TCMA hitting Qigong and Fight breathing techniques

[neijia_boxer]

Does IMA have the same 'hit conditioning' exercises or Qigong as some of the more external TCMA schools? If you are a 'all internal' school, what methods have you learned?

Part 1) hitting qigong:
Internal hitting drills: I have learned is some self hitting/patting/slapping massage with light punches or 'cupped' palm to the surface of the skin. normally working the outside of arms and legs and then working inside of arms and legs, then body, face, neck, etc. This can also be done with a brush like device seen here:

And some two person body 'bumping' set from Feng zhiqiang's student with partners slamming together thighs, hips, shoulder, and back similar to these from:



External hitting drills I learned came from my Shaolin teacher who was a student of Qin Qing Feng. Also we did some of these in Muay Thai as well.

Partner Body hitting including-
1. hitting body- hard hits/slaps to ab and chest
2. kicking legs: out leg, inner leg (high and low)
3. kicking body- abs and chest
4. kicking back- lower back and upper back
5. side kick to arms- around upper shoulder
6. Forearm hitting.
I did find this to be similar to some of the Shaolin conditioning.


Part 2) fight breathing techniques.

If you have ever been in a fight you know it gets very difficult to breath. I haven't heard of any TCMA techniques used in breathing but we have all heard "sink the breath to dan tien", it is easy to say but not easy to do in the adrenaline dump of a fight.... my Muay thai coach taught using the 'sssss' sound when striking similar to what this guy is teaching:



please share some of your conditioning and breathing drills experience!

[edededed]

"Hitting qigong" = paidagong?

In my experience, some aspects of this, but not so much emphasis in general.

[Wanderingdragon]

I am at work right now but first you must learn to coordinate the breath, then you will learn to integrate the breath, then you will find the natural breath.

[I am...]

please share some of your conditioning and breathing drills experience!

Conditioning: For starters, Partner A punches partner B in the stomach and holds the punch in, Partner B pushes the fist out of the stomach with the breath and compression. Some sounds work to condition the tissues of the torso when yelled repeatedly. From fighting stance take kicks to the legs and shoulders and ground the incoming force. Arm banging drills.

Breathing: "Put the apple in the bucket, and drop the bucket down the well" is how I learned it. Various sitting breathing exercises teach these concepts as well. One can also lay on the back with a weight on the stomach and learn how to move it with the breath. Breathing belts are great tools as well.

[bruce]

the "sssss" sound was taught to me as part of my tai chi chuan striking practice.
i think i can make a harder strike by contracting my stomach and forcing air out sort of like letting air out of a balloon. keeping the tongue on the roof of mouth/back of teeth was a important part of this practice. it is very noticeable how much harder i can hit like this than not breathing in that fashion.

[donjitsu2]

As for breathing when hitting -

During my Xingyi training I was taught to use a forceful "reverse/Taoist" style breath/exhale along with a "huh" sound. The sound is very guttural.


Though I tend to kind of mix the Xingyi style exhale/breathing with the Muay Thai style I've been taught.

[shock and awe]

breathing out feels like it helps relax and get more body into it. Is this the reason for seemingly more power? it could be all in the head idk. good thread

[I am...]

If I recall correctly, temporarily increasing the pressure in the body cavity allows for a stronger neurological and or muscular firing response. There was also a finding http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/594/ that shows strength can be increased ~17% by having the correct positioning of the jaw during physical activities.

[Activeghost]

We practice partner striking and bumping exercises at times during push hands class. Simulanteous Hip strikes, shoulder strikes, chest striking (against partners hand on their chest) and knee push are the ones I've seen so far. The problem for me is finding people outside of class who want to practice these so my time with them has been limited.

[yusuf]

We practice partner striking and bumping exercises at times during push hands class. Simulanteous Hip strikes, shoulder strikes, chest striking (against partners hand on their chest) and knee push are the ones I've seen so far. The problem for me is finding people outside of class who want to practice these so my time with them has been limited.

sweet.. wish i could find a training partner in london who is willing to do that sort of thing

[Wanderingdragon]

Basic coordinated breathing , exhale with exertion , inhale when collecting strength, here you will begin to understand open and close, which is what many of forms are developed to teach. Next you will learn to integrate your breath with you technique as the breath slowly becomes part of the structural support, helping the musculo-skeletal system to relax and flex freely. After this the breath becomes a natural part of your core in which you develop your awareness of center, here anything that affects the natural course of breathing is affecting your center this is control, this is the beginning of fogetting the outward influences and focusing on inward feeling. Simplistic as it is, as it is still work in progress, I still find myself sucking air sometimes, lack of control and high emotion are my latest pitfalls.

[mattiabaldi]

My master videos looks pretty fake, they are not but they look like that. So i post this other master gym (Lingyiquan in Beijing) similar to taijiquan.
Yellow and Red are students, the last one is the master


http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTY5MTAyNTEy.html

[Wanderingdragon]

My master videos looks pretty fake, they are not but they look like that. So i post this other master gym (Lingyiquan in Beijing) similar to taijiquan.
Yellow and Red are students, the last one is the master


http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTY5MTAyNTEy.html

Is there something in the dialogue of this clip that talks about the breathing techniques while striking and fighting? Please translate

[chow_farn]

I still utlise some breathing training techniques I learnt when I did Kendo (Japanese fencing).
Kendo is such an aerobic work out. If you breath control stinks - so does your kendo.

One such breathing exercise is over a 20 second phase (more experienced can go longer):
Sit in a meditation posture (Seiza / Lotus etc.) - tongue touching roof of mouth.
1) Inhale through the nose over a 3 second period placing the air to the dantien.
2) Hold the breath there for 2 seconds.
3) Slowly release the air through the mouth over a 15 second period (if you can do longer - do so).
* easier than it sounds for most.

This is great exercise develops:
* For sparring as you always seem to have something left if the tank. You have air, you still have some control & power.
* You learn to keep the air on the dantien & feel it there.
* It also teaches you not to waste your breath, but to meter in sparring.
* For dual kata you should breath in & hold/slowly release - move in to you opponent & then strike. This is ment to transfer in a fighting situation, by not being caught in between breaths. Good kendo people will wait for times of catching breath to strike.

[NoSword]

The Systema breathwork DVD has loads of ideas for this type of training.

Personally, I've gotten loads of mileage from the following training method, derived from Tongbei:

1) Select aerobic activity. Skipping rope is an excellent choice.

2) Perform it, maintaining basic Buddhist breathing guidelines (in through the nose, out through the mouth, tongue on the roof of the mouth, dantian/hara 'set')

3) Do it until I can no longer maintain these guidelines i.e. begin huffing and puffing and leaking qi all over the place

4) Rest, take pulse, wait until your heartrate goes down. You can also experiment with holding your breath at this point as well.

5) Repeat

This basic idea can lead to a lot of insight into internal pressure and how it coordinates with movement.

It has also improved my cardio efficiency tremendously. By cardio efficiency I mean something distinct from cardio capacity -- that is, how much I can exert myself BEFORE I go into the aerobic zone, not how much I can exert myself once I'm already there (although that's improved as well).

I've also recently begun practicing alternate-nostril breathing, and it's opened up a whole new world as far as breath work is concerned. Very open-source, low-risk (AFAIK) breathing technique, you can find it on the internet, I highly recommend it. Open up your head space.

AK