limitations and shortcomings

[johnrieber]

my limitations are pretty much everything. and that's my favorite aspect of my practice. i'll never run out of shit to work on. hell. i can't even stand still decently.

[JusticeZero]

My main frustration right now is a lack of a skilled training partner..

Sometime I used students for my own benefit. The material that I taught them that day might not be the material that they should learn at their level. It was what I felt like to work out instead. ..

A lot of the drills I need help with, the other person needs to be at least moderately skilled. I can't really get practice at playing with someone in a low game when I have no students who are even conditioned to be able to go low yet for instance.
Not counting the few that the other person isn't doing anything that develops their own skills.

[johnwang]

A lot of the drills I need help with, the other person needs to be at least moderately skilled. I can't really get practice at playing with someone in a low game when I have no students who are even conditioned to be able to go low yet for instance.

Not sure why you will need your student to "go low". Beginner students will just like people that you will meet in street, you can't expect them to react the way that you want. Instead you have to react to whatever that they present to you. For example, when you bite on their leg, they may:

- resist and not moving back.
- move back full step.
- move back 1/2 step.

and you have to adjust your footwork to fit whatever that they give to you.

Another example is to use a new student in public demo. Since new student doesn't understand "how to cooperate with you to have good demo result", you have to modify your move right on the spot and that's good challenge sometime.

[JusticeZero]

Not sure why you will need your student to "go low".

Because I need to work on my ability in that range specifically. There's only a couple of common ways to attack someone low, and my counters to those tend to drag people down to my level; with people who are used to that this isn't such a big deal, but if a student is having a hard time placing themselves in a floor stance, they are a bit too likely to be hurt if their legs get pulled out to drop them into one as a counter. As such, it's a 'I don't want to break my training partners' thing.

[Bao]

This is going to be a long thread, if people here are as honest as I think.

Well, this is the test to see that.





I think many use this kind of forum to boast about their skills, lineage, teachers or whatever they can find. Sadly to say, but I believe that some people will find answering these questions just like pulling their pants down. Just look how few make a clip of themselves. Many, many respex to those who have the courage, time and effort to do that. Here, anyway, you can get some kind of response. I respect Chris' view, but I don't agree with it. I believe that we should be very hard to ourselves, look at reality and facts, and understand what we do worse and try to figure out how to overcome our problems. Personally I don't like to look at my good sides to much, because this will not result in any progress.

[BonesCom]

I think many use this kind of forum to boast about their skills, lineage, teachers or whatever they can find. Sadly to say, but I believe that some people will find answering these questions just like pulling their pants down. Just look how few make a clip of themselves. Many, many respex to those who have the courage, time and effort to do that. Here, anyway, you can get some kind of response. I respect Chris' view, but I don't agree with it. I believe that we should be very hard to ourselves, look at reality and facts, and understand what we do worse and try to figure out how to overcome our problems. Personally I don't like to look at my good sides to much, because this will not result in any progress.

Good call, over the last few years I've been trying to "address my shortcomings" not just MA, but work, study, life in general, instead of putting them off. So my training limitations (as I see them currently):
1. Leg strength - getting better, pistols are helping but still need to consolidate that strength and work it in to one legged posture/yi zi bu
2. Arse-tucking (for lack of a better term), my transistion from expanded to contracted is a little rough in terms of keeping my butt rolled under, this has a certain amount to do with my hip flexibility too
3. Hip/kua flexibility - it sucks. Been trying various stretches/exercises (including some of the stuff Kenneth Fish mentioned).
4. Leg flexibility in general, especially down the back. Once this is sorted it will make pistols so much easier.
4. Transition from expanded to contracted in yi zi bu stepping, same as 2 only much worse.
5. General shen fa, (rounding the shoulders, relaxing the diaphram, curving the back) this is probably linked to everything above.
6. Everyhthing else: leishen, 5 elements, si ba, long xing

In short if I was to analyse this list I'd say "Man I suck", but realistically I have been making satisfactory progress so I'm happy.

Continually centrating on the bad is not good. However only focussing on what you are good at is a self-perpetuating cycle in which you never really "get better". For me I feel the best when I feel like I've made some progress, or achieved something

[DeusTrismegistus]

This is going to be a long thread, if people here are as honest as I think.

Well, this is the test to see that.





I think many use this kind of forum to boast about their skills, lineage, teachers or whatever they can find. Sadly to say, but I believe that some people will find answering these questions just like pulling their pants down. Just look how few make a clip of themselves. Many, many respex to those who have the courage, time and effort to do that. Here, anyway, you can get some kind of response. I respect Chris' view, but I don't agree with it. I believe that we should be very hard to ourselves, look at reality and facts, and understand what we do worse and try to figure out how to overcome our problems. Personally I don't like to look at my good sides to much, because this will not result in any progress.

Its good to know what needs work but its also good to get great at a particular thing.

I want to improve my throwing and my ground skills (which are very minimal). I am also working on cardio more than anything lately.

[AllanF]

My own limitations are also to do with finding a suitable training partner. The 2 groups that my teacher teaches does want to do anything other than free pushing, which is fine and i am happy to do that but i also feel i need to work on the basic push hand patterned movements in order to improve a) my sensitivity b) my understanding of the 8 energies. Though my own teacher taught us many PH paterns and did say we should practice this as it is important no one seems to care thinking, perhaps, that they are above this...well i am not, i am still a novice! I am stuck between a guy who loves to try and throw everyone to the grown...again not problem with that as i can handle him or a guy who, when i suggest doing these exercises, says "yeah but it is just in the hips!" and then complains that others done know push hands as well as him even though he gets thrown. Very very frustrating. I understand that i am not up to scratch on the basic stuff and i understand that it is all in the "hips" (and a lot more). But i am not Chen Fa-(cking)-ke. In any case why the fuck does taiji have these exercises if they don't serve a purpose! Why has every mother fucking master that ever lived used these exercises if they were not important? And relax...

[Strange]

"But i am not Chen Fa-(cking)-ke. In any case why the fuck does taiji have these exercises if they don't serve a purpose! Why has every mother fucking master that ever lived used these exercises if they were not important?"

bwah ha ha ha ha some how i dun think they are... useless i mean. from FaKe till present... its a long time for "useless exercises" to be around

i have bad flexibility in my hip, kua and legs; lucky for me zz is a major component heh

[Bao]

My own limitations are also to do with finding a suitable training partner.

That has been one of my biggest issues as well. And the lack of partners has really slowed my progression, I am sure of it. But having my own group radically changed that. If I had a good partner, maybe I wouldn't even have started my class. I think J.W. has made some good points about having students to toss around.

[mrtoes]

I (still) can't relax. Been doing standing every morning and slowly making progress but still. Also tendency to tense up when doing hsing i forms, need to let go of the false feeling of strength that comes from clenching the arms when striking. All this is doing is building extra asymmetric tension in the muscles. Apart from that I've been suffering from a lack of applications work in the last couple of years, recently started san shou and when I spar I look like a bad kick boxer. Also shut my eyes and turtle when I get whacked in the head, see relaxation. I also need to work on specific exercises for conditioning, although with the sheer amount of exercise I do during the week anyway this is getting better.

I'm sure that's not even half of it. Apart from that I'm one badass ninja

[Ian]

My own limitations are also to do with finding a suitable training partner. The 2 groups that my teacher teaches does want to do anything other than free pushing, which is fine and i am happy to do that but i also feel i need to work on the basic push hand patterned movements in order to improve a) my sensitivity b) my understanding of the 8 energies. Though my own teacher taught us many PH paterns and did say we should practice this as it is important no one seems to care thinking, perhaps, that they are above this...well i am not, i am still a novice! I am stuck between a guy who loves to try and throw everyone to the grown...again not problem with that as i can handle him or a guy who, when i suggest doing these exercises, says "yeah but it is just in the hips!" and then complains that others done know push hands as well as him even though he gets thrown. Very very frustrating. I understand that i am not up to scratch on the basic stuff and i understand that it is all in the "hips" (and a lot more). But i am not Chen Fa-(cking)-ke. In any case why the fuck does taiji have these exercises if they don't serve a purpose! Why has every mother fucking master that ever lived used these exercises if they were not important? And relax...

well your class sounds like a right barrel of laughs.

[Bao]

I (still) can't relax.

How long have you practiced? It took me fifteen years to learn how to realx ...

[DeusTrismegistus]

I (still) can't relax.

How long have you practiced? It took me fifteen years to learn how to realx ...

Lol you can always relax more. Its one of those things that no matter how good you get you always have to revisit it and make it better.

[RobP2]

Exactly. After 20+ years I just worked out how to do a squat properly last week....