He Was Crazy…And He Studied Korean Karate With Me.
[I:http://www.aikido-judo-karate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/AlCase7.gif]I doubt whether most schools, be they Kung Fu or Wudan or Aikido or whatever, have ever had a crazy guy in their school like Mud Car. We called him Mud Car because that’s what it said on the license plate on his car.That car, more than anything else, summed up Mud Car.
He had tied parachute webbing across the insides of his car because he felt that that material was best for holding his car together on the inside. He had fire extinguishers fastened to every surface on the inside of his car. He had a dial on his dashboard to give extra power to his tail lights, and he turned it whenever he faced away from the sun so that drivers behind him could see when he braked.
This was just the surface of Mud Car, though. The most impressive thing that Mud Car did was commit to memory the times of all the stop lights in the whole town of San Jose. He could travel across that large town without ever having to stop for a light.
Unfortunately, when it came to the karate, he was just as crazy. He couldn’t stretch his limbs, couldn’t control what his body was going to do, and, because of this lack of control, it hurt to work out with him. Just being in his presence you could feel the firecrackers in his mind exploding into the universe.
One day he interrupted the instructor to complain about a pain in his leg. “It doesn’t hurt me that much, but it keeps nagging at me, do you know how to make the pain in my leg go away?” My instructor looked at me with murder in his eyes, I suppose he didn’t want to look at Mud Car because he would kill him, and he blurted, “Hit your leg with a lead pipe…that’ll make the pain go away.”
I suppose the ability to drive other people insane is the deciding point in this matter of whether a person is goofy or not. Because of this Mud Car never made it to Black Belt. He just didn’t have the mental maturity that is the mark of a black belt.
One day, however, a new instructor came to the school, and Mud Car was promoted to Black Belt within a month…and then he left the school. He had achieved his goal, and that was all he wanted, and the new instructor knew that was the best and most efficient way to get rid of Mud Car. Yet, I missed Mud Car.
He was crazy, but so is the guy who attacks you on the street, so if you could last a session with Mud Car without getting injured, you knew your art was effective. Furthermore, there was a shift of standard here, for Mud Car was promoted because he could drive people nuts, not because he was good. Finally, I think that is where the True Art started disappearing…schools, even schools like Tae Kwon Do or Kenpo or classical karate, did not administer soothing discipline to the insane, they just promoted them to get rid of them.
If you want to go crazy through the martial arts…drop on by Punch ‘Em Out. If you want to go sane through the martial arts…try Monster Martial Arts. 2
How To Sew The Legs Of Calves On In Shaolin Gung Fu
[I:http://www.aikido-judo-karate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/AlCase7.gif]We were sitting in the training hall after class, engaged in a generalized sort of BS session, and one of the guys, Ron, started relaying the tale of when he was young and growing up on a farm. Yeah, I had to get up at 4 int he wee hours and go find the calves, they’d wander off, get stuck in mudholes, that sort of thing. The worst was when the calves would get tangled up in the barbed wire, they’d get a leg wrapped up in wire, the leg would die, and we’d have to amputate it and sew it back on. If we weren’t fast enough, the calf would die.
One of the other fellows at this BS session, Mike, leaned forward and said, “Really?” Nobody said anything, and Ron went on with his story, telling about the details of sewing a calves leg back on. Suddenly, Mike got it, he looked sheepish, and we all started laughing.
Interestingly, Ron then told us of how, when he was a kid, he had been had. His father told him to go do the squats every day with a calf on his shoulders. As the calf grew big and heavy, Ron would grow stronger.
Another story, recorded in one of the earlier kung fu books I read, was that you dug a hole a foot deep, and practiced jumping into and out of the hole. Each day you shovel out more dirt, and after a few years you would be able to jump six feet down and up. This was the way tolearn Light Kung Fu.
Interestingly, the history of athletic prowess is filled with tales, or even methods, such as these. People buy leg weights, and increase the weights on the legs every month. This is the way to have a faster sprint, a higher and more powerful kick.
And, athleticism itself is a study in this fashion of thought. We practice running faster and longer every day. We want to be able to run our best; is this not the same as the kung fu legends, be it of a more common and ordinary way of thought?
But the fact is, these legends are probably beneficial for us. Legends inspire us, and, who knows, maybe there is a bit of truth in the legend. After all, have you ever tried lifting a calf every day until he was grown?
Have you ever jumped in and out of a hole a thousand times a day for a year or two? How do you know training methods like these won’t make you stronger and faster? Have you ever used used Shaolin Kung fu to put the legs back on a calf?
Al Case has 4O years in the martial arts. If you want to get strong and fast using Ancient Technologies that have been proven to work, pick up a free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.
The Combative Strategy Of The Five Animals Of Shaolin Kung Fu
[I:http://www.aikido-judo-karate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/AlCase30.jpg]The Martial Arts, and this includes Shaolin kung fu, are passed on through unique patterns of movement. They are, at heart, a mythology created to represent a unique methodology. They are the science of an ancient time, passed down to us by dance.
Thus, to understand the martial arts, we must ask ourselves what martial science were the ancients trying to formulate and offer. Science is science, however, and I think you will find that the real reasons for the five animals are simple and expedient. Also, you will find that there is a distinct method of motion behind the animals.
The tiger is an aggressive animal, and he goes forward. Claws and teeth, he drags down the runner and tears him apart. Thus, the direction of the Tiger is forward, and all he does is go forward.
The Crane is a lighter animal, giving way as he manipulates and uses legs. He does not run, but rather and deflects the attack to set up his kicks. He does not charge, but fights on the edge of a circle, never letting that circle collapse.
The Snake coils and twists and allows the attacker to get close. The artful deflections of the crane become full blown traps and locks under the trickery of the snake. Thus, the snake gives way without giving way, and the enemy falls into trickiness and deception.
There is some argument whether the fifth animal is a monkey or leopard, and I usually choose the monkey. Whichever animal you select as the best representation of Shaolin Kung Fu, the characteristic of the animal is tricky footwork and the ability to acrobat and gyrate out of the fight. Thus, the Monkey (leopard) has the ability to change tactics and reset the whole thing to whatever animal characteristic he is strongest at.
The fifth animal is the dragon, and this is an imaginary animal which represents the best of the previous four animals. The dragon is the embodiment of understanding and employing all animals so that they work together. Run, manipulate, trick or flee, the dragon does them all, smoothly and at the right time.
The five animals of Shaolin Kung Fu represent motions in space, and a distinct distance of combat. Practice each animal until you have mastered the talent, then blend them all together. This is the fighting strategy of the Five Animals of Shaolin Kung Fu.
Al Case has studied Shaolin Kung Fu for 32 years. You can find out about his unique methods of teaching at Monster Martial Arts. Be sure you pick up his free ebook.
