The knee appears to be getting better a little at a time, and I could deal with the stiffness and tightness, if this darn hard clicking would stop when I walk. Have been working on strengthening the calves and the gastrocnemius, biceps femoris and the vastus medialis of late. Was just standing still one day and noticed my knee will move at a 45-degree angle forward, outward and to the side, and that ain’t right, so I started trying to strengthen the muscles on the inside of the leg, around the knee. This has started to alleviate the real hard click when I walk, but it is still there.
It is this knee movement and clicking, that is more like a thud, that is beginning to dictate what I can and cannot train at the moment. Xingyiquan is not a good idea, and even Yang Style Taijiquan is not working well due to the stance and the movement, particularly in wave hands. I was trying JKD footwork but that too fell victim to the current situation with the knee. I have returned to Baduanjin, this works and appears to work on strengthening the leg muscles listed above too. I also seem to be able to work on Sun Taijiquan with little knee issue, but there are issues, just not as severe as with Yang Taijiquan. Also, since I cannot work on Xingyiquan I have started working on wat little I have earned in Yiquan/Dachengquan. What that amounts to is one seated posture and 2 standing postures (not Santi Shi), and those also seem to be helping in their own way, but still they are also found in Xingyiquan. Also read to books on Yiquan that have changed my views a bit, one by Ling Seto and another by Fong Ha
I also had another person contact me about learning taijiquan and who I could recommend if I am not teaching. I was able to recommend a few people and they are going to check them out.
This brought me back to a post I made here Back in February "So, I’ve been thinking – Taijiquan" (By the way the 2 stances I am working with are pictured in that post)
I wanted to focus on Yang and carry on with what my Shifu taught me, although I am not sure that is out of a false sense of obligation or something I really need to do. However I seem to continually run into an issue with Yang style, or I have been for the last 10 years or so. I start asking myself why am I doing all these forms? The long form, two fast forms, two dao forms, and a jain form, some associated qigong and then all of the push hands drills, etc. Although I do feel the push hands drills are quite useful, just as long as that moves onto freestyle work. But then I start looking at shorter forms and inevitably I end up back where I started taijiquan with the Beijing 24 form (which I also can’t do at the moment), but what I do now looks a bit different from what I learned 30 years ago because of the almost 30 years of Traditional Yang Style. I have also looked at Cheng Manching’s form and a short Wu competition form and all this inevitably takes me back to Xingyiquan five elements, which the knee tells me I cannot do these days. Much to think about as it applies to my knee and future of training. Starting to consider other Taijiquan and and associated xingyiquan paths…possibly Yiquan….. time will tell
Enough Ramblings of a Nèijiā Madman for one day
It is this knee movement and clicking, that is more like a thud, that is beginning to dictate what I can and cannot train at the moment. Xingyiquan is not a good idea, and even Yang Style Taijiquan is not working well due to the stance and the movement, particularly in wave hands. I was trying JKD footwork but that too fell victim to the current situation with the knee. I have returned to Baduanjin, this works and appears to work on strengthening the leg muscles listed above too. I also seem to be able to work on Sun Taijiquan with little knee issue, but there are issues, just not as severe as with Yang Taijiquan. Also, since I cannot work on Xingyiquan I have started working on wat little I have earned in Yiquan/Dachengquan. What that amounts to is one seated posture and 2 standing postures (not Santi Shi), and those also seem to be helping in their own way, but still they are also found in Xingyiquan. Also read to books on Yiquan that have changed my views a bit, one by Ling Seto and another by Fong Ha
I also had another person contact me about learning taijiquan and who I could recommend if I am not teaching. I was able to recommend a few people and they are going to check them out.
This brought me back to a post I made here Back in February "So, I’ve been thinking – Taijiquan" (By the way the 2 stances I am working with are pictured in that post)
I wanted to focus on Yang and carry on with what my Shifu taught me, although I am not sure that is out of a false sense of obligation or something I really need to do. However I seem to continually run into an issue with Yang style, or I have been for the last 10 years or so. I start asking myself why am I doing all these forms? The long form, two fast forms, two dao forms, and a jain form, some associated qigong and then all of the push hands drills, etc. Although I do feel the push hands drills are quite useful, just as long as that moves onto freestyle work. But then I start looking at shorter forms and inevitably I end up back where I started taijiquan with the Beijing 24 form (which I also can’t do at the moment), but what I do now looks a bit different from what I learned 30 years ago because of the almost 30 years of Traditional Yang Style. I have also looked at Cheng Manching’s form and a short Wu competition form and all this inevitably takes me back to Xingyiquan five elements, which the knee tells me I cannot do these days. Much to think about as it applies to my knee and future of training. Starting to consider other Taijiquan and and associated xingyiquan paths…possibly Yiquan….. time will tell
Enough Ramblings of a Nèijiā Madman for one day
