Dean Chin's Jow Ga Kung Fu Federation

Here is a simple concept that should be common sense knowledge, but is instead a little-known secret:

The key to perfection–and mastery–of the arts lies in what is taught in the first year of training

Funny thing about Kung Fu people. Although we like to act humble, many Chinese style martial artists are not humble at all. And it seems that the more a Kung Fu student learns, the further he gets from humility. This key is often underused or even ignored–as most strive to “learn” more forms, “more” techniques, “more” weapons, “more” concepts and principles, “more” terminology. This pursuit of “more” is much like those who aspire for “more” rank and higher degrees of Black belts in the Karate world. The misconception is that the martial artist’s ultimate skill and ability will come from learning the right technique or forms, and sometimes–the right combinations of styles. The result of this philosophy is a mediocre skilled martial artist with very little fighting experience and ability, despite that he or she knows many forms and has multiple styles in his repertoire. As the student progresses, very little attention is given to the practice of “beginner” skills in favor of “advanced” skills and forms. For example, think of the last time you saw advanced kung fu students struggling to recall a lower level form or weapon. If that student understood this concept, his knowledge of the system’s basic skills would actually strengthen, rather than be placed on the shelf of forgetfulness as he advanced.

As a youth, I had once asked my Sifu about “advanced Jow Ga” right after I had arrived to the intermediate level. He answered that “advanced Jow Ga” was not much more than beginner Jow Ga done at a high degree of skill, and able to be applied in more ways than the simple. This was disappointing to me, as I expected to hear about secret forms and techniques that would make me unbeatable once I had learned them. In fact, when my Sifu began teaching me privately, I had just arrived to our 4th beginner level–which was an accomplishment in our school because it took 2 to 3 years to achieve. As I prepared for my Intermediate exam, I learned privately from him at least three days a week. The first thing he did was retrain me:  and not our first form, I might add. We literally started from the first thing one learns in a Kung Fu school:  the salutation. See, your salutation tells everyone watching you what’s to come. When martial arts students have taken care to execute a sharp and crisp salutation (arms balanced, stance strong, posture upright, power in the short distance from chest-forward), the rest of your Kung Fu will reflect that same attention to detail. When the student has mastered the simple Sei Ping Ma–feet parallel, knees pushed to the corners of the “box”, fists chambered all the way to the ribs, elbows tucked in, eyes focused in the right direction–the rest of his Kung Fu skill will be just as sharp. When these two basic things are allowed to slip or exist as weak and sloppy in one’s skill set, many other things will exist weak and sloppy. Teaching such a man “advanced”, complex skills will be a waste of time; like erecting a stone structure on lose, wet sand.

When judging form for tournaments, many will say that certain judges are unqualified to give scores because they do one style and the competitor does another. There is some truth to that. However, many principles are universal among similar styles. In Southern styles, for example, strong, balanced stances and hand placement are mostly the same. Some differences do exist though, like chambered fists resting on the hips in some systems and next to the lower ribs in others–but Kung Fu teachers can see when someone has put in ample practice versus someone who has not. Judges can see when someone has power versus someone who loses energy and defined technique as the form progresses. How would one best prepare for a competition: By practicing more forms, or by practicing the form you plan to perform more?

In teaching students who have had some prior experience in the martial arts, I have encountered many students who felt too advanced to learn my elementary level skills, like our Stance Training Form. However, everything in my system, from our first form to our Kwan Dao form, are resting on the foundation laid by the Stance Training Form. I have been practicing Jow Ga for 33 years, and I still include practice of the STF with my personal practices. This form builds strength in the legs, allowing the fighter to explode into movement from nearly any position, builds good posture and strength in the upper back. In addition to this, every advanced form relies on strong footwork for its techniques to be useful. Regardless of how much martial arts you know, you can always improve–even your basics. You can always get stronger, faster, more limber, develop more accuracy, cover more range and move more responsively. These things are basic skills, and without those simple basic skills, everything is weak. An advanced, acrobatic martial artist with a weak foundation is like a scholar with a wonderful vocabulary and multiple degrees who can’t spell or chokes up whenever giving lectures.

Remember, one can never get enough skill in the basics. Stance, footwork, simple hand techniques, flexibility, power, endurance, balance, and focus–all make the Kung Fu world go ’round. Don’t be one who is satisfied “knowing” advanced martial arts; be one who perfects advanced martial arts. As the saying goes, you must perfect the parts to master the whole. “Perfect” can be an adjective or it can be a verb. In the martial arts, perfect-the-adjective does not exist. Perfect is an action word, a process… It is a level that one will never reach if you are doing this right. The moment a Kung Fu man believes he has perfected the art and stops pursuing perfection–be assured that he has just begun his decline in the arts. It is this pursuit of perfection that delivers you to mastery.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

In the discussion to bringing Chinese martial arts up to the modern world, we must discuss all aspects of the martial arts, including our misconceptions and myths. Here in the Western world, we must understand that very few of our schools in the Americas and in Europe were established by actual Masters of Kung Fu. Yes, we call them “Masters”; after all, eventually, they each became a master. But most of us who study the art learned in a school founded by relatively young teachers. For many of our Sifu, our schools were the first schools those Sifus had. They were in their 20s. Some were child prodigies who were barely out their teens. Very few were fighting champions of any type back home. Most of them learned and grew up alongside us.

And that’s okay!

Think about it–how old was your Sifu when he brought your system to your country?

So for many of us, our teachers were learning to apply the Chinese culture and tradition to the Western culture, as well as make these arts marketable to us. This may have required many of our Sifus to adopt non-traditional methods like awarded belts, calling it “Karate” when it’s “Wu Shu”, wearing karate uniforms, etc. And despite what your websites say in your histories–I have discovered over the years that many of us had learned from teachers who did not do much fighting, and this led to the non-combative nature of Chinese Kung Fu today.

Now before you blurt out the very American idiom “Rules were meant to be broken”, I would like to throw this out right here:  Change is actually a very Chinese tradition. Myth #1.

See, we who are visitors to this Chinese tradition of the martial arts often misunderstood our teacher’s values. One of those values is tradition. Because the Chinese martial arts have been around for centuries–even millenia–and they take pride in some things being unchanged for generations, we assume that our Sifus are disrespected if we change anything in the arts they taught us. Perhaps we studied under teachers who foolishly insisted that we do no evolve. But I assure you, that change is a regular, vital part of the growth of the Chinese arts. This is why we have systems and subsystems, and lineages, North vs South, Shaolin vs Hakka vs Wu Tang, etc. Our teachers mostly likely even changed their arts to teach your generation. Why they do not want you to evolve? Who knows. But change is good, change is healthy, and change is Chinese.

Among the changes we must make to our way of treating the art is the subject of fighting and combat. Chinese martial artists must fight. I am fully aware that many Kung Fu people did not come to the CMAs to fight, but if these arts are to get to future generations with respect and dignity intact, a good number of us from each system is going to have to get out on the circuit and do some banging. Will it require some modification? Of course it will. But students must be given something more dynamic than what past generations have been passing down. This will force us and our peers to look at our techniques critically; not to decide what to discard or eliminate! We must look at our systems to gain a more full understanding of what happens in a fight, and how our arts fits into combat. EVERY art, by the way, works in combat. We simply must figure out how it works in combat. It may require the importation of skills, the de-emphasis on some, extra emphasis on others. Once you have at least two or three generations of students who have done this, a new wisdom is then brought to your lineage that most likely did not manifest itself a decade earlier. And now, you have a subculture of fighters within your schools who can prepare those who want that knowledge for themselves. Your system has dignity, and we can finally get rid of those “My-Sifu-ran-out-of-people-to -fight-in-Chinatown” stories and tell some real stories and lessons for future students. On top of that, our students will have more confidence with the arts they possess and the system can come out from corners of the Chinese community and join the mainstream.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Dojo Yaburi. This isn’t for everyone. But a group of young advanced fighters school-hop the area or extended area, looking for sparring mates. Friendly matches or not, this is as real as martial arts traditions go. You don’t have to be disrespectful or rude in your search. An introduction to the Sifu/Sensei, who you and your classmates are and why you’re there. You want the opportunity to see where you stand, skillwise, against local martial artists. “Dojo Yaburi” in Japanese means “School-busting”, a tradition whereby young teachers make a name for themselves by visiting established schools and requesting a match in the effort to establish a reputation.
• Establish a monthly/weekly/quarterly sparring group.  It doesn’t have to be anything huge, just a regular gathering of like-minded martial artists who come around on a regular schedule for sparring and group training. You can choose with or without instruction, with or without training. But sparring with other styles is great for gaining a better understanding of your own personal skills–and how you compare to those outside your Kwoon. You may even pick up a few extra skills from regulars if you all trust each other and build a bond.
• Attend tournaments regularly. Yes, it’s that ugly, yucky “T” word. Traditionalists hate it. Understood! It’s almost as bad as the “P” word (Politics) But there are many benefits to attending tournaments:  networking, exposure, advertising, FUN, student retention, and experience. Gives you the opportunity to tell your students, that yes, “I have used this style against practitioners of other styles…” It’s a safe environment to do so as well. No one gets hurt, and you go home a little wiser than you were the day before.
• Create a sparring class within your school.  This should be a “Duh!” thing, but it isn’t. I am surprised how many schools have no culture of sparring within their walls. The creation of a sparring class gives those wanting more hands-on experience the chance to see how your art works in actual combat. For you the teacher, it gives you a chance to devise your teaching curriculum as it relates to fighting. A forms-based curriculum in my opinion is a boring, uninspired one. One that is both based on forms as well as sparring is interesting and follows a prescribed method for teaching strategy, combat, and testing theory. In a normal “forms” class, students assume all techniques work. In a sparring class, they are given the Y and the X, asked to figure out how the technique works, how to counter it and make it fail, and what to do when the opponent does something unexpected. You’ll be training warriors as well as thinkers!
• Temper your Kung Fu. When you temper steel, you heat it up to the point that it starts to soften, then cool it down–doing so several times in order to harden the steel. You can do the same with Kung Fu technique:  a day when you train with extremely high repetitions of kicks, punches and drills; sets of pushups, hundreds of pushing and pulling exercises. Periodically, push your students until they drop, and you will see them slowly get stronger and stronger, in ways you would be surprised. Call the martial arts what you want; denounce combat if you wish–but don’t be confused, we are training fighters. Fighters need to be tough, aggressive, confident, and indomitable. You don’t have to allow them to be killers, but at least equip them for the battlefield in the event that they need it. Hence the Filipino saying, the man with the sharpest blade knows the most peace. Transform your students into Tigers, teach them virtue, arm them with the sharpest of blades, give them the wisdom of scholars. These values are timeless and without boundaries.

Whatever you do, don’t limit yourself to business as usual. That’s so yesterday. 🙂  Find ways to bring your ancient fighting art to modern times. Make it useful!

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

It can be said that there are many paths to to success in martial arts, just as there are many roads to a destination. However, one cannot argue that all the paths and roads are created equal and are therefore objective. While you may prefer a particular method to develop proficiency in the martial arts, some methods are better than others. Some deliver more quickly than others. Some bring students to that point with better understanding of the art than other. And, like it or not–some can nearly guarantee great skill, while others can guarantee failure. Instructors must be realistic and honest in their approach to martial arts instruction. Perhaps you do not like form or fighting; but to dissuade students to ascribe to your approach and deny them the opportunity to decide for themselves is simply unfair and unethical. A good example of this are Sifus who were not proficient in sparring as young men, so as a teacher he tells his students that sparring leads to bad habits or worse:  Sparring is unnecessary. Rather than deal with the stress of facing to himself that he left some stones in his martial arts training unturned and fixing his short comings, it was easier to pretend that his failures were unimportant. Therefore, by convincing himself that sparring is unimportant or even unproductive, Sifu So-n-So could ignore that underdeveloped skill and not have to deal with it when producing new martial arts students.

One may observe that in the Chinese martial arts, we have many Sifu who do not have fighting/sparring skill and therefore do not teach it. And as the saying goes, there are many paths to the destination so we will deal with a road often ignored by many of today’s Sifu–even those who can fight.

Reverse Engineering

This is one of those paths that I’m referring to. How most Kung Fu practitioners practice, they divide training into possibly three or four areas. One might be basics. Stances, punches, blocks, kicks. Here, one would have their system’s drills and specialized skills like Chi Sao or Sam Sing/Chut Sing. The second would be forms practice. Learn the forms, then practice the performance of those forms. Tighten up your movements, pauses, foowork, jumps and sweeps. Mostly, in this second area, you are practicing to win a forms competition in a tournament. For many in the TCMAs, this takes up the bulk of your training time, and includes weapons. Sadly, when it comes to weapons, this appears to be the ONLY place Kung Fu people allow their weapons to be used. Weapons practice is rarely applied in any of the other areas. Empty hand forms, however, may see some applications extracted and practiced in the first phase, depending on the taste of the instructor. The third area is conditioning and fitness. As I get to visit more and more Kung Fu schools, I find that often this is thrown into the warm-up phase of practice or a part of the group class format, and little else is done in this area. It appears that superior conditioning, extreme body strength and flexibility is not as important to many of us, outside of what might be done in the course of a regular Kung Fu class. The fourth area, if utilized at all, is sparring practice. This should be integrated in some way with the other three areas, but most often it is not. This is the place that “Kung Fu” practice no longer looks like “Kung Fu”, and transforms into a quasi-kickboxing style training or point karate. You might find a few style-recognizable techniques thrown in here and there, like a trap or wheel punch or sweep. But more often than not, everything from the first three areas is abandoned for “practical” kung fu. In other words, “what works”.

The Reverse Engineers have a fifth phase, however, which is named after themselves. This phase is where the Sifu takes techniques directly from the form, extracts techniques and fits them into situations a fighter may find himself and applies techniques to those situations–whether or not it was the original purpose of the technique. Regardless of what your Sifu may have told you, the Kung Fu system as we know it is most likely between 100 and 200 years old. Few of us are actually training in a system that has been untouched or unmodified prior to that. (I’m going to refrain from my opinion that most Kung Fu styles are in fact 100 years or less in age, because I’d like to keep you as readers. Perhaps we may visit that theory at another time)  During the time these systems were created, many technological advances had not been made. For example the sparring glove, headgear, weight lifting, the jab, the punching combination or the one-legged/two-legged takedown. Does that mean we should ignore those things? So your system only addresses chambered punches aimed at the chest and has no built-in defenses from a rear naked choke or jab-cross combinations or hook punches… is there nothing in the style that can be used for those purposes?

This is where Reverse Engineering comes in. The forms in your system are broken down into core techniques and themed techniques. Those techniques and trained, studied, dissected and absorbed into your regularly-accessed arsenals. So when the opponent uses techniques not addressed by your system:  How to deal with a Spinning Heel Kick or a Tackle–you have something in your system’s first form that is perfect to stop it. Now, the entire system is dissected this way and modifications are found and created so that every possibility imaginable is addressed by something within your system’s forms. This reduces the need to cross train, combine arts, or abandon. In my opinion, this is the higher level of Kung Fu training, because it takes your system to a place that perhaps your own Sifu, his Sifu, or even your system’s founder–has not investigated. Rather than add more forms and more styles to your arsenal, you find new ways to apply and adapt the system and techniques you already know, thus adding an additional dimension to your style. Even a whole new set of techniques that your ancestors and senior were previously unaware. Using this philosophy, you take your first, second and fourth area of training, and join them with the fifth.

The Dean Chin Jow Ga lineage has in fact, incorporated some outside styles, forms and techniques to enhance our Jow Ga–but we are most certainly Reverse Engineers in this way. If you are not, before knocking it, give it a shot. You might like what you discover when you do so, regardless of the style you practice.

Or you could skip it and chalk forms practice off as “done for tradition/entertainment purposes only”, and go back to doing your Muay Thai and BJJ, while still calling yourself a “kung fu guy”. Not that there is anything wrong with it; like we always say–there are many paths….

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.