How To Balance Your Yin And Yang For Mind And Body Health

When you watch my Qigong DVDs, I always start with a warm up, stretching or some physical training then I do the Qigong form. The reason I start this way is not only because this is the professional way but also because I've found many Western people believe Qigong is light training or very focused training, they believe it's about using the mind in a thinking way to control the body.

All exercise has internal and external, it's just we can't see it. For example, if you are running ten miles but at the beginning your pace is too fast then you won't be able to do ten miles. You need to understand how to pace yourself. This is the internal part of your training.

The Yin and Yang needs to be balanced and this is a combination of Qigong and physical exercise. When a person does personal training with me and I start with a warm up and stretching then the five basic stances, they find it hard.  A recent student who had been working with my DVDs, realised he was only using 20% of the strength he was supposed to be using for Qigong.  This is because he had a mistaken belief that Qigong was soft training. I told him, the training is not difficult, it's your body that is not strong yet.

Some fighters want to learn Qigong with me but they feel everything is too slow. They don't have the patience to learn it. I tell them, if you can't close your eyes and sit for five minutes to clean your mind, I guarantee you can never become a champion because you don't know how to calm yourself. Your body, mind and heart is not working together.

I am different from most Shaolin Masters because I don't just teach forms. I use my heart to find a way to help people achieve their health, fitness, martial art or fighting goals.

If you want to fight, Shaolin only give you a good foundation, you have to change and use modern techniques. If you think I'm wrong then you can research any kind of fight, K1 or UFC. Can you find any Shaolin traditional martial artists fighting there?

The world has changed. This is why I teach my fighters a fusion of traditional Shaolin with modern fighting techniques.

If you want to make your body healthy then you need a routine and a proper balance. For fighters, I recommend when they finish their training they do Qigong for half an hour.

If you are working with my DVDs and feel they are too hard this doesn't mean my DVDs are too hard, it means you are not strong enough yet and you need to build up your strength. Don't underestimate yourself.

You don't need to follow everything exactly. Learn from my DVDs then swop things around to make your own training programme that suits you and your lifestyle. 

For more information please visit http://www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/

And remember to sign to the mailing list for exclusive training tips and offers only available to subscribers. 

The Shaolin Way To Train Mixed Martial Arts - Part Three

Every morning, I get up and train. My students see me do the same thing, year by year by year. It’s only when they go in the ring and fight that they understand why I do the same thing every year, every day. The simple things are the most useful but they take time and effort to master.

For example, I train my left leg to be fast and sharp. It’s not very powerful but it's fast. My right leg is very heavy and I use my left leg to attack, to break my opponents plan, any time I have the opportunity. I use my right leg to do the round house kick. If I get them with this kick then I know I will knock them out. I practice many years just for this one kick. I know I can do this kick from any angle, close or long distance. I have confidence because I've done this kick so many times.

I'm not very tall but I'm quite heavy. My opponent is always taller than me so they have a longer reach than me. This is why I need good body conditioning. I don’t have as much opportunity as them to punch and kick. I practice a lot of body conditioning so I know that my body can take their kick and punch.  When I get close to them, I can use my kick to finish this fight.

The important thing is you have to know yourself and know your body. Everyone is different. My technique wouldn’t work for you. Do you know what would? What do you want to do? Build up your punch or your kick? What are you good at? What are you bad at? How do you hide the things you're no good at? How do you use your good things? No-one can teach you. You need to find this out for yourself. You have to become your own teacher and teach yourself.

If you love martial arts then you need to be humble and lonely and simple. Try to make simple things not simple . Try to make lonely life not lonely. Try to make hard training easy. Once you have this kind of thinking you can become a good fighter because you have truly  conquered yourself.

Related DVDs:
Fighting Punches and Kicks Volume 1 & 2
Shaolin Bootcamp Volume 1 & 2
Shaolin Workout Volume 1, 2, 3
Kung Fu Ch'an 
If you like this blog please share by clicking on the links below.

The Shaolin Way To Train Mixed Martial Arts - Part Two

If you want to become a good MMA fighter then you need to train with focus. You can't be the best at ground, punch, and kick. You need to choose one or two skills that you will become special at and focus on these then have the other skills as the extra things you can do.

I have many MMA students that want to study with me, they say they know Juijutsu, Thai Boxing, Boxing etc but when I see them train, I ask them, “Which  is your weapon? Your kick or your punch?”  Most people don't have a lethal weapon. They are not 100% in control of their punch or their kick. They have no weapon that can enable them to win.  This means they have nothing special.

I tell them, this means that every time you go to fight, you are hoping for luck. You don't know which skill will help you to win the fight:  kick or punch or ground fighting. When you become a fighter, you can’t live for luck, you need to have full confidence, believe in your punch or your kick or your knee or elbow. Know that when you have the opportunity, you can knock your opponent out.

Because you know you can do this, then you make a strategy to trap them, you are setting them up so you can have the opportunity to knock them out. It's only when you are at this level that you are a good fighter.

This is the reason why you need to be humble. If you have too much desire to have everything, you can't have everything. You can only have one or two skills. This is enough for you to win. Simplify your training and strengthen your skill.

But it's not easy. Because when you have a skill, you have to use your brain, you need to fight different kind of fighters so you need to be able use your weapon from different angles, you need to practice over and over again to make your weapon sharper and sharper. This humbles you. It’s boring. There’s nothing exciting. Where as when you learn different martial arts and different techniques, you feel excited and stimulated but the truth is, you can’t master them. You will always be an average fighter. This week I want you to find your special skill and train in it intensively until it becomes your special weapon
Related DVDs:
Fighting Punches and Kicks Volume 1 & 2
Shaolin Bootcamp Volume 1 & 2
Shaolin Workout Volume 1, 2, 3
Kung Fu Ch'an 
If you like this blog please share by clicking on the links below.

The Shaolin Way To Train Mixed Martial Arts - Part One

This is the first blog post in a series of three about how to train in Mixed Martial Arts. Each week I'll give you one training method to do and by the end of the three weeks, you'll have three new skills which will help you in your training. Remember to send me a message and let me know how you're getting on.  

How To Replicate Your Fight In Your Training 

Recently I've been asked to train MMA fighters. I know some martial artists are purest but I love not only martial arts but also the fighting arts.  I like to watch MMA fights because there aren't many rules and the fighter need to be able to use many skills. But I think that MMA fighters stay on the ground too long. Everyone knows that in any fight competition, if you can knock someone out as quickly as possible then not only will you win but you will become a famous fighter.

If it was a street fight and you had someone on the ground for a few minutes then you would probably be killed by someone else who is standing. A few minutes is a few minutes too long. When we train in Shaolin, in some ways it's similar to MMA because we practice punch, kick, and take-down. The only difference is that in Shaolin we don't train in ground fighting because Chinese culture doesn't allow us to fight on the ground. We don't see it as equal if someone is on the ground and we are standing. It's not wrong to fight on the ground, it's just different culture.

At the Shaolin Temple, we train our arms in many different ways to make our punch and arm become our weapon. When you do MMA, you need to train your arm to punch and wrestle. Wrestling takes a lot of energy and makes your arm tired more quickly than a punch. This means in your training, you need to replicate the different ways that you use your muscles.

In my Shaolin Bootcamp Training DVDs, we use our body weight to train our arms. The training doesn't look difficult but when you train like this, is the toughest workout you can do because we are constantly using our muscles in different ways. It gives you the strength to shift from punching to wrestling and back again. This week, I want you to challenge your muscles in every way, this will help you keep your training alive so it's similar to a fight.


Next week: How To Find Your Special Skill And Turn It Into A Weapon


If you like this post please share or tweet by clicking on the links below the related DVDs.


Related DVDs
Shaolin Bootcamp 1 & 2
Fighting Punches and Kicks - volume 1
Fighting Punches and Kicks - take downs
Kung Fu Ch'an - fighting combinations, blocks and pad work.