falling leaves

Tiger Above, Tiger Below

2011-08-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

The real trick of pursuing a martial art like I Liq Chuan over the long term is recognizing the end of the duality of "on the mat" and "off the mat", so that one is always training.

The I Liq Chuan system guide opens with the following;

意力合一
yi li he yi “awareness and the physical (actions) as one”

意控制力
yi kong zhi li “awareness gains control over the physical”

用意用不力
yong yi bu yong li “use (only) awareness and not physical (force)”

The admonitions are everywhere. Train the mind, the mind is the key. This is Zen; be aware of your own mind.

The nature of human habits though, is that they are strong, hard to change, difficult to let go of.

As such it can be difficult to follow that cardinal most rule of Tai Chi and Zen - “change with the change”, especially when the change is drastic.

It seems like there's been a lot of deaths in my life lately.

A few weeks back, two of my best friends from growing up lost their younger sister. She was somebody that I had a little crush on when we were young. She was at the lake with her kids, and the waves swept her away. She drowned.

A few days ago my neighbors were killed when a home invasion turned into a double homicide.

In the face of these tragedies, it seemed somehow wrong that I should still go to work, buy groceries, scold my kids and so on, but then last night I caught site of my wife in such a way that gave rise to some kind of understanding and it made me think of and old Zen story, which I'll leave to you to ponder it's meaning.

A monk was walking along the road in the mountains when suddenly, he was confronted by a tiger which began to chase him. In his haste to escape, the monk slips over the edge of a cliff but manages to grab hold of the roots of some bush. Looking up, the hungry tiger waited for him to climb and looking down the monk sees a second tiger pacing below. A tiger above, a tiger below, without doubt the monk has met his end. Then he notices a berry nearby. He thinks “What a perfect berry”, which he picks and eats.

Zen and The Martial Arts - Mindfulness Of Breathing

2011-07-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

The breath is used as an indicator for when you are going beyond the limit of strength. Part of tai chi is to recognize things as they are, or as such (Dao 道, or the nature of things).

I have strength, why can't I use it? We all have a certain amount of strength, this is our nature. The thing is when I try to go BEYOND the limit of my strength that my action turns into struggling, and I will lose the tai chi balance in my body, because everything has it's limits.

Understanding the limits is tai chi, so I use the breath to keep the body in yin/yang balance. when I start to struggle in my action, such that it starts to restrict my breathing, I know I need to change so I can relax again.

The Importance Of Smiling During Meditation

2011-06-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ever notice the gentle smile on the face of most Buddha and Bodhisatva statues?

In The Anapanasati Sutta: A Practical Guide to Mindfulness of Breathing and Tranquil Wisdom Meditation , Ven. Vimalaramsi writes that remembering to smile during meditation is crucial.

"Imagine, for a moment, the young Bodhisatta resting under the Rose Apple Tree as a young boy. He was not serious and tense when he attained a pleasant abiding [jhana] and had deep insights with a light mind. Want to see clearly? It’s easy!
Just lighten up, have fun exploring and smile! Smiling leads
us to a happier more interesting practice."

In the video below, speaker Ron Gutman sheds some light on why this may be, by citing some of the most relevant points of around a dozen scientific studies on smiling and it's effect on our personalities and our lives.

Zen and The Martial Arts - Formlessness

2011-03-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

I Liq Chuan is called "The Martial Art of Awareness" for good reason. Zen philosophy is inextricably interwoven into it's training approach. It's simultaneously the most difficult and most rewarding part of practice.

Recently in one of my local Tempe, Arizona classes at Falling Leaves Kung Fu, we were discussing I Liq Chuan's "Three Mental Factors" of present formless and neutral, with an emphasis on "formlessness", and how that formlessness applies to martial art.

The formlessness here is a mental quality of formless. In a recent conversation with my Sifu about the subject he explained "it's more about not locking (mentally) onto things".

Basically, when one's concentration is not strong enough, there is a mental type of "squinting" which takes place in order for the mind to process some piece of information. Scientists call this phenomenon "attentional blink".

Attentional Blink Video

The Zen masters of old wrote about it exhaustively. In fact, the Zen masterpiece, The Unfettered Mind (不動智神妙録, fudōchi shinmyōroku), written by Takuan Soho to a martial artist of his day, deals almost exclusively with this concept of attentional blink and it's application to martial arts.

Take the following passage;

"Glancing at something and not stopping the mind is call immovable. This is because when the mind stops at something, as the breast is filled with various judgments, there are various movements within it. When it's movements cease, the stopping mind moves, but does not move at all.
If ten men, each with a sword come at you with swords slashing, if you parry each sword without stopping the mind at each action, and go from one to the next, you will not be lacking in a proper action for every one of the ten.
Although the mind acts ten times against ten men, if it does not halt at even one of them and you react to one after another, will proper action be lacking?
But if the mind stops before one of the men, though you parry his striking sword, when the man comes, the right action will have slipped away.
Considering that the The Thousand-Armed Kannon has one thousand arms on it's one body, if the mind stops at the one holding the bow, the other nine hundred and ninety-nine will be useless. It's because the mind is not detained at one place that all the arms are useful."
-Takuan Soho

Although the author refers specifically to the sword, his advice applies to all martial arts, indeed, every and any activity.

Attach the mind to no object, and it is free to move from one moment to the next without hindrance. When concentration is sharpened, the mind won't be occupied with form (this is this. that is that, or possibly worse, what is is this? what is that?)

As my Sifu often says "If you think, you don't know, if you know, you don't think."

Falling Leaves Kung Fu Ranked #1 in Tempe / Phoenix Arizona!

2011-03-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

Falling Leaves Kung Fu has been ranked #1 in the Phoenix Metro area for Chinese martial arts. (although the ranking of the top three seemed to fluctuate depending on the link you clicked).

I've worked really hard to bring the best Chinese martial arts instruction possible to the area. To help us celebrate, come get started with a free trial of two weeks!

Martial Art of Awareness Workshop Clip

2011-02-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

Just a little taste of some what you can expect during the April 2011 martial art of Awareness workshop with Master Sam FS Chin in Tempe Arizona.

Teisho (Public Talk on Zen) In Tempe, AZ

2010-12-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

As part of our ongoing training, both mental 意 and physical 力, in the martial art of awareness, students are encouraged to seek out meditation opportunities with those more enlightened than ourselves.

So I was lucky enough to attend a Teisho (public lecture) by the 103 year old Japanese Zen master Kyozan Joshu Roshi this morning at the Haku-Un-Ji Zen Center in Tempe this morning.

While waiting for Roshi to begin his lecture, I had an interesting thought about "formations" (remember that the three mental factors of I Liq Chuan are Present, Formless and Neutral). The Zen Center is located on a small property in a residential neighborhood, which has two structures, a Zendo in back and a house in front.

The Pluralism Project website describes it thus;

"The Haku-un-Ji Zen Center is located in the backyard of a private home in Tempe. Associated with Zen meditation centers in New Mexico and California, it reflects the highly individualized and personalized style of practice so often characteristic of Buddhism in U.S. life."

"Located in the back yard of a private home." That description brings with it a whole set of concepts and limitations doesn't it? But as I sat with 50 other people waiting for Roshi to begin speaking the thought occurred to me that description is likely due mostly to the perception of the sizes of the two structures as opposed to the location or actual function of the property itself. What if the size of the Zendo was double or triple that of the house? What if it was at the top of secluded mountain but the same an every other respect? Would it then qualify as a "legitimate" center? At any rate, my point is that these kinds of mental formations, these concepts of what things really are or are not, can be our biggest obstacles as we attempt to progress in the art as well as our lives.

Roshi's talk dealt mostly with, coincidentally enough, Tai Chi principles. He spent a great deal of time discussing the interaction of positive and negative forces in the world (i.e. yin and yang), especially with regards to male and female relationships.

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to ask questions of Roshi, or I would have loved to hear him talk more in depth about the "great difference in perception of time and distance between people of the East and West". This concept intrigued me as it's precisely the perception of time and distance that is so important in martial arts in general and I Liq Chuan in particular.

All in all it was a morning well spent to hear Roshi speak about Zen and it's application to life.

Training Tai Chi - Kung Fu For Martial Arts

2010-09-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Tui Shou (push hands) or Chi Sao (sticky hands) are common practices in Chinese martial arts, meant to develop both structure, sensitivity, power, offense and defense. All too often though they become overly formalized practices that leave the original intent far behind, and as a result practitioners fail to develop any real, usable martial arts skill.

At Falling Leaves Kung Fu in Tempe, we strive to practice these drills in the spirit which they were developed, a real, "live" drill.

We ran these stationary drills taking turns being the "anchor" and then cycling through the line. each person got two minutes as the anchor, then at the end I wanted to shoot the clip and the students thought it would be funny to challenge me to just stay in the anchor spot until i dropped. Unfortunately we ran out of space on the sd card before I gassed completely but i was just about all in by the end anyway.

So what we were doing is trying for the anchor to start out as "lower hand" and then we play "control".

Definition of "control" is:

lower hand can tap the partners arms and body (like striking) and try to get to "upper hand".
upper hand can pull / push from the get go and wants to try and defend from the lower hand attacks.
both upper and lower attempt to maintain contact/stickiness throughout.
once lower gets to be upper then the roles reverse.

The idea was to maintain the harmony of the 13 points, manifest 45 and 90 to the point, manifest offense and defense (highest point), etc. at all times and under duress, while at the same time constantly shifting level of play (hard and heavy with the guys and lighter with the ladies, and even the difference in body types and energy on touch between the guys), to challenge the attention while in a state of fatigue.

Video uploaded a little funny, so you may want to click to view on YouTube...

Clips From Our Martial Arts Classes in Tempe, AZ - 09.18.10

2010-09-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

A quick clip from our martial arts classes in Tempe Arizona discussing our Tai Chi - Kung Fu principles of absorb and project and how they might apply to a clinch.

visit http://rumsoakedfist.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10370&st=0&sk=t&sd=a#p179417 to follow the specific discussion which this clip was shot for or visit http://fallingleaveskungfu.com in the Tempe Arizona area or http://iliqchuan.com world wide.

Martial Art of Awareness - Masters Class Webinar

2010-09-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Students of Falling Leaves Kung Fu in Tempe, Arizona gathered early this morning, some as early as 7am, to participate in my Sifu's only regular class taught in New York, the monthly "Master's Class" for I Liq Chuan, The Martial Art of Awareness.

I'd like to discuss some thoughts on the day while the content is fresh in my mind. It was a fantastic experience for everyone I think, and I definitely got a lot out of the day (a few technical difficulties aside). Although looking at the list below, it might not look like a lot, but five hours of martial arts training ended up flying by!

Some of the days content that was covered was;

the ground as a tai chi point

all actions as either open or close

discussion of the above principles (and others) via application of the 21 Form

The Ground As a Tai Chi Point

This was a great topic for me, since it relates directly to the training I'm currently pursuing for my student level 6 (roughly equivilant to a 2nd degree black belt in other systems).

Master Sam FS Chin discussed the point at which the feet touch the ground as being a tai chi point, in the case of the feet, the point at which the enegry goes down, but also back up, so that you're never sitting on the feet, but that the feet merely support the body giving you a strong stance when you need it, but the ability to move and step and kick when you need it as well.

My Sifu also discussed it as a peng 棚 point, or a point of fullness as well.

As I understand it, this tai chi balance at the point of contact with the floor occurs as a result of the alternation of absorb and project, and opening and close energy and gives you the readiness to change and move freely while maintaining the ability to generate power (remember martial arts are about power, offense and defense).

This topic also timely, since I had just watched a short clip from the Grand Master's workshop in Kuala Lumpur in which Master Chin duscussed the very same topic, so the repitition of the concept was great reinforcemnet.

Return To Simplicity...

"All actions as either open or close" was another interesting and juicy morsel that just helped to tie everything together into a nice, neat little package. "Make everything as simple as possible." Master Chin explained (which is somewhat ironic considering the highly technical nature of a martial art like I Liq Chuan), but it was concept that helped everything else gel.

Application Of The I Liq Chuan 21 Form

The majority of the days training was devoted to application of the principles via movements from the 21 Form. This was all hands on, contact based partner training.

Just due to time limits we were only able to cover a few variations of applications from the first 7 moves -

Commencing Form (qǐ shì) 起势

Hold The Ball (Left & Right) (xiáng shī xì qiú) 祥狮戏球

Whirl & Hook (huī tiān mǒ dì) 挥天抹地

Pull & Push (shuāng gōu tuī zhǎng) 雙鉤推掌

Drag & Shoulder (lì bá shān hé) 力拔山河

Brush Knee & Push (jiàng lóng fàng yuān) 降龙放渊

Circle & Press (huā shì wèi jìn) 化势为进（双手）

A great little gem for me was just thye application of the first step to the left in commencing form as a shoulder stroke (ofter refferred to as kao jin 靠勁 (bumping power) in Chinese). This was probably the greatest insight, or just reafirming that every little movement in I Liq Chuan has it's relationship and it's purpose.

Moving on through all the various applications, I felt the strongest emphasis for the day was recognizing the opening and closing action to get the right result on the opponent.

Being able to recognize the origin of movement and the right timing of application of force is the key to making your martial arts application seem like magic. That's the key behind the nei jia 內家 (internal martial arts). It's the path from obvious power (ming jin 明勁) to hidden power (an jin 暗勁).

Master Sam FS Chin - 21 Form 意力拳二十一式

A Basic Intro To How We Train In Our Tempe AZ Martial Arts Classes

2010-08-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Three Planes Of Movement

When people first come to train with me here in Tempe, Az there are two common experiences people have when they're exposed to I Liq Chuan. The first is "I don't understand how I Liq Chuan works as a martial art without techniques" and the second is "I don't understand how the basic exercises (jibenggong 基本功), spinning and sticky hand all tie together".

So in this clip I try to demonstrate a quick answer to those questions. Since the second issue is easier to address, I'll tackle that one first.

One of the basic ideas behind tai chi (taiji) principles to recognize and harmonize with nature. When it comes to the human body and how we move through space, one of the most basic qualities of nature we begin to learn is how to move, or propel force / energy in each of the three planes. Later on we learn to combine the three to form a three dimensional sphere, but more on that another time. The three planes are

Horizontal (transverse)
Frontal (sometimes called coronal)
Sagittal

Harmony Of Movement

In the video clip above I demonstrate movement (mostly) on the frontal plane. First as a solo exercise only, where we try to recognize how to propel a full frontal circle, in this case what we call 7th and 8th spin. In this spin the hands are both moving either clockwise or counter clockwise in an alternating fashion. As one of the basic exercises we want to look into the body and propel this movement with the five qualities of unification (i.e. five qualities of unified movement), which brings the whole body together in a unified way. The five are;

Absorb & Project
Expand & Condense
Open & Close
Concave & Convex
The Three Planes (in this case moving frontally)

In addition, we're looking into the body to recognize and train the "Six Physical Principles". I won't discuss them all here, but I would like to mention the sixth principle a little more. In the old tai chi classics they talk about "one part moves, all the parts move", or in some other classics of Chinese martial arts they talk about "the six harmonies". In I Liq Chuan we consider this analogous to the sixth principle which is the coordination of all the joints, or how you use the ankle, knee and hip in coordination with the shoulder, elbow and wrist. As simple as the movement looks I could write much more about the depth and complexity of the practice as it evolves into the nei gong 內功 when combined with the attention, the breath and the feeling of the five energies listed above.

Partner Training - Spinning Hands

After demonstrating the basic movement as a solo drill (i.e. jibenggong 基本功) I move into showing the SAME movements as spinning hands training. As a style of Tai Chi - Kung Fu, the spinning hand forms the back bone of I Liq Chuan's training as a martial art. It can be trained both with light contact, as a sensitivity drill and heavy, as a power training method we call grinding hands (mo shou 磨手).

This practice teaches the student of I Liq Chuan to develop "fullness", or a sphere of offense and defense, like a force field, but this begins simply as a mindfulness exercise as the student begins to observe the point of contact with the opponent and how it changes. Every point has three qualities;

Yin
Yang
Neutral or the tai chi (taiji) point.

Application - Flowing With The Opponent

Learning to observe these changes begins to develop a sense of flow with the opponent. Like the old masters used to talk about their arts being like water, recognizing the three qualities of yin, yang and neutral, one begins to develop the sense that where there is an opening you can flow in and where there is an obstacle you flow around.

This concept of flowing with the opponent like water is the Zen principle of acting without intent. There is no sense of "I think I can do this technique or that technique". Instead, the student simply learns to recognize and act on what they refer to in Zen, as "suchness".

In other words, things are just "this way" and when you can act in harmony with that, what ever you do will be correct. In the case of martial arts, this Zen approach allows you effect some result on the opponent without the need to act on techniques trained into reflexive habits over time in one's past training.

So in the final segment of the clip I show how the same basic movement can be applied to the opponent in any number of ways. Although, by necessity the applications were pre-conceived for the sake of demonstration, I initially "discovered ALL the applications shown "on the fly" during real time sparring. Nobody ever showed me those applications as a specific technique. At the time they all just evolved spontaneously out of my opponents actions and my expressing fullness, offense and defense.

If you're in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and you would like to know more about I Liq Chuan you can call 620-751-7003 or visit http://fallingleaveskungfu.com. Anywhere else in the world should visit http://iliqchuan.com.

Martial Arts Summer Madness Sale - 50% Off!

2010-08-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

New students who register for classes with Falling Leaves Kung Fu before the end of August will receive Two Weeks at no cost and no obligation to continue.

Offer Valid Through 08/31/2010

Martial Art of Awareness Students Test For Rank!

2010-07-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

On Sunday July 17th, 2010, Arizona students from all over the state gathered at the Kung Fu Studio in Tucson to test for their next student level. We had 10 successful tests for student level one, and one successful test for student level 2. Many congratulations to all the students of our style of Tai Chi - Kung Fu for your hard work and determination to pursue our wonderful martial art!

Clips From Our Martial Arts Classes in Tempe, AZ - 7.11.2010

2010-07-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

More Sunday goodness...

Falling Leaves Kung Fu students of I Liq Chuan, Ashe (Cheif Instructor at FLKF), and Glenn work on some basic partner drills that incorporate our spinning and sticky hands training.

In these clips we work on I Liq Chuan principles like "guard center/ use center" "no landing" as well as "circle to center, center to center, center with cross" and the "five qualities of unification", "bridging" and more.

Here in the second clip we work on the same qualities as above but starting from a position of no contact. in martial arts it's important for the student to learn to maintain readiness at all times.

In this second clip we also start to work in some training on the "phoenix eye" material and trying to maintain the "fullness" so the opponent can't strike in at any point.

In both clips we're only working from stationary position. Later, when the student has a grasp of these concepts, the same training must be done with moving steps, then into full sparring.

Some Sticky Leg Training

2010-07-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

Falling Leaves Kung Fu students Will and Jonathan train some "sticky leg" during our martial arts classes from this Sunday at our Tempe, Arizona facility. Sticky leg drills are used to develop both offense and defense within the "shuai" 摔 section of training. Shuai is often tranlated as "wrestling" and can include trips, sweeps, throws and various take downs, similar to Judo or Jiu-Jitsu.

This Sunday's class focused on our basic exercises (jibengong 基本功) 11-15, which is the required content for student level 2, but since we were working on footwork and stepping anyway, I had us train some sticky leg as well.

Avatar, The Last Airbender - Martial Arts Special

2010-06-29T10:31:00.001-07:00

Avatar: The Last Airbender Special Offer

When we discovered the Nicolodean animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender" in my house, it was a real treat! The whole fmaily loved watching each new episode (we watched them on DVD). Since that time my kids *cough*and me*cough* have enjoyed watching them again and again.

So nauturally we're all very excited for the release of the theatrical, live action version by one of todays great film makers M. Night Shyamalan.

As a Chinese martial artist, one of the coolest things about Avatar is the strong influence Kung Fu plays in the series. It's great inspiration for kids (and adults) to start their own journey into the Chinese martial arts.

So to celebrate the release of the new movie we're offering 1 week of FREE martial arts classes to anyone who brings in a ticket stub.

Offer Details

Offer Expires August 1st, 2010

May not be combined with other offers

New students only

Must bring in ticket stub from any screening of Avatar: The Last Airbender

Call 602-751-7003 to get started today

New Karate Kid Special - 1 Week FREE

2010-05-29T20:46:00.001-07:00

Growing up during the 80's, the movie The Karate Kid certainly helped influence my desire to learn martial arts. I always dreamed of finding a master as wise and kind as Mr. Miyagi. I was lucky enough to find my Mr. Miyagi, so in honor of the new Karate Kid movie we're offering one free week of lessons to anyone who brings in their ticket stub from the new movie!

Karate Kid Movie Offer Valid Through July 11th, 2010.

The new Karate Kid movie is a retelling of the classic 80's movie. This updated ersion takes place in China as our hero learns the mystic arts of kung fu from none other than Jackie Chan himself. I'm definitely looking forward to this one!

In Columbia Pictures' The Karate Kid, 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) could've been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's (Taraji P. Henson) latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying - and the feeling is mutual - but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts "the karate kid" on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.

Spring 2010 Tai Chi - Kung Fu Workshop in Arizona

2010-04-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Some photos from last weekends workshop in Arizona.

Holly from Tucson enjoying herself at the Spring 2010 workshop with world renowned Tai Chi - Kung Fu master Sam FS Chin.

Tempe student Frank shows off his local colors while listening to Tai Chi - Kung Fu master Sam FS Chin During the latest workshop here in Arizona.

Septuagenarian, Martha, traveled all the way from Northern California to attend the workshop with Master Sam FS Chin. She and her significant other, Lim, both had a lot of fun learning the "push hands / sticky hands" aspect of I Liq Chuan, which teach the martial applications of the art. Martha is proof that not only can a martial art like I Liq Chuan be taught to any one of any level of experience and physical condition, but that you can have fun while you're at it. Just look at the smile on Martha's face!

Future doctor Greg has a blast as he works with Master Sam FS Chin. Believe it or not, some of the training exercises done with a partner are a great work out for both strength and the cardio-vascular system. Just look at those muscles in Gregs arms!

Group photo from the Spring 2010 Workshop with world renowned Tai Chi - Kung Fu master, Sam FS Chin

Falling Leaves Kung Fu of Tempe can be found at

931 E. Elliot Road, Suite 114 Tempe, Az 85284

602-751-7003 http://www.fallingleaveskungfu.com

Arizona's PREMIER Kung Fu and Tai Chi!

602-751-7003

Find Out Why We're The Premeir Kung Fu Program in The Tempe and Chandler AZ area!

2010-03-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

Are you uncomfortable with the idea of just jumping right in to a trial class?

Not sure if our program is right for you? Let's talk about it over coffee.

Martial Art, Attention & Recognizing Space

2010-02-28T16:14:00.000-08:00

Kelley came up from Tucson the other day to drop his family off at the Science Museum in Downtown Phoenix so we decided to meet up and take the opportunity to get some training in for our next cert (student level six). Since the Science Museum is pretty close to the Phoenix Public Library we just met up there to get some training in and shot some video of a few of the exercises (just to post for fun and discussion).

One thing that never stops amazing me about this art is the depth that's hidden within the deceptively short and simple looking curriculum.

For instance, it took me about two years to go from my level four cert to my level five (stationary spinning hands). When you look at the ILC syllabus (which my Sifu often calls "the road map to understanding the system"), each stop along the way (i.e. student level) has a single principle that covers the training, and for level five that's to recognize the "changing point of contact", but it took me nearly the FULL two years to recognize the "mechanism of body movement" (like opening and closing at N,E,S,W, and "circle to center" etc.) as well as the importance of timing within the spins (like alternating capturing the upper and lower mass to recognize when it's safe to drop your hand and when not).

So I guess it shouldn't be surprising that it's taken me another two years to really figure out that level six isn't just about spinning with stepping and kicking, but that a major factor of the level six training is recognizing range, section and distance. This realization was hammered home during the recent intensive retreat while I was working with Alex and Dasha and they showed my things like how the "Ba Gua" stepping should involve moving into your opponents space and retreating steps to maintain your ideal distance.

Spinning Hands with Ba Gua Stepping

If you want to compare, I have three similar clips on this on my youtube channel. The first is just a simple rundown of the very basic stepping pattern of the Ba Gua (Pa Kua) steps.

The second is way cool clip of my Sifu doing some moving step spinning hands with his cousin for a demo for Russian TV. You can see looking at our clip (right) that the harmonization of distance during the steps is a lot more rough

The last is a clip of my Sifu working with me here in Arizona last April during our Spring Workshop.

This particular drill was one of the key things still not up to standard for my cert.

Kicking while spinning is also another major weakness I need to polish before I can get my level six (mainly learning to kick without needing to shift the weight to the post leg), and I actually feel this is the worst of the three things Sifu told me to work on so I didn't even bother trying to catch any video of Kelley and I working on that.

Range and Section

This second clip shows a little bit of a drill I worked a lot on with Alex the day before I left the retreat.

It involves a lot of opening and closing to change range and section (i.e. moving from wrist contact, to elbow and body contact and back).

This one is a ton of fun to train, as you can just spin and "slice" to change section or you can add an element of sticky hand in that when opponent isn't full you can slap the body or leg and they can use open and close to nuetralize. You can also train to grab the joints themselves as you grab. The hard part is to stay within the drill (spinning) and not start playing sticky hands.

I've got sort of a wave going on in my body in this clip at times when I try to nuetralize Kelley's slicing which I think shows a good coordination of all the joints, but is also something that is part of the level six cert, which is knowing when to "break off a joint".

In other words, up to here we focus a lot on "meeting" the opponents force and using the power of the structure (skeleton), but here we now have to learn to relax a section and "break it off" from the structure without collapsing or losing fullness.

About Ashe

Ashe currently trains and teaches the Chinese martial art of I Liq
Chuan as well as martial arts based fitness in the Phoenix and Tempe
region of Arizona. If you'd like to get in touch with him, you can contact him here or call 602-751-7003.

Falling Leaves Kung Fu of Tempe AZ - Group Photo

2009-10-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

FLKF Martial Arts in Tempe, Arizona - Warm Up Stretches

2009-09-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Breathing in and out, exhaling and inhaling, they get rid of the old to absorb the new. They swing like bears and stretch like birds - all this they do in order to have long life. They are Daoyin disciples, people who nourish their form seeking for longevity like Pengzu.
-Zhuang Zi

Every Falling Leaves Kung Fu class begins with a thorough warm up. Our traditional classes begin with a series of gentle stretching, bending and swinging exercises called daoyin (導引) in Chinese and are sometimes referred to as "Chinese Yoga".

The gentle, flowing movements are combined with the breath in order to loosen up the joints, sooth the central nervous system and prepare the body for training.

Daoyin means "to lead" or "to guide" (as in qi) and there are many different sets of exercises. Some of the most well known are baduanjin (eight peices of brocade) and wuqinxi (five animal play) and are more commonly called qigong in modern times.

The practice of daoyin for health is very old, with historical documents from China referring to it's practice as early as 500BC.

To get started today call 602-751-7003 or email us here for more information!

References:
1. http://chinese.dsturgeon.net/text.pl?node=2817&if=en
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daoyin
3.http://www.daoistcenter.org/daoyin.html
4. http://www.daoyin.it/e_Daoyin.htm

I-Liq Chuan's Spike Energy - The Square within the Circle

2009-08-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Just training martial arts in Tempe is fine, but one of the cool parts about being involved with a martial art like I-Liq Chuan is the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, and to get a chance to travel a bit to meet my Sifu for workshops outside of Arizona.

I shot this clip at the recent workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Understanding how to create the spike energy in order to maintain the "fullness" is an important part of I-Liq Chuan's spinning hands training. In a sense it's the "square within the circle".

Martial Arts, Tai Chi Principles &The Body

2009-08-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I like to follow the Dragon Door crew is that, besides the fact that they know their stuff where sports performance is concerned, they also often provide some tantalizing food for thought about martial arts, especially the so called "internal martial arts".

In a recent issue of the "Power by Pavel" newsletter an article by Franz Snideman RKC TL, CK-FMS on the pistol squat got me thinking about the potential relevance to I-Liq Chuan, and what we call "the mechanism of body movement", or Liq Hok in Hakka.

Before I go any further, I should point out that, one thing I haven't been able to figure out is if Pavel's bag of neurological "tricks" is actually as relevant to the power of internal martial arts as they seem, or if it's the handiwork of Dragon Door editor-in-chief John Du Cane trying to make the connections in order to sell his books to a wider audience.

At any rate, the mechanism of body movement is a whole set of interrelated concepts that essentially explain to the student of I-Liq Chuan "how to move the body", or more correctly, how to recognize "the way the body works".

The thing that caught my eye in the pistol squat article was the elaboration by the author on the importance of maintaining the different parts of the foot in contact with the floor. For reader convenience I'll just "quote" the relevant portion of the article here;

Click here to read the original article in full

What makes this so interesting is that this very nearly duplicates (in essence) the I-Liq Chuan concept of "nine solid and one empty", which is one of our "six physical principles" that, in part, define the mechanism of body movement.

"Nine solid and one empty" refers to points on the bottom of the feet; all five toes, the "big and small balls" of the foot, the side of the foot and the heel, should all remain in contact with the ground. The big toe is then "wrapped" isometrically to the small toe, which has the effect of drawing the arch slightly higher off the ground. The nine are "solid" because they remain in contact with the earth, and are thus yang, while the center of the arch becomes yin, or "empty". Like many Chinese martial arts I-Liq Chuan is based on Zen and Tai Chi principles, so we talk a lot about solid and empty, yin and yang and relate those terms to the body.

According to our view of tai chi principles, all the extending muscles are yang, and project and expand away from the ming men. All the flexing muscles are yin and draw and condense toward the dan tien.

The article's implication that maintaining the "big ball" of the foot in contact with the floor activates the quads is mirrored in the theory of the mechanism in that we say that the "extending" muscles are yang (in this case quads) and that in the legs you should feel the yang "energy" pressing down to the big toe.

Remember that I mentioned that the big toe "wraps" isometrically to the little toe, which then curls under and wraps the "energy" back around to the empty point at the center of the foot and then back to the dan tien. You can see this reflected in the Dragon Door diagram which states that the "small ball" of the foot (which lies directly behind the little toe) in contact with the floor helps to activate the hamstrings and IT bands, which, according to I-Liq Chuan's theory of the mechanism, would be yin muscles, and again, draw to the dan tien.

Previously, I had mostly thought of the 9/1 concept in terms of balance and stability as it relates to maintaining relaxation. My Sifu (Master Sam F.S. Chin) has often explained that if you maintain the center of gravity force too far to the toe or heel, then the body becomes tense since you need to use more and more muscle tension to hold the body upright. The result is a severe reduction in the amount of force you can generate against an opponent, since power is actually generated out of relaxation.

The article got me thinking of the 9/1 as it applies to the tai chi balance in the entire body (i.e. balance of yin and yang) and how that might possibly relate to the extraordinary power that long time practitioners of martial arts can generate by coordinating the entire body as a whole.

At any rate, it's an interesting reminder about just how important a role the feet and their relationship with the ground play as our base in human movement and the generation of power.

If you'd like to learn more about I-Liq Chuan's approach to tai chi principles or the mechanism of body movement and our basic exercises, you can browse our instructional DVDs here.

Tempe, Az Martial Art of Awareness workshop clip - joint locks

2009-08-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

Joint Locks (Chin Na) in I-Liq Chuan

Throughout the history of martial arts most have developed some form of joint locks (Chin Na 擒拿). Chinese joint locking techniques may have influenced Japanese martial arts like jiu-jitsu. According to wikipedia;

Chin na is also accredited in the development of jujutsu.[citation needed] Japanese and Chinese documents state that Chen Yuan-Yun (Chin Gempin or Chen Yuan-Pin; 1587-1674) was the first to introduce Chinese ju techniques (柔道 rou dao) into Japan during the early to middle 1600's. One such Japanese document is “Collections of Ancestor’s Conversations Volume 2".

“Honcho Bugei Shoden” (also referred to as “Kanjo Shoden”) written by Hinatsu Shigetaka in 1716 states the following:

Recently, Chin Gempin came to Japan and stayed at the Kokusa monastery, where he met three ronin: Fukuno Hichiroemon, Isogai Jirozaemon, and Miura Yojiemon. Chin Gempin told them that in China, there is an art of seizing a man. He said that he had seen it practiced and gave a brief example of the art. Chin Gempin also stated that he had not learned all of the principles of the art. Upon hearing this, the samurai further researched this art. Once achieving a degree of skill, the samurai founded the Kito-ryu school of Jujutsu.

The clip below demonstrates a few variations on some standing joint locks, which all evolve out of our spinning hands training.

Our method of training chin na is actually almost useless without an advanced level of spinning hands. (In our ranking system, chin na comes nearly last in terms of certification.) The reason being is that you don't have time to think about what technique you should use. Joint locks should flow naturally from your movement. In fact, our instructional DVD on the subject is sub-titled "A Flowing Process". When the opportunity is there to grab or lock you must be able to feel it, and that ability to recognize the feel is trained within the spinning hands. If you can't feel it, you'll never be able to use it in real time.

Martial Art of Awareness, Tempe, Az workshop clip - Completing the Loop

2009-07-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

During the Spring workshop here in Arizona, my Sifu, Master Sam F.S. Chin spent time covering the concept of "completing the loop" in some detail. The following clip is probably the clearest example of the concept of the loop and the interrelated concept of "every circle having a cross" we have on video.

The idea is that you must pass the "energy" or vector of force past each of the cardinal points on the circle before your loop can be complete. Why is this important? Well in the words of my senior brother Alex (Chief Instructor of Russia), "it's like when a fish swallows the hook completely". It's the application of force not just at the point of contact with the opponent, but it's as if you're pulling from their feet directly.

For reference, here is a clear picture of the diagram that my Sifu is referring to in the video.

My Third San Da Fight , and First Loss...

2009-07-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

So after months of training, hard work and anticipation here in Tempe, I'm now dealing with the disappointment of my first loss.

I'm doing my best remain mindful of the various mental states associated with the post fight period, and use that observation and awareness as a continuing part of the training process. After all, even after my win last year at the Kuo Shu in Baltimore, I felt the same sense of disappointment for not performing up to the standards I set for myself. As someone pointed out to me this weekend, apparently I'm a "closet perfectionist".

My biggest regret is not "going the distance". On my standing eight count in the second round, I was just trying to dig so deep to find the will to go on after getting rocked, and it just took me so long. Too long.

But watching the time in the video, I only had about 30 seconds left to go in the second round and I could have recovered enough to fight the third, especially, according to my point of view, considering that my opponent appeared to be gassing, while I still had plenty of gas in the tank. (Thanks to all the extremely brutal intervals I performed leading up to the fight, and also being able to remain mentally calm).

I feel there were a lot of factors that contributed to my loss, including the serious back injury I sustained in training just a few weeks prior to fight day (I was unable to walk for four days, and missed a whole week of training). The break in my training so close to the fight really affected my mental state in terms of confidence level. Additionally there was the difficulties of trying to train while being a father of three and working labor during the heat of an Arizona summer.

But overall, it really just comes down to my own lack of understanding (at this time) of how to apply my chosen martial art. Afterward my Sifu, Master Sam F.S. Chin told me "I keep telling you guys, the point of sticky hand is not to stick to your opponent, it's to get them to stick to you!" My opponent came out very aggressive, and my defensive mindset combined with being a bit too conservative in order to sustain my energy levels led to me to just taking too many big shots.

That being said, looking at the video, I feel I was still the more skilled fighter and it's a damn good fight to watch so, I hope you enjoy it!

Time for "Thank You's"

As always, the first thanks goes out to my Sifu, Master Sam F.S. Chin, for sharing his family art with me and taking me on as a disciple and lineage holder of the art. It's an honor and privilege I hold dear and I can only hope that in the years to come my skill level will reach a fraction of his so that I can uphold the art with honor and integrity.

To my wife, Natasha for supporting me in my efforts to become the best martial artists and self I can be. I couldn't have gotten as far as I have without her willingness to allow me to spend our personal finances on training and travel, and time away from the family, leaving her alone with three young kids.

To Laoshi Mark Jones of Hong Fa Yi Wing Chun in Tempe, Arizona, for allowing me to run a program in his outstanding facility.

Eric, my sparring partner for the last three years. As a result of his continued dedication to advancing in his own art, we've both come forward together.

A special "Thank you" goes out to my new student Stacy, who spent her own time, money and effort to accompany me to Texas to capture the weekend in pictures and video and to serve as support for the competitors. Her efforts made the weekend much smoother for everyone.

To Master Jimmy Wong and his students of USA Chin Woo for the monumental efforts of organizing an event of the magnitude of the "Legends of Kung Fu" tournament. It's a true honor to participate in a competition with such history and significance to the Chinese martial arts community as a Chin Woo (Jing Wu) event. His efforts bring honor to the founder of Chin Woo, Huo, Yuan Jia, and his ideal of martial art and competition as method of personal development. Martial arts are an activity that require participation and cooperation (without an opponent there is no fight, so no need for martial arts, and without partners there is no opportunity to train) and without the efforts of Master Jimmy Wong, there would have been no opportunity for so many excellent martial artists to compete.

Similarly, to the the judges and tournament officials for spending their own time and effort to travel from around the country and world to help with the event. Despite my own disagreements on certain issues regarding judging, your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Lastly, to anyone and everyone who I may have missed, but never the less, supported me along the way.

You can view about 50 photos from the entire weekend here.

Tempe, AZ workshop clip - Mindfulness, Martial Arts and the "Fullness"

2009-07-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here's another short clip from the Spring 2009 workshop in Tempe, Arizona of my Sifu (Master Sam F.S. Chin) discussing using attention to manifest fullness to the point of contact.

Keep in mind that when he uses the term "peng" that I-Liq Chuan has it's own concepts regarding peng which in many cases vary drastically from some arts like tai chi chuan.

The fullness is one of the "six physical principles" of I-Liq Chuan (technically it's defined as the internal and external spheres of offense and defense). Here, Master Chin mentions the concept of highest point, which is part of the concept of fullness. The key idea behind the highest point is that no matter where you touch a sphere, it's equi-distant from the sphere's center of mass (i.e. it's the highest point on the surface of the sphere).

The concept is that by developing our concentration though practice we can then recognize the size of the sphere according to the point of contact with the opponent. If you aren't mindful of the size of the sphere, you won't be able to manifest the fullness.

when you teach...

2009-06-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

教学相長 - jiao4 xue2 xiang1 zhang3

"When you teach someone, both teacher and student will benefit"

More Primitive Movements...

2009-06-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

Even if you only practice a stand up art, primitive movements are still important to practice as part of you conditioning routine since they are those that mimic the process we all under went as babies. Rolling over, pushing up, crawling and then standing.

Here is the famous Steve Cotter (also of the Tang Shou Dao lineage) doing the "fuhugong" 伏虎功是 (lying tiger exercises). As I understand it, Xu, Hong-Ji took these movements from Judo and added them into the TSD curriculum.

This is Sanda...

2009-05-30T15:40:00.001-07:00

Cung Le V. Na Shun "The Mongolian King"

Hong Yi-Xiang Documentary...

2009-05-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hong, Yi Xiang (洪懿祥) founded the Tang Shou Dao (唐手道) association in Taiwan, and taught Xu, Hong Ji, (許鴻基) who in turn and taught noted American CMA practitioners like Mike Patterson, Vince Black and briefly, Tim Patterson. (I've written about the TSD before).

I recently met some contemporaries of Vince Black who started out training in kajukenbo together, and they sent me a link to this documentary below about HYX, which initially aired on BBC television over 20 years ago. As is was explained te me, one of the main producers of this documnetary was a student of Hong.

Master Sam F.S. Chin discusses yin & yang as one in the application of force...

2009-05-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a short clip of Master Sam F.S. Chin discussing pull and push as one circular force at the point of contact in I-Liq Chuan. The clip was taken during the most recent workshop here in the Phoenix/Tempe Arizona workshop.

Young I-Liq Chuan fighter...

2009-05-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

This is 13 year old Dmitri Smelkov, fighting his first fight against a (Kyokushin ?) Karate student from a neighboring school in Vologda, Russia. Dmitri has only been training in I-Liq Chuan for one year.

I-Liq Chuan is quite popular in countries like Russia and Poland. They have large groups who all train very hard. They're an inspiration to I-Liq Chuan students all over the world!

Well done Dmitri!

Nutrition Tip, Protein...

2009-05-03T17:47:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick nutrition tip regarding getting adequate, quality protein in your diet.

Moving Step Spinning Hands...

2009-04-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

One of the most common questions I used to get about I-Liq Chuan's spinning hands training was "if we ever did it with stepping?"

Of course if your training method is to be viable for actual fighting it HAS to be done with free stepping, but up till recently I haven't been able to get any video I could post of me doing anything close to something "up to standard". This clip is from our workshop here in Phoenix two weeks ago. It's still not quite "there", but based on the feedback I got from my Sifu after we spent a little time working on it, I feel confident enough to post it up as an example of some of our approach to this type of training.

Master Sam F.S. Chin Discusses Spiral energy...

2009-04-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a little clip from the recent workshop in Meas, Arizona.

Here, my Sifu discusses a bit on the wrapping exercise we use to generate the spiral energy in the body (i.e. the chansijin, aka, silk reeling)

Please post thoughts to the comments section!

no excuses...

2009-04-14T21:34:00.001-07:00

From the video description;

Shigeo Tsujitani(karate) vs Tetsu Yamazaki(Aikido) in Bujinhai'95.
Bujinhai is Japanese open tournament of MMA.
Yamazaki fought bravely though he has only one arm.

There has been a movement lately toward bringing Aikido closer to it's Aiki-jujutsu roots (a response to the success of BJJ no doubt).

Granola Bar Recipe...

2009-04-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

I recently made a HUGE change at my "day job" in order to secure a better schedule for myself to be able to develop Falling Leaves Kung Fu. In other words I wanted more than 5 students and getting some normal hours was the only way I saw that happening.

So I went back into the warehouse... back to abusing my body by running orders. Ugh.

I'm also burning about 4000 calories a day now and my increase in appetite is breaking the bank, so I looked in the right places for a high protein granola bar recipe that won't add inches to my waistline (and will save me some money in the long run).

Granola Bars
by John K. Williams Ph.D.
Granola Bars

These bars provide a nice snack, and they’re good for that second post-workout meal after your shake.

Ingredients:

2 cups raw oat bran
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup egg whites
1 cup nonfat milk
2 cups chocolate whey protein powder
½ cup granulated Splenda
5-6 scoops maltodextrin (180 grams)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons oil (canola or olive)

Instructions:

Mix it all together in a big bowl, then spread it out on a large nonstick cooking tray. Add some cooking spray, or wipe a little olive oil on the pan with a paper towel. Bake for 25-30 minutes @ 350 degrees.

Cut into 10 pieces.

Macronutrient Profile (each bar):

K/cal: 344
Fat: 5 g (1s, 2.5m, 1.5p)
Carbs: 54 g (Fiber: 7 g)
Protein: 28 g

This recipe, along with lot's of other great nutritional advice can be found on www.johnberardi.com

Classical Confusion, the importance of understanding terminology...

2009-02-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

The importance of understanding terminology struck home recently as a group of us I-liq Chuan guys were discussing some of the finer points of the art and came to a startling conclusion; none of us knew what an ankle was.

Of course I don't mean on a level of every day understanding, but as it related specifically to the shen fa of I-Liq Chuan, which requires an entirely different level of comprehension.

If i were to say "I sprained my ankle" then the everyday use of the word is enough to understand my meaning. But if give you the instruction "the center of the ankle should be doing this", then you need to know exactly what I mean by "ankle".

Here's some examples. If I asked you to find the center of the circle below (Figure 1.), it should be fairly easy to come close.

Figure 1.

If I present you with another circle, but this time with a cross, it becomes even easier to find the center (Figure 2.)

Figure 2.

The above two examples could represent increasing levels of understanding. In Figure 1. we have a clear circle, with defined area that clearly visible from it's surroundings. You'd know pretty clearly what the speaker meant by when he or she used the term "ankle". In Figure 2., you're understanding would be like that of a Physical Therapist talking to another PT when they used specific anatomical names like "talus". Your understanding of the term is clear and definitive and you could physically touch the area in question if asked to.

Now find the center of the circle below (Figure 3.).

Figure 3.

It's almost impossible to find because the area of the circle is so poorly defined.

This is the boat my training brothers and I found ourselves in when we realized we'd been making an assumption that when we heard a word, we knew what was meant by that word, because it was one we'd been using our entire lives.

And that was a word in our native tongue. How much more is the problem compounded when you start trying to figure out what the speaker meant when they were speaking in an entirely different language, or when that language tends to carry different meanings for a word when that word is used in the context of martial arts compared to everyday usage, as is the case with Chinese.

I think this is one of the underlying problems with trying to understand the "classics" of the so called "internal" arts.

Let's take a look at an example from The Taijiquan Classic 太極拳論, by Wang, Zong-Yue.

一羽不能加，蠅虫不能落，人不知我，我獨知人，英雄所向無敵，蓋皆由此而及也

A feather cannot be added and a fly cannot land, The opponent does not know me, but I know the opponent. A "hero" has no equal because of this.
-Yang, Jwing-Mings Translation in "Tai Chi Theory & Martial Power"

Ok, sounds pretty cool, but what the hell is that supposed to mean?

Well I can tell you what it means to me as a practitioner of I-Liq Chuan. To us, "no landing" means you deny the opponent the opportunity to apply any force against you (your mass) by maintaining a 45º at the point of contact, while at the same time maintaining a 90º angle to his mass so that you can still apply force against him. In this way, he "doesn't know me" because I haven't given him a link to my center of mass, yet I "know him" because I do have some of his mass. In theory I should be able to feel (and more importantly, affect) his whole structure all the way down to his feet (effectively crushing his control over his own balance), yet all he should be able to feel of me is just the point where contact is being made between us.

This is just one example. Some might agree with my interpretation, some not. Some might agree until they actually feel me do this and then think I'm talking about something else entirely, or disagree based on the amount of force I used. In other words, they read the words I used and assumed that what they read is what I actually meant when I wrote them.

My Sifu (Master Sam F.S. Chin) was discussing this recently during the four day training retreat at his home in Poughkeepsie, New York. To paraphrase, he said "when I read the classics, I get some sudden enlightenment, like, ah yes, I know. I know what that means. But I don't really know if that's what he meant, because I don't have the same experience as him. I only have my own experience and what those words mean to me based on that."

Master Sam F.S. Chin lecturing students during the retreat.

So, with that in mind, do you think you really understood what I meant by all the 45º/90º talk? Unless you train in I-Liq Chuan, you probably don't, if for no other reason than when you separate a single concept from the rest of a series, you lose the proper context in which it's meant to be understood.

How much more misunderstood are the classics?

And what the hell is an ankle?

Double Dose of Dragon Door Delight...

2009-02-25T09:37:00.000-08:00

Proud and Powerful.¹

Issue 172 of Power to the People, the e-newsletter by Pavel Tsatsouline had not just one, but TWO real gems this week, both involving Master PT and strength coach, Gray Cook.

...modern fitness has become a sort of sport to itself instead of being what you do to be better at a goal activity. So what is a modern fitness seeker to do?
-Gray Cook

I've been meaning to do some blogging on Gray Cook, and specifically his book "The Athletic Body in Balance", which centers around Cooks "FMS" or "Functional Movement Screen". The brilliance of Cooks method is to identify weakness in your movement pattern and then develop a training regimen that addresses the dysfunction, while at the same time achieve a training effect.

His method is also fairly lean. Instead of a trillion different movements, he's stripped it down to basic movement patterns and then relates exercises back to those.

For example, he identifies the squat, lunge and hurdle step as basic "lower body" movements. As a conditioning tool he reccomends skipping rope, and shows some classic techniques, which he relates bake to the squat (skipping with both feet side-by-side), the lunge (skipping with one foot forward and one foot back) and the hurdle step (skipping with "high knees"). If you've done his FMS you know which of those three patterns is your greatest weakness and you focus on that.

So for example, if you've been identified as having a squat deficency, you'd use the squat style skipping in your conditioning until you've been cleared on that movement pattern.

I used the training methods (in a basic way) laid out in "Athletic Body in Balance" to prepare for my KuoShu match in Baltimore MD last year, and I would say that I was the best prepared athlete in the Unlimited weight class (in terms of GPP).

Beautiful Strength²

The old time strongmen used the Get-Up as an "entrance exam" requiring a 100-pound Get-Up on each side before beginning any other training. The Turkish Wrestlers used the Get-Up to train for combat and grappling. And today the Get-Up represents an opportunity for everyone to regain the "beautiful strength" and symmetry that our so-called fitness routines should bring us.
-Gray Cook

Read the Kalos Sthenos article.

It may be difficult to understand how movements such as crawling or rolling relate to strength and performance enhancement, however development of fundamental movement is the foundation that leads to effective functional performance. This foundation is often neglected in the approaches we take to enhance function and/or performance through exercise programming.

Baby learning to roll over.³

Read Cook's Primitive Movement article.

Here's a partial FMS with analysis:

Credits:
Images can be found in their original form here¹, here² and here³.

Kyuzo Mifune...

2009-02-23T07:02:00.000-08:00

Again, not Chinese but I still thought this was really nice. I love how simply, and gracefully he counters the hip throws by just sliding around his opponents hips.

This puts the Jiu (soft) in Judo.

Demo for Chinese New Year...

2009-02-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Here's the demo from today...

Please leave your ideas on what you thought was good or what you thought was bad in the comments.

Twitter...

2009-01-31T20:45:00.000-08:00

I've added a block to the right sidebar called "one arrow, one life" which takes it's name from a book.

Often times I have some short thoughts on practice and the arts which I don't really have time to develop into a proper blog post or something similar, so I thought I might try using twitter.

For the most part I'll try to keep the content topical (i.e. incomplete thoughts dealling with mindfulness and or ILC), but may occasionally diverge into off topic stuff like travel updates, etc. when I'm travelling (which is usually for something martial arts related, so it might still end up being somewhat topical).

There should be multiple, daily posts...

YMAA Retreat center...

2009-01-13T15:45:00.001-08:00

This could be a very exciting project. I wish them the best of luck in their endeavors.

what's for breakfast...

2008-11-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

A nice little Paleo style breakfast. Four hard boiled eggs and half a papaya. The trick with eating hard boiled eggs and not getting sick of them is to dress them up. in this case I've sprinkled them with some crushed red pepper, green onion and a little curry spice.

Here's a tip on how to peel your eggs easily.

my experience with this method is that it's about 60% effective, and a bit messy (the eggs are wet and sometimes you still get some egg stuck to the shell and or bits of egg blast over the counter top.)

Or you can try this method;

art of the wrist lock...

2008-11-18T21:52:00.001-08:00

This isn't Chinese but the clip is sweet I had to post it anyway.

MAS Magazine, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly...

2008-11-18T21:51:00.001-08:00

I "met" the producers of UK based MAS magazine through the fightingarts.com forum. We initially began corresponding because the (now) editor of MAS magazine, Steve Rowe, seemed to really like some of the videos I'd posted of I-Liq Chuan.

They'd asked if I'd be interested in writing an article for their new magazine, (which of course I am) and so sent me a few copies of the first two issues to get a feel for it.

Since I want to end the review on a high note, I'll start with "the ugly".

The Ugly...

From a design perspective, the layout, though slick and professional, is not to my tastes. It's got a bit of a "bubblegum" kind of flavor to it and is a bit busy. I think they'd do well with a bit of a cleaner layout, but the current direction could be due to the audience they're trying to capture (more on this later).

But my real beef with the production quality of the magazine is the high gloss pages. It could just be me (I have an astigmatism) but the light tends to glare on the pages making them difficult to read unless you hold the magazine at an angle to the light. Semi-gloss is the way to go in my opinion.

The Bad...

Is not actually bad, just an uncertainty on my part. That is, it seems as though they want to produce a magazine that "has something for everyone". While this is admirable in spirit, I think it's tough to pull off in practice.

Case in point; the magazine has interviews with and articles by both traditional martial artists, as well as modern combatives folks, mma coverage and also a space for kids called "kids corner".

Just leafing through the first issue, I was leery when I spotted the "kids corner" section, but was quite pleasantly surprised when I actually sat down and read the whole thing cover to cover.

There was a lot of interesting information about general kids safety and sort of an outline of a childrens self-defense "course" that I found really interesting. It was geared toward young readers but was still rich enough content to be engaging to me.

The "kids corner" section of issue two left me feeling flat, and reinforced my uncertainty about the segment. All in all, I'm tempted to say that the "kids corner" might be better done as an insert with slightly more content. Something along the lines of the US publication for kids called "Highlights" but on a slightly smaller scale and of course, with a general bent to martial arts and self defense / safety for kids.

The Good...

I don't know why, but the cover article of issue #1 (an interview with Chris Rowen)was really exciting to me. It's one of the first articles that I've read in a long time that actually made me want to put the magazine down and go train. (Unfortunately I was reading the article on a break at work).

I also really enjoyed the articles by Gavin King summarizing his training experience at the summer camp in Jizerka, Czech Republic. After communicating back and forth over the discussion boards it was nice to see some photos and get to read something a bit more in depth by someone I've gotten to know a little bit through the magic of the web.

Every time I came across a little nugget that made me think "huh, that's interesting, I could blog about that" or "I don't agree with that at all... I could blog about it" my initial thought was that the content was inconsistent in quality, until it dawned on me that what was going on was probably the best thing a magazine could hope for, which is, like art, to get the audience thinking and discussing the issues presented. And for that reason alone, I think that if you live in the UK it's worth spending the cash to pick up an issue and what it makes you think.

I-Liq Chuan in Tuishou...

2008-11-13T23:14:00.000-08:00

This is my I-Liq Chuan training sister, Daria "Dasha" Sergeeva competing in the finals match of the recent competition in Stockholm, Sweden. Dasha was the captain of the Russian team. She is also the Moscow City Thai Boxing Champion (she's only ever trained in I-Liq Chuan under Alexander Salazkoob).

Here's a picture of the two of us playing at this years Intensive Retreat in New York.

Yip Man Trailer...

2008-11-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Came across this clip in the discussion forums.

Yip Man is the near legendary Wing Chun practitioner who was Bruce Lee's original teacher. Some might say that he's basically the founder of modern Wing Chun.

One thing I like about this movie is the setting of Guan Dong, as opposed to Beijing or some other northern city or province like Henan. It'd be nice to see more modern films set in old southern China...

Product Review...

2008-10-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Greens+ MRB

I prefer to print shipping labels online and ship right from the house, but occasionally I'm required to make a trip to the Post Office to drop orders off. The actual Post Office by my house is always crowded (I think it's the closest one to the University since it's always filled with college kids).

Anyway, I found out there is a little vitamin shop just a little further away and it has a post office inside and it's never busy so I started going there.

Last week was one such trip and, as I hadn't eaten yet (and therefore hungry) I found myself eying a Greens+ Peanut Butter Protein bar.

I'd first heard about the Greens+ supplement by listening to the Fitcast podcast by Kevin Larrabee. Eventually they had noted nutrition expert, Dr. John Berardi Ph.D. as a guest. Dr. Berardi has influenced my opionion on nutrition in many areas, especially when it comes to supplementation. Basically he says that most people need to focus on three areas of supplemntation; fish oil, protien and a greens supplement. (notice the lack of a multi-vitamin)

As you can probably guess (last time I listened to him) Greens+ was his greens supplement of choice. One of the impressive factors to consider about Greens+ is that it has at least some clinical trials that show it's efficacy as a nutritional supplement.

Another interesting claim by Dr. Berardi / the Greens+ folks is the ability of their product to help the body maintain an appropriate acid/base balance. In case your not up to speed on the issue I'll try to sum up; the average ph of human blood ranges from 7.4 in the arteries, to 7.35 in the veins, which is not a huge range. (different areas of the body have different average ph ratings, the stomach obviously would have a much more acidic ph).

The crux of the issue is that bacteria/disease/cancer all seem to thrive in the presence of acidic environments, therefore, if you can maintain a slightly basic (the opposite of acidic) ph in the body, you have a much better chance of keeping disease at bay. (I've even heard of some experiemental cancer treatments involving washing tumors with solutions of baking soda and water)

So how does Greens+ improve the acid/base balance in the body? Well, plants are natrually quite basic in ph, so you could get the same effect by eating a head of lettuce or a fist full of beets. Of course, few of us eat enough servings of produce to make a significant difference, so supplementation becomes nessessary.

Critics contend that the range of ph in the body is so narrow that it has no effect on health, or conversley that our diets have little impact in the ph of the body. Personally I'm inclined to agree with Dr. Berardi.

Now, on the the product itself.

I was impressed with the fairly high amount of protein in each bar (16g, which isn't too shabby for a bar). What's more is they use a decent whey isolate and not some crappy soy or whey concentrate.

I was expecting a very powdery bar that needed at least a liter of water to choke down, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The bar was fairly moist and had a pleasant mouth feel, and had a peanut butter taste intially but had a berry after taste, which was not at all unpleasant.

The biggest "minus" of the bar is the retail price. At $3.50 a peice, the price is a bit steep when you consider that a guy my size would need at least 3 to get enough calories to make a "meal", which is certainly not in my budget.

Price considerations aside, it seems to be a fairly good product, and I'd be interested in adding Greens+ to my short list of supplements.

This is San Da...

2008-10-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

This is one of the fights from Nick Scrima's tournament in Miami, called "Kung Fu Championship".

I haven't been to this event yet, but from what I hear, it may be the very best event in the US for San Da (at the amateur level anyway). If I recall correctly I heard that there were 150 fighters that turned out for last years event.

Personally, I'd like to see San Da grow in popularity in this country. It's the perfect "spectator sport", it has all the fast paced stand up fighting and take downs with none of the slow paced ground fighting.

Turmeric...

2008-10-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons things have been so quiet on the blog recently is I have been sick with some sort of bacterial infection in my lungs.

An educated guess by my doctor pointed toward pertussis (whooping cough). Mostly I don't feel sick, but have a persistent, dry cough that's worrisome at best. (also, my blood pressure seems to be spiking and my heart rate as well)

I've already run a course of anti-biotics, which helped in the sort term, but since completing my "z pack", I've gone through a series of up's and down's with the cough getting better for awhile and then worse again.

A friend of mine recently reminded me that the wonder spice, turmeric has both anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. In fact, it works so well, that the University of Mississippi Medical Center actually tried to patent it's use! (The patent was eventually revoked due to a law suit brought by the government of India).

I had pretty much relegated turmeric to the "anti-inflammatory" category in my mind, but after being reminded of it's anti-fungal/microbial properties I decided to look into it some more.

Here's some of what I found.

One of the most amazing entries is on cancer.gov's entry on curcumin (the primary active component in turmeric);

Curcumin blocks the formation of reactive-oxygen species, possesses anti-inflammatory properties as a result of inhibition of cyclooxygenases (COX) and other enzymes involved in inflammation; and disrupts cell signal transduction by various mechanisms including inhibition of protein kinase C. These effects may play a role in the agent's observed antineoplastic properties, which include inhibition of tumor cell proliferation and suppression of chemically induced carcinogenesis and tumor growth in animal models of cancer.

Basically what it says is that curcumin blocks free radicals, acts in a manner similar to aspirin and ibuprofen in reducing inflammation, and it also acts to slow the growth of tumors in a way similar to chemotherapy.

So why is that so amazing? Well it's a .gov site, not an e-commerce site with the "worlds most potent turmeric product".

A study on rats and mice seemed to find that high levels of turmeric in the diet reduced body weight by up to 10% over the course of 2 years, but at the cost of increased incidents of stomach ulcers. These findings seem to jibe with previous findings that turmeric might aid in treating diabetes.

So far, beyond the initial article cited above, I've been unable to find any articles online that point to any direct anti-microbial action by turmeric alone, but this article on the BBC lists the positive benefits of curry (of which turmeric is one ingredient).

There was an article that ran (in print) in USA Weekend five or six years ago the cited the anti-microbial properties of turmeric (if I recall correctly), but so far I can't find any trace of it on . (Here's one that's similar, but not the one I recall)

Considering that inflammation appears more and more to be the driving force behind many disease processes, the anti-inflammatory effect alone should make turmeric worth supplementing with.

Anecdotally, what I can tell you is that 1/2tsp. of ginger, 1/2tsp. of turmeric and 1 Tbsp. of fish oil, taken together work as well at controlling my cough as a dose of the codeine containing prescription cough syrup my doctor gave me, without the side effects.

Inspirtation...

2008-10-17T01:18:00.000-07:00

Only a fortunate few are born with great genetics, natural talent and the goose that laid the golden egg. For the rest of us, life and achievement are mostly about overcoming obstacles.

I had a recent conversation with my wife in which I mentioned the "it's easy to talk yourself out of (taking a risk)", but sometimes if you want to do something you just have to make a commitment and charge in where angles fear to tread.

In other words, "just do it".

The next time you feel like the obstacles in your way are just too much, take a look at the video below of Kyle Maynard and think about your obstacles again.

Kyles a guy who decided to "just do it".

This is Hop Gar...

2008-10-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a bit. Things have been a little crazy for me lately. In addition to my day job, and teaching, I'm currently trying to break into web design so I can quit said day job and work for myself as a freelance designer.

That may seem like an odd plan, considering I'm trying to do martial art more or less full time, but actually if I can get something going on it'll give me the kind of freedom and flexibility in my schedule I need to get things moving in the right direction.

Besides which, it makes for really efficient use of time, and when you teach martial art, it's basically an evenings and weekend kind of job, so I can fill up dead space in my day designing.

The downside is crazy amounts of work until I can drop my current day job.

Anyway, I have some plans coming up to add to the blog and my website, which I don't want to reveal too much just yet, but suffice to say, keep an eye out.

Also, if you live in the states, keep and eye out on Kung Fu/Tai Chi magazine, as my first print article should run (probably) after the first of the year sometime. I'll post an official date when I know. I still have to take some photos with my Sifu next week.

If you live in the UK, I should also have an article appearing in the new UK based magazine, MAS sometime in the coming year as well.

Well, on to Hop Gar...

the following clip is a demo done by Chris Heintzman. I met Chris last year at the Taiji Legacy tournament in Dallas. He's fought in at least several MMA matches and done very well so far.

Choi Lei Fut Demo...

2008-09-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

A very, very nice demo of some Choy Lei Fut by Thomas Fuhr Laoshi.

90% of all fights end on the ground...

2008-08-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

or do they?

Here's some interesting research done (separately) by the L.A.P.D and and independent researcher which show otherwise (the numbers seem to show between 40-60%).

Having practiced Chinese martial arts for sometime (and having fought san da and lei tai), what strikes me as most interesting is the statistic that showed that the first fighter to hit the ground, most often loses the fight.

Jiujitsu365

LAPD

The takeaway lesson seems to be that although it's probably still a good idea to know how to escape the mount, if your at least practicing your shuai, you should be ok when it comes to self defense.

WuSignals Episode 6

2008-08-27T01:59:00.000-07:00

Brought to you by Toasterz.com and WuSource.

This weeks guest is Sharif Bey Laoshi of Yee's Hung Gar Lineage.

In this weeks Episode we discuss some of the fundamentals of Hung Gar training, including da saam sing / da san qing (three striking stars), tid sit kuen (iron wire), the state of Chinese Martial Arts in Upstate New York and much much more.

During the course of the interview, we discuss several of Bey Laoshi's youtube clips which can be found here;

You can find out more about Yee's Hung Gar at www.yeeshungga.com or you can find more about Bey Laoshi on his MySpace page for Syracuse Kung Fu.

Download Episode 6. (right click and save as)

Their faith in Shaolin becomes ashes...

2008-08-18T23:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a very interesting read. It should be challenging to many of the very traditional practitioners out there.

INTERVIEW WITH ZHAO DAOXIN
Recorded by Huang Jitao
Translated from chinese by Andrzej Kalisz

Zhao Enqing originally was disciple of Zhang Zhankui (Zhang Zhaodong). Later he learned from the founder of yiquan – Wang Xiangzhai and became one of his best students, receiving from Wang a honorary name Daoxin.

The original interview was made by Huang Jitao in 4 sessions over 4 days and is quite long. Here is only a translation of small part.

ARTICLE LINK.

Pics from the Baltimore Kuo Shu tournament

2008-08-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

team eF; neijia_boxer, myself and cerebus...

Lorne Bernard Laoshi of Fukien White Crane fame...

Team eF with Team ASWC...

real men have beards...

President Huang, Chien-Liang and myself

A good time had by all. You can see all the pics here.

This is Choy Lei Fut....

2008-08-06T12:56:00.001-07:00

just a little clip of some buk sing choy lei fut. very nice stuff for the most part.

Lower Trapezius and Shoulder health...

2008-08-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

Here's another great article by Mike Robertson on the role of the lower traps in shoulder stability, and how to train them (traps).

Anyone who trains in martial arts should be concerned with shoulder health if they want to keep training injury/pain free.

TRAPS.

Traditional Herbs 101...

2008-07-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Dit Da Jow and Injuries: How to help heal yourself
By Dale Dugas
Edited By Ashe Higgs

Dit Da Jow/Die Da Jiu/Tieh Ta Jou 跌打酒 "Fall Hit Wine" is a staple healing aid that is found in traditional Chinese Martial Arts Schools (Wu Shu Gwoon). Dit Da Jow has been used for many centuries as a healing modality and conditioning agent when used in conjunction with authentic Iron Palm and external Iron Body training programs.

Many people have seen various liniments and balms for sale on the internet or in Chinese Herb stores as well as being used in kung fu movies. Usually you see the old master rubbing some sort of liquid on the hero who has suffered great bodily harm going up against some well trained enemy. This liquid helps the body and its own natural healing abilities to relieve pain, remove bruising and help remove swelling that occurs when injuries happen as well as condition the tissues/ligaments.

Most formulas contain herbs which help to reduce/remove swelling which is usually seen within the first 24 hours of a new injury depending on the location. The distal parts of the body usually seem to swell when injured. Examples are the wrists and ankles; though you can see swelling in and around other parts of the body as well.

Some of these herbs are cooling in nature and also help to move blood and cause fluids to be reabsorbed by the body. One should be aware that not all Dit Da Jow formulations are created equally and one should really know the formula they are using. Some formulas are too hot to be used on a first stage (new injury) that has swelling or heat present. If you find heat or warmth with an injury you need to cool it off in order to begin the healing process. If you use a warming or hot formula you can actually make your injuries feel worse as the action of the formula can exacerbate the injury.

Be careful with the use of ice as ice can cause damage to skin as well as the circulatory system if used improperly. One should never have direct skin contact with ice or ice packs and anyone who suggests such actions needs to be questioned. Chinese medicine has a few formulas available that deal with reducing swelling and ridding heat.

One of the more famous formulas comes from the Tang Shou Tao family of martial arts from Taiwan. Shifu Tom Bisio trained with Master Vince Black and Master Hsu Hong Chi and picked up a very simple but effective formula used as "herbal ice". This formula contains herbs that will cool the blood as well as move it and help kill the pain associated with a fresh injury.

This formula is called San Huang San 三黄散which means "Three Yellow Powder" even though the formula used now has a few more herbs in it. Coiling Dragon Internal Arts also has a version of this formula. One uses this herbal balm in lieu of ice for the first 24 to 48 hours. Many take the herbal powder and add it to Vaseline. Vaseline, being a petroleum product, is not the best choice as a medium for healing. Many use sesame oil, I make this using Olive Oil and Beeswax to create a healing balm that is hypoallergenic and as natural as can be. Beware of using sesame oil if you have allergies to nuts and nut products.

You apply this paste to the injured area where it can be rubbed into the skin as a balm or it can be applied as a poultice on a gauze pad and secured around the injured area with gauze bandages. Remember to not wrap the injury too tight as this can cause circulations issues and that is not healing but hurting. Apply this twice a day if using the unwrapped balm version. If you use the poultice application leave it on overnight and change it the next day.

After the swelling and heat have dissipated or disappeared altogether you can then use a Dit Da Jow that will further help move the dead blood and restore energy flow through the area that was affected by the injury.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) injuries cause what can be termed a “logjam” of fluids, blood and energy that must be addressed or it can come back to haunt you with a vengeance later in life.

Dit Da Jow will help to open the energy pathways as well as move out residual fluids and blood to be reabsorbed by the body.

If you have chronic versus new injuries than one should use a very warming Dit Da Jow that does not have cold properties as you want the medicine to move energy and warm up the area which has been injured. Many of these formulas contain very warm herbs.

Many herbs used in Chinese medicine are toxic if they enter the blood stream yet are very potent in healing action when used externally. So be careful and make sure you know which formula you are using!

Herbs to use caution with are Cao Wu, Chuan Wu. These are forms of Aconite and are very strong and toxic if used in their raw state. Tian Nan Xing and Ma Chien are others that are never to be used internally. Again know the formula and the people who prepare them. Be cautious and know exactly how your medicine is supposed to be utilized. Do not use a formula designed for one thing for another. Again know your formula and what it is meant to do.

Dit Da Jow is usually applied twice to three times a day. The best times would be right after getting out of the shower when your pores are open. I advise pouring off a little bit into the hands and rubbing on the injured area until the liquid has been absorbed. Then take a second application and rub the injured area in circles and then back towards the heart to help with moving the blood, fluids back into the circulatory system.

Many people report their injuries heal much faster when using Chinese Medicine compared to using nothing at all. Remember that bruises are hematomas; basically blood clots that if large enough can break off and travel to the heart, lungs or brain and wreck havoc on your health. Rather than take a risk, one should exercise caution and utilize the power of Chinese medicine to heal.

For more information on using Chinese medicine for healing martial arts injuries, contact Dale Dugas at 617-595-8097 or on the web at http://www.coilingdragon.com

CNS Fatigue...

2008-06-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

There are several test available online to gauge your reaction time. It's vaguely interesting in an abstract kind of way but since you really can't do much with the information they're just more of a curiosity or a one time game to be played between freinds to see "who's the fastest".

Or are they?

Reading this article by Dan John gave me an idea on how to use the information as part of maintaining daily training logs.

For those not interested in reading the entire article I'll quote some of the pertinent part.

Step #3: Give Your CNS a Call

Have you checked in with your central nervous system (CNS) lately? Years ago, the late Stefan Fernholm showed me this interesting test where you'd take a pencil every morning and put as many dots on a page as you can in ten seconds. Let's say you knock out 40 to 45 every day for two weeks. Then, one morning, you struggle to hit 30. Now, making dots on a paper is pretty simple, but you're down 25%. Stefan noted to me, "This is bad."
broken pencil

Later, my friend Mike Rosenberg made a little computer program for me where he used the space bar as the pencil and added a built-in timer. For two years, I started my day with a ten-second test. And, after charting all of this, it was true: When my numbers dropped, I ended up getting sick and hurt.

Clearly, the reduced performance on my little finger tap test was indicative of CNS fatigue.

After that, when I saw my numbers drop, I eased my training, increased my protein, and took care of the little things like sleep, hot tubs, and resting. It was a miracle.

Not long ago, I bought the Younger Next Year journal (I take my own advice, at times) and began noting my morning heart rate. It isn't as fun as the "tap test," but I noted some interesting things. First, my typical morning heart rate is 54. When I give blood, it "shoots up" to 68. I'm 50 and change and haven't done cardio since Jimmy Carter was president, so I have to be careful when I read those charts on the machines in most gyms. I might be okay to ramp this ancient heart up over 120.

Second, I'm not sure what my small, daily fluctuations in heart rate tell me. While at the Olympic training center, I was told that a 10% rise in morning heart rate indicates overtraining. Usually, 10% higher than normal means I have gas. It's a good thing to do, but please let me be clear about that, I'm not sure yet what that heart rate bump might mean.

Most of us miss the importance of the entire body's relationship to fatigue. I call all of this "CNS fatigue," but that's about as correct as listening to my morning gas. Yet, when I discuss it in groups, many people seem to know what I mean.

Part of living in Arizona is having to deal with the summertime heat, which also happens to coincide with most of the big Chinese martial arts tournaments. Since I'm currently training for the Kuoshu tournament in Maryland, this is my problem now.

Friday was about 120° in Phoenix, then on Saturday and Sunday I could tell "something was up". During sparring and grappling practice I just felt slow and tired. But earlier in the week I noticed I was even having trouble skipping rope a easily as normal. By Sunday I could barely skip at all and my left elbow ached so bad my arm felt broken.

That's when I read the article quoted above and a bell went off. I thought to myself "if only I had the space bar test on my computer..." (i'm too lazy for the pencil test.) and then I remembered these online reaction tests. A quick google search turned up several.

TEST 1
TEST 2
TEST 3

I prefer the first test, since it's not only a little easier on the eyes but also gives you fives times instead of just three.

The tests confirmed what I already new. I was fried. I've done some of these tests in the past so I have a pretty good baseline for what my score should be (~.12-.18 sec). My times on Sunday after sparring practice were in the neighborhood of .25 sec.

After taking Monday completely off (I always do) and a half day on Tuesday my times first thing in the morning were back down. (three out of five were .18)

From now on, I'll test first thing every morning and once my times start climbing to the .20 range I'll be sure to manage my stress a little better, climb into bed a little earlier and watch my nutrition. (I've been slack about taking my fish oil lately)

On more of a side note, I got really fried last year training for the Taiji Legacy, so to combat the heat this year I'll be taking some creatine and BCAA's starting today. It'll be interesting to track the results now that I have a tool to keep track of my nervous system a little better.

In the mean time I'll be thinking chilly thoughts...

Just for fun...

2008-06-13T23:06:00.001-07:00

more just to see how well it works...

video is from a chinese site so it may load slowly.

This is Bajiquan...

2008-06-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Below is Liu, Lian Jun 刘连俊 (and a student?).

It's not too often that you see really nice two man sets that actually look like two guys fighting. This is one of those pleasant surprises...

I seem to be getting really lucky with these lately.

This is Gao style Baguazhang...

2008-06-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

Two person set by Master Wu Guo Zheng and Warren Fox.

Warren also has a couple of really nice clips up on youtube. You can check them out here; FOX.
Warren has also started a blog as well, which may develope into something nice. You can check that out here; BLOG.

2008 AZ ILC Family Picnic...

2008-06-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Just a short video clip and some pics from the 1st annual Arizona I Liq Chuan Family Picnic which was held at Spencer Canyon Near Tucson, Arizona.

you can see more photos here...

New WuSignals...

2008-05-19T00:18:00.001-07:00

This weeks guest is Dr. Kenneth Fish.

Dr. Fish has been training Chinese martial arts for over 40 years, including close to twenty years living in Taiwan and his experience with the arts runs the gammut from Wing Chun to Tongbei and Xingyi.

During the course of the episode we discuss Allen Ellerton's website http://www.chinesemartialarts.eu/index.html

Dr. Fish currently practices as a Chiropractor in Gaithersburg, MD.

WuSignals

Here's Some Help Making Weight...

2008-04-09T12:23:00.001-07:00

Here's a little help for those of you who need to make weight, or just drop a few pounds for general health purposes. This comes from Mike Rousselle's "Naked Nutrtion Network". Mike is a well known nutritionist.

This is more of a power point presentation than a true video, but full of lot's of good stuff anyway.
VIDEO.

Train Like a Shaolin Monk...

2008-04-09T11:41:00.000-07:00

With lots of bodyweight drills! here's a cool manual from the 40's instructing how to do a handstand balance.

HANDSTANDS.

Proverbs...

2008-03-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

人無傷虎心虎有傷人意

Ren Wu Shang Hu Xin Hu You Ren Yi

"Even if a man has no desire to harm a tiger, the tiger certainly intends to harm the man."

This refers to defending yourself against an opponent. It's important to remember that even if you didn't want to fight to begin with, you're being attacked, and must consider your attacker to be like a ferocious tiger. In other words you can't defend yourself half-heartedly.

The Hidden Wisdom of Chinese Martial Arts...

2008-03-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

The Tongue, Neurological Inhibition And Possible Implications For Internal Chinese Martial Arts.
By Ashe Higgs

If you've spent any time with the Chinese martial arts, or meditation you're sure to have heard at some point the admonition to keep the teeth together and tongue touching the roof of the mouth.

From a purely metaphysical point of view this is to complete the circuit of the Ren and Du channels.

Ren (Conception) and Du (Governing)Mai

This cycle is called Xiao Zhou Tian (小周天) in Chinese, "the lesser flow" of qi (氣). However, at least from the perspective of I Liq Chuan, the lesser flow plays no significant role in martial arts beyond the fact that it's part of the Da Zhou Tian (大周天), or "greater flow".

The "greater flow" includes not only the cycle of qi in the torso, but includes the flow to the hands, feet and back to the torso. I Liq Chuan has never placed much emphasis on the role of qi itself, but on relaxation, and using the flow as a meter of relaxation. To put it simply, if the qi can flow completely unrestricted, then the alignment of the structure will be such that maximum force can be brought to bear.

I've always used the metaphor of a sliding door; when the door is in it's track and free of obstacles (when the flow is unrestricted), the door slides open smoothly (the application is smooth and "effortless" due to the use of structure rather than muscle), however if the door is off it's track or has obstacles in the track then the door will only be opened with difficulty, or not at all.

Which brings me to the point of neurological inhibition.

First I'll just give a quick definition; essentially, when the body senses it's in a sub-optimal position for executing any given movement, the nervous system puts the breaks on your muscles/tendons in an attempt to keep you from hurting yourself. In other words, you'll be unable to generate as much force as you are technically able.

This can be tested easily in individuals with shoulder problems. A grip test with a dynamometer will read significantly lower with the arm raised above the head than with the arm resting by the side.

So it's my theory, that practicing all the various drills (qigong/neigong) designed to allow the practitioner to recognize and maximize the "flow of qi" is, at least in part, the process of minimizing neurological inhibition by deeply grooving appropriate motor patterns in structurally sound/stable positions, allowing one to generate the seemingly effortless, yet enormous power internal arts practitioners have been known for.

Now, on to the tongue...

The important factor to consider about the tongue , regarding inhibition, is it's location in the body.

According to noted strength coach Paul Check;

"While it may seem inconsequential, maintaining physiological rest position of the tongue during (movement) it’s critical to neck stability. The tongue musculature is part of a comprehensive stabilization system composed of deep and superficial muscles anterior to the cervical spine."¹

The implication being that the position of the tongue plays a role in the stability of the shoulder girdle (indirectly, via it's role in cervicle stability).

Remember, when the body is out of alignment, there will always be some level of inhibition. It's also important to note, that the body functions as a chain, and the cervical spine connects directly to the shoulder girdle, and shoulder stability is HUGE, especially when striking.

If, for whatever reason, the shoulder is unstable, you’ll be “leaking” power. To borrow an old adage; “you can’t fire a cannon from a canoe”.

It’s also important to note that stable is not the same as rigid. Stability is the result of all the pieces of the puzzle lining up in their proper place. In the words of Gray Cook, “stability is the ability to control force, or movement.”³

Again, according to Paul Check;

“With the ideal start positioning, the body is now aligned to afford maximum joint stability and there will be minimal neurological inhibition from joint mechano-receptors secondary to pathological levels of compression, torsion or sheer“. ¹

Now this brings us to the point of “who cares?”, since it’s unlikely that just understanding the mechanism will speed up the process.

One thing that I’ve learned from following the work of some noted coaches and trainers is the importance of making sure that the people you train “buy into” the system. An individual who has no faith in a given exercise will put little effort into practicing that drill.

In today’s society, few individuals will accept the old, esoteric explanations for why the training works (i.e. qi). If we can glean some clues from modern sports science as to the physiological reasons for how the arts work, then as practitioners and students we may be able to reach a larger audience, and thus, preserve the arts a bit longer.

ref:
1. http://www.t-nation.com/article/bodybuilding/shrug_science_part_1
2. http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1297016
3. Athletic Body in Balance, Gray Cook, pg 28-29
4. The Root of Chinese Qigong by Yang, Jwing-ming

What is Tongbei?

2008-03-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Translation by Josh Capitanio
Reprinted here with permission

The following article contains Chinese text. Please make sure you have Chinese text enabled in your browser.

Just a short excerpt from the introduction to Xiu Jianchi's 修劍痴 Five Element Tongbeiquan Manual, explaining what is meant by the name "tongbei." Most of the essay is a repetitive play on the term "tong" 通 which means to penetrate, pass through, or connect.

通背者何也? 通即通達之意、貫通之法；背乃人之脊背，動作之則。本由背，背通肩，肩通肘，肘通腕，腕通手掌，手通指；肩背向下通腰，腰通胯，胯通膝，膝通足，足通步，步通身，身通手，身通于眼，眼通心，心通神，神通意，意通膽，膽通氣，氣通血，血通筋，筋通力。力由背發，根在于足，始由足，貫于背，由背貫于指掌全体，內外貫通一氣，法則放長擊遠，此之謂通背。

What is “tongbei?” “Tong” means to thoroughly pass through; it refers to the method of threading together. “Bei” is the back of the body; it is the basis of movement. The root begins at the back; the back is connected [tong] to the shoulder, the shoulder is connected to the elbow, the elbow is connected to the wrist, the wrist is connected to the palm, the palm is connected to the fingers. Downwards, the back is connected to the waist, the waist is connected to the hips, the hips are connected to the knees, the knees are connected to the feet, the feet are connected to the steps, the steps are connected to the [whole] body, the body is connected to the hands, the body is connected to the eyes, the eyes are connected to the heart, the heart is connected to the spirit [shen], the spirit is connected to the intent [yi], the intent is connected to courage [dan, gall], courage is connected to qi, qi is connected to blood, blood is connected to tendons, and the tendons are connected to one’s power. Power is emitted from the back, and rooted in the feet; it begins at the feet, passes through the back, and from the back is passed through to the fingers and the rest of the body. Inside and outside the body the unitary qi penetrates thoroughly. This method is to loosen and extend so as to strike at a distance; this is what is meant by “tongbei.”

Las Vesgas Kung Fu...

2008-03-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Two very nice clips here;

More Dim Mak...

2008-03-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

Jamhod vs. Dekkers...

2008-02-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

This fight was recently pointed out to me as an example of fighters who use mechanics somewhat similar to I Liq Chuan and even display some great sticky hand (Jamhod). There's also some excellent use of time/space (timing and distance) by Jamhod. This fight was recently pointed out to me by the Cheif Instructor of I Liq Chuan in Russia, Alex Skalozub.

Proverbs...

2008-02-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

不打不教
Bu Da Bu Jiāo
"To not hit is to not teach."

I Liq Chuan 21 Form...

2008-02-12T07:52:00.001-08:00

I Liq Chuan Butterfly Palm...

2008-02-11T20:23:00.001-08:00

Belated Happy New Year!

2008-02-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

In case you missed it...

2008-02-11T10:35:00.000-08:00

I have started a podcast devoted to the Chinese Martial Arts. First three shows are now available!

So far guests ahve been Shuai Jiao Master John S. Wang, Lung Ying practitioner Peter Peña and White Crane practitioner Lorne Bernard!

The Hidden Wisdom Of Chinese Martial Arts...

2008-01-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

Most of the advances in Sports Training in recent times has evolved out of discoveries made by Physical Therapists.

One such important discovery concerns the muscles of the trunk ("core") and their role in movement. When most people think of the "core" they think about the "six pack", i.e. rectus abdominis.

The rectus abdominis is involved in a narrow degree of trunk flexion, and this, combined with the Western pre-occupation with the mirror muscles, has led most people to think about exercises like sit-ups and crunches to be "core" training.

However, it's now commonly recognized that the main role of the musculature of the lower trunk is spinal stabilization, and involves many, many muscles, including the deep muscles of the trunk like the multifidus.

Some trainers and therapists use "unstable" instruments during exercise to increase the demand on these small muscles, and make the exercise more difficult. One such instrument that modern PT's have invented is the "Bodyblade".

This is a tool that many high end coaches like Mike Boyle, who work with Pro and Division 1 College Sports teams, and sought after Physical Therapists like Gray Cook are using.

Here's a clip describing the effects of using an instrument like a Bodyblade.

Here's a clip illustrating the muscles worked using the Bodyblade...

Now compare to a clip of Mike using the Pole. Pay close attention to the behavior of the pole as he whips it back and forth.

As you can see, the pole is quite flexible, and acts essentially in the same unstable manner as the Bodyblade, ergo, the demands on the muscles of the torso to act act stabilizers against the inertia and instability of the pole is similar.

Understanding the body more thoroughly through the lens of modern sports training can help us understand the different training effects of our chosen art, and how to structure our training to be more efficient and productive.

Rather than spending our precious training time with exercises like crunches, which may even be counter productive, try picking up a long pole and give it a shake. Not only is it a lot more functional, but it's a lot more fun too.

This is Shaolin White Crane...

2008-01-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

White Crane Boxing (Chinese: 白鶴拳) is a Southern Chinese martial art which originated in Fujian (福建) province and is now practiced throughout the world. According to oral traditions, the creation of this style is attributed to Fāng Qīniáng (方七娘), a female martial artist.

The legend of the White Crane

The Fāng family lived in Fujian, a province of China, in a place where there were many cranes.
Qīniáng's father knew the Southern Chinese martial arts and taught them to his daughter.

One day, while Qīniáng was doing her chores, a crane alighted nearby.
Qīniáng tried to scare the bird off using a stick and the skills she learned from her father but whatever she did, the crane would counter.
Qīniáng tried to hit the crane on the head, but the bird moved its head out of the way and blocked the stick with its wings.
Qīniáng tried to hit the crane's wings, but the crane stepped to the side and this time blocked with the claws of its feet.
Qīniáng tried to poke the crane's body, but the crane dodged backwards and struck the stick with its beak.

From then on, Qīniáng carefully studied the movements of cranes and combined these movements with the martial arts she learned from her father, creating the White Crane style of Fujian Province.

read the entire entry on Fujian White Crane at Wikipedia.

White Crane Kung Fu combines defense and attack and uses both soft and hard power. It also emphasizes firm yet evasive footwork. It is a direct, linear and deceptive martial art. This particular system is called Fei He or Flying Crane. Flying Crane makes use of both high and low kicks yet has a marked preference for rapid hand techniques. It stresses empty-hand as well as weapons training, two-person sets, self-defense drills and free-sparring. The style's fierce pressure point attacks combined with rapid footwork and a no-nonsense approach make it a particularly effective, complete, and beautiful martial art.

read more about Lee Style Flying Crane.

Here's a beautiful display of Lee Style White Crane. The clip starts out a little slow but has some of the nicest two person sets and some damn good empty hand sets as well. These guys have put their time in!

Visit their website HERE.

More Dian Yue...

2008-01-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

Came across this clip laying out cavities for striking (dian yue, dian xue or dim mak in cantonese 點穴). It's from a JMA perspective, but he points are all the same (though the names differ).

Here's a direct link to the link charts offered at he end of the clip.

Proverbs...

2007-12-28T01:16:00.001-08:00

练拳不练功到老一场空

Lian quan bu lian gong dao lao yi chang kong

“Training (Kung Fu) without training gong, you end up with NOTHING”

Baguazhang Post Training....

2007-12-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

This is Adam Xu (Hsu) Laoshi

Nice Tongbei...

2007-12-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

Documentary

2007-12-14T22:19:00.001-08:00

Everyone who studies Chinese Martial Arts should see this movie.

The comment "Traditional kung fu doesn't live in China anymore." is likely to have been pretty inflammatory. (In fact it's been pretty hotly debated already, check out the comments on youtube) It's not an uncommon opinion among "overseas Chinese".

Unfortunately it seems that it's been stricken from the final cut, most likely to get permission from the PRC to film inside of China. The PRC knows there's big money in "kung fu tourism", and the fact of the matter is many westerners get ripped off all the time.

For my own part, I think the debate is genuine (is traditional kung fu actually alive anywhere?) It's an issue that's part of the landscape for all Chinese Martial Artists. It's a debate we should be having, and I'm disappointed that it's been sanitized for this documentary. I think the PRC has already done enough damage to traditional Chinese Martial Arts.

Still, the movie looks good and i can't wait to watch it.

Put on your coat...

2007-12-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

Hell must be freezing over. Here's a nice little tid-bit by a BJJ blackbelt and ex-fighter who converted to Chinese Martial Arts, specifically, Shuai Jiao.

Chet Quint.

My new reading list...

2007-12-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I'll try and hit some of these anyway. I'll definitely check out the book by Gray Cook, and also Mike Boyles "Functional Training for Sports" is on my Christmas wish list. (hint, hint, wink, wink...)

The List below basically constitutes a "who's who" in the performance training industry. If you've ever read any of Pavels stuff, you should recognize some of the names on it.

LIST.

Sweet Shaolin...

2007-12-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

Nice Cung Le MMA fight...

2007-11-29T01:02:00.000-08:00

Cung Le.

The Facial Connection...

2007-11-25T16:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice little article on the importance of fascia in tissue health.

Given the interest in fascia created by some of the guys in the internal arts like Mike Sigman, I thought this was a good little introduction to the topic.

legendary Guan Ping practitioner Kuo, Lien-Ying

My own Sifu often talks about training "ligaments, tendons and bones" and not the muscles. It's my guess that prolonged zhan zhuang training might have some effect on the fascia, allowing it to produce a greater role in force production (hence all the stories of skinny old masters who were enormously powerful given their size.) But that's just a guess on my part, and a skeptical one at that.

In the end, it's the results that matter.

The interaction of the needles with the fascia has also been theorized as the mechanism behind the benefits of acupuncture as well as reflexology.

FASCIA.

On a side note, the article mentions, the Inside-Out and Magnificent Mobility DVD's. I own both and highly recommend them.

Slideshow of my Leitai match...

2007-11-18T00:31:00.000-08:00

Holiday Tips from Craig Ballantyne...

2007-11-15T23:07:00.000-08:00

At this time of year, we can use every last tip to help avoid
holiday weight gain.

So here are 5 more fat loss tips for beginner & advanced readers.

1) No liquid calories (with the exception of a post-workout drink).

Get rid of all the juices, the sodas, and the sports drinks. Liquid
sugar is the last thing you need when you are trying to lose fat.

You must also limit your alcohol intake - especially if you are
adding mix to drinks...that is a double calorie bomb! A single "Jack
and Coke" is over 200 calories (100 calories from booze and 100
calories from mix).

2) No fast food.

Do not eat at fast food restaurants. Even if you choose what you
think is healthy, remember this:

Fast food restaurants are all about profit.

And in order to profit while giving you cheap, quick, and easy to
prepare foods, the quality of the food ingredients will be poor -
especially the protein.

Now you might have read that you can still make healthy choices at
fast food restaurants. But you know what, that's just
politically-correct opinion. If it's fast food, it's poor food.

Walking into a burger joint and grabbing a chicken breast on a
white bread bun with a piece of old lettuce and a half-green,
half-pink tomato is "barely" healthy eating.

The politically-incorrect truth is that it's going to take time and
effort to eat properly. You will have to plan, shop, and prepare
healthy meals. You will have to spend time cleaning, cutting, and
cooking your food. That's the truth.

But believe me, it will taste so much better than fast food, and
healthy eating will make you more alert. Eating fast food will make
you feel terrible, and will make you want to have an afternoon nap
at your desk.

Make one small improvement to your nutrition everyday for the rest
of your life.

3) Eat more fruits and vegetables.

If you are eating 2 servings per day, then go up to 4 servings per
day by the end of the week. And even if you think you are doing
great by having 5 servings per day, you still need to double that
(take 2-3 weeks to work your way up to 10 servings per day).

Stick with fiber-rich fruits and vegetables - organic if possible.

4) Eat 1oz of almonds or walnuts per day (1/2 oz in the AM, and the
other half in the afternoon).

Most nuts are roasted in oils (possible source of trans fats), so
stick to natural or dry-roasted nuts.

Don't panic...this small amount of nuts won't make you fat, but will
fill you up and help you lose weight.

5) Be consistent with your workouts.

And make sure the workouts are efficient and effective. To make it
easy for you to follow, stick with the Turbulence Training workout
system.

It doesn't matter if you train in the morning before or after
breakfast, or at night before or after dinner, or at 1pm on days
when the moon is in line with Saturn...don't worry about the
details, just train consistently.

check out Craig's site here. TURBULENCE.

Gray Cook Article...

2007-11-08T00:10:00.000-08:00

An article on stretching by renowned coach, Gray Cook. It's more than worth the time to check it out. Gray provides a lot of insight into taking the unerstanding of the body and applying it to the rest of your life. Give it a read. STRETCH.

Beautiful Xingyi...

2007-11-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

Zen and the Arts...

2007-09-22T01:51:00.001-07:00

Here's an interesting little article discussing the results of a study done with monks testing their "perceptual rivalry". (read the article)

Just a neat little snippet showing another benefit of a concentrated mind.

ATTENTION.

Monkey Bar Gym...

2007-09-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

Pretty standard "crossfit" type stuff, but the use of the apparatus really caught my eye. Reminds me of some of the Razor clips I've seen coming out of NYC.

Variety is the spice of life...