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Wah Ren Jie
10-03-2000, 05:32 AM
Hey guys! In my Gwoon we concentrate on a lot of power and percision in doing our forms. What I'm noticing is that although the forms look clean and you can see the power, they end up looking more like Karate than Kung Fu and many of my Si-di have trouble relaxing while sparring. My question is, when concentrating on body connection and power generation, how do you keep your fluidity? Thoughts... Peace!

Train hard... Win easy!!!

DF
10-03-2000, 05:44 AM
spar more!
like everything in life the more you do the better you get and more relax in doing them.

peace

DF

vingtsunstudent
10-03-2000, 05:56 AM
you do not have to be tense or rigid to connect & get power, in fact the more relaxed you are the more fluid you will look & you will also find you can get more power this way as well(not to mention you will not get tired as quickly & your speed will increase dramatically)
vts

loki
10-03-2000, 07:07 AM
Alot of HG practitioners feel that since HG is a power style they therefore have to do every move with alot of power. This makes them look like Karate practitioners. Then there those who are aware that Hung Gar is not supposed to to be done that way and try to soften it up a bit but then it looks too soft. The way I have been taught to look at it is that within the Hardness of the movements there is softness and the way to bring this about is to think of every move as locking and releasing. By lock and release I mean that while in transition your muscles should be somewhat relaxed (release) but at the moment where the move comes to an end every muscle should lock or connect so that every part of the body is involved in the employment of power. As you begin the next move (transition) you go into the release mode. This gives you the ability to move quickly while still being able to do every move with maximum power.

NO ROAD IS AS LONG OR FILLED WITH AS MANY OBSTACLES AS THE ONE TRAVELLED BY THE CHINESE BOXER. FEW ATTEMPT TO TAKE IT . THOSE THAT REACH IT'S END ARE EVEN FEWER.

illusionfist
10-03-2000, 09:38 AM
Being stiff and rigid is obviously not the representation that hung gar practitioners are trying to present. I think this is where the emphasis on gung chi and yau chi should come into play. I believe hard and soft power is what defines us (as hung gar practitioners), and every move should show that. As Loki said, there should be softness within every hard movement.

What do y'all think?

Gung in the intent, yau in the breath...

Peace /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

HuangKaiVun
10-03-2000, 01:25 PM
Poor transitional movements.

Lack of application knowledge.

WingLamStudent
10-04-2000, 03:43 PM
Beginning students will expend way too much power when practicing their form(s). Intermediate students will begin to realize that to practice all their forms they must not expend so much energy. At this point the student will ask the Sifu about it. The Sifu will help the intermediate student refine their forms. The advance student knows when to be hard and when to be soft. Applied Yin Yang theory.

Wah Ren Jie
10-04-2000, 07:17 PM
DF, I know you have seen what I'm talking about in regards to forms. What do you think is the key to having fluidity while maintaining power in the performance of Hung Ga forms?

Train hard... Win easy!!!

DF
10-04-2000, 07:45 PM
sei ping dai ma,

Fluidity is very important. Keep in mind hard does not mean stiff and soft is not weak.
For every movement there is hard and soft in it.
Example when you throw a simple reverse punch, you are relax (soft) and tighten upon contact (hard). This is not the best example of hard and soft but i think you get my idea.
To be true hard there has to be soft and to be extreme soft there is hard in it.
Hard and soft must coexist in all movements.
You will learn more of these once you start learning the 12 bridges in the wire form.

As for your concern of students looking like karate in the begining. I think it is ok for their lvl. You cant expect someone to grasp all the concepts all at once. Kung Fu is a long process and is a life long learning experiance.
It is normal for the beginners to look kind of stiff, thats why most ppl have the misconception that HG is a hard external style.
Keep in mind, they are beginners and trying their best to send out power. They are still on a physical lvl. True connection in movements will take time.
peace
DF