I'm feeling quite pleased with myself this morning because I did a half hour siu lim tau. I'm going to the Wing Chun residential course that my club runs in May and I was talking to one of the guys who had been to others in the past. He gave me scary stories about doing siu lim tau for one and a half hours, not just one time but every morning! This is a 3 day course so that's 3 lots of 90 minute siu lim taus.

There is no way I can manage that at the moment, so I was stirred into action. My usual long SLTs last around half an hour but I don't do them often. I usually do a few 20 minute SLTs a week so I thought I'd better start building up. From talking to other people who do long sessions, there seem to be some common 'symptoms' that you shouldn't worry about if you are trying to extend your practice too. The following are quite common and don't imply that you are a wus.

Meet Mr Shaky Legs

Around 20 minutes in, my legs started trembling from the strain. I thought it was a visible shaking, but when I looked at my legs in the mirror it was almost imperceptible. After a few more minutes the trembling became constant, which was a really weird sensation. I'm used to simply stopping whatever strenuous exercise I'm doing when I start trembling. For example, when bench pressing, you don't go on much longer after the first tremble. So I think your mind is conditioned into expecting the exercise to stop when you start trembling, and indeed, there is a tendency to stop when this happens.

But you can go through it. I spent the last 10 minutes of my practice with my legs shaking constantly. It was a bit off putting, but I managed.

Sore Shoulders

Because I'm an anal pedant, I have to time everything so that I know that I'm spending the same amount of time on my right side as I am on my left. I don't want one side getting stronger than the other, at least not through my dodgy training. So I spend 2 minutes extending my tan sau/fuk sau and then another 2 minutes retracting my wu sau. That's why my siu lim tau lasts a little over 30 minutes. Of course, after 2 minutes of extending your tan sau/fuk sau and trying to pull your elbow in, your shoulders are going to feel sore. Don't worry. That is the point. In time you'll be able to pull your elbows in more and more, thereby offering yourself more protection whilst your arm is actually relaxed.

Resting Your Fist

While one hand is doing the fuk sau/wu sau cycle, the fist on the other hand rests at your side. If you're not careful this fist will want to press against your side so that your side supports it. Ideally, you want to have that arm support itself and have the fist merely brushing your side, but on long siu lim taus, it's OK to rest it a little before moving it away so that it's no longer supported.

Can't Walk Afterwards

Bit of an odd one this. After standing in that stance for over 30 minutes, when I'd finished I couldn't walk. The first few times this happened I thought I was doing it wrong. I'm sure my posture is OK though, otherwise sifu would have corrected it in class. My thinking is that the more I do it, the easier it will get. Obvious, huh?

Anyway, after staying in stance for that length of time, if you are stiff I would advise a very gentle return to normality. What I do is just stand normally with legs relaxed but straight for a few seconds first. This in itself is a great relief after being in stance. Then I walk very slowly for a few yards and stop. Do that a few times. Then I bend over to touch my knees very slowly. Having stood straight for half an hour without moving, my back is a little stiff too. Then I stretch up and point to the sky. It's important to do all these things as gently as you need to. My knees suffer a bit sometimes so I rub them for 30 seconds, front and back.

Over the course of around 5 minutes of gradually walking more and more and doing gentle stretches, I'm just about back to normal.

The Aftermath - Jelly Legs

Even now, an hour after The Trauma, my legs are like jelly. That's normal when you push yourself though.

Finding The Time

30 minutes to do one siu lim tau is a bit of a sacrifice. I could be training all sorts of other things in those 30 minutes. But doing this kind of siu lim tau is very beneficial, so I need to find some balance. I don't want to do it so infrequently that I don't get stronger than I am, but I don't want to do it so often that my other training suffers. I think what I'll do for now is a few 20 minute siu lim taus and just one long siu lim tau every week.