04.16.06 - Practice Out of Class

Session with Bill during lunch at work

We were a little pinched for time today but we got right down to business. We started out with me dummying for Sifu as he went through the 15 Black belt techniques. He basically did the same thing we do in class when we practice our stuff; that is he did it slowly at first and then did it fast. I tried to give him a good body reaction but I’m not sure I succeeded. It was pretty cool to see the techniques but they went by pretty fast. It wasn’t long at all and we were on to the next thing.

The rest of the session was spent primarily on the Orange belt portion of the Master form. I had seen it before, and had even followed others through it once or twice. This time Sifu ran through it with me and we practiced it.

After going through the gross movements, we had a discussion of what makes a ‘good’ form. Part of it is proper technique, which really means:
- Blocks are crisp, accurate and powerful
- Strikes are crisp, accurate and powerful
- Stances are correct
- There should be proper flow throughout the technique
The other part of a ‘good’ form is getting the transitions between techniques down correctly. With the Master form, this means getting the direction (angle) of the techniques down as well as making the transition smooth.

We also discussed doing the form itself. It’s important to focus on the attacks when going though the forms, and by that I mean picturing your attacker and the attacker’s position. This helps with intent, targeting, and visualizing the transitions between techniques. Sifu also brought up another interesting item. He stated that the pace should be appropriate. The entire Master form is comprised of 55 techniques and when the time allotted is divided out, that gives you approximately 3 seconds for each technique – plenty of time. It’s critical that the pace is correct or you can wear yourself out by the time you get half way through the form!

To illustrate this, Sifu listed the techniques learned at each belt level:

• Orange: 6
• Purple: 7
• Blue: 8
• Green: 9
• Brown: 10
• Black: 15

If you do the math, you will see that if you blaze away through the techniques, by the time you get to Brown belt, you are only about half way through the 55 required! Proper pacing and breathing will help to keep the form smooth from start to finish.