Training Advice from the Jow Gows

◉ Practice, practice!!! You should be practicing for a minimum of 30 minutes per day outside of the Kwoon.

◉ Practice your forms as if you were under attack. Picture an opponent during your movements. Look where you punch! The bad guy is not in the mirror at the Kwoon!

◉ Stretch, stretch, stretch (after a light warm-up)! Stretch before your forms practice and after! If you are not stretching daily, you are not progressing!

◉Do not ask to test. You will test when you’re ready! Bruce Lee once said: “Belts (and sashes) are good for holding up pants”! Remember: The pre- communist practitioners of Wushu did not have different pretty colors to determine rank. They went into “years of study” and actual fighting ability. The color-scheme in our sashes is for Sifu to know what you should be studying! Also, “Billy-bob, the bully” does not care about whether or not you’re an orange sash!!

◉ Balance your training with other interests and pursuits! The Chinese warriors of old were the intelligentsia of their society who also happened to be philosophers, poets, writers, healers, etc. What does that mean to you? It means that if you are still in school, treat Algebra and Biology like another Kung Fu form to learn!!! Every educational pursuit is like Kung- fu! Did you even know your Sifu is an avid Chess player?

◉ Don’t brag about “knowing Kung-fu.” You are a “student of Kung-fu.” Bragging on the playground/bar only invites disaster; furthermore, you will find a lot of challengers who will want to see what you know. In Ancient China, people would often train at night to avoid being seen by neighbors. Often those neighbors would live and die without knowing that “Mr. Jones-down-the-street” was a Sifu!!

◉Respect practitioners of other martial arts! You don’t know how good they actually are! Don’t knock them just because you think that they’re “too rigid and stiff in movement."

◉Use your self-defense techniques only in self-defense situations. Don’t go out picking a fight to test your skills! There will always be someone else better than you. Indeed, do not go looking for trouble. Remain humble and true to your Kung-Fu!