Low Stances

[EarthDragon]

Well I must say in many of my years training has always been fun, but tonight I thought I was going to die.

But seriously my leags are so sore I cant walk. I went to my shrfu's house to day to practice Tai Chi. She had string all across the room about 5 feet from the floor and she conducted class from 4 to 5:30 having us perfrom the whole set many times from an extremly low position.

I'm 6'2 so you could imagine how low I had to be to not hit the string.
I'm curious to see if anyone else has ever had to endure this type of brutality? And would like to hear your comments. thank you ED

[Ironwind]

That sounds like something that may be intrestingly effective.
I have never done a training like this but I have been enduring training for evermore lower stance position. I do this because my capability to from the lower position will be greater than before this funny and painfully fun training.( You have to train with another person with you so they can pick on your funny looking painful faces).

But, techniques such as snaake creeps low would be kinda cool to use with that extra mobility in a fight, considering all that energy coming from the earth into some ones chin or gut. Or maybe even both!?

[IronFist]

[mma bandwagon]

I remember when I used to train low stances

[/mma bandwagon]

:D

[Royal Dragon]

All I do now, is hold them a minute or two when I practice Wu Bu Quan. Other than that, I prefer to be a bit higher up. My 36 year old knees can't take moving through them that low anymore.

That being said, when I used to do it on a regular basis, it DID give me quite a boost in my fluid mobility, even when I was higher up in stance. Funny thing, is it really helped my rooting at the same time.

[David Jamieson]

train low. you'll be better and stronger for it.

train high and you will not attain the strength required for real kungfu.

i'm 40 in one month, i train low while maintaining correct mechanics, this makes for good strength and strong joints. If you don't "take it to the max" you will not be able to achieve kungfu.

be reasonable of course, overtraining causes injury and then it takes even longer to develop your kungfu because of impatience and incorrect practice.

cheers

[EarthDragon]

As I am also 36 years old, (not quite as old as kung lek lol) just kidding Kung, but anyways I am feeling it today, hard to walk up the stairs.
I am suprised at how weak I was through the set. I have done static stance training low before for quite a while and in my years of training thought I had a strong root, but it is nothing compared to performing the set in a crouched position.
While it was very difficult to keep proper aligment at the same time

Iron wind
funny you should say that becuase she kept saying why the face? just relax focus on breath......... yea right.

Her is a woamn who is 52 years old and can easily move through the set with no problem, snake creeps down she actually holds for a second back perfectly straight.

As the saying goes practice , practice, practice

[David Jamieson]

she's working ya ed- :D

taste that bitter and make it sweet.

cheers

[Water Dragon]

Dude, where's my keys?

[David Jamieson]

wd, i remember that. lol

[IronFist]

How much can she squat?

j/k :D

[backbreaker]

I have not had a taiji teacher actyually make me do that, they would say that's up to you and they have students who do it. Your teacher sounds like she is awesome.

I have been trained pretty hard sometimes in a 1 1/2 hour Muay thai calass, pad rounds in the ring with a intense burst the last 30 seconds, sparring, heavy bag rounds. Heavy bag rounds where you box the bag for 10 seconds, then straight non stop punches for 10( or maybe it was 30, seems like it) seconds, box 10 seconds, straight punches 10 seconds( maybe 30) for the whole round. Bag rounds where you do 25 right shin kicks on the bag, 25 left kicks, 20 right, 20 left, 15 right, 15 left, 10 right, 10 left, 5 right, 5 left in one round. Beyond that I have to run which I slack off on

[Tiger_Yin]

Low stances make your legs stronger and makes for more stability. We train those in wushu all the time :D Its the way to go

[SifuAbel]

welcome to the club....................

:D :D :D

[backbreaker]

Also, I find that issueing energy, can be very tiring as well.

[EarthDragon]

Water Dragon,
I finnaly found my keys! they were right over there!
remember you and I make mud dragon LOL

Yes she is a very good teacher and very powerful in her qigong, now I understand. She showed us an excersize to strengthen our legs, please while your sitting at your computer TRY THIS.

Stick yourt leg out like your doing a front kick, point your toe and then drop down till your butt touches your ankle, then stand up. She did 10 in a row very easilyand graceful , I could do only 1 1/2 and not graceful at all!

Again give it a try , sounds easy but very difficult indeed.

PS she's 52 and a girl! if you think your strong........ dont

[buddah_belly]

Five feet? Wouldn't do me much good, I'm only 5'2"

[blooming lotus]

Originally posted by EarthDragon
Well I must say in many of my years training has always been fun, but tonight I thought I was going to die.

But seriously my leags are so sore I cant walk. I went to my shrfu's house to day to practice Tai Chi. She had string all across the room about 5 feet from the floor and she conducted class from 4 to 5:30 having us perfrom the whole set many times from an extremly low position.

I'm 6'2 so you could imagine how low I had to be to not hit the string.
I'm curious to see if anyone else has ever had to endure this type of brutality? And would like to hear your comments. thank you ED

NO!!! ....but that sounds VERY cool...!!!:D :D ...congradulations on your pain !!:p :D :D :D

[fa_jing]

EarthDragon - what you described is known to the western world as a one-legged squat or pistol. We discuss them on this forum all the time. FYI ;)

[Judge Pen]

Sounds like an awesome excercise!

As for the one legged squats (or pistols as fa jing called them) I have tried them and they are very difficult for me to do properly also. We have a tai chi form that does this move in the form. It also has some very difficult low to high transitions. Since I have difficulty doing snake creeps through grass gracefully I think this form is wasted on me.