Leo T. Fong is a Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame member, and longtime martial arts practitioner who holds several black belts in multiple martial arts. In Beyond Kung Fu: Breaking an Opponent’s Power Through Relaxed Tension, Fong takes the reader on a journey that is based on 70 years of martial arts experience.
Having had the privilege to study with the legendary Bruce Lee, Fong has added to Lee’s teaching by taking the reader through four stages of martial development: developing the tools, refining the tools, dissolving the tools, and expressing the tools. For example, at the development stage the practitioner learns the basics (e.g. punching, kicking, grappling, etc.) while at the expression stage the martial artist is simply able to respond without thought.
While martial artists who read this book can certainly use the teachings to analyze their own combat development, the central lesson that Fong conveys is his notion of relaxed tension – the ability to calming assess and respond to challenges without anxiety. It is a philosophy that appears simple yet is extremely difficult to develop. However, with the help of the Fong, the reader is able to create a toolkit of practices which will help develop this important ability.
Roughly one third of the book is devoted to helping the reader achieve relaxed tension. Naturally, this is the portion of the book that truly stands out. Drawing on soft arts from several cultures, this section includes advice on seated meditation, meditation in motion, chi breathing, chi circulation, and a section on chi power through weight training.
As a martial artist who is cautious of spiritual chi practices, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with Fong’s approach to the topic. Readers who believe in chi as a mystical force, and readers who believe there are scientific explanations for the notion both will find something of value in this book.
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