Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Not sure where to post this, but I am talking about a book so The Library seems as good a place as any.
The views of an old CMA guy on The Making of a Butterfly, by Phillip Starr
This is a good book that I highly recommend to any martial artist whether a beginner or advanced. It gives you a glimpse into what training use to be like in the early days of martial and it also gives insight into many things that are applicable today in both life and Martial Arts training as well.
I started MA roughly 10 years after Pete Starr started training with Master W.C. Chen and although my first Sensei trained us hard (Jujitsu, no protective gear, no mats) it was not as hard as what W.C. Chen required of his students and sadly this type of teaching is all but gone today. It still exists, but it is rare.
The Making of a Butterfly has helped me make a decision about the path of my training and it also pointed out rather large holes in my current training as well, I will admit some are due to age and laziness on my part. It also reinforced my feeling as to why we still train with weapons in CMA styles and the need for correctness of form. I do truly feel that any martial artist can benefit by reading Pete Starr’s book.
But with that said I can also see that I am looking at this from the Point of View of a Martial Arts Dinosaur (and a guy that took penmanship in elementary school) and that the views of those younger than I or with less time in MA may not agree. Modern ideas for training tend to be very different from mine. Look at any post I have made or been involved in on Stance training and you will get the point I am making there.
I also find myself wondering about Yilichuan, the Martial art developed by Pete Starr based on his training with W.C. Chen. If there where a school near me I do believe I would likely be going to check it out, (not that I don’t have enough people I call Sifu already).
Regardless The Making of a Butterfly is a very good book that I highly recommend. I wish I had the opportunity to train with W.C. Chen but I also have to wonder if I would have survived the training.
The views of an old CMA guy on The Making of a Butterfly, by Phillip Starr
This is a good book that I highly recommend to any martial artist whether a beginner or advanced. It gives you a glimpse into what training use to be like in the early days of martial and it also gives insight into many things that are applicable today in both life and Martial Arts training as well.
I started MA roughly 10 years after Pete Starr started training with Master W.C. Chen and although my first Sensei trained us hard (Jujitsu, no protective gear, no mats) it was not as hard as what W.C. Chen required of his students and sadly this type of teaching is all but gone today. It still exists, but it is rare.
The Making of a Butterfly has helped me make a decision about the path of my training and it also pointed out rather large holes in my current training as well, I will admit some are due to age and laziness on my part. It also reinforced my feeling as to why we still train with weapons in CMA styles and the need for correctness of form. I do truly feel that any martial artist can benefit by reading Pete Starr’s book.
But with that said I can also see that I am looking at this from the Point of View of a Martial Arts Dinosaur (and a guy that took penmanship in elementary school) and that the views of those younger than I or with less time in MA may not agree. Modern ideas for training tend to be very different from mine. Look at any post I have made or been involved in on Stance training and you will get the point I am making there.
I also find myself wondering about Yilichuan, the Martial art developed by Pete Starr based on his training with W.C. Chen. If there where a school near me I do believe I would likely be going to check it out, (not that I don’t have enough people I call Sifu already).
Regardless The Making of a Butterfly is a very good book that I highly recommend. I wish I had the opportunity to train with W.C. Chen but I also have to wonder if I would have survived the training.
