It makes no sense to let an attacker get close enough to use his hands. If he’s got a knife or club, or just a fist that is fast, the best strategy is to kick low and keep him at a distance. The problem is that many Martial Arts schools do not teach the right way to use the legs.

A couple of things to remember before we get into making your kicks into powerful weapons. Practice kicking high so you have strength and flexibility, but keep your kicks low in a real fight so you don’t get a leg caught. And, the best strategy is to avoid the fight altogether whenever you can.

Practice kicking over a chair. This will train you to raise your knee high. When your knee is high your foot can go straight in and deliver the goods, and not arc up and scrape the body.

Turn your hips so they go into the action of the kick. Always turn, or tilt, your hips so that the weight of the hips is fully utilized. This will also give you a little more reach, and it will help commit the whole weight of the body into any technique.

Kick with the ball of the foot. I know many people like to bash with the instep, but they end up spinning around out of control. Kicking with the ball of the foot forces the artist to be an artist, and it concentrates more weight into a smaller striking area.

Bring the foot all the way back after kicking. Snap that foot back so that an opponent can’t grab it and throw you. This also tends to leave more power in the target, consider it a type of follow through.

Practice planting your foot on your partner, then pushing him. This usually means you will alter the kick so that you can place the heel on the body of your partner, then push. This trains you to use the exact muscles that are actually used in a kick.

Kicks are your first line of defense, don’t just practice these techniques a few times and forget about them, practice them hundreds of times a day for each kick. Whether you are training in Karate, or Tae Kwon Do, or Kung Fu, or whatever, a well placed kick can save your life. So practice, and look at your kicks, invest awareness, study the physics of a kick so that your kicks are effective and end the fight before it can even start.

Al Case has examined martial arts for over 4O+ years. A writer for the magazines, he had his own column in Inside Karate for many years. You can find out how to have the most powerful punch in the world, or how to have the strongest kicks in the world, by picking up his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

There are two paths in the martial arts. The directions are sport, and art. One of these leads to decay, the other leads to enlightenment.

If one studies the martial arts simply as a sport, he engages in the fact of contest, and that actually defines the difference between sport and art. If one studies the martial arts as an artistic form, he is attempting to conquer the part of him which resists and fights. Subdue the self, or subdue another, these are the differences between sport and art.

If one is attempting to subdue another, he is holding the world responsible for his problems, fighting the world, not taking responsibility for what he does. Wether the accumulation of wealth, or just trying to beat somebody through a violent contest, the student is not using the art the way it was designed, as a mirror for the soul. It is the soul, the individual, the spirit, the I AM that is what the martial arts are all about, not the smacking down of somebody else.

When one is doing the art as sport, he is creating the strongest body, and then tossing that body to destruction. When one is doing the art as art, he is obsessed with finding out the truth about himself and what this thing called life is really all about. He is engaged in defining what impulse is behind the muscle and quiver of fighting his fellow man, and then defeating that impulse

The True Martial Way can be defined by the degree of motion within the art. A young man studies the excessive motion of Karate and Shaolin and that type of art. As the student ages, he practices tai chi, slowing his motion down, trying to take responsibility for his every action.

Eventually, man becomes tired, still, and begins to think life. At this point he has become motionless, a person who watches motion, and this is where he finds the truth. In motionlessness, he sees the truth of himself.

When one does Yoga one is exercising, making the body strong, but not through mock fighting. This does create a weakness, as the universe is motion, and we should study motion to understand life. That one weakness aside, yoga does encourage progression to the heart of the matter.

Putting the body through slow exercises, breathing, watching, we slowly become aware of who is doing the watching, who is making the motion. We find the I AM that is behind all the motion of the universe, and thus we transform into souls, individuals unique and creative and filled with passion. We could wait, and grow old without any discpline, or we could pursue violence through the martial arts until violence is exhausted, or, we could just accelerate the process with yoga, through posture and slow breathing, and find out who we really are.

Al Case has studied the martial arts for more than 4O++ years. He has written for the magazines,, including his own column, Case Histories. He is the developer of Matrixing Technology and Neutronics. You can get a free ebook at his website, Monster Martial Arts.

I know, the question is a bit bogus, as one should be comparing arts such as Karate and Aikido merely so as to make them compliment each other. Thus, with that statement made, let us discuss how the fist should wiggle into the glove. No pow and bam, just an honest, up front viewpoint for your edification and enlightenment.

Karate is supposed to be a linear martial arts, and Aikido is supposed to be designed for the purity of the circle. Yet, if one looks at Karate one will see that perfection of linearity is loose, at best. If Karate could actually adhere to the linear concept, considering how the bones, joints, muscles and so on fit together, the body would probably explode, or, at least fall apart from stress.

And, on the other hand, if Aikido tried to adhere to the perfect circle, except in the most theoretical of classes, the art would not work. And, to be honest, aikido is not your best art for down and dirty combat. While Aikido is pure and wonderful, and can evolve the practitioner to high levels, one should use a martial art like Karate to enter the fight, then apply aikido.

Think about it this way, distance collapses in a fight. The circle being made by foot and arm the lever of the extend arm is too long and unwieldy. However, if you use karate to work your way to the inside of the fight, you will find a shorter lever.

Instead of stepping in and trying to make a three foot arm circle into a wrist lock, try a middle block, slide in and begin turning. As you turn, bring the arms up to catch the elbow, shove your shoulder in and go with the flow. Go ahead, try this technical adaptation, even gaze at a little youtube to get the idea of the geometries involved, and you are going to find an instant blend of karate, even the hardest of karate, like Kyukoshinkai, with even the purest forms of Aikido, even the soft form espoused by Morihei Uyeshiba.

Now, the above being detailed, the big weakness of Karate is that it is limited, in most modern formats, to destruction. It has been tailored for tournament, gloves put on for more violence, and given over to fighting for fighting sake. But while there is an art to destruction, the true art is in control.

Thus, a study of Aikido, with the advices I give you here, will enable you to confront the fiercest violence, and transmogrify that violence into the most magical and wondrous of techniques. You kick, you punch, maybe soften the fellow up, then you simply embrace the arms and learn how to go with the flow.

A last word about all this, don’t mistake the throws of Aikido for the throws of judo or jujitsu. While techniques of the ju variety are quick and workable, we want to move from hard to soft complete, and a certain amount of hard is still needed to make most ju techniques work. That all said, I wish you the best with your new art, whether you call it…karido…aikate…your choice.

Al Case has researched Karate and Aikido, and other arts, for 4O+ years. A writer for the magazines, with his own column, since’81, Al is the originator of Matrixing. You can learn more about combining arts, and Matrixing, by getting his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

When you learn the truth of Karate kumite, there are certain truths about how to fight. One of the truths is that the mind shuts down during combat, and survival mode kicks in. Adrenalin junkies would have you believe this is good, but it is not, it is the worst thing that could happen.

As a species we don’t have quills, or claws, or smells, or jaws, or any particular characteristic that would help us survive, except that thing we call a mind. It is the mind that solves problems, it is the mind that adapts to survive. It is this thing called a mind that we must learn how to use if we are to reach our full potential as humans, and as humans in the fighting mode.

One must control the distance in a fight, by controlling distance we have choice as to what weapon we choose to use. The way to do this is to tie a string from your belt to his, and practice moving so that the string stays taut without breaking. Now, move in this fashion, and within a short time your body will move with the other persons body because it likes the fact of harmony.

We must control the fact of the leg movements. The best leg positioning is when the legs are in a matching stance, which is to say his right leg is forward and so is yours, the second best position is when you are in an opposing stance, which is to say his right leg is forward, and your left leg is forward. The way to train yourself to always have matching stance is merely to walk with the string, and striving to always stay in a matching stance.

Third, we must control the movement of the arms, again, in a matching or opposing mode. No string needed here, but you do have to be aware of distance, you have to match your partners arms as he comes in. The way to do this is merely to assume a matching stance and practice matching your arm motions to his.

We must analyze movement and positioning and discover what techniques work best for matching and for opposing. Yes, you want to have a matching stance, but whatever happens, you should be able to train yourself to work from within the situation. The trick is in a basic matrixing principle, to realize that whether you are in a matching or opposing mode, your arm will be either inside or outside of his, and you must find that technique that your positioning can grow into.

We must make everything work as if it was designed to work in unison. This would appear difficult, except that if you have worked on the individual exercises I have described here, then the whole thing comes together easy squeezy. The body, you see, even while it is being put upon, likes to work as a well oiled and harmonious unit.

Control distance, control stance through positioning, control arms by understanding whether they are inside or outside, this is simple stuff, but entirely overlooked by todays fighters. But if you do understand what I have said in this article, however, then you will move to the head of the pack, for you are putting awareness and the ability to think into combat. Whether you study kenpo or tae kwon do, Aikido or Arnis, Uechi or Krav Maga, the truths in this article, the hint of matrix martial arts that I have given you, will make you a better fighter…an immensely better fighter!

Al Case has studied martial arts for 40 years. A writer for the magazines since’81, he is the originator of Matrixing Technology. If you want to learn how to fight like a thinking maniac visit Al at http://blindingsteel.com. If you already know how to fight, take advantage of his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

Reaction time is one of the biggest and baddest, if not the biggest and baddest, scams ever foisted upon human beings. The idea that you must wait for somebody else to move before taking action is a trick of a blinded mind, and will get you killed. The whole concept, and I dont care if you are a practitioner of Hung Gar or Wing Chun or Shotokan or whatever, is designed to make you a victim.

Now, the problem is that this concept of reaction time has become common to all arts, and basically corrupted those arts. One of the reasons is that the martial arts have been designed for children, and children dont have enough sense of themselves to deal with reaction time except in the most victim manner. Thus, you have to avoid classes taught for, or evolved for, or designed for, children.

Another problem is that the mixed martial arts phenomena that is currently the wow in society has driven people to training methods that utilize nothing but muscle and brawn. How strong are you, how fast are you, and not how can you harmonize with your opponent. Again, the method creates victims of time, moving after somebody else has moved, and it does not create people who move in The Now.

For example, watch one of the latest UFC bashes, the fighters miss as much as they connect, yet the time involved should be faster than somebody can move their heads. The reason this is happening is because people are moving in response to action, and not in concert with it. Or, and this is really worse, they are moving without having any real idea of where they are moving, striking out blindly and hoping to win the lottery.

On the other end of the scale are fighters who dont miss much, who are aware in the middle of combat, and come out of the fray unscathed and yet with a knock out to their credit. Watch the last fight with Anderson Silva Silva, the one against Forrest Griffin. Anderson seems lazy as he exists at the edge of Forrests punches, and yet he is never touched, and instead loops a lazy, little punch in that knocks Forrest into the middle of next week.

But Forrest was already in the middle of next week! Forrest, you see was trying to hit a head without knowing where it was, which is obvious if you analyze the trajectory of his punches. Forrest was not capable of being in The Now, or of predicting in any fashion where Andersons head would be.

So here is the question that I have been getting up to, if a person is in reaction time, punching because of and not in concert with the action, where is he? The truth is that it doesnt matter where he is, what matters is that he is victim to the trap of reaction time. He is not in charge of the fight, he is living some other time, he is living in the past, he is victim to reaction time.

Well, it should be fair obvious that the world has gone crazy, and we all knew that, but we can uncrazy it by undoing this trap called reaction time. Simply, you must seek out training drills where you move in concert with your opponent, and because he moved. Whether you study Choy Lee Fut, Kenpo, Krav Maga, or whatever, you must research what reaction time is, admit when you have it, and remove it from your life.

Al Case, 4O years martial arts, hundreds of articles for the mags and his own column, has designed methods which will undo reaction time and de-corrupt entire martial arts. You can take advantage of his free report at Monster Martial Arts, and you can see him moving without reaction time at Blinding Steel.

The first thing you are going to have to learn is that it doesn’t take decades to learn such arts as Tai Chi Chuan or Pa Kua Chang or Aikido. Look, the army makes soldiers in a handful of months, and that includes some high tech stuff! And, when you add up the actual hours spent on that college course, it doesn’t take that long to make a teacher or a computer expert.

The idea that it takes long stretches of time is something that has been taught to us by people who want to make money. After all, the longer somebody is engaged in a course of study, the longer money goes into that cultural dojo box. So get over the idea that it takes a lifetime, and get used to learning fast!

Now, to learn an art such as pa kua chang you need to draw a circle about six feet across, and which takes exactly eight steps to step around. You need to situate the circle so it is squarely in the room, which means that if you straightened up every two steps you would face a wall. Now you need to schedule a three day weekend to master this thing.

The first rule in walking the circle is to keep the hips low and let them move at a slow and even rate. The second rule is to harmonize your breathing and the movements of your hands and feet so they move at the same slow rate of speed, starting and finishing techniques at the same time. The third rule is to be willing to separate yourself from the the universe of common people, let your attention slide off the the trees and fences, the tables and chairs, as you walk in an endless circle.

Now, you need basics that actually work and make sense and are logical. Examine karate for basic blocks, and curve the arms to adapt them to Pa Kua Chang. Things can get complex, so I would recommend taking the four basic blocks, hi, low, in and out, and working with them to start.

Now take a step on the circle and do a slow and circular block, making the largest circles you can make with your arms. Though you have only taken one step, let your body pivot to its limits, and don’t let the block finish until you have reached that limit. When you reach the end of your body limits, reverse your turn and start a long and slow second block. Take a step as you do that second turn and block, and, again, let your body turn to its limit.

Keeping the hips tucked under will help you avoid injury to the lower spine, place the feet flat and seek total stability, and search for graceful movements. Be a ninja ice dancing, slowly whirling and spinning, exploring the limits of motion. Ignore anything that looks even remotely like a self-doubt, and let a few hours expose the truth of Pa Kua Chang to you.

The last thing is to make sure what you are doing actually works as a martial art, because if it doesn’t work you shouldn’t be doing it. Have a friend try slow attack movements on you, and walk a small circle around his attacks, letting your blocks encircle his limbs, and you will find all sorts of odd but useful techniques. Now, the one thing you should know, the one thing that will make all the difference…this is exactly how such arts as Tai Chi, Pa Kua and Aikido were invented in the first place!

Al Case has learned martial arts for 4O++ years, and has written hundreds of articles for the major magazines. He can teach almost anybody how to learn almost any art within a couple of months. Complete data, including a free ebook, is available at Monster Martial Arts.

I don’t care if you study shotokan or kenpo or Uechi ryu or whatever, you’re going to need a powerful fist. I don’t care if it is tae kwon do or boxing or Krav maga, you’re going to need a fist that knocks them down the first time! Even if you’re in Aikido or Tai Chi, you’re going to need to understand what power is so you can properly handle it.

The funny thing is that a powerful punch is easy to get if you follow a couple of easy instructions. You don’t have to pound your delicate hand against a telephone pole. You don’t have to lance your delicate fingers into boxes of sand.

As with most things in this world, once you realize behind something, that something is easy to do. Thus, the first thing you need to know in developing a punch that can knock down hippos and rhinos is simple. That one thing you need to analyze and realize is…weight.

This universe has only objects flying through space. When objects collide there is the sensation of weight. The more weight involved in the collision, the more effect there is going to be.

You hit somebody, and your fist flies through space and collides. Now, if the body your fist is colliding with weighs 200 pounds, then you are going to have to have a two hundred pound fist. Well, you could multiply the 20 pounds of your fist by ten times the velocity, but there is an easier way.

The easiest way is to align your body behind the strike. Your arm may be 20 pounds, but if you can add the weight of your torso and your limbs and even your head to the punch, you can weigh, especially when you times your weight by velocity, 200 pounds. Heck, if you can line up a hundred pounds of body weight behind that strike, and then multiple it by a simple ten, you are going to have a thousand pound sledge hammer of a punch!

First, do lots of push ups, and when your arms get strong enough to withstand the shock, start jumping your push ups into the air. Second, do your form slowly, looking at the pieces of your body, and learn to line them up and shove them into one movement. Three, make a box about six feet tall, put padding on it, make it weigh 200 pounds, and practice shoving it across the floor with a punch.

The funny things is that this method is so simple that nobody has figured it out. And, to be truthful, nobody really understands the importance of delivering weight in the martial arts. But, whether you do pa kua chang, tai chi chuan, tae kwon do, Chinese Kenpo, or any of the forms of classical karate, you need to understand weight, and you need to implement some form of the training method I have detailed here if you want The Most Powerful Punch on earth!

Al Case has taught the martial arts for 4O++ years. He has written hundreds of articles for the magazines. You can find out more about The Most Powerful Punch on Earthh at Monster Martial Arts.

The martial arts are often held up as a rite of passage. Rite of passage is a common concept amongst societies of a tribal nature. But, the current society doesn’t really need rites of passage, rather, it needs a logical approach to make the martial arts easier to learn and more effective.

This, of course, means that the bully boy attitude of many instructors is going to have to go out the door. The idea that you have to be a man to do something needs to be put aside. Really, to grow up in this society means that the ability to think takes precedence over the use of muscles.

There are three stages in this thinking process, and, unfortunately one of them is unknown. The three stages are CBM, which means Coordinated Body Motion, matrixing, and mushin no shin, which I shall explain. Of the three, nobody even knows that matrixing exists.

CBM, Coordinated Body Motion, is when the body is used as one unit. This means that all parts of the body move at the same time. Mystical in the past, one need merely judge the mass and range and so on of the various body parts and go about integrating them through analysis of simple motions inherent in the martial arts.

Matrixing is the analysis and handling of force and flow (direction). Matrixing relies on a simple graphing procedure, and it reveals all the things that one doesn’t know in the martial arts. Hidden techniques and mysterious moves all come to light once one starts to Matrix his martial art.

Mushin no shin is Japanese for Mind of No Mind. I have also referred to it as Time of no Time, and it means that the person has managed to ignore all the chaos and static of the human mind and begun analyzing reality as it is, and in the here and now. Interestingly, in spite of the fact that Matrixing has been unknown, a rare few people have managed to achieve Mushin No Shin, but they have been unable to pass it on, for there has been no logic or science to perpetuate it as a logical method.

Matrixing is incredible important, as it stands as a way for the human being to overcome a mind that isn’t fully functioning and perceive, and have doings with, reality as it truly is. Once fully matrixed, a person will have no more illusions about what is actually happening in life. And, this means that you don’t have to use a rite of passage to beat somebody up to get him to learn something that, the faulty mind put aside, would be obvious.

Interestingly, I came across matrixing graphs by making long lists of martial arts techniques, and searching for the most efficient method for crossing the lists and discovering all the tricks of the martial arts. What I didn’t know was that I was going to uncover all the potentials of motion, and open up a universe that I did not know existed. Well, you know ten times what I did before I began matrixing, so give it a try, and let me know of your success…and there will be successes.

Al Case has practiced the martial arts for forty+ years. He has written dozens of articles and had his own column in Inside Kung Fu. You can learn more about his Matrixing Method in a free ebook available at Monster Monster Martial Arts.

The martial arts, if you want to be really honest, were developed in third world countries. Of course, a few centuries ago, let alone a millennia or two, every country was a third world country. The unfortunate truth this fact of reasoning leads to, however, is that the martial arts are taught using old, ancient and outdated methods.

The budding student is told to practice the horse stance if he wants to make it. He is given forms with horse stances in them. And, after a few years or a decade or two, he becomes able to grip the ground pert good.

But…why wasn’t he just taught the information necessary to create an energy beam that could penetrate the earth? Yeah, channel your breath to the tan tien and make the energy grow in your center. Now, imagine shooting beams down your legs and connect with good, old mother earth.

And, if he has trouble, give him more data and create more understanding. Show him how to twist the legs so that he can make energy reach the ground. Show him how to push the legs so so that he can make energy come from the ground.

oh, I forgot, the old Chinese didn’t have the knowledge of modern physics necessary to describe what an energy beam was and how to build it with the body. Uh, I guess we should tell the truth, they didn’t have any physics at all. They had some pretty good mysticism, though, they did have that!

The truth is that mysticism is nothing more than made up reasons for things you don’t understand. Mysticism is based on mystery. And the methods of the ancients, transfigured through well meaning instructors, are based on what they didn’t understand.

Oh, people can still understand the teachings of the martial arts, sort of, and in a manner of speaking. But it takes a lifetime or four or five. It takes lifetimes, but if the student doesn’t have the ability to see beneath the tricks of language, he is going to pass on the same old tricks that enlighten a few of the fortunate, and befuddle the masses that aren’t so fortunate.

So, new methods are needed. Real understanding is the goal if you are going to master the martial arts, and move on through the mystical realms described by the ancients. Sup to you, can you find me?

Al Case has analyzed martial arts for 4O+ years. You can inspect his free ebook concerning his modern methods at Monster Martial Arts.

Okay, you’ve been studying the Benevolent and Austere School of the Grand and Exploding Dragon. Or, maybe you’ve decided to start your own school, and you are going to call it the Nine Circling Wombats in Winter When the Sun is Shining. The point that is being made in this here article is that…what’s in a name.

A classical school might have a recognized name, like Shotokan Karate, but that just means the garage of Funakoshi. Or maybe a generic name, like Karate Dojo, which says it is teaching karate in a school, but nothing else. But there is a deeper and more insidious underbelly to this whole scene.

Uechi Ryu karate/kung fuis considered hard core classic martial art, but what is this thing called Pan Gai Noon? Pan Gai Noon irefers to the three original forms taught in a Chinese Kung Fu system, and which are represented as a truer version of the art. The extra five forms in Uechi Ryu were taught, according to George Mattson in his amazing book on Uechi Ryu, for entertainment purposes.

That’s right, students needed to be entertained so that they didn’t stop, uh, paying their monthly commercial fees. This seems like a concept rather shabby in nature, but, apparently, as anybody who has taken advantage of a school that lasts for years and years knows, it is a necessary one. And, in truth, while one could fault the school for such curricular oddities, and probably should, one also has to look to and fault the students.

Or, to get back to Shotokan, while it is considered the ultimate legitimate karate school, Gichen Funakoshi apparently passed his authority in matters karate to a school called Shotokai. Apparently he passed his seal and other paraphernalia to shotokai, and Shotokan is (choke) an imposter. Well, one could argue which is legitimate, but both have a right to practice martial arts, and the truth will be found in the individual, not in the school.

But, to continue this profound discourse, kenpo is…not karate. Parker was versed in karate, see his first book, but his teachings ended up being based on Jimmy Woo Kung fu. He called it kenpo karate because nobody knew what kenpo, or kung fu, was.

Commercialism, and other influences, effect the naming of a school or system. Aikido went through a variety of names before being called Aikido. Karate, before being transformed into Tae Kwon Do in Korea, had eight different kwans, or schools.

I suppose the final thought on this is that naming a school can be sordid or fun, and it can mean a variety of different things. The truth of an art, however, is whether the system is a solid manifestation of the martial arts, whether the instruct can actually get the student to understand, and whether the student actually has the ability to learn a martial art. This is a question beyond labels and names and categorizations and such, true to the heart of the matter, and what the student must consider when exploring the morass of grand and glorious martial arts names.

Al Case has researched martial arts for 4O+ years. You can Call Him Names at Monster Martial Arts.