Chi Sao

rewrite this section: / used to separate L & R hand positions in poon sao. o/o, o/i, i/o, i/i. Does poon sao mean any specific one of these, or what?

Chi sao - single arm version

In horse stance facing opponent. He punches high, respond with bong sao. Move to tan sao drilling into him(keep elbow out) he converts to fook sao(elbow IN). Attempt palmheel to chest, he draws down into a wu sao, palmedge facing out(as in 1st form).

NOTES: keep forward elbow pressure, and RELAX.

To switch, roll the under hand outwards after he jutts your palm strike, maintain contact w/wrist, and strike to face. He will convert into bong sao.

Can do this with both arms at same time, but never keep both high or both low.

2-handed chi sao Poon sao

A starts in R bong and L tan. Imagine holding a small ball between hands.

B will have his hands in a fook sao if low, punching (open hand OK) if high side. Keep constant forward pressure and drill in as rotate. Want to press forward, do not want to feel as if just turning the ball.

Switching hand position:

If your hand is on the inside, wait for him to give just a little too much downward pressure, and run the hand (as jao sao), keeping contact w/wrist.

If your hand is outside, apply a little downward pressure to convince him to run the hand.

Test partner (either way) by dropping your arm. His arm should not follow yours, but should come forward to hit.

You should always attempt to keep one hand inside and one outside. Do not limit yourself by having both inside or both outside.

With the fook sao, it is very important to keep forward pressure and the elbow properly positioned, or he can hit you. Keep the fook sao hand relaxed, and cupped.

Drill inward with the bong<>tan switch, do not just follow the arms. Let the bong sao hand flop with the torque as drill in, diving forward w/arm.

If he moves to hit you, it means there is no forward pressure checking your hand. So: hit him.

Training notes: start working rolling the ball from hostile contact. He punches at you, pak sao, he blocks w/offhand, in poon sao.

Work techniques from poon sao.

Work with one person as defense: they will not attack even if attacker leaves an opening. Attacker keeps covered but attacks.

Warning: try not to get to caught up in the combat aspect, keep working sensitivity and feel, do not get sloppy w/techniques. Concentrate on smoothness, flowing, precision. The arms should be like velcro, every part of your arm should be sticky, breaking contact should feel weird.

Advanced: can start pushing in surges to push opponent off balance. If happens to you, feel it, ride with it, keep forward pressure, feel for openings.

Chris Rowe 6/20/94: don't huen from inside to outside. Huen o>in, either under and come up the centerline, or over the top.

If inside, open him up by lying tan or some similar to pull him open, and go straight in. Keep the elbow in center and forward, do not pull the elbow backwards or outwards.Do fook sao as in sil lum tao, with forearm horzontal. Press inward, not sideways.

If outside, when low, huen in over the top and follow up the elbow to strike. To defend, he should drive forward to convince you to convert to a bong sao (now on inside).

Neck grab is an option.

**8/15/94** Start chi sao from oR-oR, pak sao in. he should block oR-iL, so L punch and when he blocks, are now in chi sao mode.

Poon sao comments:

Octopusing: hard press forward, leaning into opponent.

**how to counter octopusing???** Lop him.

Creeping: moving your hand forward while maintaining contact, until his forearm is pressing almost on your elbow. Can pop him in face.

Counter: creep on his arm.

Pak sao from poon sao:

From a high outside position, pak down and across to pak the other arm off your inside arm as your inside arm cycles for a punch. Can feel as if you are trying to pak his other arm with his inside arm. May need to shift or step to L to clear centerline for punch.

When to do it: when his fook sao elbow is out, leaving the centerline open. Initiate from a low out position, go with the roll to avoid telegraphing.

Problem/solution: often, my inside hand gets caught by my paking his in hand onto his out hand, his out hand trapping me. If this does happen, go with it, keep moving forward w/elbow, and lop the stopped punch into him (melt into arm w/elbow, etc.) However, need to work on punching hand clearing better.

Lop sao from poon sao:

Your inside arm rolls over his arm, keep elbow moving forward, melt arm into his forearm and strike.

When to do it: when his fook sao presses across the centerline, instead of proper forward pressure.

Block: pull your rolled-over forearm up, hand angled back in a tight tan sao. Should catch the rolling hand on the knife-edge of the hand.

Block note: Do not do a wu sao. You need the angled-back tan to cover a wider target area than the wu can.

New technique (Feb 7, 1994):

start at L low out, R high in. Will lead into it by pressing across w/fook sao (one of my problems). If he tries to lop, use angled tan to block it.

As roll, R bong converts to tan sao as crosses over centerline to contact the outside of his R arm w/tan sao. L leaves his R arm as your R tan lops his R wrist, L punches.

Notes: work on smoothness, lack of telegraphing. I need to get the tan all the way through, keep catching his arm w/fingertips only. Shoot strongly through.

Block: if this is done to you, raise lopped elbow into bong sao to block incoming punch.

Or: shoot non-lopped hand across in bil/fun to counter. He may lop the cross-blocking hand w/his failed punch and punch w/other hand. Raise elbow of now-lopped hand into bong sao. If he uses the lop sao drill switch below, your block w/ now-free hand will return you to a non-crossed reference point. Continue drilling in w/chi sao.

Block counter: use 1 of the lop sao drill switches. Yank blocked punch straight down, hooking his bong sao down as punch w/offhand. If he blocks w/his same-side hand, back to a non-crossed reference point, continue drilling in w/poon sao.

Another 5/13/94

From L out and R in, as your R rolls up bong>tan, R hand reaches across to lop his R wrist from the inside (thumb-side of your fist holding hand/wrist, hammer-side of grip towards his elbow) as you drive your R elbow up and over his L elbow (like the pak sao-lop sao roll) to trap his L arm, then L punch. Try to work this w/shift, add step in later.

Pak sao from poon sao 5/13/94

From L out and R in, as your R rolls down bong>tan, L hand paks across for his inner L elbow as R circles for punch.

Notes: Your L elbow maintains contact w/his inner R elbow the entire time, pressing fwd as your elbow traps his R arm. Pay attention to the centerline: circle your hand so your R punch travels over and inside his L arm. I kept losing control and punching around his L arm from the outside.

Practice this version from now on.

Low gon sao from poon sao 5/13/94

R inside hand threads up and over his R wrist and low gon to back of his R elbow as L punch. Try to work this w/shift, add step in later.

Work small quon sao from poon sao. must have at least 1 hand inside, doesn't work well to have both hands outside to initiate.

Inner tube exercises

Needed: one bicycle inner tube. Tie a knot in the middle. Cut off metal nozzle. Used to provide resistance, is the only possible way to get forward pressure of chi sao without a partner.

1) Across back and around wrists, punch sets. speed punches, any other 2-handed techniques (dbl gon, quan, etc)

2) Stand in one loop, other loop over wrist, for 1-hand chi sao. Can stand in loop w/both feet, vary width apart for increased tension.

3) Wear one loop around chest, insert hands from below up through loop against chest, extend arms outward.

tan>bong and reverse drilling in exercises

"rolling the ball"

2-hand chi sao.

4) Loop over one ankle and stand in the other for kicking practice.

chi sao drill 8/15/94

From oR tan -iL fook, step-shift in and try to lop in around his fook. He should respond with a lying tan sao as you end in bong sao. Your L moves from iL bong to tan at the same time, of course, and you are in large quan sao. He will continue to apply pressure toward your center. Now step-shift in the other direction and repeat. You will advance in large quan sao down the floor as he retreats w/lying tan and fook (or is it a strike?).