Adult Student’s Corner
by Sifu D’arcy Langois
Fu For You Winter 2024
As instructors we can only do so much to move you along your Kung Fu journey. We can structure a class, consult with our peers to keep things fresh, and give you some coaching while you are directly under our gaze, but that’s it. There is much that needs to be done while we’re not looking, both inside and outside of the Kwoon. That brings us to our final Focus Point, Coach Yourself: Am I learning anything? Am I getting any Better?
Coaching yourself is another great way to bring your mind into the moment, and really think about what you are doing as you train. For this Focus Point, I will address two statements that instructors sometimes hear from their students, which are best solved through the act of self-coaching.
“No matter how hard I train, I don’t seem to be getting any better”
Admittedly, this is an extremely frustrating place to be in and can easily lead to a sense of despair that you will never get better at the art. To this I say: practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes permanent. If you are practicing something repeatedly, but are practicing it wrong, you will not see any improvements. It can be difficult to envision yourself as you train, to catch the details that you are trying to correct, but fortunately there are a couple of solutions. In the Kwoon, mirrors are a great resource, and they are there for this exact reason. Use them to correct your form (as per your Sifu’s instructions) and continue to watch yourself as you train in order to get it right.
When you do not have the mirrors, you can always film yourself and review the video of your training. The feedback won’t be as immediate as the mirror, but it is still an option. Keeping an eye on your form is a great way to see improvements in your technique and should help you realize those gains you are looking for.
“I don’t feel like I am being challenged enough in my classes”
This statement has a pretty simple answer. It is not the Sifus’ job to push you in a class, it is our job to structure the class to ensure you are learning your curriculum. It is your job to push yourself in the class. You can do this by giving 100% in everything you do, leaving it all out on the floor as they say. During open Kwoon time, you can run your forms or kicking sequences one after the other to push yourself to the limit of your cardio and challenge your memory while you are at it. The bottom line is all classes can be taxing classes, but you only get out of it what you put into it.
I do hope that you have found these last few articles to be insightful and have helped you to consider the mental side of our Kung Fu training. See you in the Kwoon!
Explore all of our Kung-Fu Focus Points.