First Long Fist lesson!

[ProjectJanus]

Well, tommorow I am starting my first Long Fist lesson! I am being instructed by Sifu Scott Schneider, who was tought by Master Randy Elia, who was tought by Grand Master Peter Kwok. Sifu Schneider says that Grand Master Peter Kwok brought Long Fist to the east coast from China, while his brothers went to the west coast.

I think this is going to be a large change from Gumdo. The sash system is very different, and it takes about 4-6 months to get your second sash, and the time only grows from there. In Gumdo, it was 2 months per belt and 7 for BB. My Sifu teaches Traditional Long Fist, Chin Na, Taiji, Qi Gong, Iron Palm and weapons. He says it will be about a year before I am allowed near weapons.

He teaches spear, bo, dao, straight sword, I beleive he also said something like 'Dragon Umbrella' and some other style of Cane.

I am very excited, as my first lesson will be tommorow! I will let you guys know how it goes!

[stonecrusher69]

Good Luck with your training. I have met a few time sifu Randy Elia. He is a friendly guy.His school was many years ago used to be only a few blocks from my house.Now there is a Black Tiger school ther now.BY the way what is GUMDO???I never heard of it..

[stonecrusher69]

so how did the training go? what did you learn ?

[fallen_milkman]

Wow! Long fist, chin na, taiji, chi gung, AND iron palm? Sounds like an amazing school. Where is it located? I'd like to stop in some time and look into it, if it is anywhere near me.

[stonecrusher69]

I know sifu Randy Elia school is in NJ.But sifu scott school I'm not sure where he is located at.

[ProjectJanus]

I just got home from my lesson, and man was it great! Randy's school in located in Charlotte, NC.

Fallen_Milkman, Iron palm and weapons are offered, but he will not teach them untill you are more advanced. Weapons may be used after about a years training, while Iron palm is taught after you attain the black sash.

Today we went over saluting, warm ups and basic kicks and blocks. I started with a kick where you must touch your shoe laces to your outstreched hand by bending your knee up to waist level and extending your hand. Then we worked on a side kick where you must step behind one leg, while doing some sort of X with your hands in front of your chest, then kick waist high, sideways, while extending one hand with your leg and one hand to the opposite side.

We also worked on a thing called 3 star blocking and 8 points blocking. Both involve using your forearms to block basic punches.

Stances were horse, rooster, high tiger, low tiger, and a few others that I cant remember the names.

I can't wait to practice tommorow! Another plus to the class is there is only two other students than I, so the teacher spends lots of time assisting each person. I should be beggining my Tai Chi in a few months. If anyone lives anywhere near Charlotte, I would definately suggest coming out. Sifu Scott says he has a student who drives 3 hours to come to class. Talk about dedication!

[fallen_milkman]

Sounds like a nice kung fu school. Those are a bit rare these days. As for only learning Iron Palm at black sash, I definitely understand why. Weapons, I started learning pretty early (staff at 3 months, dao at 4!), but I stand out in class as a pretty dedicated student. You may find your teacher bending the rules, if you give that impression.

I know a few Long Fist forms, with applications, and it is a very interesting artform to me. Some of the combat uses I would NEVER have dreamed up. I enjoy kuntao's straightforward approach, but I plan on taking up some Long Fist one day as well.

My aunt lives close to Charlotte, so maybe I'll be able to drop in sometime when I visit her. I certainly hope so, even just for a lesson or two.

[ProjectJanus]

Well, make sure you let me know before you come, maybe we can train together.

I am also we dont have to do the chin-to-toe thing. My sifu's, sifu's, sifu had 100 days to be able to touch his chin to his toe while standing up. Imagine that.

[fallen_milkman]

Yeah, training isn't what it used to be. My teacher used to have to balance a teacup on his crane stance for around a half hour or so. All of the stance training was a half hour for that matter. Horse for a half hour? *cringes* I don't even wanna think about how long it will be at my rate to be able to hold out that long. 10 minutes is near-death for me at this point!

...And the push ups I have done for losing balance during crane or female stance are almost uncountable.

[ProjectJanus]

Wow, that is incredible. I really would like to be able to push myself to those limits.

Welp, I just got home from the little park in my neighborhood. I went there and trained for about 45 minutes, just going over footwork and things. And of course, there was some family there who stared at me the whole time -_-.

I can't wait to learn more! My next class is on Wednesday.