Hung Sing Martial Arts Blog

[Shaolindynasty]

I started a blog a few days ago to helpe spread info and inspire my students in their training. The blog will cover topics from traditional aspects of Kung Fu and some fitness, training etc. I thought I'd share the posts here since they are relevant to some of the converstations here.

The topics covering martial arts practice are written from my perspective as a choy lay fut practitioner. Thats why I chose the southern section of the forum.

only 6 posts so far but i will update as I get more
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot.com/

Kitchen Kung Fu- regarding diet and weight loss
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....n-kung-fu.html

Solo training regimens- regarding training regimen design
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....-regimens.html

Signature fist of choy lay fut- article about the chop choi
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....y-lay-fut.html

Martial arts forms application- from static to free- regarding combat training in tcma
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....on-static.html

Traditional Yet progressive- an article I did for kungfu taichi magazine a few years ago regarding the clf form lin wan kuen
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....ogressive.html

Choy Lay fut as a conceptual method
http://hungsingmartialarts.blogspot....al-method.html

[yutyeesam]

Great posts! Very informative.

It's great to see articles like this that make Choy Lay Fut relatable on day-to-day training level, and how it is relevant today.

I appreciate the articles on history, culture, etc. - those are very useful and necessary, too. But your angle on methodology and best practices for today make it very tangible for people currently studying and practicing the art.

I've always appreciated articles that are committed to demystify and explain the process of learning and achieving success with Gung-Fu.

Thanks for this, I look forward to seeing more!

[Shaolindynasty]

A new entry in my vlog

Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu Spear Training
http://youtu.be/WwhenLuelqQ

[hskwarrior]

Nice spear training. I was noticing your thrusts and your lead hand was palm up. do you find that effective for you? sifu always taught us to have palm side facing down when we thrust our spears ...LOL. thrust. spears. i'm a hom sup.

i guess my question is, does doing it that way guide it along better? just a question.

[Shaolindynasty]

I twist my hands. kinda like wringing out a cloth. When I finish the thrust my palm is angled downward but when I make contact sometimes I get stopped during the wringing motion so thats why it looks like palm up.

The wringing motion gives me a nice drilling effect on my thrust lol

[Shaolindynasty]

Oh wait now i see it. you mean on the long thrust. My palms face inward towards each other. Angled downward but not completely more like diangonal

[CLFNole]

I think there can be differences in hand positioning depending on whether you thrust with a staff or spear with a spear. With the staff when you don't slide the lead hand at all we all tend to twist the hands like SD mentioned. When we spear with a spear the lead hand typically stays on top becuase we push more with the back hand and the spear slides through the lead hand so it is easier to always have the palm face down when spearing vs. the twisting thrust motion we might use with a staff. Some do staff and spear the exact same way but others a bit different.

Enjoying the blog and good luck with the upcoming seminar.

[hskwarrior]

i agree. we are always focused on holding the weapons the right way so it doesn't get knocked out of your hands. I believe its possible to lose your weapon when palms face up. yet, we do the wrenching of the clothes style with the spear. with the staff, we hold it and don't slide for thrusts. more like a ramming motion.

[Shaolindynasty]

think there can be differences in hand positioning depending on whether you thrust with a staff or spear with a spear. With the staff when you don't slide the lead hand at all we all tend to twist the hands like SD mentioned. When we spear with a spear the lead hand typically stays on top becuase we push more with the back hand and the spear slides through the lead hand so it is easier to always have the palm face down when spearing vs. the twisting thrust motion we might use with a staff. Some do staff and spear the exact same way but others a bit different.

My sifu also teaches the slide through the lead hand. Personally I prefer the "wringing" method so I do it all the time. weapons sparring has shown me that it is less telegraphed and a harder thrust than the slideing method. our spear and staff long thrust completely different. for staff we keep the elbows in for support for spear we extend all the way out.

i agree. we are always focused on holding the weapons the right way so it doesn't get knocked out of your hands. I believe its possible to lose your weapon when palms face up. yet, we do the wrenching of the clothes style with the spear. with the staff, we hold it and don't slide for thrusts. more like a ramming motion.

For palm up are refering just to the thrust? There are some movements that require palm up grip depending on the angle of force applied

[hskwarrior]

For palm up are refering just to the thrust? There are some movements that require palm up grip depending on the angle of force applied

yeah just the stabbing part. i've had it, and i've seen a spear knocked out of someone's hand because of having the lead had palm up instad of facing down during the stabbing.

[Shaolindynasty]

I'm not really sure how to word this so it makes sense but in my experience anytime foce is applied against the fingers you can lose the staff. I'm not saying I'm pro palm up or down for that matter(even though i was taught down). Structure wise you want the palm to be facing whatever direction the force is being applied. That isn't always possible though due to circumstance. for instance even with the palm grip down I can still disarm someone using a downward press since it goes against the fingers.

[hskwarrior]

I'm not really sure how to word this so it makes sense but in my experience anytime foce is applied against the fingers you can lose the staff. I'm not saying I'm pro palm up or down for that matter(even though i was taught down). Structure wise you want the palm to be facing whatever direction the force is being applied. That isn't always possible though due to circumstance. for instance even with the palm grip down I can still disarm someone using a downward press since it goes against the fingers.

u might be right. however one holds a weapon, its important to know the pros and cons of each grip. regardless of the weapon its important not to lose it

[Shaolindynasty]

just another thought to add

I was talking about this with my sihing yesterday and he said something interesting about the palm down grip. he said with the palm down you can still lose the weapon but it is easier to recover because it would go to the ground in front of you. with the palm up you can lose it and it would fly out of your hand somewhere else.

[hskwarrior]

he said with the palm down you can still lose the weapon but it is easier to recover because it would go to the ground in front of you. with the palm up you can lose it and it would fly out of your hand somewhere else.

yeah that was my point.

i'm glad i learned escrima however because it taught me just how important it was NOT to lose your weapon. we learned to have some incredible grip strength and drilled on how not to lose your weapon.

one of the drills we do is to hold the staff or spear and have someone strike the weapon in your hands full power intending to knock it out.

[straightblast5]

yeah that was my point.

i'm glad i learned escrima however because it taught me just how important it was NOT to lose your weapon. we learned to have some incredible grip strength and drilled on how not to lose your weapon.

one of the drills we do is to hold the staff or spear and have someone strike the weapon in your hands full power intending to knock it out.

I've studied escrima extensively also, and while their principles and body machenics are sound it is slightly different from a spear, so what works for a small blunt stick might not hold true to a sharp tipped long weapon where you have to sometimes switch grips (to deal with different angles of impact). The spear is long and "bladed" touch weapon that doesn't necessitate heavy trauma to cause an opponent to bleed.

Also, blood sliding down the staff of the spear will make it slippery even with the red tassle blood catch. Not as much of a factor with impact weapons

It is good to take effective training methodologies and implement to to other methods of combat that we do, but we must understand the differences between different methodoloies to maximize effectiveness. If done haphazardly as I have seen many people do (in the name of "cross training") without proper understanding, critial reason, and practical experience, one would end up making each method they practice less effective.