The weekend began on the Friday, but I didn’t arrive in Quebec until the Saturday afternoon. What follows is a summary of the second half of the training extravaganza held in Quebec City, August 12 to 14.

Saturday afternoon

Following bell ringing practice, Andrea took us through a number of drills to apply the concept of full body power.
Crossing Arms partner drill was done with the following variations: standing, moving, stepping in and shoving
4 variations of shuan yao were practiced: crab posture, outside knee-dai shou (2 steps), wrist/elbow control- low palm strike (3 steps), daishou (1step).
A couple of chuanzhang partner drills were practiced:
Chuanzhang-shuanyao (knocking the opponent backwards)
Snaking chuanzhang (chuan followed by coiling under the opponent’s arm to strike the armpit.

Saturday evening video night
We watched videos Li Laoshi had made during previous training seminars. Andrea asked us to pay attention to the stability of his stepping and how no technique is ever rushed.

Sunday
Kou-bai bu stepping drills were practiced using three different hand postions: single palm, elbow strike, crab posture
A tan, chuan, (turn 90°) zhuang, zhuang drill was practiced to help me realize how much more work I need on my zhuangzhang.

We then covered all eight changes with associated drills

• 1. Single Palm Change - including partner drills. Finishing the step and arms together was emphasized.
• 2. Double Palm Change - including partner practice of using stab to heaven and earth.
• 3. Following Change - the variation that requires 10 drop stances was practiced (for what felt like a very long time).
• 4. Triple Palm Change - emphasis was placed on moving into an opponent with each koubu.
• 5. Dodging Palm Change - emphasis was on applying shuanyao for the elbow strike.
• 6. Grinding Palm Change - including partner practice to catch the opponent’s arm, thread under the shoulder and move them by opening the body and turning.
• 7. Returning Body Change - the two kicks were practiced, trying the extend from the hip, without losing stability.
• 8. Spinning Body Change - emphasis was placed on getting the hang of the front and back zhuangzhang.

Monday
The extravaganza finished with practice on the histroic Plains of Abraham where we reviewed 8 of the sixteen applications:

• Chuanzhang - both straight line stepping and triangle stepping were practiced.
• Zhuangzhang - the importance of keeping the shoulder set and square was empahsized as we reviewed side zhuang and front zhuang. A standing drill that included Tiaoda was also included.
• Tanzhang - including the T stepping drill (the last bit of which is “very hard to describe”.
• Liao - this was practiced with kou-bai bu stepping to help find connection into the back. As the arm rises for the Liao, the body needs to sink.
• Gaizhang - zig-zag stepping was practiced followed by partner outside triangle stepping. With a partner, the technique must be held back or done to miss your partner by a wide margin (with a partner who you know will not move erratically).
• Yazhang - For the pressing power to be done correctly, there needs to be a connection to the back and the body must not lean. Mabu partner training was done.
• Fanbeichui - ya (press), qie (cut), fanbeichui (backfist) moving drills were practiced.
• Pizhang - mabu front pi (chop) was practiced. Again emphasis was placed on using the body rather than the arm.