Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu Training Diary / Blog

Kalaripayyatu Weapons

Didnt train in the chow gar mantis weapons class on wednesday. Usually I divide my time between the two but instead I spent all of it running through a lot of the single long stick 2 man fighting forms / drills. I learnt two new drills / forms and went over some I havent done in a while and some that I had tranied in india, but not since returning a few months ago.

The stick drills involve aiming at marma points and main points that will cause the best damage or desired effect against an opponent. With the movements both you and your partner attack and defend, move, block, change how you attack with the stick and which end you use, jump, turn and so on. They are good drills and teach you how to move whilst simultaneously attacking / defending in different directions and ways.

After a lot of stick work I finished with partner work on kalari knife / machete drills. These are set patterns that involve attacking, moving, avoiding the knife, turning, jumping, locking the partner and taking him down to attack him and he reacts and does a counter lock. Nice drills, i hope to learn more and some of the kalari knife fighting forms (double and single).

Finished and got ready for the mantis class.

Southern Mantis Kung Fu Training

Class started with warm ups and lots of stretches. We than worked on steps consisting of forward and backward steps (both sides), knee raises, cross steps, half forward change steps and a different variation on cross steps. On each of the steps I tried to step and land with the whole foot, grip and lock the stance and sink down with my body (ie closing the ribs and rounding the back).

Next we trained Sarm Bo Jin slowly and I tried as always to perform this as best and as correctly as I could by thinking of the float, spit, swallow and sink principles, gripping the stance and holding it properly, working the ribs, clawing the fingers, punching with elbows down and in, elbows in and shoulders down and everything else I have mentioned in previous posts .

The next form was Law Suen Sau and we did this a number of times with Sifu correcting or showing the techniques. Performing the techniques fast and performing them correctly with the proper body position isnt easy. It takes time and lots of practice. I think there is a difference between doing a form or techniques that looks perfect / nice and one that doesnt in how realistic it is in its use and application. Saying this I try to keep in mind the applications of what I am doing.

The rest of the class was dedicated to partner work.

I trained Chy Sau slowly and really concentrated on my stance and keeping a controlled tension in the full range of motion and experimented with using the waist and ribs. When I felt I was getting tired I would keep my form as best as possible and go softer. We trained until the arms felt dead and burnt pass that. We trained 2 variations of buk kui chy sau which involve pushing the arm or pulling the arm against resistance. These really work the waist, stance and ribs and we tried both made each other work for this.

After chy sau we trained diu sau doy chong but made it more difficult by adding 3 opening and closes for one step. At each movement we would watch each others shoulders / body and help correct it and judge how much power we used against each other. Chy Sau and doy chong being partner exercises usually means helping each other out and working with each other to get the best out.

After the power building we trained combination drills which include a take down and attacking with kicks from the ground to a standing opponent. We ran through a lot of combination attacks on both sides against each other and than trained pad work with attacks aswell as attacking each other and reacting to the set combination attacks. I prefer training the combinations with a person as its extra conditioning for the arms .

After pad word and combination drills we finished with san sau and trained chun sau (passing hand with attack) and ying yang breaking hands (which sifu showed the applications to). Class finished and I got ready for my private, which I usually feel tired for by the end of wednesdays class!

One to One Mantis Training

I wont spend too long going into too much detail about this private as its taken me a few days to catch up on my posts so far!

We started with the chow gar power training / body strengthening gungs and Sifu gave me some further information as well as reminded me on the gungs and how to do them correctly (one useful bit of information is that you should be tensioning the legs, grip and be rooted and not forget about them).

We trained how gung (iron neck), back and waist gungs, dip gwut gung and iron step gung. As I have said before, the gungs are quite energy draining and tiring. I asked sifu how to breathe in certain gungs and he showed me the pattern when doing them. As I trained the back and waist gung Sifu explained where the tension was and hit my back, solar plexus and stomach. I took it and only really felt it on my solar plexus - but not pain or winded.

We than went through the chy saus but concentrated on only a few while quickly going over the ones I had done already. Training the chy sau was hard and tiring. Sifu kept me going when I felt like I couldnt move my arm any more and I didnt want to give up or say I cant do any more! So I carried on even when I really felt like my arm was weak and not doing anything. When one arm was finished we swapped to the other for the same thing.

I learned 2 new chy sau’s - a ginger fist wrist locked type chy sau. This was really hard and put a lot of emphasis and pressure on the elbow. Its pretty much a forward and backward chy sau aiming at each others solar plexus and Sifu said that you always keep the wrists together and the ginger fist tight as well. This felt like one of the hardest chy saus I have done personally, dont know why. hehe

Next chy sau was yau loong chy sau which has a motion similar to a figure 8 on its side. It uses a lot of waist movement as you go into the partner and deflect the arm in a constant motion. Its a good chy sau and I intend to work on it. How you move the body and use the waist with the arms takes practice and your partner correcting you. I was leaning too far into a part of the chy sau too much and not using my waist and keeping quite straight.

One to One Kalari

After the mantis training we went over the Kalari. I went over one of the main long forms we train and apps. Sifu than showed me two more short forms which use elbow attacks (with the body in a position that it is behind the elbow and he corrected my footing and posture). There was also a step jump called the peacock step which took me a few tries to get used to.

I worked on the forms and stepping on both sides to drill it into my head. There was a lot there as they utilise grabbing, punching, back hand punch, clearing, kick blocks and more. Sifu corrected me and explained as well as showed the stances to put power in the attacks.

After the form work I was shown some of the kalari exercises, breathing and yoga type postuers with breathing. There is a breathing method in which you breath all your air out, as much as possible - you suck your stomach in so it is almost touching your spine, you hold it and and than breathe into it. This was hard and tiring.

Sifu also showed a breathing method where you expel the air in short powerful bursts which is used in kalari to remove bad air from the lungs if i remember correctly.

Next came lotus seated posture with the breathing and a method of sitting on the ground and doing a yoga like movement with prayer hand motion and offering in conjunction with breathing. I had done this in my training in india so I picked it up quickly and it was nice to go over it again as I had not trained it for a while.

The last training was an exercise in kalari train the knife edge of the feet for kicking. It involves balancing on the outer edge of the feet, stepping on them and than doing a hindu squat motion with correct breathing.

We ran over what I had just learned and I mentally noted them all to write up on my train journey home so I could practice them later in the week.

I know this is a southern mantis blog but since I train a few things and different exercises I think its worth noting them plus its good for my own reference. So I will add some short information about the kalari and other things I train in time.

Kalaripayyatu

On tuesday the mantis class starts at 7, before hand is the kalari class. If i finish work on time I can make it and train extra. I made it on time and started with the kalari warm ups which involve yoga type postures and movements / drills related to the movements / techinques from the art.

After the warm ups I went over the short forms which are trained on both right and left hand sides. The forms use kicks, elbows, figure 8 hand techniques, punches, chops, moving and attacking all 4 sides (north, east, south west) and many techniques. Once I ran over the short forms I know I trained the longer forms (sifu came and corrected some of my form) and than broke down some of the attacking techniques to drill them.

Class finished with some very tiring and hard exercises - hindu press ups, jumping crocodile press ups, hindu squats, snake press ups, straight arm side plank, side planks rotating to opposite side. My whole body ached after these and I couldnt do some of the exercises for a long period or properly after a certain time or number. Must train harder and more often ni these!

Finished and loosened up and got ready for the mantis class.

Chow Gar Training

Class started with gungs - we trained jee lik, dip gwut gung exercises, how gung (throat), and the back and waist gungs. Gungs take a lot out of you, they are quite energy draining given the tension and movement against tension and the breathing. I really felt it all over after a while and even when its got tiring and burned I pushed on through to do my best. I find there is a connection you have to make with the mind and body to place the tension equally as well as in the place you are concentrating on.

After the gungs we trained the softer saap baat um gen sau a number of times slowly, breathing while using the waist in conjunction with the arms moving in and out. Having trained the gungs even doing this form was quite hard as my arms felt like lead with the weight and no tension.

After the gungs I did a number of forms - yee kup saam bo gin, bic sarn, 9 hands and the first section of bo sim sau. There is a form called jor kui but I dont know it yet so I watched with great interest trying to imagine the applications behind it. The forms were done fast and with power and I had some corrections to make and take into account in each of them.

Next came chy sau and yui kui chy sau over and over with different partners. This kills the waist, ribs, arm and my legs especially. Its a good chy sau and utilises the waist moving the arm in motion with the leg pushing forward. Doing this back and forth does get harder and harder and by the end of this and the class I was sweating and feeling tired…and loving it.

Finished with some breathing and correcting my opening movements on yee kup saam bo gin. Nice couple of hours of training and looked forward to wednesdays long training!

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.

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!