pray mantis

[JKDkid2]

hey im thinking of taking pray mantis kung fu but my friend keeps telling me that it has to many weaknesses and is easy to counter can anyone tell me its strong points and weaknesses?

[Infrazael]

Northern Praying Mantis or Southern Praying Mantis???

[Son Goku the monkeyking]

well sence I take tan tui praying mantis and when I master it I can choose any style of praying mantis from out of 4 choses I'll tell you a few things.

 

One thing that I know is that we learn alot I gauging ( I KNOW THAT I SPELLED IT WRONG ) and fatalites, for form praticals. we also get to master a lot grapiling moves that have to do with hands and arms. also we learn alot acrobatics also. plus we have good sparring help.

 

peace

[Shorin Ryuu]

Thanks. Very informative.

[Emei89]

from what i've heard and seen it's actually pretty hard to counter and looks very strong. one thing i've noticed is that alot of it seems to take place in a horse stance (which makes sense if you think about the way a praying mantis stands) and alot of extended hand play. supposedly it's very similiar to snake style which i'm currently learning on the side. so very strong finger hits to vital points and sometimes hitting with your entire body if it's supposed to be that similiar. by whole body i mean literally not as in punch with your whole body. like tackling almost. did i mention you used your body?

[ovine king]

you can't really put all mantis kung fu into one catagory.

 

you can't even really differentiate betwen morthern and southern.

 

it really depends entirely on the school.

 

in general, the key components to most mantis schools is heavy/hard forearms, close range shock power, low kicks to hip/knee/shin/ankle (occasionally chest), trapping, elements of stand-up grappling (albeit things that work with their primary hand techniques), reliance on structure and mobility of structure.

 

in short, it is very wing chun like but a little more eccentric in it's execution.

 

in some styles there is a lot of conditioning work involved.

 

personally, i've only ever seen three mantis schools in my area(ish) that are reputable.

 

it's not an easy one to find.

 

on the other hand, there are also northern shaolin schools that teach a mantis style but i've never been sure if this is proper mantis or just another bastardised wushu form.

[1kickKO]

The meaning behind praying mantis is as it reads...based ont he praying mantis. It was based on a man who once saw a praying mantis and some other insect (forget what it was) fighting, the praying mantis was very calm, and swayed in motion, lots of teasing it's opponent, then when it struck, it sliced the head off of it's opponent and had a nice hardy supper. The lesson? Every style has it's own weakness, but then again don't let htat sway you off...I'm sure it's extremely effective in its own manner as is any other style...I learned a praying mantis kata one time and it was incredible. I'm sure you'll like it.

[ovine king]

personal gripe..... don't use kata when referencing a chinese style.....

 

i'm curently in the process of discussing my starting in a mantis class local to me.

 

i'll let you all know how i get on and whether my scrawny wing chun * gets handed to me on my first day!

[1kickKO]

Well I use kata for a reason, I wasn't referring it to the whole style of praying mantis kung fu, I just simply mentioned I liked that kata and had fun with it, not to mention that it's got some devastating "hidden" techniques in the katas.

[ovine king]

....kata is japanese..... mantis styles tend to be chinese......

 

you're better off calling it a form.

 

anyhow, do you remember the name of the form?