My Sifu was talking about this a while back. Apparently, there is an old Chinese phrase "you must eat bitter." The idea behind it is that you must endure hardship in life to reap the benefits and joy in it.
My Sifu was talking about it in a martial arts context (of course). He said that to become a good martial artist you must do some of those practices that are not easy and fun. He was particularly talking about stance training and slow motion kicks. Those not so exciting foundational exercises that are oh so easy to skip in lieu of the more "fun" parts of our training.
Honestly, I was not focusing much on "eating bitter." But we had a seminar where I learned directly from our school's founder for the first time. And it brought home what my Sifu had talked about. Frankly, I didn't do so good in some foundational drills- all focused on balance and leg strength. I was embarrassed by my performance. For example, he had us locking out kicks for 5 seconds. I couldn't do it to save my life. I am considered an advanced level student, I SHOULD have done better.
So, I have a new commitment to "eating bitter." I will learn and grow from that experience. It's only been a week, but I have a new commitment to stance training and slow motion kicks.
It got me wondering. About those two exercises and the larger concept both.
So, if you are a traditional MAist and are supposed to to them, be honest? Do you to much stance training and/ or slow motion kicks? Or do you find reasons to focus on other parts of your training?
And to everyone, do you have some sort of foundational exercise like these that you maybe don't focus on like you should? What are they?
And when you have focused on them, have you reaped the benefits?
My Sifu was talking about it in a martial arts context (of course). He said that to become a good martial artist you must do some of those practices that are not easy and fun. He was particularly talking about stance training and slow motion kicks. Those not so exciting foundational exercises that are oh so easy to skip in lieu of the more "fun" parts of our training.
Honestly, I was not focusing much on "eating bitter." But we had a seminar where I learned directly from our school's founder for the first time. And it brought home what my Sifu had talked about. Frankly, I didn't do so good in some foundational drills- all focused on balance and leg strength. I was embarrassed by my performance. For example, he had us locking out kicks for 5 seconds. I couldn't do it to save my life. I am considered an advanced level student, I SHOULD have done better.
So, I have a new commitment to "eating bitter." I will learn and grow from that experience. It's only been a week, but I have a new commitment to stance training and slow motion kicks.
It got me wondering. About those two exercises and the larger concept both.
So, if you are a traditional MAist and are supposed to to them, be honest? Do you to much stance training and/ or slow motion kicks? Or do you find reasons to focus on other parts of your training?
And to everyone, do you have some sort of foundational exercise like these that you maybe don't focus on like you should? What are they?
And when you have focused on them, have you reaped the benefits?
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