Eat, Sleep, Train
There is a philosophy that I’m sure many long-standing practitioners of the Korean Art’s have followed at one time or other here in the UK. It’s an attitude that can guarantee success in the martial arts, although the price maybe high, it’s called ‘Eat – Sleep – Train.’
The essence of this philosophy is very simple; it’s the ability to totally immerse oneself into martial art training with the exclusion of everything else, except the nourishment of the body via food, water and sleep for an extended period of time.
I would like to tell you that it is a regime that I myself still adhere to on a regular basis today, but the truth of the matter is, I just like many other committed instructors do have a life with a family and business to look after.
I mentioned that there was a price to pay for this type of training and although in Korea many people do recognise this as a way of life, here in Britain I have seen many former classmates receive considerable amounts of stress from their significant other for this type of practice.
Rather than me tell you about my own martial art exploits and experiences, I would like to share with you a great example of what can be achieved through this type of dedicated practice via one of my own students, his name is Robert Poll.
Rob Polls Account
It all started during 1991, as part of our school curriculum, we were required to take part in various activities that were run by the school to broaden our interests. With many students taking this opportunity to play more football, I was looking for something a little bit different. At this juncture in my life I was very shy, being the centre or attention was something that made me physically sick, my only real friend had left the town to join the army. I really needed something to boost my confidence, after searching through the available activities, I finally found something, Self Defence. I had always had an interest in martial arts, mainly through a misspent youth watching too many Jackie Chan films, so I thought that Self Defence would be an ideal choice. In my excitement I somehow missed the small print; the class was actually self-defence for girls!
I was already very nervous about doing something new, even more so when I turned up to find a room full of giggling girls making Bruce Lee noises. The class was run by a local martial arts instructor, 
Martin Ducker, who would turn into one of the main influences in guiding the following years of my life, and a very good friend. He was an instructor in the martial art of Kuk Sool Won, an art that I didn't know anything about, at the time the only prominent martial arts were, Karate, Kung Fu and Judo.
Over the next few weeks our class was taught various martial arts techniques including kicks, hand strikes and self-defence techniques. I was still very unfit, weight training had kept me active but my stamina was lacking. But this didn't hold me back; I had found an activity that suited me, and more importantly, one that I enjoyed. It was amazing the difference in my progress when I wasn't suffering under intense peer pressure. I enjoyed the classes so much that I found myself practicing the exercises I had learnt in my spare time, going through each movement, seeing if I could improve on what I had done in the lessons.
When the course was nearly finished I wasn't ready to join Martin's Kuk Sool school, I still got very nervous at the thought of performing in front of other people. So I thought I would do the next best thing, do the course again. And that is what I done for almost a year. By this time I was already putting in quite a few hours of training, I had almost given up on the weight training as I found that it reduced my flexibility, very important when you're trying to improve your kicking ability. Martin had started to show me techniques from the official Kuk Sool syllabus and I was helping him with the new students on the self-defence course, this really helped improve my confidence.
My first lesson at Kuk Sool Won was two weeks before Christmas in 1992, and it was very different from my self-defence sessions! There were a range of grades from white belt to black belt; everyone was very friendly and keen to help. I felt very out of place standing there in my tracksuit while everyone else wore the black Kuk Sool uniform. Everyone was bowing and knew how to react to the many Korean commands; I wondered what I had let myself in for and thought I may have been better off staying at home in front of the TV.
I had mixed feelings during that first lesson, for two hours I was put through intense martial art drills, even after a year of basic training in the self-defence classes the moves seemed alien to my unconditioned body. What stuck in my mind was no matter how tough it got everyone was keen to push themselves and looked as if they were enjoying it. Students of all ages and body shapes where performing moves that I had only seen in films, maybe there was hope for me, I was no different from everyone else.
There were a few other beginners in the class and we quickly became friends, driven by the urge not to get left behind we all helped each other when the going got tough. I still trained at the self-defence classes, I couldn't get enough of training and it wasn't long before I promoted to my first coloured belt grade which was the most important grade I ever attained. Up until this point of my life I had never done anything particularly note worthy, standing there receiving my yellow belt I felt as if I had really achieved something, and after the gruelling testing, I had really earned it.
From then on there was no stopping me, I was spending as much time as possible on my Kuk Sool training, even training while at my part time job. I wasn't a particularly proficient student, nothing came easy to my untrained body and every new move was learnt through sweat and determination. I was still very nervous in the classes and can remember sitting around the outside of the mat waiting for my turn to perform a Hyung (martial arts form), I was shaking and going quite pale. When it was my turn, I was on the mat, done my form, everyone gives you a cheer and you sit down. I had done it, something so trivial that had seemed like such a hurdle had passed without much fuss, I really had reached a turning point in my training.
At home I would lay on the floor watching movies while doing leg exercises and kicks, or sit in stretching positions while checking my email. I found that this little and often approach helped me progress much faster than before; exercises that don't fatigue the body could be done for almost the entire day. Boiling a kettle, walking to work, sitting in a traffic jam, all of these are opportunities to train; all of which were building a strong foundation for my martial arts.
I soon realized that there were not enough hours in the day to fit everything in that I wanted to do; I had already cut down on my sleep as I found that meditation was more beneficial than sleep. When you sleep your mind remains active with dreaming leaving you feeling as tired as when you fall asleep. On average you are only in the deep sleep cycle for about five hours, calming your mind