What is this talk about your Bagua not really being Bagua? I read somewhere one time that you guys call it Bagua, but the real name is Divine Boxing or something...
What's that about?
What is this talk about your Bagua not really being Bagua? I read somewhere one time that you guys call it Bagua, but the real name is Divine Boxing or something...
What's that about?
I believe he means that the students would practice certain forms to perform at tourneys and such and then he turns around and teaches another form and tells them that they are no longer doing the other form they are doing this form.
Maybe, I do not know, just a guess.
The reason I was thinking about it like this is because DS and SHS used to do something like this for the the China trips. They would not tell you what form(s) you are performing until the last .
So you better be up to the second on your material.
Sure, when we would go to tournaments he would surprise you at the last minute and tell you to do a different form than what you had been practicing. For example, you might be thinking your going to do a simple tiger form and then right before you go before the judges to perform he would tell you do a monkey form even though you don't know monkey. He did this more with weapons though. You'd think your going to do a staff or spear and then at the last moment give you some off the wall weapon to do like a battle ax or a trident or a hook spear. He would do this to see how well you act under pressure and to see how you handle that weapon becuase he might be thinking about training you more in that particular weapon or style. I hope that I explained it a little bit more clearly.
Last edited by mkriii; 05-12-2008 at 07:01 AM.
Yep, crazy isn't it? He didn't do that all the time but ocationally, he did it more so with weapons though. Talk about feeling wierd and scared, like a fish out of water. He would say in his broken English "just do it" but it came out sounding like "jus duweet". Its funny looking back on it but scary back then. He definitely had his own way of teaching.
Last edited by mkriii; 05-12-2008 at 10:44 AM.
Some of Grandmaster Ng's training exercises really seemed crazy at the time. He had this one training exercise for snake style that was called "snake poll training". It reminded me of the exercises in the movie with Jackie Chan. We had this poll that was about 6 1/2 to 7 feet tall and about 4 inches around in diameter. What you do is you cup your hand around the back of the poll at shoulder or ear level and flip it over your shoulder bringing your hand thats cupping it down to about your waist level, and then bring your hand back up to cup it again by your head before it falls. This exercise serves several perposes.....One, it developes wrist strength. Two, it developes speed in your hands. Three, it teaches you how to use your hands to wrap around your opponent. Some other exercises and stuff is we would do dive rolls over milk crates and finger tip push ups. Grandmaster Ng also had an obstacle course behind the school in some wooded area that we would have to run, things like crossing a log bridge and climbing a tree and swinging on a rope. This would be like a warm up before class. In the back of the school gym (which was like a big warehouse building made of metal) there was a big thick rope that we had to climb. We had to hang from the rafters for minutes which seemed like an eternity when your 16 years old and your 25 feet above the ground, It was high. We had sparring sessions where we would sparr blind folded or we would sparr 2 or 3 on 1. It was deffinitely an experience (a good one).
Last edited by mkriii; 05-12-2008 at 11:55 AM.
Aside from the pole exercises, nothing you described was not done as part of my formal training in SD. Obstacle courses. Diving and rolling over objects. Finger-tip push ups?--a dozen different varieties. Blindfold sparring 6 on 1 at one point. And all of that was with my first teacher prior to moving to Tennessee. Heck 2 on 1 sparring is routine in my classes and a mandatory part of testing.
Fun things to enhance your training and shake them up. I don't know how I feel about the forms bait and switch. I don't really think its fair to the student because if they don't know monkey, then whatever they came up with wouldn't be monkey, would it? But I have had my teacher do things to see how I would respond under "pressure" so I understand the concept even if I don't agree with the methodology.
The thing with the form though is at an open circuit tournament the judges aren't going to know if it's a legit form or not because more than not they are going to be shotokan karate or Ishen Ryu Karate or some other karate style so it was funny when (and it happened a few times) one of us would win 1st or 2nd place with a made up form. If you were a good B.S.ter and a good actor you could pull it off. Also this let him see what you think about this particular style and helps him decide wheather he thinks it right for you.
I don't know why more aren't posting. I wish they would though.
Last edited by mkriii; 05-12-2008 at 12:38 PM.