Ask any professional how he got good at his martial arts skills and they will tell you to practice. Ask them what they practiced and you will most likely hear “the basics” or “the basics.”
I once interviewed 13 great martial artists. What struck me was that each of them talked about how their first instructor was a traditionalist and had them study the basics. In other words, what made them great was the fact that they spent time on the fundamentals.
Now the sad part about it was that half of them weren’t teaching the knowledge that they claimed made them good. They were on the flash and the shortcuts. While this is fine for them, it is not fine 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.
Practice your fundamentals and I promise you that fun things will be better, faster and more functional. The fundamentals are: postures and forms. If they teach you quality shapes, then they are worth it. If the forms are made up, it can teach you bad training habits that are hard to overcome. There are no excuses, if you want to master your art and your body then these should be perfect.
Postures: 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 posture, the more stable you will be.
Kicks: front, back and round kick. These must be controlled and very smooth.
Blocks: high, descending, outside block, front punch, back and vertical punch. If these are perfect, your training can begin!
The above list works with all of your major muscle groups, as well as all 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.
