When I visited Shaolin, China there was a sign outside one of the Kung Fu schools that read: “I do not fear the man who has practiced a...
When I visited Shaolin, China there was a sign outside one of the Kung Fu schools that read: “I do not fear the man who has practiced a thousand kicks. I fear the man who has practiced one kick a thousand times.”
There are no shortcuts to greatness. The old adage "practice makes perfect" lives on for a reason: the more you do something the better you will get at it.
The human brain is a magnificent thing, arguably superior to all other animals on the planet. One of the reasons for this is our amazing ability to retain information. When we think of memory we tend to think of what we ate for dinner last night.
But there’s another kind of memory that we are using all the time: procedural memory. This is when we have consolidated a specific motor task into our memory through repetition.
When a movement is repeated over and over again, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task. Perform that movement enough and eventually our magnificent brain takes over and allows you to perform it without conscious effort.
Think about it, how much thought do you put into brushing your teeth, or tying your shoes? Or playing an E chord? Do something enough, and your brain thinks “I’ve been here before, I know exactly what to do” and decides to handle the task for you.
In effect, you have put part of your brain on autopilot because your captaining the body isn’t necessary for a task you’ve already mastered in its entirety.
This brings us back to the practitioners of Shaolin Kung Fu. In a fight you need your body to react without conscious effort. If you hesitate to think, “Ok, I’m going to throw a