Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu Training Diary / Blog

I dont think there can be an excuse for not training or practicing everyday, unless you are really ill or injured (been there , done that ). Now I try to do something everyday in terms of training. Doesnt matter how small or big or long it is, as long as I do something I am pleased with myself.

Its not difficult to make the time to do some press ups, practice a form, shadow box, walk fast paced…I dont know, something other than working! Of course some people have jobs that are demanding physically and some mentally. I sit at a desk all day on a pc where as one of my friends works in removals. While I type all day, he is moving / lifting / picking / heavy furniture. He might not realise it but through all of that, his body has to adapt and he gets a little bit stronger (perhaps training everyday for him would be harder than for me). Dont get me wrong, I can type fast and I am a whizz on the old internet surfing but because of this I like to do active stuff.

Where do I disapear for 10 minutes in the morning from work? I go downstairs to one of the empty rooms and I run Saam Go Gin and Jee Lik. Its quick but I want it to become a habit and I want to make it more often (work gets busy of course). I know you have to be smart in training and rest. BUt I only think that applys to really pushing yourself all the time. I’ve overtrained before and its not good. You have to experience these things to know how and why to avoid them!

I think in the olden days and perhaps even know, people had the kind of jobs that were physically demanding. Those types of work made some of these people naturally strong and good for kung fu. I know some builders, mechanics and such who are very strong!! They dont do kung fu but they have good hand, arm strength and a natural strength from their everyday work. I find it fascinating but it makes me realise I have to train a little bit harder and make a little more time to train.

Its not that difficult to spare some time in your day to train right? You just need to apply yourself mentally to do it and keep applying yourself to do it. On the way to and from work I will always try to walk or climb stairs or whatever keeps me active. Its long but I think martial arts is just too big a part of everything i do .

I got to mondays class early and went to train in the other hall. I spent most of it warming up concentration on my neck, back and shoulders (being careful given my healing injury). I than went on to stretch / warm up my legs and small joints. After warming up I did saam bo gin, kau dau sau, 9 hands, mo ying sau and bic sarn.

I didnt do these fast or with a lot of power but nice, slow and easy - working on the lines, seeing how my body / injury took to it. I also helped another student who came in early with some of his techniques within saam bo gin and saam jin yui sao.

Back to training - Southern Mantis Class

I am glad to be back in class and training, i missed it like mad and am even more intent on training to rehabilitate my injury, get stronger and concentrate on other things (must do more stretching and more leg work…as well as get back into meditation and softer internal exercises…oh…and more, lol).

Class started with the warm up movements with some stretching. We than worked on the chow gar mantis steps on both stances and forwards bad backwards. These included walking steps, cross steps, cross over steps, knee raises, and mouse chasing steps. So far so good, not too umcomfy on the injury except for if i overly round my back press my elbows forward and down…so control that till its comfortable and feels like a nice stretch.

Trained saam bo gin twice - Its been a while and there was only so much tension I could put in without feeling a little pain. My saam bo gin didnt feel connected. By that I mean I didnt feel like i was performing the form as one unit / one body all in unision. I may have commented on this before but today I felt like my body parts were separate from one another. However it got better, I concentrated and put the effort into it. A lot of effort into gripping the toes / stance, stomach, fingers, keep good form and posture.I was beginning to ache and feel it - felt good.

I’ll list what I trained and some quick notes on my progress with it. There were a few exercises that were difficult for me to do but I trained them as best and as strong as I could. It seems you cant make up for 2 months not training and making up for an injury in one lesson …darn it. I found it frustrating but at the same time very humbling. Felt like I was starting from the beginning again and I felt very weak….but you know what….didnt phase me, I just see it as a way to get better and build a better foundation. I did the best I could and I will keep doing it till I get stronger again.

Doy chong - Round on left stance and a round on right stance. The lines used here werent to bad so I felt comfortable doing this. It was only when I had to block that it was a little uncomfy. My left arm also caved in a lot easier than before and my lasting power had diminished quite a bit. No biggie I felt it working and I tried to concentrate on syncing the movements with the waist, ribs and locking the stance (i.e. not using the body to pull back or make myself stronger).

Diu sau doy chong - It was pretty much the same for diu sau doy chong, except the raising dui sau motion I could only do slow and easy. Pushing out with any power still troubles me but I can put a little in. This was done on both left and right stances. Given all this I can concentrate more on my technique and getting the form right.

Chy sau - Burned out way too quick and arm was burning, shoulder, body, waist, stance. You name it i was feeling it. My left arm felt very weak and tired but I carried on and went slow and concentrated on keeping good form, stretched out, breathing, locking stance, using ribs and building the power up. Was hard but I felt it working and stretching.

Chee Sarn Garp Mantis Press ups - I couldnt do this. I tried but the pressure on my shoulder - well I couldnt hold myself well and trying to do the press up, my left arm couldnt hold it, didnt feel connected to my body. I tried slowly, but it felt bad on my lat and neck. Instead, I went on my knees and tried to do the press ups as well as just holding myself up and just moving the elbows in as far as i could comfortably. This was very frustrating! Sifu asked at each exercise if i was ok and not to do it ifit was uncomfortable.

The gow choy chong came next. I could do this ok but the power was still lacking in the left arm. My conditioning hasnt left me but its not as good as it used to feel. I put as much effort and power as I could and after my hands were a little shaky. Havent felt that in a long time. This chong was done with single steps and mouse steps.

2 man drill with attack , arm lock and take down - both sides. Did this drill but without the take down. Getting taken down to the ground wouldnt do me very good so only peformed part of it. The drill involves a thrown punch for your partner to react to. Punching with my left wasnt as fast , heavy or controlled as I would have like it. But it was a lot better than it has been in the last 2 months.

poon loong kerk drill - We trained a leg take down whilst on the floor to a standing partner from the poon loong kerk applications. I could only do a few of these from the ground as the techniques made my neck and left side ache. Even being taken down, i felt it pull on my left side - which was a small sharp pain. So again , slow, easy and carefully….arghhh, you see the frustration!

Finished off with training yui kui san sau, pai kui san sau and some other san sau. My left felt uncomfy and I couldnt put the power or speed behind it, so I trained it slow, easy and with good form.

I didnt train the grappling / sparring (not given go ahead and I know I cant right now ), so I watched whilst doing some warming down exercises and stretching. Sifu stretched my left arm and massaged my neck. Stretched my arm in such a position that it really worked on the tricep and lat and shoulder. Slighlty painful but felt very good and loose afterwards. Glad to be back training!

Found an old post card dated 27/12/02 that i sent to my family from my trip to Hong Kong for the late Grandmaster Ip Shui’s birthday party where he passed over the head of the Chow Gar TOng Long Southern Mantis system to his son Ip Chee Keung. Thought it would be cool to write it up on here as it brought back some good memories of the trip, training and Si Gung Ip Shui:-

Hello / Waiiiii and Lai Ho?

Everything is cool and having a good time. Grandmaster is very kind to have us stay at his apartment and so far I havent wrecked much. HK is so busy and the buildings are HUGE and there are shops and markets everywhere. Every street is selling everything at a price and I am haggling for as much as I can, its great fun and someone of them congratulate you on a good barter on the price.

Have been waking up early to train, go out and spend the day in HK or train with Sifu. So far not done much except train because of the party (although have seen HK and went into china). After the party we will go back to china (shenzen) to haggle and buy cheap stuff, go site seeing and train more.

Grandmaster is funny, quiet and nice. He wakes up at 6am to pray every morning as well as every afternoon (very peaceful). He will than go out and come back and call us lazy and say he has just come back from training and doing his morning stuff. At 90 he still the man and very active. Everyone knows him in kowloon. His party is going to be big!

I am eating ok, it can be a bit difficult and I am getting bored of the same food - everything seems to have pork in it, if you dont eat pork you get these reactions (you dont eat pork?!!! or its ok you can have tofu (again) or you want pork?!) haha. We are all planning the last 12 days to go site seeing, train more(obviously). Sifu Paul Brennan from Australia is here and training with him is great, real eye opener. Oh and shop more. So much to do and see.

*the next bit is all stuff like i miss mums cooking and miss you all so i will leave that out!*

Links to photos from my trip can be seen here -

Hong Kong:
Hong Kong City Pictures 2002 - 1

Hong Kong City Pictures 2002 - 2

Si Gung Ip Sui’s birthday:

Grandmaster Ip Shui’s Chow Gar Southern Mantis Birthday Picture / Images - 1

Grandmaster Ip Shui’s Chow Gar Southern Mantis Birthday Picture / Images - 2

Training:

Various Chow Gar Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu training pics in Hong Kong 2002

Hello, lai ho ma, namaste, happy new year!

This blog isnt dead. It just had a rather long break but i will be back to posting as regularly as i can. I still keep notes on what I have trained so I’ll post up what I have trained / learned.

Injured Mantis

I have been off training for the last 2 months due to an injury. Its actually one of the most painful and worst injuries I’ve ever had and dont want it to happen again!! I managed to tear / pull a ligament running down my neck and scapula aswell as tear some muscles for extra measure. 2 months ago I couldnt move, stand up, sit down, sleep, move my head or arm without serious pain and discomfort. I was in bed for 3 days and couldnt move, went to hospital to be put on serious pain killers that made me trip out (stopped them and only took them when the pain was too much) and visited a physio.

I couldnt lift my left arm even 90 degrees or move my neck in certain directions without pain or stiffness. All the strength in my left arm disapeared and it felt like my mind wasnt connected to the arm / shoulder - so much so i couldnt even hold my self in a press up postion (on a wall or floor) or push wish any kind of strength. My chest, tricep and lat became very tight and sore and the pain and injury seemed to be working itself slowly from my neck down to the left side causing more damage and pain. I was very worried that my training days were over . I couldnt run, move, walk - do anything without suffering and it seemed to be getting worse and spreading!

Traditional Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic Treatment

After the initial injury I have spent the last 5-6 weeks i think been having weekly treatment with Sifu Paul and he does all the traditional chinese and ayurvedic indian medecine, treatment and healing. I have had sessions with massage, joint manipulation, re-alignment, stretching, he has given me herbal medecine and clicked me back into place. He advised me not to train and try to keep the arm and shoulder as still as possible ( A mistake I made after 4 weeks thinking I could do it and only ended up in pain…listen to your body and people in the know everyone!).

Not moving the arm or as little as possible was a job made easier by the christmas holiday added to my leave from work. Working on a pc for 9 hours in the position did not help matters and the pain would shoot down my neck - shoulder and arm and hit my forearm. On top of that my lat and left chest went tight and knotty and painful, so this made movement even more of a task.

Results of treatment

The treatment has meant that I can now lift my arm all the way in different directions (not too fast but its so much better), move my neck more freely, the tightness is less (but still there), I have more of the power back in my arm and sleeping is much more comfortable. Work is easier and the pain is hardly there after long periods of time. Injuries like this apparently can take 6 months to heal. Mine seems to be much much better and the physio (who i have stopped seeing) was suprised at the recovery rate (go on traditional chinese / indian massage / medecine and therapy!).

Sifu has said I can now come back to training and start back tonight but it will have to be nice and easy and I cannot do anything too strenuous (i.e. grappling / sparring etc). The ligament is still slightly swollen and there is still a clicking of it against the neck and near shoulder but it is so much better and the swelling around my neck / shoulder has gone down. I am still taking the chinese herbal tea / medecine and internal pill medecines which help with the ligaments, pains and joints - really works and helps.

I will be carrying on with the treatment until I am 100% and my next treatment will be a heat treatment to target the ligament / joint i think - not sure how it works. For now i am so glad to be able to train again but I have lost weight, muscle and my left arm / side muscles feel soft (from the little use and rest). I was going mad with frustration - thank microsoft for the xbox 360, youtube for martial art videos, books on training and my old footage to stop me from loosing it…oh and my family and girlfriend (who i learned so much more about since I have been at home LOL).

If anyone has any injuries (new or old) or any kind of ailment I highly recommend you visit a Dr or a trained Sifu in traditional chinese / indian medecine, massage and therapy. It has worked for me and others.

Information on Sifu Paul Whitrods website and traditional medecine below :-

http://www.paulwhitrod.com/

paulwhitrod@yahoo.co.uk

Traditional Medicine is an integral part of the martial systems studied by Sifu Paul Whitrod. Drawing upon his detailed study into authentic methods of healing he offers classical treatments for various injuries and problems. Classes are also given in these methods.

# Traditional Thai massage
# Ayurvedic massage and treatments
# Chinese Tui Na massage
# Thai Reflexology
# Sports Injuries
# Back pain & Rheumatism
# Sprains & Fractures
# Fall and hit medicine

I am over a week behind in my posts and I havent had time to write detailed blogs as yet (busy with work, family and train till late!). This is the training for the last week in August - just bullet points for now!

Saturday

saam bo gin

different chy saus

book kiu chy sau

book kiu on its own.

Chow gar forms and parts of 9 hands borken down with applications

san sau

grappling - warm ups, drills and techniques

kalari forms, two man drills, locks and defence from attacks from behind

pad work - knees, kicks, punch / elbows

Monday

chy sau

doy chong

lim chung chong

geng tan chong

moving man chong

conditioning - gow choys and arms

yau long chy sau

chy sau

Tuesday

gee lik

hao gung neck strengthening gung

iron step and waist gung

yee kup saam bo gin

9 asking hands form

bic sarn lifting mountain form

18 dark internal palms

clamping palm

seated clamping palm

seated chy sau

seated mor jao

seated pik jao

seated doy chong

mor kam clawing gung

36 san sau

Wednesday

kalari stick fighting drills - worked on footwork, movement, stick position and more drills.

Warm ups

Saam bo gin

5 attacks using chops, cover and gow choys

5 attacks two man - good for putting power and building condtioning, sensitivity and timing.

fighting form - 3 rounds with different partners non-stop for 3 mins. Tiring and arms dropped through burning and tiredness so took a few hits to jaw and body.

chy sau

reaction drills - partners facing each other close up (one attack one defend) and reacting / blocking strikes

conditioning - back of hands, wrists, arms, palms, gow choys

yum yearn kum la sau and corrections on techniques and apps

press ups

fighting drills using soc saus, elbows, kicks, strikes, gow choys, slap blocks

helping class mates with 8 hit sensitivity drill

conditoning for arms and gow chois

Private

gungs - ribs, how gung, back, waist, step.

mor kum gung - 3 types of clawing and using the waist and tension with the clawing motions

buk kui chy sau

fun sau chy sau - great chy sau for sensitivity as well as strength in a different motion.

pic jao chy sau - palm into chest , pic out, pic jao resist.

sharpening arm chy sau - single double - probably the hardest chy sau / 2 arm chy sau I have ever done as the tension and movement is very tiring, taxing and burns in no time.

Bit behind on my posts this week so Im going to catch up on last weeks monday, tuesday and wednesday training in one post and just list the training I did with a little detail when its needed!

Monday Hakka Mantis

Got to class early and stretched, ran through chow gar forms as well as the kalari forms. Worked on Say Ban Gen Sau and some of the gungs.

Trained in the 8 section sensitivity drill before the class started. Warm ups came after with stretching and some of the exercises used to warm up that relate to movements we do in techniques and forms. After warm ups came training steps with san sau followed by saam bo gin (if chy sau and doy jong used for developing power than saam bo gin is used to bring out that power and refine it. Its also a power building form…general thoughts!).

After saam bo gin came yum yearn kum la sau - ying yang seizing hands. This was broken down and covered slowly with applications. Always useful and helps to remind you of techniques, body and hand positions as well as the names of the techniques in chinese.

Partner work followed with long rounds of chy sau with different partners, mor jao training (good for building strength on a few techniques - claw, mut sao, tan kui, got sau), sensitivity drill.Finished with some gung training for back and ribs.

Training that we should be doing at least? Saam Bo Gin 3 times a day and at least 20 press ups a day…not difficult to do really is it? Just needs to become part of a pattern in your daily life style! That perhaps is the hardest part, adding or breaking a habit!

Tuesday Tong Long

Before the mantis training I did the class in kalari and worked on the forms, techiniques and applications, two man drills and hindu squats.

Hakka mantis tong long training started with warm ups, gee lik gung (finger / clawing type gung using the opening and closing from saam bo gin and really working the ribs and stance) and iron step gung.

After the gungs we went straight into yee kup saam bo gin, 9 top asking hands, mor kam claw training, 18 dark internal power hands and clamping palm. The mor kam and qi gung forms I like to train as it has a lot of emphasis on breathing, using the waist with each techniques, building internal power and it is the softer side to the style.

Partner training followed with mor jao and pic jao. Mor jao your partner claws your bicep from the inside and you mut sao to break the grip. With Pic jao the claw is done on the outside of the arm and you have to peck sao to break the grip and continue to finish the rest of the drill.

Training finished with a new dip gwut gung exercise I had not train before and a new sun sook gung training exercise.

Wednesday Tong Long

There was lots of chy sau…lots of chy sau! Lots of yau loong chy sau and doy chong. Everyone pretty much trained with everyone as partners changed. It was great and tiring and an effort to carry on and keep good form and power.

Forms trained - saam bo gin (pretty much an effort to do this after all the chy sau and doy chong), law sun sau and finished with buk kui chy sau (a hard chy sau to do (yea yea i say that about all of them) which works different muscles and joints in a different way. The power being worked in buk kui chy sau is the outside power I think.

One to One

Trained and got more detail on gungs for the throat, steps / legs and ribs - dip gwut gung. Trained and corrected the forms yee kup saam bo gin, clamping palm, 18 dark internal power hands and learned a sitting down qi gung type exercise for strengthening back and stretching - good for overall development of power.

Learned some of the Bo Sim Ma steps and sidewards cross steps and finished with Kalari training (new form, applications of the forms techniques, where to strike marma, two man drills and applications and corresponding organs and marma points to aim for).

Thursday Visit

Made a trip to Shepards Bush to visit Si Gung David Ip Chee Keung at his london class as he was making a short visit to UK. Had a nice chat and asked about punching in Chow Gar (with regards to the elbows being completely down and the release of power either being full or a little being held back). Jumped in to help some of the students with some tips on training elbow pick chong and got back to speaking to Si Gung David.

Last saturday I got to the hakka mantis class a little late (traffic on the roads I swear!) so I missed a lot of the beginning of the class. I walmed up quickly and joined and ran through san sau - ying kam more so.

We spent a good deal of time on the 9 top asking hands and its sections thoroughly. The sections and some of the techniques were broken down and the applications were trained two man. This was really good and I learned a lot from it and it will make my techniques and form a lot more better with the some of applications in mind.

I trained forms and gungs for a bit and than partnered up for fighting form and lots of 2 man fighting drills. Spent a good deal of time on the mantis fighting stuff and finished with conditioning.

The next hour or more was spent on the grappling class which included most of what i have posted about before and lots of rounds with different partners working from stand up, ground, different mounts, working on locks and getting a tap out. All good fun and very tiring and physically demanding stuff.

Kalarippayyatu

Another hour of my training was spent doing kalari. I ran through a lot of form work, getting it right and training them on both sides (left and right) as well learning a new one and working on the ones I was weak on. Trained 2 man drills, fighting drills, locking drills and finished with some new sword work I hadnt done before. The sword work was very good as it was very close to the body and requires use of the waist and body moving together with the sword.

Training for me finished with muay thai style pad work to really finish off. Worked on constant kicking on pads non stop for a few rounds on both legs. This went to kneeing (techniques to knee from front and side) and than doing constant knees on pads with partner.

Saturdays is always a great and demanding training session that really makes me sweat and work!

Im behind with my posts, been very busy. I keep notes so I dont forget but it takes me a little while to write it all up. Once I get a flow I usually type on for longer than I intend too, so this will only be a short post.

The first class is the weapons class and I usually try to do both mantis and kalaripayatu weapons. I spent the majority of the time doing kalari stick work, pure stick work. I worked on 2 man drills, 13 hit and defend drills, footwork, hand postioning of the stick, locks and disarms using the stick and the fighting 2 man stick forms.

After training the indian sticks I finished by doing southern mantis pole sparring geared up with the chow gar students in the other hall. Trained for 3 rounds with different partners working on moving, using good technique and defending. Good fun.

Tong Long Mantis Class

Class started with warm ups and we trained the following forms - saam bo gin, yui kui, pin kui, yum yearn kum la sau, law sun sai and mo ying sao. One thing stuck out in what was said while training yui kui. The arrow punch in yui kui should be done as one motion step and punch at same time, like an arrow being released and peircing - sharp and powerful (as opposed to step first than punch). When you release an arrow from a bow the wire doesnt stop and than release the arrow.

Partner work followed training in yui kui chy sau, doy chong, fighting form, two man fighting drills and conditioning. Conditioned with a partner kicking different parts of the legs and ribs, back of palms, forearms, geng tan chong, gow choy jong, gow choy hitting and a two man conditioning which trains legs, palms, arms, stomach and hips.

Class finished with san sau with steps and chi gung breathing.

One to One

Trained and worked on yee kup saam bo gin. In the form I wasnt rounding my back enough and pushing the shoulders down and forward enough so my back wasnt fully rounded and I need to use my ribs more effectively.

Trained gungs as I have mentioned before and asked some more questions regarding where I place the tension, how I breathe and why we do this, . Learnt 3 new dip gwut gung exercises with were difficult and made my sides ache aswell as everything else! I keep saying it, gungs are demanding physically.

Went over the chy sau’s I have learned and added 2 new ones - say ban gen chy sau and fun sau chy sau. The fun sau chy sau was really good and has a lot of circular motions and sensitivity to it for both partners. I was tired from the training before so doing chy sau really kills me off, my arm feels dead and very weak, but i give it all i can as its good training to go past your limits.

Finished the rest of the class with Kalari. Trained 2 new forms and applications as well as going over the forms I had learned perviously and having them corrected. I learned a new short form that incorporates a lot of elbow attacks whilst moving forward at 45 degree angles and turning.

I find training the kalari gets me to move a lot more, twist, turn, jump and do forms according to shapes / patterns that require you to fight in many / all directions whilst looking and constantly keeping your eyes fixed on an opponent…there are also cool techniques where you pick up something (i.e. sand or debris) and throw it at the opponents eyes.

A lot of the techniques require you to cut right through and use good footwork, waist and not be so tense. I’m learning to use my body a lot more because of it as well as move a lot more freely and looser. Love training this art.

On Tuesdays if i can get to class early i train both kalaripayatu and chow gar tong long. Started the kalari with warm ups and went into the long and short kalari forms with repeating on the opposite side for each form. Spent quite a while on this working with a partner and helping each other through it with some corrections.

After the forms trained techniques, 2 man lock drills and fighting drills. These can be pad work or drills using kalari techniques (punches, kicks, chops, elbows and many more). The locks I really like and the counter locks or escapes. So much to learn though!

Southern Mantis Class

Training started with how gung (two types we trained to build the neck / head specifically but also other areas) and the iron step gung. Had some clarification on training these correctly such as where the tension and compression is to be placed.

When i train the how gung I put effort into keeping my tounge up, clenching my jaw tight, tensioning my neck muscles, tightening my lips and concentrating on working my stance and other body parts while im training it (and doing the motions while pulling tightened muscles / against tension - as it seems you do in these types off gungs). When i finish my jaw and neck does ache and I consider it worth it if it means I strengthen my jaw / head better to take a hit.

Chow Gar mantis form work came after and I trained yee kup saam bo gin (use my ribs more and really push out the arms and round the back so shoulder blades dont point out), bic sarn, 9 top asking hands form (told to make the techniques distinctive and more refined so each one is used and can be seen), first section of bo sim sau 6 times and 3-4 of the 18 swimming dragons (had my stance corrected, body posture and told to make more use of my waist and body.)

After form work I trained yui kui chy sau with different partners for a long period on both arms. Yui kui chy sau is just as tiring as you are driving forward in one motion with the arm and the leg - back and forth with tension. Burns the legs, feet ache, arms ache, waist and ribs….argh. love it.

Finished with gee lik gung which I found hard to do as I felt tired so I did a mixture of constant tension and lightly. I still gribbed my stance and tried to use dip gwut gung and towards the end I put everything I had in it till i felt like my arms were going to drop off.

Got to class early to train on my own and work on techniques, forms and general exercises. Started with general stretches concentrating on my hips and hamstrings and arms as they feel too tight of late and I really dont spend enough time regularly stretching my legs and hips.

I than trained the form 4 way gate hands and worked on using my waist and ribs in conjunction with the right posture and correct execution of the techniques. It takes time and practice to do the forms using the waist and dip gwut gung on each technique consecutively and with good form, so I slowed it down to get more feeling from it while getting the right lines and imagining applications.

I than did yee kap sarm bo jin slowly so I could concentrate on using the ribs for the shock techniques with my waist and firm stance. It felt better doing it a little less fast and working on getting the right feel. I did feel the techniques to be sharper and I felt more in my ribs and waist, so I must be doing something right .

Afterwards I wanted to work on mo ying sau also known as no shadow hands. A cool name eh?. Its a short form and has a movement similar to a pak mei form, i.e. forward moving forward grabbing claws. I like the form as it uses headbutts, one of my favourite moves! This form is done quickly but I did it relatively slow so I could get the right movements / techniques and go over anything I felt needed work on in the form.

I did the same process for training kau dau sau with a mixture of adding power and constantly checking myself and feeling and imagining applications. For each section I went slow and fast aswell as repeating anything if I made a mistake or wasnt happy with it. As its training on my own I like to do this as I feel its good to make time to practice more and perfect / work more on what you know.

Once forms work was finished I trained many different kicks and kicks with hand techniques. Similar if not the same as I have posted about earlier. I used front kicks, low side kicks inside and outside and trained in different stances and positions.

With some time to spare before class I went over kalari forms and techinques movements. I went over forms I had newly learned and worked on my footwork and positioning in some of the steps, they need work. Another kalari student came in and we finished with some two man fighting drills using chops, kicks, turns and spins.

Good stuff and warmed me up for the class.

Southern Tong Long Mantis Class

Class started with forward and backward steps, cross steps, cross over steps, toong sut knee raises (toes pointing down, knee up and across, sharp and fast, land and grip) and mouse steps on alternative sides backwards and forwards.

After I went to help a beginner with baat sic - first 8 movements of the first saam bo gin form and how to step punch and first the closing. We went over it a few times and I talked him through it as I did the form next to him. I joined back in the class and we trained the second chow gar mantis form - saam gin yui kui. In the initial baat sic I opened the ribs at the started and closed on the downward strike, than opened them again as i came up and closed on the last elbow strike. I was feeling it out and trying to concentrate on this and the float, spit, swallow and sink principles. The baat sic is the beginnning of many of the forms.

Next we trained with speed and power Law Suen Sau, bao jong gow choy, i think we did the 9 hand drill and some san sau. After this we partnered up and did a few rounds with different partners of chy sau and doy chong. I dont go to hard or too strong in chy sau or doy chong but try to put as much power as I can while still keeping good form and a constant controlled tension and use dip gwut gung. Its not easy (I keep saying this but it isnt!). The same applies to doy chong - stance is important, use of waist, elbows down and in, shoulders down, controlled and constant power…its tiring but builds a unique strength internally - joints, ligaments and muscle.

Carrying on with partner work I did fighting form 3 times with 3 different partners. My first partner I went steady and not too fast or strong but enough to get a good flow and try to get the right techniques and principles. The second time was a little faster and harder and the last I partnered with sifu and got a very good and tiring few minutes. Under pressure, fast, moving and hard can be quite a challenge when its coming at you and you can see how you cope. My arms dropped a few too many times from tiredness or lack of concentration or both and I got a lovely hit in the jaw and face . Im sure I blocked but it had little or no effect. Im just glad it wasnt full power with the intent, phew!

Lastly we went over the gau mun sau 9 top asking hands form slowly with some clarification of techniques. The class finished with san sau techniques and a bit of chi gung (which ended up being very hard as my arms were tired and it burned!).

I couldnt stay for the grappling class as I had some family stuff to get home for (summer holidays are always full of family things like visits, weddings, going out, birthdays. I tend to get out of them most of the year, lol, but I have enjoyed a lot of them this year.)

Train hard and be well all.