Would it be considered disrespectfull to....

[xcakid]

....practice your old material in a new school during open mat/before and after class??


A lot of my old material is coming back to me. Some of the material I am learning are similar to my old materials and sequences are coming back to me. The open hand forms I can pretty much practice at home. However, weapons form proves to be a bit difficult, I can do it, but with difficulty. So I was thinking of maybe coming in early to class and working on them. Some of the material I have are a little bit more advanced than what I am being taught now. I asked my sifu and he doesn't seem to mind. I just think that he may feel I am undermining his training. So I figure I ask the people here for a consensus.

If it were your school, would you think one was undermining your training? Or perhaps the dude is showing off? Or would you be cool with it?

[cjurakpt]

i think that if you have to think about if it's cool or not, it's probably not...

put yourself in his position - as ok as he may seem about it, what do you think will happen if 2 or 3 other students come up to him and ask to learn what you are doing? again, he could be a very cool guy, but remember that it's his house that he built and he is alpha dog...so I think that even though your intentions are pure - you're not trying to show off or anything, it's probably not a good idea to do it when there's a chance some other students might see you

but I hear you - finding a place to train long range weapons can be a *****: you don't want to do it outside where you can be seen (and attract curious people or worse), and inside spaces can be hard to come by - do you know anyone who works at a local school who can get you into their gym during off hours?

if you are really desperate for space, what you might do is offer to pay him a mat fee to train during a time the school is closed - that way there's no potential for conflict with other students, and since you're paying him, he can't turn sour later on and complain to you about what you're doing; that way it's a fair trade and also outside of your contract with him as his student, so to speak, so it's cleaner;

[MasterKiller]

don't do it.

[xcakid]

I asked at the health club I work out at about using the aerobics floor for martial arts. They said it was cool if there was no classes going on, but I can't bring in weapons. Liaibility and they are afraid I would scuff the floors. So I guess I can practice open hand forms there.

My consulting gig will end in July so I will have some free time and I think I will ask my sifu if I can come in after lunch where there are no classes going on. That may be a better idea. Cause practicing a spear and staff form in a one bedrm apartment is hell on the furniture and ceiling fans. :D

[cjurakpt]

cool; but again, I would pay him a mat fee; in fact, I would insist on doing it - it just keeps it equitable and clean, and sperate as much as possible from your other studies with him

[RD'S Alias - 1A]

I used to practice my own stuff when i was at master Abbate's school. I would not do it in his class room though. I would wait until after class and use thier aerobics room instead. Everyone seems cool with that because i made the effort to keep it seperate.

[golden arhat]

why is it u "need" to do a spear form again ?

[SaintSage]

why is it u "need" to do a spear form again ?

Yes, how dare you try to better yourself and practice a dying art-form? We all know if you can't use it in the ring or bust it out on the street it's a waste of time to practice!

[GeneChing]

I'll practice material from my previous training all the time, but only when I've exhausted what I've been working on at the present school. Also I don't do it that much when other students are watching. I usually find a secluded area in the parking lot or the alley outside, or a corner of the floor that's not being used.

Of course, I have a unique relationship with my school and there's a lot of different practices going on there at any given time, so it's easy to blend in.

[xcakid]

why is it u "need" to do a spear form again ?

Why does anyone practice anything taught to them before hand without having everyday use of it?

Keep the mind sharp
Conditioning
Not wanting to forget previously learned lessons
You can always learn new things from it. Its like watching a movie numerous times you start to notice things going on in the background.

In the case of KF. Maybe forms competition.



I'll practice material from my previous training all the time, but only when I've exhausted what I've been working on at the present school.

I have not really exhausted what I've been learning. I am a few months away from intermediate level belts. So I have lots to learn still. However, it seems a lot of my old training stuff from 12-15+yrs ago is coming back and would not want to forget them again. I am getting old, I need to keep mind and body moving or else I will start gathering cob webs and f^rting dust. :p :D





Yeah I think I will just do it on my own. I suppose I can hold a short stick and and work on my stuff in my living room.

Thx :cool:

[GeneChing]

Perhaps 'exhausted' is a poor choice of words. What I meant to say is that I give the material being presented at the school top priority. At a certain point, however, I might switch over to some older material from outside the school, often just to change gears and keep it fresh.

As for practicing spear, I'm with ya, xcakid. I've just started working a new Shaolin spear set, but I'm still practicing my xingyi spear (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd-lh005.html). I do it because it's the only thing that's still effective on the street. OK, just kidding. I do it because it's fun and it makes me happy.

[xcakid]

Perhaps 'exhausted' is a poor choice of words. What I meant to say is that I give the material being presented at the school top priority. At a certain point, however, I might switch over to some older material from outside the school, often just to change gears and keep it fresh.



Yeah that's exactly what I was planning to do. Learn material first and foremost. I can only practice Lian Huan, Lohan Shi ba shou and basic punches and kicks for so long before you start to lose interest. I need to take a break. Seems everytime I learn something new. I would recognize a sequence and an old form I knew would suddenly pop in my head.

We were doing a def technique in class. It started the same way as something I learned years back. Well as you can imagine, i practiced that techniqe 100X and this new one maybe once or twice. We started punching in for each other. I started to relax and wouldn't you know it, I started doing the other technique I know. Not purposely, I just reacted and boom slipped into it. :( Go figure. Oh this actually got a chuckle out of my instructor. He said, "good technique, not what we are working on though. Try again"


Oh BTW, if you break out a spear on the street, people tend to look at you funny or laugh. End result, they don't want to fight you anymore. Effective isnt it?

[Becca]

....practice your old material in a new school during open mat/before and after class??


A lot of my old material is coming back to me. Some of the material I am learning are similar to my old materials and sequences are coming back to me. The open hand forms I can pretty much practice at home. However, weapons form proves to be a bit difficult, I can do it, but with difficulty. So I was thinking of maybe coming in early to class and working on them. Some of the material I have are a little bit more advanced than what I am being taught now. I asked my sifu and he doesn't seem to mind. I just think that he may feel I am undermining his training. So I figure I ask the people here for a consensus.

If it were your school, would you think one was undermining your training? Or perhaps the dude is showing off? Or would you be cool with it?
I asked my Sifu the same thing and he said I could. He did add the caveate the he was going to bust my chops if it was cr@p, though. And he has. I was red-faced for weeks after he gave his oppinion of my spinning techniques. :o

But he has also helped me to make it work better, or to make it work at all. I still think it's funny that it took a KF black belt to teach me how to execute flip effectively. And now my spinning techniques actually work becuase now I use them at the apropriate time.:D

[lkfmdc]

prior to one of my classes recently, a newbie started running through his taekwondo forms on the mat, the entire school basicly laughed at him out loud :D

[SevenStar]

prior to one of my classes recently, a newbie started running through his taekwondo forms on the mat, the entire school basicly laughed at him out loud :D

ROFL... I can see that happening.

Things like this can get touchy though... When I was training CMA, a buddy and I would use open mat time - not class time, mind you - to grapple. We were asked to stop. We started working the grappling at a local university on days we weren't doing kung fu.

[TenTigers]

I am in agreement that it is a bad idea to practice another's art in your teacher's school-even if he said yes. There are exceptions, such as I have a Thai student, who practices a form of Muay Boran and Krabi-Krabong and he teaches some technique in my classes. Likewise, I have a student who trains in BJJ, and he is responsible for organizing the grappling program. I also had a student who did some weird Grandmaster Simon stuff, and I allowed him to do his forms in class-so the other students would be aware of JUST HOW EFFIN LUCKY THEY ARE TO HAVE ME FOR THEIR TEACHER!!!!!!:D
as for the comment on the spear? If I thought like that, I wouldn't practice guitar either. Unless I were EL KABONG! (sh!t, that makes me what, like a hundred?)

[golden arhat]

Yes, how dare you try to better yourself and practice a dying art-form? We all know if you can't use it in the ring or bust it out on the street it's a waste of time to practice!

pretty much

i can see why a sword form might be of some use or a staff form
but unless ur interested in looking cool then u dont really need a spear form and your time could be better spent

[xcakid]

Weapons are just extensions of your hand. The stances, and movements can be adapted to empty hand. Spear forms are also a great way to work on stances and transitions. And since you are working with a cumbersome stick with a pointy end(unlike a staff), it works on hand and eye coordination too so that you don't poke yourself in the foot or shoot out the blunt end and have the pointy end pointing at you.

Practicing the old and the new is good for ya. I like to practice a spear form or staff or sword or butterfly knives(long,med and short ranges weapons of old). Then on the weekends I shoot my pistol, carbine, and sniper rifle(short, med, and long range weapons of today). :p

Learning the past gives you a better understanding of why it is as it is today.