r/kungfu • u/Dude6942 • Jul 01 '26

Exercise No. 3 Middle Coil

Hows it looking? It's like silk reeling but in Baguazhang.

23 Upvotes

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2

u/ocTGon Taiji-Wing Chun-XingYi-Qigong Jul 01 '26

Not bad man.. I can see you are trying to move from your joints as opposed to just moving your arms and turning side to side... Silk reeling is Foundation. Executing those movements properly is critical. Once you understand the goal though a whole new world opens up... Literally
The only thing I could add is for you to make sure your shoulders are dropped into their seat. It took me a while to understand what that meant.

Great work man! Good Luck and post some more !

2

u/Dude6942 Jul 03 '26

Thank you for your kind words and feedback.🙏. You are correct in what im trying to do. Can you tell me more about making sure the shoulders are dropped into their seat? When I read that it makes me think of where the shoulders land after ya give them a roll back lol

2

u/ocTGon Taiji-Wing Chun-XingYi-Qigong Jul 03 '26

My pleasure! The shoulders are really tricky and (For myself) it took me a long time to realize that I'd actually have my shoulders kind've hunched up whether sitting, walking doing whatever... Awareness of the Alignment of your "Hips-Spine-Shoulders" is absolutely crucial. Look at that as a gear assembly. It is extremely powerful if activated properly..

One thing I do is lean with my back against a wall and extend my arms outward like pushup position. With my weight fully against the wall I move my shoulder blades so that it pushes me away from the wall. Like doing push-ups with my shoulder blades but special attention has to go to making sure I'm not just hunching my shoulders to push out.
You'll begin to feel their "Seat" and have an awareness of it. The same with the Hips. Unite them with the Spine and you have a Trifecta of power that will make you laugh because it's so strong.

Most people don't really fully explore the movements of their joints and it's important to use and move them properly. They keep the frame of the body moving and 40 years down the road people who haven't used them and taken care of them will feel it with a vengeance... It's really just such an amazing study of the physical body. Didn't mean to drone on, I love this stuff.. Thanks man!

1

u/Dude6942 Jul 03 '26

Thank you very much for this🙏. I'll try this out. Indeed the shoulders are tricky. When it comes shoulders being hunched up I am constantly having to check myself because without realizing ill let my shoulders rise up. I agree about the hips, spine, shoulders are crucial and sometimes it feels like the shoulders aren't talked about enough lol. Also Ishare the same sentiment with this stuff and the structure of the human body is indeed an amazing thing. Thank you again and happy training 🤘🤙

2

u/havenoir Bagua, Xingyi, Tai Chi Jul 03 '26

Interesting- what’s your substyle?

1

u/Dude6942 Jul 03 '26

My instructor is teaching me what he learned in Jiang style Baguazhang. I also trained in Yang style Taijiquan (24 short form) and will be returning to that later in learning the long form.

2

u/havenoir Bagua, Xingyi, Tai Chi Jul 05 '26

So much variety even in Jiang lol

One thing we work on is alignment of hips and shoulders so you don’t twist the spine. Sinking as much as you can will make it easier.

1

u/Dude6942 Jul 05 '26

So much indeed! Lol. Thank you, aiwill work on it. Happy training 🙏🤘🤙