Back in the groove.

Back to private lessons with my SPM teacher this week after my holidays. Went through some warm up's with focus pad and then into good old Chy Sau. Followed this with some conditioning drills and did some groundwork as it's been a while.

Really enjoyed the Doy Jong that follwed as still in pain from my visit to the gym on sunday.
Good to see my teacher and looking forward to next week's lesson.

Will hopefully be able to ubdate this page on more regular basis.

Lau Kar Leung - 28 July 1934 – 25 June 2013

Well, what can you say (that hasn't already been said by better and more knowledgeable than me!) about the sad news of the passing of LEGENDARY fight choreographer/director and Hung Ga Sifu Lau Kar Leung? All I can say is how sad I was to hear the news and just state that he was the MAIN reason that I started training in Chinese Martial Arts.
It was after watching the region 3 Celestial/IVL dvd release of Challenge of The Masters that I decided to get off my fat arse and find a Southern Kung Fu class. Unfortunately I was unable (at the time) to find a Hung Kuen class but I did manage to find a class that taught Lau Gar Kuin (a hybrid southern style of kung fu). This led me 5 years later to start studying Chow Gar Southern Praying Mantis kung fu, a style that is now the only system that I train in. If it wasn't for watching Challenge Of The Masters (and all the other Shaw Brothers movies he either choreographed or directed) I wouldn't be where I am now. For that Lau Sifu, I thank you with all my heart!!

Also don't forget the influence that Lau Kar Leung has had on kung fu practitioners around the world.

What I will do is post a few links to tributes to the MASTER of Hong Kong Kung Fu Cinema as they have done a far better job of it than I could ever of dream of doing.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201117360192577&set=a.1540528269587.2074451.1126337130&type=1

http://www.avclub.com/articles/rip-lau-karleung-legendary-martial-arts-choreograp,99429/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hong-kong-director-lau-kar-574372

http://www.kungfucinema.com/news/lau-kar-leung-1936-2013

this final link has the Lau Kar Leung Appreciation Society facebook page. Thanks to Chris Mercer for this!!

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/190065781154478/

Good Lesson

Had a good lesson tonight. Making the most of the gorgeous weather my Teacher took me through Doy Chong followed by various 2 man chongs: Soc Sau, Gau Choi, Man Dan, Moot Sau, Elbow picking hand. We then followed this with the staff fighting form (which is good fun!).
After this we went through the 36 Section 2 Man fighting Form and ended on some lovely chy sau.
Really enjoyed the lesson tonight. Got home and had a snack of Chorizo and Peppered Salami washed down with some ice cold Erdinger Weissbrau.

Complete Iron Palm Method DVD Review

Sifu Chris Lomas, a student of James McNeil shows you  his method to develop "Iron Palm". This 2 dvd set comprises training and conditioning exercises and combat applications of the Iron Palm.

 This is an excellent dvd set. It takes you through it step by step to develop Iron Palm. Disc 1 comprises all you need to train your Iron palm from how to fill your Iron Palm bag to use of Iron Palm liniment, striking the bag, massage and chi kung exercises. It also includes supplementary conditioning exercises to help you to train your Iron Hand effectively.
Disc 2 looks at power development drills with a partner and applications of different Iron Palm/Iron Hand techniques against the most common types of attacks. Sifu Lomas also demonstrates some breaks just to show that this training (if followed correctly) does work. Chris Lomas is very skilled and is also a very good instructor because the material presented here is very simple, sensible and well presented.
This is an excellent purchase for those of you who want to develop increased striking power what ever your chosen style of MA.
This 2 disc set is superbly filmed an edited and has chapters so you can skip to which ever part of the dvd takes your fancy.
This is one of the best DVD's I have in my collection.

Highly recommended.

Format: DVD
Run time: 76 mins - disc 1
               66 mins - disc 2
Cost: £69.99
Available from:  ironpalmproductions.com/

Playing Mantis

Had a Chow Gar session at home tonight. Due to the nice weather (hope it lasts!) did some staff work: Dook Sare Gwun and Ng Hung Gwun. Some wrist strengthening exercises using catch bag filled with steel shot and some plastic supplement jars filled with steel shot. Went through Sarm Bo Jin for the third time today followed by Sern Teow sau, Law Shuen Sau, Tow Mo Kuen, Da Deng sau. Follwed with Say Bun Gen sau and Nip Kui. Ended with dip gwut gung exercises and finished with Sup Baat Um Gen Sau.
Sitting down now to watch some new dvd's (reviews to follow): Wudang Kung Fu, Wudang Taiji and Taiji 37 Postures Martial Applications. Won't watch ALL of them tonight.
Went to a Tai Chi class a few weeks ago with my wife. The people there were very nice but I don't think I'll continue. My wife is going to continue it but I'll stick with the Chow Gar!

Nice night for a form.

Had a nice time today going through Sarm Bo Jin, Sarm Jin Yui Kui in the garden making most of the nice weather. Followed this with some staff power drills and some wrist strengthening exercises using the staff.
Went through the first section of the Chow Gar spear a few times just to get it down in my head.
Spent some time this afternoon polishing Fut Sau, Say Bun Gen Sau, Sern Teow Sau, Law Shuen Sau, Tow Mo Kuen, Da Deng Sau. Spent a little time with grip training and finished off with Dook Sare Gwun and Ng Hung Gwun. Also did some spontaneous shin conditioning yesterday by getting my left leg shut in the car door.

Miss Mantis

Finally got to do some more training with my 16 year old daughter. It's been a while. We started with 6mins of Chy Sau followed by conditioning - saam sing, gau choi, tuk jeurng, pok jeurng. Went throught the baat sic and started to show her the first part of Sarm Bo Jin. Repped this a few times and did some basic applications. Showed her cye sau and ended on some doy chong. She did very well.

Mantis Spear

Good Mantis lesson last night. I enjoyed it. Started learning the Chow Gar Spear and managed to get about 3/4 way through it until I got to the spinning part. This bit I'm going to have to work at. This was then followed by Dook Sare Gwan, Ng Hung Gwan, Walking Stick and the Butterfly Swords form. I need to polish these as well!! Ended with some 2 man stick drills. It was a lovely day and was nice to train outside for a change. Hope the weather is nice for next weeks lesson.

Tim Cartmell’s "Ground Proofing" DVD review

Tim Cartmell has a very good reputation as a BJJ instructor based in California. He teaches BJJ at Ace Jiu Jitsu and is a BJJ 2^nd degree blackbelt under Cleber Luciano.

Unbeknownst to most BJJer’s Tim has an impressive background in Chinese Martial arts starting out with Kung Fu San Soo and then training predominantly in the Internal arts (Bagua, Xing Yi and Tai Chi) which he learnt when training in Taiwan for 10 yrs or so training under such masters as Hsu Chen Wang, Xu Hon Ji, Lin Ah Lung and Gao Liu De. Tim has also studied Sun Style Tai Chi under Sun Lu Tang’s daughter, in Beijing.

What this “Ground Proofing” dvd aims to do is not turn the viewer into a BJJ master overnight. It aims to give some basic ground training to those people who are mainly stand up “strikers” so they have some kind of defence if taken down in a fight.

It begins with some basic theory and then shows how to break-fall backwards, to the side and forwards. Tim’s students then demonstrate this from different positions.

Following on from this Tim explains the basic ground position and exercises such as the circle rock and scissor kick. There are then a few more different drills (demonstrated by his students) using pads and Tim shows how to get up from the ground correctly.

Tim also covers escapes from the most common positions on the ground such as guard, side control and top mount.

This is an excellent DVD that gives those of us with no ground experience somewhere to start from to enable us to deal with being taken down and have some skills to deal with this and get back on to our feet. The information given is top notch and it is possible to  improve these skills by practicing them solo and with a partner.

Included on the disc is footage of TC sparring with his students (some of his takedowns and sweeps are just amazing) and some BJJ footage as well.

This is an excellent DVD and is a highly recommended purchase.

Tim also has another DVD available called “Standing Grappling” and I will review this at a later date.

Format: DVD

Run Time: 60mins

Cost: $39.95

Available from: www.shenwu.com

DVD Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqNTbySfSD0

 

Lau Gar Kuen DVD review - Sifu Jim Uglow

Lau Gar Kuen DVD review - Sifu Jim Uglow

Sifu Jim Uglow is founder of the Essex Hung Kuen Association (now the  Hung Kuen Kung Fu Association UK). He learnt Hung Kuen from a friend in the UK but was advised that if he wanted to improve his skill he had better go to Hong Kong and learn from the source. The source in this case was Master Chan Hon Chung student of Lam Sai wing and a famous Dit Da practitioner in Hong Kong. Master Chan was featured in the 1980's BBC tv series "Way Of The Warrior".

This dvd teaches the Lau Gar Kuen (Lau Family Fist) form that is not related the UK Lau Gar Kung Fu system devised by Jeremy Yau. This form is from the Chan Hon Chung branch of Hung Kuen. The other different Hung Ga branches versions of LGK are similar but each 

do have their own “flavour.”

The form is demonstrated from the front and side aspects and then is broken down and performed slowly. Also detail is given with regard to the correct stances required to play the form correctly.

After this has been done some applications of the techniques from the form are shown by Sifu Jim and his students. I also like the inclusion of some of the “dook sau” or Poison Hand techniques found in this form.

This is a dvd transfer from an old VHS tape but the information on the disc is excellent and it does show why Sifu Jim is so respected in the CMA community.

For Hung Kuen practitioners or any kung fu enthusiasts this dvd is highly recommended.

Format: DVD

Run time: 60mins

Cost: £12.50

Available from: www.shaolin.co.uk

A good Chow Gar SPM lesson tonight. Started off with double grinding arms followed lots of conditioning - saam sing, bic boy, gau chois, tuk jeurng. Also did some hay gung and dip gwut gung followed by rib and collarbone conditioning (my floating ribs are a bit sore!). Went through the form Nip Kui (catching hands) and some of it's applications. Finished on some basic Kali knifework.

This followed a good session last week where I went through the form Say Bun Gen Sau, chy sau (single and double) and was shown the Nip Kui form. This was then followed by soc sau chong and then had some fun hitting the pads using gau chois. Ended on some doy chong and the batt doon kui sau drill and elbow drill to finish.

All in all a good couple of weeks of private lessons that I really enjoyed and that left me aching the next day (or two).

Back in training.

I haven't been training much over the last few months due to different things going on. I had a mantis lesson a few weeks ago and boy was I rusty! It was great to be back into it and I realised how much I had missed the lessons.
Back to regular weekly lessons tonight and I can't wait.
I will also be posting some more DVD reviews soon and my thoughts on my mantis training etc.

Omei Bak Mei – Yum Yearn Jik Bo Kuen DVD Review

I have heard of Pak/Bak Mei (White Eyebrow) kung fu but not specifically the Omei branch of this system.

I have been more familiar with the Cheung Lai Chuen branches of Pak Mei and the Fatshan Pak Mei version.

This instructional DVD is from Warrior Body Buddha Mind an Australian based company that teaches traditional Chinese Martial Arts and has released some instructional dvds of the rare Omei Bak Mei system. They are also Australian representatives of the Doo Family Kung Fu.

The dvd teaches the first form from Omei Bak Mei called Yum Yearng Jik Bo Kuen (Yin Yang Straight Step Punch) and it is taught by Sifu Garry Hearfield. Garry has 25 yrs of traditional Chinese Martial Arts under his belt (or should that be sash) predominantly in Yau Kung Mun.

Before the form instruction begins Garry takes us through how to make some training equipment that will develop the bridge and the grip. He shows us how to make a roll bar out of a metal table leg filled with ball bearings (I’m working on mine at present!), one from larger sized PVC pipe filled with water and a leather chin na bag filled with ball bearings. He also covers how best to train with these.

SIfu Garry then covers the correct stance, posture and how best to generate the coiling power. He also covers the Fau, Chum, Tung, Tow (Float, sink, Swallow, Spit) method found in Hakka Arts. He then breaks the form down starting from the opening salutation (he even explains the meaning behind the salutation) and then covers each technique found in the form.

It is filmed in his living room and If I was being picky it would maybe have been better in a larger room or hall so you could see every part (other reviews have mentioned not being able to see his feet all the time) but it is basically a private lesson with Garry in his home.

I found this not to be a problem (maybe 3+ years training in another Hakka art has helped) and found it easy to follow his instructions. Being a dvd it can be rewound (ha ha an old Betamax/VHS technique from the 1980’s) or reversed as required.

At the end of the dvd is a section on basic nei gung exercises to augment the more physical aspects of the training.

What I like about the dvd is that you can see that Sifu Garry knows his stuff and can obviously explain this to the viewer in an easy to understand manner.

For people interested in learning this rare style of kung fu or anyone just interested in kung fu generally this is a very good instructional dvd and is highly recommended.

One thing is certain, if I’m ever in Sydney I will be seriously considering giving Sifu Garry a call to arrange some lessons.

Format: digital download (.wmv)

Run time: 90mins

Further information: http://www.warriorbodybuddhamind.com/wbbm/

Price: $49.99 (please note as of Feb 2013 all WBBM dvd’s now cost $108.00)

DVD Reviews

 Ok. As a martial artist I'm always adding  to my collection of Instructional dvds covering different styles of Chinese Martial Arts. what I am planning to do is review some of the better ones in my collection (and some of the not so good ones if I still have them).
So watch this space as I will be adding reviews soon.