RealWingChunKuen

It would have to be another kung fu style. Any or all the following: 1.Five Ancestor Fist. 2.Chow Gar (Southern Praying Mantis) 3.Northern Praying Mantis. 4.Baji Quan 5.Hsing I In my next life I believe that I will be starting my kung fu training at an earlier age than in this life. That is, if I come across decent and authentic kung fu schools -which I didn't do earlier in my current lifetime.

It seems that at least from the japanese karate perspective that the black belt merely demonstrates one's understanding of the basics of one's style. The main learning starts after one achieves the black belt level. That is the black belt is regarded as the beginning.

The short answer is yes, but of course, how much will also depend on your teacher as well. I hope that you are training in a good/authentic school of karate which will teach you the real thing, this way your confidence will have real basis. Train with dedication, because with dedication you will grow in all aspects, including self-confidence, much faster. By the way, what style of karate are you practicing?

I am sure that you will find this video clip interesting. The men in the video are masters of the Okinawan Uechi-ryu style of karate. This is real karate and with real essence, as opposed to an lot of "John Smith" styles of karate one comes across today. Enjoy. PS. There seems to be a bit missing from the clip, when the master breaks three wooden boards with his toes. You just see the broken boards, not him doing it. However, this is on the original DVD which I happen to have.

I have jus had a quick look at the video clips. I honestly don,t think that this is Tai Chi Chuan. They bounce around too much and some of the techniques look more like Shotokan than Tai Chi. I 'll have a more careful look at these clips later.

If it was me I would go for Praying Mantis, it is an effective and a high level kung fu system,if you find an authentic school that is. Furthermore, if it is a good school then,(as in most kung fu styles), your training will give emphasis to chi-kung (breathing and energy development) exercises, that will help you with your asthma problem.

If you mean the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, then that is not strictly a Wing Chun book. Having said that, it will for sure have some Wing Chun concepts and so on. No, I mean the Tao of Gung Fu. They are two different works. Here is the link: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp? ean=9780804831109 Oh sorry. I didn't know that such a book existed. However, because Bruce Lee, as talented as he was, never completly learn the sytem of Wing Chun, I would still recommend books by actual Wing Chun teachers. However, I am still tempted to have a look at this book, to what it is all about.

I would recommend the book called "Wing Chun, the art of simultaneous defense & attack" by Master Joseph Cheng. Also, "Yuen Kay-San Wing Chun Kuen, History and Foundation", by Rene Rirchie.

If you mean the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, then that is not strictly a Wing Chun book. Having said that, it will for sure have some Wing Chun concepts and so on.

My school of Wing Chun has nothing to do with the Yip Man lineage, even though it is still Wing Chun. It is a Mainland Chinese lineage of WC which seems, so far as I can tell from my own research, to have many techniques that do no exist in the Yip Man style. The reason why many Wing Chun schools are on each other's throats is the fact that there is a lot of money at play. Because of our friend Bruce Lee's connection with this style, as limited as it was, the Wing Chun name carries a lot of weight and money making potential.

The biggest problem in the Chinese Martial Arts is the many incompetent Mc Sifus - some of whom may even have marketed a great name for themselves - that have not mastered nor even achieved a basic understanding of the systems they are supposed to be masters at. That is the main problem, in my opinion, with CMAs today. Not if he has been learning Wing Chun the way it was meant to be learnt, thus giving him the ability to use the WC principles to adapt to whatever opponent he is faced with. That is what WC (as well as many other kung fu styles) is all about. I don't think it is fair to suggest that Wing Chun, or any kung fu style for that matter, was created to fight only with the exponents of that same style.

I would also recommend this books to anyone starting kung fu or anyone who is already practicing kung fu at whatever level. I would also recommend Wong Kiew Kits books to the many martial artists out there who are confused about Chi and hence go about simplifying its practice in order to hide their own inability to understand it or their unwillingness to accept that there are martial training methods that they do not understand. I seem to have met a lot of these type of people recently. Wong Kiew Kit explains these concepts and their relevance to meditation quiet well.

You forgot the people who have also "practiced" kung fu in McKwoons and think that they "know kung fu". The current situation regarding what information is out there on Chinese martial arts is rather unfortunate. I believe that all authentic kung fu styles have an internal side to them that makes their total mastery very difficult and I suppose that is what makes our kung fu lives so interesting.

Just wanted to add to that post. It is hard enough to learn a martial art from a competent instructor and long hours of training, how is one supposed to learn from books and self teaching? Having said that, books and dvds can be very handy when one is already putting a long hours of training in his chosen martial art, or if one has mastered or has working knowledge of one system and is trying to understand a similar system. They are also a good source for personal research into different types of martial arts that one might be interested in. I have my own small library of books on various kung fu (karate) styles. That does not make me a practitioner of those styles.

A lot of the phylosophy in JKD have been part of kung fu training concepts for centuries .

Is the Mantis one of the animales in his system?

Far more practical for whom? Each one of us has a different definition of practical. If you have time on your hands and are willing to learn a higher level art that you can use effectively until your old age (which is when most of us at our most vulnerable to violent attacks), then it may be far more practical to study an art such as Tai Chi, Hsing I, etc. However, if one wants relatively quick results, then an external martial art is more suitable. ........Or unless you have gained a level of expertise in an internal style of kung fu. Unfortunately, training that aims to "live with" the adrenaline dump involves artificially inducing it in training, which is not a very healthy thing to do, not in the long term anyway. This fact is also recognized by the chinese internal martial arts, which take the health aspects, both physical and mental, of their exponents very seriously. I do see your point however about spending long periods of time training internal arts. It is not practical for the average Joe and thankfully there are the more external martial arts that are more practical to learn for shorter term results. Internal Chinese martial arts are more complex by design and offer more long term benefits, hence the longer time periods required to master them.

I believe that your Tai Chi training emphasises soft chi kung where as Mantis.style's training emphasises the hard chi kung. The softness in Tai Chi emphasises the flow of energy through the tandien(s) and the cultivation of chi. This is only truly understood by one who trains it and for a long time. There is no magic about it, there are secrets, but definitely no magic. I have never come across any authentic kung fu teacher that has described this aspect of kung fu as magic. I am afraid that it is all about patience, diligence and plain old Hard Work (that is, kung fu). There are "softer" schools of Southern Mantis as well, but I suspect that Mantis.Style does not practice in one of those. In harder schools of chinese kung fu it is more difficult to appreciate the subltleness of chi cultivation as regards to arts such as Tai Chi Chuan, whose basis and ultimate aim is to use this force for combat and yes it does take 10 years to make effective, that is just its nature. To achieve a body that possesses the "silky softness" necessary for tai chi combat takes a long time. Note: I believe the core training in southern mantis emphasises tendon training on equal basis, if not more, than external muscle training.

In the chineses internal martial arts - Bagua, Tai Chi Chuan, Hsing I, etc. - the aim is to by-pass the adrenaline rush. This is not easily achieved, hence the long periods of hard training required to make them effective as fighting arts.

That is interesting. I have never heard of Southern Mantis being taught in combination with other animals in 5 animals kung fu.

Is your Mantis sounds like it is of the northern branch. Is it?

....That just reminded me of a comment that a friend of mine made, he said, "Christianity is not a religion but it is a philosophy that is practiced religiously"..... I laughed first, then I scratched my head then I saw inclings of truth within what he said.

Well said. I have seen many people who are relatively effective from a kicking range, but when an opponent blocks/sidesteps their way into punching range, then these kickers seem to loose their way (and consequently the fight).

Hello Plat, First of all welcome to the forums. My advice is that you should start with one art and get good at it before you get into the other. If your priority is self defense and only self defense only, then I would suggest that you start with a stand up striking art which in your case would be Muay Thai as it should give you results quicker than TKD. It is also a stand up style, and that is where most fights start. Once you have built up your fitness level and confidence, then you can start you BJJ classes. Good luck.

There are those who would disagree with you on such simplification of Chi. They would tell you that chi is more than just muscle mechanics, that it involves, at least in higher levels of training, pure energy that is directed by the mind to different parts of the body....etc That would suggest that you believe you know how chi works. Wether that is true or not is not really relevant to this discussion. However, what I am saying is that people training in the internal arts have should have access to that knowledge, according to their skill level of course. This will ensure that they know about the time span and other factors that are required. I think that is a logical statement that describes a logical approach to training. The fact is that internal styles take longer to master than the more external styles of kung fu (which take long enough in their own right). When an instructor tells a new student that he will need to devote a relatively longer time period his training, then it is logical for him to run thru some basic concepts regarding the relevance of chi in the practice of that particular art. The fact is one of the major aim in the internal martial arts is the development, nurturing and control of chi for fighting and health. There is not getting away from that fact.