Austin Kung Fu Academy Blog

If you think about the word Kung Fu and how it is used in casual conversation, it is often times synonymous with skill. For example, people may say, your computer kung fu is strong! Or, your home repair kung fu is very good, or your cooking-Fu is strong, or, my typing-fu is weak, etc.

Basically, any sort of skill is referred to as Kung Fu, which is technically correct, because the literal definition of Kung Fu is skill acquired through time/effort. It doesn’t necessarily refer to martial arts, although these days it has.

But most people don’t know that.

You probably don’t hear people saying, wow, your basket weaving MMA is strong! Or, your programming Taekwondo is awesome! Just doesn’t have the same zing, does it!

The only other martial art that has a metaphorical reference in everday life/conversation is Judo/Jujutsu. It’s generally in reference to a verbal encounter where one person used a passive approach against an aggressive/forceful/tense delivery to get the job done.

But even still, that is in reference to a tactic. The metaphor for Kung Fu is far more powerful in my view, because it is a connotation of expertise level.

Perhaps this evolved from the resurgence in the 90′s of Old School Kung Fu movies, where there were constant themes of developing, challenging, improving, and testing one’s Kung Fu level, where lines were very commonly spoken, such as:

Hey you, think your Kung Fu’s good? Well now, let’s see how good (pause) YOU REALLY ARE! Try my (___insert number or adjective) (___insert animal or natural element) (___insert body part)!!! (eg, 18 Fire Palms)

Perhaps it is because of not just the technical skill, but the artistry and the highly stylized aesthetics on top of it that gives the skill that sense of dramatic grandeur.

It’s not that Kung Fu (ie Chinese martial arts) is any better than other martial arts, but the way it has presented itself onscreen is so powerful that it became part of our lexicon.

I’m still developing my blog-fu. I need to train harder!

With martial arts, if you are too aggressive, it teaches you about patience, inner calm, and humility to provide you with balance, all in the name of maximizing your results.

On the other end of the spectrum…

If you are too passive, it teaches you about confidence, taking risks, and overcoming fear to provide you with balance, also in the name of maximizing your results.

When it comes to reaching your potential, you really do have to understand and experience both hard and soft energies. Many people spend their entire lives with one main type of energy, and they find success with it.

In our style, Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu, I love taking people through the process of hitting pads. The audio feedback is the magic. If you are too tense, you won’t get the loud smack noise, you’ll just get a thud. And of course, if you are too pensive, you will hear that you are not producing the wonderful smack noise.

It requires that delicate philosophical balance of knowing when to be relaxed and knowing when to exert tension. You have to know how to maneuver both energies to produce the sound.

I love using the example of an olympic level gymnast. Watch that person doing the parallel bars, or the rings, or some such even that requires a tremendous amount of strength and dexterity. Watch their facial expressions. More often than not, it is blank, and sometimes, even very peaceful.

It’s no secret to high performing athletes – a calm mind results in a calm body, which results in maximized performance.

The antithesis to calm is anxiety. Anxiety is shared by both aggressive and passive mindsets. At it’s core, it is all about the fear of failure. Because of that fear, some act out, and others withdraw.

Learning to calm the mind rids that anxiety. Having said that, it is good to have a little of the anxiety to motivate and propel you further.

Is it any surprise that most traditional martial arts practices have some form of meditation?

This post will be a little more personal, in nature.

Today, I had my two year old son observe our Kung Fu class for 3-4 year olds.

I was blown away – he wanted to do it with everyone, and was doing the warm ups and some of the stances and across the floor drills, and actually calling out the techniques with everyone.

I was blown away by this because he *NEVER* listens to me when I try to teach him at home.

Granted, he was only able to do it for 10 minutes, before he started going bananas and running around all over the place giggling…after all, he is 2. But even when I picked him up and said, “Let’s watch from the outside”, he threw a small fit, because he really wanted to participate with the other kids.

So as a martial artist and teacher, I was very relieved and excited to see that my son has the interest at age 2, he just needs to do it with other people, and someone else teaching besides me.

So I will try to get him to observe/participate (if even for just a few minutes) with the 3-4 year olds class as much as I can.

The most amazing martial artists I’ve met in my time are ones who started when they were 3 or 4 years old and still do it to this day.

Whether or not my son becomes amazing with his techniques and execution or not is not that big of a deal to me. What I’d love for him is to value this as a way of life and do it forever.

I’ve seen it time and time again – one of the best forms of therapy is Martial Arts! Indeed, our Kung Fu training can heal our mind:

Some people use it as stress release.

Some people use it as a way to “escape”.

Some people use it as a way to improve belief in one’s self.

Some people use it as a way to improve focus.

Some people use it as a way to improve patience.

Some people use it as a way to enhance their mood.

Some people use it as a way to overcome fear.

Some people use it as a way to develop the ability to endure and follow through.

These things don’t happen automatically, but rather with time. And Kung-Fu is an ongoing lifelong process, that all these benefits of mental health happen while you are in the training process.

In fact, sometimes, when you go a long time without Kung Fu training, you may start feeling a reduction in these mental health benefits.

So Kung-Fu training indeed can be like a drug. It’s one of the best “drugs” in the world, one of the healthiest drugs in the world that adds longevity and like a fine wine, it gets better with age.

Additionally Kung Fu training can open you up to new worlds, experiences, people, cultures, disciplines, and can even help open up creativity channels in your brain.

Kung Fu is in everything, which is why you can use Kung Fu to help with practically anything!

Forms, or prearranged sequences of movements have played a weird role in the world of martial arts, particularly in the world of Kung Fu (Chinese Martial Arts).

There used to be such an emphasis on it, that people made the mistake of thinking that being good at forms = being a skilled combatant. We’ve found through time that it’s just not true.

So the justification for learning and practicing forms was more on the lines of helping with precision of technique, building basic attributes of balance and coordination, and learning the proper structure of the art.

I agree with this, however, I’ve found a much more practical and functional application and place for forms:

MOTIVATION.

If you don’t have a class you go to regularly or a training partner, forms are your way of training without needing much of the outside world.

Yes, you can free form hitting a punching bag, but the motivation to carry on with that has a tendency to diminish, because quite honestly, for most people, the lack of intellectual and creative stimulation tends to result in a loss of motivation.

Forms actually have a goal, which is to complete it from start to finish. It is the one way that consistently gets people to practice more at home, to develop the mindset of self-practice than any other method. This is the discipline part of martial arts, or rather, the self-discipline part.

In Kung Fu, the forms tend to have an aesthetic flowing quality to it, that tends to enhance the spirit of its execution, because it tends to release endorphins, with a feeling of satisfaction.

In Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu, the traditional forms tend to be lengthy. In our curriculum we first learn the core essence of each of the 21 forms. The core essence is an extrapolated portion of the traditional form that captures the “feel” of the form that gives it its distinguishing “flavor”. After these are learned, the practitioner looks inward and finds which forms appeal to him/her, and then can request to learn that entire form.

On a personal note, whenever I am feeling a lack of motivation in my training, I line up all our weapons on a wall, and run through all 21 core forms. It is an exhilarating feeling that brings my energy and spirit back up to my regular training.

While forms may not be the preferred training method for some who are very combat based in their training, it is understandable to not want to devote time to it. Consider this: if you do it right, forms can have some contribution to your combat training by the above mentioned attributes developed. Forms can be the reason you practice every day, as opposed to only when you come to class. This way, your training has been built into your daily routine as much as brushing your teeth has!

Indeed, forms can be the one thing that keeps you doing martial arts for the rest of your life!

As a kid, I loved Bruce Lee’s movies, it’s what inspired me to do Kung Fu. And then, I started obsessing over him, reading all I could about him, his life, career, his philosophy, watching all the documentaries I could about him, etc.

He created a martial arts philosophy called Jeet Kune Do, which means, way of the intercepting fist.

Of course, I had his book on it, and would read it, and read Jeet Kune Do articles published in magazines by his top students and such.

But I never really truly studied it until recently. I’ve gotten over his movies, and I’ve gotten over his iconic image. Studying his insights means so much more, now, because I can be more critical of his work.

His insights into the combat arts are incredibly brilliant, simple, and effective.

A lot of people misunderstand his philosophy of Jeet Kune Do of mixing a bunch of different martial arts styles and choosing which techniques work the best. That may indeed be YOUR Jeet Kune Do, but that is not the concept that Bruce Lee was developing.

Bruce drew from western boxing, western fencing, and Wing Chun Kung Fu, mainly. The genius of his philosophy centered around the art of “entry” or the initial engagement in combat, and how to maximize your strategic options. At least, that’s my take on it.

When it comes to the science of combat, the follow through isn’t that difficult, once you are “inside” and have gained an advantage. But the “getting inside” part to gain that advantage is difficult, and difficult for people to really teach effectively. A lot of my teachers in the past have said, “You just need to spar, and eventually it will come.” I don’t dispute that, but some technical strategies might help.

Other teachers have tried breaking it down by saying, “You really just need to work on your distance and timing. Once you get that better, everything will fall into place. But that’s achieved through more sparring.”

I got a few strategies here and there, and a couple of “trademark” techniques/combos that I found high percentages in, but not many concepts.

When I started studying Bruce Lee’s work, I realized that it was all concepts and strategies. It wasn’t always dependent on a technique or a situation, they are strategies and theories that you apply.

Anyways, this is a long winded post to say that I’m seeing the genius of Bruce Lee in a new light, that I don’t think many people have bothered to study. Sure, some people know his philosophical quotes like, “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless…” or “Using no way as a way, using a way as no way”, etc.

But knowing his philosophical quotes is not the same as knowing the specific concepts he came up with to apply to combat. Now in the ubiquitous age of the internet and uploading and sharing videos, the information is all out there, at your finger tips.

I always consider myself a student first. I am always studying, researching, finding new ideas, new ways, or in this case, discovering ideas that have been around since the 1960′s, but very few people actually implementing them!

The best way to describe our curriculum is that we teach concepts. Sure, a foundation definitely helps to improve your understanding of these concepts. However, they can be taught, practiced, and drilled without much of one right away.

For example, if we are teaching the concept of intercepting an intended attack, we do it through a simple drill, with simple techniques. One person holds a pad, and that pad holder moves like s/he is about to kick or punch, and the other person simply strikes the pad the moment they see their pad holder’s intent to attack.

You can teach this concept to virtually any level of skill. Again, of course, the better the skill and attributes, the better the drill will be, but even a novice can grasp this concept and work with it.

In each of our classes we teach and drill particular concepts, most of which are not rank specific. We do have classes that have higher levels of intensity in the training process, but even advanced students don’t always attend those.

In short, each class is like a seminar. I personally find this method to produce higher levels of skill in a shorter amount of time, intellectually invigorating, and really fosters a high sense of community.

In the world of martial arts, there are essentially two types of practice:
1. Solo
2. With Partners

In solo practice, there is a lot of forms training involved, where you practice choreographed sequences of movements. This aids the development of coordination, memory of combination movements, precision in technique execution, and some basic strength, speed, balance, and agility attributes.

Practicing with partners usually involves applying the techniques in a drill fashion. Sometimes the drills are prearranged, and sometimes they are free-flow.

It is not uncommon to see martial arts schools, particularly Kung Fu schools, who do not emphasize the drills, much less the free-flow.

It is my opinion that they have not been shown how to teach these effectively and safely by their teachers, so they omit them all together.

This is a great disservice to the students. It is not a real transmission of the art, if the students do not have much of an idea on how to apply it.

It is like having an algebra class, and have the students just memorize the theorems and formulas, without applying them to problems. Just because you have memorized a² + b² = c² doesn’t mean you know how to apply the Pythagorean Theorem to a problem. You can’t truly understand that formula unless you practice applying it.

In order to transmit the martial arts to the next generation, it is important to make sure certain skill sets are hard-wired into the brain. For example, how to block an attack. How to counter an attack. How to get in the best position to maximize your power. How to get out of common grabs. How to use leverage, joint locks, and pressure points to overcome attacks. The list can go on.

If students are able to pass and be given certification and high ranks without these attributes, they are not being given the complete art, and if some of them end up teaching other people, then it may get watered down further.

To quote Bruce Lee, “Knowing is not enough. We must apply.”

This post may sound like a commercial, but it truly is what I believe.

In our school, when you train here for 6 months, you’re going to leave more knowledgeable than you were when you first got here.

Will you learn some cool routines? Yes. But, those are soon forgotten after time if you don’t practice them regularly. Will you learn some cool combinations of movements? Yes, but the same thing, you’ll forget them when you don’t practice them.

We teach you functional skills that stay with you forever. We teach you the science of how to generate your maximum body power in each punch and kick. We teach you how to break your falls correctly. We teach you the physics of how to escape from basic grabs reflexively. We teach you how to block and counter-attack. We teach you how to off balance your opponent effortlessly. We teach you how to lock the joints on the human body. We teach you how to disarm someone who has a weapon.

These are all functional attributes that we drill repeatedly to the point where you just stop thinking about how to do it, and your body just instinctively knows how to handle the situation.

This is a real education where after you do a 6 month program or longer with us, you will have these attributes, and will probably never forget them, because it is in your muscle memory. When your muscle memory takes over, you become less dependent on cognitive memory (and cognitive memory becomes less dependable with time).

We pride ourselves on giving our students this value. Even if you don’t remember the fine point details of everything, your muscle memory will retain the essential core skill, kind of like riding a bike or swimming.

Many martial arts systems have a testing procedure to get from one level to the next. This process is very important as it focuses the mind to prepare the body.

In many martial arts today, there is a Black Belt rank, which is universally seen as almost the equivalent of a degree. It symbolizes that you’ve been through multiple processes that pushed you, and you had the discipline to stay with it and follow through.

Some schools really make the effort to promote the mindset of what it takes to be a Black Belt, and tell the students to perform with “Black Belt” quality.

While Kung Fu didn’t have colored belts or sashes as a tracking and ranking system originally, the integration of it can be very valuable to both the teachers and the students for teaching and learning more efficiently.