I worked out with Rob for a couple of hours yesterday. I could write up a summary, but he’s already done a good job of that in his journal.

I really didn’t intend to take it to the ground, I swear, but Rob was throwing nine thousand crazy windmill punches and suddenly he’s behind me and hey there’s his arm and I could totally throw him and why not, right?

This is an armbar.
At this point, you tap.

That was my first experience really grappling and it was a total blast. I only know like three submissions, so most of the time I was just trying not to get controlled too much. I figured that as long as I wasn’t giving him what he needed to get his moves working, I wasn’t losing. I was thrilled to get that first armbar, mainly because it was so methodical. In a standup fight, things happen so fast that you’re really running on auto-pilot a lot. While grappling, you get time to think a little. When we tied up on the ground, I realized that about the only thing I was sure I could pull off was an armbar, so I’d better get to work on that. First I need to control this arm…no, that’s not working, better go for the other arm. Yeah, that’ll work. Now I have to move out here. What’s that? Oh, that’s Rob demonstrating that in a real fight, he’d be busting my kidney. Yeah, that would hurt a lot. Now swing this leg around here, oh crap, is he going for some kind of instep lock? No, he’s just rolling over, okay. Hey, that’s even better. Now for the other leg…no, that’s not it. Push that other arm out of the way. No, you’re not getting out of this that easily, push that other arm…there. This is it, right? Hrm. Something’s not quite right. Wiggle around, straighten out the arm more. Bridge. BRIDGE! Hah! He tapped! Woo!

It’s exhausting to do that sort of thing, though. For the entire time, every single muscle in your body is straining at maximum resistance in every direction. We went at it three times and then all I could manage was stuffing my pads back in the bag and using it as a pillow for twenty minutes or so. Forget aerobics, do some grappling three times a week and you’ll get ripped.

On Friday Deirdra and I rode with Heather and Annalise, a couple of other students at my school, to see our instructor test for his sixth degree black belt at our grandmaster’s school in Picayune, Mississippi. I think another six or seven people from our school made the trip as well, so it was a fun group thing. Sort of a bonding experience. I half expected to get jumped by ninjas in the Waffle House parking lot.

It’s a long trip to Picayune, but it was worthwhile. They’ve got a really nice school and it was very motivating to visit another Lung Shou Pai kwoon and see how they train. There are some pictures of the test over at the Dragon Claw site. It’s a shame the batteries in Mike’s camera ran out before the weapons forms and sparring started. Hopefully some of the other folks taking photos and video will contribute their media as well.

The test itself was really interesting. Along with my instructor, there was one white belt testing for his Gold 3, one Green 1 testing for his Brown 3, several various Browns testing for higher Brown degrees or for Black, and (I believe) one Black testing for a 2nd Black.

It was kind of odd seeing the tiny differences in techniques and forms that I’ve become accustomed to. The variances are small, but they quickly add up to produce a strongly different feel. There’s no doubt that we’re all practicing the same style, but I think that any Dragon Claw student would be able to pick out which school another student came from, just from the way he does certain things.

There are also some marked differences between the way they train and the way we do. They don’t seem to do bagwork nearly as much as we do, but they work one-steps a lot more. They tend to respond to an instructor’s command with a sibilant ussss as they perform the required technique, while we don’t really respond at all beyond the technique itself (and possibly a harsh exhalation of breath).

I’ve tested twice before, but I (unfortunately) never stuck around until the end, so I got to see some of the techniques that are practiced at the higher levels for the first time. The throws, the one-step techniques, the Tiger form, Crane form, Tiger/Crane combined form, the Ching Jong form (done both empty handed and against the dummy), the broadsword, spear and tiger fork forms were particularly awe-inspiring. Deirdra mentioned that watching Sifu Crake working his forms is like watching a hurricane; at the edges, it’s whirling death and destruction, but at the center is a core of calm serenity.

The sparring for the test looked like it was about medium contact. They did several rounds of one-on-one, running three matches at a time, then did a sparring circle. One person went into the center and four attackers were spaced around him. Each attacker had a number, and Sigung would call out one, two, or three numbers. Those who had their numbers called would attack the guy in the center for ten or fifteen seconds, until Sigung called for them to break off. That was pretty entertaining to watch, but I’d bet it was harrowing for the guy in the middle.

The test finished up with breaking. It was mostly single breaks on 1″ pine boards with simple bottomfists, vertical punches, or ax kicks, but there were a few 2″ cinderblock slabs broken as well. Master Bob Meteye did a forehead break on a pair of slabs, and Sifu did several specialty board breaks. He did a fingertip, a crane neck (the top of a very bent wrist), a spinning wheel kick, and a speed break where he dropped the board and then broke it in mid-air. He also demonstrated candle-punching, putting out a candle by propelling air at it with a palm strike or a vertical punch.

I don’t know for certain whether everyone who tested passed. They’ll each find out privately. I’m pretty certain Mike passed, since I’m familar with nearly everything that was required of him and it all looked fine to me. The only one I’m sure about is Sifu. Sigung announced then and there that my instructor achieved his sixth degree. Unless I’m mistaken, there are only two other practitioners at that rank in our system, and only the grandmaster himself is higher.

On Saturday, I got together with Darryl and a white belt from our school, Micah, to work on some areas that Micah felt he needed to improve upon as well as to just mess around. We went through most the Beginner phase 1 and 2 one-steps to get a better feel for what they entail, worked on Yun Tung quite a bit, breath controls, did a little bagwork, some single hand chi sao, and tried some double handed chi sao. We’ve never done that particular drill in class, though, so we were kind of improvising from what we saw at the Dallas tournament. I don’t think we accomplished much, especially since we really had no idea what we were doing, but it was fun. I was hoping to get in some sparring, but we didn’t have two full sets of sparring gear between us.

Deirdra and I did some yoga last night. We’ve been planning to make it a regular thing for quite a while now, but kept putting it off. I really don’t know why. It’s fun, it’s challenging (for me, anyway), and it doesn’t even take that much time. I know it will help with flexibility and breathing properly, both of which will carry over into kung fu, but I’m trying not to think of it as something to do as a supplement to my other training. I think that I’ll get more out of it if I practice yoga for itself.

During Master Al-Waalee Muhammad’s Pa Kua seminar last weekend, he talked about the trend toward studying internal arts like tai chi and pa kua solely for the health benefits. Yes, there are health benefits to pretty much every martial art but by leaving out the original intent, you’re missing something. You’ve gelded the horse, so to speak. You’ve taken a centuries-old war art that was created as not just for healthful exercise but also a complete fighting system, a moving meditation, a conduit to the ethereal, and an intricate study of the mechanics and composition of the human form, and you’ve reduced this complex and powerful intermeshing to a level on par with Jazzercise. You lose something when you do that, and when you have people not just teaching but passing on these watered down and ineffectual exercises, the art suffers.

That is what I want to avoid. I don’t have any illusions about pursuing yoga as a lifelong practice, but I don’t want to approach it as something just to improve my flexibility or just to help with my breath control. It’s a lot more than just stretching and breathing.

I left work about ten minutes early today because we had to take the dog to the vet. We had an appointment, though our vet doesn’t make appointments for any particular time. “Just come by when it’s convenient for you and we’ll fit you right in,” they say. Nothing major, just his last round of puppy vaccinations, that sort of thing. We got to the vet’s office around 5:20. No problem, I thought, class doesn’t start until 6:30.

At 6:50 we were still waiting. Half a dozen people who didn’t have appointments had come and gone. “Okay, Room 1 is open, go right in. The doctor will be right with you.” No problem, I thought. I’ll miss the white belt class, but I’ll still make the one that’s important. Beginner class doesn’t start until 7:30.

At 7:20, the doctor comes in.

We manage to get back to the house by 7:50. If I busted ass, I’d be able to get changed and get to class by 8:05. If I raced through warmups, I could get done by 8:10, leaving me jumping in for the last twenty minutes of class. Not even worth suiting up.

So thanks, Banfield. Glad to know what an appointment is worth.

Some pictures from the tournament are now up at Scythe’s Place. Thanks go to Kev for taking them and Darryl for hosting them.

A couple of people have asked about the other MA journals that I read. I’ll add them to the list of links on the side, but here’s an introduction.

• Karate Talk: Shotokan
• Livejournal Community: Kung Fu:Lots of folks discussing various styles.
• Ramblings of a Retired Ninja: Yang Taiji, Mantis kung fu, weapons forms
• Patience Grasshopper: Aikido, Kenjitsu, Taiji, and Choy Li Fut kung fu
• Sara Ford’s Weblog: More Shotokan

Just got back from the Chin Woo tournament. Here’s my writeup. I’ll expound on this a lot over the next few days, hopefully, but I’ve got class both tomorrow and the next day, so it’s going to be a busy week.

It’s 8am on Friday. We got in to Dallas around 2am last night, got checked into the stylish La Quinta, and crashed. Kev went down to look around, and it seems that we’re the *only* ones here so far. Registration starts around 9 and the Wu (Hao) 13 movement Taiji class starts at 10. Right now, though, I’m hungry. It’s time for some breakfast.

Friday, Noon
Just got back from the Wu (Hao) 13 movement Taiji with Milton Lie. It was awesome. My respect for Taiji has skyrocketed. The instructor was very soft spoken and friendly, and really knew what he was doing. If there was any doubt in my mind about the martial applications of the art, that’s gone now. It felt very soft and quiet, but when the instructor demonstrated applicatons for the moves on me, the power in the techniques was unmistakable. I’m having a little trouble remembering the details on the form, but I’m frantically making notes and discussing with the other folks who took the class to try to capture everything we can remember about it.

Mr. Lie made an interesting analogy, comparing the art to a jigsaw puzzle. When you’re starting out, the pieces are large. When you can put the picture together, you take it apart, make the pieces smaller, then put it together again.

Our Sifu’s talked a lot about how to properly shift your weight while moving. When you step out into a riding stance, you drop your weight first before you reach out with the step, and finally you bring your weight out to center it. Mr. Lie emphasised a similar technique that he called “empty stepping.” When you step out, the heel lands first and you don’t commit your weight to the step until the last minute.

1. Opening movement from natural stance. Bend knees, lift wrists to horizontal, uprooting a double wrist grab.
2. Draw in, turning to 10:30, Lazy man.
3. Open and close.
4. Turn to 1:30, lazy man.
5. Open and close.
6. 7:30 Brushed knee
7. 10:30 Brushed knee
8. 7:30 Brushed knee
9. 10:30 Intercepting punch thingie
10. 9:00 square up, step out with left foot into empty stance
11. Roll the left hand outward and upward, clockwise, turning the hand upwards, then fold it over in a half-fist block. Empty step forward with the left foot, punch with the right hand over the block to the chin. The fist is horizontal.
12. Retreating.
13. Open and close.
14. Double cannon punch.
15. Tying the horse.
16. Lazy man.
17. Crossing hands to close.

Friday, 3:00pm
Went to lunch at the Bennigans next to the hotel, then drove around Arlington looking for an ATM. Street layouts in this town are wacky.

Jen’s out at a Choy Li Fut seminar, and in an hour or so Darryl, Kev, and I are going to Pa Kua as a Martial Art, then another break, then Wing Chun Combat Applications at 7. I think I’m gonna go walk around and check stuff out.

Friday, 5:30pm
Holy crap. Master Muhammed’s seminar on Pa Kua Chang was the most incredible thing I’ve done since I started martial arts. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to capture what all I got out of it, but I’ll see what I can do.

Firstly and most importantly, I’m not working hard enough: I should be working all the stuff we cover in our forms and classes with a partner. I don’t know our techniques well enough to really use them in sparring. I’m kickboxing, and I’m not even training to kickbox, so I’m doing it poorly.

It seemed like the original intent was for a more advanced class, but very few of us had any experience in the art at all, so there was a lot of talking about the principles and the strategies. Both before and after we got to work on techniques, there was a great deal of demonstration and lecture.

I’m going to look into Pa Kua. Books, videos, whatever I can get my hands on. I know it won’t approach actual training in the art, but the stuff I saw in that seminar really impressed me. I’d love to really study it one day, but for now I have a new way of looking at what I’m doing in Lung Shou Pai. I have a lot of work to do.

Saturday night, 11pm
We’ve been busy. Last night at 7 Darryl and I took a Wing Chun seminar while Rob and Adam took one on San Shou. Wing Chun was really great. It was a lot more discussion than I expected, but there was some rationale behind it. I’m going to put off talking about this until later, though, because I’ve got a lot to cover tonight and I have to get up early.

After seminars, we went to dinner, then came back to the room. There’s a big grassy area on the other side of the parking lot outside here with a couple of picnic tables and a lot of room to move. There’s a running track around it and a tennis court on the other side, and after dark last night there were dozens of people out there practicing empty hand forms and weapon forms, doing chi sao and push hands, light sparring, standing around and talking, basically just chilling out. We went down there so that Darryl and Rob could do some sparring, and ended up watching folks doing really cool stuff. There were some great staff and spear forms, and a guy doing an incredible rope dart form. We met a guy who did some Xing Yi, too. We ended up going to bed much later than we should have, since we had to get up pretty early Saturday morning for the actual tournament stuff.

This morning, we got to the convention center around 9am, bright and early, because the Masters Demo was at 9:30. That was incredible. There was a lion dance with three lions and an eighteen foot dragon for the dragon dance, which was nothing like I expected. I thought it’d be like a really long lion, but it wasn’t at all. I’ll try to explain it later, when I have time. The masters were all cool, but some were way better than others. I didn’t really enjoy the slow, gentle Taiji demonstrations very much, not nearly as much as I enjoyed doing the Wu (Hao) form. Everything else was great, especially the weapons demonstrations, the push-hands demos, and best of all was the Shuai Chiao (Chinese standing wrestling, specializing in throws and takedowns) demo. That started with three guys who went back and forth throwing each other. Unlike a lot of the other demos, it wasn’t a prearranged set, like a two-man form. They were just realistically practicing the art, and it was fantastic. I’m getting a book.

Oh, I bought a pair of Feiyue shoes and a VCD on Bagua Straight Sword. So far, these shoes are great.

I spent most of the day videotaping various things at the tournament. I got about an hour and ten minutes of footage, and ran down the battery in the camera twice. I got lots of different forms, some sticky hands, some weapons, and bunches of Bagua. By that point, the battery needed a real charge badly enough that we couldn’t record the San Shou tournament, which was a real shame. We also didn’t get much in the way of external weapons forms. Argh. I’ll go back and cover this in more detail when I have the video to reference.

It’s been a looooong day. I’m crashing, because we have to be in a Tradional Shaolin and Internal Boxing seminar at 7am tomorrow.

Sunday, 2pm.

I’m in the car heading home, so I dunno how much time I’ll have to write. We got up early to pack before the morning seminars, scarfed down some breakfast, then headed for our class with Shirfu Christophe Clarke while Kev went for his Hsing-I and Xingyiquan workshops.

Shirfu Clarke’s seminar had some of the elements that I was looking for, didn’t have some of the things I was hoping for, and had a lot of intense work that I didn’t expect. We learned a really interesting stance, very similar to our sitting stance, but it’s a strong fighting stance rather than a transitional position. From there, we covered simultaneous blocking and striking while reversing that stance, low kicks, and sweeps. Darryl, Rob, and I were the only students, so he started by asking us about our backgrounds and had us show him a little of our style so that he could know where to start and what to work with us on. When he found out what sort of tournaments we usually go to, he really worked us hard against the types of techniques we tend to see there. I’ll probably talk more about that later too.

We headed over to the convention center around 9:15 to get there plenty early for Adam’s continuous sparring event. I didn’t get to see any of the Shuai Chiao event, which is what I wanted to see most of all, after Adam’s fight, but I did get to watch some great continuous sparring and I got to see what push hands really looks like. It was pretty cool. I think I’d like to learn some of that.

Adam’s first match was against a guy who was really skilled. Adam did well, but the other guy was just great. He went on to take first place in the event, so it’s not like Adam should feel badly. Everybody else went the same way he did.

We got lots of video again today, so hopefully we’ll get copies of it soon. I’m gonna chill out for a while, though, because trying to read this laptop screen with blistering Tejas sunlight beating down on it is making my face melt.