Why Are You Here?

This is more of a curious entry but I thought I would throw it out anyway.

I have had some discussions with students on why they joined my class and have always loved hearing the reasons. What might be even more interesting is why you stayed with the class as some of the students have been with me for over 20 years. I would welcome any comments on this either here or during class. I am also always curious if the reasons you joined Kung Fu held up or if you train for different reasons now. If it was a movie, I would like to hear that you joined Kung Fu to get revenge on some evil martial artist only to decide that you no longer need revenge but decided to stick around anyway because the Sifu was soooooo cool :)

One more question....if you changed your reason for training, was it because you achieved your initial goal?

Megan's Book

Hi Class. Support Megan's hard work!!! Buy this book when it comes out and read it. You may be quizzed on it in a future grading....do you really want to take that chance?

Independent Body Control

During your training you are taught to be relaxed during a strike and tighten up at the point of impact. The same suggestion goes for blocking. What is next after you are able to do this?

Those that have begun fighting realize that it is not as easy to do during a fight as it is to do during practice of forms. First of all, students seem to tighten up during sparring because it is an uncertain situation. The real interesting trick comes from independent control of the different body parts. Can you be tight with a hand/arm that has just blocked but at the same time continue to be loose with the other hand or leg that is trying to throw your counter attack? Try to separate your different body parts during your fighting and you will gain a bit of a speed advantage over those that are not developed the same way. An interesting exercise may be to hold yourself in a push up position with one hand while using your other hand to try and block strikes thrown by a partner.

Reminder of Terminology

I would like to remind everyone of an early blog post I made about a year ago that outlined the terminology in Kung Fu that spoke about how to refer to others inside our school. This should be something that you keep in mind as it really outlines how the heirarchy of Kung Fu schools are set up.

Where is Your Next Technique?

As the students continue their progression in their Kung Fu training, it is important to also progress in fighting. Those in my class know that I place a heavy emphasis on forms and believe that fighting will follow.

When you are sparring, you will start to get comfortable with techniques that work. Hopefully by training in forms and constant repetition of techniques, you will automatically start to add techniques to your fighting. If you have practiced a 4 move combination hundreds of times during your form, your body should naturally execute that same combination if you get into a situation where you throw the first technique in that combination. Look for this the next time you are fighting.

Good Luck Jason!!!

As the students of the National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre know, one of our Instructors In Training is tying the knot this weekend. All the best to you Jason and Melanie!!!