Forms Factories?

[kosh]

Styles is a relative term it really refers to your own personal style.

As for the arts i practice, Jiu-jitsu, 8step preying mantis, Shaolin Kempo

[peace&love]

Form factory is a very fitting term for many schools out there, especially those in CMA. McDojo always sort of fit well for TKD schools, but they do have a lot of sparring going on. A traditional CMA school will have a great deal of forms training, but also place an emphasis not only on sparring, but on actual application as well. I'm back to training in traditional CMA with an emphasis on 5 Animal and Wing Chun after attending a Shaolin Do school for awhile. I would place SD in the form factory category. I do not think it is in the McDojo mold because many SD schools are not all that big, although there are some out there with a great number of students. Anyway, I spent nearly a year learning forms. The upper ranks had minimal training and/or sparring skills which was a bit frustrating. Due to my previous training , it seemed very odd at times that black and brown sashes could not fight well, especially close in. There outside point fighting skills seemed to be okay, but the instructor also had a black belt in TKD and seemed to emphasize those methods when it came to what little sparring that took place.

Many of the books out there like Matthew Polly's where Americans go to the temple or temple area to train have similar stories bout tons of forms training. I wonder if the more traditional teachers in China and Hong Kong have this method or if they also place emphasis on fighting and application. Anyone who has trained privately or with a small group in China with a personal sifu, I would love to hear about your experiences and how your views are on this form factory term and point of view.

[YouKnowWho]

The 7 stars prey mantis system has very good distinguish between 3 different levels of training. They use:

- 崩步 (Beng Bu) form to train speed and combo,
- 乱接 (Luan Jie) form to train Shenfa and PM flavor,
- 摘要 (Zhai Yao) form to summary up the whole system.

The 7 stars PM system has more forms but all the others are not important. It's fine if you learn them, it's also fine if you don't.

The SC system also use 3 different level of training. They use:

- Single moves to train offense,
- Counters to train defense, and
- Combo to summary up the whole system.

The SC has 13 Taibao, 24 Si forms, and equipment training for enhancement.

Both systems are very clear about why certain training are needed.

On the other hand, it's not that clear about the long fist system. Does a student really need to learn both 埋伏 (Mai Fu) form #1 and #2? If you have learned 炮拳 (Pao Quan) then do you really need to learn 埋伏拳 (Mai Fu Quan)? IMO, it's redundant and waste training time.

[Tainan Mantis]

after your first sash you are able to attend forms class, and basic sparring 1 class.

Thanks for that outline of your school. It sounds logical.

I have a question.

When you gain the freedom to attain more classes such as the forms class and sparring class, do you join a new program or pay a new fee?

I am asking because I am in the middle of setting up a new schedule for how I will present the material.

Thanks.