soon, soon my pretties i shall have no school for 13 weeks...as all my exams will be done within the next 4 or 5 weeks. im looking for something to do for the next 13 weeks (as well as some working and traveling)
i seem to have a natrual nack at fighting (i fight between 2 and 6 times a day, really violently with my psychotic brother) and the reactions of a mongoose (i never know when hes gonna launch a punch) and used to do judo untill i had a nasty knee injury which put me out for 4 months (i never went back)
so whats good martial arts wise, something preferably hand to hand and a bit spiritual, but it aint essential
What's available in your area & for how much... there's no point in desiding Wing CHUN is the best martial art to learn if there are no teachers available to teach you.
Second is commitment... If you're only planning to do this for 13 weeks you'll only be getting started with an understanding of Bau Gua or taiji chuan by the time 13 weeks is up.
sounds like you like to rough house... this could work against you or not... San Shou will have you in a ring (Lai Ti) with Boxing gloves and protective gear, right on the onset... So would Tai Boxing.Jeet Kune Do Would also have you sparring fairly quickly, and would utilise lots of your own natural abilities...beware, for there are many psudeo masters out there!
Wing Chun is legendary for the speed with which one can learn & develop understanding of it's applications. It'll challage your knee though, which may be good.
Hung Ga & Cho Lay fut are amazing workouts. These are the more classic Kungfu styles most people envision when thinking about Kungfu. Forms can be complicated & you may feel like you're actually learning how to fight for a while.
Every Kungfu has a spiritual aspect... but it's sort of up to the teacher & student to "go there"
Tae Kwon Do is by far one of the most popular of martial arts available... many people start here... can be costly...
Karate also classic...
Ju Jitsu parent to Akido and Judo. You'll learn how to fall properly; an invaluable skill. Generally very practical teachings... How to Flip, Lock, throw an opponent. See also their Chinese equivilant Chi Na (joint lock science) Swai Cheo (Mongolian Wrestling), Eagle Claw . . .
Then there's the Grandparent of martial arts... Shaolin Kungfu
But one of my freinds just started doing Bakwa (no idea if thats spelt right) ... But he says thats wicked.
You get all your spiritual stuff, along with learning everyones fav 'the one inch punch' .....
Bagua or Pakua is one of the 'internal' family of Chinese Kung Fu - along with Taiji and Hsing I. Bagua is noted for a pattern of complex footwork. Like other softer forms, it relies on intelligence more than brute force, and requires application and training before it can be readily applied to a real (ish) situation. Speed, distance, timing, and strategy are vital.
If I were you I'd choose tai chi, it is after all known as the supreme ultimate martial art! you get to build up your internal energy, so you have an amazing relaxed strength
"And PATricky, really: Then there's the Grandparent of martial arts... Shaolin Kungfu...
You should know better.."
Oh c'mon!!!! what's wrong with a statment like that?
SHAOLIN is one of the OLDEST martial arts institutions in the world...
Yeah yeah martial arts weren't nessarily invented there, but it's certainly got some DEEP roots....
Taiji quan is indeed the Grand ultimate Fist still, I've taken some classes where the teacher had no idea what it's applications were. I ended up using my Wing Chun training to help him break apart the form. Needless to say I left the class soon after that.
I'm no expert, but Goju Ryu Karate I found good. Very direct street-fighting form. Perhaps I was impressed by our teacher, who was the hardest man I have ever met. Studied in Japan for 20 years, not the brightest guy in the world but had something about him...
did I ever mention that my friend's dad is 8th Dan Judo? and he's a wicked cook as well
Shaolin is old. So are Wudang and the Daoist schools. They're mutually complementary, though, alas, not often mutually complimentary. Most of the origin stories which trace everything to those schools are demonstrably bunkum. And I think there's evidence pointing to fighting schools in India which predate anything which can be documented in China.
Shaolin uses Buddhist philosophy and imagery. Taiji and friends use Daoism. Both of them probably owe their origins to attempts to gather fighting knowledge from itinerant scrappers and develop a coherent system.
As to your Taiji class, that's not at all uncommon. Taiji was deliberately stripped down in China during the Cultural Revolution, when it was an offense to teach martial skills outside the army. Most of the styles currently taught, in China and the West, are half-arsed to say the least. The prolferation of charlatans (Oriental and Occidental), to which Shaolin and Wing Chun have also not been immune, has clouded an already murky issue. This problem created by inter-clan and inter-school and inter-teacher rivalry which encouraged the 'inside the door' system of private tuition and secrecy.
My teacher once speculated that 'Taiji' was not originally taught as a single art. It was a set of concepts which could be used to refine many different fighting systems. This was then incorporated into complex fighting systems so that bad habits (using strenght where technique was necessary, for example) could be avoided early on. Certainly one of the possible origins of Tai Chi as the name for the art is a pun, rather than any Great Ultimate...
h3h...yeah i did judo for a while when i was younger, won a whole load of compotitions, and a friend who i used to beat all the time is now in the scotland squad, and the only person in my school who i dont reckon i could beat in a fight (plus he does several different martial arts now...on fact next time i'll see him i'll ask whats good in the area).
i do like to "rough house" as you put it, but ive never started a fight (though ive ended a fair few)...but not something to rough, cos my achiles heal is me big ass roman nose :^) ive got a friend in the para's who used to do a bit of boxing, so we had a match in his garden...i landed at least ten punches on him before he got his first descent hit on me...right on the nose and floored me...do you get nose pads :P
I found ju jutsu a pleasant combination of techniques. Locks, throws, trips, strikes and, as PATricky said, lots of falling practice, which is very useful. A lot more useful than actual fighting skills. I haven't trained properly for years, but I still avoid being hurt from slipping or falling off chairs. Learning that took some time though...
Most ju jutsu schools spar and do form training as well, although most training is done two by two, grinding over movements again and again and again. And a few times more, just for good measure.
If you want something more rough (read aggressive and painful) I'd go with Muai Thai. But those people seem to be constantly injured.
If you really want to learn how to fight more than anything else, see if you can find a Krav Maga school. Krav Maga is used in the Israeli military, and is very effective I'm told. Seems a bit boring to me though...
San Shou uses lots of padding... Gloves, Shins, feet, Ribs, Chest & head... still, I know a guy who accidently broke hios sparing partner;s jaw..... iit was being filmed, so you could acctually hear the PoP then the guy just wiggled a little bit then collapsed... The other dude is now the national Champion several times over.
"And I think there's evidence pointing to fighting schools in India which predate anything which can be documented in China. "
Well that ties into the story of Bodhidarma aka TAMO who traveled from India to China (some say he walked), and contributed Lots of stuff to the development of Shaolin Chan (ZEN) meditation, Qigong & ultimately Kungfu & Buddhism.
There's a Krav Maga school down the road from where I work. One of my co-workers used to train there... HARD CORRRRE!!!
The kungfu magazine site PATricky works for will also have a lot of useful info - you could just spend an hour or so browsing the message boards for a good "feel" for various styles.
Well I'm quite enjoying Ti Chi at the moment, only been at it 3 month or so and I'm still a bit crap but its a lot of fun and things are starting to come together...a bit .
We share a room with a karate class for one of the lessons (curtain down the middle) and the difference couldn't be more pronouced. Ti Chi lots of people quietly practising their form or appications on each other. Next door lots of people shouting very loudly and the instructor shouting abuse at them. Is this normal for Karate? Its everything that turned me off martial arts for years.
But a mate of mine who is wise in such things says he's tried all sorts of martial arts over the years and he can't get the hang of ti chi, he keeps wanting to deck people quickly, his martial arts of choice is Akido. Try some until one fits.
Isn't the current version of Wushu an amalgam of various style, in an attempt to create a 'unfied' style?
Also, if you can be bothered, Wushu, Taichi and Bagua all work well together. I learn all three at the moment and they compliment each other very well. A balance of internal and external styles. Practical and spiritual.
"Isn't the current version of Wushu an amalgam of various style, in an attempt to create a 'unfied' style? "
well this could be said about almost every martial art at some point in it's history...
Modern "sport" wushu is based on a set of standardised forms or "sets" used for demonstraitions competitions & point judging... many of those sets have been co-opted from older styles... Tang Quan (Long Fist?). So Combat applications can be found based on your particualar teacher's background.
Alot of people consider it an invalid KUNGFU... when one considers a "pure" definition of "kungfu" that attitude is revealed to be somewhat insubstantial. Based perhaps on "hand-me-down" beliefs from the variety of Kungfu Masters who fled China durring it's cultural revolution. Those who created these "modern Wushu Sets" where Kungfu masters in their own right. Their's was the responsibility to preserve generations of teachings midst a very dark time...ultimatlely I believe they succeeded quite well.
Ok, its summertime, and I have nothing to do so I thought I'd take a martial arts course. I checked the yellow pages and to say that the selection was underwhelming would be an understatement. We have 3 schools! 3! We have a kung-fu place, a tae kwon do place, and a place that teaches a couple of different styles.
The only three that seemed the least bit interesting are Shaolin Kung-fu, Wing Chun Kung-fu, and Kenpo.
Unlike sttab, I'm looking more for a course that'll eventually lead to the use of weapons rather than hand to hand stuff. Do any of these lead up to that or do I need to keep searching?
Schools:
The Kungfu, the Set/form will pretty much have all the lessons implied/hidden there...
Weapons:
the 3 martial arts you mentioned all have some sort of weapon set included. Generally, they will only begin teaching weapons after you've spent some time at the schools, earned some rank, proved some measure of maturity & worth... this of course is at the discression of the teacher/Sensei/Shihan/Sifu as the case may be... The most notable exception is the Phillipino arts of Escrima & Arnise, that will start you of with a weapon (stick) then move you up to open hand techniques as well as knives, swords & staffs.
Schools:
The Kungfu, the Set/form will pretty much have all the lessons implied/hidden there...
Weapons:
the 3 martial arts you mentioned all have some sort of weapon set included. Generally, they will only begin teaching weapons after you've spent some time at the schools, earned some rank, proved some measure of maturity & worth... this of course is at the discression of the teacher/Sensei/Shihan/Sifu as the case may be... The most notable exception is the Phillipino arts of Escrima & Arnise, that will start you of with a weapon (stick) then move you up to open hand techniques as well as knives, swords & staffs.
The general all purpose martial arts place, that teaches Kenpo, offers a free trial month so I figure that'd probably be my best bet for now. Give it a try, see if I like it and the Kung Fu place doesn't require you to sign up for a set amount of classes. So there's no real contract.
What I'd really like to take is fencing, iaido, or kendo. Problem being the nearest kendo studio's about a 4 hour drive away from here. As for fencing, Vanderbilt has a fencing club, but you've got to be a student. I'm not a student there so I don't think they'd let me join up.
I know no matter which one I choose, whether kenpo or kung fu, it's going to be a few years before I'll be doing anything with weapons, and I'm ok with that. I'm not expecting to walk into a wing chun kung-fu class and have the instructor hand me a couple of butterfly swords and let me go at it. That'd be like handing a child a loaded weapon.
Shaolin is the new Clean in the martial community... all of a sudden every teacher, Kungfu to Tae Kwon Do has some Shaolin factor involved... Be careful of this... ask for some background on where what your teacher know & is teaching... then research it.
It's a great workout, for mind, body, spirit. Pleanty of weapons to learn about from the basic staff... to some crazy whip chains & rope darts... this of course depends on the teacher, and it may be some time before you've got a weapon in hand...
Beware of a belt system, Shaolin Kungfu doesn't really have one. Traditionall you'll be taught a Form that may take you some time to learn... with-in that form will be the applications that the teacher may or may not extract and teach you.. each movement has a purpose.
Wing Chun:
Wing Chun is a personal favorate of mine. I've train it of & on for many years... it's the art I can speak most personally about. Made Famous by Bruce Lee who pretty much got his Kungfu Intro with that art. Of the arts you mentioned WC is known for it's simplicity, with only about 3-4 open hand sets and 2-3 weapon sets... it's generally believed that one can learn the most the quickest with this art. It's emphasis is on geomitry of the body and ease of movement... this art can be fought in an elevator or stairway. If you can imagine Shaolins Long fisted High kicks Wing Chun as much more about in-fighting... Getting VERY close to your opponent relying on the geomatry of your movement to prevent hir from fighting effectively while you can essentially control the situation. The forms learned are deceptively simeple, with minimal footwork at first. The priority here is in learning the proper angles... Once learned it will change how you fight or even think about fighting forever... Again there's No real belt system as there are so few sets in the whole system.
1st) will give you basics on posture, blocks, strikes... almost everything in the art it in the 1st set. lots of defence
2nd) will give you expanded footwork and movement... how to be agressive.
3rd) Wooden Dummy training... will harden your limbs, teach you about power.
4th plus) weapons & nasty stuff... many students will not be taught beyond this point if they aren't serious.
Kenpo:
Generally viewed as an americanised fusion of Karate with Kungfu elements. From what I've seen, it will devote lots of time towards the basics of strikes, stances, blocks, etc... beginners will look like they are learning Karate... as they advance the Kungfu aspects will appear...
Of course these are major generalisations... and i would suggest you spend a bit of time with each school... ask lots of questions, from the teachers & students... Keep us posted.
and while they'll have you swinging a (wooden) sword around and such... it's much more about the formalities, tradition & performance than it is about learning how to use a weapon... Verymuch mike "japanese fencing" sketchy if useful in an ally...
More about the sport... which is cool in & of itself...
