10 Thoughts About Tournament Competition

Many students of Martial Arts will become involved in tournaments at some point in their training career. I have competed quite a bit and trained many competitors over the years. I think it is important to understand some important things about tournaments as you enter into competition:

1. Tournaments are a great way to see other styles and schools as a comparison to your school. Tournaments are not an absolute indication of how good schools are but are a good way to see what techniques are done by other styles and enjoy the differences in forms.
2. Winning a tournament is something to be proud of because it is an indication that within the rules of the tournament, you were the top performer. You are also representing your instructor and school successfully.
   
3. Losing a tournament is not the end of the world. Remember that tournaments are designed with a set of rules and therefore there are some judgments used to determine winners. Do not be discouraged if you do not do well within the defined set of rules.
   
4. Go to tournaments with the goal of experiencing the atmosphere. Tournaments should be more about the experience and less about the result.
5. Try to make friends. As you compete you will start to recognize other regular competitors. Martial Artists are all practicing for similar reasons. You will likely find others that are like minded at tournaments.
6. Cheer for your classmates. Attendance at tournaments is also a way to support other students from your school that are in the tournament.
7. Gain experience performing in front of a crowd. Tournaments are a great way to get used to the fear of performing in front of an audience. This confidence can carry on into your everyday lives.
8. Gain experience performing under the pressure of being judged. Once again, this can carry on into your everyday lives.
9. Gain experience fighting with unfamiliar partners. As you practice fighting, you will become comfortable with the techniques used in your style as well as the fighting styles of your classmates. Tournaments are a good way to practice fighting in situations where you do not know what techniques to expect.
10. Gauge your performance. You have an opportunity to analyze your performance after a tournament to determine if you know your forms well (did you freeze or perform without hesitation), how comfortable you are with your techniques (did you throw a variety of techniques during fighting or rely on a few techniques) and how comfortable you were walking up and executing in front of a group of judges.

I believe that every student should compete at some point in their training career for the experience. This should be done with the clear understanding that you do not need to win to be proud of yourself.

The 6 Stance Exercises of Fut Gar Kung Fu (Stance Dice)

Stance training is a fundamental part of Kung Fu training. Fut Gar Kuen has a series of 6 stance training exercises that follow the 6 faces of a die. The stance exercises are combined with hand techniques to make the training more complete.

1. The number 1 on a die is a single dot. Our stance training is done by holding a Hok Bo.
2. The number 2 is a Ma Bo exercise combined with the double punch techniques used in Fut Gar to build your pulling power and waist turn.
   
3. The number 3 is a Diu Bo shifting exercise. Start in a Diu Bo, slide forward and turn to face the reverse direction. Your trailing foot should now be where your lead foot began. In the end, the student will only be making contact with 3 points on the floor as he/she shifts back and forth. Hand techniques used are punches on a 45 degree angle from the body.
4. The number 4 is simulated by stepping in a square using a Ma Bo as in exercise 2. The double punch technique is used again in this exercise at each side of the square. This exercise is called the punching square in my school.
   
5. The 5th technique is done by planting your left foot and rotating around that foot by stepping your right foot in 90 degree turns. The hand technique used is Gow Sau, first over your right leg then over your left leg before each 90 degree turn.
   
6. The sixth is similar to number 3 except with a sideways shift to move to the next 3 spots. Starting in a Diu Bo the student shifts sideways to another Diu Bo followed by a shift forward and turn. At this point, the student will start the sequence again by shifting sideways. Hand techniques used are a push block from the elbow outward.

Although it is difficult to describe, it becomes clear to the students after they have done the exercises a few times. I thought I would write this as a general reminder to the students that are practicing this at home.

The Circles in Sup Bat Lohan (18 Arhats) Form

Students of Leung Tin Chiu's version of Fut Gar Kung Fu are likely to learn the Sup Bat Lohan form as part of their early training. Our school teaches this form at the first level of training in our system. The form begins with a series of circles with your arms (White Crane Spreading Wings) and looks like a balance technique with little martial arts value. The technique definitely has a purpose. The purpose of the technique is for breaking of a grab to the upper body (arm, shoulder, neck). By continuing the circles in the techniques, the opponent is forced to let go of their grab. The important points are to keep your elbows bent through the technique for leverage and keep your palms facing down throughout the technique. All techniques in Kung Fu have a purpose. Students should make sure they have a good understanding of these techniques as they progress in their training.

A Day in the Life of a Kung Fu Student

This was an article that was written back in the late 1980's that described my time training with Grandmaster Chan Tai San. This was taken from a Chinese/English newspaper called the Connection.

Our School's Newest Instructor

The National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre and I would like to announce that we have named our newest instructor, Steve Moore. Steve has been training with me for many years with several extended breaks due to non-kung fu reasons such as school and life in general. I doubted his dedication when he would not make a mere 5 hour drive to attend classes. Here are some parts of the ceremony where he received his belt and his certificate.




One thing that Steve did not know when we were filming this video of him demonstrating the Fut Gar form called Lung Fu Seung Voy (Dragon Tiger Meeting) is that it would be his very last form as a non-instructor. He was going at a slower pace as I told him I was recording it for the benefit of one of the other students.

Large Eight Immortals Form

By request of the performer, I am posting this vid of the Large Eight Immortals Form (Dai Bat Sin). Enjoy.

10 Elbows of Fut Gar Kung Fu

Students of Fut Gar Kung Fu will be familiar with the elbow techniques contained in the forms. Elbow techniques are so important to the style that there is even a form that focuses on building these techniques (Chin Jaang/Whole Elbow also known as Loong Jow/Dragon Claw to some). Here is a list of 10 of the elbow techniques contained in the forms:

1. Kai Jaang - Standing Elbow
2. Waang Jaang - Horizontal Elbow
3. Gung Jaang - Forcing Elbow
4. Pow Jaang - Cannon Elbow
5. Cup Jaang - Covering Elbow
6. Bau Jaang - Wrapping Elbow
7. Chum Jaang - Sinking Elbow
8. Tit Jaang - Slicing Elbow
9. Jing Jaang - Center Elbow
10. Hok Jaang - Lifting Elbow

How Good Is Your Fighting?

While training in Kung Fu it is natural to wonder how good your fighting is. How do we know how good we are? Who should we compare to? How do we measure? We train initially in basic techniques, then learn forms, then learn how to apply the techniques and combinations, then practice applying them in set exercises and finally try to use the techniques in free fighting practice. It is difficult to know how good you really are.

One way to measure is to compare yourself to the other students in your school. This gives you a good idea of how your fighting ranks but this is not perfect. You could be the best fighter in the class but later realize that nobody in your class can fight or you could be frustrated about being the worst fighter in your class only to find out that it is because your class is the best group of fighters around. Since this does not work, you then need to attend tournaments to test yourself against other schools or in some cases, other countries. Does this guarantee that you can measure yourself? It is better but still not perfect because the best fighters might choose not to compete. In the end, it doesn't really matter. What matters is you are good enough to survive a life and death fighting situation.

Since I started training with Grandmaster Chen Rong En I found that he has an interesting way of rating how well people fight. He generally wins in free fighting situations, even at his advanced age so he measures by counting how many times you block him before he hits you. We have had discussions about people he has tested. He will say this person is not able to block me at all but this guy is pretty good because he blocked my first 4 attacks before I hit him. This is him speaking about instructors that he has met over time.

Why is he able to fight the way he does? It goes back to one of the fundamental theories about fighting in Fut Gar Kung Fu. The theory is that every technique has a counter and in turn that counter also has a counter. The person that wins the fight is the person that knows (and is able to execute) the most counters. So Grandmaster Chen started by learning the entire Fut Gar style but followed up by dedicating the next 3 years working with his Sifu, Leung Tin Chiu perfecting the execution, setting up of techniques and the theories behind the fighting of Fut Gar Kung Fu. This is the reason why he automatically executes a technique when someone attacks and unloads a barrage of attacks in return without effort or thinking. He has an answer for any fighting theory question including the very annoying what if questions that students often ask :)

So how good is my fighting? 4-5 blocks before getting hit by my Sifu, Grandmaster Chen. This rates quite high on his scale.

International Fut Gar Federation Opening

In November of 2007, an International Fut Gar Federation was opened in China in an attempt to unite all schools worldwide that teach the Leung Tin Chiu style of Fut Gar Kung Fu. Grandmaster Chen Rong En was the driving force behind the founding of this federation and has provided some initial photos from the ceremonies. Several of the Canadian instructors that practice Fut Gar Kung Fu are discussing organization of a Kung Fu tour within the next year or two..