MaFuYee
11-29-2002, 10:06 PM
hi,
i like martial arts. - it's a great hobby for me. - over the years i've hopped from system to system, school to school, and have been very fortunate to be able to experience a very rich and diverse smorgasborg of styles and arts, but i've never felt like i was ever really progressing in my ability to fight, like i wanted to. (think 'shaw bros.')
and over the years i've tried to keep pieces from different arts that i liked, and incorporate it into my training, and i think in the short run, i did benefit from it.
e.g. i liked the 'hubud' drills from the pillipino arts, as well as the 12 strikes and 12 blocks of the doce pares system. - i liked the plum flower strikes from wu mei, as well as their bamboo blocking, and unique footwork. i really like the san jin sao exercises from hung ga... etc. etc.
but, who in the world has the time to practice everything??
for the last 5+ years i've been learning yang style tai chi, and have learned the 64 posture form, tai chi pole, gim, broadsword, hsing-i 5 elements and linking form, 1 tung bei (white ape) form, 10 tan tui sets (very short) hsing-i's 3 power sword form (san jin), red river (northern longfist), health fist, tai chi 2 man fast set... etc. etc...
my mind was oversaturated with kung fu...
(and i still sucked.)
i've never been able to consistently practice any one thing for long enough to really get very good at it... i would constantly have to cycle through the material or i would start to forget stuff.
with all the forms and whatnot, i'd have very little time to actually practice the techniques, and my fighting ability suffered for it.
i made this realisation perhaps two years ago, or at least it got to a point where the realisation crystalized; and i started to cut things out of my training...
i cut and cut, and it seemed to be an improvement, ... and i kept on cutting, and cutting... to where i am now, where i've cut to such an extreme, that i only really work on 5 things.
1. raise arms
2. single whip
3. brush knee
4. lift hands
5. golden rooster
this seems to really have improved my fighting skills a lot. (keep in mind, i don't have hours and hours every day to practice.) - these are the only 5 things that i use when i spar. and now i feel i've almost come to a point where i feel that maybe in a few more months, i can add another technique to work on. (although, now my sparring is better than it's ever been, i don't really know if i should even bother to add more, for fear that my progress might suffer.)
other than these 5 techniques, i generally will do some "standing post", and the tai chi form, just cause it feels good, and i've started to work on my horse stance again. (i always disliked it in the past, but now i realise that it's good for me, so i'm getting into doing a little bit of that. - and in a way, it does feel good. (in a masochistic kind of way.))
i used to want to know everything kung fu. - i though it would be great if i could learn all these different styles and everything... and i would watch every m.a. instructional tape i could get my hands on, and read every m.a. book in barnes and nobles...
now i feel like none of it is all that interesting to me anymore... i no longer feel the urge to learn pokeyomama silat and buy that tape on duck style kung fu, because i've found that, of everything i've seen so far, for me, tai chi seems to be the most practical, and if you know how to skin a cat one way, and it works good for you... wonderful. - although i don't know what i'd do with a skinned cat.
i'm still not great or anything, but i think i've reached a new level of contentment with my training, and my improvement in fighting skill... and even if i never become great... oh well... it's just a hobby. - besides, that's why i got my 'gat'. :D
anyhoo... this is just an idea for some of you out there, who like me, have already learned more than enough forms for this lifetime (usually meaning, 'if you know more than one form') but have not yet experienced the positive growth of fighting skills like you wanted to, and that originally prompted you to learn martial arts; maybe the old adage is true, that "less is more", and maybe you too can benefit from focusing on just a few things to get good at.
peace outside,
Ma.
i like martial arts. - it's a great hobby for me. - over the years i've hopped from system to system, school to school, and have been very fortunate to be able to experience a very rich and diverse smorgasborg of styles and arts, but i've never felt like i was ever really progressing in my ability to fight, like i wanted to. (think 'shaw bros.')
and over the years i've tried to keep pieces from different arts that i liked, and incorporate it into my training, and i think in the short run, i did benefit from it.
e.g. i liked the 'hubud' drills from the pillipino arts, as well as the 12 strikes and 12 blocks of the doce pares system. - i liked the plum flower strikes from wu mei, as well as their bamboo blocking, and unique footwork. i really like the san jin sao exercises from hung ga... etc. etc.
but, who in the world has the time to practice everything??
for the last 5+ years i've been learning yang style tai chi, and have learned the 64 posture form, tai chi pole, gim, broadsword, hsing-i 5 elements and linking form, 1 tung bei (white ape) form, 10 tan tui sets (very short) hsing-i's 3 power sword form (san jin), red river (northern longfist), health fist, tai chi 2 man fast set... etc. etc...
my mind was oversaturated with kung fu...
(and i still sucked.)
i've never been able to consistently practice any one thing for long enough to really get very good at it... i would constantly have to cycle through the material or i would start to forget stuff.
with all the forms and whatnot, i'd have very little time to actually practice the techniques, and my fighting ability suffered for it.
i made this realisation perhaps two years ago, or at least it got to a point where the realisation crystalized; and i started to cut things out of my training...
i cut and cut, and it seemed to be an improvement, ... and i kept on cutting, and cutting... to where i am now, where i've cut to such an extreme, that i only really work on 5 things.
1. raise arms
2. single whip
3. brush knee
4. lift hands
5. golden rooster
this seems to really have improved my fighting skills a lot. (keep in mind, i don't have hours and hours every day to practice.) - these are the only 5 things that i use when i spar. and now i feel i've almost come to a point where i feel that maybe in a few more months, i can add another technique to work on. (although, now my sparring is better than it's ever been, i don't really know if i should even bother to add more, for fear that my progress might suffer.)
other than these 5 techniques, i generally will do some "standing post", and the tai chi form, just cause it feels good, and i've started to work on my horse stance again. (i always disliked it in the past, but now i realise that it's good for me, so i'm getting into doing a little bit of that. - and in a way, it does feel good. (in a masochistic kind of way.))
i used to want to know everything kung fu. - i though it would be great if i could learn all these different styles and everything... and i would watch every m.a. instructional tape i could get my hands on, and read every m.a. book in barnes and nobles...
now i feel like none of it is all that interesting to me anymore... i no longer feel the urge to learn pokeyomama silat and buy that tape on duck style kung fu, because i've found that, of everything i've seen so far, for me, tai chi seems to be the most practical, and if you know how to skin a cat one way, and it works good for you... wonderful. - although i don't know what i'd do with a skinned cat.
i'm still not great or anything, but i think i've reached a new level of contentment with my training, and my improvement in fighting skill... and even if i never become great... oh well... it's just a hobby. - besides, that's why i got my 'gat'. :D
anyhoo... this is just an idea for some of you out there, who like me, have already learned more than enough forms for this lifetime (usually meaning, 'if you know more than one form') but have not yet experienced the positive growth of fighting skills like you wanted to, and that originally prompted you to learn martial arts; maybe the old adage is true, that "less is more", and maybe you too can benefit from focusing on just a few things to get good at.
peace outside,
Ma.