Practice What You Suck At
For me, this has always been kicks. It’s part of why I moved away from TKD. It’s part of why my kenpo training grew stagnant at the intermediate levels. I have limited flexibility and poor kicking balance, BUT I have very precise, quick strikes. I leaned on this for a long time. If my punches were good, who cared if my kicks were mediocre?
Choy Li Fut seems to be very 50/50 with a HUGE reliance on stances, balance, and kicking strength to supplement other skills. In this, I have been forced to dedicate time to practicing something I’ve hated for so long: kicking. Slow motion kicks, stance training, and stretching. I go to kicking class with a sense of dread, knowing it is my weakness. BUT, I’ve made measurable improvements in only one month. I have begun to understand that disliking an element of my practice because I am unskilled at it does not excuse skipping training. It only means I have to train in that element 10x harder. Each time I see my kicks or my balance improve - even if it is by inches - my confidence grows, and my skill in all the other elements of my training is improved because I know that it is supported.
Attention to Detail is Everything
Technique must be perfected so that speed, power, and smooth execution may be mastered. It is not enough to breeze through a set of movements. Every combination, every form, is the sum of so many parts: concentrated aggression, knowledge of body mechanics, precision, attention to detail. Speed follows skill.
I’ve had to adjust to the low stances of CLF and the precision behind transitioning. When I work on combinations, it is not enough to know where my hands and feet go. I must also master HOW to get them there. I must know how to breathe and move my hips and my waist and my shoulders and my feet; everything contributes to a single attack’s effectiveness. To master a certain movement, or to have it become second nature, not a single minute detail can be neglected. This could mean the difference between a tough punch and a finishing blow.
Forms Without Application are Merely Hollow Movements
Although I am at a level in CLF where I am limited to learning combinations, this point applies to all the forms I learned in kenpo and will learn in CLF. It applies to any form anywhere. Certainly there is a time and place for sport/aesthetic forms, but in a self defense system, it is important - nay, required - to have a complete understanding of how every movement helps or hinders you in a fight. It is not enough to practice a sequence of movements and justify yourself with the thought that, well, in theory, this works...somehow.
Know the principles of the art you practice. Know what goes where and why. Learn body mechanics. Learn sympathetic movement. Learn what works for your body type, your personal style, and in a street fight, throw away what doesn’t. Forms and combinations aren’t designed to be systematized go-to’s in a real fight. They are tools for learning and strength-building. Once you understand how to string together combinations, you will have a base upon which to fall back on in a real fight. In the military, we say that “training and procedure are all we have to fall back on in battle.” This applies to martial arts. Train hard and know the effects of your attacks until this becomes innate. Train, because how you train is how you fight, and what you train may save your life.
