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Sifu Albright, I just finished looking at your website. I am very impressed with your system. I am intrigued by the theory of the inner and outer gates. I am astounded at the number of sets you have learned. We also have set sparrings in our system. As well as Catchings (the opposite sides) to the 1st 4 sets. Wishing you well, Toddzilla.
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It is better to have not fought at all, than to have won a thousand battles.- Chee Kim Thong
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Toddzilla:
Thanks for the compliment. I also have a lot of matching hand drills and sets. These come in two types. The ling nad the Dui Chat. In a ling form onme person basically does the moves from a form for example Bung Bo and the other matches the movements with a relitivly simple counter. His job is to match the moves of the first person. The dui chat is different. It is still a matching set but both partners are doing moves from two different sets or in the case of bung bo BOTH partners are using techniques found in Bung Bo to counter each other's techniques. In other words the dui chat is a more advanced approach to two man forms. More of this info will appear on my site as I update it.
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CAA
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That's extremely like Gor Chor Catchings. It's nice to know that some other systems have a similar methodology.
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Sifu Albright,
I'm new to this site. I just wanted to sat hello. I'm impressed by your knowledge and willingness to pass it on. I've been training for about 12 years and I've trained in mantis for the last two. My sifu is Kurt Wong who is a student of Master Su Yu Chang. I live in Alaska but grew up in Queens. I also participated in Aaron Banks tournaments when I trained in Goju Ryu under Shihan Gotay. I visit home at least once a year and I always try to visit Master Su when I come. Maybe I'll get a chance to come out to Brooklyn and visit you guys as well.
Krispy
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Hello and greetings from Alaska. I am Krispy Jing's kung fu brother and I have been studying martial arts for about 10 yrs. I have trained in 7-star mantis for about 3 yrs straight with Sifu Kurt Wong. I am also impressed with your messages on the post regarding history and lineage.
I am planning to move to the Philippines within a year. unfortunately I will not be continuing my Baji instructions because our lineage is not in the Philippines yet. But I have heard they teach 7 star mantis over there. I was just curious if you know of any teachers that teaches seven star mantis in the Philippines. Thank you for your time.
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Krispy and Ba ji
Thanks for the compliments. If you get to NY krispy give us a buzz, visitors are always welcome. Check the site for address and phone #. Ba Ji, the Chinese martial arts are quite popular in the phillipines and I'm sure you won't have trouble finding a teacher. I believe that Shakesphere Chan (7 star mantis) is teaching there I know his student Alex Ko is in magazines of late. there is also the Ching Wu association in the phillipines aand you can find their site through I believe
http://www.chingwu.com
If thats not the url then check the search engines for ching wu or jing mo.
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CAA
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Howdy!I need a double ax set on book or tape.Are there any? Thank you!
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Sifu Albright,
Hello and greetings once again. I have always been curious about the different lineages of preying mantis, especially those from Ching Wu and from Taiwan. I was wondering if you yourself have seen any difference between Chiu Chi Man mantis and Sifu Su Yu Chang's?
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Likuei, I'll check into the double axe info.
Baji
Since Master Su teaches more than one style of mantis his number of seven star forms has been determined by his own curriculum. But in the seven star forms that I have seen him do there are a number of differences in the way that he does them and the way that we do them. The flavor and tempo is different. The way he holds the mantis claw is different. In the ending movements of Bong Bo he uses the inverted backfist in a reverse bow and arrow stance, while we use inverted eagle claw strikes. Plus other little things.
I find the differences interesting and use them to gain a greater perspective of the scope of the mantis style.
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CAA
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WOW!
I study 7 Star Preying Mantis in Austin, Texas.
I thought your name sounded familiar, Sifu Albright, so I checked out your page. I was astonished to find a picture of my sifu, Jeff Hughes, and my sigung, Ray
Fogg, in gallery B! Please excuse my ignorance, by not knowing the title in the lineage that describes my relation to you; but I just think it's amazing what can happen when you're bored at work and surfing on the net.
I've been in kung fu since I was 17, off and on. I used to live on a military base in Okinawa; where I studied wu shu standard Yang style Tai Chi, Hsing Yi, Gre
en Dragon (5 animal), Bamboo Grove mantis, and smidgeons of Tibetian White Crane, Hung Gar, and Choy Lay fut- I know that sounds incredible, but my sifu was in the Air Force and moved around a lot. The main styles of the class were Green Dragon (5-animal) and Tai Chi, though I immediately fell in love with the mantis and hsing yi. I was only able to train for a couple years, before going to college. At college I let my health go, I gained a lot of weight (upwards of 60 pounds) and picked up smoking & drinking. In August 1998 I came down to Austin to become a co-op student for IBM. I met Sifu Hughes at this time. He helped me get back in shape, somewhat, and I was really getting into class. Sadly, I had to go back to school in January, 99, I went back to my old bad habits: put on another 25 pounds, smoked to the point of bronchitis- a result of which I now have serious asthma, and basically losing faith in myself. i came back to Austin last summer. It wasn't until October that I drug myself back to class. I was doing fine until Thangksgiving, when I got sick and took a month and a half off, and am now finally getting back into training full time. I have a demonstration coming up soon for sifu Fogg and I'm actually scared that I might embarass myself. Quitting smoking has not come easy (at my worste, I smoke on the weekends, at my best, I can go up to 6 weeks without). My asthma and my added weight have severely affected my class performance.
Sorry for the lengthy intro; but finally, here is my question:
Do you have any recommendations to help me lose some weight, gain my wind back, regain my flexibility, and stances in time for my April 8th demonstration?
I've been attending every class offered, I've started practising late at night, by myself in the park, I've been swimming on a swimteam somewhat regularly, and
I've been looking to change my diet (but not sure how). What else should I do? Is there any way you can help?
Thank you, any help you could offer would be GREATLY appreciated,
Eric
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Greetings Eric,
It's good to see that you have had such a diverse martial art background. I'm sure it all helps tha mantis practice in the end. As far as getting back up to speed, continue training every chance you get. In addition, try some deep breathing exercises. If you don't know any, just simple deep breathing inhaling while raising the arms overhead and exhaling while slowly lowering the arms to the side. I know it's simple but you do need to take the time out to do some type of deep breathing. Later, a mantis teacher can show you some of the 18 Lo Han form which is an internal form of mantis. The main thing about a diet is take it slow. Crashing out is bad for your health and only leads to a return to the original eating habits and sometimes you end up eating more than in the first place. Eat more green veggies and less meat. You can still eat what you want basicly but start cutting back on intake. And REALLY try to cut out snacks at night and eating between meals. Eat a little less at first then a little less than that and so forth. With exercise and cutting back on eating along with eating more green veggies you should see some improvement in a few weeks. Also the docotors say that the best time to work out is before your first meal. That way you burn more fat.
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CAA
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Thanks!
I'm working on the diet already- I went out and got a bunch of fruit&vegetables. I'm cutting out basically all meats except tuna, eggs, and maybe chicken. I've also decided to replace sodas with sugar-free lemon tea.
Normally I go swimming at 5:30 every morning, but last week I was sick. It's been really hard to wake up early, because I've been going to the park late at night to practise by myself.
I'll do the Bai Fu Sau that we do in class, as well as seated meditation; plus I think I'm going to try some of the tai chi breathing exercises that I haven't done in 4 years or so.
Thanks for your help, I'll let you know how it goes,
Eric
PS. I'm to be performing Sup Sei Lo
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Hello again,
I will be updating my web page next week. If you have anything you would like to see, now is your chance. Suggestions will be taken under consideration. I would like to start teaching a form as the lesson of the month. A few moves fully described each month. I haven't decided which form yet. I am looking into getting some AVI on the page so you can see movements in action.
Thanks for your support and if anyone gets to New York, drop me a line. Visitors are always welcome. I am moving to a new location in a few weeks. Much bigger and nicer. Check the page for the new address/phone etc.
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Sifu Carl
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Lawclansman,
I loved your two man with applications. Nice job on that. As for myself I just started taking some PM lessons but my class meets only once a week, which is not enough for me..especially since I need to practice things many times to remember them and I forget them when I get home. I would love to see some basics; stances, hand forms, stuff like that. The stances in PM are quite different from my previous MA experience and I prefer to practice them right the first time!
Thanks for putting up your site! It's my favorite PM one.
shiro
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Shiro,
Thanks for your input. I was thinking of putting up a page on general info about the style (stance, basic tech etc). You have confirmed that there would be an interest in this. I am working on the history section at the moment because I never finished it. I talk about the Sil Lum but not the history of mantis after Sil Lum to Lo San. The history section will clear up any questions on the lineage on the Chiu Chi Man / Chiu Leun side.
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Sifu Carl