Hey everyone how's the hammer hangin'??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Meat Shake
"if you don't train to fight that way you will not....it really has nothing to do with style....it's what you train for....it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Yes the're good fighters in SD and like anyother MA including MMA the're ones that suck."
Its not just that... SD is not geared for fighting, it is geared for forms. Straight down to the impractical moves that are taught.
That said.... I honestly dont think its much if any worse off than a good amount of other "traditional" styles of kung fu.
When I started Shuai Chiao, on my very first day, I spent 2 hours being thrown like a ragdoll to learn how to fall. As training progressed, the sessions moved to 4 hours of throwing and being thrown, and free wrestling, which was nothing more than applying what we had learned in a practical situation against a resisting opponent. Generally we would roll for the last 30 minutes to hour after we were already exhausted.
SD... I went in, we would do kicks, do punches, hit a bag, hit a bag moving, do forms, do kicks, do punches, do some more forms, swing around some weapons, and spar for 10 minutes with light contact and no realistic feedback.
Well I would say a great deal of your problem, and many others like you, is that there was not enough real training for fighting and more emphasis put on health and teaching material.
Quite simply there are not enough hours at the schools to put the time into practical application and usage. And I agree but not all SD / CSC schools are like this ( most are though).
Although the art is authentic Shaolin it is looked at more as a business/ social endeavor rather than a martial arts training center.
To combat this for years I personally took it upon myself to get together with students and take each of the elements of each form and teach and practice practical application and usage.
I am no longer affiliated but I still believe in SD and GMS. I learned all the material through 6th black ( which is more than enough for a lifetime)and now teach what I have learned with fighting and practical application the way that it should be done .
Do not get me wrong the business , social, and health / fitness aspect is very important but not as much as the practical application, usage, and the integrity of The Art.
I believe that this is compromised by the business aspect and the lack of Taoist , Confucist, Buddhist, and shamanist PHILOSOPHY.
Oh by the way my shuai jiao training has helped my bagua zhang out a whole hell of a lot.
I just hit a wall in training.....but I'm gettin' around it now...
After talking with plenty of people from both sides of the table, I've figured out a way to maximize my training with what I believe will be better results.
I sat down this afternoon (boss called me out today...got a day of rest:cool: ) and did something I considered hokey and pointless. I started drafting my goals for training. What I wanted to accomplish this year. Fitness. Conditioning. Skill. Refinement, etc.
Then I examined, honestly, what kind of person I am. I'm a painter, a writer, a pianist (poor one:o ), a runner, athelete, martial artist, philosopher, soon-to-be grad student looking to teach.
Then I examined my relationships with each of these facets of my personality, and how I'd dealt with them, and how I'd refined each of them.
I found a parallel: As a painter, I was an ardent artist all my life. So it was my decision to make it one of my two majors in college. I passed the reviews, took the classes, and began to learn new approaches (very new) to my art. The first class I took, the teacher collected everyone's materials and then confiscated them (almost all pencils and pens--my bread and butter:eek: ). He said: "you can have these back at the end of the year." Then he handed us big blocky 25 cent charcoal, and said: "Today you learn how to draw." It was true. I had to learn all over again, and it made me a thousand times better. But it wasn't all a labor in paradise. I struggled with various teachers really hard. There were at least two times I nearly dropped out of the art program to major in English alone. But every time I got to the point where I felt there was just no hope of coping with the program (very abstract-oriented, not much room for realists)....I would pull out my portfolio, set my latest works beside my older ones, and just critique myself...very honestly.
It was at these times I began to realize how I'd changed as an artist. I'd begun to think differently, approach things differently, see them differently, and describe them differently. But until that moment, where I really sat down to criticize myself, I'd felt like I'd hit a wall, and I couldn't see past it. And then, wham, some relfection and introspection would just punch right through that wall. I'd see these vast changes, and where they could take me.
I guess this kind of describes what I've been going through. I'm not through it, but at least I'm finding a way to get around it. It's much harder to gauge your progress in martial arts, because there's no finished product to look at. It's just....do I feel like I've made progress? Am I better? Do I enjoy what I'm doing? Would I do better elsewhere?
Well, I still enjoyed it. I wasn't sure I was better, though...but how could I not be? I just didn't feel like I'd made any progress. But when I looked around, I saw a couple of people I thought were on another level--where I wanted to end up. So surely SD was the right path. I've just got to find my way in the Way (redundant, I know:p ). It's not gonna be "one size fits all". I might have to make some of my own adjustments....in my mind, viewpoint, etc. Then I reminded myself that I'm always my own worst critic. I hate positive feedback. I don't feel it helps me much. I only want to hear negative criticism. That's just how I work, I guess. So I was probably just full of my own self-abnegation. Everything else...the whole real-shaolin...fake shaolin...Master The' this...Master The' that....that was all a cop out. It has nothing to do with training. It's all just the packaging. It wasn't the product, if you guys can feel me. I'm not going to apologize for the things I said, though--they were said in earnest. But as regards Master The': if he taught the guys I consider "on another level," then he's got to be good enough for me....just seems logical. If I can learn from him I should, rather than just scrutinize. Funny, usually that's my motto. Just don't know what's come over me recently....maybe I jsut had to expand my viewpoint.
So many people gave me good advice these past two weeks. But the best came from my brother yesterday. We'd been doing BJJ (me cross-training) for the past month....but didn't plan on doing it anymore (he was paying for both of us, and apparently World of Warcraft was more important to him..."dude, I just started a draenei Shaman....:D ....what a ****....haha....). Anyway, I told him I was considering a switch. He asked why. I told him, more or less.
He just said: dude, you've never quit anything in your life. Well, I disagreed. I mentioned religion and a bunch of other things. And he just replied: yeah, man, but you question everything. It's just what you do, and you'll never stop doing that.
So I kind of came to the realization that I was just doing what I do best (the conversation was much longer, and he was acutally informative---surprise surprise....my wierd, lazy brother:eek: ). All I was doing was struggling with some questions I needed to answer for myself. I've made that my new M.O. in the martial arts, now, rather than being spoonfed dogma--to seek. My brother told me: "Dude, if you lived in another era, you'd start up a Revolution just to see what'd happen." It was kind of true. I'm just a ****kicker, prankster, all around monkeyman...so I'm always going to be picking at something. I guess my martial arts was the subject of the day. My teacher talked with me that night, for which I am thankful, and it just reinforced what I'd been thinking about.
I'm sticking with what I'm doing. I've just got to hammer out the kinks. Can't quit. I don't plan on testing anytime soon. I'm going to focus on the external stuff, and my Tai Chi. So I'll just be doing one side of hte coin (mostly anyways, since I really do Tai Chi for body mechanics to help my fu...though I think my fu makes my Chi better....weird....). Tai Chi is a lot to handle in itself...and I don't really want to tack anymore internal stuff onto that struggle. On the off days, I could cross-train in SPM, if I feel like it....and right now I have the urge to look around. So, I could do that, and probably will. It's really different from what I learn now, in shape anyways. I think it'll help me make some progress. Maybe it won't....but at least I'll have satisfied my curiousity....and I'm a man ruled by curiousity. It's just the way I am. I know that, and I always have known that. I want to do everything, but I want to do one thing excellently. Sprout a root, then branch out....but stay grounded in the root. I figure I'm the guy who's always going to look, maybe even dabble here and there, but keep his roots solid.
Man, I hope my girlfriend never reads that.........
Anyways....I think I'm just going to read a book at work now. So much for this forum for a while. Not to slight it, but I could be doing something better. I can even work on some tension excercises instead. Might as well. Although, I've always treated this forum like a Demosthenian society--man, I miss those things....so it does have its value...kind of.....and it gives you a decent education in argument, so long as you can ignore a troll or two.
Well, later dudes....