Hung Sing Martial Arts Blog

I started a blog a few days ago to helpe spread info and inspire my students in their training. The blog will cover topics from traditional aspects of Kung Fu and some fitness, training etc. I thought I'd share the posts here since they are relevant to some of the converstations here.

The topics covering martial arts practice are written from my perspective as a choy lay fut practitioner. Thats why I chose the southern section of the forum.

only 6 posts so far but i will update as I get more
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot.com/

Kitchen Kung Fu- regarding diet and weight loss
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....n-kung-fu.html

Solo training regimens- regarding training regimen design
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....-regimens.html

Signature fist of choy lay fut- article about the chop choi
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....y-lay-fut.html

Martial arts forms application- from static to free- regarding combat training in tcma
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....on-static.html

Traditional Yet progressive- an article I did for kungfu taichi magazine a few years ago regarding the clf form lin wan kuen
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....ogressive.html

Choy Lay fut as a conceptual method
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....al-method.html

Great posts! Very informative.

It's great to see articles like this that make Choy Lay Fut relatable on day-to-day training level, and how it is relevant today.

I appreciate the articles on history, culture, etc. - those are very useful and necessary, too. But your angle on methodology and best practices for today make it very tangible for people currently studying and practicing the art.

I've always appreciated articles that are committed to demystify and explain the process of learning and achieving success with Gung-Fu.

Thanks for this, I look forward to seeing more!

A new entry in my vlog

Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu Spear Training
http://youtu.be/WwhenLuelqQ

Nice spear training. I was noticing your thrusts and your lead hand was palm up. do you find that effective for you? sifu always taught us to have palm side facing down when we thrust our spears ...LOL. thrust. spears. i'm a hom sup.

i guess my question is, does doing it that way guide it along better? just a question.

I twist my hands. kinda like wringing out a cloth. When I finish the thrust my palm is angled downward but when I make contact sometimes I get stopped during the wringing motion so thats why it looks like palm up.

The wringing motion gives me a nice drilling effect on my thrust lol

Oh wait now i see it. you mean on the long thrust. My palms face inward towards each other. Angled downward but not completely more like diangonal

I think there can be differences in hand positioning depending on whether you thrust with a staff or spear with a spear. With the staff when you don't slide the lead hand at all we all tend to twist the hands like SD mentioned. When we spear with a spear the lead hand typically stays on top becuase we push more with the back hand and the spear slides through the lead hand so it is easier to always have the palm face down when spearing vs. the twisting thrust motion we might use with a staff. Some do staff and spear the exact same way but others a bit different.

Enjoying the blog and good luck with the upcoming seminar.

i agree. we are always focused on holding the weapons the right way so it doesn't get knocked out of your hands. I believe its possible to lose your weapon when palms face up. yet, we do the wrenching of the clothes style with the spear. with the staff, we hold it and don't slide for thrusts. more like a ramming motion.

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think there can be differences in hand positioning depending on whether you thrust with a staff or spear with a spear. With the staff when you don't slide the lead hand at all we all tend to twist the hands like SD mentioned. When we spear with a spear the lead hand typically stays on top becuase we push more with the back hand and the spear slides through the lead hand so it is easier to always have the palm face down when spearing vs. the twisting thrust motion we might use with a staff. Some do staff and spear the exact same way but others a bit different.

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My sifu also teaches the slide through the lead hand. Personally I prefer the "wringing" method so I do it all the time. weapons sparring has shown me that it is less telegraphed and a harder thrust than the slideing method. our spear and staff long thrust completely different. for staff we keep the elbows in for support for spear we extend all the way out.

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i agree. we are always focused on holding the weapons the right way so it doesn't get knocked out of your hands. I believe its possible to lose your weapon when palms face up. yet, we do the wrenching of the clothes style with the spear. with the staff, we hold it and don't slide for thrusts. more like a ramming motion.

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For palm up are refering just to the thrust? There are some movements that require palm up grip depending on the angle of force applied

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For palm up are refering just to the thrust? There are some movements that require palm up grip depending on the angle of force applied

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yeah just the stabbing part. i've had it, and i've seen a spear knocked out of someone's hand because of having the lead had palm up instad of facing down during the stabbing.

I'm not really sure how to word this so it makes sense but in my experience anytime foce is applied against the fingers you can lose the staff. I'm not saying I'm pro palm up or down for that matter(even though i was taught down). Structure wise you want the palm to be facing whatever direction the force is being applied. That isn't always possible though due to circumstance. for instance even with the palm grip down I can still disarm someone using a downward press since it goes against the fingers.

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I'm not really sure how to word this so it makes sense but in my experience anytime foce is applied against the fingers you can lose the staff. I'm not saying I'm pro palm up or down for that matter(even though i was taught down). Structure wise you want the palm to be facing whatever direction the force is being applied. That isn't always possible though due to circumstance. for instance even with the palm grip down I can still disarm someone using a downward press since it goes against the fingers.

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u might be right. however one holds a weapon, its important to know the pros and cons of each grip. regardless of the weapon its important not to lose it :D

just another thought to add

I was talking about this with my sihing yesterday and he said something interesting about the palm down grip. he said with the palm down you can still lose the weapon but it is easier to recover because it would go to the ground in front of you. with the palm up you can lose it and it would fly out of your hand somewhere else.

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he said with the palm down you can still lose the weapon but it is easier to recover because it would go to the ground in front of you. with the palm up you can lose it and it would fly out of your hand somewhere else.

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yeah that was my point.

i'm glad i learned escrima however because it taught me just how important it was NOT to lose your weapon. we learned to have some incredible grip strength and drilled on how not to lose your weapon.

one of the drills we do is to hold the staff or spear and have someone strike the weapon in your hands full power intending to knock it out.

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Originally Posted by hskwarrior

yeah that was my point.

i'm glad i learned escrima however because it taught me just how important it was NOT to lose your weapon. we learned to have some incredible grip strength and drilled on how not to lose your weapon.

one of the drills we do is to hold the staff or spear and have someone strike the weapon in your hands full power intending to knock it out.

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I've studied escrima extensively also, and while their principles and body machenics are sound it is slightly different from a spear, so what works for a small blunt stick might not hold true to a sharp tipped long weapon where you have to sometimes switch grips (to deal with different angles of impact). The spear is long and "bladed" touch weapon that doesn't necessitate heavy trauma to cause an opponent to bleed.

Also, blood sliding down the staff of the spear will make it slippery even with the red tassle blood catch. Not as much of a factor with impact weapons

It is good to take effective training methodologies and implement to to other methods of combat that we do, but we must understand the differences between different methodoloies to maximize effectiveness. If done haphazardly as I have seen many people do (in the name of "cross training") without proper understanding, critial reason, and practical experience, one would end up making each method they practice less effective.

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I've studied escrima extensively also, and while their principles and body machenics are sound it is slightly different from a spear, so what works for a small blunt stick might not hold true to a sharp tipped long weapon where you have to sometimes switch grips (to deal with different angles of impact). The spear is long and "bladed" touch weapon that doesn't necessitate heavy trauma to cause an opponent to bleed.

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yeah, after 30 years of CLF, you'd think i'd know the difference between a spear, staff, or escrima stick. I'm talking about GRIP. and the possibility of losing your weapon. :confused::confused::confused:

If i'm holding a spear and start my stab and he hits my spear with reasonable force and my grip isn't proper, i can and have seen many people lose their spear from the lead hand because of the grip they used while stabbing.

however, mixed with my previous spear, staff and escrima training one thing is for sure, escrima taught me how NOT to lose my weapon, or i'd be dead. because of my escrima grip training you won't be able to knock a spear out of my hands now. so, i'm not talking anything other than the grip while using a spears stabbing motion.

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It is good to take effective training methodologies and implement to to other methods of combat that we do, but we must understand the differences between different methodoloies to maximize effectiveness. If done haphazardly as I have seen many people do (in the name of "cross training") without proper understanding, critial reason, and practical experience, one would end up making each method they practice less effective.

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so how often to you lube up your spear to imitate blood and simulate a combative situation to master the switching of hands while holding a lubed up spear? i'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a video of you or anyone doing this. it would be awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELMPdQHOwaA

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Originally Posted by hskwarrior

yeah, after 30 years of CLF, you'd think i'd know the difference between a spear, staff, or escrima stick. I'm talking about GRIP. and the possibility of losing your weapon. :confused::confused::confused:

If i'm holding a spear and start my stab and he hits my spear with reasonable force and my grip isn't proper, i can and have seen many people lose their spear from the lead hand because of the grip they used while stabbing.

however, mixed with my previous spear, staff and escrima training one thing is for sure, escrima taught me how NOT to lose my weapon, or i'd be dead. because of my escrima grip training you won't be able to knock a spear out of my hands now. so, i'm not talking anything other than the grip while using a spears stabbing motion.



so how often to you lube up your spear to imitate blood and simulate a combative situation to master the switching of hands while holding a lubed up spear? i'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a video of you or anyone doing this. it would be awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELMPdQHOwaA

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I'm happy to hear you believe your understanding of the martial arts after 30 years of CLF and whatever else is at the level that you are satisfied with, but I think you are missing my point. This is not a p1ssing contest, I'm not disagreeing with about the importance of grip and how escrima helped you in that endeavor, but I was merely stating that there are some people who might not understand that cross training is most effective when you truly understand the differences between methodologies. It was not necessarily aimed at you, since in your post that I first replied to, you did not provide enough information to state whether or not you understood what I meant, and if you think you know what I'm saying, you can either agree or disagree and explain your position in a civil manner.

I firmly believe that if one understands and progressively practice the concepts and princples passed down to us and distilled that knowledge through critical reasoning and experience, one is better able to handle a spear slippery with blood (however rare this situation might happen in the modern community and location that we live in today) than if one doesn't. With that said, if a person is so inclined to master every aspect and detail on the subject of spear fighting, it would not hurt to drill with a compromised grip (or "lubed-up" as you say) once the fundemental skillset is ingrained. Just as Fedor spins in a circle until he loses his equalibrium before hitting the mitts or sparring to simulate fighting back after sustaining a substantial strike to the head, there are many fighters who don't necessarily train using his method but are still be great fighters because of their fundemental understanding and practice of their own methods.

And in response to your comment, I believe there are enough footage of me and my kung fu family online and other media formats to give people a general idea whether or not I am qualified to offer an oppinion on the martial arts (be it agreeable to everyone or not).

If I have mistaken your friendly sarcasim as defensive humor then I apologize, its because I rarely communicate with you and I'm not used to the way you reply during a discussion. The written word can be easily misconstrued without an visual aid of the action spoken of, especially when it comes to an expression as physical as the fighting arts.

:D

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If I have mistaken your friendly sarcasim as defensive humor then I apologize, its because I rarely communicate with you and I'm not used to the way you reply during a discussion. The written word can be easily misconstrued without an visual aid of the action spoken of, especially when it comes to an expression as physical as the fighting arts.

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don't sweat it. i'm not sweating it.

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And in response to your comment, I believe there are enough footage of me and my kung fu family online and other media formats to give people a general idea whether or not I am qualified to offer an oppinion on the martial arts (be it agreeable to everyone or not).

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no, there's nothing wrong with opinions. we all have them.

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If I have mistaken your friendly sarcasim as defensive humor then I apologize, its because I rarely communicate with you and I'm not used to the way you reply during a discussion. The written word can be easily misconstrued without an visual aid of the action spoken of, especially when it comes to an expression as physical as the fighting arts.

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you did. no sweat. its all good

New entry in my vlog.

Choy Lay Fut Progressive Training
this video shows some of our progression from static drills, to live drills, to limited technique sparring. it compliments a previoud blog entry I made on the application of forms techniques
http://youtu.be/bXXI9T-tGSE


Choy Lay Fut Staff Training

This one shows some of the staff training we do
http://youtu.be/sBAcOvbBBo4

Great stuff! Thanks for putting these up, it's great that you are exposing live TCMA contact drills.

There's lots of static application & pad hitting videos and San Da matches on the web, and those are good and all, but they are at extreme ends of the spectrum. One is pure compliant drilling, the other is high level full contact fighting. Nice to finally see live drilling methods in this format as a bridge between the two.

Ving Tsun has their Chi Sao, Taiji has their Tui Shou, Shuai Jiao has their grappling matches, and now folks can see some of Choy Lay Fut's live drilling methods.

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Ving Tsun has their Chi Sao, Taiji has their Tui Shou, Shuai Jiao has their grappling matches, and now folks can see some of Choy Lay Fut's live drilling methods.

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yup. we also have very similar drills too. i love it. then i love to see the students use them after during sparring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=T5DgsXhSE0E

Very nice clip! Great combos!

New vlog entry

Choy Lay Fut Training for striking
http://youtu.be/aytjXyZUb8Q

awesome video bro.

Hop Ga Kuen/ Lama Pai Kung Fu Forms & Fighting Drills
Hop Ga forms from our curriculum as well as training the application of the forms techniques and some drilling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmsr_5V62eU


I've been doing alof of vlog entries of fighting drills and apps lately so I made the following videos to show how I train the forms. I usually do each form I know once per session then pick sections that need attention and do just that section for a certain number of reps


Choy Lay Fut Single Broadsword Training

This is based on the Moi Fah Dan Dao of our choy lay fut curriculum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amLK4_7S20g


Choy Lay Fut Double Bladed Weapons

Training double daggers, double butterfly sword, double broadsword

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhp0sYuLHyo


Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu Dai Dao/ Guan Dao Training

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDnn1eMTvgw

This one is more informational than I usually do. The subject came up during a sparring session where one of my students was doing excessive spinning techs and exposing himself too much. When i told him not to spin he asked why we do it in the form. It wasn't the first time someone asked so i thought it would make an interesting topic for a vlog disscussion

Choy Lay Fut Complete Combat Theory- Spinning Techniques

http://youtu.be/K3ZZjr8EPpg

cool vid. i agree on many levels

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Originally Posted by Shaolindynasty

Choy Lay Fut Complete Combat Theory- Spinning Techniques

http://youtu.be/K3ZZjr8EPpg

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Excellent video, SD. The spinning around thing is sort of a visual trademark of CLF, it's good to see a video on how to use that spinning around in a way that makes sense, instead of blindly going into it. Sometimes, it seems like forms get interpreted too literally.

-123

Thanks for the compliments.

Actually the techniques shown are very much a literal interpertation of the form. I only made changes in the direction of the footwork as needed to suit the situation presented by the opponent.

Choy Lay Fut Complete Combat Theory- Environment Training

Training outdoors in a less than ideal environment to simulate conditions that you may encounter in a self defense situation. In this video we show examples of drills and techniques trained in an outdoor snowy/slick environment as well as using concepts from traditional kungfu forms designed to overcome the obsticles presented.

http://youtu.be/feFyVzt1M-E

Great video! A lot of snow here as well, so no excuse to get out and train!

Wish I could do a training video in the snow down here in Florida. Maybe when we get a hurricane I can put together something. :D

Another good vid SD!

are you punching that wall bag guy in his DING DING man? thats cold!

very similar to how i teach. because i teach from my garage the floor is often either wet or greasy. my guys develop good balance that way.

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Wish I could do a training video in the snow down here in Florida. Maybe when we get a hurricane I can put together something.

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Yeah a hurricane would present the ultimate challenge, i'd love to see that. Haha

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Originally Posted by Shaolindynasty

Yeah a hurricane would present the ultimate challenge, i'd love to see that. Haha

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At the very least if you don't get crushed by a palm tree the winds would test your horse stance for sure. :D

Secret Techniques, Hidden Applications

http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....nd-hidden.html

Physics of Staff/Spear Fighting

http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....ghting_26.html

Choy Lay Fut Complete Combat Theory- Using The Wooden Dummy

I posted a video a couple years ago with me doing some jong work and judging from some of the comments I could see alot of people both outside of the clf community and some inside had alot of misconceptions about the ching jong and its role in clf training so I made this video to clear some of these misconceptions up.

The choy lay fut wooden dummy explained
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVHjK...ature=youtu.be