iron Horse, this is one Karate Kata that is good for the ages.

Tekki One…Kima Chodan…the Iron Horse…They are the Same!

Karate Power

Karate Secrets...hidden for all to see!


On of my favorite kata was Kima Chodan. It has several other names, Tekki, the Iron Horse, and so on. It was also the favorite of Giochin Funakoshi, he spent ten years playing with it.
The reason it is so great is that it is a power form. Getting low in the horse, stepping back and forth, just powers up the tan tien like nobody’s business.
One of my favorite things was to face a partner and mirror the form. We would race, find harmony, critique each other endlessly. A mirror that actually talked…how cool was that, eh?
For those who would like to go extreme, it’s fun to put a heavy weight vest and go crazy, or to hold dumbells and go crazy.
After a while the power jacks up, you start feeling like nobody in the world could stop you, and man, ain’t life a hoot!
Anyway, here’s my version of it. I learned it forty years ago, and I haven’t tweaked it much, so it’s a pretty pure version. Comes not through the Japanese lineage, but direct to the Okinawa Masters who taught Gichin Funakoshi. If you want to learn more about the old Karate forms surrounding Kima Chodan, or Tekki or the Iron Horse or whatever you call it, check out Temple Karate at Monster Martial Arts.