PLEASE! i need answers bout choy lee fut

[wingchunwsl]

i have an option to study choy lee fut. the sifu is sifu Ng Fu Hang. has anyone heard of him? how good is he? any info about him?
also, in choy lee fut, i noticed there are a lot of horse stances and other deep stances. do you guys ever move around or are you just still while fighting, sparring, etc?
last thing is could it be used for real self defense because it seems like all the time you guys are in deep stances. will it work? i'm not trying to bash this style i'm just really interested in it. it's just that i'm seriously thinking if i should try it out.
please give me your knowledge. anything would be helpful. thanks. :p :) ;) :D

[Ego_Extrodinaire]

"i have an option to study choy lee fut. the sifu is sifu Ng Fu Hang. has anyone heard of him? how good is he? any info about him?"

I have heard and know of many clf instructors but i'm not at liberty to discuss.

"also, in choy lee fut, i noticed there are a lot of horse stances and other deep stances. do you guys ever move around or are you just still while fighting, sparring, etc?"

A lot of CLF people move around like kick boxers because those low stances are not very practical! Although at close range the over hand hitting is effective - but many of these teshniques are banned from tournies.

"last thing is could it be used for real self defense because it seems like all the time you guys are in deep stances. will it work? i'm not trying to bash this style i'm just really interested in it."

Yes it is, CLF as with many styles of KF are combat effective. Personally I prefer northern styles - with proper training.

"it's just that i'm seriously thinking if i should try it out. please give me your knowledge. anything would be helpful. thanks. "

Yup give it a go! try a few styles before deciding which are suitable. One last thing i should add. The personality of the people in class and the instructor is important. You'll be working with these people for a number of years should you decide to take that style at that particular school.

Enjoy, either way it's good experience.

Maximus Materialize!

[wingchunwsl]

thanks Ego Extrodinaire! that was a lot of help. :) anyone else have more they could share? that would be really helpful. thanks.

[extrajoseph]

Wingchunwsl,

Sifu Ng Fu Hang is the great great grandson of Chan Heung, the founder of ClF on the maternal side. His mother Chan Kit Fong is the daughter of Chan Yiu Chi. Like Chen Yong Fa, Sifu Ng studied with Chan Yiu Chi when he was a little boy, so he is made of genuine stuff as far as lineage is concerned. You will be part of Great Sage Hung Sing School.

Sifu Ng is a bit old fashioned and not "exciting" like some of the younger generation instructors. He will get you to do a lot of basic stuff to build up your foundation. He has only a small school so you will at least get some personal attention from some one who knows what he is doing. You can do much worse by not studying with him.

CLF always starts with low stance training to build up your stability. You will probably learn Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Chue first and when you have a good base you can jump around, kick around and spin around and move like lightning grease without loosing your balance.

Trust me on this one.

Joseph

[alecM]

wingchunwsl

Take no notice of Ego he is just a troll he spends most of his time putting down Southern styles of kung fu it doesn't matter what style it is. As for sifu Ng Fu Hang I cant really say how good he is as I have never met him but I believe there are a few people on this board that have. What Ego said in ignorance about the stances and fighting is utter crap the deep stances are for strengthening the legs nearly all of the external style train the leg this way both Northern and Southern. For fighting you will find that CLF use higher stances and the footwork is quit mobile and we do not fight like kick boxers.

Fear not the man who has learned one thousand kicks, fear the man who has practiced one kick a thousand times.

[wingchunwsl]

thanks guys for the help. i have one more additional question sorry. in clf, is it all sort of like freestyle? or is it all memorized sort of forms like if he punches you, step to the side, kick his legs, etc... thanks.

[zen_celt]

Wing- There are forms in CLF, as in most MA. The point is to learn different moves/combos and the applications of them. Forms also build on basics. As far as sparring goes, that's different from school to school. Generally, you put on the gloves and go at it to learn how to use your knowledge in a combat situation so you don't screw up in the street. It also helps make the moves more reflexive. Ignore Ego, he's an idiot. If you have any more questions just ask. Good luck on the training. Stick with it and stay focused, you'll do well.
Peace,
Zen_celt
P.S. There are two man forms(weapon and unarmed) as well.

[Jimbo]

In CLF, there are many pre-set forms or sequences. Different schools may emphasize in a different way. You must begin with the very basics, then progress to pre-set forms, then applications, then build your way into freestyle. If you try to go directly into freestyle before applications, combination training, and various types of sparring (some examples might include slow-speed, hands only, "stop and go," long-range, etc.), your movements will be all confused, and you will not be able to properly chain combinations together, nor to spontaneously alter them.

Although when you free-spar you are generally in a more natural stance/posture, make no mistake that developing a proper base (correct stancework) is essential. You may not drop into Ng Lun Ma when faced with an attacker, but then again, neither does a western boxer get down and do his abdominal crunches or skip rope when faced with an opponent. Besides the benefits of stance training mentioned in an earlier post, if you can move easily and quickly yet steady in your low stances, standing higher will be so much easier.

Jim

[wingchunwsl]

is choy lay fut something really hard to understand? if anyone has taken wing chun, how hard is it compared to something like that. thanks.

[wingchunwsl]

is choy lay fut a slow and powerful style? is it pretty fast? what kind of speed is it like?

[Jimbo]

CLF is a system that contains movements that are both powerful and quick. There is agile footwork. It also develops considerable hand speed, but these things do not happen immediately. Early in the training is a lot on stance work, basic footwork, and many basic, long punches and strikes, working on relaxed power, and basic kicks. As one progresses, besides the large movements, you can learn to shorten those same moves, and the combinations become more compact and refined.

So beginners often feel slow and awkward as it takes time to develop the body and get accustomed to CLF. However, an advanced CLF practitioner can be very fast in an obvious way and a deceptive way.

Just for one example, anyone who has seen Chan Yong Fa move would have to agree he is one of the quickest and relaxed out there, and very powerful.
Jim

[Ben Gash]

I found it much easier to learn than Wing Chun as I found the movements more natural. CLF is both fast and powerful as has already been said.
No decent kung fu school will go "If he does this do this and this and this". You're given the basic tools, taught how they work and then the rest is up to you. It's more "if he throws something like this you could do this, and while you're at it you might want to do this at the same time, or alternatively you could set him up for this"
It's a bit like when you learn Wing Chun. First you learn the basic techniques in Siu Lim Tao, and you'll learn basic blocking drills and basic attacking drills. Then you learn Chum Kiu and you learn to make contact, string techniques together and block and counter,and you start learning set sticky hands. Then you move on to Biu Gee and you learn to work the angles, use your feet and finish a fight in one. Then you do freeform sticky hands and free sparring. You've gained your tools from the forms and you've learned how they work from the drills, but ultimately how you use them is up to you.

"Weapons are the embodiments of fear,
the wise use them only when they have no choice"
Lao Tzu

[wingchunwsl]

i'm going to check out the school on monday. thanks guys for all your help. :)

[fgxpanzerz]

There's no one in the whole world who knowz the system fully.

[PlasticSquirrel]

low stances take awhile to get used to using naturally, but i've gotten a lot faster with them over time. definitely very practical once you get used to them. no need to use higher stances.

i don't practice clf, but it's characteristics are that it uses low stances and momentum, and that it is a monstrously huge system. as they said, no one knows it all.

clf is also known for being very good in tournaments and fighting. i would say that this is probably because the movements are more natural to do than most styles'.

btw, clf also has a drunken drunken form in it. most people don't know it, due to general lack of interest or thoughts that it's "movie kungfu," but maybe you'll get to learn it. wish i could. :)

good luck at the school

[extrajoseph]

"There's no one in the whole world who knowz the system fully."

I agree it is not easy when there are nearly 148 forms to learn including one person, two persons, multiple persons, forms, (long, short, hard, flexible, daily implements, unusual) weapons, dummies, liankung exercises, qigong, lion dance etc.

But they are all recorded in the family kuen po, so they will never be lost. The idea is that each student learn a few (best suited to their body type and personality) and they have to co-operate with each other in the long run to learn more or the lot if they have a life time devoted to kung fu.

You need at least 10 to 15 years of hard training to get most of major forms down to pat so the less familiar forms can be worked through from the kuen po alone.

Why so many forms? Diversity and completenes is the aim. They keep the keen ones going all their life, most old CLF guys go onto the Qigong and the internal stuff to keep them living to an old age.

That is the general idea but these days it is almost impossible to achieve so we just select a few of the more popular ones to train.

We just hope the more exotic stuff (like the nine dradon fork) won't die out.

Jose