gongfu

 At the pinnacle of all good gong fu systems, is the conditioning methods that they use.

Often, when we first start learning gong fu, all we learn are conditioning drills. Frog hopping, bear walking, duck walking, panther crawling, pushups, situps, dips, pullups and so on and so on. It is grueling at first, later it becomes a reality, like dental work for some people. The thing is, most of the time, actually going through the drills in class, after you’re no longer a beginner isn’t something that happens enough. The reason is, that class time is better spent refining what you’ve got, or giving you new material.

 A problem that can sometimes occur, is that people will stop doing their conditioning at home, and end up losing the ability to perform the new material that they are learning! It really happens all of the time. Once you’ve lost your conditioning, you have to start over. Remember what that was like? This time, you have to do it all alone. You’ll have no one to share your constant failure with and you’ll have no one pushing you except you.

 It is at this point which a person should realize two things. One thing, is the fact that you can, in fact, force yourself to improve, you don’t need a teacher to push you or a peer to go through it with you. You really can cultivate the rawest elements of your gong fu, the elements which give you your physical power and stamina all by yourself, and the level that you reach is only determined by the limits which you set for yourself.

 The next thing you should be realizing, is that the whole secret to gong fu, is it’s basics. The most basic components of gong fu are not only what form the foundation upon which you build all of your skill, they are also the tools you use to form and develop it. They are how your body is able to become strong and flexible enough to perform, develop and refine your gong fu. Really, gong fu is the basics. The conditioning, the most basic type of gong fu training is arguably the most important aspect. Without intense conditioning, where is there any hard work? Without hard work, what you do cannot be called gong fu.

 Now, if you are just starting your gong fu training, I will tell you this: If you take every little exercise that you learn home with you, and train as hard as you can, after a very short time, your teachers will start to notice, and the student that stands out, get’s the most attention. It will prove, simply by observation, that you are truelly comitted to training hard. After some time, it will be clear that you’re serious. A serious student that trains hard is both more valuable and more rare than gold itself.

 Have fun.