Right, so first standard class tonight after inadvertently turning up to the advanced class last night.
We went through things much more appropriate to my level which was really cool and got instructed by a few of the senior students/junior instructors so I got to speak to a few different people with different opinions and teaching methods which was good.
Started on the first form (Siu Lim Tau?) which was really interesting. Just trying to get used to where everything is and what it comes before and after to start, with a bit more focus on the elbow energy as we got further on. I'm finding it really interesting how Wing Chun deals with energy. The idea of turning "off" until it's absolutely needed, the best example I can think of is with the punches. They're completely different to punches I've known before. So instead of putting all of the power in the whole of the punch and following through like I've been shown previously, in order to get that extra speed needed you have to relax until the very last second. I can even feel myself getting slower when we're doing the starting chain punches, I lose my place, have to start trying to count, I tense up and then end up slowing right down. I'll get the hang of it though. I just need to remember to count the back hand. 2 for 3, 3 for 5, 4 for 7 and 5 for 9. I think that's it anyway, (I'll have to check with Sifu or maybe someone reading this can let me know?).
We did the Bong Sau turn too which is another really interesting move as when you see it the first few times it looks deceptively simple but I managed to get it so wrong the first few times it was insane. Bring the bong arm under the guard, make sure your guard is on centre, use the space between your wrists as a "cross hair" as the instructor was saying, remember the 70:30 split of weight to your back leg, keep the stance wide enough but not to wide, turn on the heels. Just so much to take in, the drilling will help though, I just have to keep going over it until it become habit.
The kicks is where I really struggled tonight, I think it was a combo of it being the last thing we did so my legs were exhausted and my knees giving in a little bit but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I started bringing my foot too far in to get back to Yi Gi Kim Yan Mar (sp?) so then I over compensated and sent it too far out. Such a delicate balance as with the rest of the style art.
Got a bit further into stepping drills too, a bit faster and with kicks added, again, I need to remember about the weight distribution of 70:30, one of the instructors told me that he'd spotted that I'd been too close to having it 50:50, it just means that my kicks are going to be predictable as I'll shift forward and telegraph them.
I'm having a spar with my friend Kyle tomorrow at lunch time so I'm going to try and apply some new Wing Chun techniques. Kyle said today that "Every punch landed against you is a lesson to learn". After tomorrows spar you can start calling me Einstein.
dòjeh jóutáu
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Monday, 28 October 2013
The Learning Curve
Well tonight was interesting. Monday nights are apparently the nights for beginners and I had absolutely no idea. So I turned up and we started with the usual stretches and punches and then Sifu turns and says something along the lines of "Monday and Wednesday nights are usually for the advanced students, everyone is more than welcome but you might not get the full benefit from these lessons straight away" immediately I could feel my face drop. Everyone in the class bar two others from the beginners course were senior students, at least half were wearing black sashes.
We started with form 2 and 3, I had absolutely no idea what was going on, I tried to follow and was told to just try and imitate and see what I could pick up, I was so completely lost I just stood back and watched one of the senior students and tried to note any of the techniques. I think I remember maybe two of them from the entire form and even then I couldn't tell you which form they're from, what they are or where they go within the forms but I guess I went straight from the most basic lessons to one of the most advanced so it was really jumping straight into the deep end. I'm not going to talk about every single technique we practised, I'm just going to summarise what I remember with any amount of detail.
So what did I actually pick up?
Well we started with a little bit of Chi-Sau, I got a little confused at first as I'm too used to starting in either Tan and Bong or double Fook so when my partner went for half and half straight away my brain drew a blank and I had no idea what to do for a few seconds. Once I figured out what was happening I got into it though but it was only really rolling rather than trying to attack, my partner would have destroyed me anyway. I need to remember to keep the Tan-Sau high when rolling, I kept dropping it when turning back from the Bong.
The main thing I learnt from tonight is not to attend the Monday and Wednesday sessions for a while, but seeing as I did, get stuck in. The people there know a hell of a lot more than me so I need to listen and absorb as much of what they're saying as possible. Drill. Drill. Drill. There are some absolutely fantastic people and martial artists in that school and most of the people I was training with tonight are the people that are pretty much at instructor level. There are people there that aren't as good at instructing, but they're still damn good at what they do and their opinions are still completely valid.
I also had a bit of a light bulb moment when during a pak sau drill where we were told to start as if we were attempting to diffuse a conflict - arms in the air defensively and out front, held apart - Sifu was saying that because of how you're stood in that situation, your arms are ahead of you, and wide apart leaving a gap to your face, it subconsciously baits people to attempt a straight punch, your arms aren't exactly in a block but they're in the way of a cross and they're also just about in the way of an uppercut so you only really leave opportunity for a straight punch, it clicked with something Sun Tzu says "Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him" Rather than defending everywhere and leaving nothing open to attack, making the enemy unpredictable if you're pretty sure they're going to attack anyway, trick them into attacking on your own terms, this way you have the advantage and if they're not going to attack, then you've lost nothing anyway.
Back to class tomorrow, hopefully for something more appropriate to my level.
dòjeh jóutáu
We started with form 2 and 3, I had absolutely no idea what was going on, I tried to follow and was told to just try and imitate and see what I could pick up, I was so completely lost I just stood back and watched one of the senior students and tried to note any of the techniques. I think I remember maybe two of them from the entire form and even then I couldn't tell you which form they're from, what they are or where they go within the forms but I guess I went straight from the most basic lessons to one of the most advanced so it was really jumping straight into the deep end. I'm not going to talk about every single technique we practised, I'm just going to summarise what I remember with any amount of detail.
So what did I actually pick up?
Well we started with a little bit of Chi-Sau, I got a little confused at first as I'm too used to starting in either Tan and Bong or double Fook so when my partner went for half and half straight away my brain drew a blank and I had no idea what to do for a few seconds. Once I figured out what was happening I got into it though but it was only really rolling rather than trying to attack, my partner would have destroyed me anyway. I need to remember to keep the Tan-Sau high when rolling, I kept dropping it when turning back from the Bong.
The main thing I learnt from tonight is not to attend the Monday and Wednesday sessions for a while, but seeing as I did, get stuck in. The people there know a hell of a lot more than me so I need to listen and absorb as much of what they're saying as possible. Drill. Drill. Drill. There are some absolutely fantastic people and martial artists in that school and most of the people I was training with tonight are the people that are pretty much at instructor level. There are people there that aren't as good at instructing, but they're still damn good at what they do and their opinions are still completely valid.
I also had a bit of a light bulb moment when during a pak sau drill where we were told to start as if we were attempting to diffuse a conflict - arms in the air defensively and out front, held apart - Sifu was saying that because of how you're stood in that situation, your arms are ahead of you, and wide apart leaving a gap to your face, it subconsciously baits people to attempt a straight punch, your arms aren't exactly in a block but they're in the way of a cross and they're also just about in the way of an uppercut so you only really leave opportunity for a straight punch, it clicked with something Sun Tzu says "Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him" Rather than defending everywhere and leaving nothing open to attack, making the enemy unpredictable if you're pretty sure they're going to attack anyway, trick them into attacking on your own terms, this way you have the advantage and if they're not going to attack, then you've lost nothing anyway.
Back to class tomorrow, hopefully for something more appropriate to my level.
dòjeh jóutáu
Thursday, 24 October 2013
First Post. Welcome, this is what I'm about.
I was on Reddit/r/WingChun today and someone was talking about a blog they'd set up to talk about martial arts and it sounded like a good idea. I'm constantly trying to find people I can talk about martial arts with so instead of forcing my conversations on people, who often don't care, I've decided to voice my opinions openly and if people choose to read it then they have no one to blame but themselves.
I started practicing Martial Arts in 2011 when I went to University, there was a Muay Thai sports club so I signed up. It was brilliant, it was the first time I'd been pushed physically for a reason I enjoyed, I've always been a large guy and have battled with my weight for years so this was my chance to turn it around. I joined the gym, I started training twice a week, I improved my diet and invested in stuff like whey protein powder, I was ready to change my life.
I trained from September and in December of the year I came down with a chest infection which triggered my asthma and I couldn't train. I turned up a few times but every time I'd start anything physical I'd go dizzy and I even collapsed a few times. I ended up taking a few weeks off for rest, and then it was Christmas and then we returned to campus in January. I went to a session but was so far behind, I didn't know what any of the moves were anymore and I got more and more frustrated. My fitness had dropped off completely after 2 months of being ill and inactive and eating away my frustration. I eventually stopped attending because I couldn't keep up and felt like I was letting the rest of the club down. Around this time I broke up with my girlfriend and began to get incredibly home-sick, this led to a pretty low point of my life that I won't get into here.
So flash forward a few years, I'd dropped out of uni, worked a string of shitty jobs and eventually met a girl, got a job and moved to Leeds. When I started working I decided it was the best time to start a health kick, I started going to the gym 3 times a week and counting every calorie that came within a foot of my face. A few months into this fitness boost someone I work came to me to ask me to build a website for his martial arts club, TaiJutsu Leeds. I'm a web developer so I figured sure, why the hell not? I could use the money and experience. After meeting with his Sensei a few times to talk about the project I got invited to train, I pined it off for a while, afraid that I was still too unhealthy to start.
One lunch time I was off to the gym and bumped into my friend and his Sensei and watched them train for about 20 minutes and got a little bit stuck in, it was the first training I'd done in years and as soon as I started I didn't want to stop. I was bitten by this martial arts bug and it seemed to give me the power of infinite curiosity and passion to learn everything about the style. I got tucked in and after a few months attained my first belt, after 4 hours of hell that was the grading. I was exhausted, I had been pushed as far as I think my body could have gone and it paid off. It was one of the best feelings of my life.
In July I decided that I wanted to expand my knowledge to further styles, I was googling around, I remember seeing Ip Man and thinking about the way Donnie Yen represented the style. It was incredibly fast and stylish but it was different to other styles I'd seen. I looked into it and I found a school in Leeds with direct lineage to Ip Man, the Sifu of the School is one of 13 people in the world allowed to teach the style that Ip Man passed onto his son to teach and was personally taught by Grandmaster Ip Chun, who better to learn from but someone who was taught the same style, in the same was as Bruce Lee? I signed up to the beginner course and after a few months I was training with him.
This is where you join my journey. I've just finished the beginner course (which I'm going to talk about in my next post which I intend to write over the weekend) and on Tuesday I start full classes.
I started practicing Martial Arts in 2011 when I went to University, there was a Muay Thai sports club so I signed up. It was brilliant, it was the first time I'd been pushed physically for a reason I enjoyed, I've always been a large guy and have battled with my weight for years so this was my chance to turn it around. I joined the gym, I started training twice a week, I improved my diet and invested in stuff like whey protein powder, I was ready to change my life.
I trained from September and in December of the year I came down with a chest infection which triggered my asthma and I couldn't train. I turned up a few times but every time I'd start anything physical I'd go dizzy and I even collapsed a few times. I ended up taking a few weeks off for rest, and then it was Christmas and then we returned to campus in January. I went to a session but was so far behind, I didn't know what any of the moves were anymore and I got more and more frustrated. My fitness had dropped off completely after 2 months of being ill and inactive and eating away my frustration. I eventually stopped attending because I couldn't keep up and felt like I was letting the rest of the club down. Around this time I broke up with my girlfriend and began to get incredibly home-sick, this led to a pretty low point of my life that I won't get into here.
So flash forward a few years, I'd dropped out of uni, worked a string of shitty jobs and eventually met a girl, got a job and moved to Leeds. When I started working I decided it was the best time to start a health kick, I started going to the gym 3 times a week and counting every calorie that came within a foot of my face. A few months into this fitness boost someone I work came to me to ask me to build a website for his martial arts club, TaiJutsu Leeds. I'm a web developer so I figured sure, why the hell not? I could use the money and experience. After meeting with his Sensei a few times to talk about the project I got invited to train, I pined it off for a while, afraid that I was still too unhealthy to start.
One lunch time I was off to the gym and bumped into my friend and his Sensei and watched them train for about 20 minutes and got a little bit stuck in, it was the first training I'd done in years and as soon as I started I didn't want to stop. I was bitten by this martial arts bug and it seemed to give me the power of infinite curiosity and passion to learn everything about the style. I got tucked in and after a few months attained my first belt, after 4 hours of hell that was the grading. I was exhausted, I had been pushed as far as I think my body could have gone and it paid off. It was one of the best feelings of my life.
In July I decided that I wanted to expand my knowledge to further styles, I was googling around, I remember seeing Ip Man and thinking about the way Donnie Yen represented the style. It was incredibly fast and stylish but it was different to other styles I'd seen. I looked into it and I found a school in Leeds with direct lineage to Ip Man, the Sifu of the School is one of 13 people in the world allowed to teach the style that Ip Man passed onto his son to teach and was personally taught by Grandmaster Ip Chun, who better to learn from but someone who was taught the same style, in the same was as Bruce Lee? I signed up to the beginner course and after a few months I was training with him.
This is where you join my journey. I've just finished the beginner course (which I'm going to talk about in my next post which I intend to write over the weekend) and on Tuesday I start full classes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)