Learning The Martial Arts Forms Art By Art
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/AlCase26.jpg]When we consider the best martial arts forms we are considering those martial arts kata that give the most benefit to the student. I usually recommend learning as many patterns and arts as possible, then working on the ones that the student prefers, although there can be oddities in this method. I also hold that one should learn entire arts, first taekwondo, then karate, then kung fu.
The kebons are good, basic kata taught in both karate styles and taekwondo styles. Though there are three to five of these introductory patterns, I don’t usually count them as forms because they are actually the ABCs of the martial arts.
The next batch of kata to study would be the Taeguks as taught in Tae kwon do. These are basic patterns, more advanced than the kebons, but not as advanced as the Japanese Heians (Pinans). Though they take a few moves from the Heian forms, they serve them up as straight hand to hand techniques, no secret throws or weapons disarms, and no real generation of intrinsic energy.
After the taeguk patterns one should learn the Pinan forms from the Shotokan system, the Kyokushinkai system, and other Japanese martial styles. The Pinan kata are actually designed more for weapons defenses, though not many people know this. The idea here is that one learns the Taeguks for hand to hand combat, then moves into the Pinans for a basic understanding of weapons defenses, and the beginnings of chi eneergy generation.
After the Pinans I recommend the three forms from Pan Gai Noon, which is the base art of Uechi ryu Karate, and which are actually three extremely hard core kung fu forms. These three forms are sanchin, seisan, and sanseirui, though sanseirui is considered more of a show form. These three unique kata are specifically designed to generate internal energy.
Sanchin is designed to teach a student to bolt the motor down to the ground. There are not a lot of moves in it, but the moves are geometrically unique and perfectly designed for adapting hard energy to excellent self defense moves.
Sanchin may be the power form, but seisan is the technique kata. This form takes the power of sanchin and transfigures it into (probably) 13 specific self defense moves. These are all based on one specific move called wa uke, which is a circle block with a flesh tearing grab on the end.
So, taekwondo to karate to kung fu; Kebons to Taeguk to Pinans to Sanchin and seisan. This arrangement of martial arts forms provides the student with the absolute best and most complete sequence of classical training there is. Other forms can and should be studied, but this is the heart of the art right here.
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Getting A Martial Arts Black Belt In Less Than Two Years
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/AlCase3.jpg]Eight forms is all that is really necessary to earn a Martial Arts Black Belt, and this is in karate, or taekwondo, or kenpo, or even the many shaolin systems and other fighting arts. Of course the kata must be of the correct kind to be effective. A good example of this is found in Karate, which descended from Kung Fu, and from which developed both Kenpo and Taekwondo.
Most systems hold to eight belt levels to black belt ranking, though a few junior belts are often added into the mix. Actually, this is too many belts, for people are kept on the runway too long. This became extremely obvious when I started teaching matrixing, for people started learning at faster rates, which upset the whole rate of learning martial arts systems.
The correct number of belt rankings should be four. This is usually a white belt, a green belt, a brown belt, and a black belt, which equates to beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert. Past that one would deal with assistant instructors and instructors.
The white belt student should learn basic forms. This would be the equivalent of kebon kata, and these kata teach nothing but basic blocks, stances, punches, and kicks. Time for learning would be 3-6 months.
The green belt should learn Pinan 1-5 (Heian 1-5). This a good mix of intermediate forms, and one will find all manner of grab arts, different and odd ways of developing blocks, more advanced kicks, and so on. Time to learn would be about a year.
A brown belt student should learn advanced patterns depending on the size and shape of his body. A larger student might consider learning sanchin, seisan and sanseirui. A smaller, more nimble student might might consider learning umbe, botsai and the Horse Kata.
The time necessary to get from brown belt to black belt would be 6 months, though, I have to admit, I often teach faster than that. I teach at a faster rate of speed because I coordinate the number of techniques to the forms, and this gives a better reality to the movements. The real trick, however, is matrixing, for that procedure tends to uncover all the hidden mysteries, and to arrange the material in a logical and much easier to learn format.
Whether you know matrixing or not, however, you should arrange your classes so that they are a couple of hours long, and you teach at least three times a week. One of the reasons martial arts schools have failed is because schools have become polite and ordered and there is no sense of urgency to learning. Quite seriously, your life could well depend on how fast you can get to a Martial Arts Black Belt.
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The Martial Arts As A Pathway To The God Concept
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/AlCase7.gif]Up to this point in time the idea of reaching an awareness of the God Concept through the martial arts was considered nigh impossible. If one wants to reach God, the reasoning goes, one must enlist in an establishment and follow the rules of the establishment. This flies in the face of the power of the ‘I am’ that actuates the human form.
If one examines the writings of martial artists over the ages, one can see that there is a distinct and pervading spirituality that evolves as one studies the martial arts. This spirituality has been achieved by such luminaries as Morihei Ueshiba, and is available to all who are willing to follow a set series of steps. Following are the distinct steps that one must follow.
The doing of martial arts patterns and technique provide a discipline beyond what is experienced in the work a day world. This discipline reaches far beyond the same old same old world of public education, and right into the spirit motivating the body. This discipline, if followed, will liberate the spirit quite effectively.
Knowing that one has a body points to there existing something in the universe other than a body. ‘Who drives the auto’ is the question, and one stops being a passenger in this universe and begins the journey to controlling the vehicle. Thus, the body becomes a car, and the car is a mechanism to hold the spirit, and the martial artist stops looking at the body as a body and starts considering it as a temple motivated by the spirit.
To speed up this procedure one should matrix the martial art they are engaged in. This is the applying of common sense and physics to the apparently random motions that the sequencing of favored martial arts moves has become. Thus, ones progress is not measured by endless sit ups to God, which can, quite truthfully, take a little longer than forever, but rather through the ordered thrust of awareness through the body.
This mechanism is my body, and it does what I want. This covering is my skin, and to go through and beyond the boundary of skin is possible through kata and the cultivation of extra senses, and if I unlimit myself in this fashion I will experience directly a universe where spirituality is the dominant ‘force.’ This is possible through studying the martial arts, and enhanced through the technology known as Matrixing.
Utilizing Matrixing in the Martial Arts, one quickly discovers this other universe. And one discovers the superiority of this other universe, and that this other universe imposes over the commonly excepted and sense proven universe. Indeed, one discovers that this superior universe has always been there, in conjunction with the sense proven universe, and, in actuality, it has only been through the actuation of the Divine Universe that the sensory universe been made to work at all.
Ultimately, as one forays into and tames this other and more superior universe of the spirit, one discovers that his nature, unlimited from body, is Neutronic: that he is a Neutronic Being. The universe follows certain rules, and these rules are defined through a study and application of Neutronics. Thus, through an awareness of first Matrixing, and then Neutronics, the Martial Arts become valid as one of the four paths to the God Concept.
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Three Street Fighting Martial Arts Moves That I Don’t Really Recommend!
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/AlCase34.jpg]I’ve taught for over forty years, and I’ve seen street fighting martial arts moves that work, and martial arts moves that don’t work. Of course, I haven’t seen everything that isn’t going to work. It seems like there is always some idjut that will invent a new move that doesn’t work.
To start with an weird one, I don’t recommend a front kick or side kick to the face. People dodge that one intuitively and throw you inadvertently by flailing their arms. On the other weird hand, if you do a flying side kick to the head, or a spinning kick to the head, it can actually work.
I’ve actually seen it happen on the street, and the reason it worked was because it shocked the crap out of the guy being kicked. He honestly was confused by all the body motion happening. Of course, he obviously didn’t know martial arts, but still, if you practice it hard enough, you might be able to make it work when the guy doesn’t know what he is doing.
I also don’t recommend stomping on feet, not because they don’t work, but because a kick to the knee seems a little easier to make work, and produces more damage. It’s easier for a fellow to move the foot out of the way than it is to move the knee if you’re standing on that leg. One has to lift the knee and shift the weight, and that tells a person that something is happening.
On the other hand, you must learn how to do a knee stomp effectively if you’re going to make it work. Don’t lift the foot (your knee) too high, because, again, the fellow will see it coming. Try doing it old style, lifting the knee just high enough, then slamming it out.
I don’t recommend take downs if you haven’t trained excessively in them. Too many people see the UFC and want to slam a body, but those guys in the ring have many years of experience, they know what’s going down. They know what to do if the takedown turns into a wrestling match.
They know what tricks to do once they are on the street. And, they know enough to avoid the takedown if the situation isn’t quite right. Really, though slamming the body looks cool, those guys in the ring only use it when they can get away with it, or when that is the only strategy that is going to work.
Okay, I know there will be people with arguments with what I’ve said here, and there should be. After all, everybody comes from different schools and have different martial arts styles. Still, you can use my observations as a basis for figuring out what works for you when it comes to using street fighting martial arts techniques.
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True Data Concerning Black Belt Rankings In The Various Martial Arts
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/AlCase16.jpg]Black Belt rankings were originated by Master of Judo Jigoro Kano. Master Kano is supposed to have created his system based on rankings used by swimming clubs. Karate clubs throughout the Land of the Rising Sun borrowed his ranking system.
The original karate system is supposed to have been based on only two belts, white belt and black belt. As more and more people came to study, two more belts were added, green belt and brown belt. Eventually Chinese American Kenpo was devised by Karate pioneer Ed Parker, and the number of colored belts grew greatly.
Belts of color were setup in the following ranking: white, orange, purple, blue, green, three stages of brown, different stages of black. As the belt ranking systems expanded, legends having to do with the significance of the colors grew. Each martial arts school seemed to have a different reason for the belt colors.
White and black, in the beginning, didn’t mean much, as there were so few students and the promotions were pretty cut and dried. White meant beginner, and black belt meant the student was used as an assistant instructor. As the belt systems expanded this concept quickly gave way to instructor rankings.
White, green, brown and black were supposed to relate to the spring, summer, fall and winter of the martial arts life of a student. This also aligned with the concept of beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert status. This concept, while worthwhile, gave way when more colors were added.
The full range of colors introduced by Chinese Kenpo Systems was related to a full spectrum of achievement. Rightly or wrongly, a Kenpo student was assumed, when he made it to black belt, to know everything in the spectrum. This concept began to decline when red belts were introduced.
At first, red belts were used to honor high ranking masters, these were sometimes politically motivated belts, though there were some legitimate rankings. Then, because people tend to promote themselves to the highest rank possible, the red belt replaced the black belt in many peoples estimation, and the spectral system broke apart. This was aided by the fact that some systems, especially taekwondo systems, began replacing the brown belt with the red belt.
In current times, while colored belts are said to be motivational in student lessons, the fact of the matter is that there has been some abuse. Many commercial martial arts schools have lengthened training time to align with the increased rankings to keep people at their schools for longer periods of time, and this has extended the length of time it takes to learn the martial arts. It is hoped that understanding the basic facts of Black Belt rankings, as described in this article, will help potential students when they analyze possible arts to study.
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Ed Parker And Bruce Lee Were Traitors To The Martial Arts!
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/AlCase7.gif]I always enjoy pointing out that people like Ed Parker and Bruce Lee were bad guys in the martial arts. People always get upset with me and even want to beat me up. Then, when I tell them the truth, they can’t do anything but mumble a lot.
Ed Parker apparently never made it to Black Belt in the system taught by William K. S. Chow. Heck, halfway through teaching his students on the mainland, he had to go home to Hawaii because he ran out of material and needed more. And, Professor Chow told him no.
So he made up martial arts, hired a kung fu artist to help make up new forms and techniques, redid his system (five times), and so on. The result was that he could award tenth degree black belts, host tournaments, inspire the starting of chains of schools, and some people hold that he was only a brown belt. And the whole world was fooled into accepting him as the grand poobah of martial arts, and hardly anybody but a dedicated Kenpoist knows where he learned.
And if you think Ed Parker wasn’t very nice, wait until you consider Bruce Lee! Bruce ‘The Little Dragon’ Lee apparently didn’t even complete his Wing Chun studies. He got embroiled in the street gangs of his native country and his parents finally had enough of his bad ways and sent him to cool off in the UAS of A! In the US, though he hadn’t completed his Ving Tsun training in China, he started teaching that martial art to whoever wanted to learn.
Not knowing the whole wing chun art, though, he began bolstering it up with martial arts techniques from boxing, fencing, and 24 other martial arts styles. Yes, he was a sponge, but he was teaching Kung Fu to anybody who wanted it, betraying his race (according to some), and teaching stuff that went far beyond the classical martial arts. He was teaching a wild eclectic Jeet Kune Do style that went far beyond the classical karate kata training of the time.
The culmination was a fight with no winner (Wong Jack Man), and then he throws it all away for Hollywood! Is that the mark of a true martial artist? Or is that some unbalanced fellow whining for fame?
Now, it is time for this writer to fess up. Most of you readers know what I am doing anyway. I am engaging in a little yellow journalism for sarcastic sake.
Ed Parker, Bruce Lee, and other pioneers studied sufficient in the classical to know what it was, then they chose, for whatever reasons, their own directions. They then outshone their teachers and systems, and expanded the martial arts to the benefit of all. Yes, Bruce Lee and Ed Parker were traitors, as are all true visionaries, as need to be anybody who wants to go beyond stiff training methods and learn the truth of the martial arts.
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Three Steps To Making Deadly Martial Arts Moves
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/AlCase11.jpg] Everybody wants their training to result in the deadliest Martial Art Techniques, but most schools don’t deliver. Teaching children, training for tournaments, these concepts take from the combative arts. Interestingly, one need only understand the three stages of technique, or bunkai, and it doesn’t matter whether you do karate or kenpo or Aikido or whatever, and your art is going to get pretty darned deadly.
The basic idea and principle of what you are doing must be understood. Often there are a bunch of little things that need to be understood, but they come together in a single idea. This idea is presented in the form, and it is why things like Karate kata or taekwondo poomse are actually vital training tools.
The form, you see, is a perfect idea. You practice it without distractions and you attempt to make each motion as perfect as possible. You cut down such things as reaction times, and you train your body to move like a well oiled machine.
The second thing you need to do is apply the individual parts of the forms in bunkai, or applications. You need to make the technique work through controlled distraction, you need to experience resistance. Most important, you need to understand the reality of what happens when bodies collide with bodies.
The idea here is that you need to have somebody try to stop you from doing your tricks. This enables you to deal with real live opposition, and go through the doors that will enable you to make a trick work, and to find all the ‘what ifs’ that will get in the way of that workability. This is perfection pushed new levels of difficulty; this is learning how to make the art work in spite of anything that might get in the way.
The third thing is to take your skills onto the mat and make them work. Here your kenpo techniques may not be so beautiful, in spite of anything Mr. Parker might say, and you are going to have to push through all resistance and make them be usable, in some fashion, anyway. Ultimately, as you test these applications and find the working parts, you are going to find the perfection of art available in such forms as sochin and bassai and even lowly kebon.
The thing you have to watch out for, in this process of making the art work, is coming to believe in violence as a solution. You must not allow the Joy of Combat, for that is a lie. You must, in spite of the chaotic nature of the art you study, hold to a calm, inner peace; you must control yourself until you find yourself.
The martial arts are a method of discovering yourself through intense workouts, and through the seeking and isolating of perfection in every technique you do. Perfection is there, you know, but there is a price that must be paid. Deadly Martial Arts Techniques, you see, are found only by seeking inner peace.
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If You Can’t Do These Strength Feats Then You Aren’t Bruce Lee Tough!
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/AlCase45.png]People like to think they are tough. They break a few boards and swagger around and make grunting sounds. But once you read the following list of feats, you are going to know that these fellows aren’t anywhere near Bruce Lee tough!
Do you want to be faster than a snake taking a does of steroids? Try placing your hands at your sides and striking. Bruce Lee could manage a punch from this relaxed stance in five hundredths of a second!
You think those cannon balls you call biceps will impress the ladies? Try holding a dumb bell against your body, then put your arms straight out. Bruce Lee could hold 75 pounds straight out in this manner for 20 seconds!
Oh, you don’t have a 75 pound dumb bell hanging around? Okay, let’s try something easy. Bruce could do 50 one armed chin ups!
Bruce Lee was stronger in his fingers than you are in your whole body! He could do push ups on his thumb and forefinger. We’re talking only one hand here!
Bruce Lee’s fingers were so powerful he could stick a finger through the side of a filled soda can! And this was back in the day when cans were real! They were made of steel, and not this thin, aluminum crap!
Here’s one of my favorites, a trick that would put any magician to shame. If you put a dime in your hand and held it out, Bruce Lee could snatch the dime off your palm…and leave you a penny! Now that is speed!
Now, I know you are looking at that one inch pine board you just smashed and are doubting yourself, but you don’t have to. Bruce Lee was special, and he did the thigns he did by incredible hard work. So, instead of feeling like you oughta go put on a dress, just get to work and make your own self…Bruce Lee tough!
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Searching For The Best Shaolin Kung Fu Martial Art Is A Difficult Task!
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/AlCase44.jpg]Considering the high quality of the art, which is the best Shaolin Kung Fu is a tough question. I mean, people don’t teach it just to make greenbacks, they teach it solely because they love the art. Still, there are ways to define the best gung fu.
First, even thought they be interesting, we can usually dismiss such arts as Lohan Quan. The reason for this is because they are a different kind of kung fu. Wushu is actually a martial art that has been largely developed by the communist government of China, and one does not feel like learning something which has politically correct overtones, and from which the self defense techniques have been removed.
So we stay with the old styles of Chinese Gung Fu, the versions that leaked out of China before the great cultural revolution. These were the arts passed down through the generations, given from family member to family member to develop a true martial arts lineage. These are the Kung Fu styles in which the fires of true self defense techniques were flamed fanatically.
Many of these old Gung Fu schools claim they are descended from the Shaolin Temple, but there is actually no real proof of the claims. Still, people accept certain martial arts styles as being the real goods when it comes to these claims. Thus we end up with three martial arts which have good lineage, and are of such high quality of Shaolin technique that they can be looked to as a possible answer to the best kung fu.
There are two distinct Praying Mantis kung fu schools, the north and the south, and these can further be broken down into specific styles. The main feature of Praying Mantis (Tong Long) is the hooking and clawing movements, which enable a fighter to keep an opponent immobilized long enough to flatten him. This is a good answer to our question, but tends to be a bit specialized.
There are also many styles of Ving Tsun Gung Fu, which is the art made famous by Bruce Lee (the Little Dragon), and which features the close in strategy of the Sticky Hands exercise. Sticky Hands (Chi Sau) has one of the best methods for creating ‘closed eye’ intuition. It does have several problems, however, such as immobile stances, workability concentrated in on specific ranges, and that type of thing.
The strongest kung fu, but lacking some of the close in work of the previous arts mentioned, is Hung Gar. Hung Gar is also taught as Choy Li Fut, Fut Ga, and so on, and it is considered the quintessential shaolin martial art in China. For all it’s strength, however, it does have certain stylistic problems, as the techniques don’t always relate to real life situations.
Now, of the three arts, I believe Praying Mantis may be the strongest. However, this is a personal opinion, and one should really study all three and focus on the points which are of most personal benefit. Really, in the final analysis, the best Shaolin Kung fu is going to be that kung fu which has been personalized, and which fits the person studying it the best.
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How To Have The Most Powerful Karate Kick In The World!
[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/AlCase27.jpg] Do you want a powerful Karate kick! A kick so powerful you could kick a bully in the belly and make him barf his beans? A kick so strong that a mule runs the other way when he sees you coming?
Well, you can certainly have one of those kicks! In fact, all of your kicks should be that strong! All you have to do is construct one, little training aid.
Now, before I tell you how to make that training device, I want to offer a warning. You have to make sure that all the segments of your kick are in proper alignment. You have to make sure that the ankle is set at the proper angle, the hips are turned the correct angle, and, most important, that you sink your weight so deep into the earth you could strike oil!
If the ankle is crooked you’re going to hurt the heck out of your ankle when you execute your kicks. Trying punching with a crooked wrist, you’ll feel the instant pain, and this is what will happen with the ankle if you don’t have it in the proper position. Walk on the side of your foot, the ankle is bent, and it won’t be long until it starts shouting bloody murder for you to straighten up and fly right!
If the hip is not turned just the right angle, you won’t have any weight behind your kick. The hips are the cornerstone of the body, they have to be angled right, or the weight of them won’t go into the kick, and the whole body risks being out of order, out of sorts, and out of commission right in the middle of a mugging! You simply must have the hips committed to the attack, or your attack is going to be weak sister, and I know you know exactly what I mean!
Now, I’ve told you the importance of making sure your kick is done right, and it’s time to tell you how to construct a train aid that will change your feet into missile launchers! Get yourself a big wooden crate, the kind with thick boards, the kind that can take being dropped off a freeway overpass and come out laughing. Now, double layer it, nail on some more boards so it is extra thick, and can take double the stomping!
Put a car in the crate, or at least a motor or axle or something that really weighs a lot. Or fill that puppy with boulders and dirt, line it with plastic first, then pile in the debris. Now you’ve got something that weighs more than one of those sissy everlast kicking bags…you’ve got something that weighs even more than one of those home invaders you’re about to make a sissy crybaby out of, you’ve got yourself a real romper stomper, kicking bag.
Now, kick it in the center, and make it move, make it jump, make it dance like a little girl doing the hula. Kick that sucker until it slides across the ground faster than a drag racer getting the green light. Kick it until you’re legs are stronger than telephone poles, and that’s how you end up with powerful kicks that can knock a bully so far into next next week that he needs a calender to know what time it is.
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