Dispelling The Myth
You work five or so days out of seven, eight or nine hours per day. You go home, you have your tea, you clean the house, do the washing up, settle down on the sofa and watch a soap, but is that it?
Most people these days do something, go to the gym a couple of times per week, maybe aerobics, swimming or cycling. I chose Martial because it is more, the training builds more than muscles, and it develops balance, co-ordination, discipline and confidence. However, committing yourself to anything these days is tough. I train five days per week, I teach twice per week, I fit in weapons training, Lion Dance training as well as demo squad training and try to get my horse out too on top of working 30 hours a week as a surgery practice manager and running my own business as a sports, remedial and holistic massage therapist.
One aspect I find with Martial Arts is the lack of commitment from people in general, it often seems that people train in Martial Arts to get their black belt and then stop (if they ever manage to get that far), when in actual fact this is the level when your learning starts. Certainly there is more variety to Martial Arts than most other sports. The forms can be graceful combining flowing movement with pinpoint accuracy in the strikes and kicks. The forms tone and build muscle in a way that few other sports can, the training also adds flexibility and strength to the muscular-skeletal system. In short it is the perfect all round fitness system.
Although Martial Arts traditionally is male dominated, mostly I was the token female in an all male class, it has enabled me to be more than I ever expected to be. This situation is slowly altering due to our Chief Instructor (Paul Burkinshaw) who has been promoting the benefits of our style to females and in particular bringing Kung Fu back to the family unit on which the traditional ranking system is based on. Sifu Paul Burkinshaw has made me, and all our association members aware that Kung Fu is for all and not just the biggest and strongest males in our society. Without the martial arts I would not have qualified as a BCCMA (British Council of Chinese Martial Arts) coach, and then studied sports psychology, massage and fitness training.
Psychologically I have the confidence to spar with my male counterparts; I have never felt threatened by my peers, I am respected by the junior grades and I have never felt undermined. There are more women coming into the sport, I train in one class a week which is female dominated, they are all low grades just starting out and given the right encouragement will make confident, successful martial artists.
Finding the right style of Martial Arts is essential, I tried three different styles, two Kung Fu styles and one Korean style before training with Sil Lum Kune. This particular style is based on the Shaolin way of teaching Kung Fu; it is very structured and designed to build on a pupil’s strengths. It has enabled me to train to the best of my ability and compete successfully at National Level, of the female contingent in our association, two of us dominate the gold medal position in our respective categories and there are others swiftly coming up behind us.
Competitive fighting is an art form in its’ own right. Qingda is the favoured fighting style it is a points system with different strikes and kicks commanding points from 1 to 3. The style also includes sweeps, takedowns and pushes whereby you push your opponent cleanly out of the fighting area. Three clean sweeps, takedowns or pushes will ensure you win the fight. Qingda is a skilful form of fighting with only 10% power used, you must maintain control at all times, lose control and go in too hard will ensure disqualification.
Psychologically there is only one person you are up against when you are fighting and that is yourself, your opponent will be in your weight category and have similar experience. If you do not respect your opponent then you should not be in the ring fighting, Chinese Martial Arts encompasses respect it is unfortunate when individuals forget this. As well as competitive fighting I have also trained as a judge, watching other people fight and understanding the marking system is invaluable in improving your own style as a fighter.
To conclude if you want to do something more with your life, try martial arts. Check out different associations, make sure you are happy with the instructors, ensure you don’t feel threatened or discriminated against. Above all, commit yourself, train 2 or 3 times per week, practice at home, it is one of the easiest sports to practice at home. Martial Arts will give you more than you will ever achieve doing aerobics or going to the gym, it’s also great fun and you will make some really good friends.
Written by Alexandra Hyde
Student of Sil Lum Kune : Shaolin Fist Chinese Boxing Association.