Shake Your Body

快而不亂，慢而不斷

Fast but not messy, slow but with no break

快則適時，慢在得位*

Quick then timely, slow for gaining position

凡一身之進退動靜，一心為主**

Forwards and backwards, movement or stillness of one's body are all decided by the heart

Speed is a more complex notion in training, and more especially when the organs, the vapours and the mind are combined with body motion. Hence, the opposition between what you do while fighting (the faster the better) and training does not apply for speed. Indeed, while training, normal, fast and slow speed are all applied, each having their own purpose, the skills obtained through each type of speed being all useful while fighting. 

Don't Come Empty Handed

技巧者，習手足，便器械，積機關，以立攻守之勝者也。*

To become skilled, one shall study hands and feet, which is useful for weapons, accumulating gears, to establish victory in attack as well as in defence.

刀隨身轉，身隨刀行

The single-edged sword shifts following the body, the body moves following the single-edged sword

身不離槍，槍不離身，槍隨身走，身隨槍動

The spear does not leave the body, the body does not leave the spear, the spear goes following the body, the body moves following the spear

槍紥一條線，棍掃一大片

The spear pierces a line, the staff sweeps a wide expanse

In most of the old schools in China, empty handed and with weapons are both trained. If training weapons seems totally logic, It can be useful to dispel the confusion surrounding the notion of empty hands. In the old days, a martist could sleep naked, but certainly not without his/her weapon. Warfare and combat was, in the old world as it is now, mainly a question of weaponry. The weapons have changed with technology, but they always have been a part of human conflicts.