the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

i think it is very good
can you share if you are using any visualization in your piquan practice?

i find that with age, committed practice also needs to be balanced with
rest time or interval between practice to allow the body to recover.
with age, torn muscle fibres need more time to repair and strengthen

chinese say resting is for travelling longer distance

cheers

I used to train on XingYi every day for 2-3 hours, only doing 2 - 3 moves from the 5 elements and/or 12 animals. I find it really beneficial and enjoyable.

At the beginning, I put in force/power into the moves but found it too overloaded. And, repeating the same move for too many times could hurt some joints and parts of the body. To survive the 3 hours a day, I changed to train in a very reserve manner to use minimal energy and as relax as I could. I didn't expect anything from this training but to kill time as I didn't have a job. Six months later, I found my no power moves actually had some power. It gets me into training for power by using no power. I think it would not hurt our aged body too much, and give time to recover.

Strange wrote:can you share if you are using any visualization in your piquan practice?

I have learned to train Pi in an open space with good view. I try not to look down on the ground but look up to the sky.

johnwang wrote:

Strange wrote:can you share if you are using any visualization in your piquan practice?

I have learned to train Pi in an open space with good view. I try not to look down on the ground but look up to the sky.

if you have the space its nice--

when i was in university- I used to train on open field behind the school
it was across a small foot bridge and to the other side of the field was a cemetery
no one hardly went there

the space about as big as 3 soccer fields..


I used to practice long lines on taiji single posture
go up with brush knee
go back with repulse monkey
back up with part horse's mane
etc...



just a suggestion --- about pi quan
if you look up-- you can cause a crook in the neck
it can cause the power to get stuck there when it comes up the back- instead of going out the arm
I think its better to look out straight-- but far in the distance- rather then up..



Franklin

Franklin wrote:if you look up-- you can cause a crook in the neck.

I mean after training and not during training. When I finished my 3 miles running, I also like to look up instead of look down. Actually The more that I think, the more that I feel to look up can be a good idea. It can prevent old people to have back hump.

johnwang wrote:

Franklin wrote:if you look up-- you can cause a crook in the neck.

I mean after training and not during training. When I finished my 3 miles running, I also like to look up instead of look down. Actually The more that I think, the more that I feel to look up can be a good idea. It can prevent old people to have back hump.

from my understanding:

yeah -- i am talking about during training...
it can cause injury...

but also during training you don't need to hunch over -- that is also bad-
the han xiong ba bei-- doesn't need to be like hunch back turtle...
the spine can be straight- like a coat hanger in the back of your shirt is raising up the back and the chest is empty (but not sucked in)



looking up can raise the energy in the body
my one teacher said only sick animals look down.. if you are not a sick animal then why are you doing that..

My mother in law is 83 years old now. She has a hump on her back. Even her neck is bending forward. I wonder in the past 10 years if she could look at the sky daily, she could prevent her problem. My logic is if old age will cause spine to bend forward. To bend spine backward daily should be able to correct that problem. At least it can delay that problem to happen.

When I sit in front of my computer, I like to press the low part of my neck against the edge of the chair and bend my head backward.

johnwang wrote:

Franklin wrote:if you look up-- you can cause a crook in the neck.

I mean after training and not during training. When I finished my 3 miles running, I also like to look up instead of look down. Actually The more that I think, the more that I feel to look up can be a good idea. It can prevent old people to have back hump.

Ah, my Xingyiquan teacher taught this (slightly) looking up after many repetitions of each elements or animal forms practice. There where more to that exercise than just looking up, I never asked about that exercise but it had some "balancing" up the very forward feeling the other exercises had.

Curious,internal arts is about using body properly, if one does not he feels the effects of aging, if one does know proper body method 1000 pi or any of the five fist will only augment the health and strength. It is breathing.

johnwang wrote:My mother in law is 83 years old now. She has a hump on her back. Even her neck is bending forward. I wonder in the past 10 years if she could look at the sky daily, she could prevent her problem. My logic is if old age will cause spine to bend forward. To bend spine backward daily should be able to correct that problem. At least it can delay that problem to happen.

When I sit in front of my computer, I like to press the low part of my neck against the edge of the chair and bend my head backward.

I'm not a medical professional(!) But I think two things contribute to the old age back hump - 1) muscle tension pulling the head back and down 2) old age degenerating the spinal joints.

You can certainly do something about 1) by directing the head to be forward and up at all times ("hold the head as if suspended from above"), but I'm not sure what you can do about 2), although doing 1) might also have some effect on 2).

For 1) see: http://www.alexander-technique-london.c ... non-doing/

Linked to what Graham says above ref point 1. Often the posture is a result of 'Upper Crossed' Syndrome.



This is often combounded by sitting and looking at a phone all day or sitting at a desk all day. Where the forward position of the head increases the load on the muscles etc of the upper torso.



I have also seen a few Internal Arts that it would appear actually train this cervical/ thorasic kink and compound the problem.

thanks.

It's all the fault of Facebook. Right, Greg?

It's all the fault of Facebook. Right, Greg?

uhhh instagram actually!

Strange wrote:can you share if you are using any visualization in your piquan practice?

The eyes always focus on the major hand is the general CMA guideline. Some people look beyond the hand and focus on further distance. I like to focus on my major hand.

He did about 4 second for each Pi. If he does 1000 Pi, it will take him 4000 seconds 4000 / 60 = 66 minutes. So 1 hour and 6 minutes for 1000 Pi should be the average speed. I have done 42 miutes and 1 hour 20 minutes. May be I should readjust my speed. I like his compress and release. He uses the Tsuan (bow arrow stance) to compress. He starts to release from the "side empty stance" to the Santi stance. He is not doing fast inhale and slow exhale. His Tsuan is too slow to cause a fast inhale effect. His Pi is too fast to cause a slow exhale effect.

I do believe there is a difference between you train for fighting and you train for health. I may try to alternate my daily training. 1 day for combat and next day for health.