WC Beginning Training = Watching Paint Dry?

[AceHBK]

As you know I have started WC.
I am doing SLT and other small beginning stuff. I must be honest, it is like watching paint dry. I was watching Gary Lam talking about WC and I felt better when he said "when you start out it isn't very interesting and is boring".

I realize that I am trying to train my mind and body but man it is boooooooring! Why must you do SLT so much!?!?

 

[CuongNhuka]

Before you build a house, you must first build the base.

 

[paulus]

Why must you do SLT so much!?!?

To

• make your legs stronger
• train your elbows
• get better at reducing your thoughts
• train fa ging
• make your hands (tan sau, bong sau etc) better

Do it whilst watching tv/talking to your girlfriend etc if you find it too boring to do it and it alone.

 

[geezer]

As you know I have started WC.
I am doing SLT and other small beginning stuff. I must be honest, it is like watching paint dry. I was watching Gary Lam talking about WC and I felt better when he said "when you start out it isn't very interesting and is boring".

I realize that I am trying to train my mind and body but man it is boooooooring! Why must you do SLT so much!?!?

Hey, I here ya. I've been doing this a while, and I still struggle to motivate myself to train the forms. Sparring, Chi-sau, hell, even most drills seem more fun. Then again, I probably have ADD (attention deficit disorder) but grew up before it was diagnosed.

So anyway, what other kind of stuff does your training involve so far? Do you do paired attack and defense drills? How about stepping and chain-punching or kicking? Have you begun chi dan sau (or "dan chi" = single sticking hands)? Let us know what other training you are doing. And my advice is to make friends with some of the people at your school. Maybe you can recruit a training buddy. Even forms can be more fun if you are with friends. Meanwhile, hang in there!

 

[AceHBK]

To

• make your legs stronger
• train your elbows
• get better at reducing your thoughts
• train fa ging
• make your hands (tan sau, bong sau etc) better

Do it whilst watching tv/talking to your girlfriend etc if you find it too boring to do it and it alone.

How does it help you train your elbows?

What is fa ging? (never heard of it)

Heck I seem to do a lot of it in class so hate to do it at home.

 

[AceHBK]

Hey, I here ya. I've been doing this a while, and I still struggle to motivate myself to train the forms. Sparring, Chi-sau, hell, even most drills seem more fun. Then again, I probably have ADD (attention deficit disorder) but grew up before it was diagnosed.

So anyway, what other kind of stuff does your training involve so far? Do you do paired attack and defense drills? How about stepping and chain-punching or kicking? Have you begun chi dan sau (or "dan chi" = single sticking hands)? Let us know what other training you are doing. And my advice is to make friends with some of the people at your school. Maybe you can recruit a training buddy. Even forms can be more fun if you are with friends. Meanwhile, hang in there!

Lol..glad to know I ain't alone.

Ok right now (I just started last week) I am doing SLT and when it comes to exercises I am doing Pak Sao & Pak Dar. Pak Sao is cool and I see I need to get my hands conditioned to take the constant blocking that goes on. We do Pak Sao just regular and then we switch in terms of you punch when you feel like it and the other person has to block to help with sensitivity. Now when I first started doing it I would look at the elbows. Sifu stopped me from doing that and now I have to close my eyes which is actually cool. I can still block just fine. (I feel that my partner is heavy handed so it is easy to tell when he is about to punch....that or I feel the spirit Wong Shun Leung in me )

I suck at Pak Dar b/c I haven't been able to get the timing down of punching and blocking at the same time and the punches come fast.

Oh and I work on my punches by punching a small bag filled with sand. My knuckles are killing me.

Thats it when it comes to training.
I am not sure how long my Sifu has been teaching. There is only 1 other student besides myself so I look at it as a good thing. Class is a minimum of 2 hours and it is usually me and my classmate doing SLT with the 2 other drills/exercises for the most part. I would say the last 45 minutes my Sifu then works with each one of us seperately. In the time though he does say what we need to focus on. My classmate has been doing it for a year and a half but seems real tense and heavy handed.

 

[Xue Sheng]

As you know I have started WC.
I am doing SLT and other small beginning stuff. I must be honest, it is like watching paint dry. I was watching Gary Lam talking about WC and I felt better when he said "when you start out it isn't very interesting and is boring".

I realize that I am trying to train my mind and body but man it is boooooooring! Why must you do SLT so much!?!?

HA

You think SLT is boring then don't start Xingyiquan

Beginning Xingyiquan... Santi Shi Now stand there for 10 minutes and don't move then move and stand that way on teh other side for 10 minutes...and you still are NOT standing long enough... and Xingyiquan to me is one of the coolest CMA styles there is.

As to SLT, I went trhough it 3 times and never found it boring, but I can see where one would. But then I tend to be into the basics of a style before jumping to advanced stuff these days it makes things soooo much easier later....kinda :EG:. However I no longer do SLT or Wing Chun.

 

[paulus]

How does it help you train your elbows?

What is fa ging? (never heard of it)

Heck I seem to do a lot of it in class so hate to do it at home.

Example: your fuk sau is resting on your partner's tand sau. They push forward but your fuk sau is strong enough to withstand it without you using your strength - your elbow is good.

Fa ging is the explosion of power at the end of the punch/palm/whatever strike.

You can never do enough SLT

 

[AceHBK]

Example: your fuk sau is resting on your partner's tand sau. They push forward but your fuk sau is strong enough to withstand it without you using your strength - your elbow is good.

Fa ging is the explosion of power at the end of the punch/palm/whatever strike.

You can never do enough SLT

I need to do some research. I have no idea what fuk sau and tand sau are.

So there needs to be an explosion of power at the end of my punch. I haven't tried putting power into my chain punches b/c I am doing my best to stay relaxed. I will start now though.

Xue Sheng,

Man after 4x in a row my level of excitement has dwindled to 0. Like all MA the beginning is always the most boring part. I will get use to it.

I just want to practice on that damn wooden dummy!!!
Why is it that you have so long to learn it? In the lineage I am learning now (Moy Yat) , I see that it takes 2 years before you learn it. I would think it would make sense to have students practicing stuff early on with a wooden dummy. Just stuff they are learning of course, nothing advanced.

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

The boring stuff is usually the important stuff.

Keep at it.

 

[seasoned]

The learning process of anything in life is boring. Look to the people that have endured, and if that is what you want, then do what they did. :asian:

 

[Yoshiyahu]

IT BUILDS SHORT POWER

IT TRAINS STRUCTURE

TEACHES MOST OF HAND TECHNIQUES...


My humble opinion?

As you know I have started WC.
I am doing SLT and other small beginning stuff. I must be honest, it is like watching paint dry. I was watching Gary Lam talking about WC and I felt better when he said "when you start out it isn't very interesting and is boring".

I realize that I am trying to train my mind and body but man it is boooooooring! Why must you do SLT so much!?!?

 

[mook jong man]

Our Sigung Tsui Seung Tin said that when he first joined Yip Man's school he did nothing but Sil Lum Tao for the first year , and said that lessons did not start to get interesting till the second year.

In the school I attended for the first 4 years or so the only form I knew was Sil Lum Tao , then at about the 5 year mark I was taught the Chum Kiu form and then somewhere at around 8 years I was taught the Bil Gee form and half the wooden dummy form . When I left the school after 10 years I still would have been about 2 years off from learning the basic preparation exercises for the weapons .

So compared to progress in other arts Wing Chun training is I suppose boring and tediously slow , and if you can't put up with that then maybe Wing Chun is not the art for you . Personally speaking I do not find it boring , I still have interest in practicing even the most simplest movements , even something as mundane and basic as pivoting slowly from side to side or taking a movement from a form and practicing it over and over again .

The reason I don't find it boring is because I am trying to concentrate to my utmost and apply mental power to any technique that I am doing , If I was just doing a physical movement then certainly it would be very boring but when you are trying to energise your techniques with thought force then it requires absolute concentration .

After many years I have learnt to find the joy in practicing even the most boring of Wing Chun movements in this way , and when you have finished you are in a very relaxed state , similar to a type of meditation but very much alert , the mind is uncluttered and any stresses or worries you might have are put in perspective.

 

[arnisador]

Yeah, I've been there. If you like what you see tha advanced students doing...stay tuned!

 

[paulus]

So there needs to be an explosion of power at the end of my punch.

I wouldn't go mad with this, just focus on being relaxed until the very last micro-second. Better to be relaxed and get the power wrong at the end than to be to 'hard' all the way through.

I just want to practice on that damn wooden dummy!!!
Why is it that you have so long to learn it?

Because you need to learn the basics first and the basics take quite a while to develop. Boring answer, I know!

 

[matsu]

hey mate
funny i dont find it boring at all! but somedays its a struggle just to get started,but once i,m there i,m reaaly THERE!

try doing the form in various ways
for example-first time veeeeeeerrrry slowly.under full tension all way thru
next time verry quickly with full power, next go through the various tension /relax protocols.
then try it broken down into its various techniques.
at the moment i am having trouble with second part getting the dynamic tension with the strikes esp the sideways ones so i just do that for say 20 times then go onto another element?

hope taht helps
matsu

 

[geezer]

In the school I attended for the first 4 years or so the only form I knew was Sil Lum Tao , then at about the 5 year mark I was taught the Chum Kiu form and then somewhere at around 8 years I was taught the Bil Gee form and half the wooden dummy form . When I left the school after 10 years I still would have been about 2 years off from learning the basic preparation exercises for the weapons .

...So compared to progress in other arts Wing Chun training is I suppose boring and tediously slow...

My experience, though in a different lineage, was pretty similar. I was brought through the first three forms a bit faster (which is to say too fast) since my sifu had to travel to train us and he was trying to move us up quickly. But then things really slowed down. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever get the whole system. But it doesn't really matter, since I've already been shown far more than I'm capable of applying. I mean that's the whole point of the Siu Nim Tau form's name, "little idea" isn't it? You know, to master a small amount of fundamental material is more valuable than to have half-learned a great deal of "high-level" stuff.

On the other hand, I have to disagree with the bolded part of the quote above. I think WC/WT practitioners progress very rapidly in their practical skills. With just the basics, an average student can be very proficient in self-defense and sparring. It's just that most people, as I believe you were pointing out here, view progress in terms of quantity instead of quality and practicality.

 

[AceHBK]

Our Sigung Tsui Seung Tin said that when he first joined Yip Man's school he did nothing but Sil Lum Tao for the first year , and said that lessons did not start to get interesting till the second year.

In the school I attended for the first 4 years or so the only form I knew was Sil Lum Tao , then at about the 5 year mark I was taught the Chum Kiu form and then somewhere at around 8 years I was taught the Bil Gee form and half the wooden dummy form . When I left the school after 10 years I still would have been about 2 years off from learning the basic preparation exercises for the weapons .

So compared to progress in other arts Wing Chun training is I suppose boring and tediously slow , and if you can't put up with that then maybe Wing Chun is not the art for you . Personally speaking I do not find it boring , I still have interest in practicing even the most simplest movements , even something as mundane and basic as pivoting slowly from side to side or taking a movement from a form and practicing it over and over again .

I thouight it takes 2-3 years to learn the system. Why did you only learn SLT in 4 years?

 

[paulus]

I thouight it takes 2-3 years to learn the system.

Everyone has an opinion, and different sifus will recommend spending different amounts of time on each 'stage'. It depends on the student too (in fact mostly). There's no point in the student plunging into the dummy if they can't do the basics stuff yet. I would measure progress by your skill level, not years training.

What it means to 'learn' a system is subjective though. It might take you only 3 years to learn the basic movements, but it'll take a lifetime to get them right.

 

[bs10927]

To

• make your legs stronger
• train your elbows
• get better at reducing your thoughts
• train fa ging
• make your hands (tan sau, bong sau etc) better

Do it whilst watching tv/talking to your girlfriend etc if you find it too boring to do it and it alone.

agreed. it will help you keep your elbows in and will make your blocks better. also will help stretch from the huen sao and palm strikes. once you develop the good habits from 1st form the the other forms, drills, chi sao will be better.