Form Work

Form work is probably the most versatile and effective training tool available to a martial artist. It is an area where you can maintain and advance your physical and mental development in all aspects of your discipline. In other words you can cover a lot of your training at once. If you practice your forms daily you are improving your Kung Fu in a multitude of ways. Probably the most effective way to practice and begin to understand the six harmonies, external and internal, is through your forms.
Forms will help provide you with an understanding of the concept of center and how to channel your chi through your body. Techniques and flow improve greatly because your body and mind are working together in perpetual motion as you move from technique, to punch, to kick, to stance, fast to slow, weight distribution changes, etc. You will find the more you do your forms, the easier your curriculum techniques and one steps begin to flow and should come to you sooner. Coordination and timing, muscle endurance, strength, and flexibility improve and will only get better as you continue to maintain all of these factors.
Form work is the best way to troubleshoot your Kung Fu. The reason for this is it provides a completely transparent view to your stronger and weaker points or bad habits. For example; poor stances, incorrectly executed techniques, poor kicks, weak punches, flow issues, raised heels, lack of coordination, technique completion to grounded stance, six harmonies are not in sync, speed and timing is completely out to lunch, stance transitioning, powerless techniques due to incompletion, hand/eye coordination, ( are you looking for your attacker or at him?). All of which can be easily repaired through form work. The more form work you do the sharper your awareness becomes. Soon you will catch your mistakes and be able to repair them and improve your Kung Fu continuously. How you practice your forms is very important as well. What I mean by this is the speed as to which you do your forms. Slow and complete techniques and stances will help flow and the ability to time your whole body. In other words, get good before you get fast.
The bottom line is your form work is everything and if you maintain a daily discipline, you can be knocking down way more birds than just two with one stone. Forms must also be viewed as a journey. There is no end, so throw that thought to the curb. Perfection will never be reached. Just when you have something running smooth, something else will expose itself. That's what makes forms so cool. It's just my thoughts but forms are also the window to your own evolution as a martial artist, so don't forget to have a look, because that's you and where you're at. See you at the Kwoon.