Kung Fu Training

Your kung fu training should be consistent and practical.

A saying goes that it is not the system that makes the art it is the fighter.

That means it requires vigilant practice.

Depending on which kung fu style you practice the fighting fundamentals are the same. Note your range, have a strategy for attack and play to your strengths while exploiting your opponent’s weakness.

Your style should have specific techniques for this.  The animal styles can have their origins traced back to the Shaolin temple and where formed by the monks observations of how animals moved and behaved. From the monkey..feisty dynamic and quick sharp moves, to the snake slithering and smooth sideways moves.  There is also the drunken style which you may have seen in many a kung fu movie..not sure what was being observed there.

Many of these styles have become more symbolic in today’s terms. Where fighting needs to be more direct and explosive.  A lot of the forms that the traditional styles teach are quite elegant and the practitioners very talented in their execution.  However in practice may not be very effective.  As they overemphasise some movements and are too focussed on elegance rather than a direct conflict.

Also they can be quite complicated to learn .. My preference is wing chun training as it emphasises a direct line of attack to your opponents and is strictly a fighting style in its philosophy.  The forms are rather dull to look at, however when put into practice:  meaning quite brutal..—Eye strikes, throat chops and broken limbs.. are the usual wing chun targets.

The biggest advantage is that it is relatively easy to learn, the concepts are basic and very practical.. Once you understand the form and theory of the system you can put it into practice and feel comfortable with it in a relatively short time. 

However don’t expect to be Bruce Lee overnight.  It takes time and diligence as mentioned earlier.  Also remember it is not the art that makes the fighter, it is the fighters use of the art that makes the real martial artist.  So next time someone says this kung fu is better than that think twice about listening to what they have to say.  Sure some styles are more effective. But a half assed martial artist with the best system will always loose to a determined focused opponent who has never studied martial arts.

Some food for thought.

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By far the biggest secret weapon in your Kung Fu Training is Chi Kung.  It is not widely known or explained what impact this has on kung fu.  Here I write a brief explanation on how it is at the heart of ANY kung fu or martial art.

Chi Kung is closely connected with Chinese martial arts. Before 1950, when Chi Kung  was taught exclusively  the disciples only, it was common for the general public to think of it as some sort of advanced internal kung fu training, whereby the expert would injure his opponent without leaving any external mark, or take punches and even attacks with weapons without sustaining any injury. Since the 1980s, however when the health aspect of Chi Kung began to be taught many people have begun to think that it has nothing to do with martial arts!

Which of these two views is correct?  They are in fact both right and wrong.  Some types of  chi kung allow the practitioner to  break bricks with their hands and head,  are specifically for fighting and maybe detrimental to their health if the training is not done properly. On the other hand, most medical Chi Kung exercises are specifically meant for curing illness and promoting health and appeared to have no connection with martial arts. Hence the view that martial arts and chi kung are mutually exclusive.

But if we understand them more deeply, we understand  it they can be complementary, helping each other to achieve a special purpose. A training program of martial arts and chi kung usually includes exercises to promote health. For example for going 10 days or jabbing their hands into sand to strengthen their hands and punches, trainees must first practice Chi Kung exercises that make them healthy and fit and protect their hands (and rest of their body) by covering themselves with  Chi as well as clearing away any  injury that is  sustained during training.

So you see se Chi Kung and  Kung Fu are intertwined and have elements that both complement and enhance the other. 

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In previous posts I mentioned the role tournament training & fighting has in your kung fu training development.

Now so we are clear this is quite different from sparring.  Sparring is mainly for training- learning and being experimental with new techniques.

Where in a Tournament the sole purpose is Competition, Competition competition.!!  Its on like donkey kong.

Your first tournament is going to be your hardest so here a re a few tips to get over that first hurdle.

There’s a saying.. “How do you get to Carnegie Hall??.. The answer Practice!!”

To be successful in your first tournament the number one piece of advice I can give is to practice.  This is the role sparring plays.  Your foundation is your fitness. You will learn that just holding your arms up after a period of time and nothing else is tiring in of itself.  So you must have your conditioning and stamina u to speed.  I was stupid enough to think I wouldn’t get past my fist round fight, so I didn’t need to be too fit.. I was wrong .. I Won!  and was out of breath for my next fight and go beaten.

This practice lets you test different techniques you can use during your competition.

When sparring its important ht you focus on your opponent and block out everything.  Condition your yourself to focus on your opponents’ movements.  This should be your mindset going in and during the fight.  

This way when you are ,actually fighting you  have blocked out all other distractions: ..the crowd, the judges, referee other competitors  and just focusing on your opponent  You have blocked everything out.

This may sound a little out there  but the habits you develop in training will transfer to into the ring.  

Finally the biggest obstacle to overcome is your mindset.  It is common to be nervous before a competition- however it’s not OK for it to control your ability to perform,. Here is what I did to overcome those pre fighting nerves.

Visualisation: yes ..may sound hokey but I visualised what it would be like.  But just imagination is not good enough. You need to put emotion into it.  Visualise you are with your opponent let that fear enter your body ..Just gently.. feel those nerves ..feel what it would feel like, see what you would see hear what you would hear…try and make it as real as possible.

Then imagine that fear reducing, like an imaginary dial imagine it just reduces and feel more confident and confident.. remember this is an exercise in imagination and visualisation.  Continue to feel more confident.  If you are stuck on this,  imagine a  time where you felt really confident,  a time where you overcame a difficulty and use that feeling to regain confidence.

Do this often and you will associate your fighting with a confident positive demeanour.

Well those are the basics to it.  But nothing can replace a bit if work and plenty of fun. You will see your confidence in your kung fu training soar and your learning grow and develop to a whole new level.

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One of the keys to success with wing chun is sharpening your skills. here is a great way to improve your chi sao

 

 

 

10 ways to improve your chisao

via Wing Chun Island by noreply@blogger.com (Will) on 7/15/10

1. Intentionally lose. Let the other person win but keep your attention on the other person. W

atch how they win. Concentrate on your balance and staying relaxed while they do whatever they want.

2. Make sure you aren’t leaning at all. All your weight should be balanced in the middle of the foot. You should conceive of your arms and your body as being in front of you. Move the whole body forward from the bottom, not from the top by leaning. Don’t lean ever… at all. Well ok, once you totally understand how balance works, then lean all you want. I promise I won’t say anything.

3. Don’t move until you are connected. Move the body forward until you can feel your partner’s core down to the ground. At that point, (if your arms are relaxed) you should feel where to move almost as though your arms are moving themselves. Work on improving connection rather than your arms’ position in relation to your partners’. Also, don’t pull away from your partner to get a move off.

4. Don’t speed up or do series of moves. Stay in the moment and do what you are doing at that moment. Don’t speed up in order to get a move to work. Don’t practice a series of moves to do something fancy. Just do what the system created by the connection between you and your opponent tells you to do.

5. Don’t look down until you don’t have any urge to look down at what is going on with the hands. Even then, nothing special to see.

6. Concentrate on your opponent as a whole body, not on his moves.

7. Don’t look for openings or ways to “get” or hit your opponent. Keep connected and take ground. The good stuff will happen naturally.

8. Try chisaoing with only one foot touching the ground at any given moment. Make sure you are relaxed and “seated” on the leg. Change legs at any time as often as you like.

9. What attitude or emotion or mental state do you decide to have when you chisao. Try answering this question and changing it up frequently.

10. Treat chisao as an experiment. Decide how you will change your approach each time you do it before you begin. Try relaxed, stiff, fast, slow, hard, soft, intentionally bad, leaning, moving forward, stationary, aggressive….try anything and everything you can think of. Do things no one else would ever try. See how it works. Change it up even more based on what you learn from your experiments. Most people just try their hardest each time. Trying is for people who haven’t decided what to do.

Ok, here is a bonus point.

Don’t stop when you manage to hit or push your partner or get hit yourself. Continue working. If you are much better than your opponent, you can see openings but not take them and just work to deepen the connection. Keep the connection and flow going as long as possible.

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Sooner or later along your kung fu training you will come across opponents that are less experienced than you –where you may choose to show off and boost your ego to see how great you are.  However no doubt (especially in the beginning) you will come across opponents that are much more experienced.  And in some cases a lot better..  Hopefully you will come  across these individuals in classes rather than the real word,  But the same principles should apply, regardless of your kung fu style.  First up do not be intimidated by your foes –respect them for their abilities and don’t take anything for granted.  I would strongly advise that you fight more experienced opponents during sparring sessions in classes.  This way you have a controlled environment where you wont get too seriously hurt.

This is one of the most valuable experiences you will ever undergo in your kung fu training.  A valuable lesson.  You will be able to determine where you are weak and what your strengths are.,  what works and what doesn’t  AS STATED DON’T BE INTIMIDATED.  If you are too freaked out that you cannot move fluently you have already lost.  The key is to focus on your opponent and your training.  Identify your tactics and remember what you have learned. Do not deviate from your training.  It is a dynamic situation. So stick to your plan.  Stay with the basics within the framework of your system.  Sometimes ego takes over and we try something new or fear takes over and we panic with random strikes. Focus on your opponent as an obstacle to overcome—take emotion out of and back your self.  After all they also have two arms two legs and only advantage they have is just a bit more experience.  They have been in the exact same position when you started.  It doesn’t  make them invincible or unbeatable.

Sparring against a skilled opponent is the best way to fast track your progress.  During these sessions you will learn more about yourself more than anything.  Your confidence will grow.  You may not be able to beat all comers all the time but at the very least you can hold your own.  And remember you can always improve and more can be learnt from a stronger opponent than one  that  you can dominate.

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In its Traditional Kung Fu Training Mok Gar practice involves the use of two wooden dummys.  One is called mook-yann-jong with projections which resembles arms and is used for blocking and countering The others is called darn gee and is particular to mok gar.  These dummys are used to practice all of the attacks necessary for a student to learn.  This kung fu training is excellent for building physical power and developing effective punches and kicks.  This is important in Mok gar since every student has to pass through a stage where he or she develops a considerable amount of power before progressing.

One of the unique kung fu training drills on Mok gar is  the darn gee kicking drill.  In Kung fu each school has its own method of training the kicks using various mechanical facilities..  Irrespective of the method, the aim is the same: to increase the freedom of leg movements, enhance speed improve accuracy and to develop and harden the soles of the feet.  During the course of the training the darn gee helps practitioners improve their stamina, harness speed, accuracy and straight kicking techniques.

This unique training drill is a stage that all mok gar practitioners must experience if they wish to develop high standards within his style.

The 108 movements that are the basis of Mok Gar style can be used in many ways, from a single punch, which may be all that is needed to win a fight, to multiple jumping kicks.

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Shaolin mok Gar Kuen is one of the original family disciples of Kung Fu training. From Southern China and it is well known for its kicking techniques.  Practitioners are not restricted to just kicking; however since the full range of weapons is also part of the system.

The resulting flexibility of attack and defense epitomizes the original concepts of Chinese Kung Fu Training: To express yourself fully in the attempt to triumph in combat.  When engaging in combat, the objective is to win, so practitioners believe that to place any restrictions on one particular movement would be to put themselves at a disadvantage.

A midget called MoK Da Si in the Shaolin Monastery in Southern China, so legend has it originally developed Shaolin Mok Gar.  He taught this style, known then as Shaolin chuen to his family in the Tong-Kwin district in the Kwong Tong province. And the name remained until the third generation when it was renamed Mok Gar (after Mok’s family).

The style has passed virtually unchanged through many generations and  is still faithfully taught today, according to its original concepts.  Indeed it shares the same good reputation with four contemporary Southern Chinese Family styles Hung garm Lee gar an Lau-gar.  Each family became well known for its specific strength within the style. 

The Chinese have a traditional saying which when translated, calls to min the strong points of these styles “Hungs fists, mok’s kicks and lee’s staff.”

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For those of us who have started out kung fu training we are taught the self-discipline as this is the key to self mastery.  We have different motives to start kung fu , perhaps it was the first time you saw a Bruce lee movie, or maybe to get fit or perhaps for self esteem.  In any case the mystique of kung fu and its history are long and the training hard.  There are infinite ranges of styles of kung fu with their origins tracing back to mimicking animals striking and fighting in their native habitats.  It has been said that Shaolin monks observed the movements of these animals attacks and this lay the foundation for them to develop their own fighting styles.  The monkey fighting style, the 5 animal kung fu style and tiger claw kung fu style can observe this. Indeed many of the forms and styles of kung fu training stems from these ancient origins.  As part of the tradition of kung Fu training these practices are still part of today’s training routine.

A classic example of this is the posture of the Chinese horse stance.  Any kung fu trainee will have spent many times practicing this posture.  It is both simple and very effective. It is the cornerstone of beginning you  Your training is more than learning the forms and actions- your training should be a test of endurance, stamina and focus.  This is embodied in the horse stance.  It gets its name by position you see someone who is sitting on a horse.  The Chinese did love their animal analogies. Essentially the posture is as follows.:

By the way it is not recommended that you try this the Jacki Chan way as above.  He is a bit of a masochist.  If you have seen the out takes of his movies you will know what I mean

Your legs are just more than shoulder width apart, you should be squatting down with your knees and toes pointed forward -thighs parallel to the ground.

Your back is straight- looking forward.   Your arms can have different positions.  The most popular (how I was trained) was with your arms forward shoulder width apart with palms facing out fingers pointing up.

The goal here is to hold this position for 5 minutes.  To achieve this I would suggest breaking it up into 30 second stints and build up to 5 minutes.  To be honest 3 minutes is an achievement in itself.  You will learn much from this posture.  It will create greater flexibility in you legs and all over, in particular your leg strength will grow and grow.  It will burn it will sting-you may be staggering around after your initial practices—but this is kung fu training ..if you saw what Uma Thurman went through in Kill Bill 2  you are getting of light..  But you will reap immediate rewards from this simple yet complex exercise.

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Kung fu training can be an exciting and demanding journey.  Its origins can be traced back many hundred years to China, with the most popular home of Kung Fu Being the Shaolin Temple.

Kung Fu, meaning sustained effort or skill’ incorporates hundreds of styles such as wing chun training, tai chi, Choy lee fut, monkey kung fu style and many more. However there are common traits, which complement the overall picture in Kung Fu.  All disciplines start with basic stances and motions that act as a platform, which a student may learn and study different, styles and forms.  As skill levels rise, these forms progress into higher levels of difficulty, allowing the student to gain fluidity and dexterity before competitive training.

Kung Fu training draws on many years of tradition and expands the full spectrum of the martial arts.  From devastating lethal attacks to soft smooth elegant meditative movements.  Kung Fu is much more than a physical pursuit.  It encapsulates a healthy body, through the physical discipline of Kung Fu, as well as  the mental and spiritual through the practice of meditation and soft martial arts of tai chi and Chi Kung.  Your  training will include adopting a philosophy of balance- the taoist understanding of Yin and Yang.  To get the most out of your Kung Fu it is important to keep an open mind.  There are many different styles out there and the more you learn the more you will be introduced to new concepts.

However there are a few fundamental basics you should be aware of when beginning.

They are:

Fitness:  Any martial requires some level of fitness. So be ready to train hard. You need stamina to continue and actually enjoy the class.  You don’t want to be panting and gasping for air during your training.  Not Much fun.

Flexibility: Stretching before a class should be a mandatory part of your training.  You don’t want to injure your self during an exercise.  You don’t need to be a yoga guru just some slight preparation to begin with.  Listen to your body and know its limits.  You can always progress at the appropriate pace-and you will feel so much better.  Above all have FUN!  You are suppose to be enjoying yourself so you get the most out of your martial arts.

For more insights into various martial arts and how they can complement your kung fu training visit:

• Top 10 International Martial Arts – Top 10 Lists | Listverse – Top 10 Lists: Martial arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. They may be studied for various reasons including combat skills, fitness, self-defense, sport, self-cultivation/meditation, …

• Grappling, Ground Fighting and Chinese Martial Arts | Dharma-Zen Blog – Upcoming Retreat 4/16/10 – 4/18/10 Tai Chi, Chi Kung and Meditation at Ocean Resort, Vancourver Island, BC,

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