How Many Forms Do You Need to Know?

general internal arts training martial arts training Jun 20, 2010

Bruce Lee said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once. I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

This is a profound statement, but I don't know very many Americans who practice the principle behind it. I see it in my students, and I've seen it in myself -- the quest to learn more forms, thinking that it means we're good at what we do.

But learning more forms doesn't make you good.

Oh sure, we can win trophies at tournaments. We can put our art up against our peers and bring home some hardware. And tournaments are good for marketing, but you take a first place performance at most American tournaments to the Chen Village and you'd be considered a rank beginner. Let's not kid ourselves.

In the Chen Village, it is said that students may spend 10 years practicing only Laojia Yilu. Ten years before they are allowed to practice another empty hand or weapons form.

How well do you think they can perform Laojia Yilu at the end of that time?

A little over a week ago, I went to Chicago and joined in a short workshop where Chen Ziqiang was teaching the fan form. I've never really had a desire to learn the fan form -- I think it's a woman's form -- but there he was, so I joined in. I also wanted to meet Chen Ziqiang and take a private lesson with him on Xinjia Yilu, and I was glad to be able to do it. I admire him a great deal, and he's the head coach of the Chenjiagou Taiji School, which I received a certifcation from back in 2005. I had trained with his father, Chen Xiaoxing, but I had never met Ziqiang. I liked him a lot and enjoyed the training.

This past week, I got to our practice spot at the park a little early one night and I began practicing a few forms. I went through the Bagua Elk Horn Knives, the Bagua Eight Main Palms Form, the Chen straight sword form, and then I found myself growing a little disgusted.

At this point, I know about 34 forms. How many can I do as well as the teenager who has spent 10 years working on Laojia Yilu in the Chen Village?

You probably can guess the answer.

You see, there are different worlds in the martial arts. There's the world of regional tournaments, where the quality is mainstream and not really that good. There's the world of students who study with the masters when they can -- masters such as Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing, Chen Zhenglei, Zhu Tian Cai, Chen Bing, Ren Guangyi, and now Chen Ziqiang. People who are exposed to higher-level training get a glimpse of the skill they're chasing. And then there's the world of the Chen Village (and the masters mentioned above). There's no comparing the three worlds. Of the three, I'd rather have the folks in the Chen Village say I have "gong fu," and you don't get there until you've done Laojia Yilu 10,000 times.

As a teacher, I try to persuade my students not to learn forms they aren't ready to learn. It doesn't do much good, but I usually don't want them practicing the forms in my presence. If they want to waste their private time, there's nothing I can do about it.

Before I went to the fan form workshop, I was talking to a friend (and one of my teachers) on Facebook. He said he had no desire to learn another form.

I knew he was right, but it didn't really sink in until I was practicing forms this week and realizing how much work I needed to do even on forms I've been practicing for years. I don't need another form. I need to get better at the forms I know, to apply the principles of movement that I've learned and practice them 10,000 times before being so arrogant to think I'm ready to move on.

Sometimes you just have to be honest with yourself. If you aren't, you're just headed for a life of quantity, not quality.

--by Ken Gullette

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How Many Forms Do You Need to Know?

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