Question Can you efficiently train yourself in Kung Fu? I have been taught by a sensei in Aikido and got great results but there are several martial arts I wish to learn that are simply too rare or exclusive to find where I am. I have currently taught myself a little in a few martial arts (shaolin, drunken, tiger-crane, and some others) but I am unsure if I can reach true skill by only reading on the subject and gaining minor consult from the internet.
Answer Dear Alex,
Well, there are a lot of people who make a living selling courses on DVD and on the internet that will tell you that you can learn it this way but I completely disagree with them. You can learn forms/katas and maybe some rudimentary techniques but you cannot learn the core of training. Just think of something like boxing; no matter what you could possibly teach yourself on DVD once you step into the ring it all goes out the window. Part of it is the way our brains are wired. When we learn something cognitively, even in a school, it functions in the front or our brains but when we are under attack it is the back and stem of our brains that react. This is why someone can practice in a school for years and do perfect forms and drills but when they are truly attacked on the street they fold. It is because the cognitive aspects of the brain shut down to let the fight or flight take over. Unless they trained that aspect of their brain it is inaccessible when under attack.
All the nuance of balance, power, speed and timing can only be learned with an experienced trainer. One of my favorite stories of all time is when a fighter I knew was invited to visit another school. He was asked to participate in an exercise of blocks and punches. He was to throw the punch while the other fellow blocked. Well, he’s a real puncher, and very controlled at it. When the Sifu said start he threw a real punch at his partner albeit a controlled punch, he wasn’t going to hit him. The blocker shrieked and jumped back saying “he’s trying to hit me”! The puncher was perplexed and said, “Of course I am, this is blocking punches isn’t it”? The blocker had never had anyone throw a punch with real intent at him. You might teach yourself all types of techniques but when it came to real application they would fail. Most good styles have an entire system of why and how they do things, a logic to it all that can only happen in real time with one on one training and with various different partners. You need an outside teacher to observe and correct what you are doing. What works on a small guy may not work at all on a big guy. When I learned leg locks years ago I loved them and used them regularly. One day when I was working with a fellow 6’5”, 235 lbs, and tried it I found it was like leg locking an oak tree. He just grinned and tore my own leg out from under me. You can’t get humiliated like that on your own.
So I am sorry to say that you really can’t do it this way, you really need one on one teaching.
Take care and good luck,
Joe
