hsing i beng chuan practice

[brucereiter]

here is some beng chuan practice from today. any constructive critique is welcome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZbMEBxWOr0


please add a clip of your hsing i practice.

[Samurai Jack]

First observation:

All that text, the opening, and then we get 2 seconds of a single Beng? Not that I should talk, I have no access to video recording equipment yet.

Second observation:

Your loose jacket obscures some of what you are doing, but it seems to me that your shoulders and hips are disconnected. To correct this, try tightening your abdomen as you step forward and Beng. Also reach into your fist a little more which will allow your joints to relax and elongate into the target while keeping the structure. In other words, you need to use your hips and shoulders more. Otherwise it looks good.

Now lets see you Beng with your left fist.

[brucereiter]

First observation:

All that text, the opening, and then we get 2 seconds of a single Beng? Not that I should talk, I have no access to video recording equipment yet.

Second observation:

Your loose jacket obscures some of what you are doing, but it seems to me that your shoulders and hips are disconnected. To correct this, try tightening your abdomen as you step forward and Beng. Also reach into your fist a little more which will allow your joints to relax and elongate into the target while keeping the structure. In other words, you need to use your hips and shoulders more. Otherwise it looks good.

Now lets see you Beng with your left fist.

that title did run long lol ... i have 36 or so videos out there if ya want to check out some other stuff i am practicing ...

thanks for your observations ... one thing am trying to understand is that connection ... my shoulders in that clip kept on moving a bit after my hips stopped.

you mean i have to beng with both hands? lol ... kidding, i just wanted to keep it very short with that clip.

here is a longer clip of linking form http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1fpOAkhIEo

[Samurai Jack]

As far as the linking set goes, I'd advise you to slow down and really look at what you're doing. Deconstruct it, so to speak.

Make sure that there is not a single movement at any point in your form that is not engaging your hips in some way.

When you make the sharp jabbing movements trying to emit fajin, you are really just jabbing and poking.

Your Hsing-i should not be broken up where your hands move independantly from your body. I noticed this especially on your Lung Hsing Chuan on the transitions in your form. Your knee rises without being urged by the opposite leg. To do this correctly, you need to sink into the leg you are standing on by bending the standing knee. Also once again, I suggest tightening the abdomen strongly as the leg comes up. This will connect your shoulders and hips, and make that knee come up with great power.

EVERYTHING feet/hands, wrist/ankles, knees/elbows, hips/shoulders should be moving in unison. If one part stops, all parts stop. If one part moves, all parts move.

One of my teachers, George Xu once joked "If you move your eyebrow, it should come from the ground!"

Then again, he might not have been joking.

[brucereiter]

thanks again for taking the time to post advice ...

[Samurai Jack]

Sure thing Bruce. I've always felt that helping each other out with our training is one of the few things on KFM that's actually worth commenting on.

Sadly, it's under-utilized on the forums, in large part, I think, because people tend to be sensitive about thier practice, and reluctant to be put under a microscope. With all of the trolls and such that tend to lurk, it's a vulnerable position to put yourself in. Thanks for having the humility to try and "step out of the box", taking the risk of putting yourself out there, and actually try to improve what you are doing.

It says a lot about the quality of your practice.

I look forward to your comments when I get up the nerve, and the equipment to show a bit of what I do.

[Toby]

Sure thing Bruce. I've always felt that helping each other out with our training is one of the few things on KFM that's actually worth commenting on.

Isn't that what your teacher's for? Of course, it could help for people like Bruce who don't get to spend as much time with their teacher as they'd like.

Sadly, it's under-utilized on the forums, in large part, I think, because people tend to be sensitive about thier practice, and reluctant to be put under a microscope. With all of the trolls and such that tend to lurk, it's a vulnerable position to put yourself in. Thanks for having the humility to try and "step out of the box", taking the risk of putting yourself out there, and actually try to improve what you are doing.

Personally, I've got nothing to gain from showing video of myself apart from either an ego check or boost. I get everything I need from my regular training, and I train for myself and myself alone. There's also the issue that some teachers might not approve of videos of their stuff being shown publicly. I doubt mine would approve, not that I really want to put up videos anyway. Conversely, I really enjoy seeing other people's videos, so I guess that makes me pretty selfish.

OTOH, I'm willing to train with other people, so next time you're in town Bruce maybe our schedules will coincide. Our systems and approaches differ greatly.

[Samurai Jack]

Isn't that what your teacher's for? Of course, it could help for people like Bruce who don't get to spend as much time with their teacher as they'd like.

Agreed on both points. I'd also add, however, that different perspectives can provide insight into various subtleties that might otherwise go unnoticed. I'm sure we've all had the experience of having a senior student in class or a teacher at a seminar telling us to do something that improved our art, only to find that our main teacher had been making the same suggestion all along using terms or methods we didn't understand.

That's why I love seminars and private "teacherless" workouts with other students. I know for a fact that my martial arts would not be what they were without the outside influences I've saught in the past. I don't have first hand experience, but it seems like the online video method Bruce is using could yield a similar effect.

Just a thought.

[Toby]

What if the outside influence has characteristics that are incompatible with your own? I guess from my perspective what I learn is so different from what I see in others' practice that I don't think there would be anything for me to gain from outside my system/line of teachers. So while I can learn a lot from senior students (as per your example), I doubt I can learn much from the critique of others external to my line. OTOH the opportunity to apply what I've learned with others is something of value, which is why I was going to hook up with Bruce when he was in my town.

[Samurai Jack]

Cool. Now you've piqued my interest Toby...

What line of Hsing-i do you practice?

[Toby]

I'm not very good at lineage or history stuff, but I guess I'm 5th generation Song Shi Rong (sp?) shanxi style??

[brucereiter]

hi ya'all,


outside ideas for me cause questions and questions cause me to analyze what i am doing from another perspective. question = good ...

one danger to "outside influence" is you might just change what you are doing with each bit of advice you get and often the advice conflicts with other advice you get.
you must make informed change if you do make change.

purity of style is not a concern for me. for example i am now learning gao bagua. i will learn the system and i will keep the influence from my other martial arts away as i learn it but in the end it will be another branch of what i already know. my old material will affect it and my new material will affect my old material.

if what you do is "incompatible" with outside influence i still think it is important to have martial exchange with people who know nothing of your approach so you can see strong points and weak points of what you do.

joy, health, self defense these are the main reasons i practice.

for me the biggest advantage i have had in my training is to touch hands with hundreds of people from other systems/styles from all over the world. this has for sure changed how a view what i was taught.

this is something that most people do not get to do.

[Toby]

purity of style is not a concern for me. for example i am now learning gao bagua. i will learn the system and i will keep the influence from my other martial arts away as i learn it but in the end it will be another branch of what i already know. my old material will affect it and my new material will affect my old material.

You've left your old school? Gao bagua isn't listed on their curriculum IIRC?

[brucereiter]

You've left your old school? Gao bagua isn't listed on their curriculum IIRC?

it was time.

[Samurai Jack]

Toby:

Now I'm curious about those differences!

You see, I learned most of my Hsing-i from various students of Hsu Hung Chi, which seems to be the most common Hsing-i lineage here in the U.S.

Anyhow, Vince Black studied your style, along with Hsu's, and one of his students was my original Hsing-i / Pa Kua teacher.

All these years, and I didn't even know you did Hsing-i! I wonder if we might not be distant martial cousins?

Bruce:

I also picked up some of your Gao stuff from the same guys, but I havn't kept any of it.

Man, I'm wishing I lived nearer you fellas.