[QUOTE=wingchunIan;1120241]
Originally Posted by
Wu Wei Wu
Ian,
Not sure what you are disagreeing with.
This thread is about what is taught in an opening lesson. I was merely reflecting on the assertion that MT and other arts teach around sparring and conditioning, based upon my experience of MT. I've never come across a good MT school that puts students into sparring in their first lesson and conditioning is a long term result so not relevant. Like WC in MT the techniques are learnt in the air first before hitting pads and bags and progressing on to sparring.
To clarify for other posters, I also never said that sparring wasn't about learning, I said it wasn't a place for learning technique but rather a place for learning how to apply what you have already learnt. Even simple evasion such as bobbing and weaving in MT and boxing is, in my experience, taught "in air" and trained on pads before being explored in sparring.
WC for me is no different learn the shapes, footwork etc, drill it in partner exercises, refine it in forms practice, explore it in chi sau and test it in pressure testing (I don't do sparring). Obviously not everyone trains this way but that is a choice of individuals rather than an inherent property of WC.
Only my opinion of course based on my own experience.
Not to gang up on you in any way, shape or form; but I'm wondering how long in your MT school did you kick air for before moving onto pads and heavy bags?
An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Friedrich Engels