Now anyone who knows anything about modern wushu’s “golden age” (i.e., the 70’s – 80’s), knows who Zhao Chang Jun is.  Multiple Chinese National titles as well as a slew of other credits to his name makes him one of the best known athletes of his generation.  (If you really don’t know who he is, go to youtube and type in his name.  And then slap yourself on the face for being such a n00b.)

I’ve also had the opportunity to train with him one time when he visited Wushu West back in 2005.  (Or was it 2004?  Wow … I’m getting old.)  Anyway, I could quickly tell that he was an excellent coach with high standards – he really knew his stuff.  Of course, that was also around the time that he moved to the U.S. from his native Xi’an and left his wushu school under the care of someone else (I think his “sister”, so says the rumor). 

I’ve heard relatively good things about the school since arriving in Xi’an.  Of course most of the local people are familiar with his name since he was a pretty predominant local celebrity back in the day, but it was hard to find out where his school was located.  And in any case I wasn’t in a huge hurry to check it out since I already had a place to train.  I had corresponded with one or two people who have trained there and they had decent things to say about the instruction there.  I have talked to some athletes about the school and they didn’t have anything disparaging to say about it either. 

But whether I’m checking out a new movie, restaurant or wushu school, I generally try to reserve my expectations until I’ve had a first-hand look. 

The school itself is located just past the south 3rd Ring Road in Xi’an a couple kilometers to the west of Chang An Road (Google Map Link).  Coincidentally it is about 5 km from where I’ll be living in September, so when I found out where it was located it appeared on my radar as a possible training location.  The local area itself is a bit isolated, but not terribly far from actual “civilization”.  When you arrive there are a few large signs on the main road letting you know that the school is just a half a click down a wide alley spotted with various ceramics and botanical supply shops.

The gate wasn’t manned when I walked in, so I just started to explore a bit to see if I could find out where I was supposed to go.  There are four main buildings – one is classrooms and offices, one is dorms, there is a weight training and sanda training building and a wushu hall.  There is also a new building but it was small and I wasn’t sure what it was for.

From the looks of things, they also rent out or share some of their school space with an automotive mechanics college.  Of course, every building has pictures of ZCJ with various famous folks or on the podium accepting trophies and medals.  But if I had to use one word to describe the general condition of the buildings and grounds I would probably go with either “dilapidated” or “run-down”.  I could tell that it was probably quite the nice little school back during its inception, but it was clear those days were somewhere in the past – or more optimistically, somewhere far in the future. 

I really am hesitant to say too many negative things, because these are only my observations based on about an hour hanging out there and seeing things at a glance.  Undoubtedly there are many very positive aspects to training and living there.  But since my experiences are limited I can only go with what I know. 

And personally I think that whether or not the soccer field is overgrown with plants, or the wushu carpet is a thin strip of rug on top of a hard wood floor, or the dorms have working showers is irrelevant if the training is of a high standard and the level of instruction is top-notch.  Those other things can be overlooked if you are really improving and developing as an athlete.  This isn’t a country club, after all, it is a Chinese wushu school.  You aren’t supposed to be wrapped in luxury while you are getting your butt kicked in the wushu guan. (*cough* Shi Cha Hai *cough*)   (Although … I will admit that it is nice to have a high thread count on the sheets when you are recovering from a workout.)

So the real proof is in the proverbial wushu pudding.  I was anxious to see how their wushu looked.

And here is the thing … the school isn’t strictly a wushu school, so much as a boarding school that has a rather predominant wushu program and theme.  The people who live and train there are kids who pay to go to school and, if they are so inclined, learn wushu.  In fact, it isn’t a requirement that they train, but most of them do since it is available (and probably their parents have sent them there for that purpose). 

With my experiences in other cities I recognized that there was quite a difference between athletes at a professional sports school such as Shi Cha Hai or the Shaanxi Sports Training Center and those who are at wushu training facilities without a professional emphasis.  I assume that most of the kids who show any promise are whisked away to the local professional training centers rather quick, leaving the remaining students a random collection of sub-standard ability and unrealized motivation.

The group I observed were the older kids – probably around 12 – 17 – and it was their traditional forms (fanxi, ditang, shuang dao, etc.) day for testing.

I will try to be honest and pragmatic about this.  The level of fundamentals were not all that high.  Stances and basic techniques were lacking.  It seemed that a lot of emphasis had been put on nandu training rather than basics training, and this was confirmed when I spoke with my friend out their training regimen.  In fact I have to be honest in saying that the foreign student from the U.S. had better fundamental technique than the kids who lived at the school – which is really a credit to his coaches back home since they clearly instilled in him a high standard for wushu.

And while his “tricks” might not have been as interesting as the local kids, I would say that the jumps he did do looked better because they were built on a stronger foundation; straighter legs on his butterfly, more “pop” with his explosive power, etc. 

Again, I don’t want to say that they local kids were bad. They weren’t.  Actually, some of them were fairly decent and showed some promise.  But after training with the Shaanxi Team for the past 9 months (granted, in a very inconsistent manner) my standards for what I will view as an “acceptable” level of wushu has grown considerably (Woe be to those at Wushu West when I come back there and help out at the beginning of August! You have been warned) and so I was watching this with a different eye than I might have a year ago.

I also heard that ZCJ will be bringing a group of his students from the U.S. to train at the school later in the summer.  I’m pretty sure that when he is there the level of instruction as well as the focus of attention on basics, will improve dramatically.  Heck, the whole facility might even get a face lift prior to their visit. 

I feel compelled again to emphasize the fact that this was a very quick snap-shot of what the school looked like at this particular hour on this particular day.  Take my views with a super big grain of salt and, as always, you should judge these things for yourself.  What looks good to one might look bad to another, and vice versa.  I’m a strong proponent of the independent investigation of truth – so be sure to do your research before you make your final decision!

//

More photos are here

I took videos, but I’m not sure if I want to post them.  Post a comment if you want to see them.

Related posts:

1. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/18) – Part 2/3

First a few quick questions before we get to the meaty ones…

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What part does videographing these practice sessions [have] in their training?  I would think that seeing one`s performance would be a wonderful training tool.  Are you the only one doing it at this point?

Actually, they aren’t recording themselves much at all. Not all athletes do that and to be honest, the class structure isn’t really set up for that sort of thing. You are usually running around and doing stuff so much that there isn’t time to set up a camera and/or have someone specifically in charge of filming.  Plus, they practice soooo much, and are making distinctions in their wushu on such a regular basis, that doing a daily or weekly recording isn’t necessarily representative over the long run.

I have noticed that some teams do record themselves though — or even some specific athletes. I know that Wu Di would record himself quite a bit to review his form (and occasionally post them online) and I suppose it really depends on the athlete.

When I was in Shandong I recorded some of the athletes during a nandu testing session and gave a copy of the VCD to the coaches. They seemed appreciative, but since they didn’t film it themselves they probably didn’t feel it was a necessary thing to have.  Otherwise — they would have done it, right?

And I’ve seen teams record themselves before a tournament while they do a mock run-through of their forms.  I would wager that most coaches probably reserve that sort of thing for a time closer to competition.

So, long answer short: I don’t really know. hahahaha.

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I like the music used.  Is there a Chinese genre for Taiji music?  CDs etc?

I believe they use music that is already available. There isn’t really a “genre” per se, but they do tend to use music with a traditional Chinese feel to it. I believe the only rule is that the music you use when doing your forms (and for changquan too) can’t have any vocals — it has to be instrumental. Other than that, I think they usually just end up buying a lot of Chinese movie soundtrack music.

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A good friend of mine … is likely to spend 6 or more months in Shanghai, I was just wondering if you can give me a brief list of schools you know there, prices, and maybe just a sentence or two as a review?

Well, keep in mind that I haven’t trained in Shanghai for a couple years. But when I was there there were three main places you could train with professional athletes, and a few that you could train with kids.

I also can’t really give much information on prices since a lot of that depends on so many variables it is problematic at best. Generally the longer term the better.

I have also set up a Google Map with the relative locations of each school so that you can get their aproximate distance from the center of Shanghai.

View Wushu Schools in Shanghai in a larger map

Shanghai University of Sports (Dark Blue in the Upper Right)

I’ve visited a few times and know a few athletes and foreigners who have trained there.  Everything I heard is that the training is good, even though you are stuck way out in the boonies (but not as far out as Ruida).  Some good athletes (wei jian) have come from there so it can’t be all bad.

Pros: Good training facilities, easier to apply and get in to (foreigner friendly-ish), good level of athletes (i.e. Wei Jian)
Cons: Far from Shanghai Proper, a lot of foreigners there sometimes

Shanghai Sports Vocational College (Red towards the bottom middle)
(Formerly the Shanghai School of Sports and Exercise Science)

This is where I trained for a year and a half, so it has a soft spot in my heart.  I used to live a few blocks from the school so I became very familiar with the neighborhood.  I was very happy with my experience there and enjoyed it immensely.

Pros: Good training facilities, great coaches and athletes (i.e. Yang Yu Hong), closer to the city
Cons: Harder to get in to train sometimes

Shanghai Ruida School (Green Dot on the far left)
(Formerly Qing Pu)

I haven’t been here, but I’ve heard a lot about it and know a few athletes and foreigners who have gone there.  It kinda fell out a few years back but I think the name changed helped because it seems to be doing much better these days. (based on completely circumstantial evidence, mind you.)

Pros: Training Facilities, professional athletes
Cons: Sooooo far from Shanghai but with Line 9 of the subway you can at least get most of the way there now.

Fudan University (Dark Purple Upper Right)

I only mention this school because Wei Jian is teaching there and Xu Ming Hu told me he would be there as well.  That leads me to believe that they have a wushu training facility on campus although I know nothing about it.  Might be worth checking out though, especially if you are a straightsword or spear person.

Pros: Wei Jian, One of the top universities in China (if you care)
Cons: Beats me.  I’ve never trained there.

Now we are getting in to the realm of Children’s wushu schools …

Shanghai Wushu Yuan (Turquoise in the middle)

Smack dab in the middle of Shanghai (literally) I trained here with the former Nanquan King of Shanghai, Cao Wei Ming.  He was a really amazing coach, formerly for the Malaysian Team for a few years.  When I was there he was coaching kids.  This is also the location of the Shanghai Wushu Center, one of the administrative centers for wushu in Shanghai.  The classes are Monday to Friday in the afternoons — around 4 to 6, give or take.  The facilities are rather delapidated and they rent it out for ballroom dancing (which apparently includes a cigarette smoking marathon) some days so you end up with a lot of smoke and dust.  Old, green carpets too.

Pros: Awesome coach, convenient location, lots of basics
Cons: Bad facilities, no professionals

Minhang Wushu Guan (Yellow)

I don’t even know if this is still here or not, but there was an after-school wushu school in this area that my friend was teaching at from time to time.  I had some friends that would go there to train too and they seemed to think it wasn’t too bad.  But, the focus is on the kids, of course, so there is much more basics and fundamentals training.  Also, it is kinda far from the city.

Pros: Good carpet, albeit only one
Cons:  Far from Shanghai, no professionals

Zhang Yi (Lavender)

Zhang Yi is a former wushu athlete who opened his own school.  It caters primarily to foreigners and is a little on the small side.  It reminds me a lot of wushu schools in the U.S., actually.  More for the after-work ex-pad crowd, although sometimes he brings Yang Yu Hong over to help teach if he is out of town.  This is also the only place where the coach speaks English.  They only train a few times a week too.

Pros: English speaking coach, Occasional visits from YYH
Cons: Small, hard to find, not daily training, lower level of wushu students

There is also another school in the middle of the city off of Yan An Zhong Lu, but I have only seen it and the friend I had who went there wasn’t all that impreassed with it.  Plus they use the word “kung fu” instead of wushu and seems to cater mostly to the expat crowd.

If your friend is going longer term then I would probably recommend the Sports University, only because I know that they are an easier place to get in to train and are better set up for foreigners.  If only it wasn’t so far from the City ….

I hope this helps.

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1) How can I make a career out of wushu, 2) what kind of degrees can i get if i studied wushu and chinese in china and how long will it take to get that degree, and 3) what are the best universities…cheaper would be nice

Well, quite a few questions there.  Let’s see here …

First I would have to ask you what you mean by “career”, because there is a big difference between having a career like Jet Li and having a career like Joe the Wushu Coach.

To be honest, there are basically three routes a generic high-level wushu athlete can take

1) Become a coach

2) Become a stuntman/actor

3) Start a wushu-related business

Becoming a coach is probably the easiest of the three, especially in Western countries.  Now, I’m not saying that it is a piece of cake.  Just that it is EASIER than the other two.  But you have to really love coaching and teaching and be invested in the progress of your students.  It can’t be about making a quick buck.  Some athletes start schools to make money and ultimately they never work out if that is your only motivation.

Opening a school means you need to know a bit about how to run a business and especially about marketing.  A lot of coaches/athletes don’t know much of either, to be honest, and this is a lot of the reason their schools don’t make it.  The best thing about starting a school is that you can do it wherever you want to put down some roots and you can start small and work your way up.  Tony Chen started by practicing by himself in a park in San Francisco 13 years ago.  Now he has some of the biggest schools in California.

The other thing I would say is that you should always focus on the quality of your instruction and the education your students receive.  Not quantity.  The better the instruction, the more students you will get.  But having a lot of students doesn’t mean you will have good instruction, if you know what I mean.

To become a stuntman or actor is a lot of work, but it can be a lot of fun too.  I have a few friends who have gone this route.  You have to be persistent, not mind constructive critisism, and be patient.  You also need to have a positive outlook and be willing to learn.

Actually wushu alone is not enough to become a stuntman or actor.  You need to learn about other styles of martial arts, stunt work, wire work and it doesn’t hurt to take acting classes and get some experience with camera angles and various aspects of film-making.

When I was working for Jet a lot of people would audition for roles by just doing a wushu form and they almost never got chosen.  The ones that got chosen for stunt/action work were those that demonstrated an ability to do reactions (getting hit, falling down, etc), learn choreography and have a high degree of athleticism across various types of movements.

If wushu is one dimensional, then being a stuntman/action actor is the third dimension.  You really have to expand your abilities.  And that takes commitment and dedication.

And finally you could start a wushu-related business.  In this regard your primary emphasis is not wushu, but you would utilize your wushu experience to develop products or services that are of value to those people who train in wushu.

Whether you develop products (clothes, shoes, DVDs, etc.) for consumption by wushu athletes, or you develop a service (seminars, china tours, online resources, etc.) that they can use, it will take a lot of experience and understanding in not just wushu, but in business administration, managing employees, marketing and branding, and a whole slew of other things.

One of the best examples of this sort of career is Li Ning.  He turned a gold medal in gymnastics in to a multi-million dollar athletics apparel business and brand.  But of course, that sort of success is very difficult to achieve.  Not impossible — but difficult.

If you want to go this route I recommend doing a lot of studying of how businesses are run, getting some good, practical experience in that field.

The truth it, doing wushu just for the sake of doing wushu is not really a money making opportunity.  No one really pays the average person (outside of China) to do wushu.  So if you want to make a career out of wushu you will have to develop a skill set or business that is related to it, but not actually doing it.

Of course, if you figure out a way to make money doing wushu, I’ll be the first to know, right?

The second question is easier to answer.  In China, assuming your Chinese is good enough, you can get a degree in just about anything you want to study.  If you go to a sports university/college you can get a degree in a wushu-related field.  This could be anything from wushu theory, coaching, sports science or several other options.  It depends partially on the school you attend and what programs they offer.

A friend of mine did the following: Right after high school (he’s from Scotland) he came to China and took a year of Chinese at a local university.  He basically picked it based on economics realizing that being in China and studying full time would allow his Chinese to develop at a good rate regardless of the “quality” of the university.

After a year he applied for a degree program at another university in Chinese Literature and 4 years later he graduated.  He said that the first year was difficult, but by the second year he was getting along okay.  Now, of course, he’s totally fluent and most Chinese who talk to him on the phone can’t tell he’s a foreigner.

These days there are also a lot of scholarships that the Chinese government offers to foreigners who want to study in degree programs in China.  That might be an options as well.

As far as how long it would take … 4 years is pretty normal, just like in the U.S.  You just have to add on the extra year or so for developing your Chinese language skill.

And the “best” universities is sort of a subjective question to some degree.  It really depends on what you want to study.  Assuming you mean wushu, then the universities that are considered by “most people” to be the best are probably Beijing Sports University (北京体育大学) Shanghai University of Sports (上海体育学院) and maybe Wuhan Sports University.  There are a few others too, such as Xi’an University of Sports or Shanghai RuiDa Xue Xiao or even Jimei Daxue in Xiamen, Fujian.

And again, for many of them you can get scholarships to attend them.  If you apply for the scholarships you can specify your top choices for schools to attend. At least that is the case with this particular one: http://en.csc.edu.cn

Anyway, you get the idea.  If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen. Just keep an open mind.

I hope this helps!

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Do you have any tips for choreography? I’m just a little stuck. I don’t really like modifying the compulsory, and I’ve watched thousands of videos, but I can’t seem to come up with stuff that feels right or flows.

And I was wondering how the pros do it. Does their coach choreograph for them? Do they just spend hours playing around on the floor? Granted, being in a high concentration of Wushu gods probably stimulates the brain juices a little more, but they must run into problems if they have to run sections and they only have one. (My current situation) I’ve been running the same spear section for about two months.

My main tip regarding choreography is that it should come from within.  Your form should be a reflection of who you are as an artist and athlete.  It has to not only showcase your strengths and hide your weaknesses, but it must be a presentation of your own personal “story” with wushu.  When people watch you do your form they should feel like they are learning who you are as a person.

Traditionally, of course, a form was choreographed to include all of the applications within a particular style of martial arts.  You learned the form so that you could memorize the techniques.  But now, with sport martial arts and forms competition, the choreography of a form has morphed in to a representation of a style, not an actual presentation of application technique.

But of course this doesn’t mean you should take out the fundamentals of wushu from your form.  It is important to maintain the “martial” part of your “art” and be aware of the technique that is behind your movement.  Otherwise you are just dancing on a carpet.

But assuming you are able to do that, then I think that developing choreography is really something of a personal journey.  Or at least it has been for me.

When I was younger I would look at forms and try to take the coolest movements to include in my form.  But then I just ended up creating some sort of Frankenstein taolu that had nothing to do with me at all.  I remember seeing a lot of athletes in the U.S. create forms based on those they saw from athletes in China — sometimes even just doing the whole form verbatim.  And it always ended up looking like a pale imitation of the original, made even worse because everyone already knew that form since they had probably seen it themselves.  If you are going to do a Liu Qing Hua form, then you had better be prepared to be compared to Liu Qing Hua’s technique and skill level, y’know?

So, over time I stopped looking for “cool” moves and started looking for moves and techniques that spoke to me on a deeper level.  A combination that seemed to resonate within my heart rather than just look really neat.  And eventually I started to get closer to having a form that was a better representation of who I am.

To be honest, I still feel like my own form is only about 35% complete.  The other 65% of the form is just there as a placeholder while I slowly figure out and swap out techniques that would work better.  It isn’t because I think the movements aren’t good, but I feel like they aren’t really “me”, and finding the “me” movements just takes time to do.  It is a constant process of observation, testing, evaluation and development that might take me years to figure out.

But fortunately that is one of the aspects of wushu that I really enjoy.

To answer the second part of your question, Most of the young athletes learn a form from someone, either the compulsory or another athlete’s individual.   Xin Rui, for example, a 12 year old boy whom I train with, is learning the compulsory nanquan routine.  Not necessarily because it is well suited for him, but mainly because he just needs to learn a form to practice.  He’s still at a beginner level for the team.

Another boy, about 15 or 16, has learned an earlier version of Yuan Ming’s form which he practices.  Again, this is for two reasons: first, Yuan Ming’s form has nandu in it and it allows him to practice a form with higher level difficulty movements.  And second, since it is Yuan Ming’s form, both he and his coach are familiar with it and can really give him good critiques on technique and execution.

But a third athlete there has his own nanquan form. He’s probably in his late teens or early 20′s.  His form is definitely all his own and it is clear he spent some time developing it.  Some athletes use the forms they learn as a generic template, but I think a lot of them are eventually told to create their own form and then they bring it to the coach for evaluation and feedback.  Then, together, they figure out the best combinations to keep and which ones should be swapped out.  It is a collaborative process, most of the time, at least until the athlete is advanced enough to be able to express their wushu artistry on their own.

The thing about professional athletes is that they spend a LOT of time and energy on figuring out their choreography.  They are always adjusting and modifying things around.  They work hard to make it an expression of their own style of wushu.   Most of the off-season (and some of the on-season) is spent working out those details.  If you remember, I have a video of Yue Xiao Yu working out some choreography.  She was just standing there in front of a mirror for almost 2 hours working out choreography for her form.  And I”m pretty sure she did that quite a bit over the course of the past few months after the All China Games.

The thing is — choreography is a process, not a destination.  You are always re-evaluating what you have developed and figuring things out.  There is never a time when you say “phew, I’m glad I’m done choreographing THAT form” because there is always more refinements and details you could work on.   Kind of like with wushu itself.  You can always get better than you are, and I think that is reflected in the process of developing choreography too.

Just keep at it and work on uncovering the truth of your own wushu.  I think that is the best advice I could give anyone — including myself.

Good luck!

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And that is it for this installment.  A whole lot of text going on there, huh?

If you would like to leave a question for the ‘Zilla, you can leave a comment to this blog entry or check out my contact form on wushuzilla.com.

Thanks!

No related posts.

Continued from Part 2

Raising the Bar

Raising more than just her bar

The athletes in China don’t really know any standard other than that of being the best. They are surrounded by athletes who have the highest level in the world and train with them every day of their lives. They have no option but to accept that the level they see around them is the base level for a wushu athlete. There is no “intermediate” wushu athletes on a professional team. “Advanced” is considered the starting point and you only go up from there.

It is as they say: if you believe you can or can’t, you are right. One’s belief system about the world and about themselves dictates their reality, and if your belief is that the lowest level of acceptable wushu is (by our standards) perfection, then you will tolerate nothing less. It isn’t even an option for them. It is just a given. Like the sky being blue or water being wet. Wushu is supposed to look like that, plain and simple, and if it doesn’t, then you aren’t doing wushu.

The Equation

And so, to me, these are the essential elements that separate really amazing athletes from, well, … the rest of us. As I wrote at the beginning:

((Aⁱ/T) +((C*R)+M))(CrI+S)

Which, in normal English could be said as:

Intense Action over Time when added with a Coach providing the latest Resources and the Modeling of excellence, is multiplied by one’s Creative Intelligence and high Standards.

But then, what does that mean to the rest of us? And how is this applicable to the average Joe (or Joan) who is the weekend wushu warrior far away from China?

Applying It To Ourselves

Well, lets look a little more carefully at how our world compares with those of the Chinese athlete. Of those aspects of the equation, which ones apply to us?

• Intensity
• Action (Training)
• Time (Consistency)
• Coaching
• Resources
• Modelling
• Creative Intelligence
• Standards

The biggest limiting factor for most of us is “Time”. Either because of finances or availability, most of us aren’t able to dedicate 5 hours of every day to wushu. But while Time is one of the main factors, it is definitely not the ONLY factor, and many athletes have gotten excellent results on limited availability of time. And, if I can be frank, a lot of people use “time” as an excuse to not commit to their training.  I’ve been guilty of it myself.  But the truth is, if you want to make the time for something, you can.  If it is important to you, then you will do it.  But don’t make the mistake of deceiving yourself that your lack of interest in wushu is actually a lack of time for wushu, because you aren’t fooling anyone.  Its okay to lose your interest in something, but at least be honest about it.  (And if you lose your passion for wushu, then might I suggest reading my blog “How to Maintain Your Motivation for Training (12/14)”?)

I think she's go the whole 'intensity' thing down

Another factor that limits many of us is “Resources”. Many of us aren’t in China and don’t have access. Or we don’t speak Chinese so even if we had access we wouldn’t understand it. This is one of the reasons having a good Coach is very important. Often they have an understanding of the technologies and developments of wushu that we do not have access to. And even if you don’t have a coach on a regular basis, taking full advantage of whatever resources you have (online, seminars, instructional videos, etc) can go a long way.

And finally I think that “modelling” has been an issue for a lot of people too. I remember when I first started that the only people I had to model myself after were those that had been doing wushu for just a few years longer than myself. Then it was up to the coach to show us what good wushu was supposed to look like. But thanks to the advent of these series of tubes we call the internet (brought to you courtesy of Al Gore) you now have access to the best wushu athletes and the highest standards of excellence that ever existed. I would never say that youtube should be a substitute for a good coach, but it can help you find those upon which you can model your own training. Not quite as good as being in the same room as Zhao Qing Jian, of course, but it is better than nothing.

But then, after we take out all the limiting factors, what is left? Assuming you are in the middle of nowhere without a coach and no access to the internet (how are you reading this then?) you end up with …

• Intensity
• Action (Training)
• Creative Intelligence
• Standards

Trying to keep that intensity whenever I train

You can create an intensity of training for yourself every time you step in to the wushu guan (or gym or park or wherever you are).

You can train and take action to improve yourself regardless of whether or not you are in China or have a coach.

You can utilize your own creative intelligence to develop an understanding of the intricate details of wushu.

And you can raise your standards so that you accept nothing but the best from yourself.

If you develop these aspects of your training methodology, then when you DO have those other resources, coaches, available time or models of excellence, you will be able to take full advantage of them.

The great thing about developing these attributes is that it doesn’t just apply to your wushu training, but it applies to all areas of your life. And the skills you develop in honing these skills will benefit you in so many more ways than you can imagine.

Jiayou! (加油!)

Related posts:

1. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/17) – Part 1/3
2. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/18) – Part 2/3

Continued from Part 1

The Model Athlete

She Be Modelling

I remember that it wasn’t until my trip to China in 1999 that I felt I really was beginning to understand the feeling of wushu. That it was more than the sum of the parts I was putting together. It is like the saying that you improve in something the most when you play against people who are much better than you. It forces your game to raise to a new level.

Now, in China these athletes are in a position where they can constantly model themselves after higher level athletes. The kids in a wushu guan are training right next to athletes who are miles and miles above their own skill level. And they are able to observe and absorb what they see the entire time they are training.

It isn’t just that they are training consistently and intensely, or that their coaches have the latest information, but they can look right across the room and model themselves after the best in the world.

So, thats it, right? You train intensely and consistently for a long period of time, and add to that a coach with resources and the opportunity to model those who are better than you, and you end up with the crazy amazing Chinese professional wushu athlete?

Well, not quite. Because this is where you start to separate the wheat from the chaff and make the distinction between those athletes who are just really good, and those who are truly great.

Between the Ears

There is a reason why athletes in China get weeded down so much over the years. From the 100 or so who might start training together as little kids maybe 40 of them will continue on for more than 5 years. And of those who are there in their tweens, maybe another 15 go on to become teens with talent. But to get to the level of a national champion or someone with world-renowned skill, you have to scale it down even farther where perhaps 1 or 2 out of 100 kids end up really achieving that level.

Cream of the Crop

Why is that? Well, to be honest, certain athletes just have a little more going on between the ears.

No, I’m not talking about being “smarter” than other people or having a higher I.Q., but I’m talking about the level of mental energy and concentrated attention that the athlete spends on really understanding the intricacies of wushu technique. It isn’t so much a measure of intelligence as it is a measure of curiosity, because the athlete who is always working to understand wushu and thinks about wushu as more than just a series of movement; who puts together a story with their movements and paints a picture with their technique — then that athlete is at a different level than the one who just copies greatness.

Because it isn’t enough just to model yourself after someone who is amazingly good. In order to achieve that higher level you have to create greatness within yourself. It is the spark of creativity — of creating something unique that has never before been seen in the world — that is the mark of greatness.

And I’m not talking just about choreography. Having unique choreography without having creative intelligence in your wushu is, as Shakespeare said, like a story being told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. You need to make a statement with your wushu; about who you are and what you understand and what is important. It is no different than writing music, painting a picture or writing a novel. If it doesn’t come from a real place within yourself, then it is just a simulacrum; an empty shell filled with a lack of understanding and too much hot air.

So, we are almost there.  But in my book there is one more ingredient that separates many great athletes from the rest of us common folk.

Concluded in Part 3 …

Related posts:

1. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/19) – Part 3/3
2. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/17) – Part 1/3

“Why are Chinese wushu athletes so freaking good??”

The quick answer?

In a cryptic nutshell: ((Aⁱ/T) +((C*R)+M))(U+S)

But let me start at the beginning …

The Quest For Understanding

When you first start wushu you are in a bit of a bubble, and especially for me, since I didn’t have access to all these wushu videos online, I only had the advanced students at my school or at tournaments for comparison. You assume that the highest level you see around you is pretty close to the highest level you might get to, and even though you have heard that Chinese athletes are really good you don’t really realize just HOW good.

She even looks amazing just standing there

The disparity seems so great. How can athletes get that good? Its like a completely different level. A whole ‘nother universe of ability.

For years I used to wonder what their secret was. I would hear people talking about it, discussing it and contemplating their training regimen. Even those people who had gone to China to train didn’t initially understand it. And especially when you see it right in front of you and feel the power that their movements have, you can’t even grasp the journey it would take to get you from where you are to where they are.

Asking athletes why they are so good brings out a whole range of responses, from the humble (“my wushu still has a long way to go”) to the arrogant (“because I’m the best”) to the racist (“because Chinese are better”) to the cryptic (“because the philosophy of wushu is reflected in the eyes of panda bears”) and everything in between. But they don’t actually give you the secret to what makes them so amazing. Even just a bow stance (弓步) has a totally different feel to it when these athletes do it.

Gong Fu = Time?

Of course, most people will just say that it is because they have so much training from such a young age and that if anyone was to get subjected to that much time in the wushu guan they would probably be just as good.

But is that really true? Is time all you need to be as good as Chinese athletes?

Well … yes and no. Time is a very important element. In fact it is probably one of the most important elements. But I wouldn’t say it is the only reason why Chinese athletes excel to such a degree.

Got Gong Fu?

One of the other main factors that Chinese athletes have going for them is that they are not only spending a lot of time training, but their training is of a very intense nature. As you can imagine, an hour of training in a Chinese school is a very different level of intensity from an hour of training in many schools in the West.

So, is that what it boils down to? Intense Action over a long period of Time means you will be amazing at wushu? Well, that might get you a good part of the way there, and many athletes who are very good at wushu have done this and been quite good. But this is only if you consider the purely physical aspects of wushu. There is more to wushu than meets the carpet, and if you ignore the mental parts of training, then you are missing half the picture.

Resource Driven

Wu Di's First Coach

So what separates the Chinese coach from other coaches? Strictly speaking it is access to resources. Not just material resources, but educational and scientific resources. They are constantly required to be knowledgeable about the best training methods and techniques. You always see athletes in China training with new methods before anywhere else in the world. Remember those spinny turns into the splits that they practice for their inside split landings? Yup. China started that whole thing.

It is like in web design. There is a big difference in abilities between the web design company located in Silicon Valley vs. the web design company located in Billings, Montana (no offense Billings), because they are in the environment where the latest technologies and resources are being developed. Those with access to new information are often the quickest to benefit from it.

But it isn’t just that coaches in China tend to have those resources, but it is also the resources available to the athlete. No, not the latest Nike Shaolinquan shoes, or the coolest looking silks, but I’m speaking more about resources through which they can develop an understanding of high level skill.

Continued in Part 2 …

Related posts:

1. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/18) – Part 2/3
2. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/19) – Part 3/3
3. Zhao Chang Jun Wushu School Testing