questions from a new-B

[tommyf350]

is their a difference between xinyi and hsing-I ?

im teching myself from books cause their are no schools close to me and transportation is a problem, well i should say they are all karate and MMA schools that dont intrest me in the slightest.

anyway the books i have are : shi yan lei's qi gong book, im working my way through that.

:bruce lee's JKD theres just alot i cant figure out there due to the sketches and neumerous types of strikes i just dont know what they are yet. i also have his art of expressing the human body.

: chi na a masters guide by dr. jwing-ming yang

and hsing I mind body boxing ,by robert smith.

and my non kung fu books are myamoto musashi's book of 5 rings and mind minipulation ancient and modern ninja techniques.

i know chinese martial arts is the fore runner to all modern forms so im concentraiting my efforts there.

i want to buy a book on bagua and xinyi but if they are the same things i dont want to throw money away, but at the same time i dont want to leave important concepts behind any advise you can give me is appreciated.

[taai gihk yahn]

is their a difference between xinyi and hsing-I ?

yes and no;

yes - the difference is the system of Romanization used to transliterate Chinese characters, 形意; in pinyin, the current format, it's xíng yì; in Wade-Giles, the older format, it's hsing i;

no - it's the same system;

incidentally, trying to learn any MA from a book without having a foundation in actual practice is not really the best idea, laregely because you don't have anyone around to correct your mistakes and u can't replicate live training with another person, resisting or otherwise;
ur best bet may be to find a school close to you can at least train something, and then after a time (a few years, probably) based on that knowledge / experience, u may b able to springboard into toher arts via a non-live format...

[tommyf350]

actually i just found out dr ming has a school taught by his son in boston but thats about 40-60 minutes away,i guess i just better get a car soon.

[MasterKiller]

Books? This is 2010. Get some DVDs so you can AT LEAST see how the movements are supposed to look.

[taai gihk yahn]

actually i just found out dr ming has a school taught by his son in boston but thats about 40-60 minutes away,i guess i just better get a car soon.

Also Dale Dugas a frequent poster on this forum teaches in the Boston area;
one could do far far worse than him in terms of finding a sifu...

[SanHeChuan]

Just train the best thing that is available. When opportunity arises train what you want. I have moved to have access to the training I want, and I have lamented training nothing, because I snubbed my nose at what was available.

Keep reading
Subscribe to kung fu magazine
Buy some DVD's
Check out youtube tutorials
TRAIN WHATS AVAILABLE

[SPJ]

yes learn from whatever is available from a live person.

:)

[hskwarrior]

I agree.....if you're gonna learn from a book, at least have some prior martial art knowledge, and with youtube you can research even deeper.....but the best way IS to learn from a live person who can answer your questions.

[tommyf350]

ok, well im not gonna say i have no prior training,i did go to a fred villari school witch did close but i was very young and many people told me afterward that it was like the mcdonalds of karate schools.and looking back yeah i didnt receive to much attention and we spent most of our time stretching and agility training.
i try to watch as many vids on the subjects i mentioned before ,and i do my own researching afterwards.i know its a bit advanced for me but iv been looking up the xinyiba forms performed by shi dejian and wu nanfang im not saying i know the forms but im getting the begining concepts of it cause it also follows the root system. also i may purchase some of shi yan lei's dvd series. any other sugguestions on training is appreiciated.

[bawang]

hi. i think you should not read those books, and you should not learn forms from books or dvds because if you do that, then tell people you know kung fu, it will make kung fu look bad.

you can try training horse stance and punch sandbags and do fist pushups. they are fundamental skils and you wont mess up badly doing these without a teacher

[tommyf350]

well im a quiet person and i definatley dont brag to others,i know im definatley a beginer and i dont try to teach anyone anything. another reason i read those books is because without them i wouldnt have a clue,and again i will use them for refrence in the future plus to kill time after workouts. i can thank these books for showing me a different way of living cause before this ,well ill just say i was troubled mentally and physicly.now i work out trying to rebuild my body i do qi gong 5 times a week and on odd days run 2 1/2 miles on a treadmill cause my knee is messed up. and on the even days i do 100 push ups 3 sets of 35-30-35 with a 10second pause every 10 pushups i do also the same number of sit ups . i know its not much but im gradually increasing them ive only been at this for about 3 months and im seeing great gains.before this i was 237 pounds but im only 5'7 lol but ive lost about 15 pounds since then.until i find a sifu and school i think this is beter than nothing.

[Skip J.]

Hey Tommy; when looking for a Sifu, don't forget taijiquan....

Also, don't rule out low cost local rec center classes. Some are trash, but many are first class. They'll get you started until you find a ma school you like. You will like the difference in price.....

By the way, I have Bruce's JKD and it is a treasured reminder of his words, but I would never try to learn JKD from his words and pics.

Take care;

[bawang]

did shi yan lei, jan jwing ming, robert smith in their books really show you how to train kung fu
THINK ABOT IT

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:kE4t46RCIAo45M:http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2009-06/02/xin_08206060219455312532737.jpghttp://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:E3W7v2Fd_is2vM:http://data.jxwmw.cn/uploads/200910/1256115092BFF8DKqx.jpg

if u have money to buy books i recommend using the money to go to a gym and hire a personal trainer. or u can send the monies to me because i am poor and i ned monies.

[Lucas]

in todays world books can often be first 'point of contact' with actual serious martial arts information for many young people. learn what you can from the books; history, philosophy, methods, exercises, etc.

from there make sure to use what you learn to make the next decisions of where to begin learning the physical element. study study study. learn as much as you can from all sources.

[bawang]

he is a short fat man and you are telling him to go read lots of books and study.
the foundation of chiense kung fu is hard work and tough training. no book can give you that.

kung fu books for westerners tell you what you want to hear. chinese kung fu books tell you to do pushups sit ups and lift weights.

[Lucas]

you mis interperate what i wrote. i said to use the information he learned to go find a physical teacher.

i look at hitting the bag 100 times as studying....everything i do for kungfu is all study to me.

but even after i started doing lots of hard physical work, i never stopped reading.

i am a sponge and i absorb from any source that leaks.


most martial art books should be about history and philosophy in my opinion why try to read about doing push ups or kicks? that stupid, just go DOOOO them. dont read about it.

[SPJ]

xin yi and xing yi are a bit different.

we all start with san ti shi. we also end with san ti shi.

my kung fu brother he was asked to practice san ti for 3 years before anything else.

from day 1 to day whenever, you still do san ti.

we may then practice pi beng zhuan pao heng, or 5 elements or wu xing fist.

you may pi left and right 100 times each period or more.

before you may beng---

etc

san ti 3 months

pi 3 months

beng 3 months

---

that is why it is called gong fu.

:cool:

[YouKnowWho]

my kung fu brother he was asked to practice san ti for 3 years before anything else.
I was asked to practice "1 step 3 punches" for 3 years when I was 11. It was boring like hell.

One SC guy was asked to practice "hip throw" for 2 years. During the 3rd year he already used his "hip throw" to win his 1st tournament.

When the striking art guy is still hitting the thin air, the throwing art guy already throws his opponent over his head. There is a big difference in training result between both arts.

[tommyf350]

well i understand the act of reading isnt doing kung fu thats obvious, but i would have never got off my butt in the first place if i didnt have a direction to go in the first place,i beleive practicing my qi gong has helped and will form a solid base to progress from,and i will progress from there. i know your trying to motivate me and thanks.

as for bruces book i know its a free style im not trying to mimic him but his idea are good like learning the most effectice counters for a certain situation and certain principal's hes added, like kicking always lends its self to a take down so it would be advantageous of me not to do too much kicking, they can be timed just like a punch and they can alter your balance if your not careful, just a small example of what i mean.

and i will look around too see if there are classes at the Y or similar places,thanks.

[ZenMindT]

I know you said you'r not interested in MMA stuff. But my suggestion would be to look for a boxing gym. I dosn't matter where you live there's always somking of boxing gym with in reasonible distance.

If you like Bruce Lee's stuff then I would deffinatly suggest it. Alot of what I see in his books looks like boxing to me. I started off boxing, it will give you a good foundation on wich to build on. If you box and study kung fu books and dvds I think you will eventually find your own way. Sort of the way Bruce did.

[tommyf350]

yeah alot of his moves are boxing related,its kind of why i stopped reading the whole book, i just dont know all of strikes i was just confusing myself,i figured when i had a good idea of what they where id go back to it
examples:
angle in high side kick
reverse one-two hook kick


high rear cross punch
low lead hook
and so on. my buddy wanted to join a boxing gym but all the ones around me seem like very shaddy ,hole in the wall establishments its just gonna take some looking around, thanks for the advice.

[Skip J.]

...........and i will look around too see if there are classes at the Y or similar places,thanks.
Hey Tommy;

The Y will probably have some kind of classes... but there will be a lot of different local community rec centers that have classes too. And they will be cheaper than the Y. You will have choices between the different places of different styles of kung fu and taijiquan. Dive in somewhere and see if you like it, if not, move on.....

[Dale Dugas]

Also Dale Dugas a frequent poster on this forum teaches in the Boston area;
one could do far far worse than him in terms of finding a sifu...

Thanks for the kind words, brother.

I teach every Sunday at 33 Harrison Ave 7th Floor Boston MA from 10AM to 12PM for Baguazhang.

You are more than welcome to come visit us.

[tommyf350]

thanks for the invite,ill definatley checkout your place,it may be a while before i get ransportation of my own,but ill stop by asap. do you teach xing yi (hsing i ) as well ?

[Dale Dugas]

I have been exposed to Xingyiquan, but do not teach it formally.

I am primarily a Baguazhang teacher. though I can also teach you Iron Palm, Iron Vest, and Shuai Jiao.

[tommyf350]

ok ill still check ya out.