My Shaolin Kung-fu Training Journal -- Alex Baranosky

[AlexBaranosky]

For consistency:
This is a link to a question about my practice.

...

Does anyone know if there is a link to a page on Sifu's site all about the sparring methodology? It is mentioned briefly on the page, Combat Sequence 5: Fierce Tiger.

[Luo Lang]

I also learned to explode my force, but learned from Sifu Ronny Singer that I should only explode force maybe every 4 patterns.

This is a nice suggestion. For some reasons though, let's say if you focus on sigle patterns or on opening up your meridians through letting the energy exploding through your pipelines you may explode on every pattern.

For some reasons like breathing coordination according to your needs you may explode only once a while let's say once every four pattern.

For some resons you may also use let's say only 2-4 breaths, explosions for a full Set like Lohand asks the Way.

Sometimes I feel like my muscles run out before my chi fills up as much as I would like. I guess I should do more stances?

This may be due to a phisical tention, and a mental tention. Don't force youself I gotta build up build up! Just sit comfortably into your Golden Bridge and relax yourself. Enjoy yourself. For the time beeing I suggest to start from the scratch which means start with a comfortable number of breaths. This may give you a base to progress gradually, pushing yourself gently, but not forcing and at the same time, giving your mind and body the right time to adjust to the new gained internal force.
Later on you may forget about your breaths and just stay as long as you like.

That said the counting may give you for a guideline, which you can follow, to make it easier at the beginning

Does this mean I should do the full series of stances [horse, bow and arrow, false leg, unicorn, single leg, goat, golden bridge] from now on, if my Aims and Objectives for the time being center around building more force?

As you took part at the Small Universe course you know that there are countless ways to develop different types (solid, flowing) of internal force.

I don't know what you did when you have started? have you spend enough time in all the stances? What were your aims if yes. What were your aims to switch maybe to Golden Brindge?
If you feel like having missed the fundamentals, then it's more than wise to take a step back and start from the fundamental training.

That said there are countless of ways to build up. Just ask yourself gently, what are your other aims. maybe then you'll find the answer to chose the right way for your training.

Hope that help a little,

Respectfully

[AlexBaranosky]

Thank you Roland,

This may be due to a phisical tention, and a mental tention. Don't force youself I gotta build up build up! Just sit comfortably into your Golden Bridge and relax yourself. Enjoy yourself.

I believe the post you are quoting is a few months old. I don't feel that way anymore. I just relax very deeply and sit in my stance almost like no muscular effort involved at all.

I appreciate your responses. don't have time to do a full response now though.

All the Best

[Luo Lang]

I believe the post you are quoting is a few months old. I don't feel that way anymore. I just relax very deeply and sit in my stance almost like no muscular effort involved at all.

Ahh very good, congratulations on your progress!

Well, then it's a usefull respns for futural students

happy training

[AlexBaranosky]

I have started doing something different when I practice kicks, in addition to the normal "just kicking" from stances.

To help my control and balance, I have been:

• kicking and then pausing for a moment or a few in single-leg stance
• and also have been kicking and then pausing for a moment or two with my leg extended
• kicking from different stances, usually different parts of the 16 combat sequences

[Chiahua]

Well, then it's a usefull respns for futural students

happy training

It is—thank you for the reminder, Sihing!

[AlexBaranosky]

Hello Roland,

For some reasons like breathing coordination according to your needs you may explode only once a while let's say once every four pattern.

For some reasons you may also use let's say only 2-4 breaths, explosions for a full Set like Lohan Asks the Way.

I have not learned any breath coordination. Right now I just breath naturally (i.e. I don't think about my breathing) and I relax.

Thank for your answers above, I appreciate them.

[AlexBaranosky]

So my current practice has been:

Lifting the Sky -> Rotating Knees -> gentle chi flow.

Force Training
Horse Stance, Bow and Arrow, False Leg, Single Leg, Unicorn, Goat, then Golden Bridge. I find the more stance training the better, so I like this better than just doing solely Golden Bridge.

Leg Stretching -> chi flow

Combat Sequences
Do three different sequences cycling through them all, i.e Monday 1, 2, 3; Tuesday 2, 3, 4; Wednesday 3, 4, 5, etc

I practice each set first for form, then for flow, then for force, then I do one or two (or three) repetitions of the sequence with emphasis on my imaginary partner.

Kicks
Then I practice kicks. My kicks were pretty bad so I decided to approach them more methodically. I practice all four kicks using segments of the combat sequences. I cycle through these too, daily so I start with a different kick everyday.

1. Yellow Bird from Seq #11,
2. White Crane Spreads Wings moving backwards from Seq # 13
   
3. White Horse from Seq #10,
4. Side-stepping White Horse from Seq #16
   
5. Happy Bird from Seq #9
   
6. Naughty Monkey from Seq #12

I just do the one or two movements surrounding the kick. To gain better control I do them in 3 ways:

• I kick out then pause for a few seconds in Single Leg stance
• I kick out and hold my leg fully extended for a few seconds, then bring it to Single Leg stance and hold for another 3 seconds
• I kick out and move through the kick and follow up pattern in a flowing manner

Then I do one repetition of whatever the first sequence I practiced for the day was in a flowing manner and go into a chi flow.

Small Universe
Then I do Small Universe, and may follow that with either Transcendental or Phenomenal Big Universe.

Can't wait for the next Intensive Kung-fu Course

[Luo Lang]

Hi Alex,

I have not learned any breath coordination. Right now I just breath naturally (i.e. I don't think about my breathing) and I relax.

When you mentioned your set combat sequence training the following crossed my mind. You may be more effective in your force training when applying a simple breath coordination.

Let's take combat sequence 1 for example: when training it as force training you may explode from your Dantien with every Black Tiger.

You also may take one breath an explode with your third Black Tiger.

Remember to explode with a Her-it from your Dantien and follow up with a Haaaa sound to let the remaining "air", energy out. This Haaa is very important and will also help you let some energy sink down to your Dantien.

I think you will get out more of your training like that.

Happy training,

[AlexBaranosky]

Slowness

Hello All,

I have recently realized that my sparring ability is not high enough. When playing around with a friend of mine, I found my ability to use the combat sequences to defend myself was entirely too slow. I feel my reaction time is just not quick enough.

What can I do to make my kungfu training more useful in this regard? I don't want to be that guy who can't use his kungfu for fighting.

What are the best ways to achieve the aim/objective of being able to use my kungfu patterns effectively in combat against people who punch quickly?

[Jonny Say]

Hi Alex

You can improve speed by training your sequences and techniques many times, increasing the speed but not neglecting form and force. Just by the nature of daily repetition of your techniques and sequences they will get faster. To improve your reaction time you must also reguarly apply the sparring methodology with partners.

As far as sparring with friends ensure that you are countering with your footwork and stance then your hands rather than trying to chase techniques with your hands. If you use good footwork it gives you the time to counter then use good coverage and attack your opponent with your sequences.

Regards

[Adam Kryder]

I practice each set first for form, then for flow, then for force, then I do one or two (or three) repetitions of the sequence with emphasis on my imaginary partner.

Dear Alex,

It is very generous of you to share your training progressions, I'm sure that many have gotten good benefit from reading about your practice.

It might be a typo, but, in your above quote I believe that you are mistaken.

The normal progression for practice is:

Form ---> Force ----> Flow


Hope this helps

Best wishes,

Adam

[AlexBaranosky]

Hi Alex

You can improve speed by training your sequences and techniques many times, increasing the speed but not neglecting form and force. Just by the nature of daily repetition of your techniques and sequences they will get faster. To improve your reaction time you must also reguarly apply the sparring methodology with partners.

As far as sparring with friends ensure that you are countering with your footwork and stance then your hands rather than trying to chase techniques with your hands. If you use good footwork it gives you the time to counter then use good coverage and attack your opponent with your sequences.

Hello Johnny,

I appreciate your post.

I wasn't chasing techniques with hands, but I just found my techniques weren't able to keep up. He's a quick little guy and I guess I just need some work. I have to create some aims and objectives and make my training a bit more realistic.

Hopefully I and Matt (drop360) will get to train regularly. This will bring more of a vividly real feel to when I train by myself with my imaginary partner.

Thank you for the lesson.

It is very generous of you to share your training progressions, I'm sure that many have gotten good benefit from reading about your practice.

It might be a typo, but, in your above quote I believe that you are mistaken.

The normal progression for practice is:

Form ---> Force ----> Flow

This is how I recall being shown to do it. I did read in "The Complete Book of Shaolin" to do it the way you are explaining, and I wondered if perhaps there were two different ways Sifu taught to do it.

I will try training in the order you suggest for now.

Thank you for your lessons.

All the Best,
Alex

[AlexBaranosky]

If I don't currently have a sparring partner, what are some good ways to train for quick reaction time?

[Josh]

Hi Alex,

Jonny's advice was excellent!

Just by the nature of daily repetition of your techniques and sequences they will get faster.

I can't add much except to say that I used to go long periods of time with no opportunity for sparring, but what I did do was practice the sequences over and over and over, thousands of times. The more you practice the sequences, the more naturally they come out while sparring.

As far as sparring with friends ensure that you are countering with your footwork and stance then your hands rather than trying to chase techniques with your hands. If you use good footwork it gives you the time to counter then use good coverage and attack your opponent with your sequences.

From personal experience I can say that this is a skill that can continue being developed for a long time! Sometimes the over-focus on hands instead of footwork/bodywork/stances can be very subtle so you don't notice it. Especially with someone who's fast and makes you feel rushed, it can be hard to fully actualize the three golden rules of relax, relax, and relax! (Not to mention the other 3 rules of don't intellectualize, don't worry and enjoy your practice!) The rush to respond leads to moving the hands too soon instead of letting them flow naturally from the footwork/stances. In turn this causes tension and actually slows you down. So, don't rush to defend, don't rush to strike; let the speed come naturally.

Beyond agreeing with Jonny, my only addition would be to share my own strategy for working on these things. And that is to treat each sparring session (no matter whether it's with someone from our school or outside it) as a chance to work on my skills....no different from practicing sequences or the various levels of the sparring methodology. Focusing on that helps keep my mind off distractions like how fast my partner is and how "well" I'm doing.

I hope that helps a little...and thanks for sharing.

All my best,
Josh

p.s. Don't forget the surprise Happy Bird....it's a great tool for slowing down fast and reckless attackers!