Hey Family, Sifu Larry here!
I wanted to share something with you that has been on my mind lately. Often I am asked what did it take to gain the skill I have in martial arts. The reality is I didn’t train harder than anyone else. To be honest with you it was a struggle for me to even remember my forms.
The most honest answer I can give someone when people ask me how did I get as good as I am in the martial arts is the fact that I never gave up on myself. While I may have not trained as hard as some and more than others, the key was I consistently trained. Even today, I continue to regularly practice my martial arts on a weekly and often daily basis.
Sometimes I train harder than other days, some days I don’t train at all, overall though I consistently train month after month and year after year. There is one other secret to my skill… That secret is simply listening and applying what Sifu Phu has taught me throughout the years and that is to ‘Feel The Force, Don’t Force The Feel‘.
Becoming a better martial artist isn’t about how hard you can hit someone, becoming a better martial artist is about learning to be in control of yourself. What you have here at Enter Shaolin is a blueprint to develop your martial arts ability.
We don’t claim that we can replace person to person training. What we can do though, is give you blueprint you can follow that has increased our martial art abilities. And like Sifu Phu always says, there is a lot and I mean a lot of training you can and even should do solo. So even if you don’t have a training partner yet, don’t worry about it. There is plenty for you to work on solo.
You can read about how I found plenty of training partners here.
The knowledge we give you has been pressure tested. Most of my training like Sifu Phu’s training has been done alone. Did you know it’s not what you do when other people are around that develops your skill the most? It’s what you do when you are by yourself that matters most. It’s the people willing to train when no one is watching that get better faster.
Over the years, I have seen people come and go. It seems like lots of folks want to learn martial arts, but few are ready for the journey. Often after a couple of months or a few years they give up on their goals. Whether it’s time, money or simply because they think they aren’t where they should be, often time people give up right before they hit gold.
Sadly, over the years I have seen people quit after 4 years, 10 years, 13 years and even 15 years.
In all cases the person gave up on themselves. I hope you choose to preserver through all of life’s challenges and the excuses any one could make. I hope you decide to push through the tough times and love yourself enough to keep going. Because if you treat this as a lifestyle vs. a hobby you will reap some amazing rewards along the way. And yes, there is a high likely hood that if you do, one day you can be called a Master of your craft or a Sifu.
The real secret to mastery is to consistently be consist with your action taking over time. You don’t have to train for hours a day either, it’s about making the most of your time and using up dead spaces throughout your day as opportunities to train.
For instance I have Jamie doing 10 pushups before she gets on Facebook (even if it is work related) and cycle punching walking to and from the house to the office. Sifu often talks about doing C.O.R.E. exercises on commercial breaks if you like watching TV or being mindful how you open and shut doors.
You could be literally training here and there all throughout the day. Even just being mindful of your posture and if you are rooted goes a long way. The point is there is no reason not to train on a regular basis, it will benefit you in more ways than one.
One of the things we are doing soon is sharing more videos of Jamie’s training and me teaching her. We hope not only will you learn more but that it will encourage you to keep pushing through the rough spots. You will see Jamie cry to laugh, because struggles happen and you just have to laugh them off and keep moving forward.
Here are some of the older videos we did in case you missed them…
Developing Responses vs. Reactions
Why Can’t I Kick Out Of An Ankle Lock
Now on to your new training this week…
Here’s Your New Enter Shaolin Training:
Ngo Dac Na
Wing Chun
Talk to you soon,
Sifu Larry Rivera
& The Enter Shaolin Family
Well said sifu Larry.
And for the training, do it and “don’t let what other people think stop you from doing the things you love”.
I train alone or with friends in a park … the biggest from the town : The royal park of Brussels … almost everyday.
As it is “the royal park” there are a lot of people visiting it, passing through it or just taking some rest. It’s amazing to see the tourists looking at us instead of listening their guide, taking pictures or filming us, having people asking questions or share their experiences.
On top of that, you gain confidence in what you are doing and do not feel ambarassed when you do mistakes … by the way, do mistakes ! and learn from them …
The second thing that happen is that you meet people, martial artist or not (yet) and you may find partner. You will also meet “strange” people … just discuss with them and let them go … If you believe in your martial art you do not have to prove it.
For partner, the only advice I can give when you meet people that want to train with you, ensure that you are talking the same “language” … ensure that what he/she is looking for in a drill, chi sau and/or sparing is what you are looking for. In short: establish the rules. Otherwise it could lead to “high tension” situations. Happened once for me 7 months ago and I ended the chi sau session before entering in a real fight … and still training with this person today 🙂
Have a good training.
PS: repeat in the subway, bus, train, mentally or physically 🙂
Hi Eddy, thanks for commenting and thanks for sharing some good tips on training with a partner 🙂