Wah Lum Exploration

[Xue Sheng]

It'll be a waxwood stick.

Cool, I liked the wax wood stick in Shaolin. We work with something similar in yang Taijiquan but it is about 9 feet long as opposed to the 6 foot long staff I trained with in Shaolin.

Yep... been there... done that!

So.... then what's with the Cantonese


Seriously I tried learning Cantonese and Mandarin at the same time a few years back and the only person that could understand a word I said was a friend from Guangzhou that spoke, Cantonese, Mandarin, Shanghai and English. To many damn tones in Cantonese for me I have a hard enough time with 4

 

[clfsean]

So.... then what's with the Cantonese

Oh that's easy. When I was in China, my guide said she appreciated the willingness & eagerness to speak Mandarin, but she spoke perfectly good English so English would do fine. If anything was needed & she wasn't around, there would probably find somebody wanting to speak English for practice & it would be ok.

//translation** Quit butchering my language you butter smelling outsider... //

The Cantonese comes from my sifu & his sifu's... all Cantonese speakers. Native or second & so to get by with them, even with English, it never hurt to know some Cantonese. I don't see any reason to break with tradition.

hehehehehehehehe

 

[Xue Sheng]

Oh that's easy. When I was in China, my guide said she appreciated the willingness & eagerness to speak Mandarin, but she spoke perfectly good English so English would do fine. If anything was needed & she wasn't around, there would probably find somebody wanting to speak English for practice & it would be ok.

//translation** Quit butchering my language you butter smelling outsider... //

The Cantonese comes from my sifu & his sifu's... all Cantonese speakers. Native or second & so to get by with them, even with English, it never hurt to know some Cantonese. I don't see any reason to break with tradition.

hehehehehehehehe

but...but...its devil talk

My sifu native is Shanghai (and I am not going there) but he is also fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. And since my wife's entire family (including the typical Chinese extended family) pretty much only speaks Mandarin...Mandarin it is....

 

[MantisMeredith]

lol...and Liz was concerned about hijacking this thread.

I will no longer fear hijacking your post Egg, I am however starting to fear the ducks that hang out by our school.....or are those geese? (lol, I feel a science teacher joke coming on soon :scratchy: )

Thanks for everyone's responses to my questions! It's exactly what I wanted! The 8 kicks are very challenging to me because of balance. Sunday I practiced one legged kicks on a flat wooden floor and barefoot, thinking it would help me in class the next day. However, the soft matts and shoes we practice with make it much tougher! Going to try balancing today on a rolled up towel maybe....any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone for your help! Kung Fu is so exciting, I have to admit I'm in love with it! :ladysman:

 

[Xue Sheng]

I will no longer fear hijacking your post Egg, I am however starting to fear the ducks that hang out by our school.....or are those geese? (lol, I feel a science teacher joke coming on soon :scratchy: )

Thanks for everyone's responses to my questions! It's exactly what I wanted! The 8 kicks are very challenging to me because of balance. Sunday I practiced one legged kicks on a flat wooden floor and barefoot, thinking it would help me in class the next day. However, the soft matts and shoes we practice with make it much tougher! Going to try balancing today on a rolled up towel maybe....any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone for your help! Kung Fu is so exciting, I have to admit I'm in love with it! :ladysman:

For rooting and balance I am a big proponent of training outside on uneven ground and if that is too easy outside on uneven ground in the dark.

My form, my root, and my understanding of power flow improved greatly by training outside at night.

Or start by training kicks inside, very slowly at first, and when that gets easier do the same with your eyes closed

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

I'm giving the outside a shot this afternoon

 

[clfsean]

Yeah be careful of the towel thing. It could slip/slide & you're hosed. I hate mats on the floor, but you gotta where you gotta.

If anything, try outside in the grass. No slipping there it's an unstable surface like the mats & hopefully won't cause you to fall unless you just do.

Also work on your lower leg/ankle flexibility along with your lower back & hips.

Keep your base leg bent slightly to act as a shock absorber (in general). A straight leg with motion will cause you to loose balance.

Get used to wearing shoes with these motions.

Above all, be careful of injury because you are kinda new & listen to your sifu & sihings/sijies.

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Keep your base leg bent slightly to act as a shock absorber (in general). A straight leg with motion will cause you to loose balance.

I recieved this suggestion from a couple different folks at class. I don't mind saying it's very tiring, at this point, to do this.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I recieved this suggestion from a couple different folks at class. I don't mind saying it's very tiring, at this point, to do this.

WHAT’S THIS….WHINNING!!!! REAL CMA people don’t whine….they welcome the pain :EG:

Ok now that the obligatory CMA tough guy statement is out of the way and also due to the fact that I have mellowed with age… don’t over do. If you’re tired give it a rest, take it slower and maybe work with the stance a bit higher… but not straight legged as CLFSean said this will cause you to lose balance. It can also, in some cases be a great way to injure yourself and so can training when you are too tired to train.

Pushing yourself a bit is to be expected in CMA and sometimes that can look to people outside of CMA as being a bit crazy. But you also need to know when it is time to rest and/or train some other aspect of your CMA...

Sayeth the guy with an old back injury, fractured heal, broken ankle, fractured knee, torn meniscus and wearing a rigid knee brace... just to list a few

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

How dare you accuse me of whining??!!

I'm sure that if I came into CMA as a younger man, I would have no problem whatsover. As it is, it's only tiring FOR NOW. I imagine it will be second nature to me before too long. I hope, anyways

I fully agree that standing straight-legged is disasterous, at best, though. Currently, I'm bent enough to keep the knee from being locked.

 

[Xue Sheng]

How dare you accuse me of whining??!!

Enough talk. Let's fight! Shashabooey!

Sorry I saw the opening for a Kung Fu Panda quote and I went for it

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Any time one can use a Kung Fu Panda quote, one should!

 

[knuckleheader]

Enough talk. Let's fight! Shashabooey!

Sorry I saw the opening for a Kung Fu Panda quote and I went for it

How about Kung Fu Panda VS. Boy Gary/bob a buoy:uhyeah:

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

How about Kung Fu Panda VS. Boy Gary/bob a buoy:uhyeah:

You mean like this? Po lost

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Ok...it's official. I start sparring next week.

Now, from what I can see, 'Wah Lum sparring' (at this level) is a code phrase for 'conditioning with protective gear'.

Also, I stayed and watched a much more advanced class tonight. The pain, it appears, does not end. It just gets looking better and better!

 

[Xue Sheng]

Ok...it's official. I start sparring next week.

Now, from what I can see, 'Wah Lum sparring' (at this level) is a code phrase for 'conditioning with protective gear'.

Also, I stayed and watched a much more advanced class tonight. The pain, it appears, does not end. It just gets looking better and better!

First, your return to pain free training was not part of the negotiations nor the agreement so it won't happen. And secondly, you must be a non-CMA person for the no pain code to apply and you're not. And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. Welcome to CMA Mr OnlyAnEgg. :EG:

The only souvenirs we collect here are bloody knuckles and broken bones.

SPARING IS COOL... I am jealous

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

lol...guidelines

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Wow

Did back-to-back basics and sparring for the first time tonight.

Frikking wow.

I'm going to say this one last time: I'm older and I've not kept myself in very good shape. That being said, I was proud to finally get to the point in basics that I was completing the run at the beginning with regularity. I am, however, humbled by this bump up in training. I will say, in deepest honesty, that if I had to go even a little bit farther than I did tonight, I would not have made it. As it was, gao jang came just in the nick of time.

Best
Art
Ever
Still!!!

 

[Xue Sheng]

Cool!!

The last time I did anything that could be called sparing was against my Xingyi sifu and I got pummeled... I got in one good shot but other than that I most certainly lost....and it was one of the coolest things I had done in a long time.

DAMN!!! I miss sparing.

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Well, even though we did shadow boxing, combos and some round robin work, it was more of a cardio workout. While I do have a cardiopulmonary system, it seems to be largely atrophied