Formosa Fitness

Here's an IKFF clip showing the Chinese influence on the system. In CIMA terms, what's happening here is called han xiong ba bei -- rounding the back and sinking the chest. Notice that this isn't a permanent position that is to be held -- a bizarre belief still held in many areas of the CIMA world -- but a position to be moved into and out of as the technique requires.

For one, this shows why I talk more about kettlebells these days than CIMA. I'm training a lot of the same body mechanics with kettlebells and doing so adds a fantastic way to develop martial power. It should be oh so blantantly obvious to anyone willing to at least take a look that the shenfa is there. If people can't see it, then I don't know what to say. And training this material in a kettlebell format is much simpler for average folks, and allows them to lose weight and get strong at the same time. It's just a win-win situation.

Second, this isn't just called "han xiong" but is also an example of "suck in, spit out" and contraction/expansion. It's also working the spine bow from the Yang family theory of the five bows. Even more specifically, it works the upper spine bow, which Dr. Yang Jwing-ming believes to be a sixth bow. The thoracic area can generate it's own power without much movement of the lumbar spine. Dr. Yang is one of the few I've heard talk about this sixth bow, but here it is in execution.

Finally, I want to caution people in using this principle. This type of movement is all over the taiji I teach. "Dragon back," "spinal whip," and all the other names I've given you for it in this post are all accurate and show how important it is for CIMA. But you must be very careful in developing it. If your thoracic spine is tight, you can overdo the movement very quickly. If you go up in weight or volume too fast, you add too much shearing force on the spine. I've seen this specifically in long staff work that uses the spine and I feel it when I do the kettlebells with this type movement too much. You want to build volume slowly on this. The compensatory movements shown in Scott Sonnon's Kettlebell Foundation DVD set would also be crucial for removing the residual tension that long sets done in this style create.

Train hard, but smart.