For Everything Self Defence
Mick Tully wrote:as terry says its Boxing and then some!
Steve Tomkins wrote:Hi Al
In your opinion, what is the best general support system for RBSD - especially for someone with limited time to train. Not including general fitness training or RBSD training.
Greco-Roman wrestling or MMA was suggested.
What say you?
Cheers
steve
Our first training location for the week was an immerse stone building called Sklárna. Sklárna was first built as a glassworks in 1866, but had recently been renovated and converted into a huge gymnasium.
Sifu Steve Rowe took the first session and formally opened the course. He explained that over the course of the week we would be exploring the universal principles that power all Martial Arts. We would look at the essential qualities that form the foundation of natural body movement and specifically how to train and nurture them. One thing I was quite taken by was the attendance of the course, I was easily accompanied by hundred fellow Martial Artists hailing from Czech, Denmark and the UK. With the aid of a Czech translator everyone managed to not only understand the content but also enthusiastically compiled reams of notes on it. I think one of the most impressive things I noticed about the first session was despite the numbers the level of experience and number of instructors present to assist meant that everyone received hands on tuition and attention. Logistically on a course of this size I found this symbolic of the united spirit of my new training partners.
Steve started off by presenting what he called the ‘Internal System’. This basically is the internal structure that frames all movement within the Martial Arts, or at least should do. I’ve heard many fantastic and bold claims about body structure and alignment and virtually every Martial Artist is aware that it is an essential quality to master, but most are extremely vague about how to actually go about achieving it. Over the course of the first session we were presented with a systematic and logical explanation of how to achieve a ‘connected’ body.
Quoting the Tai Chi classics Steve explained that we have five bows, four arches and four pumps. When these are in place we are able to move naturally, powerfully and smoothly in every action we perform. He elaborated saying that when the internal structure is in place that we are able to send and receive power from any point in our body, be it from the front, back, left, right, upper and lower. When framed properly we are able to deal with attacks from any angle. I remember first hearing this claim and thinking it seemed a rather bold statement to make. Over the course of the week though not only did we have many opportunities to field test this theory, but we were also systematically shown how to develop the skills needed to achieve these seemingly extraordinary abilities.
The rest of the morning was spent showing us how to form the arches and bows of the body that make it possible for us to access the pumps to develop the power of the internal Martial Arts. Surprisingly though Steve didn’t once mention the word Chi or any other abstract eastern terms, instead using western language and concepts that we were all familiar and comfortable with. We were shown how forming the bows of the arms, legs and spine supports the arches of the groin and armpits. Steve and the other Instructors came round and adjusted our postures allowing us to access the powerful muscles of the quads, back and core. With the bows and arches in place and the muscles engaged we were shown how to use them via the pumps in the feet, back and neck. More important than being shown them were actually able to feel and become aware of the correct alignment to access the internal structure. For what seemed like a gentle non-physical session I was sweating and my arms were absolutely killing me.
After lunch in the afternoon session Steve continued his presentation on structure and body alignment. He explained that entire system of Tai Chi only has two base body shapes, Yin and Yang. Again, like the Internal System, this is a concept I’ve heard mentioned many times in the past, often using very flowery language, but Steve presented a totally practical lesson using concrete simple explanations. Like the morning session we were shown what it actually feels like to have Yin and Yang shapes in the body. With a few tweaks from the wandering Instructors we all had a definite physical point of reference for both the Yin and Yang body structures.
We then looked how we move between Yin and Yang using the Internal system that we’d covered in the morning session. When correctly framed in either a Yin and Yang body shape we started to see how it is possible to direct any force coming into contact with our bodies directly down to the feet. Over the course of the week this ability would prove to be an essential combative skill, for now though the emphasis was simply on learning how to structure the body. To cement the concepts from the days lesson into our heads and give us a vehicle to train the principles Steve showed us a version of the Kata Sanchin that focussed on the switch between Yin and Yang in the body.
By the end of the day my body was aching and I was feeling quite overwhelmed with the amount of information that had been thrown at us. I was impressed with the systematic and practical manner in which the lesson had been shared, but still felt it was a hell of a lot of stuff to take in on one sitting, but Steve assured us that the days topics would form the basis of the whole weeks teaching.
He also added an interesting idea that I’d not really considered before. Steve said that it is impossible to hold onto a thought, as are transient in nature. He said what we need to do is keep re-introducing the thought over and over again for it to be absorbed. This he explained was the purpose of taking notes. It’s a topic I’ve discussed with Steve numerous times and have discovered that I’m notoriously poor at note taking. It dawned on me that Kata and Form are merely a series of ‘notes’ that continually re-introduce thoughts back into our minds, and thinking of the entire days insights, of which there were plenty, being contained shorthand in the Sanchin Kata made the whole thing far more digestible. Thinking of Kata as a series of notes gave it far more meaning and purpose than I’d ever given it credit for.
[/quote]Steve Rowe wrote:I thin it's like any art - you need to find the right instructor.
