Martial Arts

On the next day William got himself ready to go train but this time not on the swords ground. He was going to the martial arts ground to meet his new teacher. Getting to the Martial Arts ground he noticed that it wasn't a ground like the other.

Other grounds had a big open space where they had space to spar and to train. But the Martial Arts ground was a big house. It was made out of wood and had a big door as the entrance.

Getting there William could see an older man standing in front of the door.

"So you must be William. Boris told me a lot about you."

"Yes, Sir."

They both went inside the house, the inside was big. There were no decorations or stuff like that, only a big space for training.

"So, Boris told me that you would already pass the intermediate level of my training. But I would first like to test you with a quick spar."

They went both over to the big square in the middle. Even if teacher Nate seemed to be like50 years old he still had a lot of energy. The spar went on for a little while. Nate could indeed see that William already had the stamina and strength required for his training and that was the main point in the exam to pass from the beginner to the intermediate level.

"I see. You are really suited for the martial arts training William. Your body and mind are very strong in sync. Sometimes the biggest problem fighters face is that their body doesn't act the way their mind wants them to.You are lucky teacher Boris recommended you to me."

"Thank you, but with all due respect teacher, why is it that no one likes to train in martial arts?"

"Ah, that is indeed how it is. You see, martial artists are pacifists. That is how my master was trained, that is how I was trained and that is how you are going to be trained. We do not seek war and fighting. We train for if that time comes we are ready. Have you ever heard the saying that it's better to be a soldier in a garden, than a gardener in a war? We are the soldiers in the garden. That is how the decline in popularity started. People want what they see. Because they didn't see the martial artist actively fighting they forgot about it. The rest is fairly obvious, swords and axes are indeed cooler don't you think?" Teacher Nate said with a grin at the end.

After the little talk between teacher Nate and William, teacher Nate showed him what his basic strength, endurance, agility etc training would be for the next month. Comparing it to the last training he had with Boris it didn't even come close. Nate's training was harsh and long. William imagined that he would spend the whole day here just to finish it in time.

"Come here William." teacher Nate called William over to a big tree trunk that was fixated in the middle of the big training area.

"I want you to show me how you punch and kick."

"On the tree?"

"Of course. You are going to train using the tree trunk from now on. You have to make your hands and feet weapons and only by breaking them and building them stronger will you accomplish it."

Getting ready William put his feet horizontally in front of the tree trunk. He put his both hands up ready to hit the tree.

"Wrong." Nate said as soon as William was ready to punch it.

"Wrong stance, wrong posture, everything is wrong. Let me ask you, William , what is strength?"

"Ehhhh, muscles, how much you can lift or something."

"No, speed is strength. The faster you punch the stronger your punch is going to be. For that there is a way to make your punches stronger, faster. Now lets see your kick. " With that William showed Nate how he did his kick which was also perceived as wrong by Nate. The week went by with Nate teaching William how to properly punch and kick. He wanted to work on a good basis before showing William any technique. It was true that William was in the intermediate level but Nate wasn't treating it like this. He was his only student so he was going to go with the flow when teaching him.