guy I've never heard of

[JoseFreitas]

And ask him why he doesn't post some more info on his teachers as well as on who certified him.

By the way, I don't think it's impossible to be certified in Cheng Bagua, Yang Taiji and Arnis in 15 years. He is not claiming certification in all the other styles, just "exposure".

[cerebus]

I can tell I wouldn't go just by looking at the pictures, does that count?

I'll second that... And my Bagua ain't even very good, but even I can see that his is even worse...

[Muad'dib]

Time alone is not the cause of quality. I have a friend who studied bagua for a year, went to an invitation onlyy competition where the requirement was 10 years of study (our teacher wrote a special letter to the organizer's explaining his talents should allow him to compete), and took first place in the forms competition with a score of perfect 10's. I have another friend who studied for 7 years, went to the same tournament in a different year, and didn't place.

Skill or quality is determined by how much you practice, how well you practice, how well you are taught, natural talent, and many other things. Technically I have studied tai ji for years, but I am worse now than I was then after 3 years, because for those 1st 3 years I practiced every day for about 4-6 hours a day, had an excellent teacher, as well as the above friend to help me. Now if I get in an hour a day I am lucky, and I have had months and even years when I was unable to practice more than an hour a week.

[taoistfist]

hey i have been on here in a while cause of all the kids, but i came on today and saw this thread. i know josh and he is a solid guy who trains really hard.
i know his arnis is really good and i know his arnis teacher as well.
here is his arnis teachers website. http://martialartsnanaimo.com/
i have not trained any bagua whith him and have not seen him in a while but as has been said go meet him then decide.
thanks,
lando

[ashe]

I'd send him a picture first Mix - you know, just so he's ready

teh funneh...

[mixjourneyman]

hey i have been on here in a while cause of all the kids, but i came on today and saw this thread. i know josh and he is a solid guy who trains really hard.
i know his arnis is really good and i know his arnis teacher as well.
here is his arnis teachers website. http://martialartsnanaimo.com/
i have not trained any bagua whith him and have not seen him in a while but as has been said go meet him then decide.
thanks,
lando

Sweet.
Thanks bro.

[LJN]

Winning a forms competition is not a real test of skill, natural talent for forms is one thing but inside skill can be another thing.
I suppose it may rely on what one feels skill is. To me it is not forms it is more inside body knowledge and outside ability.
When I was young I won a handful of forms competitions what a joke, I am twenty times the kung fu man than when I could fly around and impress the impressionable.

I can still fly around fairly well however I know so much more about the why, when and what. This is what the time does. I would bet that you are better in a real sense. Over time outward might be worse but inward can still be good quality.

I see those old bagua men on youtube and I think time and effort must be worth something. I think that is kung fu. I believe in time and effort with a good method and diligent training you get something, a healthy long life and some ability.

Can I beat up a crude strength fighter like say Kimbo Slice, no but I can out run, out jump and out think a fighter like that due to kung fu training over time

[LJN]

I hope Mr Slice doesn't want to come beat me up now.
I saw how he hit that magician guy in the stomach, the magician must have trained a bit of iron vest technique.
The effects of blows like this to the body can linger for decades and then rear the consequences.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

If it takes you 15 years to learn and apply a martial art, you are a little ...well behind. Mastery is one theing, instructing is part of learning, it forces you to do things correctly before you transmit errors. At least in a formal setting. But as a casual exchange, all that is pointless and it is just what it is. You can learn a lot in 15 years. A Brain surgeon trains for less time than that.

[Muad'dib]

LJN, you are starting to get off track here. The point is, practice of X + 5 years does not mean you have more skill than someone who practice X. If all other things are equal, and time is the only difference, then I would agree with you. But that is never the case.

[Royal Dragon]

In my hummble opinion, his structure is horribly out of alignment, even in still pictures. He kind of reminds me of myself when i only had a Chung Moo Quan influence, back in like 1993


He may be a decent person to toss around during push hands, or maybe pick up some surface choreography, or neat drills and such, but seeing how bad his basics are in even a still picture, I wouldn't study from him.

[mixjourneyman]

In my hummble opinion, his structure is horribly out of alignment, even in still pictures. He kind of reminds me of myself when i only had a Chung Moo Quan influence, back in like 1993


He may be a decent person to toss around during push hands, or maybe pick up some surface choreography, or neat drills and such, but seeing how bad his basics are in even a still picture, I wouldn't study from him.

I'm interested to know what you think is so unaligned.
Not trying to pick at you or anything, just curios.

For the bagua pictures, my critiques are thus: His green dragon/millstone posture is a little short so he can't get the full force to his extremities. But thats maybe also a stylistic thing, since some Yin guys seem to do that (though he is a Cheng guy). His Big roc spreads its wings posture is just plain not good, but I think the mistake he is making is a really common one for bagua guys (the arms spread too far apart so that it crunches his shoulderblades together). His pushing the window to look at the moon doesn't look bad to me (his knees are in nice alignment and his body seems to have force in it). His point to heaven and drill to earth posture doesn't seem too bad.
So in my opinion, he's got some bad, some good. And I'm no flawless baguazhang guy myself, so maybe we can at least help correct each others mistakes.

Seeing as daoistfist knows this guy and vouches for him, I'm going to keep an open mind and see for myself.
Its often fun to meet people of all backgrounds and share information.

[Royal Dragon]

In the first picture, his shoulders look good, but his hips are not turned enough, and he is compensating by twisting the spine. Also, I see something funky in his torso. I can't see from the side, by what I can see in his torso leads me to believe he's got an arch in his back.

In the second picture, he seems to have the same issues as in the first pic, plus his right shoulder is up a bit, and pulled back. He also seems to be carrying additional tension in this are as well. His chest is not sunk on the rt side, but is on the left, which till now I didn't know you could do.

In the third picture his head alignment is all messed up. Basically he has a really bad shoulder alignment, and is compensating for it with his head making it crooked. Loo at the line form his right shoulder, to his left. See ho the whole upper body if lifted on the lft, and dropped on the rt? That also means his spin is crooked, even though we can't directly see it.

The last picture has all the same flaws as the third, and he's got even more tension from trying to forcibly hold his misalignments.

[mixjourneyman]

Cool, thanks for sharing your insights.

[Royal Dragon]

Ur welcome!