Jintou Martial Arts

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Chief instructor - Gary Matthews

"Do not take yourself too seriously!"
"You have to learn not to be dismayed at making mistakes. No human being can avoid failures."
Lawrence G. Lovasik 

Instructor - Gary Matthews
  • 6th dan Mizong quan
  • 7th generation disciple of Master Lu Jun Hai
  • 30 + years martial arts experience
  • 4 x British champion
  • 5 x World champion
  • Hatha yoga teacher diploma
  • Meditation and Reiki master/teacher
  • Coach level 2 
  • PTLLS level 3.
  • Elastic Steel Kinesiology flexibility instructor
  • CRB checked
  • First aid trained
  • Child protection in sports and leisure
  • Preventing bullying
  • Awarded the Active Westminster mark
  • Member of the British council for Chinese Martial Arts
Why I do what I do.... and at the end I will let you in on the secret the masters use to become the best…
I have been involved in sports to one degree or another over the past 40 years training in, competing in and gaining accolades in a variety of common western sports.... but... I didn't like sports, as a kid I loved to move but I found sports rather boring, I had very little interest in winning or competing against others, even when playing football (the English version) with professional clubs as a schoolboy.
It was only in 1989 when in my late teens I discovered the Martial Arts of Muay Thai and Western kickboxing, along with Yoga and Meditation that I found what I was looking for, disciplines that pushed you in ways that common sports rarely do. This for me was the big difference between disciplines and sports. Where a sport requires you to be very good at the skills needed to win the game, skills which are often quite limited due to the needs of the sport, a discipline requires you to improve for the sake of improvement and often in a far more varied set of physical and mental dexterities.
It was after suffering my second knee injury which required surgery that I began looking for more advanced tuition and in 1999 came across the then 58-year-old Master Lu Jun Hai teaching Shaolin Mizong Kung Fu and Yang style Tai Chi Chuan. I trained with Master Lu four to five times a week, at times getting up at 3am to fit in more training before work, I still have the privilege of training under Master Lu’s guidance to this day.
I have been fortunate enough to train with a great many and varied group of martial artists ranging from doormen, military personnel, street fighters and martial artists of different styles from novices to European champions but throughout over 40 years in sports I found that it was always my mind that let me down, (not completely true, age has meant that my body tends to let me down too nowadays!) I found it difficult to get into the zone, a mode where I could move naturally, this meant that some days I could move wonderfully and others I would be truly awful. This is where meditation has helped me over the years and been indispensable in my training and evolution, as science has proven the brain has plasticity, meaning we can literally alter how we think, how we act/react and how we view the world we live in. Over the years I have developed ways of getting past being an introvert, shyness and a lack of confidence as well as ways of increasing my focus, to the point that my ability to focus is now seen as an asset, where before it was a weakness.
So now I use methods a thousand years old alongside a study of modern practices of the mind and body. Always keep in mind to question everything: What? Why? Where? How? 
Soooo what is the secret of the masters?
Quite simply perseverance and hard work, talent can help but without the other two you won’t succeed. It is said that it takes around 350,000 repetition’s to make a move a natural one and around 10,000 hours to become an expert. The masters merely went out and trained… every day, They worked hard, lived it and loved it, even when it got tough. Always remember you will become what you do and think about the most. 
Oh, and one last thing… Masters fail… a lot… don’t be afraid to fail and don’t take yourself too seriously.
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