Cardio fitness in martial arts

Do you incorporate cardio fitness training in your martial arts workout?

Back in Toronto, 1 out of the 3 classes each week was devoted to pad-work, bag-work, and cardio training. In Calgary, we occasionally mix it up with some pad-work training.

I visited Vancouver again during the Christmas holidays, and unfortunately missed out on Sifu Brian Yam's cardio class on December 23rd at Wing Tsun Vancouver. I even brought my gloves and shin pads. You know how busy the holidays can be though.

But... today, I tried out a cardio kickboxing class, which was a great 1-hour intense period of not only boxing, but leg-work, ab-work, core-training, isometric exercises, etc. I felt both alive and dead at the same time! The ultimate balance between yin and yang.

Techniques can only get you so far. Power aside, if you don't have the stamina to finish the deal, then those techniques won't get you very far. What if you're too tired to even run away!

An additional side effect of cardio workouts: good for your health!

Time to take a nap on the flight back to Calgary...

Happy New Year!

WT-vacation

In December, I visited Toronto again to visit friends and family, and included WT training during my week there (of course!). By the way, I nearly died driving in the wind-snowstorm to Calgary’s airport, but I avoided the majority of the snowfall and -30 degree weather while I was in Toronto. On the other hand, I definitely do not miss those wind-tunnels in Toronto created by all of the buildings in downtown. Especially Bay Street.

Anyways, I attended a 1-day WT seminar held by Sifu Carson Lau of WingTsun Canada – Richmond Hill.  I also took private lessons with my Si-Hing/Sifu Asad of WingTsun Toronto. And then, besides the evening group classes of WT Toronto, I also had the chance to attend the now additional day-time classes twice a week. That, plus some bonus training outside of class with my training buddies, made this week a WT-vacation!

WT seminar with Sifu Lau

This seminar focused mainly on defending against some Jiu-Jitsu take-downs. What thought-provoking points did I mainly get out of this seminar?

Techniques are needed to be taught at the beginning, but hopefully the end product stems from the opponent creating those techniques. Much like what Bruce Lee said: “The highest technique is to have no technique. My technique is a result of your technique; my movement is a result of your movement.”

But, we need something to help us bridge to this state… and that’s why it is good to learn techniques and responses in a systematic fashion. However, throughout our training, we will still need to analyze and learn the “why” behind the techniques, and coming back to them often. So, in the future… ideally… as long as those always-mentioned principles of force and combat are used, these techniques will just happen automatically.

Training with my training buddies

Si-Hing, Si-Jet, and Si-Je pictured from left to right

Training outside of class is always useful, because it’s not like we’ll become experts after training certain drills for only 30 minutes each in a single class.

It’s always good to have a variety of training partners. Too often we may get used to the idiosyncrasies and intentions of a single training partner, and succumb to the tendency of thinking ahead in anticipation rather than respond naturally. Plus, we need to get used to different heights, body masses, arm lengths, footwork, timing, etc.

Another bonus… everyone has something to teach. Confucius quote: “If there are three people before me, one of them must be my teacher.”

So, don’t be shy! Introduce yourself in class and “cross-train” with other partners.

P.S. Not all places in Toronto carry Calgary’s Grasshopper on-tap.

Private lessons with my Si-Hing... Sifu Asad

Shh… this is private! Okay, just a peek..

How do we become formless without knowing what form is to begin with? What I gleaned from all of the private lessons was going back to the structured WT forms (SNT, CK, CS sections) with rules. Also, during my week there, a training partner reminded me of “knowing the rules before being able to break them.”

I enjoy both spectrums of training. When we train formless exaggerated movements, it helps us know what muscles are needed, and the goal is to make those movements tighter and tighter until perhaps imperceptible! And ultimately we will be back full circle with “economy of motion”. When your opponents just fall with a twitch of your eyebrow.

WT Toronto 11th Annual Christmas Party

On top of all of the WT training, luckily enough I was still in town when WT Toronto held its 11th Annual Christmas Party. It was fun to meet new people of the ever-growing WT group. Great potluck dinner! And lots of chocolate desserts to be shared…

I didn’t take the large X-mas party group photo with my camera – sorry!

Calgary WT November 2009 Seminar

Well, another year… another seminar! This year is a bit more special though, as 2009 marks the 5th anniversary of Calgary Wingtsun, as well as the 15th anniversary of Wing Tsun Kung Fu Vancouver.


This seminar was jam-packed with countless ideas and concepts, so it’s very hard to put it all in this blog entry. So, I will sum up 3 main points instead:

1. Give me a hug
2. Like watah
3. Blech!

Huh?! These are WT concepts? Well, sure… in my own words!

Give me a hug
It’s one thing to be able to “eat up space”, but it’s another thing to become comfortable about being extremely close to your opponent. Being comfortable about suffocating the opponent, but not feeling the same yourself. It’s like being in the eye of a tornado, as Sifu Ralph mentioned. This is a tough concept to train. I entitled it “Give me a hug”, because I remember a couple of years ago, when training with Si-Hing Steve... he decided to go into that hugging mentality and was able to: 1) disgust me, but more importantly 2) get into my space very easily, leaving tons of chances to finish the deal.

Like watah
Most people have heard of the Bruce Lee quote “Be like water…”.

Well, the concept of fluidity came about again. Combat Tai Chi! Many animals use each and every part of their bodies in a synchronized wave when they move. We are animals as well, so why don’t we do the same? Let’s get into that hula hoop action, and get those hips going!

Blech!
When training, performing or applying WT (or posting youtube videos for that matter), don’t make the observers say “Blech!”. That expression of vomiting should be reserved for the opponent when falling down to the ground. Or any other sound effect that happens to come out after being hit. What am I getting at here? Being alive. Intensity (gee… not that again). No dead techniques. We’re not posing for a photo-shoot here.

These 3 ideas are so difficult to get hard-wired into our system. But imagine the possibilities! There were several more ideas… maybe I’ll just list a few more to see if they ring any bells:

- Don’t care, be bored
- C’mon, come closer! Just you try…
- Create a chance, and take the chance
- Exaggerate the movements when training
- Role play into the feeling
- Link the upper and lower body like a marionette
- Etc.

Evan squared

It was awesome to train with Danny and Evan Senior. On Saturday night, we visited Regency Palace again, but this time we sat in one of the smaller rooms. It was nice to chat with Sifu Tony Tam again, about his Fatshan Wing Chun lineage.

Promotion to 2nd Technician Grade

Following dinner, there were presentations by Sifu Ralph, in particular the promotion of Si-Hing/Sifu German to 2nd Technician Grade (congrats!). Plus, a lovely cake baked by Joy. Finally, the students presented a WT banner to Sifu German.

The first two Grasshoppers, Adrian and Cory

One thing though, we forgot to get Adrian and Cory to regail us with memories of the past when Calgary WT first started out in a garage.

WT Anniversary Cake by Joy

I don’t know what special ingredient was in that cake, but soon after everyone had a piece each, a lot of laughs were brought out!

If you can make it, the Wing Tsun Kung Fu Vancouver 15th Anniversary Seminar occurs on November 21st, plus a dinner on December 4th of 2009.

Go forward with confidence

Tonight, something dawned on me during class. Like many things in WT, the concept seems so simple but actually fairly difficult to execute exquisitely. Tonight's idea: having confidence is such a big part of being able to go forward and attack as a defense.

In practicing defending against random attacks, I’ve always been told:
- “You are moving in too late!”
- “You need to move your body earlier!”
- “Go forward!”
- “You need to step into him earlier!”

It is still difficult to do, but whatever has happened in the last year has made it a little easier to follow these concepts. And I think it has to do with a different level of confidence, which comes from several things, but I’ll mention a few: a little more experience, not caring too much and tensing up for fear of getting hit during training, and the development of a more reliable structure.

More experience
I won’t say much more about this, as it has been mentioned several times that it’s about the intensity and dedication to the training session that counts. With the limited amount of time devoted to WT training, all the more reason to do so!

Less fear of getting hit
A perfect attack/defense isn’t going to be executed every single time. Mistakes are bound to be made on the journey. That’s where training comes into play! And if I get hit, so what? I’m still working on this aspect of training – not flinching, not evading a la natural instinct… just taking the hit and try and try again. If it were that easy, then why work so hard? This “not caring” attitude sure is tough to get used to!

Reliable structure
Something reliable to back up the argument. A little oomph and engine behind the kick-start. I guess it’s not just strength though, but a flowing force that ends with a good oomph, which will hopefully be learned with time. It’s like with anything, you need to have the skills to back up what you’re getting yourself into. For example, competing in ice skating (sorry, I’ve been watching NHL players on CBC’s “Battle of the Blades”), a breakaway shootout shot in hockey, running into an emergency Code Blue… if you don’t “got somethin’”, why would you go ahead? I think that having a reliable structure helps a lot with the WT concept of going forward, by contributing to the building of confidence.

What else?
I did leave something out though. This confidence is also a part of the “fighting spirit” that some people just have. Like turning on a switch, these people just have it. Without being involved in any fights or big sparring competitions, I wonder if this quality can be bred. It depends a lot on the individual. Check out these blog posts:
http://stevemcminn.blogspot.com/2009/10/it-is-not-necessarily-martial-art-but.html
http://usefulnessisinemptiness.blogspot.com/2009/09/applying-traditional-kung-fu-concepts.html

Well, that just about wraps this light-bulb thought of mine for the night.

Si-Fu: “Go forward!”
To-dai: “But, with what, and then what?”

A tradition that evolves over time

I recently came across an article by GM Kernspecht on Wingtsun Welt at http://www.wingtsunwelt.com/news.php?id=1729

Quote: “Asians often have a different point of view, and in my experience many would rather allow themselves to be struck on the head than use a technique that is not part of their style.”

I hope he was using the word “Asians” to describe “traditionalists”. Because then I would tend to agree more with that statement. But only if the word “traditionalist” means that the person is traditional in the techniques rather than the concepts of WT. After all, how many times have you heard that WT is not a style, but a system?

Traditional techniques
If the person is traditional in the techniques only, and also without realizing how or where they originated from, then to this person in WT there are bong saus, tan saus, fak saus, straight punches, and even hooking punches, etc. However, there wouldn’t be a spinning back fist or a high roundhouse kick in the WT repertoire.

Is this person limited or restricted then? Perhaps, but what if a so-called traditional technique does the job every single time? Hard to predict that, but then there would be no problems whatsoever. But if an attack isn’t used because it wasn’t in the dictionary of traditional techniques, at the expense of getting hit instead, then that would be considered a failure. This is what the above article alluded to. I suppose this scenario could happen, but hopefully whatever high-impact hit is done is still economical and to the point without wasting too much energy. To counter that though, what if it doesn’t fit those ideas but still gets the job done anyways?

Traditional concepts
If the person is traditional in the concepts, then I don’t think that’d be too much of a problem, as long as there are functional and effective techniques to back up those concepts. Because either the concepts would create the techniques, or certain techniques would fit into the concepts. After all, “if the way is clear, then move forward” could mean a nice high hook kick to an open face. If you’ve seen some demos by Sifu Heinrich Pfaff, then you know what I mean.

Anyways, my first reflexive response to that article was “wait… I’m an Asian – what is he trying to say?” But in my infant years of learning WT, I think he was trying to say when it comes to learning a martial art, that it’s sometimes okay to be goal-oriented and think about the ends rather than the means. And if we are stubborn traditionalists, then we might lose out on certain aspects of training WT.

Do you want to be traditional or effective?

The Basics

This post stems from a Point #2 from a recent post by Sifu Ralph at http://www.realisticselfdefense.net/blog/index.blog?from=20090920

Bruce Lee was obsessed about the length of a fight – even if it lasted minutes or seconds, it was always much too long.

Now, imagine if you could finish a fight without any fancy obscure secret technique from Biu Tze or Wooden Dummy or whatever. Would you like to finish a fight with: a) 10 moves, b) 1 move, or c) 0 moves?

Option c) would be great, giving us the least amount of potential contact time with any bone-jarring fists or kicks. Sometimes a fight can be avoided with verbal de-escalation.

But that might not always work, so you might be left with option a) or b). Any votes for b)? 1 punch. 1 kick. Or 1 “universal solution”, something you may have heard of before from WT. In an uncontrolled adrenaline-rushed state, that 1 move might be followed by a flurry of more attacks.

Now how does this relate to training? Back to the basics. This applies to any sport, line of work, etc. In CPR, as frantic as the situation could be, it’s always “back to the basic ABCs” (airway, breathing, and circulation). In WT training, there’s always time for chain punching, and Siu Nim Tao totally evolves as you go.

I’m not going to try and Chi Sau my opponent to death using part A of the lost section 17, sub-section 8. Oh I am human after all, and have feelings of jealousy and selfishness at times. I do like learning new things, but as long as I don’t become only a collector of techniques. I’d love to be able to have a solid punch stemming from a grounded root, which comes from training the basics often. After all, most if not all of the “techniques” stem from a temporarily inhibited attack.

Speed Kills

Speed during martial arts training can be counter-productive. Huh? Isn’t it better to be faster? Besides that, doesn’t it look cool? What I mean here is uncontrolled speed without structure when learning new techniques.

(Gasp, I said techniques! We don’t learn techniques in WT, you say. We learn concepts! Yes, we do, but at the beginning we still need to learn movements and techniques, before one day transcending into a pure flurry of formless form… if you want to be philosophical about it.)

Back to the topic at hand: speed kills. When learning a new technique, it is easy to become impatient and want to train faster and faster and faster. However, if you’ve noticed, when the pace is turned up with an unfamiliar body movement, everything begins to break down. The wrong muscles begin to compensate for the lack of correct structure behind the movement. And basically, you can be lifted off your feet, or pummeled into the ground, your choice.

What is speed without structure? I would say that the best thing to do is to start out slow, and understand where your power is being generated from. Only then can you even begin thinking about increasing the speed of training, making sure that you still have your whole weight behind the technique. This way, the technique can be built upon until one day, it can happen with speed. (By the way, I would say that speed is just one dimension that is not necessarily required all the time.)

You can flail all you want at the opponent, but then it turns into the so-called “patty-cake” WT that people talk about, and rightly so. But imagine if you can just place your antennae arms outward and control your opponent right from the start. Knowing that there is meaning and oomph behind your “technique”.

So, let’s go back to even the basic movements, and work slowly at it to find out: what pressures you feel, where the power comes from, when you start moving, and why you are moving, etc.


Slow down!

Training outside outside

Recently, while there was some downtime at WT Calgary, Adrian organized some training sessions in a park beside an elementary school that will remain unnamed, less we expose our “secret techniques.”

Which brings us to this posting about training outside outside! Outside meaning “outdoors”, but also meaning “apart from class.”

There is something about being mobile in the free air and open space that makes training so much more refreshing. It is a good complement to spending all day cooped up in buildings and tight spaces. (I suppose it’d be the opposite feeling if you work outdoors – you see, it’s all relative as usual!) Also, the feeling of uneven grass, ditches, and rocks cautions you to be more aware of your surroundings. After all, physical WT might be needed anywhere and anytime, although hopefully never (as opposed to the confident composure and radar of mental WT that is ideally always on). Training outdoors reminded me of how Jet Li learned to be more calm and peaceful in the villages from the movie Fearless, stopping during work to breath in and out the fresh air and absorbing nature.

As far as training outside of class, I think it’s a way to explore and harness our evolving sense of WT. Trying to take what was learned in class and seminars, and to train on our own. Sure, it might be trained differently, because of memory recall problems. If we were doing it perfectly from the start, then we wouldn’t need to attend classes, now would we?

Although each person is unique, everything should still be based upon a common foundation. However, interpretations will vary between students and at different times of your training. Haven’t you ever read a book a second or third time, and thought “Why didn’t that make sense to me before?” Each person is at a different stage of WT, and will grasp something different out of each group class. But, as long as we are working together with everyone’s opinions and ideas, it’ll all work out in the end. Then, we just go back and fine-tune things in class!

Some leaked photos from our “secret training sessions”…

May 2009 WT Calgary Seminar

On May 29-30th, Sifu German Ferrer WT Calgary hosted a seminar by Sifu Ralph Haenel of WT Vancouver.

First of all, it was great to see the class full of so many students, including three visiting senior students from WT Vancouver. Having a full class just creates this addictive atmosphere conducive to more intense training. We even had a visitor from Edmonton, a student from WT Vancouver over 10 years ago. Also, Sifu Tony Tam from Saskatchewan shared his Fatshan Wing Chun knowledge with us.


Pre-seminar photos – these innocent happy students don’t know what’s in store for them

In the November 2008 seminar, I had talked about “moving your body”. What are my thoughts from this recent seminar?
- Encouragement, Motivation, Enthusiasm
- Punching power, intense training

Encouragement, Motivation, Enthusiasm
WT Seminars are usually held a couple or few times a year with a different theme each time. But, one of the common threads between seminars is the amount of encouragement they give for your WT training. A jumpstart:
- Revving up a stalled engine (less training), encouraging you to re-start your training.
- Or adding nitro to an already running engine, motivating you to train even harder than before.

It takes a lot of devotion and energy to consistently attend group class, take private lessons, train outside of class, or train on your own, etc. Self-initiative and discipline can be difficult, and having these seminars really do help re-energize my enthusiasm for WT.

The ladies of WT Calgary with Sifu Ralph (Brian are you jealous again?)

Punching power, intense training
In the last blog entry, I mentioned “sweating profusely” in passing. I’d also like to direct you to Brian Yam’s June blog entry entitled "Intense".

The theme for this WT seminar was BlitzDefence (some videos here).

I found that this seminar emphasized the need for explosive power. Without a powerful knock-out type punch, what can you really do with your techniques? As Sifu Ralph would say, “bong sau you to death”?. During the seminar, besides training responses with our partners, we did quite a bit of stamina and punching drills before and after. Giving it all. Locking out. Same target each time. No patty-caking in the air. There were no “empty punches”. The first exercises were so intense. So intense that those arms started trembling and felt like falling right off. So intense that I could barely hold my water bottle during one of the breaks!

Me, lifting a 100 pound water bottle (picture stolen courtesy of Tony from this blog post)

Although we need these exercises to complement all of our training, it’s one of those things that we hate. Yes, don’t lie! How many would rather not break a sweat during a workout? But it feels so good afterwards, and think of the benefits!

Unfortunately, without a large group and/or instructor to push us along, it’s difficult to work so hard until all of your large muscle groups fail, leaving you to rely on all of those new and important muscles you didn’t know existed before. If we don’t have the correctly built muscles to begin with, how can we generate the appropriate power? I’m not talking about stiff brute force, but a pliable power with properly trained muscles ("Muscles of WT", a work-in-progress).

We’ll just have to push each other more, and each one of us should focus on intense training on our own as well. You must train until that sweat just stings your eye! So much that you begin to cry. Crying, out of happiness…

In any case, this wasn’t a chronological summary of the seminar, but again just some random thoughts I had. On Saturday, we did enjoy another buffet at the Regency Palace Restaurant like last year. Good chatting, and good eats. It’s always fun to see the WT people in their civilian clothing.

Perhaps some of the WT Calgary group can make it to the seminars in Vancouver one day. I can tell you that it is a great training atmosphere there as well, with great people just like the ones we have already met so far.

See you next time!

Training: time, quality, and effort

How many years have you trained in Wing Tsun, or your martial art of choice, or whatever other endeavour?

My profile states "A student of WT since November 2004". Very true. Forever a student of course, at least that's what I believe. But what about that second part - what does "since November 2004" mean? Why, nearly 5 years of training by calculation. Ah... but how much do you train, an obvious question. For me, it has been at most only 2-3 times per week, minus vacations, intermittent chunks of absences when busy with family/work, etc. I started taking private lessons more regularly only after 3 years or so. So maybe that 5 years all boils down to only 6 months of training 40 hours/week. Not much, eh?

Recently, I had the wonderful chance of being part of a 10-hour Chi Sau Marathon (http://www.realisticselfdefense.net/blog/index.blog?from=2009051313). Not 10 hours for me, just the one for the students! Granted I was recovering from an earlier private lesson 2 days prior, resulting in a lot of new interesting sores and pains, all good of course! But this doesn't compare to the 10-hour training session of Sifu Ralph Haenel.

How does one get better? Time. Quality of training. Effort spent. You would think that these are obvious points, but how many of us train enough in these ways? Spending lots of time with proper training, and sweating profusely!

Is this a reachable state in people's busy lives with a full-time job or a couple of part-time jobs, a family and other responsibilities? Perhaps not for a long time, but it also depends on what you are able to take away from lessons and group classes. Munch up every bit of information. Just like anything, you can choose to mindlessly wander through without really understanding and developing ideas, or you can try to analyze and incoorporate concepts to improve your limited time spent training.

All theory and abstract banter? I'll leave it up to you to decide!

WT withdrawal

I'm sure you've been there. The sweats, the shakes, the itchy arms... what am I referring to you ask? Withdrawal from Wingtsun of course, what else?!

Whether or not there are busier days at work, family-time becomes a priority, or you've simply fallen ill, there always comes a time when you need to take a break from training. Then what becomes of us? Well, for me, I have a WT addiction to feed. So, it only takes a matter of days before I start getting the shakes.

Try as I might with form-training, resistance training, shadow Wingtsun-ning, etc.... it just doesn't fullfill that feeling of training with a partner. Oh, the aforementioned training is all good and useful of course, but few things surmount the sensation of "crossing hands" in WT.

What to do then? Well, persevere for one thing. And lots of patience.

Do you have an addiction? What is it's root - a need or a want?

It hits all by itself

"When the opponent expand, I contract, When he contracts, I expand, And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit--it hits all by itself" - Bruce Lee

This is what I want to be able do do one day, but with control.

How many times have you accidentally hit your training partner? Sometimes, by chance, perhaps. Other times, maybe the forces were actually in the right direction for once, and just because there was no obstacle, your pliable arms, legs, or body just got through. "Ooops, sorry", you say.

But wait! Let's go back to that moment and see what happened. Then it becomes too complicated, because you start to think about what you did, how you placed your arm, where your pressure was, etc... and everything begins to fall apart. Don't get me wrong, I think analysis is a good thing. It just might be difficult to get right back to that instance of an undisturbed mental state of, well, just flowing I guess. Not thinking too hard.

Techniques can certainly teach proper positioning. Which is static though. Valid and good to learn. In application, it is different altogether! We don't fire off neurons and make our arm into bong sau or tan sau. It should one day, one day, be automatic. When bong or tan or whatever sau just occurs on its own - but just as quickly as it came, it should dissipate again into the next "photo-op" position let's say. Maybe it'll be a fak sau, or a punch, or something else we can give a name to. Who knows? But in the end, it should hit all by itself!

One day...