Weight training for IMA

Fu Zhen Song did use stone ball and oversized weapons for IMA.

[PDF]Journal 6-6
www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/tomiasik/journal_6-2.pdf
moves from Fu style Ba Gua Zhang and present ... detailed information about Fu Zhen Song, please refer ... Fu Zhen Song holding his 38 pound stone ball.

 

There's an article by Tim Cartmell in that Bagua Journal, cool.

 

Correct? Not really.Just speaking of formal tourneys,Hsing I has a long history in comps -must be why they did all those push ups and pull ups.Yuan Tao won I think it was the Shanghai championship in '32.However the turmoils in China which started with the Japanese invasion and continued for decades after pretty much ended the large comps.

One of my TC lines also has a long history in comps in SE Asia,including the pre-push hands tourney era.

Closed door challenge matches even today aren't unheard of,not to mention more or less friendly informal affairs.(Not Internal Affairs tho',even if Richard Gere studies TC).

Just depends who you are,who you study with, what you're trying to learn,and how you go about testing it. People from other MAs used to come and and ask us (as individuals) if we wanted to play. We never turned anyone down.As a school we used to get together with other MA clubs and knock each other about.Twas a grand period in time around here.

I do get your perception tho' as admittedly most supposed "IMA" people aren't doing much with the "M" part of the term.Or at least testing it outside the "IMA" sphere.

 

Yang Style Taijiquan 13 Spear with large spear, demonstration by 5th Generation Yang Style Taijiquan Master Qiao Zhenxing (1958 - ), Hebei Province, Yongnian County.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZfxlXBJUSE"]正宗楊å¼å¤ªæ¥µåä¸‰æ§ å¤§æ§ å¤§æ¡¿ 永年廣府喬振興大師演示 - YouTube[/ame]

 

do you think this is for strength or skill/confidence purposes?

 

He's demonstrating a form in that clip. However many practice "pole shaking" or other single movement drills with the pole. These single movement drills are done mainly for conditioning and power issuing training (fajin).

Skill / confidence can come into it, particularly with the longer forms, but I think the main reason most people do the single repetitive drills is for conditioning and power/strength requirements.

First hit on youtube for pole shaking, this guy is a baji and taiji instructor:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZDIdQo0930"]Pole shaking exercises - YouTube[/ame]

 

Ball training from Chen style tai chi, this ball looks quite heavy. Having done some of this myself, using a 10kg medicine ball, it can be quite demanding.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzJBIe88iSQ"]Chen Style Tai Chi Taiji ball(Eng sub)-Trần thức Thái cá»±c quyá»n Luyện thái cá»±c cầu - YouTube[/ame]

 

Xingyiquan was use in the military to train the use of bayonet according to the book by Huang Bainien in 1928. There is an introduction in the Youtube uploaded by Dennis Rovere. So, there might be some advantage in applying IMA for the training of oversized and heavy weaponry.