If you could pick any ONE form to have in your system, which would it be?

[SevenStar]

Okay, here is a quote from another thread:

It is said that in the old days one practiced a single kata for 5 years. So, it seems that we don't need that many katas or forms, to start with, just key ones, to master and "explore".

so, if you opened a school, focused it on drilling and fighting and decided to teach only ONE form, which one would it be and why?

[SPJ]

each style has its repertoire of open hand forms and weapon forms.

depending on the students

1. xing yi: 5 element fist or wu xing: pi beng zuan pao heng.

some would just practice san ti shi and pi for years before anything else

guo used half step beng fist and defeated a lot of people.

2. ba gua: single palm change

some would just practice standing in posture and dan huan zhang for years.

liu feng chun practiced dan huan zhang for 3 years and used it to defeat a lot of people

3. tai chi: cloud hand

4. tong bei: 5 element palms

5. ba Ji: liang yi ding and xiao jia.

6. long fist: tan tui 12 roads.

once a dude only used 1 road and defeated all challengers.

in short:

quality over quantity.

[uki]

i would choose to have the form that was not the form.

[taai gihk yahn]

if I was of the opinion that kata training for fighting was important and if I HAD to pick one, it would be Tekki / Naihanchi 1 & 2 (under the assumtion that they were originally actually part of one form); basically because it's a very cut-to-the chase set of principles that encompass a wide-range of stand-up skills (athough, of course, there are a bunch of ground-fighting techniques hidden in there as well; yes, deeply hidden; verrrrrrry deeply...))

a close second would be Bassai Dai, it's also got a lot of neat "stuff" in it;

btw, when I practice these forms, I "TCMA-ize" them, in terms of the quality of the movement, and if I may, I daresay that I practice them "internally" (ugh, yeah, I know...); so it's a weird sort of blend...

(btw, Ross knows I'm kidding, he knows that the ONLY form I have ever practiced is Bik Da...

[TenTigers]

hmmm...
SPM-Sam Bo Ging
Hung-Ga-Fu Hok Seurng Ying Kuen
Wing Chun-108 Mook Yan Jong
Karate Bassai, Sanchin/samjien

[bawang]

longfist 8 mother fist: straight , cross, uppercut, haymaker, hook, chop, overhand, backfist
five elements: forward , back, left , right, down

[Yum Cha]

If by system, you mean there are other training elements involved, and the mind boggles at the options there, and there was one form that you thought would bring something to the other mass of good fighting techniques?

Gau bo Twi

(said with all the myopic self centered perspective you'd expect from a Pak Mei guy.)

[YouKnowWho]

I had combined 10 Longfist forms into one. I named it "長拳摘要 - Longfist Summary" (similar to the prey mantis summary form). Until one day I just realized that instead of having to train 10 forms, I now have to train 11 forms.

I had created a SC form. Until one day that I found out some people treated it as a performance art. I regretted my creation since then.

We don't need forms. Even one form is too many. All we need is drills.

You can always image that you have to fight against 4 opponents on 4 sides of you. You attack one opponent on one side and then attack other opponent on different side. If you always use different move (or combo) for each attack, you can train 4 different moves (or 4 different combos) if you go through 1 rep, 8 moves (or 8 different combos) if you go through 2 reps, and 12 moves (or 12 different combos) if you go through 3 reps ... If you repeat this kind of training for a period of time (3 months, 6 months, 1 year, ...), you then change your rep into a complete different set of moves. This way, you can train a lot of different moves (or combos) through your life time without even have to train a single form. At the end, you may be able to "perform" as many forms as any form collector can do, also you will have excellent footwork.

What advantage do you have by training this way? You will never have to be burdened by forms (I have learned over 50 forms in my life so I do know what I'm talking about here).

[SevenStar]

I had combined 10 Longfist forms into one. I named it "長拳摘要 - Longfist Summary" (similar to the prey mantis summary form). Until one day I just realized that instead of having to train 10 forms, I now have to train 11 forms.

I had created a SC form. Until one day that I found out some people treated it as a performance art. I regretted my creation since then.

We don't need forms. Even one form is too many. All we need is drills.

You can always image that you have to fight against 4 opponents on 4 sides of you. You attack one opponent on one side and then attack other opponent on different side. If you always use different move (or combo) for each attack, you can train 4 different moves (or 4 different combos) if you go through 1 rep, 8 moves (or 8 different combos) if you go through 2 reps, and 12 moves (or 12 different combos) if you go through 3 reps ... If you repeat this kind of training for a period of time (3 months, 6 months, 1 year, ...), you then change your rep into a complete different set of moves. This way, you can train a lot of different moves (or combos) through your life time without even have to train a single form. At the end, you may be able to "perform" as many forms as any form collector can do.

What advantage do you have by training this way? You will never have to be burdened by forms.

so basically, all kung fu should be trained like ross' school, or perhaps like SC?

[taai gihk yahn]

Karate Bassai

sad / funny Bassai dai story: I learned it originally from my moo duk kwan sabumnim years ago - it's not a disgusting version either, although a lot of the nuance has been filtered out, and of course his understanding of the apps is very superficial - anyway, there's one move that looks like you do a "down block" in horse stance and then turn 180 deg to do something else - off course, the move is actually a low hammer fist done to someone after you've swept them - so, one time I was visiting my old school and was talking about stuff w/some of the BB's I had "come up with" and one of the relative newbie BB's was waxing philosophical about stuff he basically knew nothing about - I wasn't going to say anything, but the senior BB rolled his eyes and gave me a "go ahead Chris", so I asked him, in Bassai, what's the app for that move - so he was like "well, it's a down block"; so I was like, "well, why would you do a block and then turn around to face another direction w/out doing a counter?", so he says, I swear to God, "well, maybe after you do the block, the guy gets discouraged and goes away"....
to make matters worse, I showed him the correct app - his response was, "well, ok, that's one way of looking at it..."
it was a sad, sad day for TMA's...

[lkfmdc]

so basically, all kung fu should be trained like ross' school

you know, now someone is going to send you a nasty PM

[SevenStar]

you know, now someone is going to send you a nasty PM

LOL, I'll probably get several.

[taai gihk yahn]

so basically, all kung fu should be trained like ross' school, or perhaps like SC?

if everyone trained like Dave, TCMA would be very boring - drill basics, drill basics, drill basics; conditioning, conditioning, conditioning; hit pads, hit pads, hit pads; apply against resisting opponent, apply against resisting opponent, apply against resisting opponent; rinse; repeat;

[taai gihk yahn]

you know, now someone is going to send you a nasty PM

what, r u afraid it will cut down on the volume u get? don't b so selfish, share a bit...

[YouKnowWho]

so basically, all kung fu should be trained like ross' school, or perhaps like SC?

It's always fun to train CMA by using different methods. Every 2 or 3 years, I would like to try something new.

if everyone trained like Dave, TCMA would be very boring.

Instead of training the same CMA forms year after year, now for every 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year, you have to come up something complete new and different, that's more fun and challenge IMO.