Speed in Praying Mantis

[cha kuen]

I have heard one sifu say that you should do Bong Bo in 30 seconds. I used to think that a form done in 30 seconds was faster than 35 seconds. Now when I think of it, I was wrong to think that. Speed is determined from point A to point B. Speed is not determined from the beginning of a form to the end. Many sifus prefer to use rhythm. They may do 4 movements and pause for a bit. Then continue to do 5 more and pause again.
Any thoughts on speed?

[tanglangman]

I think that before trying to get your form down to as quick a time as possible you should make sure that you are performing it correctly ie technique and structure are the way your sifu tells you. It also depends on the form you are doing 30 secs is quite a long time do a form slowly in. (count it).

I try to learn structure through the counting method (1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4……) pausing after each count to check position, stance, extension. Then I try doing it without the count ideally with the view to be able to do it as acurately as I can.

As suppose what I am trying to say is yes do it at speed but not at the expense of technique also continue to practice slowly to improve technique. (I think)

"feel free to criticize, I may learn something new"

[mantisk]

As some of you Praying Mantis practicioners may know is that Mantis forms consists of many subsets of techniques linked together. You may perform all the techniques full force and fast and therefore make all your forms look the same way with the same flavor/spirit, or you may want to practice each technique within the form according to its proper speed and spirit. Some like to pause at the end of each subset to show some spirit as well as executing some techniques as a "Fake" one and mean the following tech as the real one to confuse the opponent. All and all, speed could mean alot of things but without the proper flavor and spirit, the practicioner, especially a praying mantis practicioner, will look very sloppy to the trained eye of another mantis practicioner.

Peace

[cha kuen]

Let's state this for the record: I am talking about speed AFTER you get the movements down and precise.

Have you guys ever thought 30 seconds was faster than 35 seconds?

[tanglangman]

Yes, but the faster you do something the harder it is to control the movement acurately. Don't try to complete a movement at the expense of this accuracy practice at getting faster if you want but I would prefer to practice acuracy at a speed that I a comfortable with. Some movements a I do are faster than others because they are easier to control.

I am not sure if this is dealing with the question but it's interesting none the less. Good topic!

"feel free to criticize, I may learn something new"

[Young Mantis]

Cha Kuen,

I think I know what you are getting at. Yes, a form done in 35 seconds can be faster than one done in 30 seconds depending on how you interpret this. I believe you are talking about the speed of the individual techniques or what MantisK refers to as subsets. I have heard other people refer to this as phrasing the form.

I was taught by my sifu to phrase the forms as well. Certain sections of every form are designed to be linked together. This is the beauty of our PM forms, that the lessons of strategy are built right into the forms. MantisK starts to talk about this, that by phrasing the forms, we show each form's particular flavor or spirit. Without this phrasing, the forms would be monotonous and they would all look the same.

So how does 35 seconds become faster than 30 seconds? Because a form done with proper phrasing, where the tempo constantly changes, will have been done in such a way that some techniques will have been done faster than if someone were to do the form monotonously from beginning to end.

Is this what you are getting at?

YM

[cha kuen]

Young Mantis,

Yes this is what I'm talking about. I am not talking about "Speed : How fast should I go?"

Maybe I should have posted it more clearly in my first post.