Oom Yung Doe School In my Area

[Jodo]

They just opened up a school about 5 blocks where I live. I am interested in learning more about this and if its any good.

Thanks, peace!!!

[KC Elbows]

1.2

[KC Elbows]

I was in chung moo quan until black belt. That was before they changed their name to oom yung doe. After their grandmaster and a bunch of the highest belts went to prison for conspiracy to commit tax evasion.

When I was in, they worked out hard. The instructors also, as you went along, would tell you that their grandmaster could float down 11 stories, could make one arm grow, had a third eye, and progressively weirder things. I'm in contact with a number of other former members from more recently, and from their descriptions, it doesn't sound like that has changed, in my opinion.

Several instructors, after deciding to leave the system, had tapes shown at all the schools of them doing form, some of them after hours of working out, and superimposed over the tape was the suggestion that they had not learned their form(internalized it). Then, one of the guys who runs the show was shown, fresh as a daisy doing the same form. Using former instructors as examples is, in my opinion, the height of cowardice.

Tapes are kept of all the present instructors as well.

Not that I buy this troll thread, just didn't feel right not responding.

Then again, didn't you check their website?!? I mean, the guy claims to take 8 and 11 story falls and float down from them!!!!? What do you need my opinion for?;)

[fragbot]

They used to be called chung moo quan and then chung moo do (or maybe it's the other way around). They're essentially a martial arts cult with John "Iron" Kim as head Mooney. Kim and a bunch of his head groupies all got sent to jail several years ago for tax evasion. 9 martial arts taught as one, these people are un-freaking-believable*. Unfortunately, they're quite well-represented in the Pacific NW.

Off-topic rant: I have no idea how these twa** and those at Temple KF can have schools over-flowing with students. Meanwhile, schools that offer dramatically higher quality training at a fraction of the price are always short of training partners. It boggles my f'ing mind.

*tmesis was the word of the day about a week ago.

[MasterKiller]

Because customers want the fantasy, and students want the real training. We have a lot of customers, but only a handful of students.

[KC Elbows]

Jodo, there are actually some unaffiliated schools under that banner(but not loyal to John Kim and his weirdness) that have branched out into other arts, with legitimate lineages, and/or altered their training methodology to include sparring and such. If you could tell me your area, I could probably verify whether this school is a member of John Kim's org, or a Rogue who has widened his field of study to include some other styles.

There are even some schools of late that, from what I'm hearing, are involving sparring more comprehensively into their training, but are using the original chung moo forms. While they aren't my favorite forms, I don't begrudge them that, as long as they test what they are doing in the field, so to speak.

However, the main org does not take part in any of this to my knowledge. Their curriculum changed drastically in the nineties, which begs the question "How can it be traditional if it wasn't in practice in the eighties"?

And they're "tai chi chung" form needs to be expunged from the record of human memory. It is soooo not tai chi in any way, shape, or form.

What area are you in?

[Royal Dragon]

LOL@ Tai Chi "Chung". That form violates ALL Tai Chi principals in the first three moves, and getts worse form there.

[PHILBERT]

I wish I had a Oom Yung Doe/Chung Moo Quan school in my area. Or even a Temple Kung Fu. But all I got is Shaolin-Do and I don't even remember where it is.

[KC Elbows]

The big question is, is jodo an actual member, or one of those guys who comes on for fifteen posts, PM's me asking personal questions in order to try to figure out which higher belt I was in the moo(in other words, damage control to see who's blabbing), and dissappears. Or better yet, tries to get me to say something they can sue me for, forgetting that I have kept unapproved(and thus away from sight) seven posts on my forum that are just a wee bit threatening to myself and one other individual, all posted from a rather interesting location. Not that I'm saying anything here, just offhanded comments unrelated to the topic at hand.:D

[MasterKiller]

You liberals and your conspiracy theories.

:D

[KC Elbows]

Sorry, not theory. Conspiracy conviction.:p

[ZIM]

Speaking of weirdness- anybody ever hear of "mu dong quan"? I haven't, but have a neighbor taking it.. he says its related to wudang? Can anyone verify that?

[shaolin kungfu]

Here's something i found zim.

http://pages.yahoo.com/nhrp?o=mudongkungfu&p=main9258036.html&pos=5&f=all&h=/recreation___sports/sports/martial_arts/kung_fu/wushu

[ZIM]

Thanks! Thats the same people. Still clueless, tho. :( Probly gonna hafta get off my butt and look... ;)

[KC Elbows]

Just read Jodo's other posts. I'm not aware of a location that has ONLY oom yung doe schools in any area, at least from the main org. I've always gotten pretty good results from starting a post "Looking for martial arts schools in [fill in location]".

I'm assuming you live in either IL, PA, MA, FL, or CA, since that's where the OYD schools are. All of those states have good martial arts somewhere nearby. However, as a high school student, you might not have wheels. That was exactly my situation when I stepped into Chung Moo Quan. I think most young people first learn at whatever's closest, until they can get themselves to what they're interested in.

[Jodo]

So your saying Oom Yung Doe might be a little more serious then what I thought.

I read a little description about it on the main site or some Oom Yung Doe fan site that it was a style that was religious like (that is what I got from it) and it required spiritual well being and....

It sounded kind of odd but after seeing what you guys said about it and I getting a whole new view on it.

The part about them doing an evasion of tax really got me on the side of not taking a class, but that might not effect me much.

So exactly what kind of training/exercises do they do in particular, nothing that requires you to do weird stuff. I saw that third eye phrase... kind of disturbing, I don't really know what that is.

I live in Oviedo, Florida USA and the school is... I think on Alafaya Trail if you see it on a search page; I can't remember what road it was on.

Thanks for your replies guys, peace!!!

[KC Elbows]

Well, they're tang soo doe sort of stuff is all right, but they don't really focus on that heavily. All their kicks focus on being nontelegraphed, but instead of using upper body movement to cover the kicks, their approach is to start all kick exactly the same way, be it a front snap kick, round kick, whatever. They all start out looking like a front snap kick, then at the moment of the kick, the rooted leg will pivot to allow the kick to change directions. It's okay, but it sacrifices speed to be nontelegraphing, instead of using setup to do the same without sacrificing speed. However, that would be an okay start, but they downplay their tang soo doe/kong su for the sake of less complete stuff.

After that, their stuff is, well. Not to my liking anymore. It can be okay, it depends.

I left when they started teaching tai chi chung, something they made up later. It's, um...I don't even know how to describe it. Let's put it this way, I stuck it through despite the instructors there calling friends of theirs and mine who left the school mentally ill(when they were no such thing), but within a month of being shown that tai chi chung stuff, I was gone. That's my opinion of that stuff.

The form tong nan is propably the pinnacle of their stuff. It's kung fu like. Sort of.

IMO, they used to practice really hard, but their training methodology left a lot of openings for injuries and lacked sparring, but that era was the only era that produced fighters, IMO. Since then, they lost the bulk of their best guys, with a couple exceptions, again, IMO. They never had a very strong sparring program, IMO(frankly, except for very early on, they had no sparring program at all, either you went out and got in street fights on your own or you didn't).

On top of all that, no one has EVER substantiated Kim's claims of having won an all asia tournament or being able to float 'like a feather' down from an 11 story building, a claim that is on their website.

Do they have you do anything weird? You mean, other than grooming you to be an instructor and telling you your grandmaster can fly so that someday you can tell your students the same?

As for serious, I think you'll find that the bulk of those in the moo only have experience in the moo, and are not encouraged to study elsewhere in addition. I do not know of a single example of a higher belt who moved on to study elsewhere who then returned, and far more higher belts have left the system, to my knowledge, than are now there.

I'm willing to bet if you ask all those instructors they show in the picture from that school if they've got prior experience, to what rank, and from where, you won't be able to verify much experience on their part at all. Not saying they're bad guys, just suggesting a line of inquiry.

Also, the aikido is hardly complete. It's the basics, not the entire art. It's okay basics, but it's sort of dishonest to call it the whole art.

What site were you on that covered that? What sites have you checked? I'm not aware of a fansite, just the national site, the Yahoo OomYungDoe_Discuss group, and the regional sites.

[IronKim]

How dare yous guys use IronKim name!!!!

I mite have show you my Koong Su Bope or my Kim Chee Giu.

Or my fliing Chope Gun Su.

You watch your back!!!

[SaMantis]

Jodo,

I just moved from the Orlando area, so maybe I can help ... the OYD World Headquarters is (or was) at Tuscawilla & University Rd. on the way to UCF.

It's not too far actually from Wah Lum (plug! :D ) and also a Wing Tsun school.

However, if you're stuck in Oviedo, the only school I know of out there is a TKD school right in the center of town. There may be more options over near the new mall. UCF probably has a martial arts club or two. That might be your best bet as the classes would be cheap and you might be able to sample a few different styles.

[KC Elbows]

"OYD World Headquarters"

Um, if OYD has something that could be considered a headquarters, it's the San Diego location. Are they calling the Florida location the 'world headquarters'? I find that odd, since they gave up publically claiming that they even had practitioners overseas, despite their touting an 'international program'.

If Wah Lum is nearby, I'd find a way to get there, or at least follow SaMantis' advice.

Iron Kim,
Some tips. Use the phrase "What doing?" more, as well as "you handle" and relate anything, especially giving you money, as an opportunity.

[SaMantis]

LOL KC elbows, yeah, the Orlando location was called "World HQ" on OYD's website, but the last time I went to that site was more than a year ago.

The Tuscawilla location is/was in a corner strip mall, standard-size sign, not a big place at all from what I could see from outside. It's right next to this sports bar that has really excellent wings ... but I digress.

There's actually an OYD near my new digs, in this trendy little square where I stop for coffee all the time. All these neo-bohemian shops and then OYD. Like, "Would you like a latte with your tai chi chung?" :D