The Kung Fu School

Some 2,500 years ago there lived an Greek wrestling champion, Milo of Kroton, who wore the Olympic wreath six times, five of them consecutively between the 62nd to 66th Olympiad. Milo’s strength was legendary as his the story about how he became so strong.

The story goes something like this…

Milo grew up on a farm and spent his early days helping his father. His father gave him the task of caring for for a bulf calf.

At some point his father asks him, “how big is your bull today?”

Milo ran outside and picked the calf up and carried him inside to show his father. Every day thereafter Milo’s father asked him the same question and each day Milo carried the bull to his father. This continued every day for a number of years. Each year the bull would grow bigger and Milo would grow progressively stronger.

Naturally the perceived effort required to lift the bull would remain constant as the bull grew. Based on this perception alone Milo might think he wasn’t making any progress, but of course he was.

I was reminded of this story when one of my Sihings (elder students) related how, when training with his kungfu brothers over several years felt he wasn’t getting any faster or better, because each of his brothers was also progressing at a similar pace. It was only when he then trained with a beginner that he noticed how much progress he had indeed made.

In kungfu, as with exercise in general, two things are required for progress. The first is  regular and consistent (daily) training; not going to too fast too soon. This is most important in the first years. The second is progressive resistance; continuing to challenge ourselves and not becoming complacent. This is most important in the later years.

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