How do you IMAists train?

Discussion in 'Internal Martial Arts' started by nintyplayer, Aug 4, 2014.

  1. nintyplayer

    nintyplayer Valued Member

    Is most of your time spent in stance training? Qigong? Form training? Drilling moves? Sparring? Pushing hands? Stretching, running, lifting?

    Tell me about your training methods. I'm very interested!
     
  2. Johnno

    Johnno Valued Member

    In class we generally do a bit of standing practise along with various warmup excercises, then the bulk of the class is spent on forms. We often do pushing hands, but the amount of time we spend on that varies a lot. It's really down to what the teacher wants to emphasise on any given week. There isn't a set timetable.

    My own practise at home consists mostly of practising my forms. I also do some standing practise. I would love to practise pushing hands regularly, but unfortunately I have no one to practise with. I've tried teaching the cat, but he's hopeless.

    I stretch every morning before doing my forms. And I do also run, normally twice a week. I found that applying what I learnt from Taiji to my running helped me enormously in terms of relaxation and better body mechanics. I may still run very slowly, but I run very slowly very well!
     
  3. Dan Bian

    Dan Bian Neither Dan, nor Brian

    It depends on what I'm working on at the time..

    There are a few things that are daily items of practice, such as;

    • 9 Circles neigong set - rotating the joints of the body to open and loosen
    • Lifting Water - training for simultaneous floating & sinking
    • Waving Hands in Clouds - mobility of the waist, coordination of upper and lower body
    • Grasping Sparrow's Tail - mobility of the waist, transference of the weight

    Then there are other things I do:

    • Fa Jin - expressing power against punchbags, or partners if available
    • Posture testing - feeling the correct structure, finding sung state
    • Stretching
    • Weight lifting
    • Exercise bike

    In terms of partner work:

    • Fixed Sensing Hands
    • Set Step Sensing Hands
    • Scattering Hands
    • Fixed Uprooting Hands
    • Free Step Uprooting Hands
    • Free Sparring

    In terms of taiji form, I only really regularly practice the 1st section of the Yang long form. A couple of times a month I might do the second section, or the full form, but I much prefer taking a couple of movements and drilling them together and trying to make them work.
     
  4. Dan Bian

    Dan Bian Neither Dan, nor Brian

    No other IMAists do any kind of training they want to share?
     
  5. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    I do both IMA and EMA. I find it kind of hard to differrentiate what is what sometimes when breaking down my training.

    So, I do forms practice. I do that for both EMA and IMA. I spar and stick fight for my EMA, I do push hands (moving step, fixed step, etc.) for my IMA.

    In classes for both, we break down techniques and drill them.

    Stance training is done in both. So, some stances are unique to one stlye, but if I hold a cross step, which is in both, am I training CLF or TCC? Well, both really.

    etc. and so on..........

    In IMA, we do chi Gung stretching exercises - primarily 8 pieces of brocade. But in my EMA, we have Chi Gung/ stretching forms like 18 Lohan, which is a CLF form. We sometimes do this CLF form in my TCC class, because of it's internal qualities.

    I suppose the only thing I am supposed to do that is IMA specific, and I really don't do it like I am supposed to, is standing meditation. Which is more a Chi Gung thing than a TCC thing. However, that is our IMA training and they really never talk about doing that in CLF classes.

    I find the distinctions between EMA and IMA to be sort of a false distnction. The longer I study, the more I find this to be true. I have heard some people describe CLF as one of the most internal of the external martial arts too- to make matters more confusing.

    The nuances of my training may be one or the other, but fundamentally, I don't see much of a difference in how I train IMA and EMA. Chinese Martial Arts is CMA.
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2014
  6. ned

    ned Valued Member



    www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119638 :)


    ( Not purely IMA training but like aaradia I draw no distinction between my taiji and gong fu training as there's plenty of crossover between the two.)




    Is there any point to this thread other than a vague curiousity on behalf of the OP ?
     
  7. El Medico

    El Medico Valued Member

    What and how one trains changes over the years,but as regards TC for the last ten years or so I was teaching my morning solo practice was pretty much this-

    1/2 hr standing

    15-30 minutes of basic exercises/nei gungs

    1 hr form (empty hand) practice

    3 sets of a Yang ch'igung/nei gung.

    Evenings varied depending on whether I was teaching/taking a class or not on a given day. Lifting twice a week (3-5 compound exercises),running or wind sprints probably about 4 times a week,flexibility (stretches) most days.Time spent on hitting pads/bags ,sparring,drills,various push hands methods varied depending on circumstances but all are important.
     
  8. SuperSanity

    SuperSanity The Hype

    Most days, I'll hit the gym. Relax and grab a bite to eat and then alternate days between TSD (or TKD) forms and Tai Chi. Keeping it simple until I find a new school.
     

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