Tag Archives: karate technique

How to Fix the Martial Arts

Matrixing the Martial Arts to Make them Work.

As you know
the internet is a great place to share ideas.
I recently ran into a thought,
rather well stated,
and certainly believed in by many,
concerning one of the moves in Pinan 1.

In that form,
specifically in the movement
where you are going up or down the center of the form,
you reach the end, and you are expected to turn the head
and look to the side,
then spin the body the other way to handle a threat.

I disagree with this
for the simple reason
that it is important to trust what you know,
to build ‘knowingness’
not to turn the head in the wrong direction
and waste time looking
when you should have been doing.

here is my response.
It is on the ‘Martial Arts’ group
on Linkedin.
I like this group because they are pretty smart,
they say things well,
and they do make lots of good points,
and they seem to be really thinking about stuff.
here is my response,

….If you look, then you didn’t know, and that means you weren’t doing karate. Real karate is when you know what is going to happen, or, worse case scenario, you move without knowing and what you do is still correct.

If you smack granny in the gums then you were reacting, not knowing, or doing something other than Karate.
Or just doing Karate from a beginner’s viewpoint.

People with reaction time look.
People who trust their ‘knowingness’ don’t react, they are intuitive.

You can actually break this thing of reactivity to knowingness on a scale.
A white belt sees, then thinks, then reacts.
A green belt sees, then reacts.
A brown belt reacts.
A black belt acts.
A master acts before. Or…acts between the time thought becomes action on the part of his opponent.

A great analogy to this is the fielder who takes off ‘at the crack of the bat.’ Not after he sees where the ball is going. He takes off because he has assimilated enough data and knows where the ball is going.

It is actually easy to get from having to look to knowing, but most martial arts I see are not that advanced yet. All my courses are designed with this in mind. The idea is to align the postures and motion correctly, thent he mind can start to assimilate fast enough to become intuitive.

For instancet…let’s consider that first move of a beginning form where you look before you leap, or turn and block.

If you look first, then you have instigated action in the wrong direction, you have turned the wrong way with one body part, and now you have to fix that and make the whole body go in the other direction. Thus, this first screws up the coordinated motion of the body.

And, to be honest, the move is stupid anyway. Who, among you, is going to see somebody to the right and go BACKWARDS to the left? Honestly, the old master who thunk that one up didn’t put on his thinking cap.

The correct way to do it,the way to fix this bad motion, is to push with the leg that is bent (not the leg that is straight out behind), go to the left, AWAY from the attack. This increases distance, which gives time (time is distance), and enables better strategy and positioning.

And, my points having been made, we judge harshly those who don’t turn their heads in the wrong direction and breaking up their coordination by splitting the directions they are going in, and acting with lookingness instead of knowingness.

Okay. I’m done. Got some toe balm if I’ve stepped on any, and I’ll even apologize if I have said this all too impolitely.

But consider my points, do the motion, figure out the difference between physically looking and spiritually knowing.

Have a great work out!
Al from monstermartialarts

There you go,
thoughts in action.
The thing is
this stuff is on one of my courses.
Don’t remember which one,
but what we are trying to do here is enlighten.

There are a LOT of people who do things like this,
looking the wrong way and then spinning,
and not really understanding what the move means,
and they aren’t bad martial artists,
but they have just bought into martial arts systems and thinking
that are lacking in logic and other details.

Okay dokey,
don’t mean to type and run,
but trying to get out of town for the weekend.

So check out Temple Karate.
I fix a LOT of the classical moves.
It’s how I look at the forms after almost fifty years in the arts.
Mind you,
I am gentle in correcting classical forms.
I believe in classical forms,
but mostly I believe in fixing them.
That’s what matrixing is about,
fixing things.

Here’s the link to Temple…

So have a GREAT work out!
And I’ll talk to you later.

Karate Punch Off the Back Leg to Make More Chi Energy

Build Karate Punch Power Right Now!



karate punch

Use the whole body when you do a Karate punch.











Bak Mei Will Kill You, Dog!

Five Volume Technical History of Karate!

Funny thing, I was putting Martial Arts books up on Kindle, and I realized that I had a history going on. Here is the way the history works.

  1. Vol one Pan Gai Noon
  2. Vol two Kang Duk Won
  3. Vol three Kwon Bup
  4. Vol four Outlaw Karate
  5. Vol five Buddha Crane Karate
ruin karate

Do you know this Okinawan Karate Master?

Now, the first volume deals with martial arts in China that went to Okinawa. This is where the Bak Mei of the title of this blog comes in. He was supposed to be a renegade priest from the Shaolin Temple. Started his own style, and even killed a bunch of Shaolin priests. Supposedly. Anyway, he is big in fiction, go look at Kill Bill part two and Gordon Lui plays the nefarious Bak Mei. Or White Eyebrow, as the name translates. Anyway, this volume is not about Bak Mei, but about Pan Gai Noon, which may have come from Bak Mei.

The second volume deals with the Kang Duk Won. This is Karate as it was taught before it left for Japan. This is the style as it was taught to Funakoshi before he took it too Japan. Very interesting to see the differences, and, i have to say, this is where the internal power comes in. If I had studied Shotokan, or one of the Japanese styles that have been altered for tournaments and such I would not be able to put out a candle from a foot or so away with a punch.

The third volume deals with Kwon Bup. Kwon Bup is Karate after it came from Japan to the US. Specifically, it is the art developed by the only man in America to have ever mastered the one finger trick. The one finger trick is when you thrust your finger into a board and don’t break it, but, rather, leave a hole. True.

karate pic

Did he help Karate? Or hurt it?

The fourth volume, Outlaw Karate, is my attempt to separate the two arts of Kang Duk Won and Kwon Bup, which were taught to me at the same time, and to recombine them into a more powerful and smoother art. It is the first time I ever taught a black belt in one year, and it led me to a tremendous bunch of realizations, all of which brought me to Matrixing.

The fifth volume is called Buddha Crane Karate. It was actually bundled in with my Create Your Own Art course, as it is a perfect example of how to create your own martial art.

Now, that is the history, and a sampling of the arts it took to come up with Matrixing. I say sampling because before I came up with Matrixing I learned every form and technique from Shotokan, Isshin Ryu, Shito Ryu, Goju Ryu, and Uechi Ryu. And, I learned a lot of other forms from other styles of Karate. And I studied Aikido and Wing Chun. And  northern and southern shaolin. And many styles of tai chi chuan and pa kua chang. And I studied weapons, usually from Japan or Indonesia. And so on.

So, I did my homework, for those who think I am a dabbler, a get rich quick schemer, or some other nefarious sludge.

And, I left written records so that people could understand things about what I studied, how I studied, how I was effected, and how I actually managed to come up with some of the martial arts courses I offer.

Look, to be honest, mine is probably the largest and most comprehensive study of martial arts in history. And I say this because I was able to avail myself of things the ancients didn’t have. Magazines, books, VHS and other video formats, and, of course, computers.

Now, I have no doubt that others will be able to study more, the internet is growing after all, but I lived in unique times, when the information blossomed, but was still caught in something called ‘Closed Combat Systems,’ which means that the information of the martial arts systems hadn’t been muddied and confused by other systems, but was still in a relatively pure state.

And that’s the story behind my five volume technical (the books show forms and techniques, not a bunch of yak) History of Matrix Karate.

After one has done Matrix Karate, they should look into the history, examine the classical influences, and expand themselves.

Or, if one has no interest in matrixing, but is just eager and anxious to explore as many martial arts as possible, the five volume History of Matrix Karate is on Amazon on Kindle. don’t know where, exactly, but a little googling and you’ll find them.

Have a great day.

zen martial arts

How to Learn the Key Karate Relaxation Technique

Key Karate Relaxation Technique

In Karate, or Kung Fu or any martial art, relaxation techniques are the key to success.

If you are relaxed you can move faster. If you are relaxed you can more easily summon rigidity. If you are relaxed you can better perceive what is happening around you.

karate kick

Practicing Relaxing in 1974.

The first and most important thing in utilizing this key karate technique is to control your breathing. This means you breath in when contracting the body, and you breath out when expanding the body, or getting struck or when striking (blocking, etc.)

Now, that is the basic, and it is just the start of it all. The real key is take the significance out of any motion you make, or any technique you do.

You see, most people get all wound up, try to get totally rigid and think about power, power, power. But power doesn’t depend on how rigid you get, it depends on how much relaxation you have before you get rigid.

So you have to relax, not think about hitting, or power, or how much damage you are going to do; you have to relax your mind.

Let me give you a weird but totally spot on analogy about this.

You are going to propose to your girlfriend, you are nervous, this is a big step, you take her to dinner, try to get everything just right, and you’re down on one knee, and your mouth turns to mush. You stumble and blither and words are all confusing.

Well, that was a very significant moment.

But what if you had a beer, you were laughing and joking with another couple at a pizza hall, and one of your friends says, ‘Hey, when are you guys gonna tie the knot?’

You look at your girl and laugh, and there is a look in the eyes, and you quickly and easily pop out with, ‘This saturday?’

Well, it wasn’t significant. No problemo. And everything turns out just right.

Now, you are facing king kong, big match for the championship, you edge in, you want to move fast, but you are just a little too tense…and he points you.

Well, too much significance.

So how are you going to take the significance out of the moment? How are you going to step up to the plate and hit a home run, instead of an out?

By mentally relaxing.

And how do you mentally relax when all the chips are on the table?

By being professional.

I know, I promised you a key technique, and this is more than a technique, but I need you to understand something.

Relax, dedicate yourself, learn to laugh at your mistakes, and practice so much, do your moves so many times, look at the technique so often, that it just doesn’t have any significance.

Your instructor can point you, but he is a professional, he has practiced that move till it has no significance, and he has trained so many people on it that he thoroughly understands it. So when you face him, he can see you coming a mile away.

He is professional in his training, and that has made him relaxed in his viewpoint.

Can you train that long and that diligently? Can you do that simple technique a million times, and therefore lose the significance of it, mentally relax, and just do it?

Guaranteed, being professional in your attitude, in your training, in your approach to the martial arts and people…that is the key karate relaxation technique, and it will make everything else in your life work.

key karate

Three Karate Techniques That Win Any Street Fight!

I have used these three karate techniques over the years, and I find them invaluable. In fact, I am one hundred per cent sure that these are the three martial arts techniques you must master if you want to win a street fight…any street fight.
matrixing karateMind you, I developed these in tournaments years ago, and they can be used in tournaments, but only with proper control. Use them on the street however, defend your life, and you must use them full out.
The first technique is to break the fingers on the way in. Many people will have open hands, not always, but enough to where this technique should be paid attention to. So when you close the distance, assuming you are not kicking first, you must slap down on his fingers with a backfist. If you can break his fingers he will rethink everything, and he will have one hand that is pretty much useless.
Second thing, goes right along with breaking fingers, is to slap his hands (arms) downward. Push them down, so they are trapped and he can’t use them, and you are going to have a wail of an advantage. This is actually the theory behind Bruce Lee’s ‘Straight Blast.’ He would literally ruin at people, sprint at them, shooting punches so that they rode over the arms and forced them down, so that his punches would be unimpeded on the way to the face.
Third, make him blink. This fits right in with the shooting motion of the hands as you go for broken fingers and trapping hands. If you can shoot the fingers to the eyes, and hit the eyes, then you are going to be fighting a blind mugger. What could be sweeter, eh?
But even if you don’t manage to blind the fellow, if he blinks, thinks backward in his mind, then he will be pulling your strikes to his face and not thinking about defending himself, or even countering. Now, these techniques I discovered in tournaments many years ago. And you can still use them, but be careful. You don’t want to break your partner’s fingers, but you do want to slap his hands down. And you don’t want to blind him, but you do want him to blink.
So practice these karate techniques, become proficient with them, and you will never lose a street fight.

Least Favorite Martial Arts Technique from Bassai

Bassai techniqueOne of my least favorite techniques
of all time,
is when you do the
front stance leaning over
double punch
one over the other.
Comes from Bassai Kata,
among others.

I hated this karate bunkai
because people told me
you punch somebody in the groin and the face,
because people told me
you bring the punches together,
and strike simultaneous
to two points
on the meridian.
The fellow so struck
will have screwed up meridian flow,
can stop one punch,
but can’t repair the gap in the flow
caused by such a double punch.

Are you following me on this?
People are making things up
for a technique they don’t understand.

The classical technique I learned for this,
involved a wild pivot and block afterwards,
and all sorts of other things.

one day I was studying an old book,
and I realized
that this technique was a fireman’s carry.
That’s right,
you don’t strike,
or contort,
or do any of that stuff.
You simply reach in,
grab the guy’s body,
and slide under with a horse stance
as you tilt him up
and you have a fire man’s carry!

now I liked it.
Made sense.
And no BS.

Truth is simple sometimes,
but sometimes you have to dig
with the biggest mofo shovel
to get to that truth.

the technique comes from Kang Duk Won,
but you’ll see it everywhere.
I know some people think
I’m a little nuts on the matrixing,
and they wouldn’t be wrong.
you have to have something to matrix.
The Evolution of Art course
has three complete arts in it.
That’s three books,
thousands of photos,
hundreds of techniques,
in depth analysis,
and if you have been learning a system
that was created in the last forty or fifty years,
or if you were disillusioned
with some art or other,
then you should probably be looking at Evolution of an Art.


It’s a complete art
through all evolutions.

don’t mean to hard sell it,
it’s just that
even if you are looking for
something more esoteric,
there is a bread and butter grit to this stuff
that really gets your hands dirty.
that all said,
think I’ll go have some tea.
And you go have a fantastic work out.


Man Defeats Bear with Karate Spearhand into the Mouth!

I’ve always wondered at the effectiveness of this as a defense for an attacking bear. Before I continue, however, let me say that I love animals, and I in no way advocate cruelty to one of my furry friends.

Most people, you see, try to avoid the snapping jaws. After all, we are talking about inch long knives clamping down on your hand, or arm, or throat…yikes!

But, following the tenet that in the greatest strength you will find a weakness, what if you jabbed your fist, and that might be a spearhand, straight down the animal’s throat when he bit?

There is no set up, as he is coming to you. But your timing must be utterly and exactly perfect.

If you do have the timing, and there is no other choice, when he opens to bite, you push your hand in and scrape your fingernails against the roof of his mouth, try to grab the tongue, and general make the bear believe he is trying to eat a cactus.

Now, the normal reaction, when being bit, is to jerk your hand away, which would cause the teeth to hookinto the flesh. But if you are pushing in, you won’t get hooked,and the bear might actually spit you out.

Now, normal cautionaries, though I don’t see why they would be needed. I mean, someb ody out hunting a bear with just a spearhand is somebody trying to jump out of the gene pool. But, avoid bears and other creatures. Don’t try to pet a porcupine. Don’t try to kiss a ratlesnake. Don’t even think about petting that polecat. They are, after, living critters, and they are best left to nature.

That all said, though this post is sort of a WTF and scratch your head, who knows…it might come in handy. A dog might try to bite somebody, and maybe having a plan will enable one to not get bit, or to extract themselves from a bad situation.

Have a great day, drop my website, Monster Martial Arts, and check out the knife fighting section, and I hope you never have to even think about using a Karate spearhand to fight a bear.