Structural training on daily commute

This is my very own method of training.  I stand on a train without holding on to a rail.  This type of training teaches how to adjust and adapt your body structure when you are pushed or pulled to the front, back, left, or right.  I believes it helps improve balance and the way one deal with incoming force.  The training is particularly helpful in close quarter fighting when you are grabbed, pushed, and pulled ,such as in pushed hand competition or standing wrestling competition.

The goal of this practice is to keep the body balanced when the train takes off or comes to a stop.  You will also have to keep the body balanced when the train rocks from side to side.   The trick is not to stiffen up the body.  I have learned to keep my body relaxed but also not losing the integrity of the structure.  It is in the fine movement of the small muscle that adjust to the incoming force.  Usually, when you are being push to the right, you will have to align your left shoulder to your right foot.  When you are being push to the left, you will have to align your right shoulder to your left foot.

I have also realized that the best way to keep balance is to resist horizontal force, vertically.  Another obstacle with this type of training is that the train accelerates too abruptly.  As the train accelerates, you resist by pushing really hard to the opposite direction, but when the train stops accelerating, you can't stop your own initial resisting force fast enough.  This causes your body to fall forward.  In another word, your reaction causes a momentum that can be exploit by your opponent.  But how to react to a incoming force with out momentum then?  I believe reacting vertically to a horizontal force is the answer.

Imagine, a pole or staff that is about a shoulder height in length.  One end of the staff is on the floor another end of it is in your hand.  If you tilt the staff about 10-15 degree angle and push the upper end of the staff downward, you will notice that the lower end of the staff that is resting on the floor does not moves down but it moves outward side way because the floor prevents it to move further downward.  In another word, your action of pushing vertically downward on top of the pole creates horizontally pushing outward on the lower end of the pole.  Like the pole, your shoulders and feet are the two end of the pole.  After you align your shoulder and feet so it forms structural line, you pushing down vertically with the shoulder will create horizontal force on your feet.  Pushing left shoulder down will create pushing out with right foot and vise versa.

In conclusion, if you decide to adapt this training method, please make sure that you have a rail close by in the event that you are not able to keep your self balanced.  I am not responsible for any injury if you practice blindly... ^^;;  I have been practicing this way on my daily commute for 3 years now.  I can attest to you that it has improve my balance greatly.  Also people will be amazed how you could keep your balance even when the train conductor thinks he is a Nascar driver. :)

ps.  I discovered later that this type of training has been done before by Pak Bok Nam.  In his book, Pak Bok Nam describes how  his teacher would have him standing on a horse carriage to practice his balance.

Turning and spiraling of the entire body

While I was practicing upward sweeping strike, I have a sensation that would describe as turning of the limb like a gear system.  It feels as if that the turning of the body trunk causes the shoulder to rotate.  The rotation of the shoulder causes the wrist to rotate.  The rotation of the wrist causes fingers to rotate (each finger rotates individually... strange feeling but that what it feels like).  Moreover, the direction of the rotation that I had feels natural and matches the requirement of the hand said by HJB (see earlier post ).

I also notice that I have not turn by arm correctly for the longest of time. I was merely flipping over my arm.  The difference is that if you turning your arm, one side goes up, the other side has to go down.  If you just flipping over your arm, one side is stationary while the other side does all the rotation.   Same concept should also apply with the waist.  Turning of the waist means that the right side of the waist turning forward while the left side is turning toward the back.  The center of the waist is fixed in the middle of the body , unmoved.

I currently only have this feeling only on my upper body.  The lower body is not yet connected in this way.  I'm sure with time, it will. ( more practice needed ^^ )

The requirement of hands and arms

HJB tells us that the requirement of the hands and arms are rolling out - wrapping back in - drilling forward - and pulling back away.  I was perplexed when I first heard this. I was asking myself how on earth am I going to accomplish these requirements? Trying to grasp this conceptual requirement rationally, I broke it down to 2 parts which are

1. The lower arm rolling out and drilling forward
2. The upper arm is wrapping back in and pulling back away

First, lets look at the mechanic of rolling out and wrapping back in.  It was explained in the DVD that you need to rotate your upper arm and lower arm the in opposite direction, clockwise and counter-clock wise.  Now, stop and ask your self what is actually rotating? Does the muscle on the arm rotate? of course, your muscle can not rotate... It's your joint that rotate.  The two joints that rotate is your wrist and your shoulder.  Your elbow can not/ should not rotate because it's a hinge joint that can only open or close, like a door hinge.  Basically you need to rotate your wrist one way and your shoulder (including the shoulder blade) the opposite direction.  This also means that if you are doing a posture and both your shoulder blade and wrist is rotating in the same direction, what you are practicing is probably not correct even when the shape of your arm looks approximately correct.

Next, the mechanic of drilling forward and pulling back away.   This means that you need to drill out with your lower arm while keeping the ball of your shoulder in its socket.  It's only common sense, since pulling the shoulder out of its socket would weaken your ability to apply force.  Also persistent practice of pulling out the shoulder might make your shoulder susceptible to injury.

In my opinion, this requirement of the arms maximizes its function in the way nature intended.  With long term practice you will increase the flexibility of your wrist joints and shoulder joint, opens up your elbow, lengthen your muscle and tendon.  Therefore strengthening them.

ps.  For anyone that doesn't have the patient to read .  These three paragraphs can be sumerized to. 1.  Rotate the wrist one way and the shouder another way.  2.  Drilling out your hand while keeping your shoulder in its socket (of course, do not lift the shoulder up either.  Pull it into your body ,not away from it).  I hope this help with your training  =)

Dodging Strike of the Phoenix

The phoenix sys. or the windmill palm emphasizes the windmill force of the strike.  While I was practicing the dodging strike today,  I start thinking of how a actual windmill works.  First, it must have a fix rotating point.  Second, The blade which to rotate around that fix point.

This concept above would be similar to having a ball attached by a string, swinging around an fix point.  Using this analogy, I realized that the longer the string, the more rotational force on the ball (provide that the string is not sagging.  The string should have a constant tension on it).  With that in mind, I tried out a phoenix dodging strike to the right with my left shoulder as a fix spot and my right hand as a ball connecting to my left shoulder with stretched arm and torso (the string).  I noticed a lot more horizontal rotational force on the strike.

Making sense of forms

Knowing exactly what each form means and what they are trying to teach us in fighting is crutial.  It is said by Dr. Xie that all traditional martial art must contain the concept of Rising, Shifting, Falling, Reversing, Advancing, Retreating, Defense preparation.  If you looking at the 8 animal in HJB lineage and its characteristic, you will notice that each animal contain those concepts mentioned above.

1. Lion -       Interlocking palm       ** Characterized by Continuously advancing
2. Snake -    Moving with the Force palm  ** Characterized by Moving with opponent force
3. Bear -     Turning the back palm  ** Characterized by turning the back to gain better position when in a losing position
4. Dragon -  Holding and Lifting palm  ** Characterized by it's long upward movement
5. Phoenix - Windmill palm  ** Characterized by its fast rotational type of force
6. Rooster - Lying step palm  ** Characterized by its shifting of the body while attacking
7. Unicorn - Reversing the body palm  ** Characterized by reversing the body to gain better position when in a losing position
8. Monkey - Enfolding palm  ** Characterized by its downward movement.

These animals sys. , in my opinion, also contains a directional meaning.
1. Lion - Forward
2. Snake - Yielding (any direction that's the same with the opponent line of force)
3. Bear - Backward , Backward rotation
4. Dragon - Upward
5. Phoenix - Rotation
6. Rooster - Shifting side to side
7. Unicorn - Backward rotation
8. Monkey - Downward

What does this mean then? It means when you practice, you should have a practical directional usage of the form in your mind. I usually interpret each form as follow

Lion Sweep Holding and Lifting   =  Advancing sweeping strike upwardly

Lion Smatch Enfolding                = Advancing smachting strike downwardly

Lion Chop Windmill                  = Advancing chopping strike in a rotational fashion.

Lion Shock Turning the back     = Advancing with Shocking strike while you are in losing position and turning around.
etc...