Hours of effort

How does one get better?
How do you get better at your martial arts?


Quality instruction, training partners, and individual practice.


Quality instruction and training from an experienced martial artist provides the knowledge and experience of generations of masters. What works is kept and what doesn't is either amended or dropped completely. The past generations made the mistakes so you don't have to, they passed on their secrets and it has accrued to what we all practice, master and evolve now.


Training partners help motivate us to keep progressing through peaks and plateaus. They are on the same part of their martial arts journey and provide insight to what you are going through. They advance, we advance.


Individual Practice is probably one of the most overlooked aspects to progression in the arts. This is because even with the slightest amount of effort, practice is practice and we get better no matter how hard or how light we practice. If one practices a form a hundred times at home, going through the motions, just focusing on getting through the form itself, they will develop a strong memory of the sequence of movements. Knowing which technique follows which, the names of the techniques and when and where to bow. This is an excellent start, but the movements can easily be more refined and developed for both ease and efficiency of motion and martial application. 


Basically, put in the effort when practicing. Ten minutes spent with full focus and concentration is better than an hour of interrupted, and rushed movement. Either way, you will progress.... but the best results come from the focused work.


In the Plum Blossom Federation there are many highly skilled and qualified instructors with state of the art training facilities, and respectful student bodies that provide excellent peers.... so the rest is up to you :)