Martial Arts: It’s All About the Basics

Website design By BotEap.comAsk any professional how they got good at their martial arts skills and they will tell you to practice. Ask them what they practiced and you’ll most likely hear “the fundamentals” or “the basics.”

Website design By BotEap.comI once interviewed 13 great martial artists. What stood out to me was that each of them talked about how their first instructor was a traditionalist and asked them to study the basics. In other words, what made them great was the fact that they spent time on the fundamentals.

Website design By BotEap.comNow the sad part of this was that half of them were not teaching the knowledge that they said made them good. They were into flash and shortcuts. While this is okay for them, it is not okay for their students. Remember that a shortcut is only one part of a move, but most moves are made up of many parts that can lead to shortcuts. Shortcuts lead nowhere. When a teacher takes a shortcut, he looks good, but when a student learns only shortcuts, he looks poorly trained.

Website design By BotEap.comPractice your fundamentals and I promise the fun stuff will be better, faster and more functional. The basics are – postures and forms. If they teach you quality forms, then they are worth it. If the forms are simply made up, it can teach you bad training habits that are hard to break. There are no excuses, if you want to master your art and your body then these must be perfect.

Website design By BotEap.comPostures: horse, bow, front, cat, high back and low back. They should be low and comfortable so that you can move in different directions while staying level. Also, the lower you are in your stance, the more stable you will be.

Website design By BotEap.comKicks: front side, rear and circular. These must be controlled and very smooth.

Website design By BotEap.comBlocks: high ascending, descending, outside block, front fist, backhand and vertical fist. If these are perfect, your training can begin!

Website design By BotEap.comThe list above works all of your major muscle groups, as well as all of the major defensive and offensive directions. If you had those perfect basics, you could master almost any art. Regardless of whether they use those moves they are not. The reason is simple, once you master your body you can make it do anything. A new style of martial arts is like learning a new dance. It can be challenging, but not impossible.