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mpossoff
10-13-2005, 02:51 AM
Hi all,

I have been away from MA's for a bit and have been looking around at various schools in my area.

My main purpose is for real and pratical self defense.

Now as an outsider and asking the instructors alot of questions is it seems so far that most, if not all the Kung Fu schools I have observed don't train and focus on real self defense in the "mainstream", if you will.

It seems like the more so called "mainstream" type of training, especially Krav Maga, train you for real self defense and pratical self defense. Not alot of forms , but more importantly applications.

I know forms are important, but I also know applications to those forms are just as important.

It just seems to me that most Kung Fu hasn't adapted or transitioned into the "mainstream" of real and pratical self defense.

The schools from what I have seen that have "modified" or "intergrated" Kung Fu to make it more effective in pratical self defense seem to work.

Drawing principles and tecniques from different arts and incorporating them into pratical and efficient self defense.

From talking to many instructors of Kung Fu, it seems to me that the traditional ones are not willing to adapt.

The ones that modify and intergrate seem to produce a "better product", a better and more efficient way of self defense in todays world.

The reason I bring this up is because my purpose of wanting to practice Kung Fu is because of self defense.

One CMA that I would really love to practice is TCQ, but haven't found a school that focuses on the combat/self defense applications, only for health.

Years ago, I practiced for a while in a TCQ group that focused on self defense, which looked way different from the TCQ schools in the area and trained in that fashion. Compared to the other TCQ instruction in the area, it was way more focused. The people who trained there were able to defend themselves simutaniosly. Unfortunatley the instructor had to re-locate to the West coast.

Now I also understand that TCQ there is more of a learning curve, but I believe it the self defense/cobat applications can be taught simutaniously like the TCQ school I once attended.

I haven't found a school so far willing to focus on self defense. Most of the people taking TCQ are taking it for health and seems to me that the instructors are teaching the "health aspect".

Any comments?

Marc

TenTigers
10-13-2005, 08:02 AM
First of all, anyone who has integrated, and modified their Kung-Fu to make it practical, simply proves that they never really understood it in the first place, or weren't taught it at all. Look for a traditional school-one that places emphasis on drills, drills, drills, application and fighting first, and teaches forms later, and you will have found one.
What area are you in? Ren Guong Yi teaches very good Taiji in NYC.

mpossoff
10-13-2005, 08:25 AM
First of all, anyone who has integrated, and modified their Kung-Fu to make it practical, simply proves that they never really understood it in the first place, or weren't taught it at all. Look for a traditional school-one that places emphasis on drills, drills, drills, application and fighting first, and teaches forms later, and you will have found one.
What area are you in? Ren Guong Yi teaches very good Taiji in NYC.

Hi TenTigers,

I'm located in deep, deep South Jersey about a "baseball's throw" across the Delaware River from my native Philadelphia.

Marc

fiercest tiger
10-13-2005, 05:20 PM
I totally agree, too many CMA are not truely into the fighting aspects at all and only can perform form mostly. They also can do drills but only sticking to there own styles hand techniques.

So the question is do you want to be a fighter or do you wanna learn CMA with a culture and tradition behind it? Do you fight often? Someone after you?

If you cant understand how to pull apart your traditional system and fight then YOU do not have a fighting mentality to begin with. How many people say i learnt the form but i was never shown the real applications? Lazy people need there hands held all the way through training!!

Kung Fu suck...hahaha

FT

Ray Pina
10-14-2005, 07:51 AM
I study internal and we do no forms. We do a lot of drills that train us to find the ultimate power driving off the leg, how to use the hip for power and then add shoulder, elbow, wrist, etc. Use everybody part to do the jobn.

We also do a lot of two-man drills with boxing gloves and then boxing gloves with head gear and a little more free. After a while of this, you are comfortable fighting .... even bigger guys. May larger guys do not use their whole body for power, so you can over power the more powerful guy because he's no coordinated.

I agree with you though, most Kung Fu schools are joking. Most martial art schools are joking. And in a sense, this includes MMA, Thai Boxing schools too. Fight don't always take place at a pre-arranged time, on flat surface with a rule set.

If you train properly you should be down to go anywhere, anytime with no rule sets. This is called martial arts. That other stuff is called sport.

Not so easy to find someone to train you this way. I've been involved in MA since I was 4 years old. I found my master when I was 27 or 28.