Iowa 2024 July Workshop notes – Aaron Bartholomew

by Aaron Bartholomew on 2024/07/30

Iowa 2024 Workshop notes
Wednesday Evening:
Private lesson
Weighted bag exercise:
Get a longer-thinner bag
1. Double-tap / hit it twice when going sideways
2. Up/Down: tap it up then hit it with the foot when going up, only accelerate it going down
Do not lose the shape of the bag in the above exercises
3. Lift the bag, then spike the bag.  Hit it directly from the top
Watch footage from private lesson to see more.
Anything done at foot level will be 9x bigger than at shoulder / hand level
Block touching coat corrections:
Right finger doesn’t move when coming in
Right elbow stays in front of hip
stop leaning head
Bie – twist, wrap, shear.
Scissors from hips, back one wraps around the front, front one wraps around the front (both diagonally).
Leave a hole so it’s like a gun, not a grenade.
Right elbow goes back towards the right back (ever so slightly), rest of arm doesn’t move.
Right kua goes diagonally up & to the left (slightly).
First move:
Left shoulder is not making it into left hand
Do not overextend shoulder
Toe and Finger Clawing
There are specific positions where the calf and forearm can swell.
Claw the toes where the knee is over foot to find these for the foot.
Same with hand / forearm to find them.
Palm doesn’t move, fingers just claw.
Overextension – 3 years practice
Don’t overextend.
Right hand – Web of thumb around their armpit (wrap from front pectoral) to feel it.
Left hand on their right shoulder.
If they don’t overextend, help them do so.
Have opponent give resistance
Relax slightly to see if they overextend.  When they do so follow their overextension with your left hand.  Turn the corner (not going on a line between the two of you, perpendicular to that line)
This is called enticing into emptiness.
How to prevent: move as one, don’t overextend.
Keep close range.
The whole point of the fake / pretend fight is to get the opponent to overextend.  Learn to feel this.
This lesson was something of planting a peach and getting an orange (didn’t go where expected).
Stomach contraction:
Contract the muscles just down from the stomach, in specific places in the form this will add to the move.  Watch Kelvin, he does this often and well.
Thursday Morning (pre-class)
Match the movement (one of a couple main themes this workshop)
Do the extension that they would have to do
Turn the corner, do the extension at an angle.
isolation is key
Pen and Cap example
take cap off of pen, move them the same amount, though separated
opponent —>       you (match and extend) —>
                                                                                                               ^
opponent —>    you  (match and extend different direction) –|
can’t move the same direction as them, perpendicular only
Match in yourself, can redirect in yourself
Illusion:
we often see what is or isn’t real.
A lot of what we see is irrelevant.  If it’s irrelevant, don’t pay attention to it.
Matching / redirection
Don’t use strength
Redirect with very small circle
Create a return
Thursday morning class:
The opponent can only power up if you move together
Isolate the matching move, then add one (isolated from matching move).
The center cannot move (the center can be anywhere; in a given movement of the form, there’s one place that doesn’t move)
If you cannot isolate the moves are linked.  And then there is really only one move.
You want to be able to make 2+ separations / isolations.  keep adding them as you learn how to make them.
Do something to an opponent, have a 3rd person hold your waist so it doesn’t move.
Lock ends, rotate the middle (in this case lock shoulder and foot; move elbow).
If you move the shoulder , the forehead moves.
Better not to move than to toss.
Taiji: One part moving, but not all moving
At beginner levels only move arms, not kua.  Looks bad, but is effective.
Face has to be like leather
(means if you laugh at me, I don’t care)
Let’s do something weird, only move arms.
Twisting towel, only move arms as if they’re on a track
6 sealing, 4 closing: only move arms as if they’re on a track
Repeat the following out loud: My legs are not moving, only my hands are moving
Impossible to do in real life
Legs blocked, cannot move
they stop the arm / hand from moving
you can always move something else,
just ignore them
Exercise:
Move how you want
can’t move bicep; move the forearm
can’t move forearm; move the fingers
this will become a rotation
Ting – feels like a stick (don’t move with them)
Impale:
Set the opponent up so that they impale themselves on you
Entice them into doing the wrong move
Find the feeling in a non-useful posture, then find it in the useful postures.
Find the Ting (the stick feel) reproduce it complex structures
Some exercises, move only foot (heel to the back) and fingers (matching in opposite direction)
Stretch has to go over
Switching (another recurring theme in this workshop)
Fight from inside the city wall
Switch from the back (elbow, shoulder, kua) to the front (hand)
Don’t change the shape
Done as a spear as well (push from back  -> pull from front)
Grab the front end from the back of the spear.  Requires really precise control.
Get 3 points on the opponent
where you touch, you can manipulate
Close range, the more points you’re touching the better
get as many as you can.  Don’t fight them, just add a touch
You have 1 – I have five (get the fingers on the opponet)
Real – power that works, but you feel nothing (how you know it works)
Gravity – the Earth wants you to touch it at all points.
Exercise:
Match size, use fingers not fist
Match power elsewhere (with knee)
Add a very small touch (like moving head)
Chen Fa Ke
How it goes out
(is) how it comes back
In practice, do it slow; make every move work; then add a step.
Not on, not off
Only be where they are not
Push into the ground; slide
Never fighting, no power in what’s touching the opponent
Hollow (outside stronger than the inside, e.g. fingers stronger than the arm)
It’s difficult because you don’t trust it.
If you trusted it, it wouldn’t be difficult
We don’t like the feeling of power in the feet, so we change / move to avoid it
Crash (on an axis) with body into joint
Switch:
Everything in the arm must be sent into the hand
Outside is strong, inside cannot be trapped
Seed grows from the inside, it grows outside.
Only move on the outside
Power is like spitting; has to come outside from the inside
Matching exercise 2:
arm break position (arm bar)
power goes to the hand
hand goes around (switch)
Go in strong underneath
flip power to the top
Very difficult stretch
Find the limit of something with a stretch
train the muscles until that limit is passed (until there is no limit)
Inifinite forearm – practice stretching
Match, go with, rotate
Track (keep hold) then rotate
Don’t move (especially don’t flinch)
If the move doesn’t bite; try moving in.
Like a stationary rotary saw.
Move the table
Move the saw into the wood
Cloud hands does this
If they don’t move the wood into the saw, move the table to take the saw to them.
Thursday afternoon class
Buckling
Exercise:
Same side, opponent in front; your arm in front
drop the kua, bring the knee up (it’s in between their legs, behind them)
Put a stick behind, stick propped between their legs, caught and he’ll fall down.
First 13
do yilu with hydrolics, rather than pneumatics.
Peng, add pressure, then add a twist (like a finger snap)
At each corner (joint) different snaps at different angles.
Has to be tense / stiff like a 2×4.
Hand snapping exercise: place hands horizontal, one on top of the other; palms togethre
snap hands like you’d snap fingers; reversing which hand is on top.
make the arms stiff;  the kua is needed to make the turn
like automatic transition; it only gears up when under load
A wood drill won’t engage / bite on a steel plate.
Loose hit, tight rotate
Go in with no power, Rotate when you meet resistence
Bie –
combination of moves that in conjunction provides a lock
equal and opposite
make it stiff
Do not push; in taiji that will nullify whatever you’re trying to do.
18 locations on the body that can move independently
unlimited potential for stretches
why are we still stick figting
Find one pair of points to stretch against each other
Take out all the slack – alignment hange
adjust hand, wrist, elbow, kua, foot, etc.
Real exercise:
pull a smooth stick with a string
unless it’s in the exact center, it will slip around a lot.
pull in the exact center
it only works when it’s exactly on center; otherwise it’s off
Precision, not power
Anytime you deviate, your opponent regains power
Head on wall exercise
Put head on wall (with sheet of paper between head and wall)
spin around with your head on the wall.
keep the line
Friday morning pre-class
Each move in the form has a  very small action (like the hand snap)
The rest of the move is transition
In push hands be very light, otherwise you’ll push yourself out
3 pieces: arm, body, legs
Be soft to touch people, and be ready
then move in
everything comes from the joints
Now do yilu like that.
(switch to fingers)
My (front) finger aims (past you) at your foot
Front foot -> front finger
control the line with the kua / elbow
Not with the chest
strech should feel like a heavy blankt on the opponent
Every move reduces power.  Don’t move.
Think of a bullet / artillary.  Any deviation / curve in the barrel reduces the power.
make the bottom triangle (feet , kuas) only the top dot rotates
Be screwed to a board (arms mentioned as example)
(side note, Mentioned an arm brace that stops the elbow and arm from moving)
Find one point that can rotate when you’re screwed to the board.
Its going to be a joint.
Do not move; find that point and rotate on it (inside elbow twist in the example of the arm)
Lock into one piece (top/bottom or left/right separation)
Lock one set, use the other set to move the locked set
Do not destroy the board
Hard to train because these (joints) are places that have no power
Switch to the outside (wrist, fingers, feet)
practice yilu outside the torso space
expand, get outside
when you get stuck look beyound / outside the opponent
Don’t wiggle (chinese word for feeble strugglings of a newborn)
Learn something in the morning
Show as many people as you can
repeat it 7 times in a day and its yours
Friday morning class:
Recorded summaries of the pre-class session
Fist draping body
The bottom is carrying a table while someone is sleeping on it
Takes power is to make sure the bottom doesn’t move
Later on it’s precise algnment rather than power.
One piece
Power isn’t in the point of contact
The action doesn’t stop; the body stops
and at the right time becomes totally stiff
Speed, alignment, total rigidity
Quality of taiji – How often the action is done just right; repeatable
Proverb: There’s opportunity only when there’s danger
Pick a posture
use small steps
knees control the up and down
Rotate the center
the two feet should move proportionally
to turn the front, stretch the back (down to floor)
front foot becomes action, back foot adjustment when front is lightly engaged
Rigity:
State where you don’t lose anything
motion, balance, power – difficult to have all 3 at the same time
Too much balance, no power
too much motion, you’ll lose balance
too much power, lose motion
Twist on the waist that goes around.
fortress portal lcoked, with a way to unlock
Stand over bottle exercise
stretch from left hand to right foot
right foot stretches as if to touch a non-existant wall behind you
like ice is on the floor
left foot is light and compensates
have to pivot left foot so you don’t fall
often had 3 catches to avoid a fall
reminiscent of Grandmaster Melon Rind
Jumping
never hop, only jump
not at same time, one after the other
hit a rod with a hammer, there’s many small impacts inside
Turn a horizontal move into a vertical move
lazer beam condensed from all power in chest
shoot shoulders into finger
all energy from above exercise goes into finger
lock, restrain everywhere but that point
Rigid
The body must be rigid.
Joints must not be rigid
For non-joints the more rigid the better
Arm: rigid.
Elbow, shoulder joints – smooth
If the joints aren’t smooth, strengthen the muscles to control the joints so they become smooth
Faking ridigity leads to tapping
Lift a rock and throw it at them.  There is no action in the punch, only velocity
Cao
Power of motion – impact / collision / slam
place arm, whole body fights that in one peace
spreads, moves entire body, one piece
(similar to spitting)
Like hitting with the entire stick
A snowplow is angled. the truck is driving straight, with an angled blade
Cannon Fist penetrating punch is similar
Lots of stretch, never change the angle
Cao with elbow is very high level
Cao is a snowplw vs. captive bolt-driver (impale)
Structure on wheels, the body doesn’t move
lots of power in legs, squeezing together
you only feel the outside
joints (kua, shoulder, knee) are the engine
Hard and soft creates a differential, that we call speed
Lock on stomach and back
Lock on both hips / kua
Moving the top doesn’t move the bottom
Pour concrete in the bottom, only move top, not bottom.
Exercise:
Isolate kuas, don’t move them
stomach should be able to rotate freely
Friday afternoon session
When you watch and follow for a long time you begin to see.
Only then can you be an instructor
Both practice and pointers (corrections) are required
Taiji moves are awkward.  Find the right instrctor
You have to find the door and go through it
It sounds weird and awkward until you’ve gone to the other side.
Like platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter
People will check the door and just see a wall.  There is no door for them
The gate / door / threshold is an idea, a mental block.
Story:
Daoist immortals had a method.  They took you to a cliff edge and gave their followers a final test.  To jump.
Before there was only external alchemy (drinking a lot of poisonous materials)
The first internal daoist called the standing posture “setting up the furnace”
He gave this test to his disciples.  The first two turned it down.
The third one said: Can we have the dog do it?
The dog died, and the disciple went away.  The dog then came back as a human.
Daoist will give you a false test, its valid for you, but the only test is whether or not you will take the test.
Taiji is like finding something imaginary that used to be real, without a point of reference.
E.g. position of Edward Liaw’s knee (at a specific point in time in the class)
Reference point in the air.  If you had his reference points in the room, you could maybe find that spot again.
Reference points with a coordinate system -> science
A system is a consistent approach (not necessarily correct)
Train until you make the point real
Hand is “heaven” (unsupported)
shoulder is “earth” (very supported)
Yin-Yang Reversal
Make the hand supported, and the shoulder unsupported.
If they are both supported, that’s double-heavy.
If they are both unsupported, there’s no power, it doesn’t exist.
Taiji is seeing what other people cannot see
But it has to be real.
Master Chen remembers spaces.
Some training methods:
1. Make a triangular arm brace, let people push on you.  Use it for at least 2 weeks.
2. Make an artificial horse back to sit on.  Should fit you exactly that won’t move under you.  Practice twisting on it and you won’t fall.
Partner training is hard.  Everyone trained with the instructor.
Too strong, won’t be beneficial
Too weak will be wobbly.
Exercise
Arm bent at elbow.
Fingers pointed to opponent’s sternum
thumb extended.  opponent provides ~20% resistance
walk  forward without the arm wobbling
Wheels and door hinges rotate
Agility is one dot touching, no difference when it moves, no deviation
Exercise:
1. Have your elbow hit your stomach at 45 degrees, and bounce off.
2. Turn (at the waist) when the elbow touches torso
Can be replicated with kua coming forward or fist raised & rubbing
Go sideways, backwards, whatever’s needed to have power go back to the opponent
Rotation has to go to the foot; otherwise it’s just wobbling
Make long short, short long
if my arms are short when I reach you, I will push you long
if my arms are long when I reach you, I will only push you short
Yin-Yang shift (like the weighted bag)
wuji – already full and there
mysterious positions
door (from earlier)
—————-
——————
people don’t see it, refuse to enter
Maintain shape
lighter & faster, not power
stability & speed
Punch a ball, depending on how you hit it you’ll get one of the 8 energies
(peng, liu, ji, ahn, etc)
have to be very precise.
if you spin the ball, it becomes unknown.
Push hands – learn straightness when wobbling
If you can find the center, nobody can find it on you.
Proverb: They will never know me.  I only know them.
You will become a ghost
A rotating ball cannot be penetrated
Find center
keep center
maintain center
8 energies on a ball:
Peng: 9-12 going up on the ball uses energy
Liu: 12-3 downhill is easy, going with it
Ji: 3-6 filling empty spot
Ahn: 6 (only at the bottom) falling  into emptiness
Sai – twist on the spin
Lihr – swap to the other side to break
ends don’t move, the middle breaks
Jo – two twists to break
Cao – collide, snowplow energy
Saturday morning pre-class
Stepping circles
be a jerk
be a double-jerk
(in is a jerk, out is a hit)
need to be firm, relaxed, NOT limp
Yilu:
Elbow supports hand going out
Kua supports elbow
Kua is a natural hole, level (raise) kua
top (shoulder) goes down, bottom (kua)  goes up
Cloud hands:
You’re a rod on center, twist.
Hands should just be in the right spot
Kua connected to elbow, twist goes to elbow; release foot
transmission one move -> all moves
add more moves
subtract – slugging, less moves
When he says “you’re doing it”, that means you’re faking it, copying his move
don’t do it.
become a teeter-totter, where it happens automatically
Robot game: Partner moves you in circle patterns (positive, negative)
Saturday Morning class
Shoulder exercise:
Stiff arm out to side
loose arm bar making the shoulder circle
shoulder at natural height
up to the back, down to the front
gradually increases size of circles
smoothly add separation to the shoulder
make the shoulder into a matched, engaged set of gears
don’t fight at the contact point, energy should go into the shoulder
elbow down (elbow rub) drives shoulder up.
hand extend drives shoulder down (hand on, stretch and turn)
center line goes down, kua to arms goes up.
advanced version, the person who’s arm is being moved in a circle extends into the line
The idea of a circle is wrong
The fake and correct move start the same
Fake move is like a Chinese grandmother, wants to make it easier for the grandson
Circle comes back to the same spot
Real move is like an English grandfather, wants to make sure the kid will survive
Circle keeps moving on, making half-circles one after the other, making odd half-circles that are linked together.  Knot that forms a spider’s web.
Even
Keep it Even, Even Steven.
pressure, direction, all of it
Stretch to points, control the space
“Every move you think you’re doing, I’ve already set it up”
Take out the slack
fill space by changing your angles.
Whoever does it first has the advantage
whoever tries it second has to work twice as hard to equalize
The key to “I’m always longer than you” is in the foot.
Grandmaster Hong: The size of your foot moving on the floor equals 9x above
Vector: Add a little bit from each joint.
Compounding doubles per joint.
Put them on the skewer
lock the dantien
make them stiff (with a rotation, using arm)
1. all the joints must be trained to be open to be able to do the next move
2. use every part, though training make many tools.  The more tools (body parts) you have trained, the better
Keep the center in rotation (use speed, fingers come back like a whip)
If it moves after they’re already out, for them it didn’t move
It doesn’t look like what it is.  Elbow in, hand out both do this.
If you remove the top from a suspension, then it’s all gone.
As long as the words are the same (if the transmission doesn’t change), maybe in 500 years someone will get it.
Matching at 90 degrees (any 90 degrees) will lock / equalize.
No need to fight if you do this.
If we don’t touch, you can’t see what I’m doing.
Circles:
Make a circle with your hands.
Any two lines are different, all the others are variations (two lines define a circle).
Arm extension move:
Tripod with locks on legs.
When each lock is unlocked that portion moves freely.
When locked, that portion won’t move at all.
Can lock or unlock any of those at will.
Open / close instantly (on the joint)
Lengthen / shorten the tripod legs as needed to hit or avoid getting hit
Cheating:
9 year old Samantha.  You moved, you cheated.
If the coyote eats the rabbit, that’s normal, no cheating.
If the coyote eats the rabbit’s grass, that’s cheating.
Attack
when your opponent is about to move (structure has changed)
when they’ve finished his move (not completed, overextended)
Don’t attack when they’re doing so.  That will get you hurt.
Training exercise (for the above):
Hands out at arms length with someone else.
Try to hit their palms with yours to get them to fall
Only hit when they’ve fully extended, or when they are about to extend
Very quickly becomes a game of deception.
Saturday Afternoon class:
Yilu corrections
Pole Shaking
1. Run staff on floor to full extension to get a feel for it
Start with a single finger and thumb making a ring at the end of the staff
2. produce a dot on the staff, no deviations, and you can lift and shake it in the air
find the balance point, when it shakes and stays in the air you have it.
3. Once you’re able to do that repeatedly, then use a single hand to shake it while you change your position to the other side of the staff (looks like elbow in, but it’s a side-change)
Staff should be heavy enough that you can’t hold it (same with sword for this specific exercise)
Rubbing
Hold staff at end, left arm holding the middle up, right arm in grip above shoulder
never hold it normally, always be short or long.
Roll staff up and down on rear chest with someone holding the tip on the other end (preventing it from moving)
Front hand can’t move.  It’s the pivot / anchor.
Bending the staff is no good
Impaling / Penetrating – elbow to hand (rotate) on end of staff
When rotation matches the push, then the staff won’t bend.
Restrict the end of the staff so it won’t move, then practice this.
Waist Exercise:
Frame your end of the staff, lock it in all directions (pull on both sides into the stomach)
Only the feet direct the (very strong) swings.
Very hard to control.
Stick it to your stomach, move the hips and legs
make your hold on the end of the stick as long as you can
Restrain the end of the staff with another staff or something.
Hit the grass / deck (without adding anything to the motion with the front arm)
Every touch must cut into bone
Places to make immobile: foot, head.
When locked the back elbow can power the front elbow.
(any part of the body can power any other if locked right)
Bounce back (directional reversals in many parts of form)
High pat on horse
the bottom can be switched to be anywhere.
Like a deer, it appears to float when running.
Body should go out and come back
no part should go into orbit
Suck then spit.
Taiji feeling: Everything should feel perfect until it’s too late
Because the other person is holding you up
Nullify the part of the body they will use to go away (escape)
every body part must be either silk or steel
steel – so hard it won’t hurt
silk – so soft it won’t hurt.
Look for blockages, stoppages, overextensions
Punch to ground is actually an escape from a punch & returning an elbow
Fist protecting heart is a conveyer belt (continuously going out and coming back)
Hold head to embrace tiger is a very low stance, keep it very low.
Flowers at the sea bottom:
breaks opponent’s integrity
tornado blade that destroys everything in its path
High pat on horse, move like you’re not landing
Push hands exercise:
1. Plant foot between & behind legs
step left foot around behind them
spin like a top
2. Plant food, create axis to top of head when leaned back
3. spin on axis without head leaving its spot (head rotates)
4. They should spin like a top too.
Like a screwdriver,
Twist
Tension
Step
Twist (repeat)
Sunday morning (pre-class)
Compass
The difference between the inside and outside part is so great that the center (pinned)part doesn’t move relative to the drawing part.
The center may move 1, but if the drawing part of  the compass moves 500, its as if it didn’t move.  (relatively still)
You should only train one body part, and the training will map to the others.
Only train one part.
You have to be in the position you don’t want in order to get to the position you do want.
Reversal of strength from large circle (claw at the bottom)
Weight lifting.  The weight is heavier than you.
Push the feet down rather than lift the arms.
Push the feet into the floor in foundations and forms
Whole body dynamic comes from feet pushing into floor
Block touching coat
Lock shoulder, back, and elbow.
Turn forearm only engaging gear teeth on midpoint of forearm.
Don’t leak out shoulder, head, or elbow.
Switching
If they’re on bicep, switch to the hand
like a balloon animal, move the air to where they aren’t.  to the other end of the balloon
this is like the weighted bag, suspend the sand in bag, then hit it.
External – if the punch misses, go back and try again.
Internal – if it misses, resolve what’s causing the problem, without going back (or coming back into it).  If you leave the problem will follow you.
Where you touch me is real.  Where my empty hand is is not real.
Reverse this, such that where you touch me is not real, and where my empty hand is becomes real.
Once you can do this you don’t need to react to physical touch.
You have something stronger to hold on to.
Get it even a little right, and you’re better than most.
Hand on post –
lock shoulder, upper arm, forearm,
pull with elbow,
make the post real
use a real post or horizontal bar
Personal thought:
You can read a recipe as much as you want.
You’re not a cook until you try to make it.
You’re not a good cook until you can make it correctly repeatedly.
You must be rooted, push your feet down.
Taiji is based on interaction with the ground
If you have a soft cushion between you and the ground, you don’t have power.
Spring-load yourself
Sunday morning class
Every movement goes to the foot.
Gears interlock, rations are exact  / proportional
Hand going forward comes from the torso going back
Neck goes back, head up (using the platesmus muscles) – when issuing
Put the head on a wall, top back up until it gets rid of neck indentation
Put back on wall, get rid of lower-back indentation
Turn into three horizontal plates (top, middle, bottom)
connected like railroad car couplers
There’s a repeated cycle of learning hard, then learning soft, then learning hard, then learning soft.  ~9 times.
Exercise:
Get flat on a wall
Small steps away so you’re only inches away from the wall
partner pushes you back flat onto the wall
You just return the force along the same line
don’t add / redirect, first accept it
then send it back along the same line (matching)
Sunday afternoon class:
Do the first 13 as if you’re held / secured on the wrists.  Body must pull arms in.
Door hinge exercise
hand flat on partially open door
partner pushes on the back of the door (using the open edge)
partner should be able to move you easily with that leverage
Most of body rotates backwards from the point of contact
One dot goes out to the other side, there are then two of him, one back, one forward.
Large means there’s nothing outside of it.
Small means there’s nothing inside of it.
Fist draping the body is a sequence of pulling motions.
Fist under elbow, don’t shortcut the large left-hand circle.
Hands do alignment, kua provides power
same with big circle before brush knee
Right hand in brush knee wraps punch without moving it. Then pulls it along line.
“Punch” before first cloud hands is “tearing towel”.
Practice this step and punch while trying to tear a towel with the hands.
Everyone has a size and proportion
Do enough of this exercise to find yours
4 cardinal wrist-elbow arm switching
push hands warmup
Look this up in video and practice with partner
2 types of openings
leather – must be seasoned with oil.  Like a blade-strop used for years
1 drop of oil per use, over the course of years will cause the leather to stretch.
This is called opening the leather
joint – on pressure that pushes, the joint should roll open (both sides)
Jade that looks like lard
hard, smooth like butter
is 100% consistent
2 types of training
Fire training – qualitative change
Smelting raw iron ore into refined steel
taking inconsistent raw materials into a consistent
in the end you aren’t the same anymore
Silk training – changing something that’s already good into something better
better quality of the same thing
same stuff afterwards, though better quality of the same thing
Smelting training
exhaustive training
will change the configuration of the body
like reformatting a hard drive, what was there is gone
If you train yilu right, you’re exhausted afterwards
If you’re just tired, you’re probably hurting yourself
If the opponent uses the arm to lock the torse,
tear your shoulder blade away (forward) to release that lock
Isolate / separate the torso and shoulder blade
Train until your scapula can move a lot
with power and tension
This training hurts, removes adhesions
eventually the kua will get into it

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