the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Among all IMA, the XingYi dragon is my favor. It has a good balance between punch and kick. Every time you kick, you force yourself to stance on single leg. Ever time you drop down to a low twisting stance, you develop body flexibility. If you drill XingYi dragon 100 times daily, you will get good "health" benefit.

Your thought?



His stance is lower.

Up,down,up,down,up,down.....of course will get the pump going. If have no health problems and have built up some strength and flexibility from previous practice, yes to drill the dragon will further ones strength.

Probably not ideal for people with bad knees.

Australian style dragon

Kanga dragon


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One of my favorites too, but quite challenging physically. I don't see the front foot "kicking," but more of pressing into the opponents front foot with your entire weight to break his knee.

looks great.

Tim Cartmell always tells me when we review Xingyi Dragon and Tiger that they are best animals to train since they generate the force in the most basic patterns, vertical and horizontal.

Fa Xing wrote:Tim Cartmell always tells me when we review Xingyi Dragon and Tiger that they are best animals to train since they generate the force in the most basic patterns, vertical and horizontal.

If you know Pi Chuan, you are already 1/2 way to tiger.

C.J.W. wrote:Probably not ideal for people with bad knees.

It's quite depression to assume that those who train "internal" are all old, weak, and sick.

Those who train internal exclusively are more than likely to be more spry in the later years than those who have trained exclusively external.

johnwang wrote:

Fa Xing wrote:Tim Cartmell always tells me when we review Xingyi Dragon and Tiger that they are best animals to train since they generate the force in the most basic patterns, vertical and horizontal.

If you know Pi Chuan, you are already 1/2 way to tiger.

Agreed, piquan is the foundation, and often glossed over quite a bit or is often interpreted strangely.

C.J.W. wrote:Probably not ideal for people with bad knees.

It doesn't need to always be done with such extreme range, it can be done higher up. When I learned the Shanxi version, it didn't have that jumping that is more characteristic of the more well-known Hebei variations.

I strained my piriformis recently. Before that, I had no idea what "piriformis" is or how to stretch it.

Just days before when I posted "looks great" I didn't realize these low stances are exactly what I'd need in a few days time. That crossed step feels great. I always thought it seems weird but now it's exactly the stretch I need. Funny.

Extreme range is the training mechanism, not to be done without proper basic preparation , i.e. fitness, stretching , and stance work. In forms all circles are to big, in practice all kicks are too high, and all strikes come from too far. All are body preparation. In TCIMA no body part is determined to move in a way that is not physically natural, injury is from poor training , poor instruction and poor preparation.

If memory serves, Master Choi's has a bit of a springy leap there. Did he ever publish the animals DVD?