Green sash

Last night I received my green sash. While training you go through a series of plateaus in your improvement and then every now and then you go through increases in skill as both your body and mind become familiar with or 'get' your training. After receiving my black belt in TaeKwon-Do I could look back over the previous 6 years and see this pattern of training development. For much of the summer of have been on a plateau in my training but in the last 2 weeks I feel as though I have just stepped my game up a level. I am more comfortable being closer to my opponent when sparring - finally getting over the distance I felt I needed from my TKD training. My movements are more relaxed which means that my movements are faster - a goal of Kung Fu. I feel as I have more power in my movements and more control over my technique.

It is interesting that I went through the same sudden improvements in training before each new belt color in TaeKwon-Do. I also saw these changes in most people I trained with. The conclusion I came to is that it is a mental change in people. I think that consciously or not, people have an idea of how skilled someone at that belt level should be and step up their game to match this idea. It was very interesting to be aware of such a significant change in myself recently.

The next kung fu 'year' starts in the next week or two and I will have the opportunity to train with the senior students, something I have been desperate to do for a while now. I am looking forward to the next step of my journey.

Nick
Green sash

Biomechanics and energy flow

It has been a while since my last entry, mainly due to me changing jobs and not having a long train journey when I would normally write my entries. The school is training in a new location and has introduced a new approach to classes so we are having the chance to always do sparring each week and bag work. Also there is an 'internal' class which is Tai Chi and I am enjoying it enormously.

To be honest there has not been that much in the training that has inspired me to write a blog entry, until last night. Sifu corrected our arm position during a tiger strike move. Most of the student's elbows were facing out towards the wall rather than down to the ground. This subtle distinction makes a very significant difference in the strength of the move. Anatomically, it engages much more of the chest and back muscles, you can particularly feel your lats engage as you rotate the elbow down. From the kung fu point of view the reason is to do with energy flow within the body, with the elbow out the energy is lost outside the framework of the body. With the elbow more tucked in and facing down within the shoulder line/framework you are able to tap into the energy of your whole body. Both these approaches are correct, depending on whether you want to take a more scientific approach to the situation or embrace the more esoteric kung fu view.

I love little gems of information like this. I am interested in the biomechanics of all the movements and taking advantage of these ideas to enhance my technique. Just taking some time to learn a little bit about functional movement of muscles and joints will improve your training. At the same time pay attention to the traditional ideas of energy flow and body positioning as this will enhance your technique even further. In the Tai Chi class we visualize our legs as two tall glasses, one full of water and one empty. As we move our weight from one leg to the other we visualize pouring water from one container to the other which helps transfer energy from one leg to the other. Once you release the energy from a leg it is free to move around easily and be positioned where you need it, while the other leg gets grounded being full of energy.

The point of mentioning the Tai Chi is that if you concentrated on purely biomechanics in the shifting of one stance to another I think it is unlikely that you would find the same sense of grounding as visualizing the water (energy) flow between legs as you move through the stances. Whether you believe in the esoteric side of martial arts or not, I believe you would find a firmer, more grounded stance when you focus on the energy flow as well as good technique. My point being that focus on biomechanics will improve you and an effort to understand energy within the body may just take your training to a higher level.

Nick
Green stripe sash