World Of Swords

When you learn real martial arts fighting, there are certain truths about how to survive. One of the truths is that the human mental apparatus doesn't usually work well when it is getting bashed, and survival mode kicks in. Fighters who survive by the amount of adrenaline kicked in would have you believe that this is the point of it all, but it is not, it is the worst thing that could happen.

As a species we don't have claws, or jaws, or quills, or smells, or any particular characteristic that would help us survive, except the mind. It is the mind that creates invention, it is the mind that adapts to survive. It is this thing called a mind that we must enhance if we are to reach our full potential as humans, and as humans on the fighting level.

One must control fighting distances, by controlling distances we have choice as to what weapon we can use. The way to do this is to attach a string from your belt to his, and practice moving so that the string stays stretched but never breaks. Now, practice moving in this manner, and within a short time your body will move in concert 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 together. This would appear difficult, except that if you have worked on the individual exercises in this article, then the whole thing comes together rather intuitively. The body, you see, even in the middle of combat, likes to work as a well oiled unit with a plan.

Control distance, control positioning through the stance, control arms through inside or outside, this is simple stuff, but entirely overlooked by todays martial artists. But if you do understand what I have said here, then you will move to the head of the pack, for you are putting the mind, and 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.

The common attitude towards the martial arts is that they are a rite of passage. Rite of passage is a common concept amongst societies. But, modern society doesn't really need rite 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 on the skids. The idea that you have to be a man to do something needs to be re-evaluated. Really, to grow up in this society means that you have to learn how to think.

There are three stages in this martial arts related thinking process, and, unfortunately one of them is unknown. The three stages are Coordinated Body Motion (CBM), matrixing, and mushin no shin, which I shall explain later. Of the three, nobody even knows what Matrixing is.

CBM is the concept of using the body as one unit. This means that all parts of the body must be used at the same time, starting motion at the same time, and stopping motion at the same time. Mystical in the past, one need merely evaluate the range of motion and the mass of the body part 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 faulty mind and perceive, and have doings with, reality as it is. No more illusions about what is actually happening in life. And, this means that you don't have to beat somebody up through a rite of passage to get him to learn something that, the faulty mind put aside, would be obvious.

Interestingly, I came across the graphing method of matrixing 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 that I did not know existed. Well, at this point you know ten times what I did before I began my study of matrixing, so give it a try, and let me know how it works.

Al Case has learned 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.

While MMA is one of the most popular sports in the world, there are problems with it. Let's be honest, while some fellow is using that Gracie Jujitsu to apply a lock or hold, he is rolling around and vulnerable to an attack from his opponents friends. Not to mention that it is not always the most intelligent thing to roll around on the ground while some fellow is trying to penetrate your body with a knife or broken bottle.

I know I have offended some MMA stylists out there, but these are questions that people should not hide from. After all, the ring looks like the final statement on fighting, but biting is a problem in a real fight. And getting your fingers broken or your eyes gouged is always a possibility when you fall on the ground and wrestle around.

No, it is better to keep a distance, be able to evade, manipulate, and even, in the extreme, run. Yes, you have to watch what kind of a surface you are on, but mobility in warfare is a crucial matter. And talking about the ability to move around, we are talking something like Shotokan, or Shorin Ryu, or Kenpo.

The problem is that people have bought into the idea that it takes decades, a life time, to learn good Kung Fu, like Shaolin or Mantis. But it doesn't. All you have to do is find a system which understands the most important principles and concentrates on those principles.

We are not talking Jeet Kune Do here, because we don't want a grab bag of sample all and take what you need. What we want are the actual core concepts of the art. We want the truth of such arts as Hung Gar or Choy Li Fut.

The best way to do this is to learn how to apply the concepts of matrixing to what you are studying. When you matrix your martial art, be it classical karate like Wado or Israeli survival like Krav Maga, it will suddenly become logical and easy to understand. And, being logical, a martial art will suddenly be ten times easier to understand.

And here's something most people have not really come to grips with, logic leads to prediction to intuition. Those sixth sense abilities of the martial arts are sometimes difficult to grasp, but they don't need to be. Once you start matrixing your martial arts, and I don't care if it is tae kwon do or one of the Korean Kwans, your sixth sense abilities, your ability to understand and generate chi kung, sometimes called gi gong, will start to come to the fore.

Really, what we are talking about here is dragging the martial arts into modern times. We are talking about evolution when we are talking about learning how to Matrix. So, you walk behind that ox, or you can ride the race horse by learning the fundamentals of Matrix Martial Arts.

Al Case has studied martial arts for 4O years. He began developing Matrixing in the 1970s, and he began writing for the magazines in the 1980s. He has written a manual on Matrixing, which is available for free at Monster Martial Arts.