Kung Fu Reference Library

Work has begun on my Kung Fu Reference Library. It is a client side driven help system that outlines Kung Fu techniques from the bare basics all the way up to self defense techniques and advanced forms. So far I have been working on making various fists and how to perform various punches and kicks. As soon as I upload what I have so far I will link to it here.

The challenge with this reference is giving as much information as possible, without disclosing details of Kung Fu training that I shouldn't make public - since the reference will be readily available to anyone online. Thus far I don't have any set rules for what will and won't be included. I'm thinking that when I get to the forms I will only give one half of the form and leave the other side unsaid, as it was done in the old days of Kung Fu. I may take similar approaches to other techniques as well.

More on this later.

The Art in Teaching

I've written about creating in the moment before. It is a critical aspect of our training. Fights are not the beautiful coreographed dance we see in Kung Fu movies. It doesn't make sense to train as though this were the case. We need to be ready fir anything. Our techniques need to be adapted and changed to meet our needs moment by moment. We need to take our opponent into consideration. Is he or she tall, or short? Is he or she stronger than we are? What training has he or she had, if any? All of these factors affect how we need to fight. If we cannot adapt, we lose.
As in so many other areas, this holds true of teaching as well. When teaching Kung Fu we need to be ready to adapt our teaching according to the students who are present at the time. We need to take into account there interests and strengths and weaknesses. If I am prepared to teach forms but I have a large amount of students present it might be wise to teach something more conducive to a larger class size. Just like sizing up my opponent, I need to size up the class I am about to teach.
Sometimes we begin teaching and quickly realize that what we are doing isn't working as well as it should so we have to change our plan, on the spot. Knowing your subject matter well is a big help. When I am teaching forms I know the subject matter so it is easy to change up the way I am teaching them. Subjects that are more challenging for me are difficult because my teaching style is so much more rigid, it isn't as easy for me to adapt to the current situation. These are the areas I know I need to work.

In training and in teaching, we need to create in the moment.

Critical Distance

Critical distance = the distance between you and your opponent that allows you the most effective strike. Everyone's critical distance is different and it must be dealt with differently when you work with different opponents. It is important to know your critical distance and to be able to draw on it within a fight. Moment by moment you need to know if you are outside your critical distance, at or in closer than it. Your actions will differ depending on where you are in relation to your critical distance.

How to determine Critical Distance
Before you can use or learn to recognize your critical distance, you will need to know how to determine it. If you were to make a fist and hold your arm straight out so that your knuckles are against a punching bag, this is normal extension - but it is not your critical distance. Punching to this distance could cause you to hyper-extend your elbow. At this distance, your puch has already lost most of its power and you will have to 're-fill' before you punch again. If you move about a fist or two closer to the target, this is your critical distance. You want to visualize your strikes going past the surface you are striking.

You will also need to be able to figure out your opponent's critical distance. If they have greater reach than you do, you will enter their critical distance before they enter yours. You will be vulnerable before you can strike them.

Terminology
This article deals with critical distance as it is taught in my Kung Fu school. Other styles might define critical distance different. For instance:

In the My Self Defense blog, it is defined as the point where enter your opponent's kicking or punching range. In my system this would be 'outside your opponent's critical distance'. You may encounter other definitions as well.

Old Man Kicking...

I am constantly looking for excuses for my achy knees - anything but getting old. If my knees ache because I'm getting old, it is an irreversible downhill battle. If the blame lies elsewhere, there is hope they can recover and be youthful and fresh again! Last night I found another non-aging excuse for achy knees.

Last night we didn't work any horse stance or low stances. We did work kicking - the entire class. I'm thinking my elderly knees are irritated at the twisting motion involved in roundhouse kicks. Man, my knees are wimpy. Perhaps it isn't age, maybe I need to find exercises to toughen my knees up.

No matter how achy my knees are, the horse stance is no problem. If I could do other exercises so that they react that way to higher stances etc that would be great.

Anyhow enough of my whining about getting old and being a wuss...

Workout

Last night's adult class went great! We worked the 'daily' aspects of training more thoroughly than usual - cleaning up our basics, working the standing pillar etc. Pat was there and help with the clean up of the basics in warmups. We went over basics we haven't done in a while, sweeps and 'aerials'.

Then we reviewed some of the stick work we had done on Monday. That went really well, time flew by.

We finished class with some leg conditioning and a ton of ab work then a bit of arm work with pushup exercises. I'm still feeling it this morning - so I know it was good heh.

The Need For a Path

Lately I have been doing a decent job of logging every single class that I teach. But my notes consist simply of what I am teaching:

- basics (traditional stance work)
- horse stance (2:45min), crane stance (1:35min)

- shadow boxing
- fast twitch muscle drills

- conditioning

Then after class I write notes to myself on how well the class went and what I could have done different. The only problem with this method is it is completely void of a path.
I'm thinking it might be better to start with a 'long term' goal, in my school's current situation this would be something along the lines of "teach the students to effectively apply their techniques in a fight". This would be the goal of a few months' worth of training. There are simply too many aspects of Kung Fu to ONLY focus on that. So after a few months or so, I would update the long term goal. Maybe something like "work the students through the traditional form they are currently learning".
With these goals in place I can break them down into a weekly goal, then each of my daily logs will have a daily goal. Then I have a path to travel on, and won't be simply wandering around aimlessly with a vague goal in mind.
I don't want to put too much emphasis on the 'path' and the 'goal' but without those things I would be walking in circles and would never arrive anywhere.

Kid's Class... Flag Sparring

On sort of a whim I decided to have the kid's Kung Fu class do flag sparring. I was completely amazed at how well it went. There was no arguing, injuries or anything else that could have gone wrong. Everyone seemed to have lots of fun and most of the battles were fairly evenly matched.

I also changed up our warm ups, focusing entirely on synchronization. This worked pretty well as I was leading the entire class and I only made the next move once everyone was still. So we all made each step in relative unity. It still breaks down the moment I am not leading but it is a good first step. There is still SO much work to be done with their basics.

Their balance during the crane stance is also improving in slow increments, but improving none the less.

Everyone put in a good effort tonight. A good way to end the week! More later...

Circles

I was reminded last night about the power and sheer number of 'circles' within my Kung Fu training. They are everywhere and are the power of a lot of our techniques. Not only do circles flow smoothly, they are able to exert power with very little effort. It reminds me of the importance of thinking while I'm teaching. Even as a lowly student who helps out in teaching when need be, it's easy to go into an auto pilot mode. You start doing without thinking. This is a good thing when using your techniques - achieving a state of no-mind, but even then you need to be actively 'creating in the moment'. The same is true when teaching.

It is interesting to learn just how much of a reflection teaching is to learning. As a teacher you need to do the exact same things you do as a student. You learn to flow, you learn to create in the moment, you learn to move on to the next technique when your strategy fails and you need to do so in the moment. The path of teacher/student is itself a circle.

Is a Printable Workout Log Helpful?

Lifehacker has just posted a topic on a printable workout log. I haven't tried this myself, but was wondering if ideas like this have been helpful to others. If you have used hardcopy goal/workout lists, were they useful to you? Feel free to leave comments etc regarding this.

You can read Lifehacker's article here.