Hands Sets and Fighting Techniques!

[Troy Dunwood]

When it comes to forms training I teach my students to use the forms or hand set liken unto a dictionary, it is there where one will have all they may need for their fighting skills yet it must be drilled with a level of certain understanding. The hand set itself biulds character because the student not only performs the set but ultimately I think they should become the set, a certain transformation if you know what I mean. There is a lot more to performing forms than the top of the surface, for instance: the way the head turns, the eyes, understanding when the movement requires the body or motion to be light or heavy, understanding what type of force is used with a particular movement, when to sink when to rise, body or tools positioning, etc., all these things plus others is what gives the form life or spirit and not just a bunch of movements. The form gives us a fighting scenario liken to, if one did this i'll do that sort of speaking. There is much to gain from practicing forms regardless if it's hands or weapons, in the days of old it was said a pretty good student should look at least 70% of his teacher, many can perform the sets but how many truly understand the sets is what's truly important. Often I looked at people who practice their forms and merely it's a empty dance because there is no spirit or understanding of truly how the form is working. I believe in order to perform hand or weapon sets correctly one MUST know what the movements are for in which they are performing, only then with this in mind may one mentally picture the scenario of the form and react in a likewise manner. You see when one is lazy in the practice of their forms one begins to condition their minds in that state, which in most cases becomes slow, without vigour, etc. Yet when one practice the form with intent by understanding what the movements are for then the movements take on life.

On the other hand we extract from the form and isolate training skills, here we are able to play with the movements outside the scenario of the forms, interlocking the movements with other movements, changing the scenario, literally working it out, taking the movement from the traditional form and putting it into a modern reality. I think this is the proper way of exercising one's skills for maximum effectiveness. I like to know what others think of this!

[hskwarrior]

:D What's up Troy,

In my opinion only..........

Hand and weapon sets are a good form of excercise. They can be beneficial to a martial artist in understanding how to apply certain hand techniques, how to properly move in the way of a specific style. The way I see it, sets hold the key to unlocking the system.

However, it is up to us to discover the sets true meanings. And the possibities are endless. But from a more realistic point of view, not all techniques performed precisely the same way as done in the form are effective in real life combat. We have to pick it apart and absorb what makes sense to us since we are as a people "different" with varying needs and training focuses.

Personally, i feel if you take the techniques out of the set, and make workout drills with them such as Kwa Sow Chop, and work the hell out of them the students will have a greater understanding of how to actually use those techniques when they go back and practice those sets.

Still, it all comes down to what the individual is wishing to accomplish, whether it is becoming forms champion, or a good fighter. in the end, there are 3 doors to choose from.......forms, weapons training, or fighting. That all depends on which door the student chooses to open first.

frank

[Troy Dunwood]

Hey Frank,

I agree with that 100%, to truly understand the sets one must understand the movements of the sets, and for this to happen one must break the set down. Also I recall when I learned from Choy Siu Ming he told me when learning the set Sup Ji Dai Hong Kuen (Cross Pattern Great Hero Fist), in learning that set one must understand the makeup of the set in this instance he was referring to the inspiration behind the set, in the case of Sup Ji Dai Hong Kuen, this set referenced the revolutionary period in China, and that no it was not that choy lee fut was the hero yet the heroic spirit of the chinese men and women of that time period who sacrificed themselves for the sake of their country. He used to say when preparing to perform the set and other sets one must mentally prepare for the execution of its skills. In the case of the above mentioned set he would say when one knows the history of china during that time and the bravery of china's people, when performing we should try to translate that spirit into our movements. I don't know how well this concept goes with others but I believe it has help me out in understanding the sets as well as performing the sets.

[hskwarrior]

Very interesting, very interesting.

It seems the Southern Chinese put that spirit into everything they did. In my research of the Hung Mun Society i learned that most of the men in southern china changed their names to include "HUNG", just as my sifu Lok Gee Hung in Fut San, the hung in his name is the same one as Hung Ga and Hung Mun. His father-Lok So- must have been a great supporter of the movement then.

So, if they can alter their names to reflect their loyalty to the Hung Society, then I could imagine the spirit they put into their forms.

So, Troy, when you gonna let me see that set ;) :D and which branch does Sup Gee Dai Hung belong to? (not that it matters).

Now, troy, are you combining your drunken stuff with "Tung Mo" are you keeping that separate? oh, have you seen that clip in Kung Fu section which has that guy with long hair, but does a pretty good form, some of his stuff looks like the mi jhong that you do. just a little bit in hand and feet movements.

[Troy Dunwood]

Hey Frank,

Sup Ji Dai Hong belongs I guess I don't know really, it isn't apart of the Chan Family listing of sets, Choy Siu Ming learned from Chan Leung who learned from Chan Yu Chi, who work as a fight scene choreographer back in the day, you can probably guess how I got to meet him. No I will not be adding Eight Immortals to the new curriculum, actually I have a student in Florida who will be teaching the Eight Immortals systems along with a group of guys who have been coming to see me from Australia.