Exercises for the Look Dim Boon Gwan

January 11, 2014 at 8:46am

Exercises for the Look Dim Boon Gwan

Yun Hoi

Along with practising the form andrepeated, correct performance of the individual techniques

of the Look Dim BoonGwan and, most importantly, their applications, there are several

exercisesthat will help the practitioner develop power, control and accuracy.

I group these into several different categories. I wasn’t taught them this way.Rather, I was

taught in the traditional Chinese fashion that was, to my mind,somewhat chaotic. So, I’ve set

the exercises into groups. I divide them intosingle-handed exercises; double handed

exercises; targeting exercises; and,sensitivity exercises.

Single handed exercises:

1. Holding the pole facing forwards with your grip a fist width from the end,place your fist at

your heart, thumb upwards. Keep the pole horizontal. Then,following the same trajectory that

you do with a correct, straight punch,thrust the pole forward so it is on centreline and

horizontal. Keep the elbowsdown and in. Repeat for the pre-determined numbers of

repetitions and sets.Don’t overdo things. Quality always trumps quantity.

2. Holding the pole facing forwards with your grip a fist width from the end,place your fist at

your heart, thumb upwards. Keep the pole horizontal. Then,following the same trajectory that

you do with a correct, straight punch,thrust the pole either forty-five degrees to the side or

directly sideways.This is the path of fuk sau. Maintain the point of the pole angled in on

thecentreline and in the same location. Keep the elbows down and in.

3. Holding the pole facing forwards with your grip a fist width from the end,place your fist at

your heart, thumb upwards. Then, following the sametrajectory that you do with a correct,

straight punch, thrust the pole down.This is the path of chaap kuen. Maintain the point of the

pole on thecentreline and in the same location. Keep the elbows down and in.

4. As for exercise 2 above but keep the pole horizontal. That is the tip movesto align with the

butt of the pole.

5. As for exercise 3 above but keep the pole horizontal. That is the tip movesto align with the

butt of the pole.

6. Holding the pole horizontal by the side of your leg, tip facing forward,lift and lower the tip

of the pole. Your wrist should power the move. Loweryour shoulder and straighten your

elbow.

7. Holding the pole horizontal by the side of your leg, tip facing behind you,lift and lower the

tip of the pole. Your wrist should power the move. Loweryour shoulder and straighten your

elbow.

8. Hold the pole half way along its length vertically out in front of yourcentreline. Then thrust

out a punch holding the pole.

Double handed exercises:

1. Hold the pole with both hands. Holding the pole with the grip of your rear(usually left)

hand a fist width from the end, place your rear fist in front ofyour heart, thumbs upwards.

Keep the pole horizontal at this point. Then,following the same trajectory that you do with a

correct, straight punch,thrust the pole downward so it is on centreline with the tip staying in

place.Maintain the point of the pole on the centreline and in the same location. Asyou thrust

down, drop your body into sae ping ma and unify the body drop withthe thrust so you are

learning how to unite your body with the pole. This canlater be done in gung ma. The thumbs

face down in the terminal position. Thepole is “screwed” down. Keep the elbows down and

in.

2. Hold the pole with both hands. Holding the pole with the grip of your rear(usually left)

hand a fist width from the end, place your rear fist in front ofyour heart, thumbs upwards. A

fistwidth from the end, place your fist at yourheart, thumb upwards. Keep the pole horizontal.

Then, following the sametrajectory that you do with a correct, straight punch, thrust the pole

forwardso it is on centreline and horizontal. The pole is “screwed” out. Keep theelbows down

and in.

Targetting:

1. “Searching for the Bell”. Hang a small bell at about throat height. Stand sothat your thrust

will just touch the bell. Consistently thrust at it so you areable to strike it accurately. A tennis

ball hung from a tree or clothes-lineserves the same function.

2. “A Hard Nut to Crack”. It was a traditional exercise to scatter nuts on thetiling of a

courtyard and crack them with “Blind Man Finds Way Home” (aka "Chicken pecks corn")

strikes.You may wish to try this. Alternatively, use leaves, or cut our small circularshapes

from some felt and place them on the ground around you and strike them.

3. “Stick the Dummy”. There is a pole dummy. It’s three horizontal slats withthree sets of

two close holes drilled equidistant in each slat. Short poles areplaced in the holes, wrapped in

cloth to hold them in place. The task is tostrike a pole then thrust through its accompanying

hole. Alternatively, you could paste a piece of felton the top section of your Mook Yan Jong

and strike that with biu gwan.

Sensitivity:

1. Chi Gwan: Place your pole against your partner’s pole about a forearm’slength from the

tip. For safety sake, you should be able to step into sae pingma and thrust biu gwan without

actually striking your partner. Circle the poleboth clockwise and anti-clockwise, sideways

and up and down, trying to maintaincontact relaxedly and feel your partner’s movement

through the pole.

Play with the pole regularly. The more you hold and perform techniquesrelaxedly with the

weapons the better you’ll find your movement. They need tofeel “at home” in your hands.