Nice NW Mantis

Check out this cool performance.

Haha thanks again Jason. Your the man! Yeahhh..watching this i can def see what i NEED to work on..speed/crispness..which will come with more practice for sure. That could also be because that was like my 4th or 5th time in a row doing the form. What do you think Blake? Eryn?

Nice! This is really coming along. I can tell you're a bit tired in this performance (I can relate, you should see the video Eryn took of me doing tongbei after teaching privates and sparring for 8 hrs), but you definitely incorporated some nice elements to your form since I last saw you. I can tell you've worked hard. I will be down around May 25th, we should work on this some more. A couple months working on detail and you could really own this form.

I have a few details and pointers for you. At 27 secs, your line is off. You should be moving straight back from your starting line and not off on a 45; this is and easy adjustment though. At 32 secs, where's the round house? That kick should be one of the signature bad-ass moments. Make sure that kick is there and drill the kick by itself to make sure it is strong and fast with plenty of snap. You should do the same with the side kick to hammering backfist combo. Make sure the kick explodes and the hammer motion is not too short. In general, add more explosion and acceleration to your moves. Try to really whip yourself loosely into those moves with some snap. Being more relaxed when moving fast will conserve energy. If you use too much muscle when going fast, it will limit your motion and tire you out. Extend your stepping more and cover more ground. In general, to cover these points you should work a lot on brief sections and individual moves from the form, especially the ones that feel weaker to you. Let me know if you have and questions.

Yeah, pretty much what Blake said. Just try to concentrate on drilling sections of the form and getting them really crisp. You have the fajin element down, again, just needs a tad more crispness and speed and you'd have it. Good job man, it's really coming along. I'll work you on this next Saturday at class.

Yeaaaahhh, this is one of my favorite forms to do, its just awesome. I really wanna get it down to have in my arsenal. After watching this more explosion would really benefit. Now that i see what i look like doing it i really know what to do lol. Crispness and speed all day! I just feel the whole mantis thing in general is really good, some of the applications from the style i find work really well in sparring matches sometimes. So needless to say i really wanna stick with it! I'm working this out! Also i would love to start my journey to the internal side of things..just to balance myself out more..since i've dabbled in Xingyi with blake and a little taste of Taiji (Part the wild horses mane) i'd love to take some of that further given the oppurtunity!

Yeah, Mantis is badass; has some great fajin elements in in that look and feel really great. The internal will definitely add a wallop to your longfist. Each of the five internal styles have distinct movement elements that add alot to the comprehensiveness and quality of form and fighting. Would definitely like to start you in either xingyi or taiji soon, perhaps both. Those two will really add alot to the Mantis boxing.

Oh yeah, and round house kick at about:56. Gotta have 'em. Move relaxed, strike hard and fast, expand and contract clearly, big to small and back, fast to slow and back, get into the detail of each move, be patient, step surely, be the mantis, fly, sway, prey on the weaker insects with your mighty mantis pincers!

Now that's the Mantis I know and love!

Mantis always seems very effective when it's used against me. It certainly preys upon my weaknesses (pun intended). It doesn't feel like something my body wants to do, since I'm lacking in spine flexibility and speed, but I can still appreciate it. Courtney just has such a natural aptitude for it, it's fun to watch him do it. I told him he has a month to work on it before I tape him again.

When I'm just messing around, I often play with using eagle claw against people who are using mantis against me. I'm not drawing on any nature observations or anything, it just seems to work for me to grab with talons those quickly-striking limbs. Of course, since I don't train much eagle claw either, I usually get poked to death. If I weren't just playing around, I think I'd use baji to just stomp that darned bug.

Here's the first section of my mantis form for reference. I haven't worked on it in a while and I'm trying to move in a way that provides maximum camera visibility.... I thought this might help you, Courtney, with the acceleration and snappiness I was talking about.

I've been dying to see it by you again blake. Just so I can get the body mechancs and exact movements back into my head! This has helped tremendously in helping me iron out the details! Do you think maybe you can post the next quarter or so of the form for me?

I was planning to keep posting in sections and will work on that soon.

Latest mantis installments

I wish I had been practicing this more lately, but this will do for a quick 10 minutes of practice. It's moderate speed anyway, but I just don't have quite the acceleration that I used to.

Blake, i THANK you. I totally excluded a chunk of the form in the second part you posted. It's a little after you do the running jump kick and turn into the northwestern mantis stance facing the opposite way. The three punches and the half seated stance completely eluded me. I wanna work on this so i can record and upload for you to see again.