how many forms can a person learn?

[brucereiter]

what your definiton of learn?
to just be able to do the form?
or to understand the form and applications?
sure one can be able to memorize 500+ forms
but being able to do it correctly with the correct power motion and understanding every move, i highly doubt it.

i my self *memorize* close to 50 forms, including empty hands, weapons, and groups forms. it really isnt that hard to remember that many form. but i didnt sa i can do it good now =)

i guess a definition of "learn" could be to have a solid understanding of the "body method" and principals of the form and to be able to apply those concepts in fighting. this might sound weird but i do not think you must master each and every move of a form to really understand its body method and to apply the concepts of the form in fighting, there are a few moves in my forms i just do not do well but my overall understanding of the concepts the form is teaching me is still there ...to add to that i think a "form" is only a tool to teach you body a way of moving ...

i am sure many people who have just 2 forms might not understand how to apply them ...

in the last 10 years of training i have learned about 15 martial art forms (some very long and complex and some short) and about 6 meditation/chi kung type of forms. i think i have some skill and understanding with 3 martial forms. but the others have had a positive influance on my over all skill and with continued practice i think i will gain skill with them too ... (i hope ... lol )

[brucereiter]

interesting artical in this months inside kung fu magazine:
shi goulin is being interveiwed and is talking about shi yanju, he says when he was younger he studied over 100 forms and if you ask him know he can do 500.

what do ya'all think of this statement?
is it common for shaolin monks to practice that many forms?

[Yao Sing]

Personally I don't see any value in 100+ forms. Actually I think way less is appropriate, even knowing multiple styles.

Quite a few styles have an all-encompassing form the contains all the moves of the style. Anything beyond that is just teaching different variations of combos.

Besides, if you really know the style you should be able to create forms as needed.

[brucereiter]

Personally I don't see any value in 100+ forms. Actually I think way less is appropriate, even knowing multiple styles.

Quite a few styles have an all-encompassing form the contains all the moves of the style. Anything beyond that is just teaching different variations of combos.

Besides, if you really know the style you should be able to create forms as needed.

is it possible that it trains your mind to practice "different variations of combos?

how many forms are enough?

[The Xia]

Actually I think way less is appropriate, even knowing multiple styles.

I disagree. Many great masters had/have multiple styles under their belts. Some styles even compliment each other.

[Yao Sing]

The Xia, I meant way less sets not styles. Yes it's true there are great masters that had multiple styles but I believe the numbers of forms were much less in the past.

Knowing multiple styles if fine. I just don't think you need to know 100 forms to know a style.

shaolindoiscool
You should be practicing different combos of moves anyhow. You don't need a complete form for that.

Would you prefer a form for every possible combo? That's unrealistic.

[GeneChing]

I have a definition issue about mastering forms. I would say that I had a good chunk of a lot of forms at one time, but now I don't have them at all. Now, mastering forms implies some sense of permanance, so let's just extrapolate that. If I had mastered said forms back then instead of just my 'good chunk', would I still be a master now? Of course not. I've forgotten them. You might imply that if I had mastered them I wouldn't have forgotten them, but I've been in the martial world far too long to bite at that. I've seen masters forget. I've even seen Guolin forget. Which brings us to shaolindoiscool's question "is it common for shaolin monks to practice that many forms?" The answer is it was for some. Some of the monks learned many many forms, especially the late 80's generation. I don't think it's quite the same now. It's worthy of note that many spend more time in practice then most of us spend at work. Many Shaolin students, and I'm not just refering to monks, spend six days out of seven a week training. Those days can easily be 6-8 hour regimens. So with that much time on task, it's quite conceivable to get a good chunk of a few hundred forms. That's part of what makes Shaolin very exciting. People get very caught up in the commercialism or the modern wushu influence, or whatever, but truth be told, it's a community that supports thousands of practitioners to practice at an astounding rate. If you go to Shaolin, you can get wrapped up in all the controversy, or you can practice all those hours. Which would you choose?

[Yao Sing]

I know people like to get all espteric and say it takes years and years to master a form but the reality is that if you understand and can apply all the moves of a specific form then you have mastered that form

Beyond that, if you can execute and understand the moves and have explored the variations then you have master that technique.

If you understand the principles and can execute them regardless of specific moves then you have mastered the style.

Simple as that. How long that takes is individualistic. For some it could be a few years, for others maybe never.