So what form does sparring in Baji take. Is it failry hard as you get more experienced? Is there a fair amount of conditioning? How long into the training did it take before you felt you would be able to confidently use it in a fight? Yet more questions... forgive moi.
1. The body structure or Shen Fa. 2. The footwork or steps. 3. The issuing of a whole body Jin, Cheng Jin. These are the basic elements to work on. B. The footwork has 2 types of stamping feet, Zhen Jaio. One with the whole foot down. The other is to elevate the heel 2 inches off the ground and turn and land. C. Tactics: 1. Force the door open. Chiang Kai Men. 2. Usually wrap the opponent's arm or Guo Jin. 3. Silk reeling Chan Si at wrist, elbow, shoulder and the whole body. D. The name is called rake fist. The fighting methods were documented in the book by Ming's General Qi Ji Kuang. Which means rake fist was already popular in Ming dynasty. Why the name? You place your hands facing the front and downward. One arm extended. The other elbow close to your rib. This is the common fighting stance. Both of your hands are like rakes. If the opponent punch or kick. You move your arms from the centerline and outward and downward. 1-2-3. You basically slap downward or Pai Zhang. You rake his left arm down, his right arm down, then the face or the neck. you force yourself inside of his both arms. You may go outside of his arms, too. E. You neutralize the attacks, get close and strike. From fist, palm (Dan), elbow (Din), shoulder and hip kao, Qin Na around the neck or throw (Shuai). F. The opponent moves, you move closer, too. G. Every move has apps at high, mid, and low levels. San Pan Lian Ji. The theory is that the opponent moves, his hands and feet may only be at one place. There are many openings in the left, right, top, bottom, rear or front. Your offense comes from 8 directions or Ba Ji. From my notes in the late '70's. Best of luck. Have fun in practicing. Cheers.
I met Tony Yang, yesterday. He and some of his students were doing a demo for a Chinese New Year's celebration. He's a traditional Chinese martial arts instructor who teaches out of Akron, OH. His senior students looked good with solid body structure, power generation, and footwork. Anyone know more or have worked with them?
the last few months we're training with taekwondo protective chestplates. we tried a elbowtechnique but after elbow no2 he halted suddenly and apperently he had a bruised chestbone ... so now, the lucky one always weares 2 chestplates and you mayu one test a few times. We start the practical stuff with 3 elbowtechniques with you can use to 'intercept' an attack. they are aggressive and you really have to learn to advance on your opponent when he attacks you. One you got the bodydisplacement and such you pick up those techniques in no time. the excersises with the chestplates are the most 'intens'. our other excersises are less intensive. We do use one reactionset. 6 elbow set where you repeat a set of excersises so they feel natural in ... a fight ? the other one is Baji Dui da, a 2 person set where you train in technique, but also power, endurance, reflexe and so on ..... I can go for houres and houres ....
So no matter how your enemy is attacking you rush to meet him? Are you always on the attack? Are the elbow intercepting techniques very effective? And how would you defend or cope with a Muay Thai practitioners attacks (big kicks etc)?
Run, do not walk, to Tony Yang's school, although he does not teach baji publically only tonglong. Check out his website for some great clips of long spear training.
the elbowintercepting techniques are great and extremely powerful you can also use them against big kicks an other thing they also use is a strike to the groin. once i tried a high kick and my teacher simply advanced on me and hit me with his fingers in the groin. My leg never went to to place i planned it to go. It just stopped and before i knew what happened i got one of those nasty elbows ... I tried kneestrikes, elbowattacks and so on .... I have to admit... at the end of the tryout i got scared so i did'nt go all the way... but in the beginning ... I got 'carte blanche'... i could do wathever i wanted ... never saw so many Chinese guys laugh at the same time
The elbow facing the front, the hand protecting the temple. One or 2 elbows. You move into a punching fist or high kicking leg from his inside. It is called Gua. The elbow may move forward to hit the opponent's chest, if you kneel down a bit. This is a linear movement from the rear to the front. It is called Liang Yi Din. The end of fist and the foot have powers. The forearm and thigh have less power when doing a straight punch or high round house kick. The triangular area formed by your elbow, forearm and upper arm acts a shield. You move in fast like a lightening speed. Or Beng. Once inside, you may use forearm to push downward and forward on the chest. Your both hands may be near the face, you may slap the face or chop the neck. If both hands under the arm pits or one on the neck and the other under the armpit. Your front foot moves into between his 2 feet. You are near the opponent's center of gravity. You may easily uproot and flip him left or right to fall. It is called Yi Da Din Zhou Zuo Yo Fan. Start with hitting->elbow Din -> then flip to left or right. So there is a strategy from arm's length, elbow distance to body contact. One of your feet controls the opponent's foot, your hands on the other side of his body, or neck. You flip him like a poker card. The closer you are. The more powerful and effective Ba Ji is. Move to be close. Ser Shen Jin Fa.
hey wanderer, i just checked out the bajimovies there are a lot of differences between the baji i'm doing and that of the movies. i see a lot of simularities but there is yet a difference. for instance, we keep our hands lower, we don't use many postures where the arm is raised so high ... I gess this is the combination style baji/pigua ? I study Wu she jia kaimen baji quan ( try to say that 10 times in a row ) It's almost the same, but a little more compact nice movies dho ...
Excellen points. Could you be more specific about which move or moves? so that I may be able to give you more info. The videoclips are from Wu Tan students practicing. Wu Tan is a college student based study group to promote CMA. The teacher was master Liu Yun Qiao. His first class than went on to teach study clubs in colleges thruout Taiwan. Master Liu passed away in 1992. However, his students started Wu Tan centers around the world. Master Liu studied many schools of CMA. Liu He Tang Lang, Yi Fu-> Gong Bao Tian Ba Gua, Li Su Wen's Ba Ji etc. He was born on Feb 12, 1909. I was much inspired by him. Master Liu started Wu Tan in 1971. He used all his retirement money to run Wu Tan mag till money is gone. We are indebted to many great teachers from the past. Out of my greatest admiration for him. I decided to post more on this thread than otherwise I normally would. Edit: tears in my eyes.
well, at one occasion you stand in mabu and then you raise your one arm (palm ) while the other is pointed downward ( also palm) In Wu style Baji I don't find something like that ... but as I mentioned before ... we do only baji, not the baji/pigua combination what purpose has the lifted arm ? is this a preparation for a strike ? or is it a deflection .... It's nice to see that the characteristics remain but stuff is added to it.
yeah .... that's the stuff we're doing !!! ( only watched baji movie 1 ) you see that there is a slight difference ? man .... love that movie ... going to download the others pronto .... great stuff !!!!!! i just love baji !!! :love: :love:
man .... those movies are made in Mengcun .... I trained right over there .... are old movies dho yep ... I got my ass kicked over there several times, but wanderer , you see the difference with your style of Baji ? is funny, there are several people on those movies I met over there. but hey're a bit older now ..... I have to go back there ...
Agreed. The performers did a good job. There are Ba Ji Dan Da one man drill and 2 man drill. Ba Ji small frame or Xiao Jia 1st and 5th routine etc. These are the most popular and well know forms. And yes, Ba Ji fists are widely practiced in Meng Cun for centuries. However, there are more forms and variations thereof. But forms in the video demo are very important to study and practice.
Richdog, Mencunman and Ba Ji fans; Here is a link to fighting apps seminars in Taipei last year. Please download and save them on your computer first then view them. They are all in Chinese. If you have any Q's, I will try to answer them for you. Have fun training and practicing. Ba Ji Seminars in Taipei
i got a little problem with downloading them ... no biggy ! i got the first wvm, you really see the pigua influence ... are there other influences on this type of Baji ? on do you guys have some documentation regarding lineage ? I got some info on my text but it's so confusing that i can only seperate the first 2 generations
