Shifu Yan Lei - Genuine Shaolin Kung Fu, Qi Gong & Rou Quan

In the last article I focused on running. I now want to focus on the training we do in the dojo or training hall.

Skipping

As well as running, skipping is another very important arsenal in the fighter’s training. There are two ways to practice. Practice at a normal pace and combine footwork, skip for about forty-five minutes, or alternatively do four minutes of skipping then stop for one minute and practice shadow punches and kicks then repeat again - skipping for four minutes and shadow punching and kicking for one minute. Do about five or six rounds like that.

Sometimes you can carry weights on your body, if you do this then skip for half an hour, combining footwork within the skipping. After you have warmed up in this way you can then move on to pad work.

Pad Work

You follow the same combination - four minutes each round. Tell your partner what you will do and then afterwards let your partner be your opponent as if you are in a real fight. It is very important when you do your pad work to think you are in a real fight, you must bring your heart and mind together, and use your imagination to work together with your partner. In every other way think of it like a real fight. Do four rounds like this.

If you think your opponent doesn’t have skill and is not as good as you then use your weakness to fight with him. If you think he or she is much better than you then use your courage to fight against him.

Stress

There are times when people look very good when they spar, they have good stamina and their punches and kicks are fast and powerful yet when they go into the ring to participate in a real fight, they quickly get tired and lose their stamina. What does this mean? It means they are too nervous, their heart is not strong enough, their nerves are dispersing their breath and stealing their energy.

Think about when you get stressed at work or by a life event, your energy drains out of you and you feel incredibly tired, you may try to pick yourself up with some caffeine and sugar but this is only a temporary method. Best way is to calm your heart down and understand the stress. Don’t see it as harmful but utilise it in a positive way and use it as a fuel for the fight.

“Those Who Cultivate Power, Identify With Power. Those Who Cultivate Failure, Identify With Failure.” Tao Te Ching.

To improve your skill it is important to not only train in the Dojo but to fight and to learn from each fight. There is no other way - it can be very shaky for the ego - there you are looking superb in the training hall and then when you go to fight you look terrible - but the ego needs to be subdued, it’s only through shedding our pride and ego that we can really become good fighters. And if you want to become a good fighter then you have to fail. Fail to win. Do not be scared of failing but greet it like a friend who can teach you things. When I first came to the UK, I had a small book, which taught me about Western culture, and amongst the many fascinating stories was one about Thomas Edison, which I read over and over again. He tested over 3000 filaments before he came up with the light bulb but he didn’t get despondent or see them as failures, he just kept going, undeterred. I learnt a lot from this man’s determination. This is how we need to be as fighters. We lose a fight to win, if we don’t win the next one then we keep losing until we learn our lesson and then eventually win. It’s very important to see these defeats not as failures but the journey onto success.

Some of our best leaders, or most inspirational people in the world have had hard lives or big failures, but this has not broken them but made them who they are today. The training of the mind is as important as the training of the body this is why, we have not only coaches for the physical aspect of our sport but mental and sport’s psychologists, thousands and thousands of years ago, the Buddha said “it is our mind which makes the world,” So if we believe we are failures then that is what we shall become.

Bag Work

When you do bag work the most important thing is to never think this is a bag but this is your opponent who you fight with. Use your imagination to punch and kick this bag, as hard as you can and as quick as you can. Never play with this bag. Make a plan as to how many rounds you want to do but make sure that each round is more than three minutes and make it count! Never give yourself more than one minute to relax. In this one-minute, relax your mind but not your body – do other things like sit ups, push-ups and squats.

Training Plan

All of this training is hard, if you want to fight you have to enjoy this kind of training, stamina for fighters is money, no stamina no fight. People always want to learn techniques, but only when you have stamina can you use technique. You need to find the right balance, how much you need to push yourself so your stamina can improve and how much you need to hold back, you need to study your body - are you pushing yourself too much or not enough?

You also need to have very strong discipline for your life, what things you can eat, what things you can never touch, for example smoking and drinking, and also try to eat healthy food, because your energy comes from your food. When you make a training plan, at the same time you need to make your life plan, what you should eat, what time you should get up, how many runs you will do. Be exact and follow this plan.

Always think you can do much more than you think - maybe sometimes your plan is wrong, don’t worry, next time your body will tell you what kind of plan you can make. I say that because life can change your plan but never change your mind if you really want to do it. I finish with a suggestion of a three-day training plan for the morning.

Three-Day Training Plan

Get up and do a half hour run. Following what I wrote about in my last article. When you come back, stretch for 10 min, 25 minute skipping then do, 10 minutes of shadow punching and kicking, and some bag work. Four rounds, each round four minutes, stop for 40 seconds, do push up squats or sit up, after that, take a 5 minute break, then do pad work, four minutes each round, x 3, rounds. Then do some stomach training with the medicine ball and some neck lifts to strengthen the neck. Cool off with some stretching.

Shifu Yan Lei is a 34th generation fighting disciple from the Shaolin Temple in China. He specialises in Shaolin Steel Jacket, Bone Marrow Cleansing Qi Gong, Sanshou Fighting, and other forms of Shaolin Gong Fu. He teaches private lessons in the London and Brighton area. He has produced a series of teaching DVD’s, one of which ‘Shaolin Warrior: Kung Fu Journey’ was a top twenty martial arts bestseller on Amazon.