| HOW SHOULD YOU TRAIN? |
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| How you train is also very important. Many expect to be proficient in no time flat while only taking class twice a week and thats all. Not so. Serious training requires you to at least train 3 times a week in class. This also has to be supplmented with practicing on your own 45min to an hour a day on your own. By doing so you not only review the material but make it become habit. Instinctive. Arts that have forms (kata in Japanese or heyung or poomse in Korean), which are prearranged patterns of footwork and techniques linked together, as if it were an imagined fight. This gives a practitioner a means to keep his skill with no other training aids and by himself if need be. A great tool to have. Though you can not fight using forms you can learn how to fight from them. Examples are Wing Chun, Bagua Zhang, and Karate... Arts that do not have forms like Jujitsu, Hapkido, Aikido, and so on make it harder for the individual to train on their own because they lack forms. Techniques must be learned from a partner or you will not fully understand them. So getting a fellow student to train with you on your off time from class is a must. In either case both would benefit from having fellow students to train with on days there are no classes. The single most thing that gets in the way of fighting is thinking. When an attack happens to you shouldn't have to think. If you do its too late to react and that may cost you your life. By training in the above manner you make it a part of you. Concious thinking is gone and your body just REACTS. This is called Mushin ( mind no-mind )or instinct, a Japanese concept. Or you can also refer to it as muscle memory. Training for multiple attackers is also important. Arts like Jujitsu, Judo and other groundfighting arts seem to be favored by the west. However, when faced on the streets most people tend to have friends, especially in a club, bar or anyother social place. Rapists and muggers can have accomplices also. You maybe the on top in the mount position (much like what is taught in Brazilian Jujitsu) and beating your attacker to a pulp, but that doesn't stop a friend from smashing your head with a pipe, bottle, or chair while you beat his friend. Last place you want to be is on the ground. Make them fight your fight. Standing. Not to say ground fighting isn't a great supplement as in emergencies...but get back on your feet quick. There is where your weapons can be used to their max effect... and you have a much better chance against many attackers. Train for environment. Do you live on a farm or city? will you be fighting on ice? snow? mud? hills? rain? Make sure that your art will be adaptable to your environment. Understanding an Art's doctrine and principles will help you know how adaptable and Art can be for you. To maintain a balance in skill you want to be around 60/40% in skill... 60% hands and 40% legs OR 60% legs and 40% hands. Relying on one or the other to the extreme and not developing the other maybe costly in a fight. If your primary weapons (hands or feet) are damaged and you still may need to fight you will be left wide open because your other tools are trained poorly. Other than physical training you must also train your mind. Ask questions. Read warrior texts on combat and tactics. Research the history of your art: its principles and underlying philosophy. This will aid in the understanding of your art. And finally study other arts in reading form only. This will help you identify what you may come across in a fight should it appear. Do this deligently and you will learn much. You're training will be more rounded and complete. A balanced way to train... Mind and Body. Before the Second World War Zen Master Kodo Sawaki used to lecture the greatest masters in the martial arts, the highest authorities of Budo(the Martial Way). In his lectures Kodo Sawaki would say that Zen and the martial arts had the same flavor and were the same thing. And in both Zen and the martial arts, training counts for a great deal. How long do you need to train? Many people have asked me, "How many years do I have to practice zazen?" And I answer, "Until you die." They're not very happy with that answer. In the West people want to learn fast; some people think once is enough: "I came once and I understood," they say. But the dojo is not like a university. In Budo, too, you have to practice until you die. Good Luck and Train well... SUGGESTED READING LIVING THE MARTIAL WAY-FORREST E. MORGAN BARRACADE BOOKS THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS-MUSAHSI/CLEARY SHAMBHALA PRESS THE ART OF WAR-SUN TZU/CLEARY SHAMBHALA PRESS WARRIOR SPEED-WEIMANN TURTLE PRESS FIGHTER'S FACT BOOK-LOREN W. CHRISTENSEN TURTLE PRESS |
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| Tomorrow's battle is won during today's practice. -Samurai Maxim |
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