Uncovering The True Evolution Of Real Taekwondo Styles
First, the original kwans, the Song Moo Kwan, Moo Duk Kwan, Kwon Bop, and all the others, were predominately Karate. Most of the fellows who put these arts together studied with Gichin Funakoshi during the forties. The rest studied with his students or asssociates.
Thus, the first schools were karate, plain and simple and not negotiable. Korea gaining independence, however, and nationalism rising, taekwondo was invented by General Choi Hong Hi. Thus, much of Japanese Karate was tossed out, altered, and taekwondo began its various evolutions.
There are several taekwondo methods, and several evolutions of forms. Most of them are versions of simple karate basics, with concentration on kicking. One should not hold one art as better than another, and such statements as my Taekwondo is the Deadliest Martial Art, or my Taekwondo is the Best Martial Art should be withheld. The individual arts are pieces of the whole puzzle, and the serious student will study all the styles, do all the forms, and decide for himself which are best.
That said, one should branch into a study of Hapkido. Hapkido is a put together by a fellow who is supposed to have trained in Daito ryu Aiki jujitsu. There is some confusion on the exact experiences of the founder, but the art is proving valuable. It is lasting, and people are learning their lessons, but one does need to go into a study of it with awareness.
After Hapkido there are the original Korean Martial Arts. These would be such arts as Taekgyeon and Subak. Taekgyeon, and there is some variation on this spelling, eventually translated into Hwarangdo. While Hwarangdo borrowed the name, there does seem to be some meat to the art.
Subak is one of the ancient Korean arts taught before the Japanese outlawed martial arts study in Korea. It is an excellent style of drilling and training and throwing an attacker. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find a sensei in this style, but it is still worth exploring.
So, the advice here is that one start off with the simple variations of Choi Hong Hi, and travel through the various groups and styles to find what is best for you. After that, one should explore original karate forms and techniques, to better explore the origins of TKD, and then begin a sojourn through Hapkido, and Hwarangdo, and, if one is lucky, Subak. While this suggestion of study may seem time consuming, it is the only way to get to the the original secrets of Real Taekwondo Styles.
Al Case studied the Kang Duk Won back in the seventies, and it was in its original form. Go to his website if you want to pick up an absolutely ree Karate Book.
How Long Does It Take To Earn A Kung Fu Black Belt
First, you should understand that karate, kenpo and taekwondo come from the same roots, and that is why there is a relative standard of time that it takes to achieve the first dan. Ed Parker learned and taught karate in the beginning of kenpo, and tekwondo developed form the eight houses, or Kwans, that were basically karate. Kung Fu based arts still rely on the same commonality of body motion, and thus are prone to the same rules.
There should be eight patterns to the expert belt ranking. These forms are usually the five pinans, and they have lineage to Okinawa and have equivalent forms in taekwondo. Kenpokas and other types of stylists will have to delve into their arts further to find eight forms that define what they are doing.
There should be about 72 techniques learned. This is the number of techniques that if practiced will cover the basics of the art, and will take a student to the intuitive state of mind that is necessary to be promoted to the dan ranks. More than this and it is confusing, less than this and there isn’t (normally) enough data.
The art should consist of a study of patterns, techniques, and actual fighting. Blending martial arts forms, bunkai and fighting allows the idea of a perfect technique to be built and bridged from theory to reality. Any art that isn’t made up of these three elements should actually not be considered an art, as it will not give the gains, no matter what anybody says, that are possible through a study of the three elements.
The direction of the art should be always be aimed towards good control. No matter how people state that an art must be made more real, it becomes less real as it forsakes control. One must learn to control their body, their fellow man, and then the world becomes a better place where conflicts are less likely to occur.
An art should be a study of power, speed and technique. While power doesn’t necessarily always lead one to speed, speed can nearly always lead one to power, so speed is better than power. Technique, of course, dealing exactly with control, is always going to be superior to both.
These factors all adhered to, along with a proper understanding of basics, and one can earn a black belt in as little as one year, though two years is probably the average time. To learn faster than that indicates that the person hasn’t spent enough time actually controlling his body, and so lacks the basics of controlling his mind. To learn slower is to waste your time.
The ideas detailed in the preceding article are adhered to in the courses offered by Monster Martial Arts. Learn Martial Arts fast and easy by Monster Martial Arts. f4
How To Have The Most Powerful Karate Kick In The World!
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.
Want to give that bad guy a monster size bump on that bean he calls a brain? Go on over to Monster Martial Arts and study some real Martial Art. 1
Belief And Courage – The Gateway To Effective Self-Defense For Women
Effective self-defense for women first begins with the mindset and belief in herself that she does not deserve to be raped, harassed or abused in anyway, shape or form. A woman’s ability to recognize impending danger and the warning signs of danger is also of prime importance in reducing her risk to dangerous situations.
So what happens when a woman finds herself in a harmful scenario? Can you envision what her capability to defend herself effectively will be if she did not have this fundamental perception in herself that she is really worth it and does not deserve abusive treatment.
Without this belief structure her odds of successfully defending herself and possibly her loved ones is diminished. With this belief system in place and her determination and commitment to survive she has the beginning foundation of successful defense. With this determination and commitment she now has the next necessary ingredient to defend herself and that ingredient is courage. Courage to stand up for oneself with commitment and determination is a very powerful character trait for a woman to possess but it can only exist if she believes that she is worth it.
Courage isn’t the absence of dread but how a woman responds to fear. When a female realizes that she is in a potentially dangerous scenario obviously fear has the capability to overwhelm her and paralyze her. With courage the capability to appropriately react towards the provided situation increases her likelihood of disarming a possibly harmful scenario prior to it escalates into something physical. Like a martial artist we practiced dealing with dangerous situations all of the time. By performing so we work on programming our bravery response to neutralize harmful situations. When a female practices speaking up for herself or others or methods standing up within the face of fear her level of courage can start to grow in the face of adversity.
Courage is the ability to respond to take action which is a proactive frame of mind. This frame of mind is empowering because now the woman is in control of herself and may be able to control the situation. When a woman reacts fear is the dominating emotion and the situation is in control of her. A reactive state of mind puts the woman on the defensive and she assumes the role of a victim and now something is happening to her.
To decrease your risk of possibly harmful situations practice responding in your own thoughts to an imagined threat. You will start to really feel empowered by your imagined responses and that will help in building your courage. Inside your imagination exercise taking control of a harmful situation and discover how you feel. This will help to alleviate the fear dependent emotions that can overwhelm women in times of adversity.
For more information visit our website. Master Ken is available for workshops and seminars on Mindful Self-Defense for Women.
Wanting to experience an exceptional approach to self defense and exercise? Check out Master Ken Smith’s website. Villari’s of Royal Palm Beach is a Black Belt School. Start martial arts now and get the advantages for the body and the mind.
The Six Degrees Of Insanity Uncovered Through Real Karate!
There was a goju ryu karate club in my hometown when I grew up, but knowing about something didn’t immune me from the chaos of the educational institutions. I was treated to the teacher father figures, bullying school kids, and an education that didn’t have much to do with anything. So I needed Goju, or another art of similar value, but didn’t know it.
As I traveled through the educational experience people began taking drugs, lots of drugs. Man, a good fighting discipline really would have worked to protect me from people who were intent on going unconscious and crazy, which is the real purpose of drugs. A good karate club would have helped me to retain my natural worth and sense of self at a time when I needed it the most.
Eventually, society turned to the Viet Nam War, and this war had to be the craziest thing on the planet. The bumper sticker used to read, ‘Journey to strange, exotic lands, meet interesting, wonderful people, and kill them.’ Fortunately, at about that time I was rescued from the chaos of society…I happened across the Ed Parker Chinese American kenpo karate system.
I worked out ruthlessly, doing karate kumite by the hour, but, eventually, I was to be disillusioned by the martial arts techniques I was learning. I was learning hundreds of fighting techniques, but they didn’t have to much to do with the real world. Kenpo, though it was wonderful, was based on combat fantasy scenarios.
I went to the Kang Duk Won for my next step in evolution towards a rational world, and it was to prove the ultimate answer for all my problems. Here the training was rigorous and deep reaching, and the energy we created was all consuming. I learned that all my sweat and bruises could be focused on one single item: the handling of the incoming fist.
One, single incoming missile, and I had to handle it, but that one incoming missile represented rage and anger and chaos. Thus, in handling the fist, I was handling the rage and anger and chaos of a world that believed in war and drugs and misinformation. As I understood this I began to develop my matrixing methods.
Through this science of Matrixing I ordered all my martial arts techniques, put them in a logical arrangement so that they represented a whole science, and not an out of sequence something. The art became a science, and through the combative sciences I made my final break with the gods of insanity, So for me there were six degrees of insanity: school, drugs, war, kenpo, classical karate, and matrixing…and this is the path I chose, this is the path I discovered when I discovered Real Karate.
The path the author followed is well laid out at Monster Martial Arts. You can download a free ebook which explains his Matrixing theories. 2
Finding That Secret Martial Arts Kung Fu Technique!
I began my study of Ed Parker Chinese Kenpo Karate, and the mysteries danced on my fingers. In those whirling movements were hidden fist martial arts, invisible and scorching dragon concepts, and down and dirty, take ‘em to the dumpster fighting secrets. I was overjoyed by the endless variety of forms and techniques…but I couldn’t quite figure out the secrets.
From Chinese Kenpo I made the jump to classical Karate. There was a secret Karate had, I was sure of it, and I drilled the karate kata until my stances trembled. In the end, I could grip the mat with my toes, and throw that classical power with the best of them, but there wasn’t any real secret to it all.
After Karate I made the transition to Kung Fu, with all those systems and variation there had to be a secret Kung Fu that would make me just really unbeatable! I threw myself into Shaolin Kung Fu and Kung Fu fighting and…I felt like a whirling dervish taking performance enhancers! But, in the end, I didn’t find that secret that would make me more than a superhuman being!
Okay, not just Shaolin, but a specialized style of secret Shaolin! So I went looking for Yip Man Wing Chun…I wanted to be a Wing Chun grandmaster! I began beating that wooden dummy like he was yesterday’s eggs, doing the wooden dummy training until he needed crutches and a wheel chair…but…I was just working hard, there was no secret gimmick that I could use, there was no…sigh.
So, not some sort of secret Wing Chun, but maybe aderivation on secret Wudan…that had to be the method! I explored Wudan Tai Chi Chuan, searched for secret Bagwa zhang, and spiraled through the world of mystical martial arts like tracers on a battlefield. And, great stuff, I could sink my mysterious and intrinsic energy right to the earth’s center, and spin like a planet full of windmills, but…where was that secret martial arts I needed so bad?
I did everything I could. Meditations on the secret of intrinsic energy that fueled the mysterious tan tiens and enlightened the burning chakras of the greater microcosmic orbit that led to self realization in samadhi when I ascended from my skullular brainpan in the higher realms of paradaisical existence. But, and I say this with a bit of self disgust…I can’t find the secret!
I’m no longer young now, and I’m in great shape, gonna last a long time, and I know there is a secret out there. And I can do martial arts fighting with the best of the best, slay tribes of secret ninjas if I have to, so nobody can stop me from getting to that secret martial art…if I could only find it. Please…will somebody tell me the truth…what is the secret?
You can find that secret martial arts at Monster Martial Arts. Over a dozen courses, complete arts with all forms and techniques. Pick up a free ebook while you’re at Monster Martial Arts. 3
The Fastest, Hardest Kick In All Of Karate
I call this move, no matter what type of martial art you do it with, the pop kick. Whether you do a wheel, a side, or a snap, the basic principle doesn’t change. You replace the left foot with the right foot, and place the right foot on the target…this all has to happen simultaneously.
By same time I mean that the left foot and the right foot start together, and the right foot hits the ground at the same time the left foot impacts. By doing it in this fashion the whole body gets smaller at the same time, then the whole body explodes. This causes a very pure energy pop in the energy center, which is a point a couple of inches below the navel, which is also called the tan tien.
In addition to the purity of explosion you will feel in the tan tien, which will tend to concentrate energy in the kick, you will experience a sudden weight on the support leg at the same moment you experience weight in the kicking leg. This sudden weight tends to make the explosion of energy even more pure and violent, and yet tends to control it precisely. This will supercharge your technique.
If you are doing this technique with a snap kick, make sure you get the knee high enough so that the foot comes in straight, and doesn’t slide up the front of the target. If you are doing a side kick, make sure you turn the hips so that the weight of them really slams into the target. If you are doing a wheel kick, make sure you get the hips up high enough so that the kick can fly in truly horizontal.
The fourth technique would be a spin pop to the rear, and uses the side kick. You would practice all four kicks against a wall, learning how to lift legs simultaneously, and place the feet on the wall and the ground at the same time. You don’t have to hit the wall with power, save that for a bag, control will actually give you more power in the end.
We used to have all kinds of entry moves to make these kicks work. We would angle our stance as we slapped the attacker’s hands, and the we would do it subtle, and then be in the kick before the target knew what we were doing. As we invested time and sweat the explosion would get more pure and more full of energy.
Make sure you practice this kick in a variety of stances, and you will have a much larger bag of martial arts weapons. This is a great technique to practice, and it is the result of karate power and TKD kicks. Korean martial arts or Japanese martial arts, this is the hardest kick, and the fastest kick, and perhaps the most effective leg technique I know.
Read the latest articles and get some truly hard core information on how to have the strongest kicks you can have at Punch ‘Em Out. 2
Using Karate Techniques To Break Bricks Without Breaking Your Hands!
Now, there was a guy went to the far east, and he knew martial arts, and orientals loving their back yard barbecues, and even a few beers (pretty American, those orientals) everybody laughing and having a good time, and they asked this American to break a few bricks for them. You smashee bricks! We have fun time!
So the American hoisted a fist and smacked a brick, and the brick sat there and stared at him and he near broke his hand bones. Those wacky tailgating orientals, you see, had given him a brick with an iron rod cooked into it. Oh, ha ha ha…laughee, laughee!
Well, tell the truth, it is pretty laughee laughee. I tell ya, those Far Easters keep doin’ that kind of thing and they’ll be downright American! The point here is…don’t go smashing your hands into just any old thing, select your substance to be smashed with care.
This subject of picking your material is pretty important. People who break big stacks of ice, for instance, neglect to tell you that the ice has been pre-broken and stuck back together, which makes the ice easy to break. That tends to bend the game.
And, the people who break stacks of bricks or boards often do so by placing spacers between the bricks or boards, which, again, makes the bricks or boards pretty easy to break. Have them break the bricks and boards without spacers, and you are seeing a real power break. And, yes, your humble author can break five one inch pine boards, that’s five inches of wood, with no stinkin’ sissy spacers.
When you pick a brick to break, pick one that’s been dried out, dry ones are easier to break than wet ones. If you want to help your ten year old neice, or even your doting granny, to break a brick, bake it in an oven for an hour or two. And, it helps it you set the brick with one end on the ground and the other end on another brick, and drop the end of the brick as your chop slices downward, this increases the sharpness of impact and makes the break that much easier. Now, those are the tricks that some martial artists use, except for the specifics of the technique itself.
When you break a brick have your hand loosey goosey, and slam it down, and tighten it upon impact. This will focus your energy and protect your hands, and I have seen these principles in virtually all martial arts. Korean Karate techniques, Shaolin techniques, Kwon Bup techniques, Kenpo techniques, they are all based on the same principles, and these principles define how easy it can be to break bricks.
Want to put the some real Power in your Punch? Come to Punch ‘Em Out. We’ve got the strongest punches and the fastest kicks in the world! 2
I Used Martial Arts To Cut Open His Chest…And Found The Real Me.
One day, lunchtime, and this fellow asked me to show him some martial arts. We went into a back room. It was dim and noisy, and we had to really concentrate to hear each other.
I was showing him suburito, which are basic Aikido sword exercises. I was showing him how to stand a certain way and hold the sword straight up in a ready position. Suddenly, I felt a huge force grab a hold of me; it was like the hand of a 100 foot tall giant.
I couldn’t stop the motion of the sword, and it sliced down behind me. A guy named Eddie had been sneaking up on me, and the sword cut through his plaid shirt and into the flesh of his chest. It was a ragged wound, blood poured out, and he staggered back against a stack of pallets and clutched at his chest.
It was first aid time, and Eddie was going to have to take a trip to the hospital and get his chest sewn back together. While we were standing there, trying to staunch the flow of blood, I asked Eddie a question, “What were you doing?” He said, “I was going to get you, man.
I was going to grab a hold of you. It was just a gag, I thought it would be funny.” Sensing something beneath his simple explanation, I asked him, “What were you thinking, right when it happened?”
He muttered, “I thought I was going to get you. Right when I was starting to jump I thought, ‘Aha…got him!’ And then you cut me open!”
The flesh is a fence, and the eyes and ears are like searchlights watching what goes on outside the fence. With the martial arts you start moving energy around inside the fence, and you start to become more perceptive. Eventually you become aware outside the flesh. You learn how to see without the eyes and ears.
And, you become aware that you are more than just a body, you are a 100 foot giant spiritual being. The point here is that whether you study Kenpo or Karate, Kung Fu like Wing Chun, or something else, the answers are there, the martial arts can help you find the real you. You just need to work out hard enough, and in an art that is logical and efficient.
This really happened, and the method Al used is called Matrix Martial Arts. You can find out about it at Monster Martial Arts. Al has 4O years martial arts experience.
The One Thing You Need To Know To Have The Most Powerful Punch On Earth!
I want to make a point here…and I can only do that by asking you one specific question. Where, during your punch, do your arms bear the most weight? The answer is obvious, they bear it at the end of the punch, when the arm is nearly extended.
So why do you need to work your arm across the whole range of motion? Being strong at the beginning or middle of the push up is not where you need the strength. Concentrating your work out through the whole range of motion of the arm is not putting energy into the impact part of the punch where you need it.
So, when you do a work out, make it gentle and general, and build up your body and your arms as a whole unit, then focus your work out on the end of the punch where you need it. This is easy to do, you can do it for virtually any exercise there is. All you have to do it isolate the part of the exercise where the arm is nearly extended, and concentrate your efforts on that part of the exercise.
Let’s say you’re doing that mainstay of all exercise, a simple push up. Do the push up until your arms are almost full length, and that’s where the real work out starts to occur. Do as many six inch push ups with the arms almost at full length, as you can, fast, concentrating on keeping your belly taut and having excellent form.
Here’s the point of it all, you need to concentrate the work out, and feel the power, in your shoulders. When you punch something the jolt of impact is going to go up your arms and directly into the shoulders. Thus, it is the shoulders that must become strong and dense, it is the shoulders, as felt in the last six inches of the push up, that must be built up.
Make the shoulders thick and dense, and do the exercise at various times of the day, until the muscles of the shoulders become as matter of fact as the leg muscles of a marathon runner. It’s funny that people have never thought of this, and I wonder at it, but it is common sense. I suppose the problem is that people get a general idea of exercise and never actually look at the exact goal they are trying to accomplish.
So do those ‘long arm 6 inch push ups like they are going out of style. Do them and put your awareness in your shoulders, letting your shoulders lightly bulk and become immensely dense. This is the way you develop a punch that is stronger than the next fellows, this is how you create the most powerful punch in the universe.
Al Case, The Doctor of the Punch, has studied martial arts 4O years. If you want the straight goods on how to build the most powerful punch in the world, pay him a visit at Punch ‘Em Out.
