How do you know...

[Spectre]

Other threads have got me wondering about something.

When using external training methods or non-traditional training methods how do YOU know if you are training a bad habit?

How do YOU know if you are training a bad habit with traditional methods?

Last - If everyone's Wing Chun is to some extent 'their own', then how do YOU know if what you are doing is 'your own' or a bad habit?

I know the 'off the cuff' answer would be that if it works it is right and if it doesn't it must be a bad habit. But there are things that will work on one person and not another.

How do you determine if your bad habit is actually something that works for someone else?

Kevin

[red5angel]

I am sort of a newbie too, but I think by even asking this question you are probably on the right track to do everything you need to correctly.
Your off the cuff answer is good for someone who has to train on thier own a lot. Otherwise HOW DO YOU KNOW really.
The best way is to have an instructor and trust in that instructor. If you have found someone who has been doing it long enough and correctly enough to be teaching they can surely help you out. So far in my training I have learned that there are some classical mistakes, those should probably be corrected in class.
For me, I wont get crazy and start personalizing until I have learned the basics well, and thoroughly. We all learn that with our bodytypes and capabilities some things will work better then others for each of us but it would be hubris to think that you can take an art and switch around some of its basic contents to improve it. WC has been around long enough to be tested and improved. Even the difference between most lineages seems to be really minor in most cases. The problem is coming across watered down WC. Like Bruce Lee who decided after a match that he may have lost, that WC was too stiff to be used effectively. Well it carried him through several years, long enough and well enough that he challenegd anyone in Chinatown to try and beat him, BEFORE he even began working on JKD.
The thing is that the forms Sil Lim Tao, have been designed to give you direction, and at some point you learn to adapt it to you. I dont think that this means you should just take it and run, but to understand the principle behind each movement, each building block ad to adjust it for those little things like height, or weight, or strength, what have you. The basics shouldnt be adjusted.
The issue you might be having is possibly designing your own training program? What should you be practicing most?

[Spectre]

Well, I am not a newbie but I am far from mastering as well.

I just find much criticism on some of the posts here as to some training methods or mental/physical approach to WC training.

So my questions are really there to figure out what people use as a guideline BEFORE talking down to a poster about their question or statement.

I just want to know what other people's views are regarding knowing a bad habit or not.

Thanks!

Kevin

[red5angel]

I understand what you are saying. I think alot of people just let thier own opinions get in the way of the search for truth. The martial Arts world has alot of big egoes, understandably, and when you bring a lot of them together, especially in a forum where anonymety(sp?) is abundant, distance from others you are communicating with is a factor, you get a lot of people trying to express thier opinions as truth. For me, I have been on another WC list for a while, and so know a few people from there, and watch the responses on this one, to see who seems to really know what they are talking about. With that knowledge in mind I ask a question to the board and then wait for replies, and take in the replies I think are serious and well thought out. They almost always coincide.

[mun hung]

Go out, and look around, do a little research, visit other lineages, watch how they train, participate when you can, always ask questions, make comparisons and think and judge for yourself.

As far as training goes - it's got to make sense and come together in the end. I've seen some pretty wacky drills and exercises in some schools that I was'nt convinced would help my Wing Chun at all.

You'll always be the best if there's no one else to compare yourself with.

;)