Optimal Training Structure in the I Liq Chuan Class
 

Hi,

We have established our I Liq Chuan group in Vienna 2 years ago. With the time we have developed following training structure:

1st training on Tuesday: 2 hours
Thereof
1/3 of time Warm-up, 15 basic exercises
1/3 ILC 21 Form including applications
1/3 Spinning and Sticky hands

2nd training on Thursday: 2 hours
"Don't talk, just spin" / Partner exercises, Spinning, Sticky hands.

What is the structure of your trainings?
How to make the training attractive for a wide variety of people?
Currently we don't have any women in the group, do you?
Is in your opinion our training structure OK for all young, old, men, women or it is rather just for "young male strong individuals"?
Any other ideas how to shape an "ideal training class"?

Miro
http://www.ilc-austria.com

I don't know if there ever can be an "Optimal Training Structure", since students are all different, and thus the training structure has to be somewhat flexible to take these different needs into consideration.

That being said, I like the structure you outlined because it ensures that students are exposed to basic ILC concepts, strategies and the forms, but also have the opportunity to really focus on the martial aspects of the art during sessions which are specifically dedicated to training spinning/ sticky hands.

Peter

That sounds good:)

Much the same in our main class. I have a small study group in Fremantle where I tend to mix things up a little but again following a similar structure.

Yes in the study group I have 6 'regular' students 3 women and 3 guys. I have tended to show the art in terms of confidence and self-defense, with the bigger picture of self awareness. Recently I have, after some of the basics, shown the applications of the form almost as 'techniques', I find this builds both confidence and helps to remember the form. Also we are working on attack situations, if there is a straight punch you close from the outside and if it is a hook or swing then you open from the inside. We have been working on slow punches with the landing as a defense, from there they can understand the reason for spinning and sticky hands.

Absolutely, you just tailor the classes as you go. For example I find that the women are more 'sensitive' but need work on their structure and body strength, whereas the guys need to learn more about correct use of strength and sensitivity, having both creates an ideal opportunity to train both.

Na, because it can get too bullish and there is more 'wanting to win'.

Just be aware of why the students are there, we all have different goals;)

Hope that helps some.

Steve

up until recently i've kept no class structure at all. if i only have one student show up, we can just work on spinning. if i have odd numbers then we can work on form or 15 basics.

i usually focus on 15 basics exclusively for at least 6 weeks leading up to a workshop.

with my new schedule and location i'll be spending about 45% of class on 15 basics and 45% on spinning and sticky hands, with the remaining 10% (or less) on form.

my plan is to just go through the form as a group one or two times, give a few refinements and maybe go over one or two applications and then move on.

if new students want to spend more time than that (on form) they'll either have to find a "senior student" to help them (preferred) or arrange for a private lesson.

Guys, it looks like this is a typical structure for most who have posted so far.

And I have a couple of questions regarding this.

1/3 of 2 hours is 40 minutes. Plus there is some Warm-up in this time, let’s suppose around 10 minutes. Thus basically there only 30 minutes for 15 basic exercises. Which means, there are only 2 minutes per basic exercise. And since there are multiple variants in many of the exercises (e.g. 8 circles in horizontal plane, plus some more exercises in horizon). Which means it is even less than 2 minutes.
Even if some people have some bigger amount of basic exercise – e.g. 1/2 of the training time, it is still only around 3-4 minutes per exercise not even considering variations.

And I personally feel that any time of around 5 minutes and less is in no way enough for me to feel structure, etc. Maybe that’s due to the fact that I’m quite a newbie here, being only 1st level student. Anyway, I know other people around here who need more time, I would say somewhere between 20 till 40 minutes per exercise “to get there” and start doing the exercises with high attention and to really start training.

Thus, the questions from me are:

1. Do you split the 15 exercise? I mean, doing only, e.g. 3 exercises per time per training? Or you do all the 15 ones every time?
2. Do your students (and maybe you yourselves) do some of the basic exercises on daily basis to work them thoroughly through out of the class – at home or somewhere else?
3. Did you have a time initially at your ILC classes when you felt that you need more time for the basics? And after you worked them through really deeply, it’s enough for you now to do them for only 1-3 minutes on each training and you are fine?

It’s very interesting to see your feedback, since I’m kind of in a loss. I used to do all the 15 exercises at almost every class. Lately (for about one month) I’m trying to do every variation of each basic exercise for at least 20 minutes and it looks like I’m getting more progress now. Of course, you cannot do more than 1-3 variations or basics per class and it will definitely take more than 1 year to work all the 15 ones this way.

I’d appreciate your suggestions. Thanks.

The practice of 15 basic exercises in course of the class is mainly just to show and explain how to do them properly. The main work has to be done at home individually.

QFT (quoted for truth)