Shaolin Long fist

[neoport0]

Wanted to know if Shaolin long fist if effective when you get into a fight or for selfdefense.. Also would like to know if its a good style to start with

[MasterKiller]

Yes and yes.

[Shaolinlueb]

just like MK said. just make it work for you and yes its good to start in.

[Starchaser107]

both counts affirmative

[Ravenshaw]

Really, you could make a case for most any style as a "starting style." The reason a Long Fist method would be good to start with is that it is highly athletic and develops good flexibility and coordination. This is the same reason that modern wushu or even dancing can be an effective springboard off which one can start their training. Some of the best kickboxing students I've seen were initially dancers.

The main advantage that Long Fist has over the latter two approaches has already been mentioned: fighting. But if the style isn't taught well or with self-defense in mind, you may not recieve that benefit.

Just to give you another point of view, some might advocate starting with a Southern style like Hung Gar because of its emphasis on strong stances. Or maybe one would reccomend Wing Chun because of its simplicity. It all depends on what you want and/or what you decide makes sense to you.

[Starchaser107]

Ok I also have an observation which may or may not be useful, but I figure I should say it anyway.
IME northern (shaolin) stylists , for the most part , the ones that I've met seem to be more open minded about things and not too caught up in the superiority complexes that I've seen Southern stylists have issues with(Especially Wing Chun). Maybe it's just my luck to encounter these people , but from what I've seen Northern (shaolin) people, esp. if they're fight oriented are more concerned with practicality rather than doctrine and formulaic responses to random occurrences. Alot of people would probably hate me for saying that , but that is my experience.

[SimonM]

My Sifu begins teaching Long fist with beginners and continues with with the style until the intermediate level. It works well for introducing students to Kung Fu at my Kwoon.

[Ravenshaw]

Originally posted by Starchaser107
IME northern (shaolin) stylists , for the most part , the ones that I've met seem to be more open minded about things and not too caught up in the superiority complexes that I've seen Southern stylists have issues with(Especially Wing Chun).

That's an interesting observation. I'd never thought of that before. Mostly, I just have to deal with boxers that refuse to see past Jet Li's barrel rolls . I've heard some of the Hung Gar students at our school kind of mocking the Northern Shaolin, but it was always pretty friendly. I don't know many Southern-style fighters, though. Maybe because our sifu is diverse in his own training and knowledge (Northern/Southern, Internal/External) it kind of shows them - and me - that there is more than one way to get the job done. "Different focus" as my sifu puts it.

Anyway, most of the styles that seem to have less open practitioners seem to be those that have a rock-solid idea about how to fight effectively. To use your example, Wing Chun is a very streamlined art and there are quite a few concepts within the system that some students treat as gospel. Not everyone does, though. Most Wing Chun fighters will admit that the hook is a good punch when used well. Most people realize that guidelines like "only straight attacks" are only a general rule that can be broken once you really understand. After all, one big problem Bruce Lee found with traditional martial artists was that their styles were based on partial truths that the students would follow as dogma, never growing beyond. Fortunately, as kung fu and all sorts of styles are becoming much more widespread, more and more people are discovering this.

As the old - and graphic - saying goes, "there's more than one way to skin a cat."

[Ben Gash]

Wing Chun guys seem to get caught in a "this can be countered by that" mindset, like no Wing Chun techniques can be countered

[sakko]

Having started shaolin long fist myself about 8 or 9 months ago, my advice to someone starting would be do lots of stretching excercises and some jogging or if you are a fatty like me jogging/walking keeping your heartrate up for a good amount of time.

Also practice your stances. When I first started kung fu I was told to go home and try entering a horse stance for as long as I could. The best way to do this in my opinion is with your butt over a couch or big chair that you can flop into once you get too tired, cause if you strain even harder to get up when you are already exhausted it could cause some damage to your muscles. When I first started I could only do this for about 30-45 seconds, but now I can stay in horse stance over 8 minutes!

I find keeping myself occupied while doing it helps me take my mind of the stance itself. My little technique is to drag a chair into the kitchen and horse stance over it while I peel shrimp for dinner. Since shrimp are a pain in the ass they take my mind off the horse stance.. maybe its cheating but my muscles probably don't know the difference

I just earned the rank of blue belt in my school which is the belt at which we start on forms which contain sweeps and jump kicks, so I've got a lot to learn this belt but I'm looking forward to it!

Hope you do well in shaolin long fist It's alot of fun...