Forms - The Right Time

[Trainwreck]

Hmm ... where I train, the students are usually handed forms on their ... (counts on his fingers) sixth or seventh lesson? It depends really on what you call a form - if basic escapes and sparring techniques count, then it begins on day one. Short forms come later, long forms only after at least one belt rank. Mid-range techniques are introduced along with the first two long forms (the Tiger and the Crane), short-range techniques later at the third belt level.

All belt ranks spar, even the whites, after a short period of time (usually 30 hours into training ... I prefer to list training by hours rather than weeks or years, but that's me). Theoretically, you're supposed to move slowly and make no contact at the lower levels - 'course, we all know how often that happens. Dunno about the more experienced students here, but I dislike the sparring drills - no appreciation for being banged on, you see. Also, a visiting instructor once told us that he observed what happens when a person spars before he's ready to:

Paraphrased from Instructor Meyers:
"People say they do Kung Fu, but I don't see no Kung Fu. People say they do Hung Gar, I don't see no Hung Gar! What I see is (bad) long-range kickboxing."

The school's too lax on the technical side, if you ask me. For one, I don't believe that I should have passed my test for green belt - I plumb forgot the Tiger form, my Crane looked like it had lost a fight with a blender, and I couldn't execute the short forms smoothly. The atmosphere at the school is pretty relaxed, though.

 

[Dronak]

We started learning a basic level form almost immediately. We did go through more foundational things such as stances, too, and only got a few moves of the form each week, but we were doing it from the start. I think part of that was because our teacher wanted to give us as much as possible as quickly as possible. I'm pretty sure that we didn't exactly follow a traditional schedule for our training. I don't think I know enough about the subject to say whether it's better to have forms from the start or to wait a while.

 

[Tony]

When I first started training in Shaolin Long Fist, my instructor started teaching me the basics, as well as the bow which is a form in itself move by move, just a little bit each week. Beginners aren't expected to start learning a form and have it mastered after one lesson but my intsructor will start with the first 2 moves of first form, the most basic form. This is the form we practice all the time so he can assess out postures. As a beginner you don't have a sash and once you have learnt all of first form, that when you start to grade.
I love the way our classes are strutured. We will go through what ever warm up we ahve to do, then work on techniques, exercises, pushups, sit ups, etc and then the class wil be split up according to what forms we were doing, and grade levels. Sometimes my instructor will get some of us to do some chin na, and san shou.

San shou is something that my instructor has brought in and I love it. A new class has started ona Monday which is less formal, with sparring, grappling and self defence techniques. This is the only class we can practice throws with mats.

 

[Infrazael]

Sean, in my school we started learning basics. Everything is in a progressive level, and Sifu decides when you are ready to learn new stuff. . . .

I started the first day by learning Basic Form 1 (there are 9 basic forms, just various combinations of the 10 seeds and 5 animals essentially). You learn from Basic 1-4, and they have alot of good techniques. Basic two has the Gwa Kum and Chop Choy. The level of difficulty increases up till 4, then the rest (5-9) is a mixture of complexity.

After you learn 1-4, we learn Sui Mui Fah, which is one of my favorite forms. Pretty short, but has alot of excellent techniques and is extremely down to the point.

Then you learn Staff, Dan Dao, and after that Sup Gee and Spear.

 

[clfsean]

Sean, in my school we started learning basics. Everything is in a progressive level, and Sifu decides when you are ready to learn new stuff. . . .

I started the first day by learning Basic Form 1 (there are 9 basic forms, just various combinations of the 10 seeds and 5 animals essentially). You learn from Basic 1-4, and they have alot of good techniques. Basic two has the Gwa Kum and Chop Choy. The level of difficulty increases up till 4, then the rest (5-9) is a mixture of complexity.

After you learn 1-4, we learn Sui Mui Fah, which is one of my favorite forms. Pretty short, but has alot of excellent techniques and is extremely down to the point.

Then you learn Staff, Dan Dao, and after that Sup Gee and Spear.

For us... first you learn basics... horses, punches, kicks, combos. Then you learn Che Kuen. From there, Sifu teaches what fits you best.

 

[Infrazael]

OK, I forgot some things. Before you start with Basic 1, you learn Horse Stance, Bow Stance, Hook Stance, and Cat stance. And also Broken Horse sometimes.

But what Basic 1-4 is supposed to do is to cover the basics for the beginner (hell, I'm still a beginner), help with body coordination, techniques, applications, etc.