Lesson 2 – Kung Fu: the first steps
Important checks before starting
What real Kung Fu training entails
If you have never brought your body to high levels of physical / mental effort, forget what you think to know about yourself. We have to start from scratch.
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).
Remember, 2 are the enemies of a good practitioner:
- The rush to overcome your limits (stupidity)
- The non-knowledge of your limits (ignorance)
This course is for everyone but before starting you need (as for every kind of physical activity) to acquire 2 important things:
- A medical opinion (is your mind / body ready for martial arts practice?)
- Common sense and patience (are you ready to follow a step-by-step guide to Kung Fu?)
You must be sure of your adaptability to a slow and gradual but intense and full of challenges path.
After a positive medical opinion, to plan your access to Kung Fu daily training, you have to do a physical and a mental level check.
A note by Master Kongling – Each time I had injuries (outside of a combat situation), it has been due to my arrogance. Do not forget these words.
Let’s start moving (physical check)
The points we are going to list represent an extremely basic physical check (they are made to understand if you need a long or short body awakening phase):
- Can you touch your feet from a stand-up position (maintaining straight legs)?
- Can you run (at least) 5 minutes without exaggerated heavy breathing?
- Can you stay in a correct Ma Bu stance (at least) for 50 seconds (read The correct position of the rider (ma bu))?
- Can you do 10 abs without interruptions?
- Can you do (at least) 5 high jumps (flexing the knees to the chest) and then 5 crouched jumps on your knees (on the tip of the toes) without interruptions?
- Can you do at least 5 (normal) push-ups without interruptions?
- Can you stay on one foot at least for 10 seconds (with each leg)?
A note by Master Kongling – The answers are for you, by you. Please do not cheat yourself. These kinds of results are easy to gain in a few times but if you do not have the patience to reach them, the training will be immediately too hard and you will probably lose this opportunity to learn 6 Dragons Kung Fu.
Let’s start thinking (mental check)
As for the physical one, here we have a mental check and some fundamental questions:
- Can you maintain concentration on one task for more than 5 minutes without distraction (read Attention span)?
- Can you stay completely immobile for more than 1 minute (sitting on the ground with legs crossed and closed eyes)?
- Real training means sacrifice, are you ready for this? Are you determined enough?
- Are you afraid of physical contact (we are not talking about sparring or combat), effort, pain (etc.)?
- Are you afraid of defeat, failure, errors (etc.)?
- Are you ready to give up pride, competitivity and aggressivity to embrace humility, patience and willingness to help others?
- Are you ready to start a never-ending life path (read A relentless pursuit)?
Your results
If you have not “passed” these check-ups, you have to think seriously about proceeding or not in the study of this course (especially regarding the mental one).
The one we are going to describe is not a hobby, a series of easy tricks or a temporary activity.
How to awaken the body: a little project
If you have “passed” the 2 self-certifications: congratulations, you are ready for your first 6 Dragons Kung Fu training session (in the next lesson).
If you are not able to perform the proposed physical exercises, do not worry, you simply have to train (read How to start practicing from scratch).
Let’s see how:
- Go to walk (quickly but do not run for now) and make jump sequences (start with 25 low jumps, read 5 jumping exercises ideal for beginners / warm-up)
- Do soft stretching exercises, do not force your tendons, massage them (read Basic soft stretching)
- Exercise yourself maintaining the rider stance (Ma Bu); do not worry it is normal to not resist the first times
- Do abs (Exercise 1 for the abs to develop the muscle chain and Exercise 2 for the abs to develop the muscle chain are very easy to perform)
- Do push-ups on the wall from a stand-up position (read 5 push-up exercises ideal for beginners / warm-up)
- From a stand-up position and with attached feet, train your balance oscillating your body in all directions without falling
- If you are overweight, have a correct diet (read Qi and proper nutrition) and try to lose some weight
To start strictly follow these indications:
- 5-15 minutes per day are good
- Continue until you feel good
- Stop at the first symptoms of fatigue (shortness of breath, accelerated heartbeat, etc.)
Your first goal is to not feel fatigue but only wellness.
A note by Master Kongling – You cannot imagine what your body will be able to do in the future but it is not punishing it that you will stretch your daily training time (read Tips on how to stretch our training times).
In-depth articles
- Acceptance and prevention of pain – How to deal with pain and injuries in martial arts
- Patience – An article about the importance and unexpected benefits of patience
<< Lesson 1.1 – Index – Lesson 1.3 >>
Author: Master Kongling
Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.How to master 6 Dragons Kung Fu?
Are you searching for:
- Daily training exercises?
- Synthetic theory and concepts?
- A step by step path from white to black belt?
- A path (clear, consequential and gradual) designed to build real martial skills?
- A direct contact with Master Kongling?
Go to our Patreon page and choose a training plan: starting from the Practitioner level, you will gain access to all this and much more.
Inside each Premium Lesson, you will receive the same teaching (practices, tips, concepts, small secrets and corrections) reserved to the live students of Master Kongling.
Important - Once a certain number of registrations are reached, no other participants can be accepted. For more information write to: [email protected].
You may also like:
December 25, 2017 @ 8:12 am
How can I stretch my concentration span?
December 26, 2017 @ 10:57 am
3 words: discipline, concentration, preparation. There are no tricks but these things help:
– Remove all distractions (people, devices, all the attracting things)
– Consider automatically unnecessary all the thoughts that are not directly connected to the focus of what you are doing (ideas, opportunities, memories, etc.)
It helps a lot to practice meditation:
https://www.6dragonskungfu.com/category/meditation/
December 29, 2017 @ 7:17 am
I feel pain in my legs doing the mabu stance, what can I do?
December 30, 2017 @ 11:22 am
As I said, it’s normal. Do not exaggerate, especially the first times. Massage your legs in all their length. If you feel too much pain you have to wait 2-3 days to recover.
January 3, 2018 @ 2:16 am
I am very rigid, I cannot touch my knees
January 3, 2018 @ 3:54 pm
I do not know your age, physical condition, etc. but do not worry, with patience and dedication you will reach your objectives.
Try to:
The important thing is to improve day by day, not to become a contortionist in a single week
January 3, 2018 @ 10:59 pm
How to win physical fear?
January 4, 2018 @ 9:23 am
Do you mean about combat? We gradually do:
– Various kind of sparring (see https://www.6dragonskungfu.com/category/training/sparring/)
– Conditioning to pain
In 6DKF our goal is to build a strong body and mind, you will love to do sparring! It will be like playing chess!
January 6, 2021 @ 6:36 am
Would these exercises help me to lose my weight because I am overweight.
January 6, 2021 @ 11:25 am
Sure but you have to control even your diet, read:
https://www.6dragonskungfu.com/qi-and-proper-nutrition/
If you are interested we have also a specific video course about losing weight (self-discipline, diet and martial exercises that burn fat):
https://www.6dragonskungfu.com/martial-arts-weight-loss-how-to/