We did push hands last night -- a type of controlled wrestling in Taijiquan, focused on stealing your opponent's balance. We haven't practiced this since the tournament, so it was good to get back to it. Unfortunately, I accidentally got elbowed in the ear, an I'm fairly sure the cartilage is broken.

I had no idea how much a broken ear hurts.

Began learning Wudang Sword for real. Holy handgrenades, but it's complicated. Nothing exceptionally strenuous yet, just the twists and turns and all the tiny movements. I know for sure that there's one move in the middle that I have forgotten -- I know it's in there, but I can't figure out where it goes ( Read more... )

Medaled in 7 out of 9 events. Division: Adult Men's Advanced.
Got there at 9:00am. Got home at 10:00pm.
( Results )

Listed with the amount of time (mm:ss) it takes to do.
( The list )

Yesterday, Jia taught us a new ending for our 42 Sword form. It's actually from Wudang sword, his most advanced sword set. And it's GORGEOUS. A lot of Bagua in it, snaking around in smooth curves.

He's only taught it to us in case one of us gets into the Grand Champion's tournament, but I'm glad to finally be learning the form.

We've been practicing for the tournament a lot recently. I still don't have a Yang 88 competition form. I also doubt I'll have time to learn Wu Style or Wudang Sword.

We focused on Sun Style today. I only got through the form once without major mistakes. For some reason that form is really slippery in my head.

But hopefully I'll still do good!

Here's my likely event list for this years Taiji Legacy tournament. I'll probably end up cutting some of the events with the !'s.
( Forms )

I've been noticing, with some help from my buddy Rant, that you can get significant gains in power by segmenting the body when you move it, letting the top coil and then the hips follow ( Read more... )

So, we learned the end of Chen Taiji Cannon Fist. I'm not comfortable with it yet... I don't know if I remember the closing move correctly... But it feels good to finally be done ( Read more... )

http://union.bokecc.com/flash/player.swf?videoID=13276_170342Read more... )