Forms in public

[MARTIALSTUDANT]

My question is concerning some of my other post about not having space. I have joined a gym were I could use one of the studio rooms to do forms. I would have plenty of room to open up and go full throttle but I would feel kind of weird asking a new sifu if its ok. so what I'm asking you kind men/women if its usually frowned on in Chinese martial arts or not. I don't want to ask sifu and I don't want to be disrespectful.

[lunghushan]

Oh, you mean practicing somebody else's forms in public? Not practicing at another school.

Screw the sifu (not literally). You are paying him $$$, right? You're not a slave. Do what you like.

[The Willow Sword]

Well if you are a member of a gym and there is a studio in that gym where you have enough space to do your forms(when there isnt a cardio kick box class going on) then i say if you are not self concsious about people occasionally popping their head in to see what you are doing, then go for doin your forms there.

i am a member of a local gym and when the studio is dark and no-one is in there i will sometimes go in and spend a few minutes working on stance and posture and then i will do some stuff i know.

i mean if you get people coming up to you and asking what you are doing then answer them but still keep in mind the agreement you made with your teacher to not teach what you are learning out to anyone. It is always kosher to demonstrate to a small degree to people.

Peace,TWS

[lunghushan]

i mean if you get people coming up to you and asking what you are doing then answer them but still keep in mind the agreement you made with your teacher to not teach what you are learning out to anyone.
Peace,TWS

What agreement? Who says this person made an agreement?

[Faruq]

Do you guys ever get challenges when doing that? Don't people always come up and say "Oh, you know Karate? Show me something..." Then it's like "Okay, let's say I came up to you and hit you in the nose like this...Oh, I'm sorry, dude...I think it's broken...you'd better sit down while I find you a towel to soak up all that blood with...yeah, that's why I never took up karate..." LOL

[lunghushan]

Do you guys ever get challenges when doing that? Don't people always come up and say "Oh, you know Karate? Show me something..." Then it's like "Okay, let's say I came up to you and hit you in the nose like this...Oh, I'm sorry, dude...I think it's broken...you'd better sit down while I find you a towel to soak up all that blood with...yeah, that's why I never took up karate..." LOL

??? Challenges? No. I used to do forms in public in college, and I've come across people doing taiji and stuff but nobody ever challenges. ???

[The Willow Sword]

never in the years that i have done my forms in a gym or out in the park have i ever been approached by anyone wanting to challenge me or to have me show them how what i do works. oh and lunghushan, when you join a kwoon there is usually a prerequisite that you are not to teach out the forms you are learning to anyone.

TWS

[zhangxihuan]

go ahead and do your forms. If the Sifu showed you them its not his problem anymore. I know some schools get real hung up about the idea of showing people their "secret forms" but who cares? really it doesnt matter. go for it if you want to practice.

[Shaolin]

My question is concerning some of my other post about not having space. I have joined a gym were I could use one of the studio rooms to do forms. I would have plenty of room to open up and go full throttle but I would feel kind of weird asking a new sifu if its ok. so what I'm asking you kind men/women if its usually frowned on in Chinese martial arts or not. I don't want to ask sifu and I don't want to be disrespectful.

Then respect your teacher by having the courage to ask him. You'll grow stronger from the experience.

[lunghushan]

never in the years that i have done my forms in a gym or out in the park have i ever been approached by anyone wanting to challenge me or to have me show them how what i do works. oh and lunghushan, when you join a kwoon there is usually a prerequisite that you are not to teach out the forms you are learning to anyone.

TWS
??? Prerequisite? I've never heard of this.

A teacher might not want you doing it, but that's their problem. You don't sign a contract or anything. Otherwise you're totally wasting your money.

If you are not allowed to teach them then leave the school immediately. That's total B.S.

[Chief Fox]

I practice forms at a local park all the time. Actually, a few years now. One time a bunch of kids drove by yelling "HIIIIYAAAHHHHHH!". I just smiled and waved. That was the only time anyone ever said anything to me.

You have to practice, to me, that means doing forms in public.

[lunghushan]

I practice forms at a local park all the time. Actually, a few years now. One time a bunch of kids drove by yelling "HIIIIYAAAHHHHHH!". I just smiled and waved. That was the only time anyone ever said anything to me.

You have to practice, to me, that means doing forms in public.

I've actually done partner practice in a public park many times. There have been people hanging out, playing with their kids, playing soccer, and we were punching each other and throwing each other.

Nobody paid any attention to us at all! It was a bit surprising -- they didn't even seem to notice.

[Mr Punch]

My sensei and my sifu have all been delighted when I've gone back to class having polished and perfected my kata/forms. They certainly didn't mind when I practised in the parks. In fact I've had private lessons in parks before, sometimes when the sifu was too cheap and sometimes just because it was a nice day. I know a lot of my teachers have practised in the park.

I too have done and still do a lot of pair work in parks and in UK the worst I've had was 'hiyaaaaa' calls and a national, respected TV channel (Channel 4) asking if they could film us (we said 'Yes!'!). In Japan sometimes people ask what we are doing and watched us closely but nobody has challenged us yet.

Go for it!

Willow sword - you practice in darkened rooms in the gym...? No wonder nobody has ever come up to you - they probably think you're crazy! :p

[lunghushan]

Actually one teacher we could always tell when he was short on students because he'd have class in the park to drum up some more business.

[MasterKiller]

??? Prerequisite? I've never heard of this.

A teacher might not want you doing it, but that's their problem. You don't sign a contract or anything. Otherwise you're totally wasting your money.

If you are not allowed to teach them then leave the school immediately. That's total B.S.

If you aren't an asst. instructor, you probably shouldn't be teaching anyone anything because you don't have the skills yet. If you half-@ss know something, odds are you are going to teach it half-@ssed.:rolleyes:

[lunghushan]

If you aren't an asst. instructor, you probably shouldn't be teaching anyone anything because you don't have the skills yet. If you half-@ss know something, odds are you are going to teach it half-@ssed.:rolleyes:

So ... who the heck cares? This person is talking about showing their forms to other people, not teaching anyway.

Bottom line everybody sucks anyway and would be defeated easily by a gun. So who cares? Good at doing a form? BWAHAHAHAHA Good at grappling? BWAHAHAHAHAHA

All it would take is one kid who hadn't trained for a month with a gun to kill any of us. So what does it matter?

It doesn't matter.

[Wood Dragon]

Bottom line everybody sucks anyway and would be defeated easily by a gun. So who cares? Good at doing a form? BWAHAHAHAHA Good at grappling? BWAHAHAHAHAHA

All it would take is one kid who hadn't trained for a month with a gun to kill any of us. So what does it matter?

It doesn't matter.

All of the above would be wrong.

[lunghushan]

All of the above would be wrong.

Seriously, I've never known ANYBODY killed in a fistfight. Or a fight with handheld weapons such as sword, spear, etc., for that matter. Or even a knife fight, although that is more common.

But I've known people who got killed in cars, motorcycles, of heart disease, old age, and 2 from guns.

Just look at the statistics. How many people are seriously injured or killed from fighting, compared to guns?

Bottom line is martial arts are really not very important to anybody except cops who need to restrain people.

[bung bo]

I've never gotten challenged in public. If I do forms in the park, most people just make Bruce Lee noises. I had one woman ask me what I was doing once at this huge park in Atlanta once. I told her Praying Mantis Boxing and she said "cool" and went on her way. I had a bunch of silly gangstas laugh at me while I was doing qigong.

Once, this one kid saw me practicing and wanted to show me how his BJJ would totally kill me:rolleyes: I let him do some stuff. He was 13 and I couldn't have really fought him and got away with it.....I'm 24. After he does his demo and leaves, one of the middle girls that was watching comes up to me and asks me if Adam (apparently that was his name) beat me up. Well, they thought he did by the way the girl looked at me, lol.

I'll show someone a little of the art if they are genuine in their desire to learn....but just a little. After that, I'll tell them they can come to class if they want to learn more. Hey, I didn't get to learn all this stuff for free and neither did my teacher.

[Wood Dragon]

Seriously, I've never known ANYBODY killed in a fistfight.

Bottom line is martial arts are really not very important to anybody except cops who need to restrain people.

I've known loads of people who got a trip to the ER, courtesy of anonymous street trash #3421577a, AFTER getting their wallet (or anything else nice-looking) knicked. Note: they were going to get beat down -anyway-, so why go down without a fight. You -might- be able to break contact and clear the area.

OTOH, I've been a CCW carrier forever, and go nowhere without a weapon, if I can help it. There are however, areas and where I cannot Carry, and my Karate skill comes in handy then.

Also, I'm a Soldier. On at least 4 occasions (2 of them in Iraq), Karate and Judo have saved my life. Between ROEs and surprise, employing crew-served or personal weapons is not always possible, but you must still control the situation (i.e. folks get all kinds of crazy when you cut their doors open with a buzzsaw at 0200 to look for mortar rounds under little Suraya's bed..). 2 of the occasions involved emotionally-disturbed or intoxicated personnel, and simply shooting them was not appropriate, so I beat the **** out of them and called the MPs.

Above all that, the practice of Martial Arts has made me a more capable person. Management and leadership are so much easier when you are not intimidated by many people.

[charyuop]

I spend my lunch hour practicing the long form of Tai Chi in the parking lot where I work (and it takes time). I work overnight so when I take lunch there is not much people around, but still if I see a car passing by or someone walking by I kinda stop and keep my stance with a natural look waiting for them to go away.
Why?....let's say I am shy :))))))

[5Animals1Path]

I don't practice in public, but that's probably because I've got the luxury of a big back yard and a garage to train in.

Sometimes I stop in a park on the way between my house and my Sifu's place and work out a form or two at. But it's usually at around 5am. It's not that I don't wanna practice around people, I just tend to feel more comfortable and more concentrated if I'm alone. Plus, I'll admit it feels hella cool to "own" the park for a little while. I've never been stopped by the cops, but they've flashed their lights through the park to see what I was doing once or twice.

[Ben Gash]

I work in the ER, so I've seen numerous people killed in fistfights or with handheld weapons.
There is a difference between demonstrating and teaching, and it is tempting and easy to go from one to the other without really realising what you're doing, which was the point that person was making.
I remember once training with my Sidai on a playing field, and this group of 10-14 year olds came up about 15 metres away and started following us through a fairly demanding crane form. They were surprisingly good :eek:

[David Jamieson]

Ben, it's probably cause they weren't carrying the baggage of being students and were just trying it without thinking about what it was. I've seen this before.

as soon as someone starts adjusting teh minutia and doing this or that or stopping and starting you in a form insteqad of just letting you find teh shape, then refining, it will invariably set up a mental block in your mind and impede your performance because you'll be all focused on teh minutia.

the unimpeded mind just imitates the shape as is and will pick it up fast.

they won't know how to put the force in for the most part, Ive found that too.


lunghushan, why are you even still here. lol

[The Willow Sword]

Willow sword - you practice in darkened rooms in the gym...? No wonder nobody has ever come up to you - they probably think you're crazy!


LOL it wouldnt be the first time poeple have though that about me;) . No but seriously the reason why i practice in the aerobics studio in the dark is because i really dont want some yahoo coming up to me disturbing me with alot of pointless questions. I go to the gym to train NOT to socialize. of course i am not rude to people if they do show up and ask questions, but the darkened room cuts way down on the "HEY IS THAT KROTTY????" line.

Peace,TWS

[Yao Sing]

When I had a gym membership I used to train in the aerobics room but the windows were mirrored so the girls wouldn't feel uncomfortable having a bunch of guys staring at them.

Still a person or 2 would pop their head in to see what the weird guy was doing. The hard core lifters stayed away because it was too far out of their comfort zone.

[sholo86]

I am training solo right now, so any open space I can find I try and practice there, but in the most part I usually go to the gym to practice my forms. I don't have the luxury to go into a classroom setting and train. I do get a few curious bystanders and ask me about my martial arts. I'll show a little bit of my forms if they ask and once their curiousity is satisfied, they go on their merry way.

[Su Lin]

I was practising forms/knife defence outdoors earlier today. I think we bored a couple of people who were watching!
I often find I make even more of an effort if people are watching. Oddly, when mountain biking I perform much better on rocky climbs/downhills when I have an audience! I even got a round of applause once! (And managed to fall off while stopped by getting my feet stuck on my spds right next to a car full of people who find it highly amusing!):o :o

[BoulderDawg]

My question is concerning some of my other post about not having space. I have joined a gym were I could use one of the studio rooms to do forms. I would have plenty of room to open up and go full throttle but I would feel kind of weird asking a new sifu if its ok. so what I'm asking you kind men/women if its usually frowned on in Chinese martial arts or not. I don't want to ask sifu and I don't want to be disrespectful.

Sorry but you've have asked a lot of fairly weird questions on this board. I was just wondering what's going on at your school. Are you afraid of your teacher or is he/she just unapproachable? The reason I ask is that most of the questions you have asked here could be answered by your teacher or even other students.

Respect is one thing however I go to the school to learn the art. I also pay to go to the school. Therefore if I have a question I am going to ask.