ovine king

the key to this is strong wrists. if you watch a good wing chun guy you will see something the chinese call "still" wrists. that is, when-ever they do a movement involving the wrists, it remains completely still. also, the movement is very clear and precise. circling hands and grabbing hands exercises form the basics of wrist training. knife basics also work the wrists. (and a lot of 'weight training' as well) if you know these then you have a firm ground on which to work/train your wrists. incidentally, i wasn't taught to hit the bag straight away for fear of hurting my weak wrists. even when i was hitting a bag, i was encouraged not to use the wrist movements unless i was sure my wrist wouldn't 'collapse'/break form. (note: the above is based on what was taught to me many, many moons ago and may differ from what you might've read in that little book you might have seen...)

.....depends on what you mean by "learn". if you simply mean to imitate/copy what it looks like, then maybe yes, assuming that you can figure out all of the movements inbetween illustrated steps or fully understand what they describe in words. if you mean "learn" as in find out something that you never came across before in your training, then i would say maybe, depending on how/what you've done before. if you mean learning from new with no prior experience before, then no. learning, knowing and having experience in are three very different things and in the case of martial arts, there is an even larger gap between them. having knowledge of how something looks like and how it is done means nothing. martial arts has always been about being able to do. knowing x number of forms means nothing if the guy who only knows one move can defeat you in any type of matchup. in that example, you can theoretically learn his martial art (of one move) very easily but what does mean if you can't use it? experience is the key to learning martial arts and that is what you can't get from a book. reading a book isn't going to make you a master, no matter how many years you've been reading.

i have never really paid attention to what school other people attend. if i've heard of it, fine. if i've heard of the teacher, fine. all that means is that i have a perspective on what they might have done in their class. what really matters is in the hands. granted that the school, be it good or bad plays a part in that but people aren't generally stupid. if something is fishy, they normally know it and, as the saying goes, vote with their feet. you want to go on a one man crusade to end the skurge of mcdojos? fine. i'll just keep training and know that i can play a part in making sure the next generation of students after me, if i decide to teach, gets the same level of training that i did.

that's wushu. it means nothing in relation to the 'proper' martial arts.

that's one of the three 'books' he gave them. the other two (bone washing+sinew transformation) are also static (meditatory) exercises.

well...... i suggested getting a surveyor first because i still have a huge distrust of what a lot of builders do. the worst thing is to have a builder say he can do one thing, then carry it out then a surveyor tells you that it contravenes building regs after it has been done. if you're determined to do it mostly by yourself, then try to get hold of (or maybe just have a good look) the latest copy of the building/safety regs for examples of safety standards. as i said, when you're talking about doing something to walls in the basement, you have to bear in mind that the structures there not only hold up the walls/roof of your house but the walls/roof of your neighbours' house. loft is easier and quicker and less work. any time you are removing brickwork/rendering there is a hell of a lot dust that gets everywhere. we had a chimney breast removed and we were cleaning up dust for months. as for the fire, i'd say keep it. if you have to change it then go for gas, it is waaaaay cheaper than electric. if you're going for a complete re-fit then seriously think about having a simple underfloor heating system fitted. it will make your house feel warmer and it's cheap to run. if you've got a decent boiler already, you can get kits that you do yourself. the good thing about this is that it frees up wall space and the recommended 6 inch gap between radiator panels and furniture.

hmm, here's a thought, do you guys pick something that you like or something that someone else likes?

am i the only one who does it right hand open? the way i do it the flat hand rests on the first two knucles (the upper face of the fist). mostly it depends on the school/style. there is no one fixed way of doing it.

first thing would be get your surveyor back in (hopefully you got one to do a check before you decided to buy...) and have a look at the basement. he should be able to tell you exactly what can be done and how much it might cost. next step would be to get a builder in to have a look as well. the basement (or maybe a dry sump foundation) is a very fragile thing. if it goes wrong, it's not just your house that suffers and 'suffer' is a massive understatement.

....and of course there's also the marketing implications. it sounds more attractive to the generally ignorant to toll people that you know/teach the hidden secret techniques of the forms. you get more customers that way.

but even the myths and legend don't say he taught them martial arts/fighting. all the stories say is that on his first visit, he gave them three books to help them be healthier in body and mind. the three books are mainly body exercises and mental excercises (meditation).

you said: "they wanted to conceal thier technique so they disguised as sort of a dance" not the same as what is said by me and the article. to clarify. the article (and i) say that the use of movements weren't always taught. you say, techniques are hidden (deliberately). i can teach you a form in a week. i can then tell you to practice the form until it is perfect. or i can teach you the form bit by bit, slowly, showing you how to use it outside of the form (and how/why that movement is used). at the end of the day, the form is the same. it's just that one way teaches you how to apply, the other teaches you how to perform. nothing is hidden as in both ways you are doing exactly the same types of movements. that's not even going into what constitutes realistic training methods. anyway, the point is, forms don't always show (fixed) technique. more often than not, they show types of movements that you modify into applicable 'techniques'. it seems that for whatever reason, peole have got it into their head that if it looks like a punch then that's all it is and forget that in reality, a punch is just a straight forard extension of the arm with a clenched fist. the same movement can be modified into a palm thrust, arm break, lock, interception, block and generally whatever you need. when someone says it's a hidden technique, it's just them not realising that things don't have to be exactly as they are in the forms. it's this ignorance/stupidity that leads them to think/say "hey, it's not in the form, it must be secret/hidden"......

not quite. what that article says is that it was common for sifus to teach form after form with no reference to actual application. nothing about having hidden moves in forms. if you go back to what i said, if the sifu doesn't want you to know, he simply wouldn't show you it. (it's known that sometimes the sifu would simply leave out a small but vital section) even if they do show you a complete 'proper' form, some of the movements (not always the same as technique) have multiple applications not all of which you will get easily because they might rely on knowledge and experience with another form. i.e one form might have the grabbing+pulling motion+stance change and another will have a advancing step+balance disruption+attack of some sort. full training that the article talks about is teaching of form and applications. talk to the karate guys and ask about bunkai (and iain abernethy). training isn't just about forms, it's about using forms. this is something that still goes on; the article refers to it as form chasing and is something that happens more in the older styles where movements are a little more obscure. too often people (kids?) think that the more forms they know the better they are. they miss the point that the guy who only knows one form but knows how to apply everything from it is in reality the better student.

three things. i) karate has some[i/] influence from chinese styles. ii) bodhidarma didn't actually teach any fighting. so, you can't really say that bodhidarma is the origins of chinese martial arts. iii) the chinese style that karate was influenced by was/is not strictly a shaolin style (bodhidarma has nothing to do with it) bodhidarma is mentioned because japan was/is mainly a buddhist country. it's hard to talk about buddhist ideas in karate without mentioning him.

er.... y'know 膀 (pong) we pronounce it 'bong' (as in tie up). it might have something to do with yip man and how he changed some of the names slightly. i.e small learning set - small idea head. can't confirm this though..... 3 types of kick yes, but different versions there-of i.e low stomp kick/roll foot kick/used as a stop-trip instead of a proper kick. y'know, we multi-task movements. technically, it isn't really long fist/short fist. it's long distance bridge/short distance bridge. when people say long fist, they are usually refering to long fist as in the style (northern shaolin with base being the 12 tan tui). long distance bridge styles play at a different distance and at a different level. they tend to use more changes of level in their movements (attack at all levels) and use the classical stances more i.e drop into cross to drop weight then 'jump' to forward bow. short distance bridge styles use body structure differently. in general, they use a higher, more natural stance that aims to create a solid grounding and then use body allignment to generate higher reaction forces from the ground up. they tend to be more compact in execution and there's more emphasis on hand techniques (mantis+wing chun+pak mei) there's also a whole host of in between styles. hung kuen can be called short bridge and long bridge. pak mei has long bridge elements. wing chun can be played like a long bridge style (although that kinda defeats the object of wing chun...) going back to northern shaolin long fist. if your close contact fighting is good, you're basic tan tui (esp those leading to throws) can equally be used short range bridge style.

Zui Ba Xian (Quan) this isn't the name of a person. it is the name of the form. it means drunken eight immortals (actually, it's closer to demi-god but that's a complicated story...) the 8 immortals are 8 taoist characters that embody 8 ideals/temptations/characteristics of the taoist way. this is where i have issues about it being a shaolin form (taoist shoalin?) so anyway. seeing as it isn't a person, it isn't because he drinks a lot. there are a few stories about how the drunken principles came about. the most famous is about a not too obedient monk (there's always one....) who got a bit sloshed one night and the ones he ran into when he got home couldn't take care of him. wich leads to antother gripe of mine. if he was unbeatable when drunk, how when sober, did he remember what he did? did they pretend to be drunk to imitate his movements? if so then how surely it would only be an approximation..... does that mean they encouraged him to get drunk so he could beat them up again so they can note down down the movements? anyways..... the straight sword was considered a higher art (intellectually, not skill-wise) weapon. so yes, the point about the broad sword (dan dao - dao just means knife) was to be a simple to use weapon. strangely enough though, the broad sword is considered the king of the short weapons, every inch of it being dangerous (as it was said). so while it was an easier to use weapon, it was also highly prized as being a weapon that can require a lot of skill to master. as for a drunken broad sword form, i've only ever seen a wushu performance of one. it kinda goes against a key principle of broadsword fighting (v.close range) but it did look nice.......

right..... is it me or are you now changing what you say to fit in with something that sounds a lot like what i said originally? i sued the word 'mischief' because in a lot of instances that's what it was. setting fire inside an enemy camp is mischief. stirring trouble within enemy camp is mischief. causing unrest within the enemy camp is mischief. at the same time it is part of war strategy but it is mischief. no? this is going to be the last post from me about this. it's quite clear to me that you don't know much about this. (chirst almighty did you actually say 'demon/oni ninja'?) the things i've mentioned i can provide references for. i omitted the use of actual names so that you can't google the things i type so easily. can you give references for the things you say? i.e live in forests and steal swords from samurai who walk by.... (hmm, since when did ninja use samurai swords?) just so you know, japan isn't a very flat country. not many people at that time period didn't live in hills/mountains/forests.

nope. they're both used for the cantonese. in reality, it sounds like a mix of the two, kinda like a sharper g sound or a softer k sound. it's like the g as in get but it comes from deeper in the throat. but yeah.... SR got it, it's just a different way of romanisation.

you're wrong.

often? a bit? once you get past 9pm it's like the programming is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at getting soft-core porn onto uk national telly. admittedly, some of it is funny......

nono..... don't just take my word for it.... it was kinda proven on a program that was shown UK channel 5. but if you know what channel 5 is like, you'd know it was probably a joke to give ugly men some hope....

i find it rather hard to believe that so many people think that jackie chan isn't going to be more than a bit handy in a fight..... and er.... isn't dolph lundgrund a big time kyokushin practioner?

what? all i did was point out something that didn't make sense. fine. i'll know next time to ignore it.

....ninja weren't exclusively spies and assasins. lets not forget that assainations and deceptions were common acts of loyalty; it was an honourable thing to kill the enemies of your lord. why would an honourable samurai get a 'ninja' (especially if they didn't like them) to kill an enemy, thus removing some of the honour of the act? yes ninja did kill and do spy work but one of their greatest skills (that doesn't film well ) was war strategy. (some say it was based heavily on Sun Tzu coutesy of Hattori and his little episode of taking up the wrong side...) in the beginning, they were not much more than 'punks' who would steal, rob and fight and kill. these were the original 'specialist' people (shinobi-no mono: military spy) that were hired to do spy work (after Onin period). this is the 'men from yiga' and 'men from koga' (again thanks to Hattori) that were especially good at it, that the other guy mentioned. there are also records of low level samurai (gasp! samurai were ninja?), don't forget, samurai wasn't just a single social group - there were differentiations within the group as well, were recruited as shinobi. going back to the war strategy thing. often groups were employed to penetrate/infiltrate into enemy camps. here, they would generally cause mischief, set a fire here, kill a person there and found out about plans and weaknesses. (no solitary james bond types working here....) then where possible, they would try to sabotage or misdirect the enemies during their actions. famously, there is the story of 'killing with someone else' knife'. in most instances, the so called secret ninja clans were not much more than fuedal families that specialised in war/espionage (mainly goshi - low level samurai) that had no lord, hence being able to work for anyone who requested them. and this is not even going on about the religious aspects..... (yamabushi and shugendo etc etc) or even mentioning that the oldest recorded school of ninjutsu was named in honour of a samurai general. (so where's all that fued you talk about between samurai and ninja?)

depends.... apparently if you're an ugly bloke, your sweat is more attractive to women than the sweat of a good looking bloke..... make of that what you will....