Everyone has been lectured on the importance of proper technique, body alignment, flow. This goes beyond how fast you can move or how much power your muscles can generate. All these years of training are to develop body awareness, to have to ability to feel how you are moving, feel how your body is aligned and to then translate that into proper technique. Without proper technique, your skeleton is not supporting your power and you cannot achieve proper flow. Instead of being limited by the amount of power you can generate or how quickly your body can move, you become limited by the amount of force your joints and ligaments can withstand. Example- I judge my technique by mentally putting it up against a brick wall. If I am practicing an overhand punch, I have two possible outcomes; a) I have proper technique, my body, my skeleton and my flow are supporting my movements, and I blow a hole through the brick, or b) I lack body awareness, the bones in my arm, shoulder, core are not aligned and not supporting my movement, and therefore I break my knuckles, hand, wrist.
It does not matter how fast you are or how strong you are if you lack body awareness and technique. You just hurt yourself faster and more efficiently.
Remember that Kung Fu is over two thousand years in the making. It is not, for example, a new car model, where the glitches have yet to be discovered and fixed, where road testing is required. Kung Fu has been tested and tweaked and has evolved into what it is now. The theory is sound. And the great thing is, it will only continue to get better.
Kung Fu is limited only by the limitations imposed on it by those who practice it and those who teach it. This is why it is so important to constantly strive to better ourselves and our technique. We have limited time on this green marble, and therefore we will reach a time when we cease to improve. This is a scary thought for me- I don't want to admit that my time is limited when it feels like I will never be without Kung Fu and I have all the time in the world. But I don't, and I have to strive to make the most of what I have.
