BODYBUILDING NUTRITION BASICS

I doubt whether most martial arts training halls, be they Goju Ryu or Mixed Martial Arts or Jujitsu or whatever, have ever had a crazy guy in their school like Mud Car. We called him Mud Car because that’s what his license plates on his automobile stated. That vehicle, more than just about anything else, told the story of 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 it all, though. The most impressive thing that Mud Car did was commit to memory the times of all the stop lights in San Jose. He could travel across that large town without ever hitting a stop light.

Unfortunately, when it came to Karate, he was just as crazy. He couldn’t stretch, couldn’t control his body, and, because he had no control, it hurt to work with him. Just being around him you could feel the sparks in his mind shooting into the cosmos.

One day, in class, he interrupted the instructor to complain about a pain in his shin. “It doesn’t hurt, but it keeps bothering me, do you know how to make the pain in my shin go away?” My instructor looked at me with rage in his eyes, I suppose he didn’t want to look at Mud Car because he would murder him, and he said, “Hit your leg with a lead pipe…that’ll make the pain go away.”

I suppose the ability to drive the people around oneself crazy is the deciding factor in this matter of whether a person is crazy or not. At any rate, Mud Car was never promoted to Black Belt. He just didn’t have the maturity.

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 nuts, but so is the guy who goes after you on the mean streets, so if you could last a session with Mud Car without getting hurt, you knew your art was working. Furthermore, there was a shift of standard here, for Mud Car had been promoted to black belt because he could drive people nuts, not because he was a competent martial artist. Finally, I think that is where the True Art started disappearing from the martial arts training halls of America…schools, even dojos like classical hung gar or Parker Kenpo or classical Aikido, 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

Al Case Fitness aikido, Fitness, gung fu, hung gar, isshin ryu, karate, kenpo, kung fu, okinawan karate, self defense, shito ryu, shotokan, sil lum, wudan

You can translate your art of Chinese Karate into Power Kenpo fairly easily. Of course, you’re going to have to go against the grain of the old school boys, but this isn’t always bad. In fact, if you do decide to put power into your Kenpo system, you will be following the footsteps of Ed Parker more closely than the old school boys.

The concept of Power in the Fist Law art is something I made up many decades ago, and have never really revealed. It actually grew from an incident in 1968 in which I asked my instructor to take a look at a form I had been practicing. My instructor stepped on to the mat and I took a position and started my form.

I had learned the form from a series of books on Japanese Karate, and the name was Heian Five. It is a traditional kata, with solid stance and big, significant movements. As such, it seems to stand against the concepts of the fast whirling arms of Parker art.

When I had completed the kata my instructor observed, “Yes, definitely a Japanese form.” He didn’t say much more, and I had the feeling that he wasn’t pleased. Many decades later, I understand why, he was trying to teach me one thing, and I was straying in an entirely different direction.

To be honest, Chinese Karate does not compliment traditional Shotokan. Parker’s art, as I have given hint, relies on quick, circling hands. Shotokan holds a disdain for such motion, and advocates a strong stance, facing your enemy squarely, and attacking in a linear manner.

Each system has its strengths, and its weaknesses, but they don’t fit together. It is difficult even to shift from one art to another in the middle of combat. The funny thing about all this is that original Parker system was built upon the Heian forms of classical Karate.

Most people blink when I say such a thing, but it is true. If you can find a copy of one of Ed Parker’s first books you will find that it is nothing more than a sequence of the applications of the Heian forms. Indeed, if you link the applications in his book, you are actually doing the Heians.

In conclusion, now you understand what I mean when I remarked about Power Kenpo and being true Ed Parker’s footsteps. The fact is that true and dedicated martial artists should study as many different arts as they can. The truth of the matter is that if you want to put power in Chinese Kenpo, or accelerated weapons, or better kicks, then study a separate art that has what you want, and let the power of that other art bleed back to your kenpo, and that is how you build Power Kenpo.

Al Case made his Power Kenpo out of such martial arts as Karate, Aikido and Wing Chun. You can find it on the Monkey Boxing pages of Monster Martial Arts.

Al Case Fitness aikido, chinese kenpo, ed parker, Fitness, heian five, karate, kenpo, kung fu, kwon bup, self defense, shaolin, shotokan, silat, wing chun

One of my favorite books is Zen and the Art of Archery, by Eugene Herrigel. In this book, Mr, Herrigel goes to Japan in search of zen enlightenment. He is guided into the practice of archery in this seeking.

The reason he is guided into archery is because, according to the people who teach zen, zen is too difficult for a westerner. Not being of the Japanese culture, it would be to difficult for him to understand the concepts. Through the practice of archery, however, he might be able to make some headway with zen concepts.

Mr. Herrigel practices archery diligently. He stands with a tall bow, calms himself, and experiences nothing but frustration. Heck, he can’t even hit the target, let alone find his own soul.

The sensei, understanding his frustration, takes pity, and invites him over to his house for some personal instruction. The teacher is a font of wisdom and zen, but Mr. Herrigel, is still ensconced in his frustration. The sensei, realizing drastic measures are called for, takes Mr. Herrigel out to his personal archery range.

They stand on a range that is about a hundred feet, and the teacher instructs Mr. Herrigel to light a candle between the firing line and the target. The candle lit, Mr. Herrigel is instructed to turn off the lights. In the deep darkness, with only a single candle glowing fifty feet away, the teacher fires an arrow and puts out the candle.

Mr. Herrigel, standing in darkness, is astonished. Never has he seen such a magnificent display of archery, to put out a candle at fifty feet! Good Lord!

The teacher merely says to turn on the lights, and then has Mr. Herrigel retrieve his arrow. Mr. Herrigel runs down to the end of the range to look for the arrow. He finds it…in the center of the target.

To put out a candle and hit a target, using only the light of the candle. To master a martial art and plumb the depths of soul. To find the brilliance of yourself on a darkened night, this is zen, and this is what is at the heart of the Martial Arts.

Al Case Fitness aikido, Fitness, goju ryu, ishin ryu, karate, kenpo, kung fu, ninja, self defense, shito ryu, shotokai, shotokan, uechi ryu, wado ryu