Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu Training Diary / Blog

Pre-Class Training

I got to class early as usual on mondays and trained it the hall. I ran through stretches, did some light running around the hall (forwards, backwards, sideways, short bursts) and than worked on yee kup saam bo gin, kau dau sau and swimming dragons. I felt a little tired so took it nice and easy and worked slowly to make the mind-body-breathing connection better with my waist, ribs, breathing and stance. It turned out to be hard and just as tiring and frustrating .

Next I did some kalari forms to brush up as I hadnt practiced some of the forms in too long. A lot to remember, train, break down and apply - exciting but not enough time in the evening what with work and everything else! You can only do your best and adapt to make the most effective use of your training and time eh?

For the rest of the time I worked just kicks - all different types of southern mantis kicks (front kick, inside/ outside low kicks,block inside and outside and kick and so on) from the front leg chambering to the back leg kicking.I tried to put power in the kicks and imagine kicking through a persons leg rather than quick snappy kicks that may not necessarily have power (im not saying they dont!)

I worked at moving out at a 45 degree angle and side kicking, knee type attacks, solar plexus kicks, attacks different parts of the leg, kicking and attacking with arms at same time, keeping my arms up and more. It got very tiring and my legs got heavy very quickly but i burned through it and sweated very soon after starting.

I took about 3-4 leg techniques from the poon loong kerk form and broke the down and drilled them up and down the hall. Luckily a couple of fellow students came in so I mentally used them as dummies as i aimed at them, lol, I hope they didnt notice.

Finished with a sip of water and got ready for the mantis chow gar class.

Class training

Class started with the usual warm ups and we went into the step work. First was the forward and backward steps on either side / stance. When you step its generally taught that you do not land heel first but rather toe than heel. Once you land you grip, lock the stance, pull up the behind, sink down everything (ie ribs). Later I think the whole foot lands as one thing rather than toe - heel.

Carrying on with steps we did toong sut (knee raises) and cross steps left and right going at a 45 degree angle. Again the principles of gripping and sinking take place in every step.

San sau and drills

After the steps we went through the san sau of - sai sau, ying kum pull and punch, chun sao, bao jong and 9 hand techniques. We ran these for quite a while over and over. Carrying on from this we performed the first technique from law suen sao with mouse steps (inside and outside circling arms) continuously up and down. Next we finished the whole single section and repeated for a number of times hard and fast.

It was getting hot and my breath was quickening as we did the same with banging the drum. First using mouse steps with continuous gow choys and after doing this up and down a number of times we completed the section and repeated. I tried to do this as fast as I could while keeping the techniques sharp and doing them properly with Sifu showing the correct way.

After law suen sao we ran through the first section of kau dau sau with sifu leading and showing the techniques and movement. I repeated this over and over fast and with power while trying to imagine applications on the imaginary opponent in front of me.

Feeling a little out of breath, hot and with lead for arms we did saam bo gin slowly and concentrated on locking the stance, tension, gripping the fingers, elbows down and in first.

Chy Sau

After loosening up quickly we ran through Chy Sau and Yui Kui Chy Sau (using leg and arm resistance). I really didnt feel like I had any strength in my arm but I put as much resistance as I could in order to keep good form and keep the tension slow and constant. After a few rounds of chy sau we changed partners and I did yui kui chy sau with Sifu. He corrected my technique which made it even harder and more tiring, lol. I did my best and got to the point where everything was burning and I couldnt move my arms or knee.

I remember doing gow choy jong and strength gungs somewhere in this class but not sure where it came in the order of things. I could be mixing up a day with something else,hehe, either way Im sure we trained this. The last thing I remember training was a chy sau using phoenix eye done with a mixture of tension with the idea to punch your partners chest (with the phoenix eye) which he has to block with a mut sao like technique. You just both attack and react.

I partnered up with Sifu and I began with palming him and he said use the phoenix eye and go for it…well we did the chy sau motion with tension and a mixture of medium light, light and attacked the chest. Good sensitivity and my chest still feels a bit sore. Good conditioning though and i took it well if not for a few arghs and ahhs…from me.

Grappling

Partnering up we started with leg take downs following up with a side neck lock. We ran through techniques to get your partner on his back and finishing with locks ie neck locks / holds, cervical neck lock, sprawling, moving and applying locks / leg chokes from on your back, working from the ground and applying techniques to get your partner on his back and apply a lock or mount.

The next 30 minutes was spent on 3-6 minute non-stop grappling rounds while constantly changing partners so you worked with someone different. This was very very tiring and challenging. I’ve learnt to relax more, feel my partners weight and position, use my eyes to look at his arms / positioning. I still have a lot to learn and have weaknesses in going from stand up to effectively taking my partner down to my advantage. Im not the heaviest so trying to make myself heavier and less of an easy take down takes time and practice. Still its a great way to find out what I need to work on.

NOt much to say on this or in too much detail. I like the grappling, I always feel it the next morning, its demanding physically and great exercise.

Train hard all and be well.