5 Points to Defending with your Staff in Fut Gar Kung Fu

As the majority of my students know, I believe staff is the most important weapon we teach. The reasons were outlined one previous blog entry. This is further emphasized by the number of staff forms we teach in the Fut Gar style. Here are 5 points taught in Fut Gar Kung fu that you can keep in mind during training, whether it be visualizing the application of the technique or in practicing fighting techniques:

1. Be sure to shift your stances on blocks. Typically we shift far enough that target area that we are defending is totally moved away from its original position.
2. Defend more than just your block. Using the angle of the staff, you are often able to defend your head while blocking a strike to your legs.
3. Know the body and staff angle required to allow you to counterattack. Work on being precise with your blocking angle to allow quicker attacks.
4. If your staff is underneath your opponent's staff during contact, we call it a "dead staff" which means you do not try to initiate the next technique because it will leave an opening for the opponent to strike quickly.
5. Relax. It may be difficult when you are blocking another staff but relaxing will make your blocks faster and avoid the urge to attack your opponent's staff (trust your technique to deflect the attack and you will see that you don't need much power).

Keeping these things in mind will add some extra focus to your techniques during practice and help improve your forms.

Our Newest Instructors

I would like to offer congratulations to the newest instructors of The National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre. A few weeks ago I had the honour of naming 2 new instructors to teach our Kung Fu system. I'm sure that they will make me proud as they pass on their knowledge and thirst for learning to future students. Each of these instructors accomplished something of special significance to the school.

Silvia Castellarin became the first female instructor with her promotion. Those that have trained for any significant time in Kung Fu will know that this is a very rare accomplishment.















Jason Chin is our first instructor from students at our current location. He also is the fastest to reach the rank of instructor with our school.

Congratulations to both of you!!!!

20th Anniversary Dinner

It will be good to see everyone at our 20th anniversary dinner tomorrow night. We have actually been around longer than 20 years but have finally gotten around to arranging the dinner. Our school is now loaded with senior students, some of who began with me in our early days at Brock University. Here are a few facts:

• We have moved from St. Catharines to Hamilton to Mississauga to Toronto over the years.
  
• We have been in our current location since 2000.
  
• We are currently up to 3 full instructors (not including me) and 3 instructors in training at our school.
• We began with Lama Pai as our core style and Choy Li Fut as a complimentary style.
• We have been teaching Fut Gar Kung Fu since 1998.
  
• The students continue to make teaching fun after all these years.

The Mistake With Lower Stances

A note that I brought up in a few of my recent classes is the mistake that students often make when trying to lower your stances. This directly relates to my last blog entry about improving the look of your forms. The mistake that is made is to lower the stances by widening them. This is not the correct way of lowering most stances. The lowering of stances should be done by further bending of the knees instead of widening the distance between your feet. Of course this all has to be done without allowing yourself to bend over (another habit that I notice in students trying to lower stances). This will help in further improving the look of your forms.

1 Quick Change to Improve the Look of Your Form

There is one very easy way to improve the look of your form. As you perform, your body gets used to executing the techniques at a particular height. One very quick way to impact the look of your form is to lower the stances slightly from your normal height. Practice at the new height and over time your form will sink to that height. When showing the form, it is easier to remember to stay low than to remember all the little points that you need to fix in the form so this is one of the quickest changes you can make for immediate results.

Kung Fu Blogs

One of the things I have noticed is that there are few blogs on kung fu that are actually worth following. I have seen some that posted a few excellent articles spread over months but not consistent. There are a few reasons that I believe this happens.

1. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I have even seen a blog from an instructor that I know followed my blog and then started their own. I guess it is kind of funny that they felt that it was important to specifically say that they were urged by friends to students....not that they were reading my writing and thought they could duplicate...duplicate the idea as well as duplicating some of my blog topics, always a few months after I write it. Same duplication as starting a Facebook group for their school a couple months after asking for permission to join my school's Facebook group. I guess some people need to imitate in their ongoing struggle to look like they are innovative. OK enough ranting on that....since that is a totally different topic.
2. Writing is difficult when you need to come up with regular content. There are some brilliant instructors out there that could provide unlimited bits of wisdom but many cannot communicate in written form. I also believe that there are instructors in more commercial organizations that may have been able to learn enough to become instructors but have not had the opportunity to take their knowledge to the deeper levels which would cause a blog to start strong but slowly run out of content.
3. Secrecy for their style. Kung fu has a history of being carefully protected over the years and it is possible that some of the older instructors are wary of giving out too much information about their styles.
4. Time is required. Writing takes time and I know from experience that it is not always easy to find time to put down your thoughts. Many instructors not only teach martial arts but also have full time jobs which leaves little time to write.

I have seen some interesting vlogs out there that I hope can keep going. As for blogs, Is it really a blog if you can't write an entry on anything for months?

James' First Tournament

Just a quick note on the CCKSF tournament from this past weekend. We had one competitor from our school this time around but it was a great experience. James went into his first tournament and won a Bronze in Hand Forms and a Silver in Sparring. Congratulations James. Good showing for your first time out.

CCKSF Tournament Reminder

This is just a reminder of the CCKSF Kung Fu tournament coming up on the 31st. Details at http://www.wushu.ca/ for those that are looking for info on it. I will be there as usual and would be happy to see anybody that wants to compete or just check it out.

Karate Kid: Where are they now?

We all remember the Karate Kid movies. NYDailynews.com recently posted a where are they now that shows where they all went. Here is the link. It was interesting to read through the list and get an update.

Van Damme to Fight a Muay Thai Fighter?

OK, stumbling around the internet I saw this article. If it is correct, Jean Claude Van Damme is going to fight a Muay Thai figher, Somrak Kamsing in a K1 Muay Thai match. It looks like it is actually going to happen because a quick search will turn up quite a few little stories about it. I'm not sure what Van Damme's motivation might be but the dude's got guts if he actually goes through with it. I know I will be looking forward to seeing what happens in the match...

Chinese Story About Filming on Leung Tin Chiu

Thanks to Denny from Michigan who passed this along. Denny has dropped into the school a few times to visit in the last couple of years while in Toronto for other celebrations and holds a great deal of enthusiasm towards Fut Gar Kung Fu.

This link speaks about the filming of a 26 part TV series on Leung Tin Chiu...unfortunately it is only written in Chinese right now but you can certainly get the idea by plugging it into something like Babel Fish. For those that are not familiar with the name, Leung Tin Chiu is the founder of Fut Gar Kung Fu as taught at my school.

Looking for Details

Our school is still awaiting further details on the filiming of a 26 part series on the founder of the Fut Gar Kung Fu Style, Leung Tin Chiu, to be filmed in China. It sounds like it is confirmed to go and Master Chen will connect with them in China when he returns there in late October. The background on this is from last year's visit to the grave of Leung Tin Chiu by a group of Fut Gar students including Master Chen who is a direct disciple of Leung Tin Chiu. It seems that this sparked some interest as people realized that there are living disciples of Leung Tin Chiu who are still practicing the Fut Gar style. The details are not completely clear to me from there but it seems like a great time for our style as Master Chen is excited that his Sifu is finally getting some recognition. This was a person that was very well known as possibly the best martial artist of his time from his performance at a national tournament of over 2000 competitors that were rated on overall skills. There was one person that mentioned that he saw something posted on the future release of this series but I have been unable to find anything. Anybody that sees a link, please do share with us.

Recent Grading Pics

Hi class. I just thought I would share a few pics that were taken during the recent gradings. It was a long process that went late into the night and as you can see the participants and instructors were all exhausted by the end. Thanks to JP for taking these.

Pushing the Limit

As you start to progress in your training you should feel good about how much you have learned since you joined and how much you have improved since you started trying to execute your first techniques. You may now feel ease when performing that previously impossible technique or no longer panic when facing off against an opponent or have no problem remembering that long form that gave you so many problems when you were learning it. This is a time to celebrate your success so far but remember that there is still a lot to learn and many corrections still to be made. Getting to this point is a great start but now is the time to really focus on moving towards perfection. Push the limits of your endurance, flexibility, strength and concentration by adding some challenge to your training. This could be something such as lowering your stances in your forms or trying to strike harder throughout your form or just making sure that you retain any corrections that the instructors are giving you instead of regressing back to old habits after the class is finished. In fighting you should always start by trying to improve your control while later challenging yourself to find different ways to attack or defend (getting away from the habits that are comfortable to you).

The instructors can assign these types of exercises to you but I think it is important to find your own areas that you would like to improve. This will allow you to steer towards the result that you are really striving for in your training.

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!!!

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.
   

Fun With Claws

In Kung Fu there are claw techniques throughout the forms. I personally enjoy mixing claw techniques into my fighting to give some variety. I have a few notes for those that are looking to introduce claw techniques to their fighting.

1. I always say that there are no wrong techniques. If you can visualize an application and then go execute it, who can say it is wrong? There may be reasons that make a technique ill advised but that is not a reason to stop using it until someone proves that they can stop it. Try different angles, different variations and different ways of using your claws to see what works for you.
   
2. A claw can be used as a scratch. You can use the scratch to attack the eyes, face, or exposed tissue.
3. A claw can also be used as a strike where you use your palm as the striking surface.
4. A claw can be used as a grab. You can grab the throat, wrists or muscles/tendons of your opponent.
5. You can combine the techniques above. An example would be striking with your palm to an opponent's nose and in a continuous motion downward scratching the opponent's face until you are under the chin at which point you grab the throat.
6. When executing a claw technique, bend your hands back and grip your fingers tightly to avoid injury from bending a finger or wrist backwards.
   
7. Claws can be used as blocks (or block and grab).
8. Claws can be used as traps such as in the Chum Jaang technique in Fut Gar Kung Fu.
9. Claws can be used to go around a defense as you bend your wrist around it.

All in all claws are a lot of fun to try and incorporate into your training. Of course some of my suggestions should not be used in class unless your class is too large and you need to get rid of some students.

Master Chen is Back in Town

Master Chen Rong En, head of the Fut Gar style of Kung Fu is back in town. The newer students may wonder what to do when he visits the class (which you can expect him to do very regularly) as it can be an intimidating thing to have him watching what you are doing. As one of his closed door students, I have had quite a bit of experience with him watching me as I train and have probably forgotten that I should actually feel some sort nervousness when performing in front of him...of course I never have been one to be nervous performing no matter who is watching. For those that don't know exactly what to do when he is visiting, here are a few tips:

1. Bow to him as he comes in to show your respect.
   
2. Do the best you can without fear that you are not good enough...he loves our class and wants us to be successful in our training.
3. Be prepared to learn as he will stop you if he sees a mistake.
4. If we decide to run additional seminars, participate if at all possible. Master Chen is one of the most respected instructors around and there are few opportunities to learn directly from him. We are very fortunate to be a school that he visits regularly.
5. Enjoy his love of teaching theories. I have never met anyone else who gets so much joy out of discussing techniques, how they work, how to counter them and how to lead into them.
   

The next 6 months should be filled with many chances to do all of these things. Although I have been teaching Kung Fu for over 20 years now you will definitely see that I am still not done learning from the master.

Seriously Disappointed in Some Instructor

The students in my class probably heard me speaking of some disappointing activities at a recent tournament. Although nobody from my school competed, we did have one person present as a judge who reported back that one school was performing one of our forms. Not only were they performing it, but they were performing it poorly. The school that is now performing Black Dragon Sword should be ashamed of themselves and their instructor has shown that they have no real grasp of what it means to be an instructor or martial artist.

We would like to give the benefit of the doubt that it is possible that they learned it just as I did but unfortunately I know this is impossible. The only other people who had the opportunity to learn this form are in New York and the version they do is slightly different so unless Grandmaster Chan Tai San came back from the dead to teach these "martial artists" I am going to have to say that it was stolen. It is definitely tempting to take videos of my students as they win gold medals at the national championship and try to replicate but in my 20+ years of teaching, I have never seen a school desperate enough to do it.

I will not mention the school but I have seen them perform and I totally understand why they would need to steal as what they have is not impressive. What they do could be impressive if done properly but the instructor is not equipped to teach the class to be what they need to be. Unfortunately there are no barriers on who becomes a Kung Fu instructor and in Canada we do not have old school masters who will come tear down your school and issue a challenge to those that do not belong so this type of school is allowed to continue.

My last word to this school. Focus on being good at your own style and making your ancestors proud instead of feeling the need to steal from other styles. If you are not capable of getting good at your style because you were not raised in a proper martial arts background, I am sure I can recommend an instructor that would be happy to teach you...you might even become decent at a kung fu style.

The Good Old Days?

Back in the 80's competing as a Kung Fu stylist was a lot different than today. Unless you wanted to travel extensively, it was difficult to find a Kung Fu tournament. It was big news when we were finally able to see tournaments with Kung Fu in the title even if they were not really Kung Fu tournaments.

What was competing like? The normal method of competition was joining an open tournament where you were judged by Karate judges. These were judges who knew Karate only and had to do their best to judge Kung Fu based on their knowledge of how things were done in their own style. I even remember having Kung Fu and Tai Kwon Do grouped together in something called a "Soft Style" division...what exactly does that mean? There are hard and soft styles of Kung Fu and if you ever watch Tai Kwon Do performed properly, it certainly does not seem soft to me. At that time, Kung Fu practitioners were just happy to find a way to compete.

As far as fair judging, you had to understand that this was not possible. Judging by Karate judges certainly made competition interesting. This is not a criticism of the judges as they were doing the best they could with their training and I certainly know how it feels to judge styles that you don't know. Unfortunately this meant that the best way to do well in open tournaments was to Karatesize (is that a word?) your techniques. Those of us that stood by our style and refused to change how we did things should be proud.

Turning It On

One of the things that can happen for those that are always practicing controlled fighting is they do not get into situations where there is a need to fight full out, strike at full power or defend against full power strikes. As we train in Kung Fu we need to understand that we need to be able to flick the switch when needed but only when needed. If a situation arises where you NEED to take action, you should completely commit to the situation. Based on the type of class I teach, I believe that my students would not be the aggressor in an altercation but there is a good chance that someone will have an altercation at some point in their lives. The ideal situation in that event is for the student to be calm and controlled until action is needed. Once the switched is turned on, it should continue until there is no longer a threat. There are many variables that go into the decision of when exactly to react and that can be discussed with your fellow students or instructor.

10 Animal Styles That Did Not Make It

In one of my silly moments in class (not that I am known to have silly moments) I decided that it would be fun to create a list of 10 animal styles that were never created. Actually, they may have existed but just didn't survive until today...

1. Armadillo - would seem to be a great defensive style
2. Giraffe - you could win by forcing your opponent to block upward for the entire fight until they succumb to neck injuries
3. Snail - technically not an animal but neither is a praying mantis
4. Dolphin - I know, once again not an animal but fast, acrobatic with hard snouts for striking....this would seem like a natural choice
5. Jellyfish - continuing with the sea creatures, these things can cause a lot of pain and even death
6. Rhinoceros - if they knew kung fu, would they still be endangered?
7. Peacock - what does crane have over them?
8. Three Toed Sloth - blinding speed
9. Camel - the style could teach ranged attacks as part of the normal training
10. Rabbit - Monty Python fans know that they can be very deadly

2 Updates

Just to keep everyone informed JP has been working on updates to the school site and it has been updated with some of the newer content that was previously missing. Take some time to scan through when you have a chance.

The other update is Silvia has a new site to display some of her art.

When Should Kids Learn Kung Fu?

Although I don't teach a regular children's class at this time, I have often been asked what age is ideal for kids to begin Kung Fu training. The real answer is as soon as they are able to focus for an entire class and understand instructions.

My recommended earliest age for children to begin training is around age 5. Some kids are able to start younger if they show the maturity to stay mentally engaged throughout the class. The best situation is to have them training in a class designed specifically for kids instead of having them in with a group of adults but sometimes there is no choice.

The 1 Question To Ask Yourself

How do you motivate yourself to go to class or train when there are so many reasons not to. Whether you are thinking to yourself; I'm tired, I don't feel good, I had a bad day, I forgot a change of clothes, I am not mentally up to it today, I am busy, I would rather be shopping, I am sore from last class, I don't feel like driving to class, I don't want to go out in the rain or any other reason that can prevent you from training, there is one question that will remind you of the importance of pushing yourself to train.

That question is "On the street, would an attacker care that [insert excuse here]?" The answer to this question is no. An attacker does not care that you are tired or did not stretch yet or are in your dress clothes or that you wear glasses or any other reason that you can think of. I am not saying that we do not need an occasional break from training. My students know that I believe we all need short breaks during our lifetime of training but there are times where there is a decision on whether or not to train when it is time to leave for class (instead of staying on the couch) on a given night. Those are the nights that you need to ask yourself the one question.

Pushing Yourself in Training

During your Martial Arts training you will learn many techniques, spend time perfecting them and practice proper execution of combinations. You will practice using your techniques in fighting situations, get comfortable executing at full speed in free fighting situations and figure out when specific techniques work for you. The one thing that is important to remember is that it is easy to just rely on your instructor to train you and tell you when to use the techniques. A few things to keep in mind if you want to excel:

1. Try new things. Do not stick with the same old techniques time after time in your free sparring.
2. It is OK to be uncomfortable. You are uncomfortable when you are not doing what you are used to so you should feel uncomfortable if you are pushing yourself.
3. Physically push yourself. If the training is not tiring you, there is probably more effort you can put in as far as using more power, lowering your stances, increasing your speed etc.
   
4. Class is designed as a general workout that caters to the entire class. Some things will be difficult for you so keep trying but other things will be easy for you. When things are easy, work on perfecting while adding a bit to the exercise.
5. Mentally push yourself to think of different ways to successfully execute techniques and to have a theory on how a technique is applied before asking others.
6. Think of how to do something that will separate you from other Martial Arts practitioners whether it be the spirit of your forms, the perfection of a technique in fighting, the practice of advanced techniques until they seem effortless to those that are watching, etc.
   

Top 50 Self Defence Blogs

Just a note to the readers of this blog that it was mentioned on a list of top 50 self defence blogs on another blog. Check it out at http://www.forensicsciencetechnician.org/?page_id=21 if you are interested in seeing the list.

Sparring Videos From Last Tournament

Here are some videos that one of the CCKSF group posted on Youtube from the last tournament. Those in my class will notice a few familiar people in here.

Praise from the Pres

For those of you that were not in class when I spoke about it, we got some great praise from the President of the CCKSF recently. He had video taped all of the fighting in the most recent tournament and after watching it was very impressed with one of our competitors (J.P.) In fact, he said he has been waiting for 10 years to see this type of progression in the fighting division. For years there has been the hope that fighting would progress away from standard exchange of punches and street fighting to a more refined style of fighting. To finally see effective use of counterattacks and resistance of the urge to just throw fast punches even when the opponents are doing it was very enjoyable for him to watch. We have discussed this in class over the years and we definitely see that fighting properly is not the ideal in these fighting situations but I have a strong belief that the ones that stick to it will eventually be the better Martial Artists.

We seem to have the attention of the President and have him thinking of ways to get the rest of the competitors going in the same direction. Way to go JP and the rest of the competitors that have tried to fight the way we teach in class.

Peripheral Vision

In today's class I spoke about peripheral vision as something we build over time as martial artists. Although it is possible to learn martial arts without building peripheral vision, the best martial artists are those that have a wider vision. Not only does this allow you to see attacks that come from the side such as hook punches and roundhouse kicks, it also helps you with seeing what is around you in your environment outside of class. You will be able to see and react quicker to things that you catch out of the "corner of your eye" without even thinking that it is part of your training. This is a skill that you can take out of class whether you are in a potential self defence situation or just seeing a soccer ball accidentally kicked at your head in the park. Inside class, this skill will help you in practicing of fighting multiple attackers as you get into more advanced fighting training.

Lack of Weapon Control

During today's class we did a bit of extra work on weapons. During the class I remembered an incident that occured at a tournament about 4 or 5 years ago. As usual I was acting as a judge in one of the rings but the next ring was open so some students were using it to warm up and get a bit of last minute practice in. As my ring wrapped up I told the other judges to take a quick break before the next division started. As I was walking to the organizer's table, one of the students in the next ring stabbed his spear right at my face. I reacted and grabbed the spear head just before it stuck me in the face. The student stopped practicing but probably did not realize that a slower reaction would have ended up with him stabbing a person in the face. I have a few thoughts on this incident.

• First, the student was not taught proper respect for martial arts as it was clear that he was using the open ring as a chance to show off his techniques.
  
• Next, the student was not properly taught by his instructor. This was not a junior student and he should have known to be aware of his surroundings, especially when performing weapons forms.
• The student showed little respect for other competitors as he flung his weapon around without regard for the other students that were stretching and warming up.
• No student is good enough to utilize stabbing techniques without looking - there has to be something wrong with either the way he was taught or the way he learned.

I would like to stress that those performing weapons must be aware of their surroundings as well as understanding the distance required to perform techniques without placing anyone in danger. The person practicing the weapon form is responsible for control of their weapon.

The Best Time to Block

As students start to practice fighting techniques and possibly free sparring, they will be in situations where they will need to block strikes. As students become more comfortable, it becomes easier and easier to see strikes coming from the opponent. This is where I see errors starting to occur with many students in all Martial Arts. I often see blocks executed way before the strike will connect.

The best time to block a strike is not early in the strike but as late as possible in the strike. By waiting until the last moment to execute the block you will have the best opportunity for counter strike. If you block early in the strike, the opponent has an opportunity to pull back to a defensive position or react to the block and throw another technique. By waiting until later in the strike, you lead the opponent to believe that the strike is successful and will cause them to continue the follow through which in turn will open them up to counter attack. Waiting until the last moment will allow you to put an opponent off balance if you can execute a pull with your block.

Although waiting takes some courage, the benefits are undeniable. I encourage students to try this during the controlled sparring of a class and find their comfort level on how long to wait.

Remembering Forms

I have mentioned in class that there is no shortcut to remembering your forms. The only way to train your body to perform the techniques correctly and memorize the forms is through constant repetition. This is the reason that I recommend practicing your forms even after you have learned them and moved on to your next form. It takes about 200 repetitions to remember the form and about 500 before you are completely fluent with it. The end result is that you will be able to perform it without constant practice. Being able to perform a form that you have not practiced in a few months should be possible with the right amount of practice up front during your training. This practice is not exciting as you are just repeating something over and over but it will make you much better over time.

The Origin of the Dreaded Chow Butt Attack

Many of the students of my class have seen it in action and the lucky ones have experienced it live. Of course I am speaking of my butt attack. The attack of throwing my behind into my opponent's solar plexus. How does something like this happen? As silly as the technique is, it comes from sound martial arts fighting theory. The following are the things that lead to the development of this technique:

• Feel the fight and flow with it. To maximize the speed of your techniques you need to stop thinking and just execute. Too much thinking adds brain processing to the technique before executing and every slight hesitation can cost you a fight. Fut Gar Kung Fu as taught to me by Grandmaster Chen clearly defines what to do in specific situations to eliminate the necessity of deciding which technique to use.
  
• Don't resist pressure. This theory is the reason I originally spun around to attack with my backside. Having a technique blocked gave me momentum to spin in the opposite direction.
  
• Always look for opportunities to attack. Just because you are in a disadvantaged position does not mean that you should stop looking for an opportunity to attack. Very successful attacks often are executed at the time when the opponent least expects it.
  
• All body parts can and should be used as a weapon. Although the butt attack is taking it to the extreme, I have always been taught that you can use anything as a weapon.
  
• It worked. When a technique works it is natural (and encouraged) to continue to use it until it no longer works.
  
• Have fun when you practice. OK, this is my own theory but those in my class have seen that we have always run the class this way.
  

The Right Time to Exchange Punches

While watching students fight as part of their training, instructors often break up the fighting to explain that it is incorrect to rush in and exchange punches with your opponent as this shows a lack of technique and seems to not serve a purpose. Generally, Kung Fu training teaches you to block and counter, grab and counter or avoid and counter. This is definitely ideal if you are able to fully disarm a strike while executing a strike of your own. Of course this is generally not the case for most students. I believe there is a correct time to exchange punches as long as you take into account a few things:

1. What are you exchanging? Are you taking a light jab to the cheek while executing strong hook punch to the temple? I would be happy to take this exchange which would likely end the fight. This is an easy decision to make if you are able to make it at full speed.
   
2. What will be the result of your strike as far as body positioning? By this I mean that throwing your strike turns the opponents strike into a glancing blow therefore reducing its effectiveness even if your strike is not a knockout punch.
   
3. When are you making the exchange? This is the point that is normally forgotten. Each combination by an opponent has a main (knockout?) strike. If they throw a jab followed by an uppercut, the uppercut is the punch intended to do the main damage. This can be followed by other techniques. Assuming you can make your first strike the knockout strike, I would suggest that your hard strike be executed right after the opponent's knockout strike. If someone is throwing a 4 strike combination with the first strike being a hard strike, each following strike is a bit weaker than the previous. Take your best strike in exchange for one of the opponent's weaker strikes. This timing will not only give you the upper hand in the exchange but also surprise your opponent as they are expecting you to continue blocking. This assumes you do not believe that you will have the opportunity to execute a clean technique on this particular opponent because as previously stated, it is ideal to execute a clean strike.

These theories take some practice but with experience, you will be able to feel for the right timing during the fight.

Some Math for Those That Survive

I have a good group of students that are considered Instructor-In-Training or Instructor in my school. Not including myself as the head instructor, there are a group of 6 with 3 that have been around since the late 1980's. I thought I would do a quick calculation to figure out how many people have come through over the years.

1. To begin with, I am estimating that 1 of 5 senior students actually stay to reach the level of Instructor-in-Training. This means there were 30 senior students to generate the 6 that are with me today.
2. Only about half of regular students stay to become senior students. So 60 regular students.
3. About half of the people that actually join stay long enough to become a regular student. That means 120 people joined.
   
4. Only about 10% of the people that come in for a trial class actually join the class. This seems low but it is probably accurate based on the fact that we do not run every day and normally recommend that potential students try other schools before deciding on joining. So that would mean about 1200 students have been through our classes at some point over the years.
5. We had classes in a University for about 7 years and during those years, we definitely can add about 30 students a year who joined but did not return the following year after returning from summer vacations. So add another 210 students to get a total of 1410 students to get to the 6 that have made it through.
   
6. I will also add 2 major relocations where we started over with new students in another city (although there are a few students that just seem to relocate to whatever city the school is in) and the number is actually higher.
   

Teaching Kung Fu in a non-commercial style with no long term contracts is definitely a disadvantage as far as retention but my thinking over the years has always to train a smaller group of dedicated students instead of a large group of students that felt obligated to be there because they already paid. Congratulations to those that have made it through. I know there are others in the current group that will join the ranks over time.

10 New Year Training Tips

So you have had a great holiday. You have partied hard, eaten excessively and forgotten what training means. It's time to get back at it. Here are a list of tips to help get you back into the swing of things.

1. Do not think that you will jump back in and immediately be back into the swing of things.
2. Stretch a bit more than you normally would.
   
3. Make sure that you build into the workout by making sure you build the intensity gradually over the course of the class.
4. Try your best but do not get frustrated or discouraged if you are not up to your regular level of performance.
5. Catch up with your classmates but stay focused on training.
6. Spend time remembering your forms and proper execution rather than trying to speed through your forms.
7. Your stances are probably not as low as they feel so go lower.
8. Since everybody is getting back into the swing of things, pay extra attention to other students, especially if you are practicing weapons techniques.
9. Remember to have fun...this is the reason you do this.
10. Most importantly...remember it is bad luck to kill your instructor, even if by accident (this might be a bit of a selfish tip on my part)

2008 in Review

Happy New Year! As we head into 2009 I thought I would take a few moments to recap some of the highlights from 2008 for my school.

• We added a new instructor to the ranks.
• We added a new black sash to the ranks.
• Our advanced class has grown and now is as large as our regular classes.
• I believe that we continue to maintain a base of very dedicated and enthusiastic students.
• I am being forced to dust off previously untaught forms to teach the most advanced students as they reach the end of our regular curriculum.
• We had some new performers during our Chinese New Year demo.
  
• The enthusiasm for free sparring in class has grown.
• The overall quality of the Fut Gar Kung Fu in class has continued to improve.
  

Thanks for a great year and keep training hard in 2009.