Personally, I hate the method of Chi Sao, where two hands are touching to start.
I find it incredibly unrealistic.
Yes, I understand that people say it is a training ‘tool’.
I do not like the idea of teaching/training where you say “oh, you don’t actually fight like this, but this will help you to do (BLANK).”
Do things like you’d actually use them. Other arts and sports do. Kung-Fu people should as well.
‘Trapping’ is a range, a means to an end, so to speak. (in between Punching Range, right before Clinching/Grappling, etc.) It’s not a fighting style. Some people use this solely as a barometer to measure actual fighting ability. One of the things that ruins Kung-Fu in my opinion.
at “trapping range,” you are not standing side body to your opponent, but facing, where your hands are equal distant. The same happens in boxing, where as you get toe to toe, you square yourself to your opponent, to allow both hands to work.
As far as doing drills that are not exactly how you’d use them? What about,rope skipping, speed bag training, maize bag and rope ducking and weaving, hitting a truck tire, or any other sport-specific supplementary training?
It is all about developing attributes.
But, yes, I do agree that there is such an emphasis placed upon chi-sao that one would think that that is the entire training. For some misguided people, I suppose it is. But chi-sao is to develop a skillset that occurs for one split-second in time during a fight-if at all. But that one split-second can sometimes make the difference between winning and losing, and in a close in fighting method, sensitivity, touch-reflexes is crucial.
I am of 2 minds about Chi Sao.
On one hand it is a vital tool to develop that “touch/strike” feeling that allows a person to apply that " if I can touch you I can hurt you" concept, on the other hand it can be a very impractical traning tool and can/does make many people fall into that " the training is the system" mentality and give CS more importance than it deserves.
because it is something that is peculiar to WCK, (as well as most southern short hand systems, but WCK is very popular) and it is the one thing that people like to demonstrate,(especially since Bruce Lee) I believe it gets blown up out of proportion.
Many quality WCK schools spend more time on intercepting attacks,reaction drills, and combative training than Chi-Sao. But Chi-Sao is so “wing chunny,” * that people like to always demonstrate it.
*credit for that term goes to Sifu John Cresscione. He used that term once to describe why everyone likes to show bong-sao in pictures and articles on WCK.
(funny, the things that stick in your mind…)
[QUOTE=TenTigers;912338]*credit for that term goes to Sifu John Cresscione. He used that term once to describe why everyone likes to show bong-sao in pictures and articles on WCK.
(funny, the things that stick in your mind…)[/QUOTE]
John is a hoot - met him first time about 12 years ago or so at a Visceral Manipulation course in NY; I actually was at his last space on O.C.R. a few times playing with Mike Pekor’s taiji class (Mike is a student of his as well; we had a lot of fun trapping…:D)
thing about chi sao (and push hands, rolling hands, etc.) - while it is an artifact, in terms of the set up, it trains a specific and valuable, skill set; however, that skill set needs to be integrated into the big picture, and not over emphasized to the detriment of other things; I think part of the “allure” is that when one develops the ability to listen, stick, etc., it’s a very cool feeling to be in that particular zone, to the point where it almost becomes addictive - you are functioning out of a pretty integrated place when you “get it”, and you can become overly enamored of that experience; which is fine, if you understand that - personally, I always feel awesome after pushing with my sifu, because of what it requires, and getting to that space with solo work is not quite the same; but it’s just one piece of the puzzle (which I think a lot of people agree with here);
I agree. True with toi-sao as well. Witness many people who play push hands in the parks. They are great within that realm, but once it goes beyond mere sticking,pushing, and uprooting, they are at a loss. Tui-sao, like chi-sao, is but one element within the training and not the entire system.
I believe that LPS is actually saying that, there is an over emphasis on chi-sao, which has created people who do nothing but chi-sao,(or talk about it) and believe that that is the whole and essence to WCK and fighting. That kind of thinking sucks.
I think most people can align with that.