I trained with Lam a few decades ago and ppl said Lam eased up over the years. The stories of the early days were that he lived in a rough area and had to defend his shop, organized scraps between his students and others and would go outside and iron palm lampposts and knock out the bulbs. We trained staff with zero protection. I still have wounds. We also did wooden and metal swords and knives if I recall. Choi Li Fut was great. We used weights on wrists. Zhan Zhuang was better 121so either you tried to get those lessons or joined groups and were put in the corner for an hour. I still wouldn't say it was hardcore and not as much as the original Raymond and post Raymond students recall it. I also studied in Beijing and this was another level. 3 hour lessons as many days as possible. 5 years minimum, if not 10, of just basic Zhan Zhuang I would say were the minimum. There were very very few students as training was too hard. Occasionally people from other arts would try out and give up. Sthg I never understood was if Wang Xiangzhai made a superior art and he and his students beat everyone, including bag, tai chi etc, why did hardly anyone do yiquan and why weren't the fighters famous. My only conclusions are that it was too hard, fighting was dangerous i.e. hurting ppl led to jail but also damage to you, as we saw many famous fighters die early. Otherwise, perhaps all these stories were inflated.
Picture it 🖼 SCICILY!!! 🇮🇹 🇻🇦 ROMEing around 💫 LOVE IT 🥰
I trained with Lam a few decades ago and ppl said Lam eased up over the years. The stories of the early days were that he lived in a rough area and had to defend his shop, organized scraps between his students and others and would go outside and iron palm lampposts and knock out the bulbs. We trained staff with zero protection. I still have wounds. We also did wooden and metal swords and knives if I recall. Choi Li Fut was great. We used weights on wrists. Zhan Zhuang was better 121so either you tried to get those lessons or joined groups and were put in the corner for an hour. I still wouldn't say it was hardcore and not as much as the original Raymond and post Raymond students recall it. I also studied in Beijing and this was another level. 3 hour lessons as many days as possible. 5 years minimum, if not 10, of just basic Zhan Zhuang I would say were the minimum. There were very very few students as training was too hard. Occasionally people from other arts would try out and give up. Sthg I never understood was if Wang Xiangzhai made a superior art and he and his students beat everyone, including bag, tai chi etc, why did hardly anyone do yiquan and why weren't the fighters famous. My only conclusions are that it was too hard, fighting was dangerous i.e. hurting ppl led to jail but also damage to you, as we saw many famous fighters die early. Otherwise, perhaps all these stories were inflated.