Kung Fu | Dean Chin's Jow Ga Kung Fu Federation

This Ain’t Chinatown!

4 04 2025

Recently, I had done some soul searching after a few eye-opening conversations with my elder Kung Fu brothers. On three separate occasions, I was told that I tend to live in the past, as I’d been told many times over the years. Naturally, due to ego, I resisted and rejected those assessments. But with some reflection, I realize that yes, I do. I mean… look at this entire blog. LOL

At 55 years old, I’m not completely a dinosaur. Certainly not to my septuagenarian brothers. Yet in many ways, yes I am–I long for the days of old, many bouts with depression because I constantly compare myself to the man I was 20 years ago–even to guys half my age. While I have resisted becoming a Kung Fu Al Bundy (“scored two touchdowns in one game in high school!”)–someone else’s got that covered–I am most certainly guilty of looking at the state of Kung Fu today, then looking back at the state of Kung Fu 40 years ago, then shaking my head. I need to work on that…

There are indeed many lessons young people can learn from the past. At the same time, there are many lessons people from the past can learn from the present. Kung Fu, like all things good, must evolve and update itself. We must fight the urge to hold on bitterly to the things as they were back then, and allow natural progression to bring things to the modern day. The last article discussed Kung Fu for the future. For this one, I would like to discuss Kung Fu for the present. That is, what we can do so that our students can prosper today.

Consider loosening up some traditions. Not suggesting we eliminate the hand greeting or Sifu title! However, some traditions are indeed outdated and weren’t even that great when we did them “in Chinatown.” For example, is it really necessary that every gathering of Kung Fu guys be in a Chinese restaurant? After all, most of us are not located in Chinatown. There are plenty of restaurants whose proximity brought us new students. Wouldn’t it be fair, then, if we brought some of our students to eat in their establishments? I’m sure some of my students would actually enjoy some Soul Food or Indian cuisine. Who made the rule that Kung Fu cats must only eat Chinese food? Or imagine if you went to your favorite clothing store, and the manager stuck a mop in your hand and told you to clean the floor while still charging you full price for your gear? Or you were late to a dentist appointment and the DA had you sit in Horse stance or do pushups? Just saying. Let’s keep the traditions that actually make sense and have a purpose, than have them just because our Sifu did it to us.
Accept that not everyone gauges themselves by tournaments. I was a tournament fighter, but I was told 25+ years ago by a student that the thought of fighting in front of 300 spectators scared the hell out of him. I reassured him that I would not force him to compete. Guess what happened maybe a year or two later? He asked me if I thought he was too old to compete, and he entered–and won. One tournament, and he never did another. This student is today close to 80 years old and he still keeps in shape. Had I not received good counsel years earlier, I might have belittled his concerns and lost him as a student. In days past, our teachers were much more competitive than today’s teachers so many of us were compelled to compete in order to build our school’s reputation. Today, with social media there are other ways to do so. Competition is still good–they are great places to “try out” one’s skills and sharpen teeth–but not everyone wants to do so. There is room in every martial arts community for the various specialties and activities. Let students gravitate towards those that tickle their fancy. Some will want competition, some will enjoy demonstrations, others will enjoy lion dance, while yet others are satisfied attending class and learning new skills. Avoid imposing your desires onto the students.
Utilize lesson plans. If you’ve never used lesson plans, you’d be surprised how helpful they are. There are several types and each have their functions. Curricula and lesson plans are different things. Curriculum is the long term plan–what students will learn from one level to the next, and may be as long as a year or two per level. The lesson plan is what is taught day by day, month by month, or even 90 days at a time. Say for example, according to your curriculum, a student will be considered a beginner for the first two years. In those two years, he or she will learn three forms, and maybe 150 techniques. Your curriculum may divide all that information into three or four sublevels. Let’s call them “Beginner level I”, “Beginner level II”, and “Beginner level III”. You might designate each level to be taught in 9 month blocks, learning one form and 50 or so techniques. So for Beginner level I, you plan for what is taught in months 1, 2, 3, all the way to 9. This will help you keep the classes focused and goal-oriented/goal-specific. Using this tool, your classes are efficient and it ensures that students know what they need to know by the time month #9 rolls around and they are both knowledgeable and skilled, ready for their exam. Money and time well-spent. This is much better than yesteryear’s method of standing in front of the class asking yourself, “What did we work on last week?”
Be encouraging, helpful, and inspiring. We live in narcissistic times, and students are often used to teachers who are motivated by money or ego, or other reasons. Many of our students were raised in households with divorced or estranged parents, and they crave that parental connection. When we run our schools like a drill sergeant or dictator, we miss the opportunity to give our student that connection that martial arts teachers often can. Remember, we are here to do more than impart fighting knowledge. We are first in the business of helping the students become better versions of themselves. Whether adult or child, they may have insecurities they haven’t spoken on or a host of many other things we can help them with. Without prying into their lives, by simply being a higher version of ourselves as teachers, we automatically help them with that. Students rarely know what’s bothering them, let alone will they ever tell you. By being encouraging, always available, and inspiring to our students we automatically have that covered. Kung Fu is a difficult enough activity to learn. Helping them through the frustrations of learning a new skill, even if only being encouraging while they struggle to learn–we help build up their self-esteem. And don’t think this only applies to children; adults have them as well. There are students who are overweight, those who are self-conscious about looking ridiculous, maybe even dealing with low self-esteem from having been bullied or picked on as a child or teen (or even in their adult life!). Being encouraging and gracious will help those students grow in ways we may never know. It isn’t always about the fighting and forms. When they do well, acknowledge it. If they struggle, give them a little extra instruction. If they get frustrated, reassure them that they’ll get it if they keep trying. This improves them as a student, and the extra patience improves you as a teacher.
Value Student Retention. Always remember that a martial arts school is not just a family or lineage of martial arts–it is a business. And in order for that business to exist, it must retain its students. When students quit, it isn’t because “this generation doesn’t understand commitment”–as I’ve heard many martial arts students say–it’s because, for whatever reasons, that martial arts school couldn’t keep that student’s interest. There are too many schools that have held onto students for decades for the excuse that it’s the generation to blame to be credible. Some schools have simply done the right things to keep students interested while others have not. Perhaps at a later time, I will write an article to expand on this subject. For now, let’s just say that students quit for mainly either of three reasons–their goals are not being met, their budget does not allow them to train, or their life’s commitments have gotten in the way. The last two are mostly out of our control, although you can reduce tuition for a student if they simply cannot afford classes. The first reason, goals not being met, is not only the main reason students quit but the hardest one for teachers to accept. We must know what is important to the student, and use everything in our power to help them achieve those goals. Oftentimes, we can help the students achieve their goals but for whatever reason we aren’t accomplishing that. Perhaps the student is bored. Or they want fitness but we are pushing forms on them. Classes may be too difficult. Or too easy. There may be a ton of reasons but students don’t quit schools where they are happy, progressing, and prospering. It is important that each time you are about to lose a student, you know why and find a way to keep them interested. When you do lose them, make it a priority to find out why. Quite often it will be difficult to find out the real reason why; students are often embarrassed and don’t want to hurt your feelings. However, pry ever so gently, because you will need this information to grow as a teacher. This is a tough pill to swallow: Most of the time a student quits, it is our fault as teachers. Their job was to bring the interest and enthusiasm to match it. Our job is to fulfill that interest and keep it. It’s that simple.
Your school must be “all things for all people”. Many will argue against me on this one. They say you “can’t please everyone”, but a martial arts school should be one of those exceptions. Perhaps we cannot offer quite everything, but we certainly have to offer as much as we can deliver. And not in every class, too. As Sifus, we have multiple talents and skills–we can teach fighting, forms, fitness, weapons, lion dance, etc. We should be able to have separate classes where students who are particularly interested in one aspect or another can select the classes and programs that suits their needs. Kung Fu should not be one-size-fits-all. It is a very lazy method to tell students you need it all, so just come to class. That’s a good way to build up the enrollment of the school down the street, I’m sure that Sifu will enjoy your philosophy. Some of us do not have the schedule or floor space to accommodate everyone. But at least isolate some aspects, where most of your students can get what they need, even if they have to occasionally train in an aspect that they aren’t completely excited about. If possible, I would also recommend offering a less intense class for students who find it difficult to keep up–for example I had a class for older adults–as well as a killer class for the Kung Fu diehards who want to train like they’re in a Shaw Brothers movie. Assign time for free practice, as some students lack space at home to practice, as well as make yourself available for private lessons. There are students who need extra attention, and arranging for a private lesson is much better for continuity of the class than having the entire class pause while you help one or two students learn something that the rest of the class already knows.

Hopefully these suggestions can help you run a more effective program. If you have suggestions you’d like to share, please comment below! If you like what you see, we’d like to invite you to subscribe to our blog off the main page and please share our articles! If you are on social media please look for our like page and private group on Facebook and add us! Thank you for visiting our blog.

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Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

Building a Kung Fu School To Last

4 04 2025

One of the biggest puzzles we must solve in the west as Kung Fu men and women that is unique to the west is the answer to the question: What can I do to ensure the multigenerational life of this system? It would seem that all that is needed is to write books, create YouTube videos, teach students, and we would have our answer. The key term in this question is “multigenerational” life; meaning how can I *ensure* that this art lives through multiple generations of practitioners? I could produce martial arts media–write books, submit articles, record videos–which will certainly ensure that my art is remembered through history. However, none of that is a guarantee that the art is enjoying a vigorous, active, ever-growing in strength life many years after my students and I are dead and buried.

Yes, it is true that not everyone cares about this. Some of us simply want to make our mark on the community while we are here, and what happens when we are gone is up to our students. This article isn’t written for those folks. We are addressing those who want our arts and lineages to continue to prosper through multiple generations of students and teachers, for many generations. I am in no way an expert. However, I do have some suggestions you may find interesting and helpful. Let’s get right into it.

My philosophy is based on the idea that we must have strong schools. At least one, and that school’s operations should be able to carry on long after it’s owner has passed on. Please keep this in mind while reading this article, and also know that I am not diminishing other forms of promotion, like teaching in small groups or producing martial arts media.

Draft a logical curriculum that both imparts the most important skills in a reasonable amount of time, while is effective in producing the best skilled students. Too often in Kung Fu, the term curriculum is not much more than a list of forms. While this has worked for many years, I would argue that a techniques/skills/forms/goals curriculum would work better. Today’s beginning martial arts student has far more options to choose from than those of 30-40 years ago, and the schools producing the highest caliber students will most likely draw the most interest. Our curricula should be well-thought out and well-planned, even if we have to make major changes from the way the masters of the past taught. What our Sifu did was good for his time; we live in a modern world with modern needs. Regardless if we are looking to simply preserve an art, build fighters, teach philosophy, or train rebels–we must find an efficient, effective way to teach our arts that builds upon and improves upon the past.
Make producing tomorrow’s teachers a top priority. In the past, teachers were very patient in the way they taught classes. We turned our noses up at schools we considered a “Black Belt Factory”, and took our time in producing new Sifus. Problem is that too many of us taught for decades and produced only 2-3 Sifus–some may have promoted even fewer! Life has a way of passing us by quickly, and if we aren’t careful, running our schools with a “business as usual” mindset we may find that we have nothing to show for our time in business. Many schools are centered on the teacher’s personal goals for himself, like achieving rank or popularity. Many are profit-driven. Many are so competitive, as long as students are bringing back medals and trophies, the Master believes he is successful. But when you are on your deathbed, and you know you will never teach a class again… who will carry the torch for you? Don’t wait until you are old and retired to ask yourself that question. From the moment you begin teaching, developing tomorrow’s school owners and Sifus will ensure that your system is here to stay. Ask yourself, if you passed away today, will your school continue to thrive or will it shut down?
Cater to the goals of your students, not just your own goals. Martial arts have a way of bringing out the narcissism we all have within us. I repeat–the narcissism we all have within us. Don’t feel bad, we all have at least a small degree of narcissism. We have to, because as human beings our self-interest, self-esteem, and self-preservation are what keep us alive. But most of us have this trait under control and in check. However, once we are in a position of leadership, influence, power, and admiration, we could easily get sucked in and lose control of our selfish tendencies. When we open schools, we mostly do so as sole proprietors, basically absolute authorities, of our own little kingdoms. Nothing wrong with that… my school, my rules. It backfires when we run the school that we’d want to join and we don’t run the school that our students and potential students want to join. This leads to us only being able to recruit a tenth of the potential students out there. You see, there may be as many as ten reasons a student will choose a kung fu school. If our school philosophy appeals to only one of them, we attract only one type of martial arts student, or 1/10th of the student pool. Not everyone wants forms. Not everyone wants to fight. Not everyone wants to be in class with 9 year olds. Some students are mainly interested in fitness, some want self defense. Some want to wear cool Kung Fu uniforms, while others want to train in comfortable workout attire. Offer classes and teaching goals that all ten types of students are attracted to and you will recruit 100% of those who visit your school. And don’t just offer the classes, find ways to excel at teaching those classes so that their needs are met.
Understand that Kung Fu schools aren’t just fight gyms, they are also communities and community resources. One of the most famous martial arts schools in history, Jing Wu, was founded to use Kung Fu as a tool to produce stronger, more well-rounded citizens. It was a patriotic organization that offered academics, philosophy, fitness and health, and civics. When you look around each martial arts school near you, how many families does that school influence? Sure, you may teach combat and fighting, but do your students benefit in any other way? Certainly, martial arts schools take children off the streets, give them a safe environment to spend their afternoons around like-minded children, teaches discipline, and gives young people one more adult (or group of adults) who provide leadership, love, and direction besides their own families. There are many ways a martial arts school can benefit the community close to them. We can offer a homework club/afterschool program, offer local organizations a place to conduct their business, pull families together for events and community functions, teach workshops for any number of subjects–the sky is the limit. Or it can simply be an athletic center. Use your creativity and imagination. In what ways can our knowledge benefit members of the community? I know a teacher who offers the parents and grandparents of his students a free exercise class during the daytime when his students are in school. I recently met one who offers language classes. I myself offered a writing class and afterschool tutoring. These things may not directly promote martial arts, but for sure they will expose people to Kung Fu who may not otherwise ever consider studying it. Even if they don’t, they bring many benefits to your neighbors and the loved ones of your students.
Learn the art of teaching. Knowing Kung Fu does not guarantee that you are knowledgeable in how to teach the arts. Most of us learned from teachers whose main focus was punching, kicking, and wielding weapons. 50 years ago, that was all you needed, save for a building so students don’t get rained on. Today, martial arts is not a necessity and is done for leisure, so if the teaching is not enjoyable or effective, students may very well trade in their memberships to go and take Jazzercise or something lol. There aren’t many resources to learning how to teach, but they are out there. (NOTE: I am writing a book on teaching, which should be completed by sometime in 2026) Make use of them. Talk to more experienced teachers. Poll your students on their experience with you. Learn to accept suggestions and criticisms. Observe teachers around you, and make mental notes on what learning from them may be like. Criticize and study your own teaching methods. Doing this will help your students get more out of the knowledge you are imparting. I recall a teacher recently bragging on YouTube how most of his students never make it to instructorship because his training was so difficult and his standards were so high. One couldn’t help but to wonder if his students failed to excel because the teaching wasn’t very good. I would argue that a master-teacher is one who can develop the most awkward, most timid, and least coordinated students into a sharp martial artist. This is what real teaching skill is; finding a way to help students get the most out of the training, regardless of the challenges. Incorporate this, and then teach it to your students so that they will become even better teachers than you were.
Partner and collaborate with others in your lineage. This is perhaps one of the rarest things we see in Kung Fu. There was a saying I use to hear, that a Kung Fu school is like a den of Tigers. We build warriors, and it is natural that they will fight. The goal of the Sifu, then, is to be the ringmaster and get those tigers working together. You see, a pack of tigers will either fight each other to the death–or they will form the most powerful, unstoppable army and rule the jungle. A hand with its fingers outstretched can slap you and make it sting, but pulled tightly into a clenched fist, it can strike a mighty blow. Kung Fu lineages whose teachers work closely together can form an unconquerable kingdom. They have the benefit of many teachers sharing knowledge with their students. They can negotiate purchases with great leverage to get everyone low prices and excellent terms. They can support each other’s endeavors and ensure success for everyone. I knew of a collaborative in Northern VA of Tae Kwon Do teachers who advertised as one unit (US Tae Kwon Do College)–in ads it looked like a school with around 8 locations but in reality they were all independent schools. They purchased equipment in bulk from the manufacturers–not retailers, but the actual manufacturers. When one threw seminars or tournaments, they all patronized them. Their members could train in each other’s schools, which made membership to any of the schools an added value and reason to join. If one went out sick, he could trust another to guest teach or send an assistant. Imagine if you had that with your own classmates. Working together is probably the most powerful one thing you can do to promote a system.
Finally, have a long-term plan and list of goals for your Kung Fu system. It must be more specific than simply “promote new Sifus”… How many instructors do you want to produce? Have you identified future candidates? Will someone take over your school when you retire? Do you wish to have multiple branches in your city or adjacent cities? Which direction would you like your system to go into? It’s up to you, just define your goals and put all your effort into achieving them. Stay focused. Stay disciplined. Good luck.

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Categories : Jow Ga in America, Kung Fu Philosophy

On Becoming an Expert Student, part II

25 09 2024

This is a continuation of this article, which focused on learning accelerators. Today, we will discuss the barriers to learning. This philosophy is covered in my upcoming book on the process of teaching the martial arts. Stay tuned and subscribe if you’d like to receive updates!

When studying the martial arts, we must look out for pitfalls that prevent us from learning–or slow down our progress. Please take care not to feel attacked if any of this applies to you, and equally, do not be quick to deny that any of this applies to you as most of it applies to most of us. As you read this article, please ponder if perhaps you have encountered these barriers to learning.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect (DKE) – Is perhaps one of the biggest barriers to learning, especially if we have had experience in the martial arts and either wish to learn more or wish to access the higher levels of the art. DKE is a cognitive bias that leads to most people overestimating their competence and level of knowledge. According to Psychologists Drs. Justin Kruger and David Dunning, the less we know, the more we tend to overestimate ourselves when self-assessing. In line with the saying that one “knows just enough to hurt themselves”, we often assume that the limited knowledge we possess represents a much higher level of knowledge in the field. Additionally, our untested limited ability is assumed to be much more proficient than it really is. There are really only two solutions or cures to DKE: A painful failure which can crush one’s ego, or to simply learn more. In a graph illustrating how this bias affects us, it shows that we begin the learning process understanding that we know very little. As we learn more, we quickly develop the belief that we know a lot. If we quit learning at this point, we go through life stuck in the delusion. This is where we end up as those eternal yellow belters who pretend to everyone around them that they are nearly experts in the martial arts. However, if we continue learning, we soon discover how much we don’t know and become humbled. As we continue learning, our self-assessment is more accurate and increases as our knowledge increases. We must understand this one thing: DKE affects all of us. This is why it is important to be assessed, to develop a thick skin about the feedback concerning our skill, and to submit ourselves to the guidance of our teachers, mentors, and the opinions and knowledge shared by our peers. Keep learning, and learn as much as you can. This is the only way to combat the bias affecting a vast majority of the martial arts world.
Fear – This is another barrier that most of us would deny that we have. Perhaps I could have used another term–like anxiety, nervousness, apprehension–but they all result in the same emotion. We have egos that are more fragile than we’d like to admit having. None of us want to be embarrassed, nor do we want to be seen as failures, or the painful realization that we just aren’t as good as we think we are. This is the #1 think that kept most of us from competing. Sure, we say we aren’t in it for trophies, but neither are most of those of us who do compete. Competition is a test outside our walls, uncontrolled by the safety of our teachers, against “unfriendlies”–opponents who are not our classmates and who could care less about hurting our feelings. What we fear about competition isn’t getting hurt–it is the fear of losing. This is the same emotion that keeps wall flowers from getting on the dance floor, what keeps bashful men from asking the pretty girl on a date, what keeps starving salesmen from making “cold” sales calls. We are afraid of rejection, afraid of failure, afraid of the idea that we simply aren’t as good as we imagine that we are. By first acknowledging this emotion, we can then conquer it and move past it. Once you become courageous–which isn’t exactly fearlessness, but the strength to face our fears–we can then elevate to the higher levels of knowledge and experience.
Cognitive Biases – This is a psychological phenomenon where we process information erroneously in order to adhere to a belief that is more comfortable and pleasing to whatever we would like to believe. There are many forms of bias and many motivations for it. In simple terms, we hold a belief about a subject then either ignore information that may contradict or challenge that belief, we gravitate towards information that confirm that belief, and/or we interpret information that confirms our beliefs while simultaneously refute what we don’t belief. The biggest thing about cognitive biases is that we do not consider truth in any of it. What we think, what we like, must always be the result of what we learn. So if a my belief is that a particular style or technique is superior, I will ignore or misinterpret anything that may be better–and I will only seek out sources that confirm that idea. This is why some Chinese martial artists will refuse to read anything written by Karate practitioners, and why some Filipino martial artists will avoid studying with a Caucasian FMA teacher. This is why some practitioners will only go to seminars and gatherings where familiar practitioners go while avoiding tournaments or gatherings where he may be surrounded by practitioners of other arts. The solution to this is to understand that perhaps your best learning experiences will come from being challenged and tested, even if you are being doubted. It is the most realistic test one can encounter, and it tells you if you truly believe in your school of thought. Learn from sources that confirm your belief as well as those that counter your beliefs. Interact with the like-minded as well as those who think differently. Allow yourself to be questioned, doubted, tested, and challenged. Avoid seeking comfort.
Lack of Discipline – We tend to think of ourselves as being disciplined and focus, but if you reflect closely you might realize that you aren’t as disciplined and focused as you think. We can all learn to become more disciplined. Doing so will ensure that you will make a lot of progress and do it faster and further than you realize. There are many forms of discipline and all of us can benefit by getting more of it. It may be our consistency, our attention span, even our level of intensity. Some of us may experience lazy days or become easily distracted. We cheat on diets, or skip items on our training regimen. We may not work as hard as we’d like to if we had a bad day at work. Whatever it may be, a good, honest self-assessment never hurts. Once you identify the areas you lack discipline, make sure you hold yourself accountable.
Peer Pressure – We might think of this as a teenager’s affliction, but all of us may be subject to peer pressure, also called groupthink. It goes something like this. We all belong to a group of some sort: political ideology, religions, martial arts styles, forms practitioners or forms haters, sparring heads or streetfighters, we belong to specific lineages of the arts, or we follow the lead of a particular master or grandmaster. The possibilities are endless. Once we look around in whatever group we are in, even if only online, you might notice certain slogans and phrases everyone uses. There are those who are “in”, meaning they are part of the group to which we belong–or those “others”…. you know, the assholes who have an unrealistic view of the martial arts who have no idea what real martial arts are. Traditional versus modern, purists versus cross trainers, the list goes on. Surely, at some point in your training, you will come to a crossroads where you will think differently than the group. Perhaps you like to do forms. Or you dislike certain types of forms. Maybe you see the value in an art or training method that the group likes to ridicule. Or that teacher everyone calls a fraud–he looks like he knows what he is doing and you’d like to pick his brain or learn his art. Going against the group is very difficult, and very few of us can bring ourselves to disagree with classmates, friends, or lineage brothers and sisters. If you are to have full access to the knowledge available to you, you must be capable of being impervious to the ideas of the group and not giving in to peer pressure. Here is a painful thought: You might even one day disagree with your own teacher and come up with your own ideas. Are you strong enough to do so? Or will your growth and access be affected and limited by the beliefs of the pack?
No Bullseye – What are your goals in the art? As a beginner, you need not have a specific goal; learning is a lofty enough goal. Once you progress through the ranks–especially once you become a teacher or expert of the art–it is vital that you have a specific goal or set of goals defined. There are many directions to go in the art, and they consist of many levels that are much more difficult to achieve than the Black Belt itself. Whether or not you achieve any of them depends on whether it is a stated goal or just a general direction. If you recall in the last installment, we discussed deliberate practice, which is a goal-specific purpose in training. When you were a student, you simply wanted to learn and achieve proficiency. As an expert, you may want to achieve something much more specialized, such as full-contact fighting, mastery of the art, or creativity in creating a new art/improved art/a second art. Having an internal compass guiding your journey will ensure that you at least get close to achieving those goals. Not having them is almost a guarantee that you will flounder for years and achieve very little.

My book is scheduled to be released in late 2025, and is entitled The Master-Teacher Handbook. It is a treatise on how to teach the martial arts. It is my hope that everyone who reads it will become a much more effective teacher in the long run. If you’d like to learn more and receive updates, please subscribe to this blog and check in with us regularly. We have hundreds of articles on this blog, bookmark this page and see what we have in the archives. If you like anything on this blog, please share and invite others! Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

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Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

On Becoming an Expert Student…

25 09 2024

“The first step to becoming a good teacher of the art is to first become a good student of the art…”

My upcoming book is on the art of teaching the martial arts, and I have a chapter dedicated to the art of learning the martial arts. This is something we often overlook because too much attention is spent looking forward. From the time most of us enter a school, there is talk about rank promotions and of course–the ultimate promotion: Achieving the Black Belt or its equivalent, certified teachers of the art. There is no fault in pursing rank, we all do it. However, focus must be on learning and excelling at the art first. If we place our priority on achieving rank, we risk skipping skill altogether as an endeavor and place all our emphasis on certificates and acquiring new knowledge.

By the way, a note: Acquiring new knowledge is not the same as achieving skill, nor does it mean one has excelled at those skills.

See, in growing organizations, we teachers of the art can often be in a rush to promote the next wave of teachers. This is the good fight. But in doing so, we may also promote new generations prematurely, and it becomes a quantity over quality dilemma… We may have plenty of chapters and grand-students under many certified teachers, but their skill is mediocre at best and they do not represent the best we can produce. This has been my criticism of the Traditional Chinese martial arts community for decades–that we have a lot of people doing a lot of TCMA styles, but so few are doing them well. Generations of certified instructors turn over with the change of the seasons, which can be good for business while not being good for much else in the way of martial culture.

As you read this entry, I want you to consider your own goals and practices in how you learn as well as how you teach. Hopefully the result will not offend but inform, will not feel accusatory but inspire, and will give you more ammunition to achieving your goals in the martial arts in the best way possible. Grab a cup of coffee and possibly a pad and pencil, as this article will run long. Look out for part II.

In the study of any new skill, we will all be faced with learning accelerators and learning barriers. The quality of your learning experience will be based on how much you grasp from the learning accelerators and how much you avoid the barriers.

Learning Accelerators

Learning accelerators refer to practices that help the student gain the most out of their learning, whether learning in a class or learning through media.

Intellectual humility – A key element to learning, this is what is meant by the “empty your cup” expression. When learning, we must have both the belief that there is much to learn as well as understanding that we don’t know much about the subject we are studying. If we lack this humility, we bring with us many things that will block us from learning–prejudgments, biases, even having low regard for knowledge that can be beneficial. In the martial arts we often proclaim ourselves humble, while arrogantly declaring that we are learning said martial arts with a stated desire to only learn this part or that part. With the “Absorb what is useful” attitude, we determine that we can decide with little to no knowledge of this art we are learning, what is useful and what is not useful. When we are intellectually humble, we shed ourselves of this notion and learn as a novice–even though we may have plenty of prior experience in the art. Several times in my life, I have undertaken new styles after achieving instructorship in other arts, and found very valuable gems of knowledge in their basics. Surely, I would have missed this information if I was too arrogant to even pay attention to the basics. Understand there is wisdom in every art, every school, and under every teacher–and if we are patient and open to learning, we will be taught that wisdom. We must also understand that we do not possess all knowledge, nor do we have knowledge of all arts. If you truly understand these two things, then you are ready for learning. If you do not, you will most likely close your eyes, ears, and mind to the information when it is presented to you. You might also alienate those who have the information and might otherwise be willing to teach it to you. True to the saying, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear–having this attitude demonstrates that you are ready.
Patience – It would seem that we shouldn’t need to mention this accelerator, but you would be surprised. We often imagine that one could acquire great skill after a few lessons or a short period of time. Take for example, the movie Karate Kid (or any other victim learns martial arts then beats the bully movie), where a young Daniel San spends a short amount of time with Miyagi Sensei, and then is able to defeat longtime practitioners of the art. The more you learn the art, the faster you may expect to learn new arts (or new skills). There is a name for this bias–and I don’t remember the name–and patience is the remedy for it. Just as you didn’t learn any other skill the first time you took a lesson, don’t expect it to happen in the martial arts. Understand that some skills may come easy, others will take some time. Give yourself this freedom; give yourself time to learn, understand, practice, and become proficient. Lacking patience in learning is like being impatient in gardening; one wouldn’t plant a seed and then expect fruiting the next day. Good things take time.
Deliberate practice – There is a saying that practice makes perfect. I disagree. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. As with the last accelerator, give yourself time to rehearse and learn new skills, and then don’t neglect the need for deliberate practice: Mindful, goal-oriented, and detailed practice. This requires that every skill you practice is broken down into the most minute of details and each piece is developed deliberately with each practice. This is quite different than regular practice, where one is pursuing overall skill through higher repetitions. Rather, deliberate practice demands that each practice session has a specific goal in mind–perhaps training for speed, balance, minute pieces of the technique, endurance, etc. Not everyone has the patience nor the wisdom to practice this way, and it is considered a higher level activity. Add it to your repertoire, and you will see your development increase with leaps and bounds.
Distraction-Free Environment – While practice should be performed in a distraction-free environment, learning often is not. We learn in classes where there is small talk, music, spectators, classmates, even environmental distractions like outside traffic and noises. If this is the case, we must develop our own versions of blinders and ear plugs–mentally block those things out, position yourself in the classroom closer to the teacher, become “that guy” who doesn’t engage in small talk, etc. If learning at home, I would recommend that you scheduled your time in study and practice. Have a designated place for your practice. Let your family know that you are not to be interrupted between the hours of your learning time. Shut off the phone, opt out of music, don’t even record yourself unless you are doing so for a specific reason. Doing this may be ritualistic, but it tells your brain to put 100% of its energy on one thing. It allows you to take note of every aspect of your practice, every word of the instruction, to notice details you may otherwise have overlooked and missed. Even if it improves your learning by 5%, that is 5% better than you would have learned otherwise.
Rinse Your Cottage Cheese – This is a term coined by author Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, to describe a philosophy of fierce discipline and a commitment to even the smallest of details. In his studies of greatness, Collins recalled an interview with an Iron Man athlete who, in spite of burning 5,000 calories a day, still rinsed his cottage cheese before eating it. Rinsing cottage cheese rids it of a very small amount of fat, and most people would likely see it as a waste of time to save such a small benefit. However, if one is so committed that he would rinse his cottage cheese–his level of commitment is several levels above what others have, and this gives him an edge. In your own martial arts education, what small details do you look over? Perhaps you may find many areas that are even of a tiny benefit to your education, but it is a benefit nonetheless. We may be looking at consistency in training, amount of practice time, areas we focus on in our practice, small mistakes and shortcomings we live with rather than eliminate (see Kaizen, next item), adding resistance or more repetition, the possibilities are endless.
Kaizen – A Japanese term for “improvement”, normally a business term but can be applied anywhere. Kaizen is a commitment to improving every day, regardless of how small. An example of Kaizen can be shrinking parking spaces in a parking lot by several inches (and designating spaces for large vehicles elsewhere) in order to fit 30 more parking spaces for more vehicles. In the martial arts, we have shortcomings that we often live with. Think of each time you heard a longtime practitioner talk of not being a good kicker, or wishing to gain some muscle for more power, or how kata isn’t his strong point. Imagine if these martial artists endeavored every day to eliminate those shortcomings and weaknesses; how good would he or she be a year from now if they worked on those things 365 days even if only 5 minutes a day! 5 minutes may not sound like much, but in a year that is 1,825 minutes spent on that one thing–or 30 hours of practice. A small amount goes a long way if you understand commitment and consistency.
Develop Thick Skin – One of the things the martial arts is supposed to do is make us tough. We might develop strong bodies, but if our feelings are easily hurt, can we really call ourselves “tough”? Part of the learning process involves receiving feedback–negative feedback–that may come in the form of criticism, corrections, or the knowledge that we are not as good as we think we are. It is important, then, that we are receptive to information both negative and positive that will help us in our journey to learning. Sometimes, we can handle constructive criticism from our teachers, but not classmates or onlookers. We may also receive this feedback from judges in a competition in the form of a loss or kind suggestions on how to improve our performance. For those of us who are on social media, we may receive criticism from commenters. Notice that I called them “commenters” and not “haters”, as they are often called. If we are easily offended, we may miss some valuable insight that would help us improve, even if they come from a “hater” on YouTube. The key here is to accept assistance from whatever source it comes from, even if it is from a source that we dislike.
Get Mentorship – It is said that the only shortcut in the pursuit of mastery was to have a mentor. A mentor have traveled the road we are traveling, made the mistakes that we will make (or are making), and they can guide us to help us avoid pitfalls and barriers as we learn. Mentors do not necessarily need to be teachers, nor do they need to be someone who studies the same system we do. They can be classmates, older peers in other schools and systems, anyone who has knowledge that we do not, can help us in our journey. They can be with us for a part of our journey, or they can be one of several people helping us with our journey. Refer back to the last entry to get the most out of this accelerator. We need not submit ourselves to everything they offer, but beware if you reject any of it because you might be making a mistake. As with our teachers, we must also exercise intellectual humility with our mentors as well.
Make Use of Private Instruction – Group learning is good, but we should also make use of one on one, private instruction. This will give you focused, detailed learning you most likely wouldn’t receive in a group. All of the teacher’s focus will be on you and your needs, and gives you a good opportunity to ask questions at will as well as tailor the learning towards your goals. Even if you have to pay extra, this is highly recommended and will put you several steps ahead of where you might land if you hadn’t.
Get a Training Partner – For a training partner it is recommended that you find someone who has had the same training you have, whether they have had more or less learning than you have. If you are engaged in distance or at-home learning, a training partner is vital to this process. Training partners give you real, hands-on practice as well as a second set of eyes/ears/hands/feet/brain on your education. This is a second set of notes, a second perspective on the material learned, a second opinion, instant feedback, and at least one additional set of skills to hone your learning on. Having a training partner also has an additional benefit: You now have someone holding you accountable for what you do outside the classroom. Left to your own devices, it will be too easy to skip practices or tone down the intensity of your practice. With a training partner, you will find it easier to stay motivated and to keep the intensity high. You also have someone to keep you sharp and someone to compete with. However, you cannot have just anyone for a training partner–iron sharpens iron but stone sharpens iron just as well. The key is to have someone just as committed, just as intense, and just as motivated to self-improve and excel.
Journal – This is a must-have: Document your journey! Record your output in practices, keep notes on things you have learned, ideas to pursue, goals you have set for yourself, everything. Journals are important (again) to hold you accountable, remind you of how far you have come, to serve as a map to guide you for the future, and a motivator. As a teacher, this will be an invaluable resource as it will be your reference for when you put your students through the program to duplicate what your training has done for you. In the area of training plans and class curriculums, you will have concrete evidence of what it took to give you the skill level you have achieved–and whether or not any changes should be made. One day, when you are old and a revered master, your journals might be a treasured heirloom for your students and grandstudents.

Stay tuned for part II, where we will discuss the barriers to learning. Thank you for visiting my blog.

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Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

On Kung Fu’s “Bastard Children”

29 04 2024

AKA, The Bastard Sons of Kung Fu, blah blah blah…

Times sure have changed.

Back in my day, a guy enrolled in one school and he stuck with that school till he either quit–therefore quitting from all martial arts study altogether–or he got hurt and couldn’t continue, or he achieved instructor/black belt/black sash status. In the two former events, he’d be obligated to forever call himself a student of that school, continue training on his own or just talking about it, pretend to his friends and family that he was some type of expert, and constantly promise his Sifu that he’d one day return to training, although he knows damn well he wouldn’t. If he achieved advanced ranking or instructorship, he was free to go train wherever he’d like for a second and third credential in another art. That is, unless his Sifu didn’t approve–in which case he must ask for permission to go train elsewhere. You see, back in the day, we practiced Wu De, we had manners and respect for our teachers, and knew something about loyalty. We were so lucky our teachers accepted us as students, we were indebted to them for life and owed them allegiance, honor, and edification. Those who broke from traditions were “kicked out” of their respective schools and systems, were “Sifuless”, Chinese martial arts ronin, unguidable, disgraced. Basically, they were Bastard Sons of Kung Fu. A damned shame.

Today, students know nothing of this level of pride, loyalty, and self esteem. They hop from school to school, teacher to teacher, system from system. Damn them if they dared study Kung Fu and some godless, non-Chinese martial arts. I once knew a guy who studied Jow Ga, boxed, fenced, did Judo, AND Filipino martial arts. Completely disgusting. God forbid, if this guy opened a school to have some students address him as Sifu, Guro, and by his nickname, “Moe”. So is this a dojo? A kwoon? A bothoan? Dude make up your mind! These days, students weave in and out of schools, studying a little of this and a little of that. Even if they do acquire instructorship, will they be Sifus or Senseis? Who do they think they are, Bruce Lee? Holy hell, some of these guys even learn by reading books, buying DVD courses, or *gasp* online classes! How dare these guys try and learn without pledging their loyalty, those bastards! They are robbing authentic Sifus (with authentic Chinese lineages) the honor of kicking them out the school and banning them from learning the art!

I hope you are at least bilingual and speak some sarcasm, I’m pretty fluent at it myself.

This is dedicated to the students who take a non-traditional route to learning the martial arts. Some do not live in areas where weekly study in a school is possible; they may not have Kung Fu systems, or the system they want to learn, near them. Some may work a schedule that is not conducive to full-time, in-person study. Some lack the finances or lifestyle that will afford them such a luxury. I have had students who traveled from other parts of the state, out of state, even out of the country, to learn from me. I have also had students who were enrolled in other schools but wanted to learn from me–but were bound by loyalty, guilt, contracts, or enough income to train in two schools. Some have inquired for years and finally traveled to learn for just a weekend, one for several weeks. I have more than ten students I teach online because of logistics. All were also students of other teachers. Some of them are “Bastard Sons”–Sifuless because of estranged relationships or autodidactism.

Ahem.

Autodidactism: The practice of study without the guidance of a teacher or formal education

The above is a rather simplistic definition for a very old, very common, very effective, and very valid form of education. Somehow in the modern day, we have come to believe that martial arts students must join schools and stay for years under one teacher, not change what he has learned lest he bastardizes the art, and remain under that tutelage until released from that teacher’s mentorship. Allow me to offer another view to this belief… Most of the masters that we admire did not learn this way. They learned from whatever sources were available: Uncles, village masters, traveling practitioners passing through, sparring partners, chance meetings with other practitioners and trading knowledge, books and manuals, even watching practitioners train and copying what they saw. Many of these were fleeting periods of time; the founders of many systems had very short educations. They learned for a few years or even months, then practiced for years, and eventually forged their own methods based on the hands-on experience they gained. I once met a man teaching Arnis who told me that his total Arnis education totaled about 60 days worth of classes. He had learned more in solitary practice and from sparring opponents than he had actually learned formally from teachers. I won’t mention his name because of his reputation, but he taught me his system in about 12 months. I can assure you that his art is more solid than most systems I’ve encountered. If you look into the history of many of the arts we admire today, the founders received minimal instruction compared to the way we learn today. Some of them credit one or several teachers. Many learned from so many sources they cannot give a lineal ancestry for their arts. I’ve met a few men, and I am one, who cannot remember the names of everyone they learned from. Many decades and generations before us, before those artificial virtues and moral codes we throw around existed–martial artists learned from whatever sources they could gain access to, and they did so much with it that a century later we are still in awe of them and their creations. Today’s Bastard Children of Kung Fu may be in step with our own Kung Fu ancestors.

Times have changed, we must accept that. I recall being criticized and ridiculed by my own Kung Fu brothers because another Kung Fu brother and I dared to teach a Sifu of another system our first form through videos and YouTube videos. The crazy thing is that he was so talented and athletic (not to mention his already-deep knowledge of Kung Fu), that within 6 months he could perform that form better than most of those who have been practicing our art for years! Today, after the lockdowns, nearly everyone is teaching online, including those who heckled us from the sidelines and those close to them.

20+ years ago I remember hearing martial artists ridicule those who authored books on their systems, saying that “you can’t learn from a book”. Yet we all have our own libraries of various arts and years ago we had subscriptions to magazines. Were we learning from them or not? Just reading for the hell of it? Were the books you read in high school and college helpful or were they for entertainment as well? Face it, each generation of whatever field we are looking at will criticize those who use the new technology as technology evolves. A decade ago we ridiculed online learning, today we utilize it. Even those of us who went through traditional training years ago, will supplement our knowledge with video, books, seminars. and online sources today. It’s just a matter of keeping up with the times.

I’d like to switch gears and address the ugly side of this “Bastard Son” thing: Estranged relationships in the martial arts. We are all human, and we are all adults. Even Sifus and masters of the art. We are all susceptible to personalities and their flaws. Jealousy. Insecurity. Conflicts of interest. Conflicts of personality. Power plays. Boredom. Differences of philosophy or virtues. Often, we will find ourselves in disagreement with classmates, students, teachers, school and system leaders. If this occurs, what should you do with your already acquired knowledge of the arts–or your love for the arts–discard them? In the 1990s I received a letter from the Philippines, involving two acquaintances–one the master, the other his student. In the 2000s on two occasions, I received emails (both from friends in fact) with the same situation: The master severing ties with the student over personal and/or business matters. I can’t remember how many times, I was notified of a student severing ties with his teacher. Most of the time, the breakup was somewhat civil but on a few occasions they were ugly and nasty. In each case, the students simply moved on and started their own lineages, sometimes after learning from and/or accepting rank from another teacher. These are what I would call the Prodigal Sons of Kung Fu–not necessarily because of anything to do with money, but because it’s similarity to the plot of Yuen Biao’s character in the movie “The Prodigal Son”: The son leaves from his father’s household to study and pursue real Kung Fu. Often, because the Sifu is only human, it is nearly impossible to obtain the best of martial arts study. So these Bastards must leave father’s house in order to learn what is out there waiting for him. In cases where the Bastard Son (or Daughter) achieves greatness, the bastard will be celebrated and welcomed back into the loving arms of the Sifu and school they left… even though armed with an art completely different than what was taught by the Sifu.

Bruce Lee has just entered the chat. But I digress.

And finally, we arrive to my favorite Bastard Sons. These are the students who actually have no clear Sifu. They learn from whomever will teach them. They pick up books, watch videos, practice with the students of other Sifus. Many who are formal students of recognized masters may look condescendingly upon these bastards. Many will laugh and ridicule. Look at that idiot, learning from a green belter in someone’s garage or back yard. Training himself and posting videos. He can’t even claim a single art that he’s really learning. Or worse–he’s learning from a DVD! But be careful. While you laugh, many of these bastards train a lot more than you do. Yes, you attend classes three hours a week. But my bastard friend is training 12 hours every weekend and putting in hundreds of repetitions. Many an establish master has been put on his ass by a nameless, wandering, unconnected, unallied practitioner. Don’t get me wrong, I believe strongly in attending classes and paying your dues on the floor with sweat blood and tears. Just don’t think that that is the only way to learn. Many of these bastards would make great students if they had the finances to afford monthly tuition or if they lived in a city where Kung Fu is being taught. They travel to learn from whoever is willing to share with them. And they practice just as much, if not more than, you. The way I see it, you are paying your dues to the art in one way, they pay their dues in another. Perhaps one method is better than the other. But in my opinion they are both valid. Remember that.

To close I’d like to share a story. A young man is learning Kung Fu from his uncle. His uncle is old, and he is sick. He studies for a few years, some say it was only a few months. The uncle dies. He and his brothers seek another, local master of a different system. They study with that teacher for also a short period of time–either months or a couple of years. While still a teenager, he travels to another country looking for work. While abroad, he gets into fights, and eventually learns yet another style from a master there. Not knowing how long he was in this country before his education began, we do know this: He was in this country just three short years. He returns home and he and his brothers train together, combining the limited knowledge from all three systems–when a job is announced. A call has been put out for a combat trainer for the military, but he must compete against other candidates for the post. He enters a 100 man contest, beating all his opponents and being awarded the job. By age 29, he is dead and his teachings live on. Today, 100 years later, the art created by this young man is practiced all over the world by countless thousands of practitioners on every continent except Antarctica. Don’t discount those who didn’t study the way you think your students should have studied.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

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Tags: autodidactism, autodidacts, Bai He Chuan, blog, Chin Yuk Din, Chow Ga, Chow Gar, Choy Lay Fut, Choy Lee Fut, Choy Li Fut, Eagle Claw Kung Fu, Gong Fu, Gung Fu, Hoy Lee, Hung Ga, Hung Gar, Hung Tao Choy Mei, Jow Ga, Jow Ga Kung Fu, Kung, Kung Fu, Kung Fu lineages, Kung Fu styles, martial-arts, online martial arts, Praying Mantis Kung Fu, Shaolin Kung Fu, Sifu, Tong Long, training, training, Wu Shu, Ying Jow Pai, Zhou Jia
Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

Instructor Sharif Talib: Aka “The Bastard Son of Jow Ga”

4 06 2016

Today’s article is penned by DC Jow Ga Federation Instructor Sharif Talib. With today’s article he introduces himself and his background. Unlike many of today’s Jow Ga practitioners, he has had the privilege of studying under several Jow Ga Sifu. This was one of the characteristics of the Dean Chin era: Sifu allowed each instructor to have his own expression and identity within Jow Ga. Students of the time were able to study and learn from various Jow Ga Sifu. As several cameras take pictures of the same object from slightly different angles, the combined result of those multiple images give a full, multi-dimensional view. Jow Ga studied under various Sifu and various specialties give one a very 3D understanding of the system. Enjoy!

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bastard

1: an illegitimate child

2: something that is spurious, irregular, inferior, or of questionable origin

3a : an offensive or disagreeable person —used as a generalized term of abuse

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My life in Jow Ga started with Raymond Wong at Wong’s Chinese Boxing in summer of 1986 where Sifus Raymond Wong and Craig Lee were my main teachers. Sifu Craig Lee taught me my first Jow Ga form, our most famous, Sui Fok Fu. Sifu Craig Lee made that process take 12 months, traditional training. Sifu Craig Lee taught me the fighting stance and fighting application of the wheel punches that I still use to this day. Because I started my college education the same year that I came to Wong’s Chinese Boxing, I was not able to meet the financial obligation. A kind Sifu Wong agreed to allow me to continue learning if I started assisting, then teaching, the beginner classes. At Wong’s I also met my seniors that greatly influenced me; Maurice Gatdula, Chris Henderson, Ronald Wheeler, Howard Davis, Howard Bryant and Derek Johnson. Derek Johnson would eventually CRUSH me in two sparring sessions and then begin instructing me in his basement with a select group of students.

Of that group of “Basement students” that would start with Derek Johnson, I would be the only one to remain for the duration. Under Derek Johnson I learned to decipher techniques from forms for myself, develop fighting drills, shadow box with kung fu techniques, handle hard core sparring and Lion Dance. Before Derek Johnson was given his official Sifu title by Sifu Deric Mims, I followed him to Sifu Deric Mims’ school in Langley Park and assisted in teaching there while still being instructed by Derek Johnson. Here, Sifu Deric Mims acknowledged me as a senior student and I began to attend the Sifu/Senior student meetings that were held at a Silver Springs Chinese Restaurant. While at Sifu Mims’ school I was reintroduced to other Dean Chin students that I had originally met a Wong’s Chinese Boxing; including Ricardo Ho, Jose Diaz, Duke Amayo and Howard Davis.

Once Derek Johnson received his Sifu title from Sifu Derek Mims, I assist in the start of Sifu Derek Johnson’s Jow Ga Kung Fu Athletic Association located in Columbia Md. As the Dai SiHing (Most Senior Brother), I was in charge of conducting classes and Lion Dance performances in Sifu Derek’s absence. I joined Sifu Derek Johnson on a trip to Germany to help teach members of the Poland branch of the Jow Ga Kung Fu Athletic Association and perform in a event celebrating Jow Ga in Germany where I received a standing ovation from the crowd. My Lion Dance skills continued to grow under Sifu Derek Johnson due to regular performances and taking over the Lion Dance classes for the school. After a form performance of mine during a ceremony at the Jow Ga Kung Fu Athletic Association, Sifu Terrance Robinson commented that I should learn how to control my energy more. A Dean Chin and Raymond Wong student that would frequently train at Wong’s Chinese Boxing, Sifu Terrance Robinson felt that even though I had good technique and could apply my skills in sparring competitions, I expelled too much energy unnecessarily. Sifu Terrance Robinson, a serious fighting instructor, had already observed me in continuous sparring competitions and suggested that I go full contact.

My path in Jow Ga then brought me to Sifu Terrance Robinson’s school in Silver Springs Md. Sifu Robinson, like may Sifu, took his martial skills learned before joining Jow Ga and developed his own inclusive system. For his own reasons he decided to call it Jow Hop Kuen (Jow Combining Fist). Under Sifu Terrance Robinson, I began to learn Chi Gung exercise that helped me to control my energy. I also began my Iron Body training and his method of full contact fight training. While at Sifu Terrance Robinson’s school, I reconnected with my seniors Maurice Gatdula, Tehran Brighthapt and Uncle Matthew Bumphus. After Sifu Terrance Robinson relocated to Thailand, Maurice Gatdula began guiding my Jow Ga instructions from California.

Due to the fact that I had already learned many of the Jow Ga forms, techniques and concepts; it was easy for Maurice Gatdula to deepen and broaden my understanding of Jow Ga as Sifu Dean Chin interpreted it. Maurice Gatdula was one of the last students personally instructed by Sifu Dean Chin before his death.

Finally, upon the return of Sifu Craig Lee to the area, I was accepted as his student.

Now my instruction comes from these two; Sifu’s Craig Lee and Maurice Gatdula.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

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Tags: Chin Yuk Din, Chow Ga, Chow Gar, Dean Chin, Dean Chin Students, deric mims, Gong Fu, Gung Fu, Hung Tao Choy Mei, Jow Ga, Jow Ga forms, Jow Ga Kung Fu, Jow Gar, Kung Fu, Kung Fu Stance Training, kup choi, kup choy, look choi, look choy, luk choy, Ma Bo, pao choy, pow choy, Sei Ping Ma, Sifu Deric Mims, wheel punch, Wu Shu, Zhou Jia
Categories : Jow Ga in America

What’s Next for the Chinese Martial Arts in the West?

6 05 2016

So while we are on the subject of conflict…

There is a saying that “bad press is better than no press”. Lot’s of truth to that. People think everything in life must be 100% positive, 100% of the time–and I disagree. There is a balance that must be managed to everything, and those who ignore the part they don’t like will find difficulty when they are forced to encounter them. Best that you acknowledge and learn the negative, than have it smack you in the face and not know how to handle it. The Chinese martial arts is a good example of this, and I have a theory. You may not agree, and that’s okay. Think about it; if every martial artist never had a feud, never had differences, never fought each other, agreed on EVERYTHING–TCMA (traditional Chinese martial arts) would be so boring. So, Sijo #1 says I found a great way to do Kung Fu. Sijo #2 says no, I have a better way. #1 and #2 can’t agree, so they spar to see who was right, and voila! Regardless of who wins, both have tested their art, both modified their methods based on the results of the match. Perhaps there were several matches over time, several over generations… wouldn’t both systems get stronger from all of that tempering and testing and modifying? Besides, in order to have a “better way”–wouldn’t that require them to disagree with their teachers?

And right there ^^ in one short paragraph, the DC Jow Ga Federation has summed up the entire history of Kung Fu over all these centuries and millenia. A Kung Fu man learns Kung Fu. He thinks he can improve it. He encounters someone who thinks not–they test their theories–and new arts and systems are born and fused and molded and hardened. So here’s another saying: A little conflict is good. And so it is!

Thanks to Bruce Lee, the Chinese martial arts had its “bad press”. He criticized how our masters and grandmasters were doing Kung Fu. People disagreed, feelings were hurt, there were even a few fights. In the long run, more people became curious about the Chinese arts, and our Sifus were able to give themselves a pretty good living from all that attention. Sure, some pieces of the art had to be adjusted to accomodate the new type of martial arts student: the western, non-Chinese student. Admit it, they learn different from Asians. So Kung Fu here in the West got a few tweaking here and there so that our Sifus could attract, teach, and retain students. Gave it its own personality too. You could take Hung Gar here in America and put it against Hung Gar in China and see some differences in most cases. Sometimes the art and forms may be the same, but terminology and cultures will differ. In others, simply because there are more non-Chinese styles around American kwun (schools)–American Kung Fu schools may be practiced differently, have different clothing, etc. Like it or not, we must acknowledge and honor American lineages of Chinese martial arts to be just as valid as other non-Chinese lineages, despite how unique and strange they may seem. Sadly, many who come from non-Chinese lineages do not feel secure in being different, and therefore look to leave what their teachers gave them in order to look or resemble Chinese lineages. And this practice only gives credibility to those who discredit American/European/Latin lineages. Either way, Bruce Lee’s demand that Kung Fu update to modern, Western culture had an effect on all of us, as we all benefited from the increased interest and enrollments as well as the new developments that occurred as a result of his influence.

yeah, thanks for forcing us to take on kiddie classes, Daniel San!

In the 1980s, I would say two things had an effect on Chinese martial arts: Inflation and Karate Kid, the movie. (Yeah, I said it!) First, with the rising cost of real estate, a Sifu could no longer make a living with a small school of 20 students like he could in the 70s. Tuition was weighed against one’s own bills and many people would drop out if personal finances disallowed practice. And Karate Kid–I could write a book on how it hurt Kung Fu… Chinese martial arts schools which at first were teenaged and adult-oriented schools, now had to compete with Karate schools to be relevant in a new industry being created because of that movie’s popularity. In 1981, I was turned away by my Sifu who thought I was too young for Jow Ga. By 1987, schools were recruiting students as young as 5! If you wanted to stay in business or capitalize on the new children’s market–you had to accept (and learn to teach) children. Well, many Chinese style teachers taught arts that were too difficult for younger students to learn. We also taught techniques that were inappropriate for younger children. Unlike our Tae Kwon Do/Karate counterparts, Chinese martial arts had to be modified for age-appropriateness, and many Sifu could not keep up. Tae Kwon Do’s first form, Chun Ji/Tae Kuk Il Jang/Pal Gye Il Jang, consists mainly of three or four movements done several times–compared to Bak Siu Lum’s Gune Lic or Hung Gar’s Gung Gee Fuk Fu–which helped those schools retain younger students, while CMA schools could only retain the few whose focus allowed them to stay interested in such complicated forms. Tae Kwon Do is simpler and easier to teach to large groups, while Chinese styles require more one-on-one attention–making it difficult to do in a commercially successful school. These two things made running a succesful Chinese style school much more difficult than a Karate or TKD school, so we saw less growth in Chinese styles.

I could go on and possibly write a book about why Kung Fu had not grown like Karate and Tae Kwon Do, but I’d like to get to my point… Let’s skip forward to the 90s and Y2Ks.

I would call the 1990s the hey day for child-oriented martial arts schools, aka the “McDojo”. (This is actually an unfair label, as many child-oriented schools are in fact very good and NOT out to take your money) In the 90s, I saw more millionaires come out of this industry than ever, and many of them were Chinese martial artists who came to TKD just to make a better living. I recall a group of teachers come to me to invest in a franchise and I turned them down, just to watch each become wildly successful. None were TKD teachers, but they became them in order to enter the business. One such teacher is today an MMA gym–which leads me to my second point. Coming out of the 90s, MMA was becoming popular as was another genre of martial arts school you might not have noticed: the Self Defense academy. Look around you, in whatever city you happen to be in, you will notice many adult oriented schools returning–and non are commercial karate. They may teach Krav Maga, Filipino Martial Arts, Brazilian Jujitsu, Aikido (nod to Steven Segal), Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee is still more popular than ever)… and many arts you may not have noticed. Most are doing very well, not all are riding the wave of a fad either. So the question you might ask is, What about the Chinese Martial Arts?

What happened?

I think many of us got stuck into tradition. Unlike our own Sifus and Masters, who were willing to evolve in order to accomodate the change in times and culture–many of us feel like we are doing something wrong if we don’t practice this art exactly as our teachers gave it to us. Some of us who live in America, look to Hong Kong to figure out what to do, yet we have two separate cultures, traditions and industries. Many of us learned and practiced our Kung Fu completely unaware of what the rest of the martial arts community is up to. Even after 20, 30 years in the arts we looked around one day and discovered that the martial arts community evolved several times over yet we are still doing the same things, the same way. No one is saying to add Zumba or MMA to your repertoire. But it would be a good idea to find out what successful martial artists are doing and to find a way to fit what we do in with that! One of the most successful flyers I used–I got my tag line from a grappler: “Got Stand Up?” I don’t know much about grappling, but I do know how to fight standing up. We did a monthly fight night for years, and fought all types in our school. As a result, we have had many mixed martial arts fighters come to my school to learn plain old, Jow Ga and FMA. So I marketed to that group offering just to work with them with standup fighting and I didn’t have to change much to accomodate them. You could do the same. Here are a few other areas:

Fitness classes with a Kung Fu theme
Weapons workshops
Martial Arts for aspiring actors (a GREAT area. I’ve taught several myself)
Self Defense/Street Survival–learn the jargon and see what street survival experts do; you’ll find that Kung Fu fits perfectly with this area
**Tie-ins with the Ip Man/Tony Jaa/Jet Li movies**–I can’t believe more schools aren’t doing this! Our children don’t know much about Bruce Lee these days, but they sure as heck know who Yip/Ip Man is. Isn’t that crazy? He is crazy popular. You better get on this bandwagon!!!
Tie-ins with every Ninja Turtle/Anime movie that hits the big screen–This is a gold mine. Chinese martial arts fits in so well with this genre, it’s crazy
Tournaments as an alternative to school/intramural sports–many children are not athletically gifted. Most sports will try your kid out then reject them if they aren’t “naturals”. I really dislike that. However, the martial arts is possibly one of the only sports where no kid rides the bench, they don’t have to try out to do it, and every kid is taught the game from the ground up with zero fear of being left behind. How could a parent turn that down. Not only that, your child is really learning a trade! Even if he goes to college, gets a job, he will always be able to supplement his income by teaching Kung Fu. Come on, Sifu–you know what to say!

The point is, Kung Fu isn’t dying. We are just experiencing a recession. It’s time to realize it isn’t 1985; it’s 2016. The potential Kung Fu student isn’t turned on by Shaw Brothers films anymore. This art has survived longer than many spoken languages–outlived governments. Surely, the generation walking the Earth today can find a way to keep it relevant.

Anyone have ideas to add? Please list them in the comments below! Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

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Tags: Bai He Chuan, Bak Mei, Chow Ga, Chow Gar, Choy Lay Fut, Choy Lee Fut, Choy Li Fut, Eagle Claw Kung Fu, Fu Jow, Gong Fu, Gung Fu, Hung Ga, Hung Gar, Hung Tao Choy Mei, Jow Ga, Jow Ga forms, Jow Ga Kung Fu, Jow Gar, Kung Fu, Kung Fu lineages, Kung Fu Stance Training, Kung Fu styles, Praying Mantis Kung Fu, Shaolin Kung Fu, Tong Long, Tung Long, White Eyebrow, Wu Shu, Ying Jow Pai, Zhou Jia
Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

When the Si Dai Becomes the Si Hing…

1 01 2016

Should we change? The philosophy, that is. On one hand, we might consider our Si Hing, to always be our Si Hing. On the other hand, shouldn’t we recognize when our Junior classmate has surpassed us?

Put strictly into family terms, your older brother will always be your older brother. Even if your older brother drops out of high school and you continue on to college, he is still your older brother. You may graduate from college, go to law school, become an attorney–and he is still your older brother. You go to him for advice, he chastizes you on your neglectful ways, your womanizing, perhaps your drinking, your arrogance–and you take it, despite that you make more money, you have more status, you are more educated… But he is your older brother, you love and respect him, and deep down you know he is right.

But what about this: You and your older brother both are hired at the same company. He is your supervisor, but you are in school and finish. You then are promoted to a supervisor, and years later, you become his manager. At home, he is older brother, but for at least 8 hours a day–YOU are the man. Awkward situation.

In the martial arts school, especially in Chinese systems where we do not use belts or such ranks–it’s a little stickier. One may elect to keep training and bypass rank promotions, while others pursue rank. Not much different than education or rank in the military, I suppose–but similarily, you may find that one day a once-junior will become senior to you or vice versa. In some cases, there is the thin line of what ranks you actually possess or what titles to use. This is a very real dilemma in the Chinese arts, because the ranks are not as cut-and-dry as in belt-granting traditions like Karate. Our relationships are much more personal. We actually refer to our classmates as “brothers” and “sisters”, and unlike many systems where Black belt is granted in 3 years and new instructors move out shortly after to open schools–the Kung Fu family remains together sometimes for decades. When I run into an old boxing gym mate from 20 years ago, whether I was better than he or not, I can greet him as easily as saying, “Mike! How are you, fool?” Not so for us Kung Fu guys–I have a Jow Ga classmate named Mike, and I can only fix my mouth to call him “Si Hing”, although I have outranked him since I was perhaps 15 or 16 years old.

Through social media, I have reconnected with some old Jow Ga brothers from decades ago who were simply “Si Hing” in 1986, but a year later in 1987 I had learned the final form on our curriculum and was given permission to teach a few years later. I was then “Sifu”, and have been for over twenty years. Upon reconnecting, I never hesitated to address any of my old Si Hing as “Si Hing”. However, on occasion, one will forget that I am a full instructor of Jow Ga–and he quit as a beginner–and want to chastize or correct me on Jow Ga matters…

Um, I don’t think so.

And so, we arrive at the point of this article. When our schools were built, our traditions and customs were established, the notion that we would “reconnect” with old si hings may not have been significant enough to create a standard operating procedure. I have never been told how to communicate with any Si Hing I may one day have conflict with, as I’m sure most of you reading this blog haven’t either. I have not done much traveling and interacting with many other Kung fu schools outside of a competitive nature, so perhaps there is already a tradition in place. But for the purpose of furthering a system, building stronger Kung Fu families–it may be a good idea for Kung Fu leaders to establish protocols and traditions to govern how we conduct ourselves among each other, within this family, within this system.

Every system, lineage and geographical branch of a Kung Fu family has it’s “leader” or seniors. But leadership has to be more than simply the oldest guy or the first to join. Quite often, the senior is not the most qualified, he is not the best skilled, he may not be the most knowledgeable, he may not be the most respected… He may not even be a “he”–“He” might even be a she. Every school has it’s Dai Si Hing, but have you ever heard of a school with a Dai Si Je? Our late masters and grandmasters were just that–martial arts masters. They taught us to fight, taught us to use weapons and defend ourselves, they even taught us how to teach students. Yet I would dare to say that most of our Masters were not great leaders and did not necessarily prepare us to ensuring the preservation of the permanence of our styles and schools. This is why the average Golden Era of any Kung Fu system only lasts the duration of our master’s lives, and when they are gone–little can be done to keep them together. We become as fragmented as siblings after dividing up Mom and Dad’s inheritance. One way to help preserve a style is by clearly defining who is senior in a system, defining who is qualified to lead, agreeing to back and follow those who have been chosen to lead, and basing our decisions on logic and not emotion, knowledge and ability–not amiability.

Seniors, you must want the system and the branch to outlive you. This means every member of every single branch of your tree must be respected, advised, and shown the way to success. We do not kiss someone’s foot because they walked through the door before you did. You are not a “leader” of your system simply because you are older, or wrote the most articles, or speak the best Mandarin, or know the most forms. At the same time, protocols must be put into place so that future generations understand the hierarchy of a Kung Fu family. This will enable those who are leading the Kung Fu style to pushing forward the system toward greatness for future generations. We do more than simply “preserve” the name; we make this system bigger, stronger, more respected, and closer knit as one unit than ever before.

Even if that means you have to follow the advice of one whom you once saw struggling to learn his basics. Respect your school, your style and your Sifu enough to know when someone has worked hard enough to be at the head of the pack. We want our system to live longer than we do, and therefore some traditions may have to be altered, eliminated, or created and instituted to make sure it happens.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

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Tags: Dean Chin, Dean Chin Students, Gong Fu, Gung Fu, Jow Ga, Jow Ga forms, Jow Ga Kung Fu, Jow Gar, Kung Fu, Sifu Craig Lee, Sifu Deric Mims, Sifu Hon Lee, Sifu Hoy Lee, Sifu Raymond Wong, Wu Shu, Zhou Jia
Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

Secret #4 to Perfecting Your Kung Fu Skill

12 12 2015

If you want to travel quickly, go alone.

If you want to travel far, go together.

–Kenyan Proverb

Don’t let the title mislead you; this is the first of a series. I have a list of “secrets” that, if you follow them, will aid you in perfecting your Kung Fu skill. Being a teacher and an author who does this for a living, I am obviously not going to give it all away on this site for free. However, I will give enough through the series, that if you follow our articles and you follow closely–you will indeed be on your way to perfecting your martial arts skill. On top of that, I am highly positive that wherever you study, you will also be known as one of the best. Very few men can actually say that at any point in their martial arts lives, they’ve ever been known as “one of the best” by anyone other than friends and students.

There are lots of “Gatdulaisms”–terminology and jargon–that I use that others might not use and we will define and explain them as we go along. If you are familiar with my writings (from the Filipino Fighting Secrets Blog or my books on Amazon), you should need little explanation. If not, keep a notepad and keep up… I think you’ll love the philosophy.

For starters, let’s explain the idea of “perfecting your Kung Fu skill”.

Perfection in the martial arts is a verb, not a noun. When you are striving to perfect a martial art, one must understand that true “perfection” in the art is a mythical place that you will never reach. As long as you endure to perfect your art, you will be closer to reaching perfection (the noun). We may perform our Kung Fu technically perfect–with good stances, good form, good speed, good power–but as long as there is breath in your body and your blood moves through your veins, understand that regardless of the level you are on you can reach a higher plateau. Everyone–every great Sifu, every great champion, every great soldier–can improve and become faster, stronger, have better understanding, attain more efficiency and effectiveness. Should you ever convince yourself that your art or your skill is perfect and needs no improvement, you will just have taken the first step towards your decline. Like a champion fighter who states that he will never be beat, and trains and thinks as if he will never be beat–he enables his future challengers to work harder than he does and devise a more superior strategy to defeating him. The only champion who retires with a “perfect” record is the one who never underestimates any opponent, and works as if his next opponent is the best he’s ever faced. Never forget that. Perfection is a verb. It is “the effort to improve and perfect the knowledge and skill you have today.” Regardless of how good you are, one must endeavor to become better tomorrow. When you turn an art over to a student, you are essentially handing him your work in process. It is up to that student to continue your research to explore, experiement, and evolve the progress you’ve made. This is why I don’t believe in “preserving” systems. You may preserve a teacher’s teachings, but you must investigate, add, and evolve what you learned so that his system improves with you.

This is also a reason I don’t reach back. In my own system of Jow Ga, we have the desire to uncover the original version of Jow Ga, possibly back to the founders. As if what the founders taught was perfect, and that what our teachers taught was flawed. In my opinion, to do so reverses all the progress the Masters before us accomplished. They received the art one way, they added, tweaked, and revised the art to give you what they believe to be an improved version. Who are we to reject that effort and go back to the old way, and allow the revisions to die? Every system–from Jow Ga, to Hung Gar, to Ngo Cho Kun, to Faan Tzi Ying Jow–are all updated improvements of what our founders learned before there was a Jow Ga, Hung Gar, Ngo Cho, Ying Jow. If our founders felt their original knowledge was perfect, they would not have changed it or created new systems.

So, this is a freebie: One of the secrets to Perfecting or Mastering Kung Fu is to understand that despite the rhetoric–nothing and no one: Not our Sifu, not our Si Jo, not our system, not ourselves–nothing and no one in the martial arts is perfect. It is up to every man and woman who are entrusted with carrying the art to the next generation to strike to perfect the art we are in possession of. We must learn our teacher’s lessons thoroughly. We must review, reflect, and revise to understand it better. We must experiment, test and repeat step II–based on the outcome of our experiment. Then, we must take our research, and try to come up with a more perfect version of our teacher’s art. Finally, we must repeat this entire process until the day we die.

To recap:

We must learn our teacher’s lessons thoroughly.
We must review, reflect, and revise to understand it better.
We must experiment, test and repeat step II–based on the outcome of our experiment.
Then, we must take our research, and try to come up with a more perfect version of our teacher’s art.
Finally, we must repeat this entire process until the day we die.

Now, on to the reason I wrote that article (yes, that ^^ was just a freebie). We will keep it simple and sweet.

SECRET #4 TO PERFECTING YOUR KUNG FU SKILL

Your teacher may not have told you this. Kung Fu can be learned in private, but it cannot be mastered in private.

I learned most of my Jow Ga privately. While I did attend classes almost daily, my time with my Sifu and my Si Hings Raymond Wong, Craig Lee, and Tehran Brighthapt were almost always one on one. However, this is where I merely learned Jow Ga, while most may have learned in the classroom. The one-on-one method of transmission does not make me any better than anyone else. In fact, learning privately was simply coincidence. Early in my training, Sifu Chin was only available to me when classes were not in session, and many of the things I had to learn were not on the curriculum. Sifu also taught a class that very few attended, and this left my brother and I alone with him many days. When he died, I was close to three Si Hings, and they were not available when other classmates were available, so my training again was private or semi-private. In the final stages of my Jow Ga education, there were no other students learning the forms I was learning, so I had to wait until classes ended in order to receive instruction, as I was teaching by that time. My practice time was solo, as my brother relocated back to the Philippines by 1987, and most of my peers were either working or in college by then, leaving me all day to train alone in the gym or at the home of my Si Hing Raymond Wong.

The next stage of my development, however, involved training partners and opponents. And this is the secret…

If you notice, Kung Fu systems almost always have two man dueling sets and partner drills like Chi Sao and Sam Sing. This is no accident. While one can learn to punch and kick and train alone, to develop the higher level skills–such as timing and reflexes, you will need to have strike and kicks thrown at you. The less predictable those techniques are–with more power and speed, as well as an adversarial nature to the drills–the more beneficial they are to your perfection of the art. This is why we draw a line of distinction between performing a Jow Ga form and executing a Jow Ga form. In performing your Jow Ga, you do the form as a solo activity. When executing the form, you involve an opponent–whether real or imaginary–and the techniques are thrown in the same manner they would be utilized with an opponent. Forms done for points and applause are “performed”; forms done for fighting are “executed”. When you train the form alone, it will be performed. When you train the techniques from that form with a partner or on an opponent, you learn to execute the form. One of the complaints I had as a student was the idea of “pairing up” students with another student for two man sets. I thought it to be a silly notion, as if we were pairing dance partners. What I did not understand then, was that partners for two man sets often become training partners, sparring partners, even rivals. Looking at my own Kung Fu brothers, I remember the pairs: Chris Henderson vs Ron Wheeler, Mu vs San Wong, Derek Johnson vs Troyon Williams, Stephanie Dea vs Reza Momenan, Craig Lee vs Eugene Mackie… and the list goes on. What ended up happening with this was more than just chemistry. The pairs trained so much, they exchanged energy, ideas, even strengths and weaknesses and rivalries. Two man sets were not compliant as in other schools. Over 15 years of training side by side with these fighters, I can recall two man set demonstrations turning into near fights where they were angry at each other afterwards: Ron sending Chris to the hospital to stitch his foot after cutting him, Howard Davis cursing at me for hitting his head with a staff during a tournament demo. The partners become lifelong friends as well. They spar so many rounds against each other, for example Tehran Brighthapt and his weekly matches against Terrance Robinson every Sunday–the two ended up fighting with almost the same techniques and strategy, even Terry coming for his weekly match after suffering a broken nose the week prior. After all, you can’t keep your training partner waiting!

Entire systems have been developed from these training partners too. But we will have to discuss that another time. Before we close, let me add one last piece of information, along with a summary:

Training partners cannot be compliant. Compliant partners lend no benefit to your skill. You gain from a partner challenging you, even working against you. The better skilled your partner, the better skill you will gain. If your partner is more of an opponent to overcome, each time you train, you are forced to work harder and improve
Training partners, in fact, are also adversaries. They must be willing to make your techniques difficult to execute. No opponent on the street will allow you to use your Kung Fu, so why should your partner? The harder you must work to land a hit, the easier it will be to land hits
Training partners must not be equally skilled. One must be better than the other. However, the weaker partner will eventually catch up to the stronger, and this forces the stronger partner to fight to stay ahead. It does the pair no good for one to beat the other up week after week. Perhaps in the beginning this might happen, but within months, the weaker partner should improve and become a formidable opponent who forces the stronger partner to watch his back!
Training partners should not be like minded. You don’t need two Yes Men in the gym. They should disagree on techniques and methods, so that each develops his own ideas independently–and must defend those ideas against his partner. At some point, however, the two can share ideas and discoveries. Or they could continue to disagree and strive to outdo the other. This is perhaps the best type of training partner one can find
Training partners must be honest, loyal, and even-tempered. You both will ultimately leave the teacher’s womb and become teachers yourselves. There will be no benefit if at some point, you are no longer friends and can no longer reflect upon the years of training together for whatever reason. Even if there was a rivalry, after years of such–even a slight dislike for each other, remember this: You are brothers of the same Ga, and progress for each of you is progress for the other. So you are good at fighting, and he is good at lion dance… are you satisfied never learning your brother’s Lion Dance technique? Will you never share your fighting skill with your brother’s students? How can this system progress to the next level if brothers withold information from each other?
And finally, I repeat, training partners must be honest. You mustn’t be too worried to hurt the other’s feelings that you cannot give him your true opinion of his Kung Fu. At the same time, you must allow your training brother to be comfortable being honest with you if he sees a place you can improve. We all want to master the art. But the best of you are those who want for your brother what you want for yourselves. If you remove yourself from this equation, you will never perfect the art. Martial arts systems and families are a cipher, and that cycles must be allowed to revolve and circle without interruption, without interference, and most of all–without any misrepresentation or omission. When relationships are blurred or severed, the entire system is out of balance. This is why styles die with their masters, if students do not remain connected, and connected tightly.

High definition images are created by having many views of the same image, but from slightly different angles. If an image is only seen from one angle, the result is a bland, one dimensional view. The more angles you introduce to the same image, the picture becomes clearer and sharper and more potent and pure. Training partners can give you four eyes on your system rather than just your two. Going alone will give the Kung Fu man a very lonely, uninspired, selfish, one-dimensional path to the same destination all Kung Fu men aspire to reach. Please scroll to the top, and ponder on the African proverb posted at the beginning of this article. Stay tuned for the next installment!

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

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Tags: Chin Yuk Din, Chow Ga, Chow Gar, Dean Chin, Dean Chin Students, Gong Fu, Gung Fu, Hung Tao Choy Mei, Jow Ga, Jow Ga forms, Jow Ga Kung Fu, Jow Gar, Kung Fu, Kung Fu Stance Training, Wu Shu, Zhou Jia
Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

My Style’s Too Deadly

21 11 2015

A Kung Fu guy, a Karate guy, a Jeet Kune Do guy, a Streetfighting guy, a Jiu Jitsu guy, and a Ninja guy walk into a tournament. The one who can’t fight goes, “My style’s too deadly.” The rest of the group smacks him upside his head, and they all have a good laugh. The end.

Okay, my joke telling skills aren’t that good. 🙂

But it is a long-standing joke that martial artists who can’t fight love to throw out that “My art’s too deadly” reason to shunning competition. As if your respective style doesn’t have backfist, side kick, round kick, straight punch, etc… Or, as if you only engage in death matches.

Here’s the thing: ALL styles are too deadly for competition. Hell, look at Paint Ball. What’s more deadlier than small arms combat, and they even have found a safe way to practice! Martial arts tournaments were not designed to simulate the battlefield. However, if you wanted a place to test the few safe techniques in your system without risking broken bones, crushed windpipes, dislocated knees–the tournament is the way to go. Either you can block a punch or kick or you can’t, and a 3 minute, hit-him-five-times-or-lose match is a great way to find out really quick if you have the timing and speed to stop a punch or kick. So what some guys are slapping–block the slap. The good old straight punch to the ribs is still legal, so take the shot!

I believe in the 1960s all martial arts on these shores were on equal ground. However, the Karate and Tae Kwon Do schools engaged in competition and honed their arts into something that was more practical than when they first arrived–and Chinese stylists sat in the bleachers ridiculing it until, six generations later, you are hard pressed to find more than three Kung Fu schools in each city willing to slug it out, regardless of the rules.

Let’s define something, by the way, as I’m sure some will object to my use of the expression “more practical”:

In saying Karate/Tae Kwon Do becoming “more practical” over the years, I am saying that as time went on, those arts moved away from prearranged practice into a type of practice that is more suitable for fighting on the street. Yes, tournament techniques are somewhat unrealistic. But today’s point fighters are faster, more athletic, have better reflexes, trickier, and have more strategies up their sleeves than their Grandmaster’s generation.

Back to my point. Kung Fu practitioners have good fighting techniques within every style. The problem is that too many schools over emphasize forms practice and do not engage enough in sparring for students to have the attributes needed to bridge what they do in forms practice with what they do in fighting practice. As a result, we see Kung Fu people studying Muay Thai and abandoning their style’s specialty. Kung Fu people putting opponents in the guard when their system calls for breaking arms and legs. Kung Fu people politely declining offers to have a friendly match, and later exclaiming to friends that their art was designed for killing, not acquiring points.

Even if your system has no punches and only eye gouges and throat smashes, you still need speed and timing to catch an eye before an opponent can turn his head. Even if your system has no hook punches or elbow techniques, you still need to know how to defend against a hook punch or elbow to the face. This is why sparring against foreign systems is absolutely necessary, because each form of fighting–from the lightest contact sparring division to the body slamming San Shou competition–delivers a different set of skills to the Kung Fu fighter who engages in it. You are not going to learn to take jabs by hitting mitts with a classmate. You are not going to learn to avoid leg kicks–or learn to manuever after eating a few Charlie-horse-inflicting thigh kicks–unless you’ve actually faced a man attacking your legs. Your Sifu teaches you techniques, but opponents teach you how to fight.

No clever conclusion here, that’s it. Understand, that every Kung Fu student needs to engage in combat with unfamiliar faces and styles if he is to take your art to the next level. Yes, we are all training to cripple, maim or kill. But we need safe places to test out the few skills we can if those skills are to be reliable when we need them.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

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Tags: Chin Yuk Din, Chow Ga, Chow Gar, Death Touch, Dim Mak, Gong Fu, Gung Fu, Hung Tao Choy Mei, Jow Ga, Jow Ga forms, Jow Ga Kung Fu, Jow Gar, Kung Fu, Wu Shu
Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

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