KF Dude

Hung-Ga Kung Fu

I'd want to be trained by any of the past masters in our lineage.

Chronicles is a great read, not sure if any of it is true though.

Hung-Ga

Good article. Another way go get around the 'belt blues' is to forget about them entirely. As a martial artist looking to get the most of out thier chosen art, training becomes a way of life. It just something you do everyday like brushing your teeth. Just train hard & enjoy what you are doing. Along way you will test & get another sash, belt, stripe &/ or certificate - whatever. It's a nice token of appreciation from your school, just a small mile stone out of many. Train for self improvement in your martial art not for a piece of cloth. In general, it takes what 3 to 4 years to become a black belt in most systems. If this is the summit of your martial art goals then you are missing out on another 40+ years worth of training. Forget the belt & just train correctly & hard, everything else will fall into place.

Brass rings move along your forearm this makes training more challenging. We use them for drills & forms. The added resistance makes your arms feel light when you take them off. Start with only 1 or 2 rings at first. It's not body building so don't rush to add more weight. Swinging your ams with the rings is hard on the shoulders give them time to adjust. I use football hand pads as a cushion for the back of hands. Hope this helps.

Dingyuan- Hung Ga would send Baji Quan & Choy Lay Fut running home to mommy. Ok, I'm a little biased Forget about "style" focus on the martial artist instead. If practice makes perfect then the one who trains harder would have the advantage. HG used to be exclusive short range then lohan movements were added to give it med/long range techiques as well. The only thing I know about Baji is Imperial palace bodyguards used to be trained in it. Is there a BQ website you know of?

HG develops hard arms so it might feel like a force on force block. All good kung fu has a balance of external & internal, Hung Ga is no different.

I enjoy it. The training can be difficult at times but it's amazing what you get used to.

Hand conditioning & hitting points are legitimate trainings in kung fu. Movies love to sensationalize the methods & results of 'secret' kf techniques. kf schools that fight know the importance of conditioning & the reality of hitting points on a agressive uncooperative opponent. Kill Bill Vol.2 five point palm exploding heart technique is just good old movie kung fu.

Try out classes. Pick one. Practice regularly to get the most out of your chosen martial art.

I've been studing for a little over ten years. Hung-Ga is a traditional southern shaolin 5 animal kung fu style. The foundation of the system is a strong rooted stance & continous drilling of the basics. Not really a 'open' system - it's been around for more than 450 years. So the art has stood the test of time. Changes are made but must fit within the guidelines of the the style. HG doesn't do tournament sparring well. We don't train to pull punches & the head is fair game during class sparring, so we wind up getting DQ most of the time. A strike should have enoungh power to stop the incoming opponent in his/her tracks. No point should ever be awarded for a 'tap' technique, unless beginner level. No we are not the 'cobra kai'

Well said. You need to find a MA that you love to practice & you don't consider it a burden to train everyday - make it a part of your life. Best bet is to try out those schools you can reasonably commute to from home, work or school. If there is a particular MA you want you might have to drive a good distance for instruction. If you find what you want, it will be worth all the extra effort. Best of luck.

I'm leading the class in qi gong warm up. The exercise is called 'golden turtles' without getting too technical, the position is very similar to what a downhill skier looks like at the final stretch of a race. Now during qi gong training the room is a silent as a library. This exercise is pretty tough on the legs & back, so it takes all your concentration to endure/hold the posture for the alloted time. So much concentration that I let one 'slip'............ it was loud & long.

Great post Angela. All striking comes from the ground up. The legs & hips are the main driving forces behind the movement. Waist rotation, a slight shoulder stretch when chambering & arm/forearm rotation all add power as well. Proper alignment of the foot, shoulder, arm, wrist & fist at the moment of impact ensures maximum delivery of the force generated into your opponent. Let's also not forget proper breathing. The human body is amazing considering all of this happens in a split second.

Low Horse Stance in Karate??? And you take Hung Gar!!! C'mon dude, we Southern stylists have like some of the lowest stanes in the world. . . . . . . --> LOL I know all about low stances. I was at a friends Karate tourney - cool stuff. Didn't know there was so many different styles of Karate. Kama weapon form was great to watch. Back to stances, some of the horse stance was too low - the butt was sticking out instead of tucked in & was held below the knee level. Also the feet were pointing outward not straight ahead. Having the feet point straight does take some time to get right. I'm almost there, forcing it too quickly stresses the knee.

While testing isn't mandatory, it takes about 4 to 5 years at my school. There is a life time worth of study so many students don't rush up the 'black belt' ladder. Kinda becomes more of a lifestyle than a hobby. Usually those interested in teaching test regularly.

The main differences I see between K & KF are: Simultaneous block & strike techniques, use of fa jing & internal training. The Karateka friends I know(all black belt levels) seem to always use block then strike techniques. No matter how fast they move, there's always a split second pause before the strike is thrown. None can strike at real close range, they must push into the opponent to create enough space to strike. Internal training is just unknown to them. I always get curious skeptical looks when I practice qi gong around them. These are differences I see. Is one better than the other - no. Overall, I see more similarities than differences.

One feel is worth a thousand words. Yes, chi definitely exsists.

Hung-Ga: Southern Shaolin 5 animal kung fu system. Requires lots of dedication to endure the begining stages. Heavy stance work, arm/body conditioning & fighting drills are common trainings. Speed is developed while maintaining a solid foundation. The strength of the fighting techniques are a combination of the animal techniques & body connection. Done correctly the strikes are extremely powerful. While used for defense, Hung-Ga is aggressive in it's application. Qi Gong, weapons & the Iron Wire form make it a complete system with a life times worth of study.

quote="dingyuan"]Hi there, I just wish to ask how many animal forms are there in Hung Gar? I am not really familiar with Southern styles and just what's the different between Hung Gar and Choy Lee Fut?? Thank you. Hung-Ga is a southern shaolin 5 animal system: dragon,snake,tiger,leopard & crane. Most people mistake HG as only tiger/crane. Fu Hok is our most popular hand form but there is also 3 more animals to play with. I believe there is Fu Hok Pai a kung fu system separate from Hung-Ga that uses tiger/crane exclusively. From my experience HG puts more emphasis on stance training than CLF (or any other martial art). Starting out, HG is challenging on the legs & not knowing any better you constantly are asking yourself 'How does all this stance stuff apply to fighting? Do I really want to put up with this?'. The foundation training is long and hard with really only a few basic fighting drills taught to break up the monotony. Only those who stay & endure come to find out there is a definite method to the madness. I don't know much about CLF, we do use some of their techniques: sau, chop, jin, qua choi(s) with HG body connection. Both are good kung fu systems.

I'm from the Yee's school. Come on down & try out a class.

I've been practicing Hung-Ga kung fu for a little over ten years. I find all martial arts fascinating & have great respect for all that practice.

Hung-Ga Kuen comes from the Southern Shaolin Temple. I've been told it's about 450+ years old. The older stories about how the style developed are difficult to confirm for obvious reasons. Wong Fei Hung is credited with formalizing the style we know today.

Not really sure about the Pai Mei character. I think Pak Mei (White Eyebrow) is another spelling & that is a legit style. Gordon Liu is a Hung-Ga stylist. He's been a bunch of the old school kung fu films. Crane is one of the 5 animals in Hung-Ga - tiger/crane is the most popular form in the Hung-Ga system. I think the crane in Kill Bill2 is just movie kung fu.