Half way through Yilu choreography

by bruce.schaub on 2012/06/06


Please leave comments on my form

About bruce.schaub

I studied Yang style taiji for 5 years and Wu Style taiji for 15 years, until beginning Practical Method in 2011. I was accepted as GM Chen Zhonghua's disciple in the summer of 2014 in New York.

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Allan Belsheim June 7, 2012 at 8:05 am

Generally a good start, but needing some tuning up. Example of things to work on: All negative circles must “turn over”. Shoulder movement and knees need to be restricted more. Don’t use power/force at the end of arm extensions and also keep some slight slack or curve in your extended arms.
Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more.

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bruce.schaub June 8, 2012 at 5:59 am

Went back through and saw several instances where I’m not turning over the negative circle at all, like stepping out into block touching coat for example and other instances where I’m half heartedly turning over without leading in with elbow to flip the hand, but rather just self-moving it around. Clearer on what you meant now, Thanks for that detail….May I ask in relation to shoulder movement if we take “Punch covering hand” for example….is the loss of integrity due to lateral extension of the shoulder or is it that i”m not flattening it out enough as i extend? or both? or am i over turning the waist in relation to the hips? If you have time, I would greatly appreciate it.

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bruce.schaub June 7, 2012 at 9:48 am

Thank you for the corrections and encouragement. I have a hard time being objective about it tending to only see the many flaws…horizontal movement in the knees in and elbows popping out in six sealing four closing….shoulder popping in cloud hands etc….I will keep grinding away at it. I hadn’t noticed I’m starting to almost completely lock out my arms in places? I think in trying to stretch more I’m creating a bad habit there…thanks again!

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Hugo Ramiro June 7, 2012 at 10:21 am

Hey Bruce, yes you definitely have too much extension. It’s not really about the arms being physically locked straight at those points (although they may be at some times)- it’s like Allan said, it is a loss of integrity that is occurring as you use excessive (and uneven) power as you reach full extension. It is very easy for an opponent to take advantage of that dynamic to control or break the affected elbow, and I believe you have this feature present throughout your form.
I would suggest to do the form without power. This will also help you train the shoulders.
Reading Allan’s comments for your form has helped focus me as well, so thank you Allan!
I hope that helps,
Hugo

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bruce.schaub June 7, 2012 at 10:38 am

Definitely helps! Thanks!

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Chen Zhonghua June 7, 2012 at 12:19 pm

On 0:32-33, your front hand withdrew in relationship to your elbow.

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bruce.schaub June 7, 2012 at 1:10 pm

Oh I see it, thank you Master Chen. If i’d had a sword I would have cut my forehead off…

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pingwei June 9, 2012 at 11:19 am

To learn from videos is not an easy task. I’m impressed. I can see your dedication. See you in Phoenix in November.

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bruce.schaub June 9, 2012 at 11:29 am

Thank you Pingwei! looking forward to it. I can only chalk it up to Master Chen’s ability to teach and inspire!

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