Chambering in forms.

[YouKnowWho]

When you punch and your opponent blocks, you pull your punching hand back, let your opponent's block to pass over, you then punch the same hand back right way. Your 2nd punch start from wherever your opponent's blocking arm is. You don't have time to chamber it back to your waist.

[JamesC]

Personally, I've never habitually chambered my hand in sparring. I've never confused form and function, even though I incorporate principles contained in our basics and forms.

This. I've practiced chambering forever and it has never affected my sparring a bit. It's a training tool for me. Nothing more. Helps me work on rotation and presumably hand speed.

Then again, I don't do the whole "leave your arm hanging there" after each punch. Out and back after each punch.

[Lucas]

i have two versions of the forms i still practice. the traditional ones and then mine. in mine there are no chambers anymore, ive removed them and put the hands at ready on guard. i like to stand at a relaxed state sometimes with my hands held losely at my sides, and then punch from that position as fast as I can.

[Kellen Bassette]

i have two versions of the forms i still practice. the traditional ones and then mine. in mine there are no chambers anymore, ive removed them and put the hands at ready on guard. i like to stand at a relaxed state sometimes with my hands held losely at my sides, and then punch from that position as fast as I can.

I like to take a piece of a form and drill it traditionally, then work it from a natural fighting posture with guards up, using, but not exaggerating the stances.

I really see form in fighting all the time, lunging in with a cross looks just like a short gung bu with a reverse punch to me, without the chambering and exaggerated movements. You see Ma bu, used all the time, it's just never held. I prefer it to sprawling for stuffing takedowns, though I work both.

[Kellen Bassette]

the difference today is the natural progression from chambering to hands up is cut off. when you teach only using the form, you become slave to the form, and you canot change.

chambered punching itself is a type of gong, or special training.

I think your right about this....

[Kellen Bassette]

Chambered twist punch is from a spear thrust. That is all.

Well that's an interesting take...

[YouKnowWho]

i have two versions of the forms i still practice. the traditional ones and then mine. in mine there are no chambers anymore, ive removed them and put the hands at ready on guard. i like to stand at a relaxed state sometimes with my hands held losely at my sides, and then punch from that position as fast as I can.

I train both versions too. I train my combat version for speed, and traditional version for power.

Of course if I

- chamber, I'll have more distance to generate power but I'll have too much distance to travel.
- don't chamber, I'll have less distance to generate power but my fist can reach at my opponent faster.

[Kellen Bassette]

I train both versions too. I train my combat version for speed, and traditional version for power.

Of course if I

- chamber, I'll have more distance to generate power but I'll have too much distance to travel.
- don't chamber, I'll have less distance to generate power but my fist can reach at my opponent faster.

Some people teach that speed is power, but it's always a trade off. The more powerful techniques are usually slower. A jab is faster than a cross. A Thai roundhouse kick is stronger than a TKD roundhouse kick, but the TKD kick is faster. It's going to come down to what type of technique you need at that moment.

[Jimbo]

The chambering and twisting of a (northern) spear thrust is virtually the opposite of that of a standard straight twisting punch.

[Lebaufist]

The correct question should have been "front or back hand?" The front hand twists correctly for a hit like that. What is conveyed with this spear descriptive is that the longer thrusting techniques in fist styles were accentuated by spear use.

Also, the chamber is a relative position of the shoulder to the flexed arm. In guard or chamber, only the shoulder is different. Whether you like it or not, your arms passes through, or back to, chamber at various points.

[YouKnowWho]

a person must have the quality to teach themselves.

This is absolute true indeed.

We have heard this many times. A guy had trained TCMA for many years. Oneday he moved into a new city. He couldn't find a school. He quited his TCMA training for the rest of his life.

I have always wondering, "Why did he just train the stuff that he already learned?"

teachers will drop some pretty big hints. If the students still don't get it, then its not worth wasting time on them. They may have everything in front of their eyes the whole time and will never be able to see it.

I had the same experience too.

Oneday during sparring session, I told my students, "Run your opponent down". There were less than 20% of my guys who could understand my simple "hint". After that day, I then knew who was quality student and who was not.

[Jimbo]

4. It is common knowledge in China that this is based on a spear thrust. Perhaps some of you see techniques like the infallible word of God. Maybe you think it was like the movies with kung fu heroes fighting barehand. It wasn't. That isn't how Chinese people think. The inability to soak up the underlying principle is a mark of barbarism. To be honest many Chinese people think that foreigners are kind of dumb for taking everything so literally and not seeing the underlying concepts. That is why kung fu is dumbed down so much in the US.

Okay. Makes sense.

You could have made your point without resorting to the passive-aggressive insults. We all possess varying degrees of knowledge regarding different subjects. Having more or less knowledge about a given subject doesn't make someone superior or inferior to another.

[Lucas]

I'm a barbarian and I'm proud. We're straight forward people. We don't hide behind false faces or false pretence. We are a fierce, savage, and loyal people, until death. We won't back stab you for money or to gain/save face. We will die for our brothers and sisters every time and we will take our enemies to the grave with us. We are a dying breed, yet are highly sought after by all sorts for our great qualities and dedication to succeed and surpass our peers. You often hear that the best fighters in the world participate in 'barbaric' sports...That is because barbarians always make the best fighters in the world. One barbarian comes to mind...one of the best conquerors the world has ever seen...even so far as to dominating and conquering many 'civilized' countries.

[YouKnowWho]

We're straight forward people.

I like straight forward people. When my teacher wanted to blame me on something, he would tell me a story. The person in his story was me. I hated that kind of traditional Chinese "none straight forward" and "save face" approach.

[bawang]

I'm a barbarian and I'm proud. We're straight forward people. We don't hide behind false faces or false pretence. We are a fierce, savage, and loyal people, until death. We won't back stab you for money or to gain/save face.

like your loyalty to the roman empire? to the pope? to the queen of england?

you have betrayed your masters at every turn.


i am loyal to my master forever. hongwu emperor, the undead lord.