Why I don't practice CLF anymore.

[Fu-Pow]

Some people have thought in the past that I have a certain allegiance to a particular martial arts style, sub-branch or teacher. They were dead wrong. What my quest in martial arts has always been is to find the best style, sub-branch or teacher and learn as much as I can. (I often approach that learning from many different angles, historical, practical, biological to get the best understanding that I can.)

With that in mind IMHO there some serious flaws in the CLF system. That's not to say that CLF isn't effective as a method of hand to hand combat, it can be. The problem as I see it is that there are more efficient ways and better strategies to the same result (ie effectiveness in hand to hand combat.) The style that I have been increasingly drawn to for the last ten years is Chen Taiji..... for these two main reasons, efficiency and strategy.

Greater efficiency means 3 things:

1) Less wasted motion leads to greater power potential.
2) Less wasted motion leads to quicker response times.
3) Less wasted motion leads to less training injuries.


In the strategy of Chen Taiji hard force (li) is not met with hard force (li.) That's not to say that force is never resisted or met with resistance or that force is not issued.

However, it is different than meeting it with muscular strength. The strength in Chen Taiji is more like the rigidity of a hose filled with water rather than an iron bar like CLF (or any other external style for that matter). In practice this means that there is less chance of injury as a result of your own actions. Yes, you can hard block an attack with a shin or forearm but eventually your body will pay the price.

So I think there are better ways and that is the path that I am following. I don't regret my CLF training, it still informs alot of what I do and it was a great discipline for me as a young man. However, as I move into my 30s I need a training method where I can continue to progress for the next 60 yrs (hopefully!). Unfortunately, that means that I've had to "invest in loss" and abandon my CLF training so that I can refine the body mechanics of Chen Taiji.....and they are very different from anything that I currently understand.

Best to everyone in their training and I hope you CLFers still consider me your kung fu brother even if I've chosen another road.

Take care,

FP

Here are some clips of my Taiji Sigung:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4w_62WX9Rk

Here's some really good Chen Taiji push hands from my Sibak:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DADYbpj4oMw