Training Principles
Our school is founded on the principle of hard training. Every class stresses the importance of training hard and practicing diligently. The heart of our art is the basics and the soul is the forms. It is only through the mastery of heart and soul that we are able to begin mastering our art. One must have great patience and determination to excel.
Basic Training
"It is the Heart of our Art"
Hard Stances
- Hard horse stances develop the solid foundation that is necessary to execute powerful techniques.
- It also provides your legs with the strength to move your body swiftly.
Hand and Foot Techniques
- Habitual practice of basic blocking, punching (all hand) and kicking techniques assures that you train the fundamentals regularly.
- Regular practice assists in teaching and developing the following: stance training, blocking, punching and kicking techniques, proper breathing, movement, agility, fluidity, speed, power, focus, mind control, hand to eye co-ordination and endurance.
- Movements are executed one at a time or in small combinations.
- Moving basics are usually performed with a slight pause between them (similar to a karate form). This is an excellent way to train as it allows the student the opportunity to put one hundred percent focus on what he/she is doing.
- Basic movements provide you with the stepping-stone to advanced techniques.
- Constant repetition of fundamental movements helps you to improve your techniques.
- Constant repetition also programs itself in your mind, allowing the correct movement to come up reflexively if it is ever needed.
Forms
"Form Practice is the Soul"
- A form is a pre-arranged group of movements that emulate a fight against several imaginary opponents.
- Forms consist of defensive and offensive techniques.
- Form training assists in teaching and developing the fundamentals designated in basic training.
- The movements are executed at fighting speed, except when performed one at a time in order to check stances, techniques, etc.,
- This is the perfect union to our art.
- Form training assists in understanding the movements.
- It teaches when and how a movement can be changed.
- Forms act as an encyclopedia of our art. Consistent repetition of all the forms in your system insures reviewing specific movements that may not be covered in class on a regular basis.
- Forms also serve to identify your style to people acquainted with the marital arts.
- Form training is one of the means that masters used to pass on their art.
Types of Forms
- Solo or empty hand forms
- Two man or contact sets
- Solo Weapon forms
- Contact Weapon forms
- Jung Hay or chi gung breathing forms
General Form Training Development
Form Training Methods
- Work on establishing a strong foundation
- Work on developing maximum focus
- Train one movement at a time
- Combine 2 movements
- Combine small groups
- Train larger segments
- Train the entire form
- Slow with minimum power to better analyze the entire movement
- Slow with medium power
- Slow with full power
- Gradually increase your speed until you are doing the form at proper power & speed.
- Never sacrifice stances & power for speed
- You do not have to rush the time between movements
- Speed should come from the actual movement
- Never train for speed. Speed should evolve naturally as you perfect the form. Training for speed usually waters down the movements, as the practitioner becomes absorbed with racing the form and gives little or no credence to the technicalities of the movements.
- Focus on what you need. It is better to train one or two movements 30 or 40 times, than to train a 30 movement form once.
Two Principles of Learning
- Outside Instruction:
Seek advice from instructors qualified to instruct the form you are working on.
- Self Analysis:
Analyze what you are working on:
- Know what the movement is designed to do
- Know when to use it
- Think of suitable ways to apply it in different scenarios
- Think of different ways to change the movement to another if the illusionary original attack or defense changes
- Work on the actual application with your instructor or class mate
- Evaluate how the movement will relate to your overall body mechanics e.g. blocking a front snap kick with the plug block in the Preliminary Form versus the redirect blocks in Hoy Gar Kuen.
- Place special emphasis on the movements that are conducive to your body make up & skill level
Sifu's Notes on Forms
- Forms begin and end with a salutation. This is called the head and tail. The form is the body.
- Most forms begin with a defensive movement and end with an offensive one.
- Constant repetition of the same form or the techniques within does not become boring because the student performs each repetition with an inquiring mind, determined to find a better understanding of what he is practicing.
- Become one with the form.
- Forms are designed to focus on specific areas of your training.
- All Mandarin Kung Fu forms are performed at fighting speed with maximum focus and power.
- Some systems train tension forms to learn to withstand powerful blows to the body. The concept of Mandarin Kung Fu is to develop the movements in our forms to a level of expertise that will prevent you from getting hit.
- Every form in our system is designed to train a specific concept or a group of concepts. The goal of a form is not to learn the form. The goal is how to apply, modify & adapt the movements in the form in a realistic combat environment.