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A skill is acquired if we don’t realize to possess it

Each capability that we do not possess appears to us as special. However, what distinguishes a simple amateur from a real martial arts practitioner is being able to express one or more abilities:

That cannot be acquired in a short time (see The first martial skill to be acquired)
That usually can not be an innate talent (read Natural talent and martial arts)
That their mere theoretical knowledge is useless
That just having good physical shape or a reactive mind is not enough to learn them quickly (read for example Speed and quickness)
Where the involvement of the mind is as important as the education of the body (read for example The most important skill in combat)
…

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

We’re talking about special abilities concerning things like:

Spatial intelligence (high precision hitting, etc.)
Conditioning (to impacts, etc.)
Body control (use of the muscle chain, etc.)
Body manipulations (bones breakings, etc.)
Agility (practical acrobatics, etc.)
Weapons (the flexible ones, etc.)
…

Why acquire advanced martial skills

This type of attitudes are important for a practitioner at various levels and the reasons are that:

If we learn them in the most realistic and concrete way, they can often give us overwhelming advantages over our opponents
Both directly and indirectly, being able to do more complex things (eg. instead of simple kicks and punches inside a form, read Are Karate’s Kata, Kung Fu’s form (etc.) useless?) allows us to manage the most simple situations with less effort (read Combat skills: what we will learn)
They prepare us mentally and physically to aim for higher goals than those that actually we need and this inevitably opens the doors to high-quality results (both in terms of martial growth, both in life)
…

A note by Master Kongling – The point is that if, for example, we have the mental toughness of dedicating 10000 hours to the development of a specific skill: almost no daily life task will scare us. This means to trace a route to real self-discipline and therefore to success (in any field, read Discipline is the key to freedom).

How to acquire real martial skills

What is the path to build real martial skills?

Let’s see now what is the path to master this kind of capabilities in 6 Dragons Kung Fu:

Constancy – First of all, the exercise must be constant and daily (no interruptions, no excuses, read Practical examples of daily training time subdivision)
Focus – The practice must follow the idea of improving each time (no listless performances, read How to train with perseverance)
Safety – In the correct practice there are no shortcuts, graduality and safety will speed up our path (avoiding rest periods due to injury, etc., read How to train without risks)
Difficulty increase – The practice must be always focused on the same things but with a steady increase in difficulty (in our school, we never do the same thing, read Same exercises, different execution)
Measurement – The effectiveness of the practice has to be evaluated and registered each time (we can not improve what we do not measure, read Analysis and improvement of performance)
Face the errors – To every mistake / step back must follow a question and an answer on how to improve (read Measure ourselves with errors)
Awareness – The practice must be at the same time humble, aware of our level and enthusiastic
No poor goals – We need precise goals (read How to achieve our goals in life and in martial arts) but there are no points of arrival, the real final objective is only the idea of improving itself
…

When can an ability be considered truly acquired?

Our special skills (and generally any kind of ability, read (read All the skills of 6 Dragons Kung Fu) can be said “acquired” only if:

We can always exploit them at a minimum of 75% of their effectiveness (even in real / unexpected scenarios, without a preparation phase as it happens in training, exhibitions, etc.)
We succeed in 90% of the cases on the first try of execution (in normal contexts)
Sometimes we are able to express them also at 120-150% of their functionality (when we are at our peak psychophysical condition)
…

Final notes

A few conclusive thoughts:

The idea is that each special ability must work properly and immediately as the simplest on (eg. as a punch, as breathing, as walking, etc.); from this, we can easily understand that without true preparation, discipline and concentration, it is impossible to gain any advanced skill
We must accept that if we are able to reach the goal of a skill 1-2 times on 10, we are not certainly at zero level but we are far away from the real acquisition (a newborn who takes 1-2 steps and then falls, can be considered able to walk? No, the crucial key of success is to not settle easily)
…

In the next article of this series, we will see some practical ideas to increment the difficulty of our practice, gradually but every day.

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu exercises – A course about the central part of our training system, the one that builds real martial attitude
Advanced speed and reflexes training – A step-by-step path toward building real combat speed
Mind self-control hacks – How to improve the faculties of our brain and reach our life goals
Diamond Finger conditioning – How to become able to hit with the finger (exploit the power of its 20 times smaller impact surface)
Fa Jing: how to develop explosive power – How to become able to express real power in combat
Iron palm: complete development path – The development of the most advanced hand conditioning
Iron body: the development path – The complete path of impact conditioning of our school

In-depth articles

Tips on how to stretch our training times – A few tricks and ideas about how to increase the duration of our sessions
7 principles to become a better fighter – The secrets to reach the highest martial levels

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

What martial skills would you like to acquire?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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