Friday, January 17, 2020 - 5:10ish - Solo practice. CLF - Sup Ji Kau Da, Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Choi. Tournament version of Ping Kuen and 3 section staff. Also tournament dagger techniques. TCC - Taming Dragon Spear, Tournament version of Yin Yang Five element palm. Had it timed several times and I think I have settled on a tournament version of the right length. We will see what my instructor thinks when he gets back. Tournament version of Small Circle Fast Form. Tai Sifu was next to me and commented positively on my Fajing! 6:30 - Stick Fighting class. Drilling basic block pattern. Then a couple of matches. 7:00 - Two person practice with Ms. M. Ms. B is out with minor injury. We focused on CLF. 9 star, Golden Leopard vs Tiger. Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern and Broadsword vs Spear. The older curriculum forms are coming back well from Ms. M's time off. Cross pattern vs Plum Blossom is also progressing well. Ms. M was just shown a huge chunk of it one lesson before her instructor went on vacation. We have been working really hard on getting this side down. We got to the end tonight! Still needs a lot of work, but it is coming along quite well. We did part of the other side too. Only doing me on spear and her on broadsword side of that form. Both tournament and full version. 9:20ish - School closes 4 hours and 10 minutes Saturday, January 18, 2020 - Worked all day/ rest day Sunday, January 19, 2020 - Rest day 2018 Total Hours = 684 hours and 06 minutes 2019 Total Hours (only tracked Jan 1st thru Aug ?) = 374 hours & 39 minutes 2020 - Week 3 = 12 hours and 40 minutes 2020 Total Hours = 34 hours and 32 minutes
Friday, January 1, 2021 - School closed due to New Year's Day holiday, so this is at home. Not much of a workout to start the New Year. But Tai Sifu and instructors have been emphasizing doing something every day, even if just a couple of minutes. So, rather than an all (several hour) or nothing workout. I just did a bit today. Evening- Just working lightly on getting back to my memory practice of the TCC 108 long form. Spent a lot of time watching the video by my GM too, but I am only logging workout time. I am roughly 3/4 of the way through it. Just a little consistent practice and it will come right back. I badly dislocated my left ring finger. I am going in for an MRI on Monday. So, that is limiting what I can do. I was VERY close to testing for my SBS 2nd degree in Tai Chi, but this injury has delayed that. 20 Minutes
Hi aaradia, nice to see you back to the log! How was your training going? Are you refreshing your knowledge of the form after being out due to covid or due to the dislocated finger? I am guessing the finger? What a pity it got in the way of your testing. Hopefully you will be able to not delay it for too long.
Saturday, January 2, 2021 - Work shift during day. Rest day. 2021 -Week 1 = 20 Minutes 2021 Total Hours = 20 min Sunday, January 3, 2021 - School closed, so this was at home. TCC - More work on the 108 long form. Got all the way through it, but not without referring to the video. CLF - Wooden Dummy form in the air. I can't do this form on an actual wooden dummy right now. 1. The school is only open outdoors and the wooden dummy is inside. 2. I wouldn't touch it anyways right now. Even with disinfectant wipes used beforehand. I have to make myself go to bed early, as my MRI is insanely early tomorrow. Hard to estimate, as time going inside to watch the video was intermingled with actual workout time. So, best estimate is........... 45 Minutes
Thanks Nachi. I found it very helpful when I kept up on it, so I hope I stick to it. Training was going as well as can be expected during Covid, before the injury. School is outside only- no contact. Obviously no combatives. Socially distant with masks. My school is being very safe. Adaptions to two person practice to keep social distancing. Even when the school had some limited inside activities allowed, I stayed outside. I am extra cautious, which I will mention in more detail as it comes up in the log here. I feel lucky to be studying a style that has forms! The knee is acting up too, but I won't go in to the Dr. to get the shot that helps right now. We are having a major surge - the worst it has ever been in San Diego by far! Went from averaging a few hundred a day to 4,000 the last several days. And, my city had the second documented case of the new, more contagious strain found in the USA. I was too busy both learning a lot of VERY long forms in CLF at my current curriculum level. Sup Ji Kau Da has 250 moves, Shaolin 5 animal over 200, just to give you an idea. And I was focusing on my test materials for my TCC. One wants to keep up on everything, but there is only so much time in the day. So, the 108 was lapsed in my practice due to focusing on current curriculum materials. I guess you could say the injury has me doing the 108 in a roundabout way. I can't do several forms in my current curriculum in Tai Chi with the injury. Can't hold a fan in my left hand for the double fan form. Can't hold any two handed weapons, so no practicing the staff form. Fajing form is very limited as well. However, my long time past instructor taught me " Don't focus on what you can't do, focus on what you CAN do." (Words that have really helped me not only with martial arts, but getting through life in the COVID era.) So, since I can do the 108 with just a couple of modifications with this injury, now is the time to get back to it. Really, it is the core form for Yang TCC, so I am happy to get back to it. I have an MRI tomorrow. I am expecting it will confirm I need surgery. At least it is outpatient surgery.
That's great! I hope your injury won't prevent you from training and logging It is great your school is being careful and also that you can at least have online classes! At the moment, we are forbidden from even that. Although not sure how it would work in this cold. I am very happy for the online classes, though! I hope the Covid thing will be over soon. I believe you mentioned you are in the risk due to health issues. Are you perhaps going to get vaccinated soon? I see, those sound like really long forms. I am curious, maybe I will try to find a video of what those forms look like. It's great there still is at least some forms that you can practice with the injury. Let us know how the scanning goes! If it turns out you need injury, I hope it will go smoothly and won't hold you away from training for long.
Monday, January 4, 2021 - Got to the school about 7:00, but didn't work out immediately. I had a appt with Tai Sifu to re-up my membership. Then, was talking to a fellow student for a few minutes. With the coup attempt in my country, pivotal George election runoffs I forgot to write things down until now. Been obsessed with the news. So, some details will be lacking. But I don't want that to stop me from some manner of consistency in this log. (Note: I can't believe I just seriously wrote "with the coup attempt in my country." Surreal.....) Also, distracted with multiple medical appts. I got up at 3:00am today!!!!!!!!!! Insanely early. I had an MRI for my finger at 5:00 in a place with a bit of a drive. I was stressed about COVID. Had to have my face face down braced with my arm and a pillow to have my hand outstretched for almost an hour for the MRI. After the test, I saw they seemed to wipe down the pillow cover with some sort of disinfectant, not a fresh pillow, so that bothered me. Except, part of why I was ok with the early appt was I was the first one in for the day. And I think (not sure) it was closed a couple of days before due to the New Year's holiday. 7:40 pm - All CLF today. 8:50 pm - I left a bit early. Exhausted after a very long day. 1 hour 10 Minutes Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - 7:05 pm - Somehow missed getting to class in time. Was chatting with a student I haven't seen since before the pandemic began and lost track of time. Senior Black Sash class. To reiterate, this is a no contact class. Outdoors, socially distant and with masks on. Even then, I have my little corner where I am extra socially distant. We went over solo practice of the broadsword side of the two person set broadsword vs spear. Ping Kuen, then detailed a section of Sup Ji Kau Da. Then some cross section of older curriculum material- Chau Sot staff. I just did that in the air, since I can't hold a staff with my injury. 8:00 pm - Private CLF lesson. More Ping Kuen I think? Then detailing out cross section = Broadsword form. 8:30 pm Solo practice. Can't remember what. 1 hour and 55 minutes
Wednesday, January 6, 2021 - 6:45ish - CLF - Worked on forms with Ms. M and Ms. R. They started earlier. With COVID, I feel the need to go home and change and wash up a bit before getting to the school . So I get there later than pre-COVID. I miss the last half of group TCC classes too. Shaolin 5 Animal, Ping Kuen, Ng Lun Ma, Ng Lun Choi part of Sup Ji Kau Da. Ms. M doesn't know all of Sup Ji Kau Da as she is learning it now. So we went up to what she knows. Also Hand Breaking fan and Moi Fa Dahn Do (broadsword). We may have done the Hung Sing Stick form too, can't remember for sure. I won't be doing two handed or long weapons or three section staff for awhile with my injury. Also, I make adaptions- can't hit even the air full power. Although the amount of power has improved. After they left I continued with solo practice. Sup Ji Jit Fu and the wooden dummy form in the air. More broadsword. I think I did some TCC too. 18 Lohan .....going through the moves of the Fajing form, to keep it in my memory. Although I can't do fajing right now with the injury. 9:00 - School closes. Also, I had both an appt with a hand surgeon and my first PT appt. I am just not up to typing about it eight now. Too emotionally drained. 2 hours and 15 Minutes Thursday, January 7, 2021 - 7:00 - Tai Sifu class. This class went back to Tai Sifu teaching it most of the time since re-opening after the pandemic. Again, like Tuesday class, I line up out of rank order in a corner, with a bit extra space. I just don't feel safe going to group class any other way. The instructors all know. They also know if I feel unsafe for any reason, I will leave in the middle of class. They are fully supportive of students doing whatever they need to feel safe above the school protocols. Tai Sifu spent time going over and detailing a standard part of the opening of the opening of most CLF forms. He also went over the lineage variances of this sequence. Then we worked on formal exercise. I think we may have done something else too, but if we did, I can't remember what. 8:00 Private TCC lesson. Detailing out the Yin Yang 5 element palm form. I learned it last seminar we did before COVID. And it will be my hand form for my next level after I test. I can't do a lot of my current curriculum now, so getting a head start on this one. Then I asked him to go over the timing of Single whip. I misunderstood a correction from him that came from Tai Sigung. I figured out I misunderstood recently. So now my timing is all messed up. So he helped me start to get that squared away. Then, a bit of work detailing the beginning of the 48. 8:30 - Solo practice. Worked on the single whip issue. Then some other stuff- mostly or all TCC. Can't remember what. 9:00 school closes. Very unfocused outside of class this week. Between the injury and the insurrection/ coup attempt. 2 hours
Friday, January 8, 2021 - Socially distant two person practice with Ms. M. Both sides of our current curriculum hand form - Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. Broadsword side of Broadsword vs spear. I can't do the spear side with my injury. We are also starting to re- add older curriculum form of Golden Leopard vs Tiger. Boy is that rusty! We got through all of the attacking side and started with the beginning of the defending side. Then we worked on the TCC two person sabre. This is a weird enough form on it's own. Extra weird to do moves facing each other, but socially distant. The point is to get as close as possible, but we have to time it like that, but not actually being close. 8:50 est. - I think we stopped just a bit early. 1 hour and 50 min Saturday, January 9, 2021 - Rest Day. 2021 -Week 2 = 9 Hours & 55 Minutes 2021 Total Hours = 10 Hours & 15 min
Sunday, January 10, 2021 - TCC - Sundays seem to be Long Form day. 40Minutes Monday, January 11, 2021 - 7:00 - CLF - I don't remember what I did exactly, but I remember I was in a CLF mood. So mostly or all CLF. Left about 8:50 1 Hour and 50 Minutes Tuesday, January 12, 2021 - 7:00 - Senior Black Sash Class - Worked on a section of Ping Kuen. Then, a lot of time on the Broadsword form. This class started with just the current curriculum level, but the last few months the instructor is going over all the forms needed for the Senior Black Sash test. That is all the forms learned so far. Also, the broadsword side of Broadsword vs spear two person form (solo of course.) 8:00 - Private CLF lesson. Detailing out Sup Ji Kau Da. 8:30 Solo practice. Worked on details given in private lesson. Then, something else, but I don't remember what. 2 Hours Wednesday, January 13, 2021 - 7:00 - CLF forms practice with Ms. R and Ms. M. All the "monster forms." Ping Kuen, Shaolin 5 Animal, and some of Sup Ji Kau Da. Up to how much Ms. M has learned. Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Choi. Broadsword & Stick. 8:00 ish - Solo Practice. All of Sup Ji Kau Da. Can't remember what else I did. 8:50 Left 1 Hour and 50 Minutes
Thursday, January 14, 2021 - 7:00 - CLF Black Sash Class - 1st Degree Brown Sash Techniques and Kicks. 8:00 - TCC Private Lesson. Worked on detailing out Yin Yang 5 Element Palm form and then going back to the 48 Combination form. Tai Sifu had had to ask my instructor some stuff during my lesson, so the lesson ran long to make up for that. 8:40 - Solo Practice. Went over the details given in my lesson. I think a bit of something else, but I can't remember. 9:00 - School closes Have some medical stuff going on. And the whole state of the USA right now. I am distracted. Hence, why I am hazy on some of what I did. But I figure I need to just get in the habit of writing what I can. Hopefully the memory will get better if I just get in the habit again. And things settle down hopefully with President Biden and the insurrection put down. Jeez, I can't believe I even just wrote that! 2 Hours Friday, January 15, 2021 - 7:10ish- Ha! For once, I was there, but my two person partner was late! Two person practice with Ms. M. (Again, socially distant and or solo versions.) Both sides of Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. Both of us were distracted and having difficulties focusing. But we kept at it and things got better as the night went on. Broadsword side of Broadsword vs Spear. I still can't do the Spear side with my finger injury. Then we worked on remembering the Golden Leopard vs tiger. We got all the way through the attacking side. Was rough, but we got there. Got a bit into the other side too - just the beginning. Then we did the TCC two person saber. We did some solo stuff after. Ms. M helped me with some of the 48 combination form. It is her current curriculum, while I am going back after not having done it in awhile. 9:00 - School closes 1 Hour and 50 Minutes Saturday, January 16, 2021 - Work day. So no workout. 2021 -Week 3 = 10 Hours & 10 Minutes 2021 Total Hours = 20 Hours & 25 min
Sunday, January 17, 2021 - TCC - 108 Long form. Only about 15 Minutes. I got sidetracked. I did get through the first half memory-wise though. So, that was good. 15 Minutes Monday, January 18, 2021 - 6:45 - solo practice - TCC - Mostly TCC today. It was just what I was in the mood for. For the first time, I ran through all my current curriculum stuff. Staff form - I can hold a staff, but not normally. Double Fan - I can hold a fan in my left hand, but have to make adaptions. I did sort of open the fan for the first time. Fajing form - starting to be able to do some fajing on my left hand too, but not fully yet. Still- I am making progress. Yay! Cane- Again with adaptions for my left hand, but less than last week. 18 Lohan. Then some of the 48 combination form, roughly 3/4 of the way through the 108 Long form. Up to what I remembered on the long form. I am close to getting the entire form back in my memory. Yin Yang 5 element palm form. Toughest part of this form is what sort of position the non- striking hand guard position is- and if it is palm up or down. So I was going through the script working that out. CLF - Still in an Internal mood, so the Shaolin 5 Animal. Then solo practice of attacking side of Golden Leopard vs Tiger. Also the beginning of the defending side. Most of the wooden dummy form. Again, in the air since I can't actually be in the school where the wooden dummy is. And I wouldn't touch it, even sanitized right now anyways. 9:00 School closes - 2 hours and 15 minutes
Friday, 12/31/2021 - 10:57 - Thanks to Tai Sifu, I got motivated to do a "ring in the new Year workout" at home, since we can't meet and do it in person yet. It felt really good to set a good start to the new year. It was cold outside, and I almost didn't do it. But I am so glad I did! Once I got moving, it wasn't so cold. Warmed up with 18 Lohan. Then Ng Lun Ma & Ng Lun Choi, Small Five Animal, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Siu Moi Fa, Tai Chi Kwan Dao, Yin Yang 5 element palm and Fajing forms. Little bit of stance training and a leg exercise my CLF instructor gave me. Mixed in some kettlebell swings, halo's, and rows. Checked in via Zoom meet that Tai Sifu set up to count down to the new year with my Kung Fu brethren. I am hoping that next year things are better enough we can meet at the school and do the ring in the New Year workout in person together! 1 hour
Saturday, 1/1/2022 - At home-School closed for New Year Holiday. 7:00 p.m. TCC Curriculum: 18 Lohan - This is usually my warm up. Lohan Taming Tiger - This isn't part of my curriculum yet. I challenged myself to teach myself the basic sequence from my GM's video. I made my goal to do this by the end of the year! It's very rough. It has all the principles of other internal forms that I have officially learned. Only one new move that I have never done before. It's called a scorpion kick. It's very weird! As in the past, the idea is that if I get the sequence down on my own, that maximizes my instructors time to focus on the details and corrections. It will become a part of my curriculum after my next TCC test. 5 Elements Broadsword. TCC Plum Blossom Kwan-Dao (with Wushu Kwan-Dao). I have an obsession/ love affair going on with Kwan-Dao's right now. Totally new weapon for me. I plan on learning some CLF Kwan-Dao at my next CLF level. Anyways. this form can be done with any long handled Broadsword type weapon. I practice it with both a Pu-Dao and a Kwan-Dao. TCC Mei Hua Jian. This may or may not be in my next curriculum level. (I'll explain that in a later post.) I have taught myself the basic sequence. It really is a short beginner form, although one can focus on the advanced details of using a Gim in any form. It's this form here. 108 Long Form - Had let this one slip with everything else I was working on. But it really is the one form any Yang stylist should always know well. So I have been getting it back. I mostly have it back. Kwan-Yin Seated . I will talk more about this form later! Part of Small Circle Fast form - again, let this one slip. Trying to get it back, just because I love it and it teaches how to make the moves smaller and therefore more realistic for the martial aspect of TCC. CLF: Sup Ji Jit Fu & Small Five Animal. Chill mellow pace today. Mostly TCC. Ended at 9:00 2 Hours 2022 -Week 1 = 2 Hours & 0 Minutes 2022 Total Hours = 2 Hours & 0 Minutes
Ah, looks like you're going to restart your log? That's great! More stuff for me to read Wow, you really do have many forms to work on. Good to see the video to get an idea what they're about. I found it interesting that the sword is handled by both hands. I've never even started learning the sword in my school, but I would think the sword is always held in the right hand. Is there a purpose or any specific meaning for switching hands there? Or is it a common occurence in the forms you're learning?
Thanks Nachi, I hope to restart it. We will see if I stick to it. I want to, as it helps me in my training to look back on it. Frankly, like many people, my mental health has been a struggle with Covid the last couple of years. So, sometimes my focus and motivation is off. I am particularly focused on forms as I won't do sparring of any type during this pandemic. At least I belong in a style where I have things I can focus on without contact work. I really miss sparring, push hands and stick fighting though. Sparring started back up a couple of months ago. Stick fighting starts up next week. No push hands or grappling classes are allowed yet. But I don't trust it. I am extra extra cautious. And I don't trust whether or not some at the school have been vaccinated. If there was a vaccine mandate, maybe I would consider joining in. (Then again, maybe not until we understand more fully just how much Omicron can evade vaccines.) I also don't trust others to not be careful in wearing their masks properly. Masks are mandatory inside, but so many idiots in America just can't grasp wearing them properly. Actually, I very rarely go inside the school. I am usually out behind it. Fortunately, the classes I like to go to are usually outside too. Fortunately, my school allows leeway with personal comfort levels and what we do during this mess. I mean, we have a lot of forms at all times. They are always an important part of our training. But right now, as my previous instructor taught me, don't focus on what you can't do, focus on what you can do. (As an aside, this is part of why I figured it is a good time to add in some kettlebell training.) In TCC, I am trying to keep up on as many forms from past curriculum levels as I can, in addition to my current curriculum. Once you get into the degrees, you no longer have to do past curriculum levels in tests. I can't keep up with all of them, so right now I am figuring out what ones are most important. In CLF, my next test that I am trying to get ready for is senior black sash. And there are a TON of forms at that level. Every form from previous levels AND the 9 to 10 forms of the current level. After this next level, you don't have to test in previous level forms any longer. Although I hope to keep up on as many as I can manage. So I am learning/ keeping up on even more than I need to at this time. Just to challenge myself to see what I can do on my own. Some of the extra stuff I don't have to keep up on will - by necessity - be practiced less when Covid is over and I feel I can resume combatives.
Most of our sword forms start with holding it in your off hand to begin with. And putting it back into your off hand at the end. In CLF, we usually have an "empty hand" phase at the beginning of our weapon forms. This is done to reiterate that just because you have a weapon, you shouldn't focus only on that. That one needs to remember you still have all your other limbs to fight with even when holding a weapon. In TCC, it is usually just the beginning and then the end where the sword is in the other hand. Honestly, I don't know why. Never really thought about it before. Well, when I started TCC, we actually learned the 32 Gim and the Plum Blossom Fan forms both left and right handed. (Also the hand form the 24 step.) They abandoned that with a curriculum change a few years ago. I had an advantage when we did that. See, I am left handed. I start off at a disadvantage, having to learn to use weapons' with my weaker hand. But left handers often have to adapt to a right handed world. Then, when we learned to actually use our strong hand, it was much easier for us lefties. But the right handers having to learn to use their off hand struggled more. Again, because they didn't grow up in a world where they had to adapt their off hand in day to day life. There are a couple of forms that have you switch what the weapon hand is during the form. The two I can think of offhand that do that are Fan forms though. There may be other weapons that I don't know of yet. We have double weapons to build dexterity with weapons in both hands. Actually, I am really fond of double weapons! We dabbled in stick fighting with double sticks. The instructors kept promising we would get more deeply into that someday.
Great! It is a good idea to avoid sparring and any exercise in pairs. When teaching karate, we're trying to avoid that, too, and lately it is being avoided in Taiji mostly as well. But we are inside and aren't required to wear masks, so no one does. But we are required to either be vaccinated or a few months after going through covid to be able to participate in class. Idiots who can't wear masks properly aren't only in America, if that can make you feel better by any chance I am always getting angry internally meeting such people in public transport. Would it kill them to pull the damn mask over their nose, too? Well, some apparently think it would... What I heard of Omicron so far, it looks like it will be very hard to escape it. Hopefully the opinion it might help end this pandemic would hold some truth. It is always foreign to hear about so many forms Considering my karate style has 12 altogether and after 8 years I've learned 9 on them (and they're short) and my Taiji school has well around 10 as well, I think. So that many forms is always a surprise for me It must take forever to learn them! Although I suppese if you know the basic principles of meovement and learn the basic movements for specific weapons, it doesn't take as long as learning from scratch. Must be hard on the memory, though! It's kind of a pity you have to let some forms go. Although in this situation, I do get how it's inevitable. Aaah, I just watched the video again. Sorry, I thought I saw something that wasn't there. You see, I am one of those people who struggle with right and left directions and I though I saw the performers hold the sword in their left for a part of the form, but now that I look at it again, it is not the case. So my question was pointless, sorry. I haven't yet learned the sword in Taiji, but I think it is the same that at the beginning, the weapon is held in the other hand, as you said. What you wrote about the philosophy behind it is interesting! Learning both sides of a form sounds pretty good to me. I think it is a pity that in the empty handed form, some techniques are only done for one side so I have not much chance to practice for the other one. I thought about trying to practice the whole form on the other side, but there's not much opportunity for it. Maybe in time. It should be easier when I know the form really well. And I'll just have to focus on getting back into it when I go to classes now. When you used to learn like that, wasn't it confusing? Like when you do the form, don't you have an inclination to do a move in the other direction? I guess it is not so when you have a weapon in one hand, but for empty handed forms... I can imagine there are plaes in the form where the direction could be switched when not paying 100% attention. I always thought being left-handed is quite a big disadvantage when it comes to learning weapons. But if you can do that, I'm sure it'll help improve your general coordination unlike for us right-handed people The only double-weapon form we have is the double sabre. There is literally only one person who knows it. Our teacher and one more student are learning it at the moment from notes and videos of the master. From what I saw, that form is very cool, though! I don't think the chances of me ever learning it are very high, but if there was a chance, I certainly wouldn't mind Our school has no grading and therefore not a set curriculum like that. The majority of people would only learn the first basic form that is the foundation - Lao Jia Yi Lu. Well, honestly, most people probably never even finish learning it and it seems to usually take 3-4 years the way it's taught now if one progresses steadily.
I have actually made a point of training my weaponry both right-and left-handed. This includes working the basics and fundamentals, and the forms. I find it to be a worthwhile practice, Gives the brain an extra workout too in making the transition as well as balancing the physical development. I’ll never be as good with the off-hand, but that is ok. The practice is still worthwhile.
The forms in my system tend to be heavily one-sided, so for my personal training I have made a point of translating them to the other side. I haven’t made the translation for all of them, it’s still a work in progress. But I do find it worthwhile. It is a project I have worked on by myself, not everyone feels it is proper to do. But I think it balances the physical training and is a good brain exercise as well. Tibetan white crane forms tend to be very long, in that way are similar to the Choy Lay Fut forms. But if it’s been rolling around in your brain for a while, give it a try. Take your most basic form and just do the first couple moves on the other side. gradually add a couple more moves until you finish the entire form. Take your time, just like when you learned the form for the first time. It might take weeks or months for each form, and that is ok. In the meantime, you can identify techniques and combinations within the forms that seem very foundational and important, and you can just practice them on both sides as part of your fundamentals training. Build those skills on both sides, then when you translate the forms onto the other side it is all easier because you have built a balanced foundation. Most of my training time consists of working fundamentals, singly and in combinations and with various movement drills. Then I do my forms, but I don’t do the forms over and over. Most of the repetition is drilling the basics. I don’t just jump in and do a bunch of forms. For what it’s worth, maybe that gives you some ideas or perspective.
