7 May 2009
 If you've watched as many kung fu and karate movies as I have you'd probably agree they always portray the master as someone who has a gigantic arsenal of amazing moves that defeats any attackers no matter what the odds are.
It took me a while to figure this out, partly because of the impact all the movies had on me and partly because I wanted to believe in the mystery surrounding becoming a master martial artist and fighter, but in the end I discovered the real master doesn't have a gigantic arsenal at all.
A real master is open to new techniques, tries them, and if they don't work effectively...they toss them out. A real master has a very small arsenal of very effective techniques and, more importantly...the techniques they have are the ones that work best based on their personal strengths and body type.
To understand this concept properly think of our education system. We go to high school to develop a base of knowledge. High school allows us to discover what we're good at and not so good at. From here we pick a direction for university, college, or a trade and then we specialize. This is how we get good at our professions.
In the martial arts all the belts including a black belt is equivalent to a high school education. Many people feel that once they reach the black belt they've come to the end of their journey. In truth they have only just begun. They now have the knowledge necessary to get their university education or, as in or example, their specialization in the martial arts.
The morale of our story is that you can't excel at everything. We don't have enough hours in the week to perfect all the skills out there. Find out what works well for you and your body type and then focus your energy on perfecting those skills. Too often I see people spending a tremendous amount of time working on their weaknesses in order to become a better fighter. You need to understand your weaknesses, work to improve them, but ultimately...you need to focus the bulk of your energy on what you're good at.
When it comes to fighting, no matter what the discipline is, you need to make your oppenent worry more about you than you worry about them. If you concentrate on what you're really good at, no matter how basic your arsenal is...you can win at any level.
John McMahon
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