Attitudes towards training and martial arts

Over the past few months I've had the good fortune of speaking to many different individuals about martial arts. What I find interesting is the misconception that martial arts training, is or should be, rough and violent. It's a view I've encountered from experienced martial artists to complete beginners.

By its very nature martial arts training is about learning skills to overcome violence, this doesn't however, mean that we should be violent with our training partners and classmates to see personal improvements and gains. A class should be a controlled environment where you can work towards goals and aims, if it was all about brutish violence there would be a lot of injuries resulting in less training, which in turn leads to less development and skill.

It may be easy to put the gloves on and beat up on each other... But what's the point when your  technique isn't too good and your defences are shabby because you haven't bothered to learn them? You will only progress so much in this way and stunt your growth. 

The same applies to stick fighting, believe it or not I've had people think we go into class and whack each other with sticks for an hour! Don't get me wrong, weaponry as well as the empty hand arts do involve contact and sparring to test what we learn, but the fact remains that we have to first "LEARN" then apply, sensibly. 

To think that martial arts are, or should be, "hardcore" "dangerous" or "rough" doesn't make you those things, martial arts training doesn't have to be those things unless you want it to be. It's no good to think in such rigid and restrictive ways, one cannot plant a seed in stone, instead we plant it in soil because it allows for growth. Having an attitude of stone towards training may appear tough but we know that soil yields more crops.

The study of martial arts is to learn and refine, it takes time but the rewards are plenty. I'll end my rant by suggesting you think about the following next time you go training........

Due to his skill and effectiveness the late GM Wong Shun Leung was known as "King of Talking Hands", one cannot talk without first learning words.