Start Learning Kung Fu Like You've Always Wanted, On your Time, On Your Terms, Where Ever You Want.
Like most people with even a remote interest in Kung Fu, you know about it's numerous benefits; health, weight loss, vitality, self defence, life balance, confidence, discipline, better coordination, strength, speed, I could go on, but you get the gist, but like most people, although you've always wanted to take up the kung fu life, regular life always seems to get in the way...You're not alone. I thought this would be fun to put together. If some of these hit close to home don't take them personally. I, like many other Kung Fu practitioners have fallen guilty to some of these excuses at one point or another, so it's NOT JUST YOU. 

If this resonates with you though, it might be time to take some action and stop making excuses for yourself to not start that Kung Fu Journey you always wanted to embark on ever since you first saw David Carradine roam the wild west, or maybe Bruce Lee when he threw that first lunging backfist into poor Bob Wall's face in Enter the Dragon. 

These are my top 5 excuses that always make me chuckle when someone says they'd really like to start studying Kung Fu, but...

I'm Not in Shape

As much as I try to be polite when I hear this, it's hard not to raise an eyebrow when people pull this card out. Sometimes you might think, yeah, I'll start learning Kung Fu once I lose 20 pounds. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Especially if losing weight is a chore for you. If you hate going to the gym, but feel you need to go to lose weight so you can start doing something you enjoy, like learning Kung Fu because it's new and exciting, just start learning Kung Fu and you will lose the weight anyway because of the physical demand. The best part is you won't even notice it's a workout because you'll be having fun learning new self defence techniques. Makes sense, right? You'd be amazed how many people get hung up on this...it's not just you. If you're going to a school that has a uniform, they're not exactly wearing yoga pants. The uniforms are baggy, and not designed to be showing off you curves (or rolls), so you don't need to feel self conscious. Also, if you're going to a Kung Fu School that intentionally makes you guilty about your weight, well that's probably not the right school for you anyway. Find a school or group that's friendly and supportive, not shallow, egotistical, and judgmental. If you can't find that in your area then start training at home on your own.

I'm Too Old

This one is funny too. Especially funny because I've heard it from people as old as 70 and more surprisingly from people as young as 16. When I hear this, I always think, "well if you wait, are you going to get any younger?". You're never to old to study Kung Fu. Too old for cartwheels maybe, but real Kung Fu isn't about acrobatics; it's about improving your health, vitality, skill, balance, coordination, flexibility. Kung Fu is the development of a skill through time and sacrifice. As long as you have some time to sacrifice, you're not too old. My oldest student at the moment just turned 70. He's not showing any signs of letting up. Granted, he focuses on what he can do, and has a blast doing it, rather than wasting time griping about what he can't do. Longevity is an important benefit in Kung Fu. In many types of martial art where the practitioner focuses only on fighting, or only on aerial acrobatics, the student will push themselves physically, but often they do it to their own detriment by wearing out their joints or deadening nerve endings. In Kung Fu, self defence ability is important, as is pushing your physical limits, but never at the expense of your long term health. The best Kung Fu masters teach secrets of Longevity, so you will sustain the body longer. This is possible through proper positioning and proper breathing. Often, in their haste, younger students miss these steps, but more advanced practitioners know better and train them consistently. 

I'm Not Flexible Enough

Again, like not being in shape, this is one of the reasons to start Kung Fu Training, not one of the reasons to avoid it. You won't become more flexible by waiting. You'll be come more flexible by doing. Flexibility in Kung Fu comes from dynamic movement, not just from static stretching. The cool thing is, most of the time you're learning new challenging kicks, stances, or movement, you don't ever realize you're flexibility is being gradually increased, whereas if you sit in front of the tv for the next 2 weeks trying to split so you can feel validated enough to start a Kung Fu Program, it's kind of like watching a kettle boil, or like watching paint dry. It's boring. Start learning Kung Fu now and you will gradually the develop the flexibility needed to do advanced kicks, etc as you progress. Before you know it, you'll be closing your kitchen cupboard with gentle, perfectly timed hook kicks.

I'm Too Busy

This is probably the most common excuse, but again, it's very silly. Interestingly enough, I actually encourage all of my beginner students to practice less ("GASP! What?!!", calm down, let me explain). Good Kung Fu lives in habit, and habits are developed through consistent action. I tell them to limit their practice to 1 minute per day. That's it. Everyone is "busy", "soooo busy", and everyone can come up with 5 excused not to practice at the drop of a hat, BUT, it's almost impossible to find a good excuse as to why you can't practice for 1 of the 1,440 minutes of the day. Once you can practice 1 minute per day for 3 or 4 weeks then you'll have a good, positive habit, after that you can increase to 2 minutes for a couple weeks, then 4 minutes, then 8, and so on. The reality is, if you start off with great ambition and the best of intentions and try to train for a whole hour on your own, you'll probably only do it once or twice and then forget about it after that when the initial excitement wears off, BUT, if you build up momentum and make it a habit, you'll feel weird if you skip a workout. That's when you know you've got the habit. The ongoing habit is much more important than the initial time frame. With an online Kung Fu Training program, lessons are usually pretty convenient and be turned on whenever you've got free time, so with a solid e-course, this excuse no longer carries any weight.

I Can't Find a School

Here's a serious problem. You finally accept that all your other excuses are lame, so you work up the positive-can-do-attitude to take the first step, and you realize that there are no Kung Fu Schools in your immediate area, and you don't want to drive more that 30 minutes to find one. Or, there is one but the instructor or classmates don't seem like a good fit for you. Maybe you feel like there's too much ego in the classroom, or maybe the environment is not a friendly one. This happens, and unfortunately it happens quite a bit. The good thing is thanks to the internet e-learning is constantly being developed for every different skill you can think of. Online courses are so much more dynamic today than mail-order VHS or even DVDs were five or ten years ago. E-courses often entail direct access to the instructor so you can ask very specific questions. Because distance is no longer an issue, you can find quality instruction anywhere around the world. Although learning from a master instructor is awesome, learning from them online also has some pretty unexpected benefits:

1-You can learn any time you want. There's no schedule you have to schedule. Whether you want to train at 5am before you family gets up and hijacks your life, or you want to train at 1am and then sleep like a rock, it's your call.

2-You can learn anywhere you want. You don't have to fight traffic to get across town in time for class. You can learn anywhere you can take your laptop, tablet, or cell phone if there's a wifi signal (or you have a hard drive pre-loaded with your lessons).

3-You can learn at your own pace. No need to worry about keeping up with the class, because you are the class. You don't need to worry about falling behind. if you feel like repeating a lesson you can do that.

4-You can do it in your undies. Seriously, there's no need to try to impress anyone. If you're anti-social, you don't need to go through the pain of making small talk with classmates. 

5-You have access to world class instruction you otherwise wouldn't have access to if you don't live in a major city. With the right course, the qualified master instructor comes to your living room. 

I hope this article has helped you realize how all those excuses you were making were just that; excuses. If you have always had that desire to learn Kung Fu deep down in your inner child, there's no point in waiting. You can start right now, you can start very easily, and you can get easy-to-follow lessons in your inbox daily. I put together a fantastic quickstart program for you to get you started, and I eliminated even more excuses:

Extra Excuse #1 - I don't want to spend money. 

No problem, it's free. I made it with no strings attached. No catch, just train it, get moving, feel great, build momentum, improve your energy, and learn Kung Fu concepts for life as well as combat, if you progress and want to learn at a higher level there will be courses you can subscribe to, but only if you're getting the value from this free program. Frankly, if you're not thoroughly loving this free program, I definitely do not want you to waste money on something you're not ecstatic about investing in.

Extra Excuse #2 - I'm not very tech savvy 

Neither am I. That's why I kept this very simple, you don't need to choose a password, remember a website, or even shuffle through any tabs or anything, this just sends lesson videos directly to your email, just open, and click the video, it couldn't possibly be any easier.

Extra Excuse #3 - I don't want to get a bunch of emails

I know, I get hundred of emails everyday, and most of it garbage. I'm only sending you course material, and if at any time you don't like it, just click "unsubscribe" in the email and you'll never hear from me again.

Enter your name and email at the top of this page. Make a pot of green tea, put on some comfy pants, and get ready to finally start living the kung fu life.