RealWingChunKuen

Here are a few excelletnt titles: 1)Karate do Kyohan, by Gichin Funakoshi. 2)This is Karate, by Masutatsu Oyama, plus any other book by him. 3)The Heart of Karate-do, by Shigery Egami

At least you weren't using open handed strikes But seriously, I have that problem when I end up doing Chi Sao with a female member of the class. She is a high rank student, which means I need to use all the targets available to me and it makes it difficult when you are up against an advanced level student and are not able to "hit" the mid/upper body area which is the largest target on the human body.

All I can tell you is that there are not branches in London. I am currently training what I know (mid Chum Kiu) on my own and my sifu when I see him on vacations. The lineage seems to have more variations of punching and kicking techniques than the Yip Man lineage. The weapons training doesn't only include the butterfly knives and the Pole, but also darts training. There is heavy emphasis on chi kung/internal training and Iron Palm/Fist/Shirt. It takes around 8 years of hard and regular training to reach instructor status. There are strong Tiger elements in this lineage and they become more apparent at the Biu Jee level. And you are going to love this, at the latter stages of Chum Kiu there is the Wing Chun ground fighting training, based on this style's own techniques and theories and concepts, I.E. It is not borrowed/cross-trained judo,bjj, etc. ground fighting.

I suppose it is because of the approach of karate and indeed kung fu training. It is for life, and that is, very long term. Secondly once he masters the more complex moves/blocks in karate he can combine them with his particular style's techniques such as kicking, knee attacks, elbow attacks, open hand chops and finger attacks, locks and joint breaks, takedowns etc. - all of which are techniques that are none existant in boxing - to greater effect. This ultimately means that using his long term approach he will spend more time learning a richer art, and as a result will get more out of it in the end.

I'll give you some relevant info here on this style. Kyokushinkai karate was founded by Masutatsu Oyama. The style is mainly based on Goju-Ryu and Shotokan. However, it has other influences, including Chinese, and Korean, I believe. The training is very physical and it takes the Budo approach. The sparring is full contact and bare knuckle. Punches to the face are not allowed for obvious reasons. However, knee attacks and kicks are allowed to the face and other parts of the body. Great importance is also given to kata training - a very traditional approach. The system is very rich as far as techniques are concerned. Regular Kyokushinkai competitions are held all over the planet, nationally, as well as international ones. Eventhough this is a relatively new style of karate, it is more traditional than some of the more popular and older styles who make the same claim. To find out more about this style of karate google Mas. Oyama, and of course Kyokushinai. Best of luck.

You can google "kung fu schools in Israel" and see what you come up with. If you can't find Wing Chun, then you can consider other styles such as Baji Quan, Praying Mantis (Both northern or southern styles), Pak Mei, etc. All great styles that some would say superior to most of Wing Chun that you would find out there. Of course, any kung fu school has to be a good one and that is what you will have to find out for yourself through practise and research. Good luck.

In my Wing Chun school (in Brazil), us, the students wear black sashes, independent of their grades. Sifu wears a golden sash. There are no gradings. When one is good enough to go to the next stage, then one will be told by the sifu, who will upgrade his training accordingly. No gradings, no fancy belts, badges etc. I know that many traditional kung fu schools operate more or less in this way. P.S. I am not in Brazil anymore, but do train with my sifu whenever I visit.

Good luck with that school. However, keep an eye out for any Kyokushinkai schools that may be near where you are going. It would seem that this style of karate tends to maintain a good consistency as regards training standards and tradition as well as regular competitions that even cross over to multi-style scenarios such as K1 and MMA.

Traditional Mainland Lineage of Wing Chun. Forms: Siu Nim Tao, Chum Kiu, Biu Jee, The Wooden Dummy, Sixteen kicks form, 8 Fists Form, 8 palms form. Weapons: Butterfly Knives, The Pole and Darts. Strong emphasis on Chi kung/internal training. There is also solid training in Chin-na and Wing Chun ground fighting. Intense Chi Sao, including Kum La Chi Sao (Grappling Chi Sao). Later on in training the tiger elements within Wing Chun become more visible.

The best way to see what works you have to see what works in a street fight and not what works or does not work in a tournaments or sports events. Unfortunately you can rarely find clips of TMA experts, real ones - not ones who just do the postures to impress unlookers or out of fear - fighting against street fighters. I will keep looking, however.

A 10 year old 3rd dan black belt spells Mc dojo to me. It is my understanding of karate that 3rd dan grades, and above, are given for more than just physical ability but also a higher understanding of concepts and theories embodied within an art. How can a 10 year old have the maturity to achieve such a level? Who in their right mind would give a 10 year old a 3rd dan? And until when will the serious martial artists put up with this type of clowning? I am glad you did what you did to the 10 year old. I am sure it brought him closer in contact with reality. You could have probably done that to his sensei (who presumable awarded him the 3rd dan in the first place), as well, without much difficulty.

In our school of Wing Chun we are told not to blink either. I suspect that this is true with many martial arts, especially the ones that stress close range fighting.

The Samurai.

Also, if you practice the "softer" such as Tai Chi, Pakua, Hsing I and various other internal styles of kung fu, then you will literally be able to practice until your last breath. AND, not only will you be practicing until your old age, but also, your health and general quality of life will also improve as you grow older.

You have got it perfectly right. You have a bad feeling about your school's approach to karate. When I read your initial post I also began to get a bad "feel" about your school. You can mix adult and children classes up to a reasonable level, beyond which the standard will fall. Secondly, to really understand any particular style of karate (and indeed, kung fu) will take most people decades. Only then one should even contemplate mixing various other styles to a core art. However, you will find that once a particular style of karate is well understood by a practitioner, it is unlikely that he or she will just mix it with another martial art. This is because most tradtional styles of karate (and kung fu) will give you an all round arsenal to defend yourself. Once one understands this then it is less likely that one will try to "improve" upon it by mixing it with other styles or MA. Of course, this is not to say that one cannot study other styles separately once a person gains expert , or at least a good workable, knowledge of ones core art. All karate is not the same. A Shotokan punch is different from a Goju Ryu punch. There are also differences in the way katas are performed and even their applications. It is better to practise one style of karate and understand it, then study a jumbled up mixture of karate styles mixed by god knows who. I know that in the UK you can find very good Shotokan, Kyokushinkai and Goju Ryu schools as well as probably other schools representing other styles. I am not sure of what is available in your part of the UK, but it is well worth your while to look for a school that will teach a particular and valid style of karate, with techniques, theories and concepts that are part and parcel of that particular system. Good Luck.

I just got on the web. I am looking forward to a good read. Thank you for the link.

True, but I would say more so for kung fu because of its richness and complicatedness, specially when the internals are involved. Good to hear that . Out of interest does your school have a web site I could look at?

Check out https://www.londonkungfu.com. This site contains plenty of useful information about this style of kung fu, specifically the Chow Gar lineage. It also contains some interesting links. This is a style that I would recommend for anyone who is interested in studying kung fu seriously. I would study it myself, but I am learning another style of kung fu as well as Wing Chun. So I don't have the time Ironically, here in London there seem to be a couple of good schools that teach this style, which is no where near as popular as Wing Chun, which seems to be a victim of its own popularity. Meaning, that it was easier for me to locate the good exotic Southern Mantis schools when searching for good Wing Chun schools, when there seems to be one of the latter in every corner of the city. Yet many of them are Mc Wing Chun, if you know what I mean.

Hello Karateka_Latino, I've just checked out the site for Chin Woo U.S.A. and cannot see this school's name in the list of affiliates. Click: https://www.chinwoo.com/USA/affiliates.htm If this school is an affiliate then they should be on the list (unless I have missed something). If you don't see any mention of them either, then it may be best to avoid this school, because if they have lied about this, then god knows what else they will be dishonest about also. Unfortunately nowadays the chances of finding a bad kung fu school are many, many, many times higher than finding a good one, so one has to be careful. Buena suerte.

It is an excellent art for self defense but like all kung fu styles and more than most, the most difficult part of training is actually finding an authentic school who is willing to teach you in the authentic way - and not some made up, "modernized", "improved", etc. pseudo kung fu. So the advice, as for any would be kung fu trainee, would be to find a real school and to train real hard. Then you will learn to fight real good.

As far as I know the Black Tiger is a more external form of the Tiger style, and there are various others such as White Tiger, Imperial Tiger. And I believe that there is more than one style of Black Tiger as well. The higher level tigers are less external and more internal. You can google Black Tiger to find more info. Good luck.

It is advisable for all serious kung fu practitioners to take the time to explain, as best as possible, to the "none-believers", that kung fu is a fighting art. If they refuse to accept the facts then it is best to let go. If their idea of fighting effectiveness is to build huge bodies and "mix" their martial arts so that they are able to trade blows until they can, skillfully? Or with luck? Land a blow and finish the fight then it is best to let them follow their tao. It may be that this approach works for them and of course it can be effective too. Everyone has their path to follow. Us the kung fu guys will learn from our paths and believe me they, who put kung fu down, will learn from theirs.

In the kung fu world you will quite often find masters who have mastered more than a few styles. The only problem nowadays is that most teachers who teach single styles have not even managed to master that single style. That means most teachers out there are at best mediocre. This is the good old Mcdojo/kwan syndrom. This means that you have to be careful. Ask (as diplomatically as possible) for proof of their Chin Woo affiliation. Also check out https://www.chinwoo.com for more info. Good luck

You can also try and get your hands on some books that deal with the subject. Try Bubishi, the bible of karate or Karate do Kyohan. These books are widely available.