Hello all. I've been interested in Kung Fu since I was young, althought I've never took part in any, mostly due to the fact that there were never any close enough that my parents would drive me to. I'm 6'2 and weigh around 210lbs. Let me explain what I'm looking for out of a style. I'm looking for a good workout, discipline, philosphy, meditation. The self-defense effectivness of it is important to me, but not that much. I'm not looking particularly for a style to learn how to defend myself, even thought it can't hurt. So in a nutshell I'm looking for something that packs a punch and can provide a good work out but still has a strong spiritual side to it. Here are some styles that are being taught near me. Some of them I'm a bit familiar with, while some of the others I do not know much about. Thank you for your help! Hung Gar, Choy Lei Fut, Tibetan Lama Pai, Fa-Men-Ch'uan, Dai Sing Pek Gwa(combination of Shaolin Pek Gwa and Dai Sing), Northern Shaolin and finally Lohan Ch'uan.
Well To be honest in the Us an NY u should be spoilt for choice. Me being a Southern stylist I would recommend Hung Gar or CLF. Heard good things about Yee's Hung gar in Syracuse.
Seriously, you are one lucky fawker... Go to them all and see what they're like, talk to the instructors and tell them what you want out of training. After you've been round all of them you should have it narrowed down a bit more to just a few. Once you've got those few, try them each out for a few months (simultaneously if you want), and any that don't suit you can be dropped, but there should be at least one (and if there isn't, go back to the original list and start again with different choices). Once again, you lucky fawker!
WOW Thats alot of choice all i have near me is wing chun Why cant england have loads of martial arts like the U.S I have heard highly of hung gar but it would be better to check them all out yourself see which one suits your intrests correctly as it sometimes depends on the instructer as well.
Lordy. You're really lucky, you know. I do CLF, so I'm biased towards it. Some descriptions - Choy Lay Fut - Southern Longfist, insanely powerful hand techniques, limited kicking, low stances, huge swinging strikes, alot of torque and whipping power through the waist. Alot of bridging. Hung Gar - Southern style (i don't know if it's longfist, but I guess), less kicking than CLF I think. "Strong" waist, no whipping power to the best of my knowledge. Even more bridging than CLF, infact some of the best bridging IMO. Northern Shaolin - Northern Longfist. Very different approaches than CLF in terms of how longfist. BTW, longfist doesn't mean we stay far away and pound you. CLF likes to get in nice and close, bridge, and destroy as well. The idea tho is to use flailing arm techniques which are extended by nature, so that's why.
Can you give any more info on the Hung Gar school? I'd personally go for that.............but I'm highly biased. (Smee squares off to Infra for a bit of Hung vs CLF gong sau!!!)
Alot of shifu and instructors will let you try on a class or few , and may even offere you the first one or 2 lessons free before they ask you to commit to a membership. As you said, there's no rush so check out a few different ones and see where you feel most comfortable. cheers Blooming Lotus
Well there's actually a few more schools that teach Kung-Fu, but they don't say what type, just say Kung-Fu. CLF and Hung Gar sound pretty interesting but I guess my best bet would be to check them all out. Also, can anyone give me a lil' more insight into Northern Shaolin? Thanx for the info.
If the Lama kungfu if David Ross's school, you should defenitely check it out. He's had many many san shou/san da champions, and is basically the top san shou promoter in the U.S. His teacher Chan Tai San was probably one of the most skilled and most feared masters of the 20th century. The Tai Sheng Pek Kwar school should be pretty good too if it's the real deal... Basically they should teach the Pek Kwar (Pigua) system first and then monkey style (the Tai Sheng stuff) after. I think they had 4 guys win the SE Asian full contact competition back in the 70's. There's also a phoney Tai Sheng Pek Kwar group here in the U.S., but the one that I'm aware of in NYC is legit. I think he's a kungfu brother of Mr. Ross, and might teach the Lama stuff too? I can't remember (came across his website a couple weeks ago). Northern Shaolin could either be refering to a specific Shaolin system http://www.shaolininstitute.com/northern_shaolin_history.htm or any northern Chinese martial art with a connection to Shaolin (even if it's vague and unverifiable)
Another good school to check out in NY: http://sifuchenying.com/ teaches modern wushu, but also has very strong traditional lineage (Shaolin Six Harmony Boxing and Natural Boxing through Wan Lai Shen).
go with what works well with your body. always listen to your body, not your brain. your brain may be telling you "hey i like this" but your body might be saying "no don't do this, it's doing a # on your knees".
I take it all back. GO. DO. PAK MEI (WHITE EYEBROW). NOW. www.pakmeinyc.net GO. THERE. NOW. DO. IT. BEFORE YOU LOSE YOUR OPPORTUNITY IN A LIFETIME.
what sort of northern shaolin is it? are they just messing people around and saying "northern shaolin" for "tourist value", or is it the proper thing? i do northern long fist, which i think they may be talking about. shaolin is pretty much every kung fu ever made, or a sort of mythical entity. northern long fist (chang chuen) is great. i haven't done any different styles, so i can't compare them, but i do know that you get a really good workout (though this will also depend on the club and instructor themselves), is a really beautiful style, and is also good for self-defence. my school's website has a couple of articles on it in the articles section at http://www.cmahc.co.za. like the others said though, it depends highly on the school and the instructor. you may get a style which everyone else says is fantastic, but if your instructor is a complete **** you won't enjoy it at all. so go try a couple out (the first lesson is usually free), make sure they aren't trying to rip you off by asking for six months/ a year's payment in advance, look at the prices of all of them (see which is the most affordable, but not "cheap"), talk to a few of the beginners and see what they think, and talk to the si-heng and/or si-fu. it'll give you a much better idea of what to do.
