pray mantis

[mantis]

whether u like mantis or dont i believe u should start with some mantis training.

the balance given by the diverse stable stances of mantis boxing or the seven star praying mantis fist style are very important.

The idea of mantis is basically yin-yang. ur backing off when ur oponent hits, ur using his energy to hit him, or make him fall but spending the least amount of energy. example is a fist coming to your face you deflect it and hook the fist with a mantis hook and then BOOM, u hit.

The idea of it is to make ur body like a pyramid. you have the center of balance really low so you can lift the biggest guy easily, and no one can move you.

Drawbacks, for me, is that the kicks are really low. You're usually targetting sensitive areas such as the groins in your kicks. the rest of the kicks we practice are only to stretch your hamstrings!

and what i was talking about is the 7 star praying mantis coming from northern shaolin.

http://www.authentickungfu.com/mantis_directory.html

good luck

[Traditional-Fist]

Started in late '97 but was lazy/inconsistent until about 2yrs ago.

Southern mantis is peculiar in that you get nowhere without partner-training. Moving resistance exercises, sticky hands & sensitivity training, power training and conditioning all require a partner, before you even start thinking about applications practice.

Rgds,

David

Can you recommend any good Chow Gar schools in London?

[Muaythaiboxer]

i really like mantis style and although i never studyed it i cought my self a pair of mantis and watched them fight (i dident let them kill each other) but i learned a little about how i could improve my clinch range fighting

[Enviroman]

I've studied mantis for about a month now. It's a decent style but I'm not thrilled with my Sifu. A lot of trapping, a lot of forearm blows, a lot of conditioning, some low kicks, a lot of linear throat/eye/neck strikes...that's the best way I can sum up what I've learned so far.

[Muaythaiboxer]

i actually have spared an eight step mantis guy and he is the only person i have ever seen who has made traping work consistantly.

[mantis]

check this out

http://www.mantiskungfu.com/CompleteSystem.htm

[Muaythaiboxer]

interesting... try this i found it to be very interesting and the guy seemed like he was proficient in his art.

http://www.8step.com/

[mantis]

it looks pretty close, although his stances look lower than we practice (maybe those are stances for practice and they dont use them in real combat.. dunno)

thank you..it's a nice site

[Muaythaiboxer]

i agree i really love the well documented history of the chinese MA and how pretty they are when practiced although i will stick with my Muay Thai for fighting i really like to do chinese MA forms.

[mantis]

always keep ur options open and expand ur horizon.. i dont like the mentality of having prejudice to ur MA and closing up ur mind towards others, u know...

when i first visited my school the guy showed me the history of the art with illustrations, diagrams, the art's family tree and all that... i think most of the asian cultures (including indian, and middle eastern) have a very good way of documenting what they appreciate in their culture and history