April 12, 2010 by george.

 Wait for a couple minutes into the video for the bald guy, first part is just tongue twisters.

Apparently its part of training for the Chinese Opera - how an adult would portray a child’s height. Real impressive that he can kick and walk so quick at that height, not to mention the acrobatics.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQzMjkwNTI=.html

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September 9, 2009 by george.

 Could be useful for tabata and bag work……. if only I had a computer with Internet access near where ever I workout…….

http://www.speedbagforum.com/timer.html

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September 9, 2009 by george.

 I’m always suggesting to my students and friends to use a foam roller. I even gave away my original one to my aunt. Its insanely cheap, especially when compared to visits to a massage therapist or chiropractor and you can use it any time you want to. I usually use it for my spine and hip/pelvis area, but you can expand the range of use of it to other areas as well.

At one point I was thinking of writing up an article about how to use it and why, but here’s a pretty good one I found recently. Check it out!

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/feel_better_for_10_bucks

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August 23, 2009 by george.

Check it out. Too many people always want to get too rough or try to “win” in their sparring. Here’s a pro at the top of his game, practicing. He’s throwing elbows - safely. He’s throwing leg kicks - safely. They are throwing out combos and getting in their techniques - safely - and without someone necessarily trying all out to stop them from training.

This is the kind of stuff we do when we are doing trading throws in that arena, but it’s still hard for most to do this in general sparring.

Ego prevents everyone from improving, not just the dude with the ego.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nBoQgeKP-0

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May 30, 2009 by george.

I’ve been thinking about something since I wrote that last motivation thread. I felt that that post came out a bit on the pessimistic side. Although it was honest, I do want to present another aspect into the equation.

I’ve never seen or yet met a student who I think:

1. Could not improve
2. Could not keep improving
3. Could not successfully learn the material

The problem is usually due to more complex varieties of the motivation issue. In traditional martial arts its not as simple as saying something like “I want to learn how to play the piano” or “I want to learn how to make a good steak.”

The variety of different skills inherent in the internal martial arts are numerous. Especially in an art like Baguazhang. In the end, once you come somewhat full circle, things will seem simpler. But it is often the case that while one is still on the path, they don’t yet know all the paths that they must someday take, what varieties of skills they must conquer.

In the traditional internal martial arts that I have studied, it has been my belief and experience that everyone is capable. This does not mean that everyone was given the same genetic gifts to begin with or that everyone started with the same background. All of these can significantly influence how difficult the road can be for each individual, but that never means that it is impossible.

The true choice of whether something is possible or impossible for that particular person goes back to the question of motivation and whether or not they believe in themselves. Everyone can do, not everyone chooses to and not everyone believes themselves capable of succeeding.

Moreover, and what is likely one of the most serious issues when determining how far one can climb, is that each person often cuts off their potential in learning. They might lack the amount of humility and brutal honesty that is necessary to have with oneself to continue the climb. They might fall into complacency, either assuming they have what they need or that the physical, mental and time costs to continued improvement are too great. They might also just get so stuck in what and how they have done something, that even though they have butted up against the wall and are going nowhere… they still cannot change direction and find the way around. Not all roads that got you to the mountain can get you up the mountain.

For myself, I always try to insure that I learn something with each training session and each day. It doesn’t have to be an earth-shattering thunderstrike of enlightenment, it just has to be a step further down the path. Sometimes I’ll have to enlist the help of my teacher to show me the way around when I’ve come to a dead end, but that is how it should be. Sometimes I’ll have to take some time out, if the mind is not ready and willing and focussed, even if the desire is there, the ends will not come. Sometimes I’ll have to work around an injury and my training will take a different direction for a time, but in the end I know that this will always grant me greater wisdom into the workings of my body, and my training. Sometimes I have to just hunker down and push ahead, even if circumstances are trying to stop me.

Its not always easy, but its always possible. I still haven’t met someone who I think is incapable. And although not everyone is equally capable, they can all be successful, equally.

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May 6, 2009 by george.

 Josh Leeger asked a question about my thoughts on motivation following a post of mine below. I decided to transfer my answer to a new post in the hopes that it can lead to more discussion and more meditations on it from me as well. So, my thoughts on motivation:

Motivation is something that I’m increasingly pessimistic about (and I didn’t mean that in an ironic sense). I can only speak for me and my experiences here, but, here’s some points I’ve noticed in my studies of martial arts:

1 - Even a motivated, dedicated person will have different levels of motivation over his lifetime. I can cite myself in this category. With kids, wife, stress, money problems, injuries… all sorts of things conspire together to stand in the way of a good training schedule. I can’t practice as much now as I would like to or did when I was younger. I go through cycles where I train more and when I train less.

2 - I’m not even sure you can “teach” or “inspire” motivation. I’ve seen hundreds of people that would talk the talk, but never got around to walking the walk. And walking the walk long term is what is needed in gongfu - skill acquired through hard work over time. As much as I’ve personally tried to push and lead people to try more and to drive themselves harder, it doesn’t seem to do much. I think I can set an example, I think I can occasionally get like minded people, but I’m just increasingly pessimistic about creating a motivated individual from one who is not.

3 - And honestly, our culture is progressively not promoting self-motivation. Many believe its preferable to go to a group aerobics, yoga or crossfit type class than it is to learn the lessons of forging oneself, the lessons of dedication and self-discovery one can obtain are left by the wayside though, in that case. Being led by the collar is not the same as boldly going forward under one’s own power. But then again, gaining spiritual, meaningful internal insight is not something that society is promoting or putting value on these days.

4 - I personally predominantly teach adults, not young kids in a wrestling program, or zit-faced teenagers at army boot camp. I can’t really force them to do anything. I remember trying to get my students to work towards certain goals over a 3 month period. Although they were all self-dictated goals, they had 3 months, they were concrete and obtainable… only one person out of about half a dozen got anywhere close to completing their goals. Disappointing, but instructive to me as well about the level of people’s motivation. Heck, I can’t even make people come to class on a consistent, regular basis and that is something that I think should be the bare minimum necessary.

5 - My innate nature is to just tell people to suck it up and get to it. When I was a kid if you had to do your chores, you had to. It wouldn’t matter to my Grandpa if I didn’t feel like chopping wood today, either I did it or I didn’t do anything else until I did. Whining is generally the name of the game these days. Whether it’s “I was tired,” to “I had something else to do,” to “I hurt my little thumb and can’t practice,” to the slightly more honest “I just didn’t feel like it” - It’s apparently easier to whine about it than to dig in and do it.

6 - Another cultural reason, many people, in an effort to preserve their own sense of responsibility and prevent damage to their ego, would always prefer to place the blame and responsibility on someone else, rather than themselves. You hurt yourself, you sue someone else. You didn’t learn that in school, you blame the teacher and the school. You’re fat, you blame society and “the man.” It’s always easier for people to feel good about themselves by shifting all this onto something or someone else.

There’s probably a lot more to this. I’ve got to get back to the kids now though. More later.

And I would love to hear other thoughts on this!

Posted in Training, General Info | 7 Comments »

May 3, 2009 by george.

In its most simple sense, baguazhang likes to take things and play with them. The art is based on the attitude of play. You can play with forms, you can play with opponents and training partners, and you need to play with the tools of your training.

A simple example of playing with a “tool” in training is taking one basic form or fighting principle and varying it in a number of different senses. Doing this as a deliberate process allows you to get to the essence of that form or principles jin. You must take it apart so that you can see what it is, inside and out, and so that you can learn to put it back together in any form you want. Take our first houtian straight line form of kaizhang, or opening palm, for example. From the basic template, you can learn to practice it long for the training of power, or short for the expression of power. You can apply it with either hand, on either the inside or outside of your opponent. You can apply it driving forward or while retreating. You can use it to overwhelm or to flow around the strengths of your opponent. You can use it to enter high or low, or to force your opponent’s center high or low. You can step straight in or at angles around the opponent. You can strike with a palm, as in the basic form, or with a slapping hand, a fist, your knee, your elbow, etc.

Another example of a practice in baguazhang that used to be common, but that I don’t see often anymore, is that of free-flowing creative circle walking. Using the circle as a template and letting the jin flow out of your body, your mind and your consciousness was a common method of play in baguazhang when the art was first being disseminated. Beyond our own Yizong group, I have seen it practiced before in a couple Beijing bagua schools - I’ve seen Ma Chuanxu and Yang Kun do this personally, but it unfortunately does not seem to be as common anymore. And when it is done, especially in the West, it is often painfully obvious that it is being done too soon, without the foundation work in place. When the jin are not part of your body/mind, what comes out is just sloppy arm waving, not part of the art of Baguazhang.

Taking the basic essence of a thing and changing it big and small, forward and back, right and left, up and down, and more… this is the base of how we play in bagua. In a sense, the core jin of the moves we are trying to express is what is sacred, everything else is in flux, in change, in a state of play.

More later.

Posted in Baguazhang, Training, General Info | 4 Comments »

May 3, 2009 by george.

All martial arts are abstract from the real thing. There is no perfect imitation of what is chaos - a violent encounter. At best we try to imitate, to take aspects of the whole and train these.

Many martial arts take a single aspect of the whole and specialize in that. Brazilian jujitsu is reknowned for its ground grappling expertise. Judo, sambo, wrestling, shuai jiao for their skill in standing grappling and throwing. Boxing for its fists. Baguazhang is an attempt to take a look at the whole and what binds the pieces together. At its essence, it provides not only technique and methods of building skill, but an overarching paradigm with which to understand the chaos.

Like I say often in class, there are many aspects wherein Baguazhang tries to take the big look at things, and train not just a part, but the whole. Not just ABC or XYZ, but A through Z. You can see this in the forms wherein the body and mind are taken through a full range of motion and led to open the joints, the tendons, to make strong the bones and muscles, and to make clear, focussed and fully aware the mind/intent.

To train the whole still requires one to take it in pieces. Baguazhang will take different aspects of the whole pie and train them separately as well as together. Furthermore, this is often done to balance the training as well. Sometimes we will train in one direction, only to switch gears at some point and train in the other. There are times when we train for speed, others for power. There are times to train for light, others for heavy. Etc.

Again, these are all things that we hear in class everyday. Is it understood intuitively? Do you emphasize it in your training?

More later.

Posted in Baguazhang, Training, General Info | 4 Comments »

April 28, 2009 by george.

FYI and another reason that I do things the way I do…

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Boxing-Damages-Brain-Despite-Headgear-Protection-35433.shtml

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April 21, 2009 by george.

Martial arts training is by its very definition an abstract of what real violence, a real fight condition is like. What we are attempting to do in training is attempt to take the chaotic whole of combat and dissect it into smaller, more edible pieces of that greater pie. This is where an art such as Baguazhang shines.

One aspect of the art of baguazhang is its cohesive look at the training process itself - the act of modelling parts of the whole. The book from which baguazhang gets its namesake, the Yijing - the book of changes, is also an attempt to look at the chaotic whole of all aspects of the universe and then its distillation into understandable aspects. Baguazhang, the martial art, continues this process. Baguazhang was known since the days of is founder, Dong Haichuan, as an art based primarily in principle. There are principles to training and there are principles to fighting and there are principles of movement. Dong’s early students were taught this look at the essence, or over-arching principles of the art. Since his students all had experience in martial arts and fighting, he didn’t have to have as much of a beginner’s centric set curriculum. He instead could concentrate on the bigger concepts and how they break down. He could see the whole and understand it, therefore he could teach it well in all forms, he could fit it into any vase and expand from there.

If the Dao is the whole and the Yijing is the basis from which to understand its nature, then you could also use the analogy that struggle is alike the Dao and the art of baguazhang is alike the yijing, a basis from which to understand its nature. Yet the nature itself of struggle, the mind, training and movement lends itself as a very unique starting point from which to understand the Dao itself.

More later.

Posted in Baguazhang, Training | 5 Comments »

February 21, 2009 by jleeger.

Just had a realization the other day, that I wanted to share with everyone.

The goal of Zhan Zhuang or San Ti Shi is essentially this - to unite and focus your breath/intention, and to teach your phasic muscles to release - to learn how to support your frame with your deeper postural muscles, and get the “movement” muscles out of the way.

Doing this teaches you your deep internal structure.  By knowing your structure, you know everyone else’s structure.  It also makes your movement drastically more efficient.  Once you know how to support your frame/structure tonically, you don’t need to involve unnecessary muscles in your movements.  When that is the case, you can be more effective - you are able to apply those large muscles wherever/whenever they are really needed (i.e., the instant of contact, etc.), and with full force.  This is one of the reasons why people who are very good at martial arts can exhibit effortless grace followed by instantaneous crushing force.

Find good posture in your stance, setting your bones on top of each other, and then wait.  Your muscles begin to shake, they begin to burn, they begin to hurt.  But you won’t fall down.  The mind is scared.  It is a creature of habit.  It is used to having those big muscles do all of the work.  The big muscles want to maintain their control of you, too.  They want to be the boss of your movement.  They don’t want to let go.  The goal is to let those big shaking muscles fail.  This will take longer and longer, as they grow more and more effective at compensating, but soon you’ll find out how to let them go, and to rely on your inner structure for support.

This is the reason that all martial arts teachers say “relax” when practicing static postures.  The goal is to get those big muscles out of the way.  The sooner the better!  This practice never ends, it just gets deeper and deeper.  I would guess that there is probably a point of diminishing returns (as there is in all things).  When you can hold a perfect San Ti for 30 minutes, you can probably do it for 5 hours.  Call me when you hit 30 minutes!  I haven’t yet!

In the old days, it was viewed as a Qigong exercise, or as mental training, and it is both of these as well.  You have to control and unify your mind and breath in order to be able to get to the point where the large, phasic muscles fail.  But within that control, you’re finding your deep internal structure.

I hope this understanding of what is happening in your body might help you to push further in your static-posture practice.  It has helped me a lot.

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February 1, 2009 by george.

It’s endemic in training for students to ask too many questions, teachers to over-analyze, and training partners to constantly give too much feedback. We all occasionally(or often) forget that the best way to learn something physical is to just do it, again and again.

I’ve always been of the sort who prefers to do things about 100 times before I can get a first opportunity for my physical learning to catch up with what I’m trying to accomplish, before I can really accept or gain any benefit from feedback or additional refinement.

Here’s an article on some research done about how over-thinking affects physical performance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7859385.stm

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January 27, 2009 by george.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html

Check out the link and read it. It explains about concussions in sports. Combat sports can be even more prone to these types of trauma, boxing is famous for it.

Another reason why the majority of our sparring is done with light head contact and heavier on the body and limbs. Unless someone’s paying you millions of dollars to get that type of brain damage, it’s not necessary.

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May 14, 2008 by jleeger.

Hi!

It’s been a while…I’ve been really busy with school and work.  One more week of finals and that’s over!

One of the things that is constantly at the top of my mind is the concept of good posture.  We train posture constantly in Bagua.  “Structure” is the key to our art.  If the skeleton is out of alignment, you lose energy at each little weak link in the chain, resulting in powerless movement.  You’ll also get snapped like a whip anytime someone executes a move on you.

Just have George do Pi Quan on you, and you’ll see what I mean.  Your arm might be solid as rock, but your shoulder is a little too forward, so it’s a little compromised, as are the opposing muscles on your back, and so on down the chain to the ground.  The effect builds as it goes through the body, until you crumble to the ground like a bag of bones.

The muscles are what hold the body in correct posture or “structure.”  If the muscles are pulling the bones out of balance, or not providing enough stability in certain areas, your structure is compromised, so is your ability to create, transfer, or absorb force or power.

I just wanted to make a comment about this, without going into excruciating detail.  There is an excellent overview of the most common postural deviations on exrx.net, here - http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html#anchor3102554

I highly recommend checking yourself frequently for any of these deviations, and then making the necessary corrections in your training to correct them.  Your Bagua and strength conditioning, not to mention your body’s muscles, joints, and nervous system, will thank you!

Josh

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March 29, 2008 by george.

Here’s something that is pretty sad actually. At about 2:10 or so into the following video, the one slightly smaller dude uses some quick energy to do a snake type throw to his opponent. You’ll see the result. This is another reason why I have segmented the throwing in my school the way I have. There are serious consequences to being an asshole on your partner. And although this was a competition, I’m still not sure I would say this kind of technique in a non-life/death type situation is cool.

Nonetheless, it is good to learn from other people’s mistakes, rather than having to suffer through our own. Learn the consequences of being an asshole:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXlFSXvVV7k 

Circle on and train well!

George

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