The following explanation was offered by Dr. Jack Ling in response to student questions about 100/0 weighting in the biu ma stance and when stepping.

Dr. Ling is a student of the late Leung Sheung.

I think Ken will agree with me that we speak about percentages (and in a language that suggests more "accuracy" that warranted) primarily for pedagogical reasons: we seem to appreciate numbers more than description. Ideally, we should "rest" our full body weight on the hind leg, and the front leg should only be supporting its own weight (thus, "0 percent" can only be an ideal and not an actualizable goal). We practiced the one leg stand (100% on one leg) in connection with the Sil Niem Tao; but we did so to prepare us for the turning and moving in the Dzum Kiu. We never envisioned ourselves moving on one leg!

Having said this, I want to suggest that we don't get caught up in a pseudo-scientific discourse on percentages. We should not be dealing with a pursuit of "a real formula or equation". Instead, we may find it simpler and more productive to ask how best we can move (and practice to move) forward with most of body weight on our back leg. The goal is to strike a balance between one's ability to move forward in a stable, rooted, and effective manner while having a free front leg to move and to kick as needed.

Remember, Ken's 10-90% weight distribution* was measured in a motionless state. I will not be surprised to find a slight shift in weight distribution when he moves forward...and this is realistic and fine. Perhaps, if we insist on speaking about percentages, we can talk about an "upper weight distribution limit"...a point above which the mobility and freedom of the front leg becomes undesirably compromised...and build into this framework also the notion that individual variability exists.

Jack
January 9, 2003

*Note: The 90/10 reference is in regards to a consistent series of static measures taken with Kenneth Chung standing on a set of scales in the biu ma stance.