The P's of practice

There is a common maxim in the school were I train. A new student usually asks the same question when they first start. It is usually something along the lines of "So what is the secret to getting really good at Kung Fu ?" One of the older student usually replies, "The secret to Kung Fu is ...... practice, practice, practice". We usually say it as a running joke but the truth is that consistent practice is the only way to achieve any mastery in any martial art or any endeavor.


We all cannot be like the Shaolin monks and devote hours upon hours a day to martial training. It is hard to find time to train when you have a fulltime job and a family (or whatever life demands are placed upon you). What we can do is apply intelligence to our practice so we can maximize the time that we do spend.

Persistence - persistence is a key component of practice. You have to set aside time that you can practice regularly in order to get the full benefits. It does not have to be huge chunks of your day, the key is consistency.

Precision - Set a few minutes aside to try and come up with a precise goal for your practice session. it could be something you are trying to improve, like getting better at using a particular technique. Having a precise goal in mind and focusing on achieving that goal during practice are a great way at improving as a martial artist.

Progress - You have to continuously seek to modify your practice so that you are progressing. Maximize the intensity of your workouts so that you can gain the most benefit. It is also a good idea to record your workouts so you can note your progress, this will give you a better gauge as to how you are progressing and allow you to tailor your practice if need be.

Patience - realize that true mastery may take years, enjoy the journey and remember that skill takes time to develop. Kung-Fu is mastery through time and effort, you need time to incubate your effort and see it come to fruition.

The secret to Kung-Fu and all other martial arts is there is none. The difference between a great martial artist and the beginner is not "innate natural ability" or being gifted, it is countless hours of practice. I'll end this with another quote from The Art of Peace.

"Progress comes to those who train and train; Reliance on secret techniques will get you nowhere." - Morihei Ueshiba

Its not how you fall, it is how you get up

I broke my left arm during class three weeks ago. It was a freak accident that occured during glove sparring while sparring with a fellow student. I spent a week off in a mini pity party of sorts but decided that the rest of my body is not broken so I can still work out. I spent a lot of the time spending extra time focusing on meditation and qigong. I was struck by how much I use my left arm during techniques. I went to class the next week and tried sparring with one arm using my right side forward. Normally it would be considered madness to keep sparring with my broken arm but the other students usually are pretty well controlled so I didn't mind trying it out. It was a good excercise in thinking on your feet and modifying your techniques. I learned some interesting things:

1. Blocking with one hand is not a very good option
If you have only one arm that you can use, you can block some strikes but if your opponent locks up your one good hand with theirs, you can easily get hit in the face with their free hand. I learned this lesson pretty early. It is better to use evasion and yielding. I love this quote from Morihei Ueshiba , the founder of Aikido

"Seeing me before him,
The Enemy attacks,
But by that time,
I am already standing,
Safely behind him"

2. Use deception and odd angles of attack to compensate for any weaknesses

I moved around unpredictably and tried using deception with feints and fakes. Fake strikes with your arms and kick or do the reverse and fake a kick and strike with a punch. I would crouch low using monkey stances to give myself a smaller silhoutte. this way I had less openings and I could disguise my length so my sparring partners would try and get in closer and I could use kicks and sweeps when they were in range.

3. Pay attention but don't be too tentative.

It was hard for me to not stop thinking about my injury and trying to keep my hand the furthest distance away from my sparring partners at first. This made me a bit too tentative as I wasn't seizing openings that became available because I was afraid of hurting myself. I had to force myself to overcome this and it was extremely difficult but I got better at it after my arm started feeling better.

4. Analyze everything and spend more time thinking.

This can be done anytime. You don't have to do it when you get injured. Look at other students when they spar, analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Look at techniques that they do well that you could incorporate into your own repertoire. Look at other matches to see what openings are being missed by other students. Mentally rehearse new combinations that you could try or try to figure out techniques that you could adapt to suit your own needs. The mind I think is an often neglected part of martial arts. Studying theory and concepts is just as important as your practice time. It is the reason why athletes spend so much time studying game film.

5. Defense wins championships for pro teams but is a matter of life or death to a martial artist.

Striking in martial arts is given way more focus than blocking or yielding. It is because we remember the hits but don't really appreciate how much skill is required for a great defense. If I had got my arm broken while being attacked in the street, I would be quickly dispatched if I did not try to block or evade after the initial injury. It is also alot harder to defend attacks with only one good arm. I realized that i have to spend alot more time working on defense and I should try to devise some drills to improve.

Although getting injured sucks, on one hand I am grateful because it forces me to look at things differently.