day 210: lines and entries

concepts:

• lines
• entries
  

lessons:

• shuai jiao

this post is about as short as i can make it. we did a few more lines today, but spent the bulk of time practicing applications. which is fine, because i'm starting to see that even though shuai jiao may not appear as intricate as other TCMA styles because of its lack of forms, it has a wealth of detail and subtleties that make a big difference in practical use. in particular, we've been learning that while it's possible to make a lot of the techniques work without entirely proper technique, improper technique is still dangerous because a good opponent will be able to exploit any mistakes or flaws in your method (and hence, that's why it's improper, get it?).

we also spent some time today working on entries, learning how to set up some of the throws. this is something i've learned the hard way--throws are nothing without the proper set-up, but the set-up requires having the proper entry.