What are you training for? A Catch-22

In any martial art, but particularly (from my experience) in Yin Style Bagua (though this might be more broadly applicable to internal martial arts), there is a certain Catch-22 to good and effective training. It really comes down to what you're training for.

Goal-oriented training, post-workshop 2012 analysis

The first thing I should say is that the Yin Style Bagua workshops put on this year by Matt Bild were absolutely incredible. In over sixteen years of doing martial arts now, the last six doing Yin Style Bagua, this year's workshops were by far the best I have ever attended. Matt was incredibly efficient and professional in getting across his agenda, which in this case was to help us all develop clarity and confidence in using the art of Yin Style for the purpose it was made: fighting. Particularly, the workshop was designed around developing clarity in use of force and positioning to achieve a good and sure result against a realistic backdrop of another skilled fighter.

That brings me to the theme of today's post-workshop post, now that I've had a couple of weeks to sort through how my thinking about training has been affected. Training has to be goal-oriented, focused, and clear, and it is an utter obligation to be diligent and serious about this including being reflective about meeting the training goals. Goals also have to be realistic and functional. This should change everything about how we train this art.

Feeling stuck? Train something you "already know"

Training Yin Style Bagua is hard for a variety of reasons. One reason is the sheer physical demand. Another is the amount of material that demands attention. A third is the intense mental requirement to get the techniques right. Another still is that all of this creates a nice, sticky web that tends to make training get really, really stagnant sometimes and tends to make progress feel incremental at best and invisible at worst. If you're stuck in one of these stagnant phases of training, what can you do? Go back to something you "already know" and haven't trained in a while.

Notes about sparring--a two-edged sword

Yin Style Baguazhang does not spar as a functional part of its training. Some folks might try to paint this as a black mark against the art, believing that "pressure testing" in the ring is the only way to make or prove a fighter, but this is incomplete thinking. I'd like to elaborate on the topic of sparring a little bit here, then, to give a more complete picture, one that illustrates sparring as a training method that has two edges that cut both ways.

Making movies! Here's our latest one against a more-resistive opponent

So, it's been forever and again since I've posted on here--like before, tied up with other projects and not giving much time to the blog. Is it self-depreciating at this point to promise to do better in the future, knowing I very well may not?

Anyway, we've been keeping up with our training (re: my circle-turning goal, I am well ahead of schedule now and will, in fact, hit 10,000 minutes for the year so far sometime this afternoon, which is a bit of a milestone, I suppose). We've also been trying to arrange it to make videos to showcase a little of what we know Yin Style has to offer--even if we're having a hard time getting that to translate onto video.

Bagua standing strengthening practice--are you doing it right?

Apparently I don't post enough about Yin Style Baguazhang's standing strengthening (zhan zhuang-- sort of) practice. Guilty as charged. Let's see what I can say about it here to correct that, and in the process, we'll find out if you're doing it right or not.

Re: Turning the circle, keeping it real (by me) on Yin Style Bagua -- Knoxville

If you've seen it, great. If you haven't, check out my post on the blog I made for our study group concerning circle turning practice: Yin Style Bagua -- Knoxville: Turning the circle, keeping it real. As the day went on, I thought more about what I wrote, and I have more to say about it. Since I feel that what I have to say about it is more personal than "official," I'm saying it on this blog instead of on the group training blog.

New blog, odds and ends

I've created a new blog for the Yin Style Baguazhang, Knoxville, study group specifically, so I can turn this blog back toward being one about my personal journey instead of one about our group. Follow the linked words to check it out.

That said, I can give some little updates on my own training, specifically on my circle-turning goal, which has occupied my attention far more than it has space on my blog! Details after the fold.

First ever video, applications practice clips from a class

So... we finally got around to making a video of ourselves practicing applications. Other similar material will probably find its way onto our new YouTube channel and Facebook page over time, and it will make its way here too.

Check it out...

Four huge reasons you need to be sprinting if you practice martial arts like Yin Style Bagua

Yin Style Baguazhang is effective. It, in fact, might be the most effective martial art on the planet for those that have what it takes to develop proficiency in it. The title of this blog post seems to imply otherwise, but if trained well, Yin Style can and will provide hardworking, dedicated people with what it takes to defend themselves practically in real fights. Part of that development requires some conditioning, and while Yin Style is a complete art, in that it offers everything one needs to become healthy and proficient, it is foolish to think that other supplemental practices won't help your development. Thus, if you practice a martial art like Yin Style, or any other martial art for that matter, you need to be sprinting.

The six characteristic terms of Yin Style Baguazhang

Yin Style Baguazhang is a formidable martial art. This is partly due to its deep theoretical underpinning and strict adherence to that in practical training. As is frequent with Chinese arts, there is a list of six terms that define how to practice Yin Style Baguazhang correctly. These, of course, are more broadly applicable to any martial art, if the practitioner wants to do it well. From my perspective, making these ideas explicit has been instrumental in taking my own training to new heights. These terms define how Yin Style Baguazhang should be practiced at all times.
The six terms are: stable, accurate, vicious, cold, crisp, and fast.

Accountability in turning, February style

I've really got to set aside more time for this... the only posts I've had a chance to get to this year are boring ones about my turning goal. I'll try to create a couple of good content posts in the next week or two, so stay tuned! There's a fair amount worth talking about.

In the meantime, let me keep myself accountable and put up some details about how my efforts toward my turning goal played out in February.

A little accountability: January's progress report on turning goal

For those of you that have been following along with my training, you know I'm doing a project this year involving turning the circle. Specifically, I'm aiming to get 200 hours on the circle in 2012. This post is a short report on how I did with the project through January. For those of you that aren't interested in my personal training, this post isn't probably worth much to you, so you can skip it.

Mental discipline, turning the circle and other grinding

Because of my desire to improve that aspect of my Yin Style Bagua training and the resultant new year's resolution to turn more, I've been on the circle this week far more than what has (shamefully) been average in the last while. That, of course, has me thinking about turning more, and, for the purposes of this blog, that has me thinking about the challenges related to turning. Of course, these lessons are far more broadly applicable than this particular useful, if esoteric, practice.

New Year's Turning Resolution, 2012

I know, it's been a long (read: looooooooong) time since I've posted. Frankly, I haven't been training much. I actually really hurt myself this time, and so I haven't been doing a whole lot since the start of November when I took my right shoulder from aggravated to "doesn't work without LOTS of pain." I'm finally getting a handle on that, mostly. In any case, I decided it's well enough, and it's high time that I start doing something right. Since He Jinbao didn't seem particularly pleased with my turning this year at our workshop, I figure I need a lot more attention on that aspect of training. Thus, my New Year's resolution for 2012 is to turn... a lot... and consistently (details below!).