The 5 Major Strikes training sequence has been updated to six movements so it becomes 6-MS.

The 6th exercise is White Snake Spits Poison which acts as a bridge between the five strikes to the medium and short strikes of 6-LH, 3-WS, 3-NS, 6-ES and 6-NGK.

The final training sequence is that of the NGK series which I sent to Paul yesterday.

As with the other training sequences I have capped the training exercises at 6 movements. The traditional solo training exercise for NGK is made up of a total of 18 exercises. I have selected 6 exercises that can be mixed easily with the other techniques.

The 6 exercise are :-

6-NGK-1 – this introduces the rolling block and one possible follow up strike

6-NGK-2 – this exercise covers a technique that is popularly known as monkey steals peach amongst others

6-NGK-3 – this exercise combines two techniques from the original NGK 18 techniques. The first is a smashing strike and the second is NGK’s most famous technique which is the rolling block and strike

6-NGK-4 – this technique teaches striking in four directions while moving in two different directions

6-NGK-5 – this technique goes into the use of body movement to enhance power and striking technique

6-NGK-6 – this is the most unimpressive looking technique amongst the six techniques but it packs the most power and its power generation easiest to pick up. This technique can integrate easily into any striking sequences whether its 6-LH, 3-WS, 3-NS or 6-ES.

If Paul had started his long pole practice on 2 Sep, then today would be the 4th day.

This means that he should have performed the following number of repetitions :-

a) Technique 5 – 300 reps
b) Technique 6 – 600 reps
c) Technique 7 – 300 reps

At the end of the 4th day Paul can do a quick check of his practice by practising 3-WS-1 to 3-WS-2.

Any insights after practising 3-WS-1 to 3-WS-2?

After 600 reps of Technique 6, I expect that Paul to go Ah! Eureka! the moment he does 3-WS-1. If not, then I guess he needs more practice. He can check again at the end of the 6th day.

In Zen training the teacher would ask absurd questions that would confound the student. If the student can’t answer it right away without hesitation, it means he still has not gotten it.

Pole training can be like this. First you just imitate, do your best. Then after a while you start to ask, hold on, is this how I am supposed to do it.

Your first urge is to ask but you best learn when you don’t ask and examine the movement again, rethink it, remember what it is you are supposed to do, and what it is for. Then you start to experiment to see if you can improve on it. Hint – that’s one of the purpose of high repetition training.

If you can’t, you go back to doing it the way you were told, not necessarily the way you understand it, not necessarily the way you thought you saw it done but the way you would do it within your present accumulated experience of doing the technique.

At first you think oh, this is hopeless I am never going to get it. But no, not true, you need to be persistent. Practice, reflect, practice again, then dissect based on not just what you do, what you feel. You think you know your movements but you don’t, at least not until you have practiced enough. Even then, its only the beginning of knowing yourself. You still don’t know the pole yet.

The more you practice, the more you reflect, the more you get corrected, the more you begin to know yourself. You can’t make progress by thinking you got it after a short period of practice. You have to be prepared to build it up, refine it, if necessary tear it down, and build it again, again and again. It is a never ending process. When you thought you know it, then you encounter something new, different, and realize that you don’t really know it.

We think ah, the movement is so complicated but really it should be simple, direct, efficient. If you can’t do it in a blink without having to think about it, then you have not practiced enough. When you learn and practice, you think. When you apply, you just do it.

Seeing a picture helps, seeing a video is even better but nothing beats practicing over and over. Practice until you have doubts, then practice until the doubts go away, and keep on practicing. The more you practice, the more doubts will emerge and each doubt cleared up will bring you to another level, closer to the answer.

Then when you reach the destination you might think is this it? Its that simple? Really?

Yes, really.

After the completion of Day 1 to 6 the 2nd week of practice focuses on practicing the same techniques except now we had in turning to move and counterstrike.

Day 1-2
Practice the sequence of Technique 5 and 6 as follows :-

Day 3-4
Now work on Technique 6 and 7 using the same footwork pattern as above.

Day 5-6
We complete the week’s training by combining Technique 5-7 and, you guess it, use the same footwork.

The above, particularly, the sequence for Day 5-6 is the one exercise we do all the time. Practice it until you can face any direction and fire off the appropriate sequence of strikes, counters and counterstrikes quickly and without hesitation.

So Paul has received his long pole this week.

Let’s start the practice.

Here’s a short and simple practice for 6 days :-

a) Day 1-2 – practice Technique 5 & 6 everyday for 300 reps
i) Stand in readiness, right side forward, pole gripped shoulder width, positioned level to ground
ii) Do Technique 5, then Technique 6
iii) Step forward and do 10 reps
iv) Turn around and do 10 reps
v) Repeat (iii) and (iv) for a total of 15 times

b) Day 3-4 – switch to Technique 6 & 7
i) Stand in readiness, right side forward, pole gripped shoulder width, positioned level to ground
ii) Do Technique 6, then Technique 7
iii) Step forward and do 10 reps
iv) Turn around and do 10 reps
v) Repeat (iii) and (iv) for a total of 15 times

c) Day 5-6 – practice Technique 5 to 7
i) Stand in readiness, right side forward, pole gripped shoulder width, positioned level to ground
ii) Do Technique 5, then Technique 6 and 7
iii) Step forward and do 10 reps
iv) Turn around and do 10 reps
v) Repeat (iii) and (iv) for a total of 15 times

By Day 6 you should have questions after you become more familiar with the movements. That’s when you can begin to go into basic biomechanics of moving the long pole.

We complement the training of emptyhand techniques with long pole training.

The first thing we learn in long pole training is how to manipulate the pole as a lever. Obviously you can’t learn about the lever without learning about the fulcrum as well.

There are different ways to manipulate a lever depending on where the fulcrum is. The lessons here is useful for the learning of 6-ElbowStrikes.

The second thing that the long pole teaches is the control of range. A long weapon has its advantages and disadvantages as well.

We need to understand this in order to be able to use the long pole properly. The lesson in how to control range can help your application of emptyhand techniques.

In the application of the long pole we learn that the pole should not make two sounds. This is not just a Wing Chun long pole principle but a general long pole requirement.

To be able to comply to this principle you must master footwork, how to angle your body and know the appropriate technique to use.

This third lesson from practicing the long pole can be applied to the study of the emptyhand techniques of 6-LH and 3-WS.

Are there more lessons that we can learn from the long pole? Definitely, but these three lessons are the ones that can help improve our practice of emptyhand techniques hence I have singled them out for mention.

You can practice the long pole by working on each of the seven techniques individually.

You can also practice combinations by putting together two or more techniques.

Alternatively, you can get a workout by practicing a sequence. Master Leong did not teach a form for the long pole. His form if you can call it that, was simply the seven techniques practiced one after another.

I have borrowed a long pole form outline from NGK and repurpose it for the practice of the long pole. Originally, I only used the seven techniques in the form but after thinking it over I added in an eighth technique. I imported this eighth technique from the NGK pole forms but I changed the posture that is used, thereby changing the application from that found in the NGK pole forms.

I should make a post on learning objectives to keep track of the reasons for learning the sequences.

Solo Bridge Hand Sequence No. 1
I nicknamed this sequence as 6-LH as in Six Linking Hands. We first train the sequence with one arm. Later we add in the secondary arm movement. 6-LH can be trained as a solo exercise or as a partner drill.

These are the learning objectives :-

I) Basic Training
a) Basic open triangle step to right or left
b) Learning how to form basic hand shapes i.e. vertical fist, open palm, leopard fist, hook hand
c) How to defend a square space by moving along a cross path
d) Move smoothly from one movement to the next
e) Keep body relatively still while moving arm

II) Intermediate Training
a) Move the arm and align the body
b) Feel the arm movement when lowering, rising, moving from one side to the next
c) Be aware of the non-active hand
d) Understanding the applications
e) Imagination training

III) Advanced Training
a) Rhythm of the movements from 1 to 3, 4 to 6
b) Arm-body linking
c) Use of stance to coordinate with arm movements
d) Awareness of spaces and use of strategies
e) Springboard effect
f) Breaking the sequence training

More to be added …..

We can use the 6-Blocks and Solo Bridge Hand Sequences to create a short sequence to practice how to move from the side position to the centre position and vice versa.

We can create a longer version of this sequence and variations of this basic sequence depending on what we want to practice.

You can do this as a solo sequence but to really study it you need a practice partner. This exercise can be practiced with a compliant or best with a non-compliant partner. With a non-compliant part let him respond as he will and use however much resistance he wants to. That’s how I normally do it but for a beginner it might be easier to start with less resistance and increase the resistance as you make progress.

This is the basic sequence :-

Step 1 – left foot step back diagonally to left rear as 6-Blk-1 (left) pass to right side, then 6-Blk-6 (right) comes from below, moving left to right

Step 2 – 6-Blk-6 (right) changes to 6-Blk-6.5 (right) and right foot steps forward diagonally to right, 6-Blk-6.5 (right) applies slight pressure

Step 3 – left foot steps back to rear diagonal, 6-Blk-6.5 (right) changes to 6-Blk-3 (right) emphasizing clockwise movement of right hand to make a scooping motion, ending with right palm facing up. The right palm imagines passing the opponent’s right wrist to your left palm. Your left hand holds the position, then your right foot step forward as you do 3-WS-2 (right)

Step 4 – to be continued….