MightyBands, home gym system

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Progression

Then things got blurry when I went from student levels 8-12. The concepts, chi-sao drills, etc weren’t as defined as the previous materials. I didn’t learn in a linear fashion anymore. Instead, things varied quite a bit. The different pak-da, tan-da, bong-da (as per student levels 7, 8, 9) were introduced but mixed in with other things like emphasized mobility (eg. cross-step, side stepping, etc) to adjust for the incoming force. Mobility was introduced here.

Levels 10-12 got even more blurry. But I noticed, as soon as I hit level 12, things turned up a notch. Hits felt harder and being the “dummy” end of Sifu’s explanation in class felt different – more intense. I thought it was just me, but then I noticed how those were recently promoted with me started to dwindle. It seemed like, to me, that student level 12 was a defining moment for many. It seemed that getting to level 12 is good enough - the equivalent of a “black belt”…more a high degree “brown belt”.

I remember, at level 9 or 10, I felt that I would be REALLY good by level 12 and that by the time I hit 1st technician grade, I would have all the tools I needed. WRONG. There’s so much more – and I’m not just saying that at a philosophical level. There really is so much more, technically, skillfully and physically.

Do you remember in grade school math, when the teacher said that you can’t subtract a big number from a smaller number (eg. 3-7 = ?) but could only go the other way (eg. 7-3 = 4). Do you remember the moment when the teachers told you that was not true and instead 3-7 = -4? How about in chemistry when a reaction 2H + O -> H2O. We were told that this reaction is one way for the longest time. Then the teacher says that it’s not true and in reality, all reactions go back and forth, but one reaction nets more product than the other. So really it looks like 2H + O <-> H2O.

Of course, teachers had to do this to properly educate us. To provide us information in stages in order to understand the concept, only to remove it so that you can use this foundation to understand the next one?

The same, I’ve realized, occurs with WT once you get into the technician grades. So ya, LOTS to do, lots to re-train and lots to incorporate into my arms and legs. Although there is structure to the curriculum, it was loosely applied in my case. (Most likely due to my fluctuating attendance throughout the years.) Do chi-sao sections here, do some forms training here, some partner training, concept A, punching B, etc.

THEN, to top it off. The concept of “boxing” has really hit me as of late – Chinese boxing. Wing Tsun is Chinese boxing, as my instructor says. And when he said that, I couldn’t agree more. To sum up as “Chinese boxing” conceptualized WT into something more than drills and chi-sao. So simple but hard to pull off. This concept frees one of the rigid boundaries set by all the previous years of training. Of course, the irony is that all those years of WT training is absolutely needed.

So this is my next step – to evolve my wing tsun into the expression of its true form: boxing. It sure feels awkward. I know my Wing tsun still has lots more room to progress. Once I get this whole boxing thing down, then somehow, I’ll have to transform it so that it reflects me – so that it becomes natural, automatic and full of Grasshopper 2.0 flavour.

One step at a time…

Until then.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sorry to say your chemistry equation is wrong it should be O subscript 2. Making it 2H2 + O2 --> 2H2O

Brian said...

haha, absolutely correct! this is what i get for posting during work break...

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