Sturdy Structure

拳怕少壯

The fist fears the young and robust¹

膂力過人

An outstanding backbone strength²

打拳壯筋骨

Training strengthens fascias and bones.

刀越磨越亮，體越練越壯

The more is polished a knife the brighter it is, the more is trained a body the stronger it is.

冬養骨，夏伸筋

Winter to grow bones, summer to extend the fascias

The need to first transform the body, stressing on fascias and bones, which has already been described in length in this blog, is the basis of the external training of internal practices. 

Strong and Experienced Youth

拳怕少壯, 棍怕老郎

The fist fears the young and vigorous, the stick the old gentleman.

身體力行

A body acts according to physical strengths¹.

讀萬卷書不如行萬里路

It's better to walk thousands of miles than to read thousands of books².

An old martial saying states that experience itself represents half, if not more, of the value of a warrior.

Worlds Apart

拳怕少壯, 棍怕老郎

The fist fears the young and vigorous, the stick the old gentleman.

若能棍，則各利器之法，從此得矣¹

As skilled with the stick, then the method for each sharp weapon is henceforth obtained.

赤手空拳

Unarmed and defenceless (empty hands and empty fists)

The first meaning brought by such a saying is, of course, that boxing and fighting with weapons are actually very different.

Studying Old Sayings

理是功能之本，法是功能之基
Theory is the essence of capacity, method its foundation

一層功，一層理
A level of mastery, a level of theory




Before starting with the first one, just a few points to be clarified :

Grinding

難得糊塗

Ignorance is bliss.

字字要咬出汁漿來

Every character must be chewed until its juice is out.

With still no time to do the necessary research and write long posts came the opportunity to experience a method used by old practices described in the second quote.

Six Month Break

No new post for six months, sorry. You can still contact me by email.

Wishing all the best to my readers in the meantime.

Wondering Taoist

Bamboo

武藝不學不通，雜技不練不精

Martial art skills cannot be understood if not studied, acrobatics are not outstanding if not practised.

勢如破竹

A posture totally like a bamboo¹.

Though a new realm, bamboo naturally follows what was achieved in the locks, starting to learn how to tense the whole body through fascias and muscle relaxation. Therefore, where one had to soften one’s body in straight and round, bamboo is all about hardening it, nonetheless by means of relaxation. Still, bamboo training is also finding means to enhance the spine flexibility as well as to reach deeper fascia webs. Finally, such training deals with ways to improve one’s grip and the flow of vapours.

Aligned Or Connected?

三节不明,浑身是空

When the three sections are not understood,the whole body is empty.

The three sections points to the upper, middle and down parts of the body.

Ice Cold

惟真陽以禦之，則蒸然流遍大千

Because the Genuine Masculin guards against, therefore steam boundlessly naturally flows all over and everywhere.

The text goes on explaining how one becomes impervious to cold in a, as usual, pretty obscure sentence involving a “Genuine Masculin” and steaming. 氣, having the meaning of vapours, steaming seems logical. Still, one can wonder how to train cold resistance. This post will explore some of the possible avenues of research the text leads to and a further one the sort of training linked to cold resistance.