Regarding fujow's video post

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Southern Chinese Kung Fu
1

Overall I thought you did a nice job. I can tell that your Sifu is Tat Mau Wong . He tends to do things in a more stacatto and stiffer manner than some. I would recommend that you soften a little bit and look for the circles within the movement that will allow you to connect movements into a smoother flow. It doesn’t make for as dramatic of a performance but it means that you are using better body mechanics and fighting yourself less. Also keep your shoulders more relaxed by keeping your elbows down.

FP

2

flow

I think you did a very good job too, but remember to always keep your back strait and loosen you arms an relax.

3

i love the idea of being more relaxed. i’ll definetly start to think about that when im practicing.that reminds me, i saw “the tai chi master” lastnight and it reminded me of how much i like the way it flows. dont you ( fu pow) do tai chi also? i think some guys from the LKH school do too. if so, how does it affect ( if at all) your choy lay fut? id like to think it would help, and that i could eventually look into it.

4

tai chi

I think tai chi is very good to learn but as far as helping your choy lay fut, no! Because its two very differnt systems. When you see a person that dose tai chi with there choy lay fut it dose not make the choy lay fut look good at all. But thats what i think. Choy lay fut is one of the few systems that is hard style as well as soft at the same time. But tai chi is a good system never the less.

5

Everything in Chinese martial arts revolves around the circle, nothing is straight even though it may appear straight. There are at least 2 circles in every movement for every joint in your body. When you can move in a circular way through every joint of your body then you have very good body mechanics. You get out of your own way and can relax. When you relax your movement will naturally become more circular.

Then you can use any part of your body to attack and defend…from your fist, knee, back, head, hip, ankle…from any point on the circle.

On the outside Choy Lay Fut and Taiji are different because CLF is primarily what I call a “crash and bash” style and Taiji is primarily a “stick and follow” style. CLF uses the power of the whip to destroy the bridge and where as Taiji is like a powerful wave that “floats” your opponent.

However, on the inside CLF is still all circles. In order to make a circle you must relax and in order to relax you must make it circle or spiral.

I agree with Havick01 that Taiji and CLF should not be practiced as if they are one art. They are distinct and different even though at the center they share a lot of similarity. However, I do think that Taiji can reveal alot about CLF because there is more focus on the movement of the hips, waist, abdomen, shoulders. You can bring that knowledge into your CLF and make it better.

Chan Family CLF has the Qi Gong sets which serve this purpose. Because we don’t have them you might look to Taiji, Xing Yi or Ba Gua for that “internal” instruction.

Just my 2 cents.

FP

6

kneeling

i neva understood the reason why tat mau wong lineage has their entire shin touchin the floor in kneeling stance

is it meant to look better?

7

I can’t really tell for sure from his video but being from the Lee Koon Hung lineage our lau gwai ma looks like the shin may touch but it actually doesn’t. I am not sure if Tat Mau Wong changed it for his students but sifu taught it without the shin touching.

8

shins

no touchey! it looks like it because the pants are on the floor. but the shins are not to touch the floor. that goes for the knee too. inside of foot (arch) and inside of ankle, yes. atleast when i personally do gwai ma.

9

so does the inside of ur ankle touch the floor

coz it certainly looks like it, are u still resting ur foot on toes or ankle?

well ive learnt some hung sing clf off LKH students in hong kong, and its very different to wat i was taught

10

um,..the inside of the ankle, yes. the inside of of the foot, yes. the shin? no…garsh…ive never been to hong kong… . .

11

so inside of foot and ankle but not the knee?

12

not,.. the knee.

13

okay

so my question is why do u guys use the inside of the ankle and foot touchin the floor, practicality?, looks good? dont know?

coz other branches are on toes

14

You can all argue with me until you are blue in the face;

NO ANKLE, INSIDE FOOT or SHIN TOUCHING THE FLOOR. TOES AND BALL OF FOOT ON THE FLOOR, HEEL UP. FEET SHOULDER WIDTH APART AND NOT MORE THAN AROUND 12" FROM TOE - HEEL (FOR ME, ABOUT 6’ TALL)

NO TOUCHING, NO WAY, NO HOW.

If you were taught this, I am telling you that it is not correct. This is not one of those things that can be ‘taught different ways’. It’s not variation. It’s wrong if you do that!

If this ****es any of you off, tell your teachers that I said so, give them my number (get it off my website) if you want and tell them that Chan Tai-San had said it was wrong as well.

I’ve been teaching CLF for 17 years. I’ve obvioulsy been training in it for longer. I have seen many techniques ‘changed’ over the years by many schools, in order to help facilite the students learning. I can understand that. Sometimes, the Sifu forgets to put things back the right way, or just figures “no big deal”, and for the most part, it probably isn’t a big deal.

I can accept a lot of varaitions; lot’s of schools do the same move differently. Sometimes I can accept the variation and chalk it up to a ‘different flavor’ or ‘stylistic’ difference. But in this case, NO.

And what’s worse is, I see more and more schools doing it.

Argue away. It would take too much writing, probably easier if I shot 3 minutes of video, to explain why TOUCHING is wrong in this stance.

No just to clarify; There are times we would touch the shin to the floor in KF. We do do it, however, it is not the same stance. It may look like it, but in Dai-Sing Pek-Gwa, we do it for a totally different reason, it’s not Lok Gwaii Ma, an in our ground fighting stuff we do it to, but again, not the same stance.

15

Could you maybe link a photo of how you do loq gwai ma? Do you mean the same way as they would do it in say the nanquan form? almost like a lunge?

16

lol eddie no wushu in here dude

go to the wushu forum hahaha

jk:p

17

hey im being sincere. not sure how other schools may do that stance :cool:

just a bit of a side note… you should hang around wushu tournaments more often… chicks are cute :wink:

18

again

that is how i personally do that stance. could i be doing it wrong? IMPOSSIBLE!!!

19

changes

Lama pai is right alot of teachers change things in choy lay fut that should not be changed. I can understand it for the sake students learning, But when you change core parts of the style then you cross the line;)

20

fu jow

that is how i personally do that stance. could i be doing it wrong? IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Fu Jow, good for you, for putting video of yourself online. Most people don’t have the guts to put themselves out there for public scrutiny. More people should be like you.

That being said, that stance, is the biggest mistake you make in the form. It has no form or structure. People started doing that stance, putting the knee or foot/ankle on the floor, because teachers couldn’t/wouldn’t take the time to show them the right way. (My opinion, obviously)

Either way, whatever the reason for the degeneration of the stance, it’s not really relevant. What is relevant, is, it’s not correct. Try showing it to a sports and excercise physiologist, and see what they think. They will tell you it’s out of alignment and has no supporting structure.

Also, you are grounding you hip when you put 3 pts of contact to the ground. The stance translates to ‘tuning over’, not ‘dropping down’. The power from any strike in this stance comes from the waist and the turning of the leg/hip/thigh. You can’t very well ‘turn it over’ when you drop onto the ground.

Nuff said. If I get the chance to do a minute or two of video, I will. Maybe in a few days.