Pictures

Just a few pictures in class from August that were taken by Amrit.

Visualization of Form

In response to JP's comment on my past post, I do have ideas on maintaining your training while injured or unable to train for other health reasons. I am a believer in visualization as a training aid in a student's progression.

When you are unable to train properly due to health issues or even lack of space, I recommend visualizing yourself performing your forms and techniques properly. This will help remember the sequences so you are still able to do these things when you are able to train regularly again. The visualization must include the reminder of what is proper because this will help you remember what points are important to do your form correctly. Remember all details such as how your feet should be positioned, where your hands should be, posture, correct stance, how power should be generated in the technique, etc.

If you are not feeling that visualization is enough, there is the hybrid of visualization of your proper steps and stances while performing the hand techniques. This allows you to still move your upper body while not requiring you to move your legs. If your health issue is with your upper body, you can reverse this and only perform the lower body parts of your form while visualizing the upper body.

Train To Fight Against Your Personality

While teaching some fighting theories in a recent class, I realized that I often advise individuals to do things that are the opposite of their personalities. How this translates into sparring matches is quite interesting. More aggressive personalities tend to be more aggressive fighters while less aggressive personalities are less aggressive fighters. Careful personalities are careful during their fighting, detail oriented people are more detailed in their fighting, etc.

I see personalities exaggerated during sparring matches which is the reason I would advise students to train against their personalities to become a better rounded fighter. A very aggressive personality may be an overly aggressive fighter who leaves themselves vulnerable in their enthusiasm towards the attack. A cautious personality may be overly cautious during sparring and have difficulties generating any offence. By working on being the opposite of your personality, you will be able to learn to do the things that are not natural or comfortable to you.

My theory is not designed to completely suppress your personality because being comfortable will allow you to relax and have a better fight but a bit of training can really help. An example would be for the aggressive fighter to take more caution to avoid leaving themselves vulnerable to counterattack but still utilizing the aggressive instinct to quickly shift from defence to offence when it is time to attack an opening in the opponent's defences.

Attacking in Reverse

Those that were in class tonight worked on a few retreating exercises where we were striking while backing up. In my fighting, I often use this as a way to keep my distance. It is not necessary to fight in the traditional way where you advance when you strike and back up when you block. I think it is too predictable to fight this way all the time. An effective strike while retreating can completely interrupt the momentum of an attacker's series of attacks and allow you to turn the fight in the other direction. Fighting is difficult when the opponent can confidently charge into you. Put some doubt in the opponents mind by throwing a strike at any time. They will not charge as eagerly if they think they may be diving into a fist.

Experienced Martial Artists That Try Classes

In my 20+ years of teaching I have seen hundreds, maybe thousands of students (see past blog post) pass through the doors of the school. I have had anyone from the person with no experience at all to the person who is at an accomplished level in another style train with me. The one thing that I always watch with experienced martial artists is the attitude they bring with them. I always ask about previous experience because I love seeing what types of styles are out there and hearing a bit about how they train. Once I get past this initial discussion and we are training, everybody trains the same way and everybody starts from the beginning of our system.

It has been interesting watching the reactions of trained martial artists as I break the news to them. Some have an excellent attitude and are very happy to learn everything from scratch whereas others will be taken aback by the suggestion that they need to start with learning stances and blocks. A true martial artist understands that every style is not the same and you need to learn from the beginning to become proficient at a style. Those that do not understand this normally don't remain in the class as they are too busy pouting instead of learning. I have even had one young man insist that he come to the advanced class as his first class....of course that was met with a thanks but no thanks response. Demanding anything as you meet your potential instructor is probably an indication that you are not ready for my class.

I would suggest that those that are determined to try a new style of martial arts should completely clear their minds of previous training as they enter the door because there are likely many things that are taught differently than the previous style. This is not to say that one is right and one is wrong but rather that theories differ between styles. Having an open attitude is the best way to learn the new style quickly.

Block Softly

As discussed in a previous blog post, I believe that learning to block effectively is the most important thing to do as you learn how to fight. When students begin to fight it is natural to be tense, nervous and unsure. It is normal to learn your blocks and attack every strike as if you are trying to destroy it. This is not wrong. There are times when you will want to block hard to damage the opponent's attacking arm or leg. What I find is that students do not remember that you only need to block hard enough to prevent the strike from hitting them. Not every block should be hard. By blocking softly and guiding the strike past them the student is set up to control the attacking appendage or counterattack the opponent as their momentum continues in the direction of the strike. A strike that has been blocked hard sends a signal that it is time to throw the next strike or prepare to defend. By not sending the signal, the defender has the opportunity catch the opponent off guard. This is the reason we practice softer blocks that cushion or deflect instead of stopping a strike suddenly.

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.