Kung Fu Choices

[Dr. Feelgood]

I got a dilemma, to many choices….

I have just found the wonderful world of Martial Arts. The problem is that I have access to both a outstanding Shaolin and Taijiquan teacher. I have been an athlete all my life, played small college football. Enjoy aerobic exercise and weight lifting. Based on that I am drawn to the Shaolin style. Over the last 5 years I have lost a lot of agility and quickness and see Shaolin Kung Fu as a way to regain and maintain. And the Shaolin history is just so **** cool. However, I see Taijiquan as an art that will carry me well into my old age with health benefits as well as ever increasing martial ability.

Has anyone crossed this bridge or guided others?

I am a little wary of some of the training techniques in Shaolin. I enjoy contact but my job will not allow me to bang my hands on blocks. I realize there are different levels but can you become proficient without Harding your hands? And to be frank, I feel the benefits of taijiquan, after working out I am refreshed and relaxed, but it bores me. I even a sense of how powerful a martial art taijiquan can eventually become, but it still bores me. After 6 months I feel that all the testosterone has been drained out of my body.

Maybe I need to grow up and act my age. Any advice? I can't be the only one who has had to make this choice.

[Mutant]

yes, i know what you mean, there are only so many hours in the day, can't train everything. me, i'm still stuck here at work reading about kung fu while i feel like training, frustrating.

so you really need to just choose what you want to focus on. if tai chi is boring you, try the shoalin stuff. tai chi has been around a long time and will always be there for you to go back to later, its not like its a life-long choice you have to live with.

some styles emphasize hand conditioning a whole lot. some overephasize it, to the point where i think theyre missing the point and possibly damaging their bodies. its all about self preservation and cultivation. so if you mangle or deform your hands and body, it defeats the original purpose and you'd better be ready for arthritis and loss of dexterity, which is not a fair trade...many of the old masters who did this in the past were ready to go die in battle anyways and werent worried about using their hand for the long run as we are in modern life. even professional fighters these days take care of their hands.

look at the responses to evolutionfists' thread entitled 'question for wing chun players', i think there are some insiteful comments on hand/finger conditioning, and why its unnessesary and futile to risk destoying your hands when thats really not the idea, not intended or nessesary, at least not in many sensible methods of fighting.

pounding rice and moderate conditioning/tempering under a knowlegable instructor will not nessesarily damage youre hands at all and is fairly common in many schools, no harm in that imho. if your a surgeon and thats still too much, then any reasonable sifu should be able to taylor your workouts to suite you, w/o the hand conditioning. but if they really insist on making you beat your hands to a pulp, then go someplace else. i've seen fake 'iron palm' guys that think thats what its all about and dont even train correctly and are damaging themselves and still can't fight well. not that all iron palm is fake or useless, just be careful who's teaching you that stuff, many frauds out there, and many arts (shaolin based kung fu included) that don't require such abuse.

but now i'm rambling, gotta finish my own work so i can go train myself.
good luck with your decision.

[Mutant]

by the way, not all tai chi schools are all just forms for old people and boring, but most these days are just practicing healthful exercise without the real martial applications and complete training....tai chi chuan was developed as a complete art with just as much well rounded and exciting training as other cma styles...there are some schools that still turn out successful full-contact fighters. it sounds like the school youre training at may be just the lite 'health only' version, maybe what you need to do is find a tai chi teacher that teaches the full system and a non-boring version, just a thought. maybe that would be just the ticket for you?
now i really got to run this time, later! :D

[Leonidas]

I wouldn't worry about it. Take Shaolin first and you can always learn Tai Chi. You dont have to worry about old age, since you can even do Karate in old age if it's learned properly. The point of conditioning is to strengthen your hand so it doesn't break when you hit someone. Your skin should stay the same as it was. Conditioning just basically makes your wrist and knuckles stronger. Just eating healthy can make your bones resistant to breakage, but you may need some hand training. If done properly you wont even develop cuts and scarring let alone arthritis and deformities.

[Dr. Feelgood]

Thanks to Mutant and Leonidas....

Thanks for the input. Life is the journey and not the destination. I think sometimes I get too wrapped up with mapping my life. Trying to anticipate every possible problem or concequence surrounding a choice. Just Do It, right?

[xiong]

You might also look into what kinds of Qi gong the Shaolin school teaches. Things like the 8 pieces of brocade are exercises that have the same circulatory benefits as Tai Chi forms, at least thats how it feels to me, and many Sifu's teach some form of "soft" art to balance the hard. Check out what they do in a class at the Shaolin place.