Jade Dragon School of Kung Fu and Qigong in Reading, Berkshire

Jade Dragon School of Kung Fu and Qigong

A few thoughts on Martial Arts Training

The human body is a highly complicated machine comprising of over 100 bones and nearly 800 voluntary muscles. When you also include the miles of wiring in the form of nerves and blood vessels and the complicated structures that are the organs we begin to see why it is a machine I doubt we will ever fully understand.

At one level the martial arts could be said to be the use and abuse of this remarkable machine. All exercise systems involve improving our usage of our bodies but few, if any, offer the benefits that a good martial art offers.

A good martial artist must learn to gradually develop the following:

Coordination - this is the hardest thing for beginners as they must learn to use their arms and legs together in combinations that they have never done before. The brain must make new physical connections in its synapses to enable these movements to be done efficiently and without thought. We know longer have to think in order to know how to walk or run as these synaptic shortcuts were learned in our infancy.

Balance and Stability- A martial artist must at all times be stable and in balance. Obviously one of the aims is to disturb the balance of your opponent and the one who has spent the most time developing good stability will have the advantage. This requires time and patience.

Speed - This is more important than bulk or physical strength. A bullet is tiny but travels at high speed and so is extremely dangerous. The fighter who can move fast can evade his opponent and strike with speed and precision to his opponents weak spots.

Positional Strength - This is different to the strength that comes from pumping iron. It is linked to stability and means when you strike an opponent it is from a position that you have trained to be very strong. To your opponent it feels like he has been hit with an iron bar.

Flexibility - Flexibility comes through relaxation. You cannot stretch a tense muscle or it will tear and cause an injury. Flexibility gives you a larger range of motion and so enables a greater range of movements that you can perform. The greater your vocabulary of movements the better chance you will have of being able to counter what your opponent may be able to throw at you. This also links in with coordination.

Relaxation - By relaxing the mind and body the martial artist enables himself to cope with 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' as Shakespeare described it. Through relaxation of the muscles he or she can accomplish great speed and flexibility. Through relaxation of the mind so clarity of thought and focus of attention is attained.

The martial arts have a very long history. Much longer than most people realise. For example Tai Chi is based on a body of theory that is at least 2000 years old yet it was not recorded until1750. The main reason behind this is the big issue of secrecy.

Before the use of firearms became commonplace the use of martial arts was how all battles and wars were fought - hence the term martial (or war) arts. The fighting styles of the various temples, clans and families were jealously guarded as they were linked to their very survival. Practice was usually carried out in secret and often the schools very existence was concealed from the authorities and from other schools in the area. The highest levels of any of the good arts involved esoteric practices that lead to highly developed but lethal skills of personal mastery. Obviously these were, and to a large extent still are, kept hidden away from the general public. The martial arts that most people tend to see are either fairly low level basic stuff or flashy styles that were only iintended for entertainment purposes.

Today there are over 1000 different styles and systems of kung fu (a term that refers to the fighting arts of China). Some of these are highly developed and contain extremely comprehensive systems of meditation, weapon skills, empty hand (non weapon) styles of extreme beauty, grace and of course lethality and strange esoteric exercises designed to improve the general health, longevity and personal mastery over all aspects of life. Most of these systems also include at least one healing skill which were originally developed to enable the students to heal themselves and each other from the inevitable training injuries. Other kung fu schools tend to concentrate on just one or two styles or aspects of fighting such as grappling skills or certain striking styles. Other schools it has to be said are of an extremely low standard and the teachers are taking advantage of the total lack of standardization and regulation to set up their own schools often with little or no real knowledge to impart. These 'kung fu cowboys' are ruining the reputation of Chinese martial arts and are often a danger to their students as they have little idea of the principles of safe training.

So to conclude, the study of a good martial art is, in my opinion, one of the most rewarding pastimes that one can have. To feel yourself becoming fitter, stronger, faster etc every day is a great boost to ones self confidence. To know that you have skills that others don't, that you are able to take care of yourself and loved ones should trouble arise, to gradually lose your fears and nervousness of certain situations all of these and many other benefits are yours through gradual, patient and dogged training.

As Lao Tzu so famously said ' A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'. If you haven't taken that first step yet then maybe its time you tried it. If you have then just keep on walking and see just how far you can go.