The Greatest Skill I Ever Learned In Martial Arts

Twenty years of training, the key lesson.

Is the most critical skill the spinning back kick? The leaping dragon fist! The Falcon punch?! No. In my opinion, the most significant ability in martial arts is much more humble than this. Depending on which gyms you frequent, if you are in a good one, now and again, you will come to training relaxed, at peace, cool as a cucumber, and your coach will try and kill you. He will present you with some horrendous mountain of labour which you have to climb, which seems to be wholly impossible. Still, in the gym, tasks are non-negotiable, you do what you are told, so this begs the question, how do I proceed into the unknown and the impossible?

This situation happened to me a long time ago, probably when I was twelve or thirteen in Ninjutsu, and I was grading for my 7th kyu. After hitting the pads, doing circuits, sparring, pull-ups and dips, my Dad says, 'right, you're going to do 300 of each kick.' In Ninjutsu, we have three main kicks, a shin kick, a front kick and a knee. So that meant I …