In The Zone

Are you familiar with the expression "in the zone"?  It's usually used in sports where an athlete, in essence, is so focused on the task at hand and executes it so well that he or she can really do no wrong.  Everything you attempt works, everything you do succeeds..and nothing can set you off those tracks.

It's also used in weight training where you psych yourself up and constantly remind yourself of what your goal is so that all you need to think about is pushing that weight.

Nothing else matters.

People around you, the variables that surround - none of that matters or enters the equation. It's just you and the objective. And when you're in the zone...things go your way.

So how can you replicate this effect in your wing chun training?

Thinking back at what my Si-Fu describes back in the days of his wing tsun training, where you train hours upon hours in a row, on the same exercises and drills..where things just become a blur..you don't think about the movements, the techniques.. it's just a mesh of whatever is in front of you.

Whatever pain you were feeling numbs.

Whatever aspect of time you had, dissipates.

It's just you and the drill..in the present now.

Is that the zone? How do you elicit this into training, if at all? or are we so focused on the details that we don't really allow ourselves to?

I'm curious to know what your thoughts are.

Until then.

My Karate Experience

So some of you may know that before my Wing Tsun days, I spent a number of years practicing Shito-Ryu karate. It was my first real, committed, take-it-seriously, exposure to martial arts and it was great. I started in high school and I was a fat kid. I always loved martial arts and wanted to one day kick ass and it was Karate that was able to work with my limitations and over time, i got better and better at it.

But obviously I left. Why?

First off, the karate dojo was awesome - the people were amazing. I loved the structure, the traditionalism of the school, much of the moves, katas and drills were expressed in Japanese and the head sensai's trained and competed in Japan..and in turn, built great students that really established the reputation of the school.

Till this day, the dojo is still there and thriving and i always have a place in my heart for that school.

As my training progressed, i watched the senior students, i watched the quality of their skills and I watched the instructors skills..and i looked at how they fought and really wondered, will this work in a real street fight scenario?

I figured nothing's stopping from earning a black belt as long as I stay the course, learn the katas and do the tests and attend class. But at the same time, you saw people who probably couldn't do anything in a real fight (although great with katas, drills and weapons) and it was something I struggled with.

I ended up leaving because i graduated high school and had to figure out my education plans thereafter.

Before finding the current wing tsun school, i actually tried a variety of other kung fu styles - shaolin, choy lee fut. it was fine. To be honest, it was really not that different from karate - just the nature of the moves. but you still did the warm ups, drills, forms, etc..but again, the same reservations i had about karate was also there in these kung fu clubs. One thing i didn't like about some of the the kung fu clubs, though, was the lack of structure that my karate club had.

I actually visited my old Karate club again..thinking that maybe i just gotta get back into and train with a different mentality.

Of course, I never returned once I found the current school I'm at.

But the point of my post is not to say or imply that wing chun is better than karate.

The reason for my post is simply a result of me seeing this karate clip on one of the facebook updates..and it just jogged my memory of my karate days and thought i'd share my experience with you.

You can see how, although the punches can knock someone out, there's a lot pulling of the punches (as shown in the first scene of the video), tagging punches and just all the bad habits of what can be developed through point sparring...full contact or not.  there is no finishing off the opponent, or really looking to hit..it's about getting the point (but again, i stress, these punches and kicks still hurt!).

But at the same time, the habits formed depend on a ref going in to stop the fight.

In the street fight or free fight scenario, I've seen the punch pulling and ki-yai occur and it's weird to see. Ya you hit him, but the opponent's still standing there..while the karate guy steps back after the reverse punch makes contact and you can see him retract his punch to his waist..

It kind of looks dumb...no wait..it does look dumb.

The opponent is still there, standing ..and sure, maybe he's hurt a bit, but he's recovering every moment that he's not being attacked...and the karate guy...after a second..realizes, shit, it's not over.

And there in lies the rub of my experience with Karate.

Until then.