Drunken Monkey

well, here in the uk it's a bit akward to practice weapons anywhere in the open... the local police don't like me playing wth my three section staff in the park. they're awfully polite about it though.

and then there's the point that punching from a horse stance isn't the only punch excercise. basically, you name it, we do it. the first thing we have you do is to punch in stance. it gets you used to the feeling of the stance and you develop your balance in stance. then we have you turning and punch. gets you used to pivoting+punching without moving your centre of mass (balance). then we have you step/shift and punch (that is every type of step/shift and combination thereof) for developing smooth and easy movement+turning. at each stage we introduce you to corresponding punching drills with partner. then we have you do all of this against a bag. what you seem to be saying that the only punching exercises you used to do were punching in horse, which just isn't true (for us at least). on the other hand you seem to be suggesting that pnching a bag is better and thus the air drills are not needed which i simply don't agree with. my problem with letting guys punch a bag from the word go is that they lose the point of the exercise and it turns into 'who can make the loudest noise'.

and like someone once told me. the training hall is for learning. outside is where you should be practicing.

sigh. i know and that is what saddens me the most. you might have seen my post elsewhere about my views on 'modern' training in 'traditional' martial arts. what anoys me the most is when a bunch of guys from the same class complain that there isn't enough sparring...

and then there's the point that if you are going to be learning an animal style, it won't neccessarily follow the theories of the five animals style. the 'long ying mor kiu' is quite different to the type of moves found in the five animals and yet it is a dragon style. as for the five animals that is in lau gar, can anyone tell me where they got their form from? or if it just the shaolin form.

strange that despite them having a lot of tape they only ever released that 10-15 seconds of it. i think the more interesting bit would be the minute or two before emin rushed the guy.

we call the third centre-line you mention, the 'central-plane'. it is this that is more important because it is the direct line between you and your opponent. as long as you are facing his centre and are operating along the central plane you are effectively, 'on target'. your aim is then to prevent him from facing your centre-line hence preventing him from operating along the 'central-plane' (i.e he is not 'on target')

knowing about your own centreline is kinda useless if you aren't actively aware of your opponents centre-line and your own mother-line.

you'll find that the foundation will cost quite a bit. i'm gonna bet taht it's going to be the most expensive part (all depending on ground conditions, clearing up, and actual size+depth of foundation requited). i think a good solid wood floor would be good; nice and polished. you can always get some good mats afterwards.

where did you go? i was in shang hai a few years back. don't understand how everything could shut at 10pm. nice place but not that much different to hk (except the people are even louder and more rude...) you know how many people want to go and train in the shaolin temple? well, my goal is to go to canton (futsan) and visit as many of the martial arts schools with history as possible. imagine standing in the same courtyard in which wong fei hung taught lam sai wing. or seeing the street where places like jan sang tong stood. i have a really strange image of old china from all of the dodgy hk flicks that was inflicted on me as a child and it'd be intereseting to see what the heart of southern chinese martial arts is like now. y'know, i'd probably get laughed at by the locals. or worse yet, from what i've seen on tv, it seems like martial arts is the main industry and there are more mcdojos per square foot than people.

if chinese food is so bad (fattening) for you, how come you don't see many massively over-weight chinese people?

and this might seem a bit obvious but make sure you have the ceiling high enough....

depends on what chinese style you are planning on taking up. depending on the region it comes from and it's age the atyle will have a very different approach on things. the question of hard vs soft is probably the most talked about because few chinese syles are predominantly just one of these. you can say wing chun is a 'soft' art because of the training methods and emphasis on subtle, 'gentle' moves but for every soft motion there is a hard reaction. you will find that most of the styles are a mix of hard and soft because both ways acheive different things. i'm a small guy and i just can't try to match people in games of brute strength. instead i have to out-move them and use subtle shifts to dissipate force applied to me. BUT when it is my turn to hit, i will go in the shortest, quickest way. the ng ying kuen is a good example of hard and soft. there are movements associated with dragon that are mainly subtle stance shifts applied with a grab to maximise effect and there are direct, no-nonsence attacks associated with tiger. in-between, you have crane and snake type moves that first circle to receive but go linear to strike. (i am simplying the nature of the moves so please forgive any oversights) the point is most chinese martial arts, particularly the newer styles are all about a good balance of hard and soft, circular and linear, internal and external. there aren't many schools that are pure hard or pure soft. (except maybe lee gar... but i don't think that's too easy to find)

and remember guys the quickest way to be a grandmaster is to invent your own style. then no one can argue with you about it.

yes there are chi sau competitions but in my opinion they are a bit of a joke. 1st round you defend. 2nd round you attack. 3rd round you do it 'properly'... and from what i've seen, there remain fixed on the spot, completely omitting one of the most useful elements of wing chun which is stepping. chi sau is a game designed to get you used to feeling how things happen and how to best react upon receiving pressure. the idea is that after many hours doing chi sau, you will have certain reactions burned into your memory so much so that they are instinct. then when you next receive pressure on your structure, your arms will automatically do whatever they are used to doing in order to relieve the pressure. let's take the most basic move in wing chun. pak sau. if my partner did a pak on my punch during chi sau, i would normally drop the punch into tan whilst turning (and pressing forward with my other arm) in order to maintain the sticking game. however, during sparring, if he does a pak against my punch, i would probably feed my free hand through to grab his pak sau and pull him into me whilst i advance with a punch using the same punching hand. keeps him off my centre. keeps me on his outside gate. keeps his free hand away from me (unless he pivots to resist the grab... damn that exercise...) chi sau is a game. in a perfect game of chi su, you would roll with your partner a few times then stop because you both find that there is no gap in his structure. in a way, you only attack during chi sau because your partner's structure has a flaw and you find yourself entering there. (i.e his elbow shifts or he is too rigid) just in case i've offended anyone out there i should point out that there are many wing chun schools out there and depending on who you train with you will do chi sau differently. here's something for you to try. during your chi sau, suddenly pull with both hands and see what happens. or suddenly step backwards out of the exchange.

but it does look like you get some really nice coasters with that pack though.

and you have to remember that it was a demonstration of what could be achieved with proper body structure. think about it. if it was such a deadly move that cause great damage, how is it that the guy who 'flew' backwards 20ft managed to get up as though nothing happened. what bruce did was more of a push, less of a punch.

cos i'm smarter than you?

what do you mean why? he went backwards because he received force. and he didn't fly, it was more like he 'stumbled' backwards.

didn't somebody say that only a coward would answer like that?

well, like i say, the name was something bruce gave to the way wing chun punches work. everyone who practices wing chun does the one inch punch.

i don't say you are a kid. i know you are a kid.

so what you are saying is that you don't know anything. let me repeat that again. you don't know anything about the one inch punch.

and that means what? sano is nothing but a wannabe?

um, it isn't really a move. it is basically a name bruce lee gave to the way wing chun punches work. what do you know about the one inch punch beyond the name?