Where to start?

[SPJ]

Many would ask the question.

I have some background in TKD or karate. I like to pick up some Kung Fu to compliment or diversify. There are so many styles. Adding crane, tiger, wing chun, jkd to my karate? or ?

Where to start?

Or my kids are interested in Kung Fu, where to start?

Your input?

:D

[gwa sow]

i think it would be better to look at the available schools inyour area that are good. of these then you can chose. no point in adding something crappy.

[red5angel]

yep, check out all the available schools, and by check out I mean take a few classes in each, do some research into backgrounds and all that then choose what you like.

[ewallace]

And avoid styles that use cartwheels.

I know that may offend certain posters on this forum, and no disrespect mean to Grandmaster Mary Lou.

[Happeh]

What are you expecting out of the kung fu? What kind of body type do you have?

[ewallace]

Happeh, It's a theoretical question which comes up quite often from friends, family, co-workers...etc.

SPJ trains in taiji.

[Chief Fox]

I can tell you how I started.

1st. I talked to a co-worker who is a black belt in TKD. He got his black belt in two years.

2nd. I looked in the yellow pages for all the different schools in town. I tried to get a feel for the schools from the people I talked to on the phone. One school didn't want to talk to me on the phone, they wanted me to come in to talk. I suspected high pressure sales tatics so I declined. One instructor was telling me how in two years he'll be a "master". That school was scratched off the list.

3rd. I went to the schools that passed the phone interview.

4th. I picked my current school. I've been there for over 2 years and am confident that I made the right decission.

I think when looking for a martial art to study, the MOST important factor is the instructor.

[red5angel]

And avoid styles that use cartwheels.

I know that may offend certain posters on this forum, and no disrespect mean to Grandmaster Mary Lou.


LOL! just noticed this azz........

[red5angel]

why would it matter where you start? even as a kid - I'l post my opinion on kids righ there because to post on ew's thread would be to acknowledge his existance - you can learn just about anything if trained properly.

[ewallace]

why would it matter where you start? even as a kid - I'l post my opinion on kids righ there because to post on ew's thread would be to acknowledge his existance - you can learn just about anything if trained properly.
Since you acknowledged I had a thread, would that not mean that you acknowledge I exist?

[Ming Yue]

SPJ,

your troll-fu is truly impressive. If you offered online courses with black belt certificates and really cool neon colored troll-fu headbands, you'd be a rich man.

;)

[red5angel]

Since you acknowledged I had a thread, would that not mean that you acknowledge I exist?


did I read somehting just now?

[ewallace]

did I read somehting just now?
Your reading abilities are suspect at best, but you can definitely click and press buttons.

However, I do get the feeling that your keyboard is kinda like those telephones with the big ass numbers on the number pad. Either that or it's pink with a rainbow-flag sticker on it. :)

[FuXnDajenariht]

teach them some sum shuai chiao. wrasslin is a natural instinct for kids methinks. i have nothing to base this on though....heh. might even prepare them for the sensitivity stuff in tai chi.

some concentration building exercises wouldn't hurt. you dont wanna turn em into killing machines at first, i dont think lol. work on the self discipline thing. aint that how they do it in kung fu movies anyhow? ;) drill em on the basics. but keep it interesting. you know how kids are...make it a game.

[SPJ]

My brother would say southern Tiger first and then Zhao Bao Tai Ji.

Based on my own learning experiences, I would say that start with Tang Tui and Shuai Jiao.

Well, it is just me. But seriously, TT and SJ are very important for northern styles.

And then I may say Tong Bei or Ba Ji/pi qua.

Tai Ji may be much later.

Some however would say you may start Tai Ji from day one and even with kids or teens.



:D

[FuXnDajenariht]

lol could it hurt? some tai chi people wish they were so lucky... :D

[SPJ]

Personally, Tai Ji is for mature and older people.

Young kids growing up, External styles are better. So Tang Tui would be a good way to start.

Actually, that was how I started.

:D

[SPJ]

MY;

This is really ironic. My brother was always teasing me. He said that I can keep all the secrets or knowledge to myself. People may call me a saint or monk. Actually I was called a monk since college.

And all those meditations, study and practice of CMA etc do no other people no good.

What he meant is that I have to share.

I am not trolling anyone in the forum. I may say what I think about certain threads. But most important of all, I am learning what the readers and posters of the forum like to know.

In Tai Chi forum, early last year, Kaitain and shooter posted 2 threads on 8 gates and 5 steps in Tai Chi. I responded with a few posts and a book.

That was why I wrote the book in Tai Ji 13 Shi. Which is now available in www.authorhouse.com. Very soon will be in amazon.com, too.

And now I am fishing ideas for my next book.

May be I should work on a book on Tang Tui, Shuai Jiao or Tong Bei as the next project.

I dun have much money. I can only afford to roll one book out per year.

:confused:

[FuXnDajenariht]

lol ok...its up to you after all. i would go with the basics and wrestling too. grappling is so natural for kids. look at them playing. a grab or hold is the first thing they go for. i would gave my left pinky finger to be taught wrestling as a kid.

kids being taught martial arts by their fathers are the kewlest :D

[Kristoffer]

lol ok...its up to you after all. i would go with the basics and wrestling too. grappling is so natural for kids. look at them playing. a grab or hold is the first thing they go for. i would gave my left pinky finger to be taught wrestling as a kid.

kids being taught martial arts by their fathers are the kewlest :D

word56789..

[Ray Pina]

I have some background in TKD or karate. I like to pick up some Kung Fu ... Where to start? :D

If they had some decent striking and kicking ability from their previous training, I would actually recomend 1 to 2 years of Wing Chun (given how quick they pick things up) to give them a crash course on sticking and trapping and then run from the style as fast as they can.

From there I would say go to Hsing-I to get some power.

Then go deeper into an art who's technique and aproach fits your style.

[FuXnDajenariht]

lol someones kinda biiiiaased ;)

[Ray Pina]

Well, that's what I would say if we had to keep it to Kung Fu.

Though I'd say get our kid into a grammer school or HS wrestling program, because you can't talk martial arts without it. Looking back, I wish my HS had wrestling ... would be saving me a lot of trouble now, if I had that type of stuff hard wired into my muscle memory.

[spiraler]

if you are still in high school, wrestling is fun as well as valuable in teaching you the basics of fighting sind most of the time fights end up on the ground anyway.this will teach you how to take someone down and twist em up, the next step after wrestling would probably be judo,shuai chiao, or bjj, these are more complete and advanced forms of wrestling, then to balance it out you could learn a little tae kwon, or karate, boxing or any other external art, too many to list, then if you really want to reach the pinnacle, learn the internal arts such as ba gua hsing i and tai chi these internal arts break it all down into a complete scientifical complex system, and is hard to master. many people will bash internal martial arts because they do not know. thats the basic hierarchy of martial arts in my opinion.

[FuXnDajenariht]

hierarchy based on what?

[spiraler]

based on my opinion cumquat, cant you read smartguy? they only stand out as the last words on my entry...or did your a.d.d. interfere with that.

[FuXnDajenariht]

lol dude...

did u just call me a cumquat?

what the **** is cumquat?

[spiraler]

hahahahaah! the world is a cumquat.