As You Get Older in Martial Arts.

We all age. This is a fact that we can't avoid but what we can do is work hard to maintain our fitness levels to be able to continue to train in Martial Arts. Whether you are in a high impact, high energy style or a lower impact style, you are able to continue to train as you age. An excellent example is Grandmaster Chen Rong En, my instructor for the Fut Gar style of Kung Fu. He is well into his 80's now but still very well respected within the local Kung Fu community and still able to execute techniques, perform forms and show fighting applications. There are some things that naturally happen as you get older:

• Your strength diminishes - at some point, you will find that you are not as strong as before but your training should show you ways to react that do not require the same level of strength.
• It will become more difficult to maintain your flexibility.
• You will likely feel joint pain making it more difficult to execute strong low stances. This is likely at quite an advanced age so do not panic.
• You will become a better fighter (believe it or not) because your experience will continue to build and those situations that made you flinch as a younger student will now no longer cause a reaction because you are used to seeing it over the years.
• You will understand your style - you spend the earlier years of your training learning your style and forms but the repetition of the techniques is what helps you understand.
• You will come to appreciate all great Martial Arts performances.

There is no particular reason for writing this today but I thought it would be an interesting post. I believe that by continuing your training without a break will allow you to maintain your natural abilities such as speed, flexibility, strength for a longer period of time whether you are training in hard, soft, internal or external styles. When you slow down your training is when you will really start to see the diminishing of your abilities.

Summer Training Tips

A few tips to my students as we hit summer training.

1. Bring water and make sure you drink it. The room will get warm as we train so make sure you are prepared.
2. Be motivated to come to class no matter how uncomfortably hot it is outside. This is a great time to challenge yourself to stick to your training schedule even when there are other summer distractions.
3. Remember my notes from last summer.
4. The warmer temperatures are a better time to improve your stretching as your muscles are looser. Keep working on your stretching between classes to capitalize on the heat.
5. Sweat is not icky...it is your proof that you are working hard :)

Reading on Martial Arts

I apologize for not having written for a while. As I wrote in one of my previous posts, there is no avoiding the occassional break from things as life gets in the way. I thought I would take a moment today to write about reading. Those who enjoy Martial Arts will often try to gather information and research all styles of Martial Arts. Here are a few points on reading:

1. Do not take everything as the complete rule. What may be the correct method of performing a technique in one style might be completely different in your particular style. I have seen an instructor teaching completely incorrect execution because he learned something flashy in some training he did and decide that the techniques in his style should be performed that way.
   
2. Do not learn different styles from books. Unless you are an expert Martial Artist, you will definitely practice incorrectly or mix up concepts if you try to learn from books. If you are an expert Martial Artist, spend your time working on your own style.
3. Appreciate the history and culture of Martial Arts. I think it is interesting to read about the origins of a style and the traditions around Martial Arts training. I would suggest that you read about these but be careful before incorporating them into your own class. I have seen a Chinese Kung Fu school where the young instructor used Karate terminology and traditions in the class because he thought he was making his class seem more traditional...unfortunately it was just wrong.
   
4. Be careful what you incorporate. There are ideas that may be style independent but there are often variations of theory from style to style which may include different reactions to situations. The example I have used with my students is Bruce Lee's book. I have never read it and probably never will because the theories I teach are from my style and if I have never read his book, nobody can question if any of my teachings come from there. I would be happy to read books about my style.
   
5. Read anything you can about your own style. I really believe that it is a good exercise to research your style and gather as much information you can about it. Not all writing on your style will agree because there may be variations in thought between authors.