Tag Archives: martial arts

Did This Guy Use Karate to Handle an Attacker with a Shotgun?

Do You know a Shotgun Defense?

Interesting video below, of a fellow taking a shotgun away from a mugger. But, I’ve got a few questions about it.

There are several outpoints that must be considered.

First, do security cameras have audio? I haven’t seen any, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t. Still, why would audio be necessary at this lonely location?

Second, does the cocking of the shotgun sound real? By that, I mean that it sounds like there is nothing being chambered. I haven’t cocked every shotgun there is, but it does make me think.

scattergun

Loaded or not? Martial Artist of not? Hmmm?

 

Third, it looks awful easy. The bad guy doesn’t struggle. So the technique is either perfect, or the bad guy didn’t really want to shoot anybody, or…it’s fake.

Finally, why doesn’t the fellow being mugged just shoot the attacker in the butt?

Now, these are four good questions, and I wonder.

On one hand, the fellow being mugged is the coolest dude since ice cream was invented. Probably studied a variety of arts, and the technique might be tachi dori, or something out of Krav Maga, or whatever.

On the other hand, it is a marketing ploy.

I haven’t called the number on the screen at the end, and maybe I should. But I guess Ir eally want to believe that this is the goods, and that the fellow really is a class martial artist.

I’m sort of interested, so feel free to comment and let me know if you think the guy is a class martial artist or not.

Great Mental Space is Available With Karate!

With Karate, every work out is a prayer.

Let’s talk about what a work out really does.
I mean,
I keep telling you to work out,
and you know you get stronger and faster,
more smarter,
and people even like you more,
but…
why?
So let’s talk about EXACTLY what happens in a work out.

with karate

Learning Karate Changes Even Bullies



The human body is a motor,
and the human mind is like a radio transmitter.
I know,
sounds weird,
but it’s true.

At first,
you are working out
and the motor gets stronger,
faster,
and so on,
and that’s all good.

Somewhere along the line
the radio transmitter,
the mind,
starts to lose static.
All the chatter and bushwah
going on in the mind
gets less and less.

Mostly,
this is hard to perceive,
it’s not like muscles,
where a month later
you notice that you are stronger.
With the mind,
it’s like a year or two later,
you just feel better,
are calmer,
hold your own in conversations better,
and that sort of thing.

Now,
when you do a form,
or a technique,
you are deliberately trying
to get rid of distractions.
You want to do the move without extras.
You want to do only the move.
You want to be pure in motion
without thought.

The purpose of the form is to get rid of thought,
so that only that single thought
that creates the motion
is manifest.

Read that again.
The purpose of a form is to get rid of useless thought,
and manifest only that thought
which initiated the action.

The beginner has to move his feet,
his body lurches behind,
he’s not sure which muscles he’s using
and halfway through the move
he starts daydreaming.

Well,
maybe not daydreaming,
but he is not holding on to the single thought
which created the move.

For myself,
I used to get SO-O-O frustrated
because there was so much happening in my mind
when I did even a simple step and punch move.

But,
as time progressed,
and the step and punch moves accumulated
my mind stopped chattering
and I started focusing
on only one thing,
on only the move I was doing.

Have a thought and make it happen.
That’s what the whole procedure is…
have a thought and make it happen.

Now,
after some twenty or thirty years
your mind gets fair calm
and you actually start to see what the other guy is doing.

I know it sounds funny,
twenty or thirty years,
and who would want to take that long,
but take it from me,
when you start seeing what the other guy is doing…
BEFORE HE DOES IT
it is worth a hundred years of forms.
Even a thousand.
There is simply nothing like leaving the mind
and all its bushwah chatter,
and entering into
A GREAT SPACE.

That is the only way I can describe it.
When the mind disappears,
becomes so small it is negligible,
it is like you are in a great space.
You have so much room,
so much time.

When somebody starts to move,
you have the time and space
to yawn, create a counter,
and implement it.
You have Great Space.

Now,
what I have described here
is exactly what happens
when you do forms for some thirty years.

You start with a mental radio transmitter
that is rusty and clogged with static.
By forcing yourself to focus,
to concentrate on one thing,
the chatter goes away,
the static goes away,
and you become able to actually have a thought
and make it work.
And,
you start to see other people,
and you actually perceive their thoughts,
and you have this Great Space
in which to act.

Life becomes a big, empty jewel,
sparkling with happenings,
and you feel this incredible compassion for people
and you realize the truth of brotherhood.
Not politics,
or some bushwah belief system,
but the actuality
of perceiving your fellow man
on the deepest level,
where he lives,
in his soul.
Or…
to perceive the soul that he is.

Now,
do you understand why
I want you to learn faster?
Why I want you to accumulate this wisdom
in a year or so,
as opposed to thirty years?

I want you to clear out the radio transmitter that is your mind.
I want people to experience the Great Space
that is their true reality.

I want the orifices that are politicians
and petty dictators,
and bad bosses,
and nagging wives,
and snapping and snarling mad dogs…
TO KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF!

Pardon my French,
Swearing is the mark of an untrained mind,
but I really wanted to make my point.

So,
do you like Karate?
Here’s an URL
to help you grow faster,
get smarter quicker,
and connect with the truth
of yourself and your fellow man.

http://www.monstermartialarts.com/Matrix_Karate.html

Do you like Kung Fu?
Check out the Shaolin Butterfly
on the Monster Martial Arts site.

Maybe you’re one of these mystical whiz kids,
take a gander at
Butterfly Pa Kua Chang
at the Monster.

Or weapons or chi building or…
whatever you want,
whatever it takes to get you to take the next step,
to put aside the ancient and slower methods.

Do you understand?
The planet is undergoing a meltdown,
and you are needed.
You are needed to take up arms,
so that you may put down the inner beast
that is in yourself
and in everybody.
And it is a simple matter of
doing what you love.
Doing the martial arts.
Making yourself focus on one thought.
Making yourself stronger and smarter.
Making yourself into a spiritual entity
that can bring peace to the self
and the world.

With Karate we can actually create a better and more harmonious world.

 

The Truth About Yoga, Karate, And Your Right, Big Toe

When it comes to Yoga Karateka can get great benefits.  Before you get benefits, hower, you have to understand why Yoga works. It’s an interesting question, and one which I have never heard answered. In fact, some youngster puts the question to some oriental sage type, and I see a lot of justifying and circumventing and philosophizing…and no real answer.

yoga karate

Learning Karate Changes Even Bullies


I was trying to make yoga work the other day, and I was listening to some gal on a Yoga CD course and trying to relate it to the karate that I knew, and the gal on the CD suddenly said something that made me blink. Smugly, she stated, ‘It took me three years to be able to do this yoga asana.’ I paused the CD, and ruminated over her statement.

It took her three years of discipline to make her body hold a pose. She was proud, which is okay, but is still probably the sinful version of satisfied. And I don’t think she really knew or understood Yoga.

She was stretching and being a contortionist. She wasn’t talking about becoming aware as a spiritual being, but rather being prideful about being able to pretzelize her body. What she was saying had to do with holding her body in a posture, and nothing to do with the spiritual side of the discipline.

One of my more odd martial arts tricks is to practice my karate kata in a dark room with no lights and my eyes closed. I do this because Karate means ’empty hands,’ and I recognized that you couldn’t have empty hands without developing an empty mind. I am merely trying to reduce extraneous sensations, and develop awareness aimed at the single and concentrated practice of the martial arts form.

To understand this in Yoga, shut your eyes and become aware of your right, big toe. You must be aware of your right, big toe without the use of body perceptions. You must become aware, not be aware through body perception devices (eyes, taste, hearing, and so on).

If you can hold the body motionless, reduce sensation, and just become aware, then you are on the track of real yoga. If you can understand the different between being aware through body perception tools (sight, smell, etcetera), and just being aware, then you are on the track of real yoga. If you can become aware of yourself as a spiritual being apart from the body, then you are doing real Yoga.

You don’t have to force your body through rigid postures. You need merely assume a pose…doesn’t even have to be an official yoga position…and stop looking through your senses, and let awareness flower. The difference between perception and awareness, this is why yoga works, why karate is great, and your big toe is so cool.

Simple Exercise to Increase (Decrease) Reaction Time in Karate

I always surprised when I don’t see exercises like the one I am about to tell you about used freely in Karate training. The following exercise cuts your reaction time down to nothing, and it does it with just an hour or two of training. Check out the video, and then I’ll tell you more.

Where I came up with this one was in feeding people punches to help them block. Being a bit insane, looking for more punches to block, wanting to do the exercise faster and more so i would get to the end of it, I decided to have two people feed the defender.
So two people would stand, shoulder to shoulder, in front of the blocker, and they would throw slow strikes.
Not fast. You can overwhelm easily, and there is no gain then. And, you don’t want to create bruises. You want the guy to input data, not refuse the data because he is getting hurt.
But feed the strikes slowly. Left or right, doesn’t matter. Just keep feeding them slowly.
Now, the two feeders should be looking for the edge. They should be trying to find the point of overload, and stay just below it. You don’t want to go so fast the blocker can’t block, you just want him to get used to it all. After a short while, you’ll find that you can bump up the speed of your strikes, and the blocker learns faster.
Now, one thing to be careful of.
The blocker will overload, and this might manifest in a number of ways, maybe just missing the blocks all of the sudden, making too many mistakes, that sort of thing. But usually the blocker will want to strike back. He’ll snap. He won’t hit hard, but he’ll be unable to stop himself from hitting back.
Well, of course. He is overloaded, filled to the top, and he needs to relieve the pressure. That’s okay.
Try to catch it before it happens, and simply rotate one of the strikers into the blocking position. Round and round we go.
Now, this works wonders. Do it during class, five or ten minutes at a time, and within a month the students will get very relaxed, their blocks will hurt more (tell them to go softer), and they won’t be overwhelmed when the fists start flying fast and thick.
If you like this training tool, check out Monster Martial Arts. I have all sorts of drills like this one embedded in the courses. I especially recommend Matrix Karate. Do a matrix of blocks and you will learn ten times faster, and know ten times as much. And make sure you pick up a free martial arts book on the homepage while you’re there.

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.

Making the Right Karate Form

I was watching Karate on the youtube last night, and I was struck by how little people know about the correct form of the martial arts. Check out the vid snip right below, This is how I explain how you get good form, then continue with the article.

They turn their feet out at the wrong time, they separate their body into pieces, they do so many things that dissipate energy and lessen intention.
And I am not talking beginners here, I am talking about people with decades of experience.
Now, it wasn’t always that way. When I started the martial arts were fresh to the shores, and we bought everything we could, read everything we could, and were thirsty for day.
And, we thought about what we were learning.
What has happened that has destroyed the martial arts is the fanatic desire to have ritual.
If I do what teacher says, I don’t have to think, and then I will learn.
Do you see the corruption of logic here?
How can you learn if you don’t have to think?
Why do you think colleges are turning out people who can’t learn?
Because they memorize in ritual, instead of learning how to think.
Question, man, you have to have a question.
And not a questino as to the next piece of the sequence of the kata, but a question as to how it works, why it works, what’s the best (better) way to make it work.
Argh!
That’s all I can say, Argh!
Frustration for a society that prefers to go blind.
Well, the way to not go blind is to ask questions, demand answers, and not be satisfied with what you are taught.
I tell you this,
your teachers have already bought into it,
so be careful of your teachers.
If they can’t give you good reasons for what you are doing,
good scientific, sound, logical, technical reasons for why the form is constructed the way it is, the best way to make a technique work,
all the secondary techniques off the first technique, and so on,
then you are following the blind.
And, don’t believe me.
Check out my sites, see if I make sense, and then you will know whether my words here can be believed.
Monster Martial Arts is one site. Got oodles of stuff on it. Articles, courses, everything.
Or, check out Learn Karate Online. Got an actual free lesson or two on it.
Go on, see if I make sense.
I understand why people are leery of the net, there’s so much crap out there. It’s the same old same old. Well, I tell you, this is the brand new brand new, but you aren’t going to see it if you don’t take a look, and you won’t get it if you just shut your mind up and stop asking questions.

Half a Year of Karate!

Do you know how much you can get done in Karate in a half a year?
The reason I say this is because the year is half over. So if you can remember what you were doing at Christmas, or New Years, and any resolutions or things, then you could have made a lot of things happen since them.

If you are studying a classical art, you could have gone through a belt rank or two. You could have a couple of martial arts forms, had a ball doing lots of kumite, and generally be fit and healthy, and your mind would be calm.
Now, if you had been studying my Matrixing program, you could actusally have your black belt by now. Serious. It’s a three month program, but it takes a lot of work. But six months is enough time to do a lot of work. So you could actually be there.
And, here’s something interesting, if you slacked off a little the last few months, maybe been distracted by the news or something, you can realize that every moment you live and don’t do what you love is a moment wasted.
Hey, if it’s not Karate, then what is it? Kung Fu? Yoga? Ballet? If you love it, then why aren’t you doing it?
Got a dream? You’ve had six months to pursue it. Didn’t do it? It’s not too late, so get yer fanny in gear and get going!
Don’t you understand? I’m telling you to ignore everything that gets in your way, everybody that slows you down or distracts you. I’m telling you that you should pick a goal, and having a black belt is an absolutely incredible goal, and GO FOR IT!
Now, do you want to go waste another night drinking beer, or do you want to be somebody? Do you want to be strong and fit and quick in the mind?
Okay, I’ve enjoyed this rant, and especially because I know it is so right and valuable. So spend the time between now and the end of the year working out and finding the real you. If I can help you reach your goals in Karate, if I can help you get to Black Belt, drop by my site, Monster Martial Arts. My email is there, and I answer all emails. See ya.

The Golden Awareness of Hard Core Karate

Don't be a Weakling! Learn Karate Online!


I was stopped at a traffic light today, and the guy in front of me, with his right turn light on, wouldn’t turn. Just sat there, waiting for green. And I was struck by how hard core karate makes you more aware.
This person was probably from a different country, didn’t speak the language, didn’t fully understand traffic and the laws we use to navigate our streets with. And, hate to say it, didn’t understand common sense.
So they sat there, victim to a red glow, totally stopped in life, watching time, and life, pass them by.
Now, why don’t we get stopped if we study Karate, or taekwondo or kenpo or aikido or any of the various martial arts out there?
Because if you stop you get hit.
Now that is a lesson, isn’t it?
If you don’t move somebody tags you, point! And you realize that if it was ‘real life’ you would be dead. Or, at the least, unconscious and broke.
Now, here is the funny viewpoint of this: our streets are filling up with unconscious people, spending half their lives waiting at traffic lights, picking their nose and glad to be in ‘Murica.
Oh, lord, save me from the huddled masses.
Can anybody spell zombie out there?
Well, if you’re a martial artist, if you study the forms and technqiues of freestyle of kenpo or taekwondo, of Wing Chun or Mantis, of drunken fist or monkey style kung fu, then you know what I mean.
And, if you don’t, if you just go to school/work/welfare, then you are going to be one of the hopeless ones, sitting at stop lights, wondering why the mailman is late, wondering why you keep stepping in that brown stuff on the lawn. You are going to be the zombie, the victim, the guy with his finger up his nose at the traffic light.
You know, that’s why I started my website. There are just too many stupid people, too many wannabe zombies out there, graduating from school and standing in the breadline, all stopped up and nowhere to go. I figured if i could get a few to take a few free lessons at my site, maybe they would get more, maybe they would get excited and head for a dojo somewhere, maybe they’d do something…anything! Anyway, if you are a zombie in training, head on over to Learn Karate Online and get a free karate lesson. I mean, I don’t mean to be rude, but…take that finger out of your nose and get your butt in gear! There’s a life out there, and it is just waiting for you to wake up.

Karate, Kung Fu and How to Handle Zombies!

Using Karate and Kung Fu to handle Zombies, sounds like I’m getting ready to rib you, doesn’t it? Well, glad to disappoint, but there’s some s traight goods coming at you. I’m going to tell you about one of the best books on tactics for handling large crowds of people, call ’em zombies if you wish. Before I do so, check out the video, I’m using all sorts of different arts to handle a couple of guys. I’m controlling the distance, locking and block and…taking names. Watch, and then I’ll tell you about a book that might be better than the Book of Five Rings, or The Art of War.

The Book is called The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. It is written tongue in cheek, many would say over the top, but it is the best and most concise overview of battle tactics I have seen. Look let me give you a scenario.
Food shortages are happening all over the world, some people say they will come to a city you live in. When that happens a couple of weeks and people will be out of food. At that point they will start wandering the streets, breaking into houses, looking desperately for a crumb.
Isn’t that how a so called ‘zombie’ works? Wanders the street looking for brains? Brains being a code word for people who have had the smarts to store up and hoard food.
So, when the starved come calling, do you know how to fortify your house so it can withstand attack? Do you know the tactics for not letting the zombies know when you are cooking? Do you know how to set the sombies up when you want to wipe out a bunch of them?
Now, this book goes everywhere, for every eventuallity, and it is better than any military manual I have ever read for straight forward urban survival.
I know it may be mean (politically incorrect?) to call hungry people zombies, let alone treat them like an enemy, but when the mob is at your door, you’ll be glad you read this book.
And, that said, there is one mistake that nearly all people who have read this book make…they don’t study the martial arts. They are reading it for a hoot, they are stuck in fantasy land and don’t know the way out.
If you really want to survive food shortages, riots, even attacks by the police (you think they won’t be hungry?) then this is the book for you.
This book, and karate or kung fu, or some other martial art, will help you handle any zombies. So get the book, and head on over to Learn Karate Online and get some absolutely FREE Karate Training. A zombie attack might be right around the calender, and Karate is the art of choice for laying waste to hordes of the undead!!

Friends in the Martial Arts

Analyze Everything...Leave Nothing to Chance!


How odd.
There are billions of people on this planet…how many do you know?
You probably become acquaintances with a couple of thousand during your life.
You probably know a couple of hundred by name.
You probably have about ten or twenty that you can call friends.

Here’s the interesting thing, through the martial arts I have far more than ten or twenty that I can call friends. There are people that I studied with, and we’re talking back over fortry years, that, met again, the friendship is as solid as ever.
There is just something about sharing combat with a fellow that bonds you closer than ever.
The good news is that this is the type of combat where you don’t kill people, you just fatasize and plan and strategize until you have no desire to kill, and all you are left with is friends.
How odd.

Check out Learn Karate Online. It’s a good site with lots of tips and things. Make sure you get the free ebook on the home page.