Kevin's Jamaica Blog

Our student Kevin will be in Jamaica for the next few months. Here is a link to his blog of his stay there - JAHCHIN in Jamaica

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?

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...

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.

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.

5 Tips to Shoe Shopping

What kind of shoes should we wear during training? This is something I have discussed with some of the students in the past but probably not all. This is some general advice and is not necessarily only for Fut Gar Kung Fu students. This is probably not a discussion that even existed 20-30 years ago because athletic shoes were more generic but now that there is specialization in shoe types and so many choices of styles, it has become more important to choose the correct shoes for training. Here are the things to look for if you are choosing shoes that you will use specifically for training:

1. Do not buy shoes with a hard heel counter. A heel counter is that hard plastic support that wraps around your heel in many athletic shoes. If you throw a proper front kick wearing the wrong shoes, you will notice that the heel counter digs into your achilles tendon.
2. Choose shoes that are flat, not shoes that are higher at the heel so you tilt forward.
3. Gum rubber soles grip the best indoors...choose soft soled shoes. You will notice that shoes designed for martial arts have a soft sole. The soft soles have better grip than a hard sole....unfortunately, they also wear down faster if worn outside.
4. Flexible is good. Do not get shoes that are too stiff because they may restrict your ability to bend your ankle into a proper stance. Shoes that do not bend backwards will not allow your toes to curl backwards when executing a front kick.
   
5. The lighter the better. Whether you are in a kicking style or not, the lighter the shoe the better.

The proper shoes can greatly enhance your Kung Fu training experience.

Another Silly Kung Fu School

I have to start by saying I did not find this article. It was posted on a forum and being discussed. A new type of martial arts for the BVI - Christian Gung-Fu is an article about a school. Of course this forced me to respond.

Here is my response in the forum:
I have nothing against Christian Kung Fu, especially since one of the most active schools in my area is the Christian Wushu Fellowship, a Kung Fu school with a pretty impressive group of students.

I do find it odd that someone studied Judo, TKD and JJ and believes they can create their own Kung Fu style. Not only do they create their own Chinese style out of their training in non-Chinese styles, they also claim that their style is the best: "Sifu Hewlett also explained what makes this new style unique and more effective than any other"....interesting.

My opinion is if this person really is a Sifu, he would have discussed his training in Kung Fu, not the other styles. If he really knows as many styles as he claims to incorporate into his style, he is probably not an expert in any of them and at best probably knows the basics of these styles. If he is a real martial artist he would have some respect for other styles instead of just claiming that his "chop suey" style is the best.

Yes, I am a grouchy dude to begin with but this type of stuff just frustrates the heck out of me. AAARRGH!!!!

The Basis of Fut Gar Kung Fu

As students progress in their Fut Gar Kung Fu training, they will become exposed to a variety of forms and training theories. I previously discussed the 5 Methods of Fut Gar Kung Fu which apply to Leung Tin Chiu Fut Gar's theory during free fighting scenarios. As you learn the forms (empty hand or weapon), you will see that they are based on 2 main theories. These theories are described by Grandmaster Chen Rong En as Fei Loong and Fook Fu.

Fei Loong is the Flying Dragon group of techniques. They include the training of your wrists through circling them and teach things such as reversing a grab (Siu Fei Loong) and breaking a grab followed by a strike (Dai Fei Loong).

Fook Fu is the Tiger Taming group of techniques and include control and strike (Dan Fook Fu) and double downward strikes (Seung Fook Fu).

Along with these are a mixture of of other dragon and tiger techniques such as Seung Loong Chut Hoi. There are also some complete forms that focus on improving these techniques such as Chin Jaang (Whole Elbow) which is known in some places as Loong Jow (Dragon Claw) because of the focus on the dragon techniques.

As Fut Gar students learn staff forms, the focus does not move away from these theories. Students of the style will learn Fook Fu Gwun (Tiger Taming Staff) and later, Fei Lung Gwun (Flying Dragon Staff) which I spoke about in a previous post.

While training in the style, looking for these theories will help understand the basis of Fut Gar Kung Fu.

The Most Important Weapon in Martial Arts

Martial Arts, especially Chinese Kung Fu contains many types of weapons. There can be much debate over which is the strongest weapon or the most useful weapon but it is clear that one weapon is the most important weapon to be taught in a school. That weapon is the staff or stick.

The main reasons that this is the most important weapon are:

• It is the base weapon for all weapons. This is the reason it is known as the "Father (or Grandfather) of all Weapons" in Chinese Martial Arts. This means that staff techniques are the foundation for forms with other weapons.
• If a school is going to teach weapons, staff is likely the one that is taught. It is unlikely that you would find a school that only teaches one weapon and have it be something other than staff.
• For the above reason, schools can be judged on their staff forms by other schools. Not all schools teach another weapon outside of staff so it would be impossible for those schools to compare with other schools.
• For beginning weapons practitioners, it requires the least amount of precision as they are learning to use the weapon. Although you learn to strike towards the end of the staff, you would still do damage with a proper strike that is further down the shaft. Being round, it also eliminates the need to know where the cutting edge of the weapon is such as when using sword.It is the most accessible weapon in surprise combat situations. You are more likely to find a stick on the ground than a sword.

Staff is one of four weapons that are considered foundation weapons in Kung Fu. These are the foundation weapons because all other weapons techniques can relate back to these four weapons. Although the staff is the base, there are some more specialized techniques taught in the other foundation weapons. The others are:

• Broadsword (Dao) known as the "Marshall or General of all Weapons"
• Straight Sword (Gim) known as the "Gentleman or Prince of all Weapons"
• Spear (Cheung) known as the "King of all Weapons"

To further classify the weapons into weapon types you will often see a generalization of weapon types. The members of my school use the breakdown of Long Weapon, Short Weapon and Flexible Weapon. I have seen other classifications such as medium weapon or special weapon but do not believe these are necessary.

Get The Facts Straight - Or Don't Try to be a Kung Fu Historian!!!

It's finally time for me to rant about this website in Australia which is magically making up some details about the Fut Gar Style. This guy would have had the same degree of accuracy if he went on YouTube and randomly chose some forms and listed them as forms taught in the Fut Gar style.

Their site says:

There are now ten empty-hand forms starting with a hard, almost karate-like form, all the way to an internal form similar to taiji quan. The forms are:
· Seah Ying Diu Sau (Snake Form)
· Tai Ji Kuen (Prince's Form)
· Bak Mok (White Hair)
· Lohan Kuen (Monk's Fist)
· Dai Lin Wan (Large Connection)
· Dai Gum Gong (Big Solid Body)
· Chut Yup Bo (Out In Step)
· Maang Fu Ha San (Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain)
· Tien Jaang (Complete Elbow)

First of all this guy can't count....he has listed 9 forms when he says there are ten. Secondly there are 11 hand forms in the Fut Gar system but the last form was traditionally only taught to the most senior, loyal students of the style...don't worry, all my students will have the opportunity to learn the form at some time :) Thirdly only 4 of the forms listed were actually Fut Gar forms.

So...why do I care?
Reason #1: As someone that has been asked to continue the lineage of Leung Tin Chiu's Fut Gar Kung Fu, I like to see as much information as possible available to the world but it would be nice if the information were correct.

Reason #2: This person basically scraped my school's website for any mention of form names and included them in his site...it is clear from our website that although we focus on Fut Gar, we also teach Lama and Choy Li Fut at our school so we list some of those forms on our site. The list of forms are all forms that are listed on my site and definitely are not a combination of forms that are taught anywhere else...it is impossible to "acquire" the list from anywhere else.

Reason #3: No attempt was made to contact us for clarification that the information they were quoting was correct. I am happy to help with appropriate information when asked and would definitely have clarified.

How do I know that the information was scraped from my site? Since he linked to my site, I know he has read my site.

So then they talk about weapons:

The nine original weapons were staff, spear, straight sword, broadsword, butterfly swords, kwan do, tiger fork, three-sectional staff, and the monk's spade. Some of Fut Gar weapons’ forms include:
· Hak Loong Dao (Black Dragon Broadsword)
· Fook Fu Gwun (Tiger Taming Staff)
· Ng Ma Quite Show (Five Horses Returning to the Feeding Post Staff)
· Loong Chien Gim (Dragon Well Sword)

Nice try again.....but only 2 of the forms listed are Fut Gar forms. Once again, these forms are taken off of my site and an assumption was made that they are Fut Gar. On top of that, in our branch Fut Gar Kung Fu there were not nine original weapons. Not sure where this information came from....could it be from some pictures on the website? To be clear, Fut Gar focuses on hand forms, staff forms and has one straight sword form....that is it.

To be fair, they did includes some other information that seems correct and I appreciate the attempt by this person/people to create some sort of background on Fut Gar for the benefit of their students but truly believe that they would have been better off telling the truth when it came to some of the things I have mentioned....they just don't know!!!