Adult Student’s Corner
by Sifu D’arcy Langois
Fu For You Fall 2023
At its core Kung Fu stems from an incredibly practical place, a need to defend oneself. It is important to remember that every movement we practice while training has some real-world application. This idea brings us to the third Focus Point found above the mirrors in the Kwoon: Train as if it is real.
Continuing the concept of mental training, this Focus Point urges you to consider how you approach training the various techniques that we work on. There are three questions to ask yourself as you home in on this point: What am I doing, where am I, and is it real? Seeing as our Adult curriculum is broadly divided into four main categories, let’s take a look at some ways to apply this Focus Point across each of them.
Self Defence
Likely the curriculum with closest link to real life application, self defence is best learned with a touch of reality. Caution: this does not mean performing all releases at full power and speed. Some movements (Chin Na, for example) can result in severe damage to your partner if applied too quickly. Reality, in this instance, is applied by properly applying the attacks to your partner. Choke hold attacks are required to threaten your airway, so a correctly applied choke hold should do this. This grants you experience in two important ways: one, the releases only work on a true choke hold; and two, you then get to experience what it feels like in a controlled environment, which may ease the shock of experiencing it somewhere else.
Sparring
Our partner exercise of sparring offers some insight in how to use our techniques against a real live moving opponent. Caution: we are not trying to use techniques at full power in sparring, as we are not trying to put our partners on the ground. Instead, use this opportunity to assess the accuracy, range and timing of the techniques that we learn in Kung Fu. Using them against a moving opponent gives you an excellent chance to truly test how effective your techniques are.
Technique & Forms
These two categories belong together in this case, as our Forms are simply a set grouping of techniques that we learn at each rank. Looking at your current rank’s forms, and sequences, you will find they contain every technique in your syllabus. As you are often practicing your techniques in the open air, or with equipment designed to be hit, you can truly experiment with your power, speed, and accuracy. Caution: recognize the equipment being used and adjust your training to that (for example, focus mitts are not designed for full power techniques, whereas heavy bags are). The addition of movement, as in forms practice, opens up the opportunity to test your balance and stance work as you move through a variety of techniques.
Keep the real-life applications in mind to enhance your Kung Fu journey. Stay focused, and I’ll see you in the Kwoon!
Explore all of our Kung-Fu Focus Points.