Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu Training Diary / Blog

Hey all,

Had a busy weekend and was busy at work last week so did have time to write this up. Luckily I made notes so I can remember what I trained and what I learned. This is only going to be a short post!

Didnt train this weekend as I spent time with my lovely lady and my family . The rest was good as I trained everyday last week in some way - forms, stretching, class, running, sand bag work. Was ready to train on Saturday but I had a better time out in the sun to those that I have neglected as I train and work all the time.

Chow Gar Private

After the chow gar mantis class on Wednesday I was feeling tired but I was mentally ready for my private lesson with Sifu Paul and I had to stretch myself as I felt like i was getting stiff!

We started with 18 swimming dragons form and I still have trouble remembering some of this on my own as well as trying to do them in different orders rather than a set pattern. I am still too stiff and robotic in my movements of this form and not soft enough. When Sifu does it the movement is soft, natural, flowing and the use of his waist to move looks very natural. I have to train this more and relax as well as get the techniques drilled into my head so i can flow more without thinking. My techniques were corrected and I took onboard all the comments and will train this form more

Next came yee kup saam bo gin form. This is a shock power form and to do the techniques in this way is not easy. It is also important to use the waist and dip gwut gung in this form. When I do this form I didnt realise that I wasnt really using my waist or ribs enough on the punches. Sifu corrected me and showed me. It was very apparent and I than made more of an effort to incorporate this better. I felt it more when I closed down the ribs more and compressed my dan tien along with my stance. Its hard work.

We than did the Bic Sarn form fast and with power. I did my best but near the last part of the form my movements lacked power and precision as I felt tired but I put as much as i could in and concentrated on trying to keep as best form as possible.

Mo Ying Sau came next and this form was done twice fast. Some of my form or the techniques needed slightly correcting and with a lot of the forms Sifu would correct the technique and show the applications, which helps visually and put into contect.

After the forms came power training. We did the iron step gung and I was corrected in the use of my waist and the use of the tension. This made it even harder and I really felt it in my ribs, abdomen area. We ran this a number of times stepping on to oppisite sides going forwards and backwards.

Next came the iron throat gung with a certain arm and claw position. The placement of the arms is important as it builds / strengthens the weak points in the shoulder, arms and arm pits - whilst you are strenghtening the throat. While I would perform the gung Sifu would chop my throat / neck - my neck seems to be getting stronger- which is handy - gives me the extra seconds in wrestling too , lol.

After the gungs we did the qi gong forms of 18 dark internal palms and Clamping Palm. The use of the waists at each movement / technique is very apparent here in conjunction with the techniques moving in and out or up and down…as well as the breathing. My form and movement was corrected (and still needs it) and I learned a lot from this. There is an interesting part in the forms where you close and swallow the saliva that is built up through doing the form. As you close your arms circle into you and you swallow. The arms go through as if they are follwing the path of the saliva to your dan tien.

We finished with doing 12-13 different chy saus. This was so tiring and hard, my arms literally felt like they were going to drop off. I did my best and put as much as i could into it and tried to keep my form. Sifu pushed me past failure and judged well when it was time to change. I learned a new chy sau using Got Sau and next time I hope to be shown the yau loong swimming dragon chy sau. Running all the chy saus was good and at the point of tiredness and failure it felt….different. Hard to explain but I was aware of a lot more….probably because I was doing it wrong through tiredness! hehe.

Wednesday - Weapon class

I had a meeting that ran late and had some last minute things to finish at work so I didnt get to the class till just after 630pm. Usually I spend the first half doing the chow gar mantis weapons and weapon sparring and than finish with Kalari weapon training.

I trained in the kalari on wednesday and we ran over some of the knife / chopper drills. The partner drills involve ducking, moving, jumps, blocking and take downs, disarms and locks from the ground and so on. They are good drills and teach you to move, carry on attacking / defending even when on the ground.

I finished with the kalari long stick 2 man fighting drills and my short weapons class was over so I got ready for the mantis class.

Chow Gar Training

My memory of the exact training of the class has faded for some reason but I do have some images and memory video clips printed in my mind of what we trained, hehe.

Before the class toasty and I conditioned whilst also massaged out the bumps in each others shins by rolling the heavy filled scaffold bar across them. When you feel a rather large bump under the bar as you are rolling you will concentrate on that and roll it out, so to speak.

It can be quite painful and we both clenched our jaws and I laughed at his pain and than laughed at my own, mu ha ha ha. But after his comments that my shins looked like i had stepped on a land mine (lots of scars, marks and bumps) they did feel a lot better.

Class started with warm ups and we went into Saam Bo Gin 3 step arrow punch and Sifu showed how we should be gripping the stance, clawing the fingers one at a time, closing with the elbows first, closing the ribs and more.

San Sau - Southern Mantis Hand Techniques

Next we covered about 10-14 different san sau’s - as mentioned on my previous blogs. Sifu Paul has recently updated his site and he has placed a list of about 33 san sau names and translations - Chow Gar Fighting Skills. Its a useful list and I refer to it often:-

There are also 36 basic movements consisting of one or 3 moves, these are known as San Sau. They are

1/ Bow Chong (cover hand, meaning to wrap up)
2/ Gau Choi (hammer fist to come down)
3/ Cye Sau (deflect)
4/ Doa Sau (spring hand)
6/ Narp Sau (hook hand)
7/ Got sau (cut back hand)
8/ Saw Sau (lock hand)
9/ Chum Chung sau (sinking elbow hand)
10/ Yong Sau (upward reach hand)
11/ Chuen sau (Transmit hand)
12/ Larp sau (snatch hand)
13/ Mut sau (sweep hand)
14/ Kum la Ja Jook (seize and hold hand)
15/ Kwor sau (circle over hand)
16/ Yui Sau (Shake off hand)
17/ Pai Kui (slicing hand)
18/ Deng Choi (Nailing hook hand)
19/ Cheet Jeung (cutting palm)
20/ Lau Sau (Leaking hand)
21/ Dun Chung (back elbow)
22/ Ngai Chung (Forward elbow)
23/ Jin Sau (scissor hand)
24/ Din sau (rivet hand)
25/ Soc sau (Shock pulling hand)
26/ Yong Kum sau (upward breaking hand)
27/ Yum Yearn Kor Sau (yin yang breaking hand)
28/ Lim Chung (Elbow picking hand)
29/ Tai Sau (Pulling Hand)
30/ Kok Choi (angular fist)
31/ Man Dan Sau (single bow pulling hand)
32/ Chup sau (thrusting hand)
33/ Noi Choi fun sau (inside hand and split)

Next we trained law suen sao and all the sections which includes many of the technique listed above ie 1, 2, 10, 12, 17, 18, 22, 25, 26, 30 . If my memory is correct we trained Chy Sao which is always hard and tiring and adds to the amount I sweat. It was already very hot (but not as hot as some of you training in the desert, you know who you are!) and I did feel tired but you concentrate, control your breathing and just burn through it, get on with it.

I got tired out even more once I partnered up with Sifu and instead of the normal square / circle type chy sau we did the chum kui chy sau and over hand chy sau. It was very hard for me to carry on through the burn and place the constant tension and power. Those that do chy sau know how difficult it gets when your arm feels like its given up and you are still trying to stretch out and keep good form when you cant even lift your arm!

We also trained Mor Jau, which is a two man strenthening and sensitivity exercise where there is a constant tension allowing both partners to strengthen techniques. Mor jao involves clawing the gripping the bicep, breaking the grip with an inside mut sao (using a dropped elbow in and waist), got sau, tan kui and a couple of other techniques that run from partner to partner. This is detailed in Sifu Pauls book amongst many other things.

After this I trained and ran through fighting form 4 times quite fast, with intent and power each time with a different partner. I got hit a few times where I failed to keep my arm up or reacted too slow or was just tired and got sloppy. It was a good work out and it isnt over after one round as you than have to do it again so both partners do both sides. Great fun.

After a small sip of water I worked on the 8 sensitivity drill and it took more effort to do this as i felt tired, my body ached and my arms felt heavy. Depsite this I concentrated on relaxing, moving, gripping, sinking and keeping my hands up. Ran this with my partner and worked on both the left and right hand sides and tried to add some more techniques that we were not used to.

Next I trained about 6-7 of the 2 man fighting / combination drills with some power and speed. This is the last thing I remember doing but I am pretty sure we finished the class with more san sau and we may have done some press ups . If anyone else remembers something I missed out please comment.

Class finished and I jumped on the pull up bar and let myself hang and my weight drop as I really need to stretch my joints and stay loose for my one to one.

I finished work a little late on Tuesday and my plans to make the kalari class couldnt happen. So I got home and had a quick drink before jumping in the car to make it down to my good friend Alex’s north london chow gar southern praying mantis class, turnpike lane. The class is run by Alex and Sifu Wong Shun Yau and it takes place on Tuesdays 7-9pm at:-

The Methodist Church
Hampden Road N8
Nearest Tube - Turnpike Lane - on the piccadilly line
Contact Alex - 07932 066 116
(note the plug here…hehe)

I try to make it down to help and train with Alex as often as I can but generally its more a once or twice a month visit for me and Im usually there a bit late as I drive down after getting back late from the train journey. The training is traditional and the class is small and slowly growing as it has only relatively new. Alex and Sifu Wong go into a lot of refined detail and makes sure all the students lines, techniques, forms, stances - bascially everything is correct. The students are lucky in that they get a lot of in depth explanation about the training, how to train, where to put the tension, the correct lines and so on. Even I learn new things or have things better explained to me when i go , nice one Alex.

I helped a new student with san sau and its applications and corrected his techniques, body posture and step work as he went along. I threw some light punches at him while he used the gaa sau (block), mut sao (inside cleaning hand), dao sau (clamping arm) and got sau (cutting hand). We ran this and I than went through chy sau with him and showed him the correct lines and technique for doing it. He did very well and while going a mixture of light and hard with him I concentrated on really stretching out and holding my posture, it was a good chy sau work out for me and him.

We all went over Saam bo gin slowly and alex explained with patience and detail about keeping the elbows down and in.

I than went over the Baat Sic - 8 initial movements of the saam bo gin with the student and corrected his lines and explained the movements, the tension, the reasons for the form and so on.

Class finished and I had a chat to Alex and hope to train with him soon. Keep up the teaching and training Alex you are doing a good job mate.

Anyone who is looking for a place to train Chow Gar Southern Praying Mantis in North London I do recommend contacting Alex on 07932 066 116 and taking a visit to the class. I believe he does private lessons to.

I would teach too but I’m always training at classes , in my gym or spending my time catching up on my social life! .

Extra Training - 1 hour

I get to monday’s class early so I usually train forms, gungs, kicks and other things I havent done or dont do enough of. I started with some of the strength gungs and only did two as I felt stiff, really hot and a little tired. I trained the back strengthening gung and the same one again but the extra movement that builds the waist and ribs.

After the gungs I spent the remainder of the time stretching. I stretched my neck, waist, back, fingers, wrists, arms, shoulders, calves, hamstrings (especially), hips (more so), ankles - pretty much every joint. I held stretches for about 7 seconds, stretched it more and held it again. I felt a lot looser and before I knew it 30 mins or more had passed.

Once I finished stretching I went over the Bic Sarn and 4 way gate power hand forms with toasty. I than trained 18 dark internal power hands, clamping palm southern praying mantis chi gung and 18 swimming dragons. I tried to do this as softly and as relxed as possible while concentrating on my breathing and focussing the energy to my palms and dan tien.

My warm ups were done and I was ready for the class.

Chow Gar Class - 1.5 hours

After some hello’s toasty and I worked on Baat Doon Kui Sau - 8 sensitivity bridge hands. This set of drills, movements and techiniques includes - side stepping, clawing, elbows, hammerfists, kicks, limb destruction and much much more. A detailed and better description is written in an article by Sifu Paul Whitrod on the tonglong website, in the articles section - - 8 Senstivity Destruction skill - Baat doon kui sau.

A video clip of me training some of the drill with Sifu is also on the site -
- Southern Chow Gar Praying Mantis - 8 Senstivity Destruction skill - video clip.

Class started with warm ups and we went straight into training san sau on alternative sides forwards and backwards. Trained ying kum - pull in - punch, block - deflecting hand - chop, mouse steps and continuous combinations consisting of:-

bao jong
bao jong - gow choy
soc sau in, soc sau out
bao jong - gow choy - double soc sau
bao jong - double soc saus
9 hand drill with mouse steps

This was tiring and I was already sweating and feeling the heat with the continuous drills one after the other. with the bao jong I concentrated on putting the power out, round the back, closing the ribs , closing the chest and using the waist.

Saam bo gin twice came next and as usual I concentrated on tension in the right way and areas whilst thinking out the float, spit, swallow and sink. My arms felt extermely heavy and my shoulders were burning so to concentrate on the stance, tension and everything is quite demanding and hard.

We than trained the Law Suen Sao sections and each section was split and repeated continuously fast a number of times over and over till the next part. Sweat was pouring off me, my breath quickened and it was getting difficult to keep good form and power while using speed. It was great to train it like this though as it seems when you are really tired you can really push yourself more and concentrate on finding the right way to generate power, do the technique etc when you are like this?

Chy Sau followed and it was even more difficult than it usually is. Everyone was very hot and im sure everyone felt like their skin was crying with the amount of water that was falling. While doing the chy sau it felt like i was wearing an invisible jacket and trousers of heat! When i say it was pouring, there was a ring of water around where i was doing chy sau, lol. I tried to stretch fully, stretch out my shoulder, keep it down, keep tension in the ginger fist, keep the wrist straight, the valley of the elbow up and keep tension and form. It was not easy and im sure my form lacked in many rounds and everyone felt so much stronger than me.

I partnered up with Sifu and I felt like I had no power and aching / tired after only a few goes on one arm. Still I put as much power as I could summon and really concentrated no my form - doing less of chy sau with good form and with correct constant tension is far more beneficial for your correct development I believe. Sifu did a mixture of fast, slow, constant tension and really gave me a chy sau work out.

Straight after chy sau Sifu put the time on and said we all do chee sarn garp non-stop for 2 minutes. I knew it, i felt that this was going to happen. Tired, hot, aching arms and legs we got down to the press ups - down and over. I managed to go non-stop but I ran the press ups a little slower and tired to keep good form, concentrate on my breathing. Sometimes my form lacked as I felt I didnt have the power to push my self back up but in the last few I really went at it.

T-shirt, skin and hair wet we got a quick drink and got down to partner work.

Mantis Partner Work

For the remainder of the class I partnered up with toasty and we trained quite hard. We did fighting form hard fast and went for each other to get conditioning in and a work out. We than went over Bic Sarn again to get the form and techniques correct and proceeded to get into conditioning! I do like conditioning. You have to become friends with pain (well certain kinds), accept it, use it and get used to it so your mind can numb it out or something. You have to training in mantis surely.

We conditioned with clashing of the bones of the forearms and took turns to kick each other on alternative legs to the shins, calves, thigh and rib cage. We spent a while conditioning the legs and while its painful it has to be done! We than ran the geng tan chong (shock power drill) which really conditions the forearms and palms - its quite tiring running it up and down too. We finished our partner work with Diu Sao doy chong and made it harder by opening and closing 3 times instead of one and helped each other by watching the shoulder position, elbows and stance.

Class finished with more san sau and last round of chee sarn garp for 2 mins. It was a struggle but I decided to count down from a high number instead of 1. It was a mental thing for me I think. I started from 25 and on the beep indicating 30 seconds left I made my last 5 slow and with as a good form as i could. (Which wasnt brilliant but…i finished on 20!).

A great class and one I really sweated it out and worked hard. T-shirt drenched I dried up, changed t-shirts, got a sip of water (i try not to drink too much - even though its hard not too, or i get stitch or feel sick!) and got ready for the grappling class.

Grappling - 1 hour

Started with leg take downs and went to working on locks from the ground on your back, getting your partner on his back and techniques to do this, neck locks with take downs, locks for when you are caught in side mount neck lock / half mount / techniques for full mount and light grappling to work on sentivity and just continue and try to get the lock / choke on.

We than went and worked with every partner and grappled full on from stand up to ground 3 mins each. I was tired by the last few partners and more than one occasion I tapped out from a lock and learned from it. It was a great session and my t-shirt ended up drenched again. I trained with everyone and whilst grappling Sifu would come round and help by saying what to do, try to do this / that. It worked and I learned from it as there are certain things you dont think of doing or notice / see when you are under that pressure. Key thing I have found is to relax, regulate your breathing, find the gap if you can, move and try not to give your back!

I finished with some stretches and some partner work to go over some of the techniques. Once done I tidied my self up as best as I could and thought ” I wouldnt wanna be the person that has to sit next to me on the train”…which is true cause I always look like I’ve been roughed up and there are always nice ladies on the train home…ah well. lol.

Saturday training.

Chow Gar Mantis Class - under an hour
I was about 40 mins late for the class on Saturday! Not a good start but on Saturdays I drive in and am usually waiting for the car, stuck in traffic, or leaving later than I should. Anyway not much to say regarding the mantis class but I still got to train and break into a sweat. When I arrived the others were running through Kau Dau Sau and the apps and Sifu had me teach a beginner
san sau and stepping.

Its actually quite good to teach beginners (though it can be boring too ) as you tell them what they should be doing and you remind yourself what you should be doing as well. As you correct them on techniques, how they hit, how they step and you both drill the same thing you are going over the basics, which is never a bad thing. Went over the Ga Sau (blocking hand), sai sau
(deflecting hand), dao sao (clamping hand), pai kui (slicing bridge) and corrected the hand formations, arm positions. You usually get asked questions about techniques and so on, which is always a good thing as it makes you explain things, break them down etc.

After that I jumped back in and was determined to make up the lost 30 mins by training harder. We ran through Yui Kui and I really placed emphasis on the single punches and closing down by really compressing the ribs, opening them, closing them - while gripping the fistm tension to the tips of my fingers, clawing my toes, gripping my stance and so on.

Next we ran over san sau techniques on both sides and covered ying kam, charp say ban lik, chun sau (side way arm claw and phoenix eye punch), sai sau, chum chung (sinking elbow) and the many others I have listed in previous posts. Again because I was trying to make up for lost time I put some power behind these and tried to emphasise using my waist and ribs on each technique.

Poon Lung Gerk (Flying Dragon Legs)

After the san sau another student and I worked on Poon Lung Gerk while some of the others worked on 9 hands and some of the applications. We went through the form slowly section by section and kept running it over and over as well as breaking down some of the techinques and applications.

Poon Loong Kerk utilises a lot of different kicks, sweeps, leg take downs, blocks using kicks, kicking whilst on the floor, leg locks and so on. Its a good form and i try to use a lot of the kicks and leg blocking techniques from it when I spar or train on the bag. A clip of Poon Loong Kerk being demonstrated by Sifu Paul Whitrod at Si Gung Yip Shui’s birthday can be seen here:-

Poon Loong Kerk - Twist / Flying Dragon Legs - Chow Gar Mantis

Once I had trained the twisting dragon legs we got back to training grinding arm and I tried to concentrate on extending my arm fully, keeping the shoulder down, keeping a constant tension and going slow to really work it. It got tiring and really burns but you work through the burn, go till your arm feels dead and keep going. Even if you are tired and cant put the pressure, keep
the form and go as best you can, give what you can and your partner should react to that and keep it going and help you as you help him.

We did finished with some partner work and hand techniques with me thinking “that class went quick”…well it would go quick if you that late. argh!

Grappling- 1 hour

Grappling is for one hour and its pretty demanding as you swap partners have a go with everyone. Started with general take downs at the legs from stand up, working from the floor to get partner on their back, applying locks from the half mount, training from full mount, using legs to lock and choke and so on.

Than the rest of the class is pure grappling / wrestling trying out your techniques, locking / choking your partner till he taps, trying different positions, moving, working from stand up, take downs, starting from the floor and so on. I find the grappling physically demanding as it really teaches to sink, close your ribs, sense the partners weight distribution, react to their movement,
use speed and more. I always learn something new from the experience as I continually train with different partners of differnt skills, heights and weights.

Lastly we finished with 2 vs 1. I had 2 people continually try to wrestle and take me down. This was great fun and good training and my initial game plan was grab one person and move them to block the other person and keep moving round. I got taken to the ground and kept moving while kicking one person, trying to control the other. It was great and I want to do more of this. In
the end I got taken down and my arms pinned with both on top of me and I ran out of breath.

Kalari - 1 hour

Im usually feeling quite tired by this class, given the heat outside and the 2 hours training before I find the turns, spins and so on make me feel a little dizzy, lol. But I still love the training, love the kalari and get a great Saturday session.

We started with the warm ups which involve twists and yoga type postures / stretching. We than do drills that involve chops, back fists while moving. Than we went straight into the short kalari forms which repeat on both left and right sides and than the long forms.

I have learned 3 of the longer type Veera school forms so past these I practice with other students that dont know the others and drill them so I know them well. I practiced them over and over till I felt I was better at them and worked on my techinques, footwork and position (still not good!) and using the waist.

Next I trained in another family of Kalari that I had done some extra training in on my trip to kerala. As I was doing the form Sifu noticed that my arms kept dropping down and I wasnt putting power into the strikes. Admittedly I was tired and without realising I was being lazy in playing the forms. I corrected this and put the effort and intent into this!

After forms we partnered up and finished with two man drills and fighting drills. The drills involved techniques from the forms and incorporate chops,elbows, kicks, turning, jumps, spins, punches. I like the two man drills and they also serve for conditioning and fast movement and reactions.

I was tired, aching but more than warmed up for the thai boxing class which i knew was going to be the one have a good finish to a saturdays class!

Thai Boxing - 30 mins

Summoning up the energy we went straight into pad work with constant round house kicks non-stop, as fast and as hard as you can (which wasnt too hard or too fast for tired me) for one minute each side. This tires me out and after 30 seconds my legs feel like dead weights and I struggle to finish….and 1 minute on the first side felt like forever….till we realised it the timer was set to 3 minutes…lol. We swapped sides and I kicked with the left side while protecting my head with my arms, turning into the kick and cutting through the pad where I could muster the power to do so.

After my partner had done his fair share of kicking we went on to the next drill which I have described before. Your partner holds one of you legs while you punch a pad with one arm, the other protecting your head and he moves about so you are jumping and punching into the pad while on your toes. This kills the leg and is really tiring as you constantly punch with power and are hopping around in different directions.

After more pad work we finished with partner training which involved throwing kicks with each leg while your partner blocked with his arms as well as raising his knee out. Getting kicked with the shin and blocking with you arms is very good conditioning. For both the person kicking (his shins) and the person blocking (his forearms). We did a lot of this and my shins and arms were feeling good from the aches.

After this I was pretty much done for the day and feeling good. I stayed to watch some of the Krabi Krabong and than made my way home to eat as I was starving.

Sunday Training

I didnt do much on sunday as I was out for a family party till late on saturday having not rested since I trained in the morning. Went to sleep late and woke up early to go to the temple for Sunday morning and afternoon. Than when I got home I felt so tired I had to rest for a short while! When I did wake up and eat and get some energy I trained forms in my gym softly. I did swimming dragons, 9 hands and kau dau sau.

We jumped straight into do 18 Swimming Dragons and performing each of the 18 techniques up and down the class while paying attention to body shape, use of waist and the technique. Sifu corrected my techniques and showed some of the applications and demonstrated how the waist is very important in the techniques. A lot of not all of the techniques are not the arm moving but the waist moving the arms. Swimming dragons has a lot of evasion and movement to make the body a harder target.

After we did the form and some of the techniques sifu showed how you should blend the techniques together and interchange between them in any order and move about / turn / face in all directions. He than showed 8 of the most important techniques from the 18 of which the others appear in other forms or techniques we train in chongs.

Chy Sau’s

Having finished working on swimming dragons refining it, (mine still needs a lot of work and practice as its not as soft or smooth or blendy as it should be…I still have to ingrain all 18 in my mind so I can do them without thinking!) we trainined in 11-12 of the 18 different Chy Saus. I was really tired and felt weak and in my mind I thought there is no way I am going to be able to do 11-12 straight on one arm in one go. Thankfully we did 3-4 and changed than added another 3-4 and so on! Running the different chy saus killed my ribs, waist, legs and arms, on top of this my feet (we train barefoot) felt very very very hot! The chy sau’s included:-

Initial box shaped chy sau
Straight line chy sau
Up and forward chy sau
Down and forward chy sau
Grabbing arm chy sau
Inside Mut sao chy sau
Yui Kui chy sau
charp sau type chy sau
Buk Kui chy sau
Dao Sao chy Sau
Dao Sao chy sau with partner doing the boxed chy sau against your dao sao.

It was a really good work out and Sifu made me go to burn and failure almost and we changed and ran the next one and so on. I just need to remember these (this blog helps) and practice them in class for the next one to one. Sifu explained about the different chy sau’s and how they build the arm and how they help to gain the “heaviness” in the arms. Which is what we are trying to attain at a certain level…I guess the ananlogy is like a stone on a piece of string with regards to how your bridge should be..perhaps a metal string .

Next continuing on with chy sau we carried on training but this time you take turns to try and palm / push your partners chest. In this there were 3 different ways to train to react:-

1. You block the attack
2. You block the attack and attack
3. You hit them before they hit you

I pretty much kept getting hit (blocked a few mind you) but I couldnt get Sifu and I did try!! But the chy sau was making my arms tired and burn, so to throw a palm was an effort. But it was a nice 3 level training and I intend to also do this more!

The last part of the lesson was in Kalari. I went over my forms, had them corrected (especially my body positioning and footwork which is important for generating power and balance), I was told to use my waist more and relax. I also learnt some new forms and applications. After all this to do the kalari is quite demanding , and to do it with power…really takes a lot in the last 20-30 mins. It has a lot more turns, body movement, performing the techniques in 4-5 directions, spins, kicks, punches, chops! I am usually shattered by than and feel dizzy with the turns .

Anyway by the end of that evening of about 3.5 hours of non-stop training I felt good, tired, good aching and with a feeling of accomplishment in my mind. I knew I was going to feel this the next day!

Hope the blog is helping y’all out!

Class started with the usual warm ups by stretching legs, back, hips, knees, shoulders etc. We than went straight into the gee lik (finger power) exercises stepping on alternate legs. The gee lik like most of the gungs makes you ache, your shoulders ache, the arms, your sides, your legs. It is a slow constant tension movement from biu jee (finger strike) to the clawing and closing into the dao sao (clamping arm) position back to biu jee (slowly) and repeat.

With this gung I concentrated on breathing on while closing and breathing out while doing the slow tension finger strike. On closing I compressed my ribs, sunk into my stance, locked the stance, placed tension and breathing into my back and really concentrated on each finger as I clawed. I tried to keep my elbows in and shoulders down and back rounded. I think I must have been tired from the weapons class and general heat as it really made my joints burn with ache and I did being sweating pretty quickly even more.

The next gung we did was softer and involved the first part of 18 dark internal powerhands where you raise the arms in a circular motion above the eyes and forward. We ran this forwards and backward on alternate stances. Even though I was doing this softly it made my arms feel heavy enough that I was struggling to keep good form, my shoulder joints were burning and I had to make some serious mind and body connection to carry on. I love it all really .

Partner Training

We partnered up and got straight down to mor sut - knee grinding. This can really burn the legs just like chy sau burns the arms. With both of your right legs locked and knees on the outside touching you place tension and go in a circular motion. You have your legs with tension, your feet clawing, stance sunk and use the waist in conjunction with the movement of your leg. My mor sut isnt brilliant but I can go on and past the burn till failure and keep going…depending on my mood. I’d much rather do mor sut than sit in horse stance though. (horse stance kills and I’m no good at it because i dont like doing it and throught that, i dont practice it and because of that i stay not good at it - lol).

We than did the first section of 18 dark internal power hands as a two man drill with little or no tension. You partner rests his arms on top of yours (elbows down relaxed) and you perform the circular motion with good form, good stance, use of waist and using dip gwut gung. I kept going on this exercise till I couldnt physically move my arms anymore as the burn and heaviness just - burnt me out. Nice soft exercise which I will try to do more of.

The next exercise was Buk Kui grinding arm which really uses a lot of the waist to move the arm I think but works the wrists,forarms, shoulder, fingers, elbow and more. With a neutral stance facing you partner you both place your arms straight out (elbow is straight not bent, as well as the wrist and fingers), shoulders down. You lock the back of your wrists, palms or fingers together and move each others arm to the opposite shoulder with tension. Its a killer and really works the waist and burns the shoulder, arms, wrists, ribs and fingers like no ones business. We did for three rounds (both arms a number of times with different partners) and my last round I did with Sifu - which as always really tests me and tires me out even more.

I am pretty sure we did Saam Bo Gin twice at this stage but it may have been after the initial gee lik and 18 dark hands section. Either way I remember i was aching, being hot and wet with sweat and feeling like doing the Saam Bo Gin properly was going to be a struggle. In order to take my mind away from that I concentrated on float (fau), sink (chum), swallow (tung) and spit (tow) .

In each movements on the form I would name these things in my mind and continue like that. For example from the dao sao position I would think to my self “spit, spit, spit” for the punch and biu jee, than “float, float, float” after the biu jee, than as I close and grip I would think “sink, sink, sink” and lastly as I get to dao sao I would think “swallow” as I grip and close down everything, lock the stance and so on.

Fighting Form

The 36 Section 2 Man Fighting Form came next and we did each one timed for 3 mins non-stop with different partners. I did the fighting form a total of 4 times, 3 mins each one after another with different partners. It was a killer and really tiring when you do this fast, with intent and even more so when you doing it against Sifu or one of the senior guys. When I do the fighting form with Sifu its hard, very hard.

I think the levels change according to how you learn and do the fighting form. When you are learning the form its just the movements, lines, techniques and remembering what to do and what the partner does. once you have the moves down you go a little quicker and with some power - but you still may be just reacting to the pattern and only aiming to do the movements with no intent to hit the person - perhaps just hit the arms and just miss the strikes to the body. You also move according to the footwork of the form.

Well this is what I did and when I would do the fighting form with seniors / sifu it was way way different. You have to be quick as you are getting aimed for, the fighting form becomes…fighting in a way according the the techniques being used and where they are aiming. Also the movement as you do the fighting form is moving around, in and out and you can change it. You also become more aware of avoiding, moving the waist, blocking, protecting your head. I took some good kicks to the core of my body, hits to my head (I wasnt protecting my head and my hands were down…hey I was tired!) also when someone is strong and coming in at you, covering your arms, moving them, attacking….well….you gotta react and adapt as best you can. By the time this finished my last fighting form was forced as I was feeling out of breath, hot and weak. But I still finished it and put as much effort as I could.

After a small drink of water and loosening up I ran through the first section of Bo Sim Sau (Catching Insect Hands Form) and kept repeating as I have only learnt the first part. This section is done with a fast springy movement of the feet / body with the hands covering and striking, it has a low palm and high palm, an arm control with pull and an elbow. I trained the applications of all of the first section with a senior who corrected my movements / techniques. Learned some new stuff about this form and I think its a very important form with regards to fighting, the points to attack and much more. Look forward to learning more of it in time.

Next I helped some other class mates with some techniques and forms and I worked on some partner combination fighting drills and some new ones that Sifu showed us. I trained these attack combinations with a partner and worked on a lot of the main ones we do. Finished with gow choi chong with power to add to the conditioning and getting the feel of attacking with power and speed. Of course when it came to my turn I got it just as good and the seniors arms felt heavy and really worked my blocking and my conditioning.

A lot done and more to come with my one to one after the class. Enjoyed the class as always and ready for more as usual. Will write up some of the things covered in my one to one later!

Train hard in mind, body and spirit people!

I had some work to finish and when I did eventually leave my train was delayed so I got to the weapons class hot and tired. The train was like an oven and packed - I wouldnt be suprised if Tube Rage is on the increase. You think you would be used to the heat and sweat of loads of people in one place if you train in a martial arts class….lol…but not like this.

Pole - Gwun - Work

When I got to class I just jumped straight into the pole forms with the heavy dense wooden pole with no time to let me think about how hot and tired i felt because of the heat. I ran the first 5 elemental pole form 3 times and the pole felt a little heavier than usual. I trained the first time slowly to work the pole techniques, claw the side of pole for grip (not round the pole for grip), imagine applications and keep a a constant tension to make it a little more difficult. Than I performed the form with as much power as I could muster.

A clip of me doing the form is here:- Chow Gar Southern Praying Mantis 5 elemental pole form - Ng Hung Gwun Video Clip

Next I did the poison snake pole form 3 times with speed and power. It was hot and with the pole feeling heavy my technique felt a little weak and my arms heavy. Duk Se Gwun when performed fast is very quick and has a lot of straight thrusts with the pole moving up and down and in and out fast. It can be quite demanding on the arms when you play it fast with power a number of times.

A video clip of Sifu Paul Brennan performing the form is here:- Duk Se Gwun - Southern Praying Mantis Chow Gar Poison Snake Pole Form Video Clip

Breaking a sweat I grabbed the very heavy concrete filled scaffold bar and ran the ng hung kwun pole form as best as I could. This thing is heavy and to do the techniques and move it takes some effort and really works your strength and arms as you have the weight and constant pressure of it.

I decided to work on the dit jek (sai) and 8 cutting knives and did both forms paying attention to my techniques and the applications behind them. I only did these forms once (but any techniques I wasnt happy with I repeated) as I wanted to do the pole fighting form / chongs and pole fighting.

The chow gar baat jaam do form can be viewed on this link:- Southern Chow Gar Praying Mantis Baat Jaam Do - 8 cutting knives Video Clip

The video clip Sai Form can be seen here (this is done slightly differently but the main techiniques are still present).
Chow Gar Tong Long Southern Mantis Sai Form Video Clip

I partnered up and we did the first pole fighting form a number of times building up to doing it quickly and with power. The first pole fighting form has over head striking, foot strikes, blocks, side movement with temple strike, low leg strikes, striking with the other end of the pole and so on. Once we finished that we worked on the pole chong using speed and power and moving around.

I like this chong as you have to be quick, move, strike, block and grip the pole in such a way so when you block, your fingers dont get hit. I have done this chong before and felt my finger get hit but carried on thinking it was just nick…it was until i saw blood on the pole and floor that I thought hold up!…looked at my little finger and it had split on the top and blood pouring. It was cool and taught me a good lesson!

The chow gar southern praying mantis pole chong / drill video clip is here:-
Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu Chow Gar Pole Fighting Chong / Drill Video Clip

Once we worked on the pole chong and fighting form we both did the pole versus sai (dit jek) form. This we did 4 times with us both swapping weapons. Good form and teaches some good fighting techniques and movement using the pole and the sai. With this form you block different attacks to different parts of your body (with pole or sai), you turn, jump, stab, move while attacking and so on.

The video clip of Sifu’s Paul Whitrod and Grant Guirey doing the Sai vs Pole very fast is here:-
Chow Gar Mantis Pole Vs Sai Video Clip

Pole Sparring

Once I finished all this I did two rounds of pole sparring wearing gloves and the head gear. This is great fun and you can really try out your techniques, put some power behind the strikes, try to hit different areas, move about, experiment, come in close to kick and punch. I tried a couple of different ways to hold the pole, some kalari type movements and strikes, moving more and striking to make an opening, moving fast to close in while striking with both ends of the pole.

It is quite demanding physically to continuoulsy keep the pole up and strike and move. I also find the stabbing techniques while the opponent is moving the pole difficult to block as it can be quite hard to judge it. I guess I’m playing with strike first, move in quickly, close the gap, kick, punch, and use the pole close in! The more I spar the more I learn and try things out. Plus I do like hitting people with weapons, especially if they padded up…I occasionally sneak in some cheeky hits when they think its stopped…all friendly!

Covered in sweat and aching I would say I was warmed up for the main class…which I will write up later in a separate post.

*note*
Please comment or email (mantis@tonglong.co.uk) where and when you can, its good to have some feedback or questions - also good to know if this is being read and who is reading it!

So how do I spend my lunch times at work in such gorgeous weather? I spend time thinking about training, the aspects of it, the applications, the techniques, the technicalities….of course I eat and go for a walk to check out the ladies while thinking this too .

So there I was having lunch in the kitchen at work thinking about keeping my elbows in and I think to myself how can i test this, how can i demonstrate what I am thinking? I look at my bottle of water…I look at my elbow joint….I punch….I look at my bottle of water….I look back at my elbow joint (there is no one else in the kitchen if you are thinking that). Anyway I decide to place a little water in the middle of the elbow joint and practice the punch slowly and the movement back into dao sau (clamping hand) - without letting the water fall.

I have made a short video clip using my mobile phone which was quite difficult as I was doing the techniques looking through my phone and lost all sense of it all, lol.

http://www.tonglong.co.uk/videos/elbows_in.html

I’m doing this slowly to illustrate my thinking and hopefully you can all comment or tell me what you think, perhaps I am being to pedantic? Either way when you punch the elbows should be in, you fist should be straight and flat. I think that with a lot of the san sau if I were to try the same test I would find the elbows are in and the water should not fall…

Mondays class was primarily contact work which felt good. By contact work I mean all partner work drilling techniques, combinations, conditioning and so on. I was already warmed up from the before class training but some extra stetching always seems to help. I said some hello’s to my kungfu brothers and than we all got down to some serious training.

*note* Monday and Tuesday morning I trained saap baat um gen sau and clamping palm just before I catch my train. Its quite hard to train when you arent a morning person, lol, especially in the heatwave we have been having! Like i said, I would get up earlier to train…but i sleep late, love my rest and hate getting up in the morning (hence the training till late in class)!lol.

Mantis Contact Work

I will try to remember everything we trained but if I forget anything maybe some of my class mates can add comments to fill in any gaps. We started of with the usual warm ups and we all had to do Sarm Bo Jin twice. I was hot but I think the warming up and training before hand made me train the form a lot better as my mind and body felt a lot better connected, if that makes sense. The form didnt feel like my body was in different sections (ie arms separate, legs separate) but rather moving and functioning as one unit. It is still very very hard to do this form and its even harder when Sifu is walking around testing peoples stance, form and conditioning. I tell you, that makes you grip and put tension in your arms / legs / stomach / back / ribs like your life depended on it, haha.

I’ve been wondering about my techniques through out saam bo gin with regards to the elbow position, I will clarify with Sifu tonight, but the question is the proper position of the elbow through out the form. If you do the form you will either notice that the elbow is truly down and the top of elbow joint is facing directly upwards when it can…or it is slightly out (pertaining to what is natural for most of us). The proper position in my mind should be elbows down down down and in in in. This seems to place more emphasis on tension in the elbow and activation and compression of the ribs and some in the back.

Try it out - place your arms straight out in front of you - palms down. Now look at your elbows and just turn your elbows inwards so the joint is facing directly upwards. What do you feel and where do you feel it? Or is it just me? .

After saam bo gin twice we basically worked in alternating partners for the whole class. We trained combination attacks up and down on alternative steps, the same side and attacking using fast mouse steps.

2 man drills

We trained:-

chic jeurng (chop), chic jeurng (or cover), gow choy - with this the partner defending will block out with a chop, his arm will than get blocked / covered following with a gow choy to his head, which he blocks with his other arm. This is a good drill that helps condition the arms, co-ordination, timing, stance and so on. Like most of the training chongs.

gow choi chong (hammerfist drill) - A clip is available on the site - http://www.tonglong.co.uk/index.php?categoryid=112 . Admittedly on this I am not protected my head well enough, but you train and learn eh?. I like this chong as if my partner is willing I can really put some power into all the techniques and use my waist, ribs and stance (when I can). This really puts some pressure on the arms and is a great conditioning drill to do to.

Fun Sau with attack - this is a good training drill to test your partner. From a both bridging position you fun sau (changing hands technique which moves your opponents bridge to your opposite hand) and attack the head, body or wherever. It is done quickly and fast and your parter reacts in order to block them.

chic jeurng , upward chic jeurng (or cover), low phoenix eye punch again done with a partner. I was with one of the seniors and we went for it and made each other work and move. Pretty much put power behind the techniques with speed and intent to hit (with control). That really makes you move a lot differently and more aware. Again the clashing of arms and hits that do get through make for good conditioning (and i do love my conditioning).

chic jeurng (chop), cover, gow choy, straight punch to solar plexus 4 hit combination this time (i think this was the right combination). Again these drills were trained on alternate steps and different levels of speed / intensity.

Conditioning

We did a few conditioning drills, I cant remember the order of what we did each thing but I am pretty sure the conditioning came next. Again changing partners we conditioned the palms by doing:

Poc Jeurng (palming) - with alternating hands against a partner doing the same thing - Hitting each others palms and using the waist and ribs - nice drill and does begin to ache after a bit. Palms are a great way to hit and a well conditioned powered palm can do some serious hurt.

Gow Choy - You can see this drill in the clip from Sifu Paul Whitrods instructional video tapes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obUQNsv-6gU). Basically you gow choy each others palm and condition the palms, hammerfist and work on the gow choy technique.

Leg Conditioning - We did 3 things for this. I remember doing Mor Sut (leg grinding) which is like chy sau for the legs. Locking legs and resisting while turning the knees in a circular motion.

We kicked each others thighs.We went up and down while your partner kicked at different parts of your thighs. I dont mind the pain and whenever we do this I just remind myself that if a thai boxer was too get a well placed power kick to my thigh (ouch!), that this conditioning may help. lol.

We also trained outside of calves by doing the same outside circular type kick which hits each others outside of calves and usually the shins / ankles depending on where / how you kick. This is done with alternate legs as you continue forward.

Pretty much anything to do with conditioning i like - except….well…if i say that you all gonna make me do that conditioning and hit me there!

Next we ran over some sections of Kau dau sau continuously (the 1st and 2nd sections) and I really put the intent and power behind it. After running them continuously I got tired and arms ached so I still tried my best but found i relaxed more and worked on the technique with execution of power at the last second. Once we finished that we worked in partners on the applications from the second section which include a forward block and simultaneous strike to neck, push the head down push down,knee strike whilst the other arm locks the opponents arm, and claw to neck. We also added an elbow strike to back of the neck / head or side of jaw.

The last thing i remember doing was pad work with an application from the first section of law suen sao (propeller hands). The partner holds a pad near his shoulder and gives his arm (bridge), you make contact, double soc sau and pull him and simultaneously crash in with an elbow strike to the shoulder where the pad is. (of course this can represent the head, shoulder, solar plexus etc).

I was feeling good after the class, i could feel the burn, the small aches from the contact and I was again covered in sweat from the work out. We finished with some breathing and chi gung type movements and I had a quick drink before grappling class.

Grappling Class

Grappling class is always quite tiring as we grapple / wrestle, do pad work, work on drills and so on. I worked on take downs and locks and chokes from my back with half mount and full mount. We drilled the ones we know over and over and worked with different partners. We each trained with each person and grappled trying our locks, escapes take downs etc. I worked from upright position, to take down, from my back, from the mount and so on. I like the grappling a lot and learn a lot from it - especially when training with someone a lot heavier, stronger and skilled than me. You realise a lot about sensing your opponents weight and position, making yourself heavier (using your weight), the gaps you make, your breathing, the dangers and how grounding and pounding can f£%% you up, lol. Also the many chokes and locks that can finish you very scaringly easily.

The last thing we trained was constant round thai type kicks on both legs to the pad (which tires you out quickly) and once you have finished both sides you grapple with your partner who is fresh while you are tired and out of breath. It was a killer and when you are out of steam, it can be your worst enemy!

We did the same thing but this time your partner holds of your legs (like he has caught a kick) and you constantly punch the pad while he moves you about and you jump and move. This kills your legs, calves and arms. Than again, both sides and grapple. It was all timed but I cant remember the timings - I think 3 mins grappling and 1 min non-stop for punching and kicking.

Again, drenched with sweat, aching, tired and thirsty like anything, i said my byes and made off for my longish journey home! A great lesson and looking forward for tonights hard training.