dedicated to the discussion of the chinese internal martial arts of xingyiquan, baguazhang, taijiquan, related arts, and anything else best discussed over a bottle of rum
This is a bit late, but congratulations on the opening of the Barcelona Yiquan Academy Andrzej! Could you introduce a bit more the head instructor of the Barcelona branch? How long has he been training, who with, etc?
Hi, Taras has a long training history, starting in Ukraine from kyokushin karate, some Vietnamese stuff, in Barcelona for some years he trained BJJ under Rorion Gracie, winning some Spanish BJJ tournaments. He started yiquan some 4 years ago, learning with me and master Yao Chengguang. This year he became accepted as master Yao Chengguang's disciple.
Wow, good to know Yao branch of Yiquan is spreading to Western Europe! Also just wanted to mention that I like your Jianwu above, think you are showing the the real Yiquan smooth but explosive movement =)
Nice, as you know, low kicks are the most difficult to defend, and if confronted with some one with real skill those kicks can destroy a leg or ankle or knee. Chuo jiao comes to mind
I have worked on removing the target with some success, difficult not to anticipate though, as well as trying to get in and jam the strike before it's full power, I prefer not to chance the blow though. I am curious as to what techniques you work on to defend these kicks? Mid range combat is the most elusive and therefore very dangerous.
I wanted to post some more practice methods related to this, filming it today, but unfortunately those who with I could demonstrate it, didn't appear at today class. So this time I only write shortly. Our yiquan main fighting mode is simultanous attack and defense, with using all parts of body to attack, including low kicking at the same time while hitting with hands etc., where step becomes kick, kick becomes step. Generally it is assumed that you do this wearing solid shoes, with hard sole or iron tips as self-defence weapon. So it is not just matter of defending against it. Anyway some of the methods are related to being aware of opponent's stepping, and possible kicking of this time. A lot practicing with partner, even some pushing hands which include partner doing this kind of kicks, steps practice with partner kicking, defense by changing position and blocking or kick to the kicking leg etc.
This time different aspect of practice, filmed yesterday:
Very interesting. Could you talk a bit more about this practice? Is this free-form Shi Li? Or a slowed-down Jianwu? What benefits does it have in training?
Some people would call this jianwu, but free form shi li would be better term I think. But it is relative, just matter of terminology. We can practice faster or slower, with less or more fa li, each has it's benefits, and moving back to slower practice is always good, as you notice more, which helps you to improve. But in this case it was demonstration for the separate group at our school which doesn't learn complete yiquan, but just basic methods for cultivating health and well being - yiquan yangsheng 意拳养生. For the need of this group the term which I use is yangshengwu.
Last edited by dacheng on Fri Feb 06, 2015 2:38 am, edited 4 times in total.
This is much like the work we have played, by the sensitivity of contact through the upper body, we look to either off balance or remove the center of the kicker, though as I said you must lead to feel the kicks initiation rather than anticipate, as well as in removing the target. Both techniques I are shown here, thanks for sharing.