The Dragon Phoenix Wushu Team Message Board

i got a call from my brother the other day, and he said he wanted to talk to me about wushu, since he just started (credit to aman and josh). so i figured i'd post a little on some of the basic principles that i've learned from several teachers that might help a beginner out, and hopefully some of you can do the same.

in no particular order:

1) ask the teacher/surround yourself with the best: as a beginner that trains with a group, you'll probably get more advice than you'll care for. take it all in, and ask the teacher which is right and which is wrong. as time goes on, you'll find that knowing where not to look will often help you know exactly where to look.

2) improve one thing at a time: even if you get 10 pieces of advice for one move, during each iteration, just work on one.

3) transition: many people think basics means just stances. though static positions are necessary, a beginner also needs to examine how to transition from position to position efficiently and learn where the moment of intent is.

4) moment of intent: know the application of each move, so you can understand where the moment of intent should be. a great teacher once told me, "every move has more than one application and every strike can be interpreted as a take-down (joint-lock or throw)". if you know the application of each move, you'll know where to remain relaxed and where to exert your intent. another coach once told me "chinese martial arts is like a whip: it's relaxed until the moment of intent".

5) contrast: wushu has high-low movements, as well as open-closed movements. this principle coupled with intent is what sifu chen calls "rubber band power". learn how to generate power in every move using this principle. the hammer-fist is the most obvious example of this.

6) bottom-up: the vast majority of moves have power generated from the ground up. examine each move and get the feeling of how this will work for you.

7) look: this goes back to intent, always know where to look. where the eyes look, the body follows. for most, this is too obvious when it comes to sweeps and jump kicks when the wushuer doesn't spot properly.

posture: again, this goes back to intent and knowing how to use your body. jake once told me that movements that include twisting and bending simultaneously should be avoided. like all wushu movements, the rules that apply for wushu should make sense the other 99% of the time you're NOT doing wushu.

9) stretch smart: http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/fl ... ining.html

ok, that's it for now. back to work

-y

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"this guy'll kill ya' to death-- inside o' three rounds!!!" - mickey

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There is one peice of advice that Josh gave me that has really stuck in my head and helped me out in wushu. Basically, if you learn a new form or move and have difficulty doing it then find someone who does it really well. It can be someone in class, or a video of your favorite wushu athlete, whatever. Now whenever you are walking to class, or eating lunch or while you're trying to sleep replay that memory of that person doing the move perfectly. Just imagine it really vividly over and over again. It doesnt matter if it is a single move, or an entire section of a form. Now imagine yourself as that person, and visulize yourself doing it over and over again, flawlessly. I have found that this really helps me out a lot with remembering how to do things correctly