Hsing Yi confined space

[l@zylee]

Hi,

Does any other Hsing Yi practitioner on here live in a very small house or apartment and experience immense frustration in the lack of room available when wanting to train? This could obviously apply for other arts too, but i study Hsing Yi and my choices are struggle in my very confined space or train in a nearby park and get stared at, which i do regularly but I wish I could just train on my own with no distractions every now and then!

Anyone else have a similar problem?

Cheers

Lee

[Palmer]

Well you can usually practice your San ti and stretching etc just about anywhere. I'm not to bothered about people watching me but you might want to try training earlier in the day before most people are out. Apartment complexes sometimes have tennis courts or common area's if you want some space to walk the hands or do forms etc. When its cold it can be difficult but usually you can stay fairly warm if it alot of movement your doing. The last few years I've found garages and basements to be nice to have to train in.

[Hau Tien]

I don't understand the problem.

I live in a small one-bedroom apartment. My living room has enough space that I can repeat pi quan four times, then I turn around and do it again. Over and over. Same goes for the rest of the techniques.

Why do you need more space to do xingyi??

[Palmer]

Yeah thats true Hau tien but I can understand were he is coming from I usually like to walk the hands over a long distance and its nice not to have to constantly turn around. Alot of the old teachers used to practice really early in the morning so people wouldnt bother them or try to figure out what there doing. I would say just practice really early.

[SimonM]

I feel that pain regardless of the style I'm practicing - except Wing Chun - I could do Siu Lum Tao in a 4'x4' cubicle with space to spare. ;)

[l@zylee]

Why do you need more space to do xingyi??

Hau Tien, I can indeed do the elements to a certain extent in my living room, but I just need the room to do a couple more each way thats all, my recent frustration has arisen since I have been learning a long form (Hsing Yi Comprehensive Form) which requires a lot of space, at the moment I can only practice it properly in the park or at class, I just feel I could progress much quicker if I had the space at home, because I could practice more regularly.

Thanks for your replies, I knew I couldn't be the only one with this frustration.

Cheers

Lee

[Joseph_alb]

If you can do a good santi in that space your living in, you can do xingyi. Long forms? just cut them to pieces and drill them separetly....step/ strike, and step back. Dont forget to change sides.

Consider this you christmas present. :D

[Ray Pina]

You should be able to do the entire form where you are. If you can do it in a confined space then you own that form. Anyone can do it in the park.... can you distribute power from there, from where you are? Can you change shape and maintain drive, from where you are?


I have a small one bedroom but I turned what would be the entertaining room into a small training hall. We're talking 8 paces in lenght and three in width. I have friends over and we fight in there .... of course, one of the walls is cracked now:)

[Water Dragon]

*makes Bruce Lee noises at everyone on this thread*

Wataaa!!!

*drives away laughing*

[Felipe Bido]

Wataaa hell?...LOL

[scotty1]

You should be able to do the entire form where you are. If you can do it in a confined space then you own that form.

Don't really get you there Efist.

You need a certain amount of space to do a form in, without having to stop and restart again. Tai chi, at least.

[l@zylee]

You need a certain amount of space to do a form in, without having to stop and restart again. Tai chi, at least.

This is exactly my problem, If you stop and start too much when you actually have the room to do a long form thats exactly what you do stop and start.

But anyway everybody, the park (and the spectators) will just have to do for now, also weather plays a big part, the park is grass and in the UK this time of year its just wet and muddy.

Nevermind

Cheers

Lee:D

[Water Dragon]

What about a Pi-Beng combo? All you need for that is a follow step.

[scotty1]

Hey Lee, whereabouts are you? Had snow?

[SPJ]

I like open space, too.

I had one bed room apartment when I was working in New Jersey.

I may practice some empty hand forms indoor.

When I practice staff and swords. I kept hitting the ceiling or the floor.

So usually I practice outdoors.

Luckily, there was a parking lot and some grassland nearby.

Be careful with the grass, because you may slip.

So I used the parking lot a lot.

The winter snow lasted a few days usually in Jersey.

I practiced in snow, too. Just cannot move as you would without snow.

In the fall, it was beautiful. My sword would swing up fallen leaves, too.

I guess we just have to adapt and work with what we have.

Dare you practice Xing Yi Gun (staff) indoor without smashing into anything!

:D

[l@zylee]

Hey Lee, whereabouts are you? Had snow?

Hi Scotty,

I live just outside Derby, it has been very cold over last couple of days and we have had a dusting of snow, I actually went over to the park yesterday morning and trained on the frosty grass it was great! it actually wasn't at all slippy, but it ****sed it down all last night so the mud will have returned :(

I'm thinking of selling all my furniture to free up some space anyway, who needs material possessions eh? ;)

[Ray Pina]

You should be able to do the entire form from where you are, with only slight shuffling of the feet .... but shuffling is just a common usage word. Of course you should still be driving off the feet but not looking for distance. Stay where you are.

Keep your form, but change your "form." You can still do all the techniques, just refine them. You're only being asked to limit your mobility. That's more than fair since you're fighting the air.

[Samurai Jack]

Originally posted by EvolutionFist
You're only being asked to limit your mobility. That's more than fair since you're fighting the air.

Yeah, you could just look at this as an excellent opportunity to practice your moves in a confined space. What will you do when a mugger comes after you in a phone booth? Learning to adapt to various sorts of terrain is a great exercise in and of itself.

[Joseph_alb]

I would hit him with the phone. :)

[MaFuYee]

well the answer is obviously that you should move into a bigger place. duh. then you can dedicate an entire room to use as your workout area.

[l@zylee]

well the answer is obviously that you should move into a bigger place. duh. then you can dedicate an entire room to use as your workout area.

yeh MaFuYee its as simple as that isn't it :rolleyes:

[cerebus]

Well, I rent a room in someone's house. My room is small and packed with books. If I have to practice inside, I do all of the techniques in the form just switch-stepping in place. No need to do anything other than pivot to the correct direction for each move.
T.

[SPJ]

Yes.

It was mid fall festival in Chinatown, Philadelphia, 2000.

There were Kung Fu demo on stage.

A high school kid performed Nan Quan about 68 moves on the same spot. Mostly facing the front, sometimes turn to left, back and turn to the right with steps.

The space on stage is very limited. It was setup in the parking lot of a Catholic schoolyard nearby.

More impressive was that there were 9 old people performed Yang Tai Ji 88 moves and swordplay. Guess what they were all on the same spots and may be one step to the left or right then back.

Cool.

:D

[doug maverick]

i really don't have a proplem with space, i live in new york city in the bronx. and i have more space then i can handle even with all the training equipment i have in my living room, i'm still able to do my xing yi and a couple of hung gar and nothern style forms. and i pay a fraction of what people in manhatten pay. just thought i rub it in you guys faces. ha ha!!!!!!!!!

[Palmer]

It seems that all this talk of how much space we need has brought up several points. I agree with all of the people that advocate the importance of being able to adapt and work in a more confined space. I feel like any hand form I have ever learned from any system I could adapt and practice in a confined space. But I'm not really huge into forms practice.
Really IMO its what and how you want to train. To gain power and stability through the movements I like to " exersize" my Hsing-i by walking a hand for a quarter mile and then walking another hand at full speed. Could I do this in an 8' by 8' room? Probably but all the turning around would frankly be annoying to me.
There's advantages in training in confined spaces as there are advantages in being able to express yourself fully without restriction.

[hung-le]

I think the common response here is

“If there is a will there is a way”

This thread reminds me of the time one of my co-workers came to me and asked me to teach him Taijiquan. Every time we got together I had to go through the basics over and over again, because he didn’t train on his own. All he wanted to do was play. Hence, he had no power, no form… no nothing. Nothing except a lot of excuses on why he couldn’t train. “ My kids get in the way.” “My house is too small.” That was his favorite! I quit training him because of all his excuses, and then I felt bad about it and decided to give him a second chance. That was a mistake. Laze people fear sweat so one day I cranked it up a notch and had him sucking wind with sweat pouring down his face (simple push hands sparring nothing more…dude is really out of shape) That was the end of that … next day I got a phone call “ah dude I’m going to have to cancel our practice sessions something has come up.”

I should have thought of that sooner” I said to myself.

[Michaelwalter77]

The current songshan shaolin forms do not take more than a 4x8 area to perform (personal experiance). It is said that a hung gar master can perform any form in the system on a tabletop (wing lam's book). I practice Sun (derived from xingyi) and can do the entire form in a 8x8 area. It is wushu that has given the misconception that you need 10,000 sq ft of floor space to do a form.
Most martial arts were origonally performed in confined spaces.
Practice in the small area and adapt it if need be when you have more room, or switch to wing chun you can do the whole system in a closet LOL.
:)

[l@zylee]

Well, I've moved round some furniture and now have some good room to practise but with longer forms I just have to stick to breaking them down, the only thing is when you do have the room, its hard not to stop move back, then start again lol!

never mind

Lee:D