Basic Ring Training Wu Tan (new)

[Bob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiXIivdH ... re=channel



Please keep in mind this is only one exercise among many--its a small part of the training.

[ChiBelly]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiXIivdHx7E&feature=channel

Please keep in mind this is only one exercise among many--its a small part of the training.

I imagine after a while it is quite difficult to do the movement while keeping your shoulders down and relaxing properly.

[Bob]

That is precisely why you would start with one or two rings--better to be light at first than heavy otherwise you lose the proper alignment. It is also why the training has been described as grueling--not just physical but also mental--a large degree of patience, faith, and persistence. There is a real temptation to treat this training as weight training rather than weighted training.

[ChiBelly]

That is precisely why you would start with one or two rings--better to be light at first than heavy otherwise you lose the proper alignment. It is also why the training has been described as grueling--not just physical but also mental--a large degree of patience, faith, and persistence. There is a real temptation to treat this training as weight training rather than weighted training.

You can see how hard they are concentrating. The fellow on the right seems to be more relaxed than the one on the left. It looks like he has developed more "natural" strength at this point. The fellow on the left shows more signs of strain (but if he has done more repetitions, that would also explain why). If you have any more videos, I'd be interested. Thanks for posting.

[Areios]

how much those weight?

[I am...]

That is precisely why you would start with one or two rings--better to be light at first than heavy otherwise you lose the proper alignment. It is also why the training has been described as grueling--not just physical but also mental--a large degree of patience, faith, and persistence. There is a real temptation to treat this training as weight training rather than weighted training.

Agreed on all of the above. John Wang once said something about equipment training along the lines of 'use the amount of weight that lets you control the weight, don't let it control you and give you bad habits.' and this rule of thumb applies heavily to rings. If done smart, ring training is amazing stuff, I am in my 10th year of it and still look forward to it each time.

[C.J.Wang]

It's interesting how Wutan Malaysia has incorporated southern CMA training method into Wutan's mix of Northern styles. Even the motion they practice are typical of many southern schools (e.g. White Crane, Five Ancestors, Grand Ancestor, etc).

[Bob]

C.J. Wang--I can tell you straight up, at least the way I train with rings, it comes from both the baji and bagua systems and is complelely Northern. However, seeing this one exercise I can see how one might conclude that. That is why I warned, in general, not to judge the training by the clip of a single exercise. I do a lot of bagua variations with rings and bricks employing guen (rolling), zuan (drilling), zheng (piercing), and guo (wrapping). There are ways to hold the rings in the hand shape while walking the circle and then flipping them when you make certain changes. Of course, maybe I have got it wrong--maybe these guys did mix some southern training with their northern trainining--I don't know them. But if they did that, it would not be part of Wu Tan(g) curriculum, at least not the way Liu taught my teacher, Tony Yang. That is why I am so hesitant to talk about others parts of Wu Tan(g) training curriculum--I am certain people add and substract material so I can only go on what Tony Yang has taught me and what he says--I have been with him 22 years so I trust what he tells---its not simply blind faith. Plus I have seen a lot of the old videos from Taiwan in the 70s.

Imagine variations on the theme in the clip below using rings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSISHpmqjuo&NR=1



I don't know if training with rings is uniquely southern--I know that Liu did not learn or exchange in any southern systems and the ring training is most likely a part of his light body training--some of it from baji and some of it from bagua.

[Chanchu]

interesting- never seen North KF wrist ring training before, first time the south kung fu version was exposed to the public was in a old Lau Kar Leung Shaolin movie. Some traditional teachers did not like it when it was shown- I was told...
Different weights- most weigh about 2.5 lbs work up to 5 each arm or more per instructor's direction, can have a ill effect if not done correctly.

[bailewen]

So many damn training methods to pick and choose from. Seems to me like unless you are training professionally, there's just not enough time for it all anyways. My Baji routine is pretty bare bones and it takes at least an hour and a half to get through and that's without even doing any two man training. I could do more variety but then it all seem kind of superficial.

Anyways, that's what I tend to think about these days whenever I see yet another hitherto unknown training method.

I suppose I might feel different when I am on my spring vacation. Also, back in the days before electricity you probably had a lot more time for this stuff.

[edededed]

I guess I concur with Chanchu here - have yet to see ring training in, at least, taiji, bagua, or xingyi myself (my own experience, anyway). Of course, there are often substitute "weight training" instead...

[Bob]

Try a ring or rings with weapon training; sword, dao, spear, and/or staff. One can learn very quickly how disconnected one's structure is. I guarantee the ring training I learned has nothing to do with any southern system. There are a lot of weighted training methods in northern systems, especially bagua.

[Chanchu]

I don't doubt it Bob, just bit surprised to see it- I have seen Ba gwa people train while holding spheres but never rings..