Training Against Your Environment

[HuangKaiVun]

I know that at least a few of you train against the objects in your environment.

The thing that I work the most on is footwork. Because my belief is that good stepping is the cornerstone of avoiding confrontation altogether, I constantly practice rolling out of bed, getting in and out of chairs, going to the ground, etc . . .

Sometimes, I'll smack a wall. I don't do it with just my fists - I do it with shoulder, butt, knees, elbows, back, even head. When I studied my old style, I was supposed to be hitting heavy bags. Instead, I used to smack brick walls. I still do nowadays.

I also am working on creating a personalized set in which anything can be used as a weapon. Whenever I can, I practice using my pens and books and clothes and such.

Every time I see a freestanding bar, I treat it a bit like a Wing Chun mok yan jong (wooden dummy) and start doing sensitivity drills on it. Sometimes I jam the bar isometrically, other times I'll grapple the bar, often I'll thread around the bar to openings.

At this point in my training, I'm starting to feel as I'm "practicing" even when I'm sitting at this computer posting obsessively on KFO! From my current stance (seated, left knee up), I can block and attack and get in and out of my chair at will.

What about you guys? Any suggestions?

[Justa Man]

i do that with the bar too. with doors, columns, and subway car poles as well. people look at me like i'm nuts, but i'm training. i thought i was the only freak that did that. but i don't smack random parts of my body into brick walls. in fact the first time i read that i thought you were crackers. i still kind of think that, cuz i think you're doing more hurt than good, but whatever gets you goin. i think you're right on with the footwork. keep it up bra. i feel like i'm training when i'm doing almost everything too. my walking isn't walking anymore. shanking someone hand is now a precision technique to jam the other's hand and clench immedietly. opening a door is an art now.
i think it's a stage. like when bruce said when he started, a kick was a kick. then, a kick became so much more. than, finally, it became just a kick again.

[rogue]

"What about you guys? Any suggestions?"

Yes, find a good woman! You have way too much time on your hands. :D

[norther practitioner]

I hit stuff sometimes, but more often than not I will try striking around objects...its fun, and if you are in a fight, and someone tends to block in a certain way, you may have somehow realized how to go around this in that said training. It can never take the place of training with a partner, however this is not always an option. I also like thinking sometimes how to use a stick similarly to some movements out of my dao form or using a pen etc. I also want to learn rope dart or something, after seing the horseshoe and rope in Shanghai Noon, or the lamp in a Jet Li movie, you see how these props can become fun weapons and sometimes realistic ones. It can be an advantage, even though some will say that it is not too practical, and that time could be better used training x or y....it offers a certain spice.