Adults Couse Details | Norwich Kung Fu Academy

Many martial arts promises a black belt or the equivalent eventually, but it matters how you get there. Because our curriculum covers vastly more than most, with 8 years of post Black Belt training, we have deliberatly structured your journey to Black Belt to be only 3 years.

So that you recieve training appropriate to your personal progress, our 3 year Black Belt course has three levels, each with its own modules, each module building a specific physical and mental capability on top of the last. Foundation gives you the raw material: basic techniques, essential stratagy and the ability to make coordinated whole body movements. Intermediate takes that raw material and refines it into something efficient and applicable under pressure, while adding more complexity of technique combinations and more subtle, less intuitive, tactics. Advanced takes efficiency and turns it into strategy, the elemental thinking that lets you instictively read a situation and respond appropriately rather than just react. By the time you reach Black Belt, you haven’t just accumulated techniques; you’ve been through a structured process of physical and mental development guided by the highest qualified, professional Kung Fu Masters. Every journey is achievable when you are guided step by step.

Foundation Level
The First 6 Months

Everyone starts here, regardless of age or prior experience. These three 8-week modules, each ending with the opportunity to grade for the next belt, are foundational in every sense; not only will you be creating the skill base to build apon, but you’ll be guided in techniques to control your emotions.

Inertia (White belt, 8 weeks): Your very first module is about starting well. Before technique can mean anything, your body needs to learn how to generate and carry motion; each strike, step or turn builds power when generated by the whole body moving as one rather than by isolated limbs. This is also where the hardest work happens psychologically; building the training habit itself. Like anything with inertia, the first few weeks of any new discipline take the most effort to get moving, after that, momentum starts doing some of the work for you.
Momentum (Yellow belt, 8 weeks): Having got moving, this module is about not stopping. You’ll learn to link techniques together smoothly instead of resetting between each one, and start to feel the difference between a body that’s tense versus one that flows continuously and smoothly from technique to the next .
Fluidity (Orange belt, 8 weeks): The final Foundation module softens everything you’ve built so far. Power without fluidity is stiff and telegraphed; fluidity is what lets speed and strength move through your body rather than fighting against it. By the end of this module you should feel noticeably looser, more coordinated, and more confident than when you started six months earlier.

Intermediate Level
The Next 10 Months

Once all three Foundation belts are earned, your training gets more sophisticated. During Intermediate you’ll study five modules over 10 months, each still 8 weeks, each pushing further into what your body and mind can accomplish:

Practicality (Red belt): Techniques stop being drilled in isolation and start being tested against resistance — a partner who isn’t simply standing still and cooperating. This is where you find out which parts of your Foundation training actually hold up.
Structure (Red/black belt): A deeper look at stance, alignment and body mechanics; the skeletal and postural framework that lets a smaller person generate real force without relying on muscle alone.
Economy of Motion (Green belt): Doing more with less. You’ll learn to strip wasted movement out of your technique so that everything you do becomes more efficient; faster with less effort.
Attitude (Green/black belt): By now you will realise that mental attitude is crucially important. The qualities of confidence, composure under pressure, understanding the difference between aggression and assertiveness will start to show up in daily life, not just in the training studio.
Personal Development (Blue belt): The Intermediate level consolidates your understanding that martial arts is as much about enabling you to become the best version of you as it is about self defence or physical and mental resiliancel.

Advanced Level
The Next 20 Months

The next and longest stretch of the course is five 16-week modules (20 months in total) and is built around the five classical elemental strategies of Tao Te Kung Fu. Where Foundation and Intermediate build capability, Advanced builds judgement: reading an opponent, a situation, or a moment, and knowing intuitively which approach is appropriate.

Water: Yielding, adaptable, formless until it meets resistance is the strategy of flowing around force rather than opposing it directly.
Fire: Rapid, explosive, consuming enables decisive commitment at the right moment, taking advantage of an opening before it closes.
Metal: Sharp, precise, unyielding is the strategy for targeting; cutting straight to the point with minimal wasted motion or effort.
Wood: Growing, flexible under load and resilient is exemplified in bending without breaking, and using that tension as a source of strength.
Stone: Grounded, immovable, patient, this is a strategy of direct, though unexpected, lines of force. It can involve simply not being where the opponent expects, or not moving at all when stillness is the stronger choice.

Once all five elements are demonstrated, a student is awarded their Black Belt and the invitation to continue into the Masters’ curriculum, where the learning momentum doesn’t slacken and training shifts to more esoteric skills: multiple opponent drills, subtle control methods etc. In Masters you will develop your own personal use of Tao Te Kung Fu.

The Tao of Motion

There are laws of motion in every area of life, not just the physical: inertia and momentum are fundamental to how the body moves, but also to how a habit, a skill, or a career develops. It takes real, sustained effort to get something started whether it’s a punch, a new routine or a business, but once it’s moving, far less energy is needed to keep it going than it took to start it. An aeroplane burns enormous fuel to get off the ground and up to cruising speed; once there, the engines can almost coast. The same principle explains why the first weeks of training, of any discipline, feel disproportionately hard; you’re building momentum from a standing start. Stop pushing too early, though, and that momentum bleeds away just as physics predicts, which is precisely why consistency in the early Foundation modules matters more than intensity.

There is a momentum learning, created by repetition, that moves a skill from the conscious brain into the unconscious/instinctive part. A fast, surprise attack, like a blink, is over before your conscious mind can react to it. Instinctive reaction has to close that gap, and instinctive reaction is exactly what repeated, structured practice builds. This is the practical reason a Foundation module is 8 weeks rather than a single lesson: the aim isn’t to understand a technique intellectually, it’s to make it automatic enough to survive contact with a moment that arrives faster than though

Strategy for Martial Arts — and Life

“Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy’s unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots.”
— Sun Tzu, The Art of War (544–496 B.C.)

“If victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardour will be damped.”
— Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way… you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”
— Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)

This is the thread that runs through the whole three-year course: attitude and strategy aren’t separate from technique, they’re built the same way technique is, through consistent, deliberate repetition. A student doesn’t become disciplined by deciding to be disciplined; they become disciplined by training disciplined behaviour, module after module, in exactly this way they can build a skill, like a round kick or a palm strike.

A Sample Module — Paak Sao, Palm Strike & Round Kick

To make the structure concrete, here’s what one real 8-week Foundation module looks like in practice, not just a list of techniques, but a deliberate build from raw form to full-speed, full-power application:

Week 1 — Fundamentals & form (1st half): Learning how to use and apply the Paak Sao (a slapping deflection) and the palm strike — how the forearm defends the upper torso and head, and how to target with the lower edge of the palm.
Week 2 — Fundamentals & form (2nd half): Introducing the round kick — when to use it, and how its balance of speed and power depends on the body turning, chambering the leg and releasing the tension all working together.
Week 3 — Stepping, balance & kick precision: Stance width at shoulder width, feet parallel, weight on the balls of the feet; the balance foundation every technique afterwards depends on.
Week 4 — Block & strike precision: Angling the standing foot 90° before the kick, pointing with the top of the foot and retracting immediately after impact, keeping the knee at target height while chambering.
Week 5 — Fluidity & economy of motion: Striking with the edge of the palm while keeping the rear arm slightly bent, circling the arm into the block in line with the torso and understanding the Yin/Yang relationship between the striking and guarding hand.
Week 6 — Transition and speed: Turning your opponent’s hard power against them with soft, fluid movement instead of meeting force with force; circling strikes to defend the full area of the body with minimal energy expenditure.
Week 7 — Full body power generation: Linking the Paak Sao, palm strike and round kick together, using body/hip rotation rather than arm or leg strength alone, to generate power throughout every movement.
Week 8 — Grading preparation: Falling step for momentum and power in the palm strike, standing foot/hip rotation, and pulling the whole eight weeks together for grading.

Membership Options

Once a Week Membership — £44/month: 1 weekly lesson, home training manuals, online tuitional videos — a solid pace for building the habit without overcommitting early on.
Twice a Week Membership — £68/month: 2 weekly lessons, home training manuals, online tuitional videos — for students who want to make a more determined committment to their personal development.
A Concesianary Rate is available for those who qualify; do ask about this if you feel it might apply to you.

Family Membership

Training as a family is actively encouraged and priced accordingly. The first (highest-rate) family member pays full price, each additional family member gets 50% off, and from the fifth member onwards, membership is completely free.

Kit & Equipment

Kung Fu Uniform — £28.00

RRP £40.00, save £12. Academy t-shirt (men’s or women’s fit) with polycotton trousers — comfortable enough to train in every week without holding you back.

White Belt — £3.00

RRP £6.00, save £3. 100% cotton multi-layer stitched belt — your first rank, representing new beginnings and an empty cup ready to be filled.

Foam Padded Escrima Stick — £10.00

RRP £13.00, save £3. A solid core with foam padding, ideal for practicing weapon technique safely with a training partner.

Foam Padded Nunchuck — £6.00

RRP £9.00, save £3. Foam and corded construction, ideal for learning new techniques without the risk of injury while you build control.

Red Oak Tanto — £8.00

RRP £10.00, save £2. An elegant, traditional substitute for learning techniques associated with this classic samurai weapon.

Wakoku Body Armour — £23.00

RRP £25.00, save £2. Light, comfortable and durable — lets you practice targeting and accuracy at real intensity without risk of injury to your training partner.

New Starter Bundle — £78.00

Everything above bundled together — uniform, belt, escrima stick, nunchuck, tanto and body armour — for £78.00 (RRP £103.00, save £25). And to make saying yes easy: no fees for the first month, no joining fees, no licence fees, and no minimum contract.