Beginner questions.

[sempronius]

Hey, I'm just starting to get into martial arts and am really interested in Kung Fu especially. However, I'm having a bit of trouble getting started. I bought "The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu: The Secrets of Kung Fu for Self-Defense, Health, and Enlightenment" by Wong Kiew Kit, and have read it pretty in depth. While I've certainly learned a lot and have started doing some simple exercises like training for the horseriding stance, I'm not really sure where to go from here (I know that the obvious step would be to start taking actual classes, but I'll be starting college in a few weeks and it would be really hard.)

There are some sets in the book, but they all seem too complex for a beginner to do, especially with the illustrations being so vauge. What also has me confused is that they're a mix of a bunch of different styles. Out of all the styles presented in the book and everything I've read on the internet the leopard style really suits me best and I'd really love to learn it, but I can't find a single book or dvd that teaches it. I've searched Google, Amazon, Ebay, Abebooks, interlibrary loan. Am I misinterpreting the way that I'm supposed be learning it, or is there some Chinese word of leopard kung fu that I'm missing? I'm really confused, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[Oso]

Hi and welcome.

1 - that book is not too bad at giving you a literary introduction to CMA. You are correct, you need to start classes somewhere if you really want to train.

2 - you can probably train ma bu from the book just fine for starters. If nothing else, you will build some stamina.

3 - Do you want to take classes?

4 - If so, please let us know where you are and someone can probably direct you to a school.

5 - Don't get 'sold' on CMA. You may not be in an area that has a decent CMA school much less a crappy school. Go with the best recommended school irregardless of style where you like the teacher and feel comfortable in.


Good luck and supply us with more info and we'll try to help.

oh...

6 - ignore the idjits, there are many.

[BigPandaBear]

If you're going to a college there should be a great variety of arts to study on campus. What college are you going to?

Even if you don't find Kung Fu, I'm sure you can find something that interests you. Oso's recommendations are spot on.

[sempronius]

Thanks for the speedy replies,

I definitly want to take classes, I just want to wait a few weeks into school to make sure I have a handle on all of my coursework first. I'm going to WPI in Worcester, MA. I'm not really sure if there are any schools there or not.

What exactly does CMA stand for? I agree with you that it's probably more important to find a school that has a good reputation and that I feel comfortable at, but I'm concerned that I'd be investing a lot of time in a style that might not be right for me.

[Key]

CMA stands for Chinese Martial Art.

And I know how you feel, kinda. I'm leaving for New York in 4 days, and am leaving my lovely, little, one of a kind, traditional, Chan Family Choy Lee Fut School behind, and I can already feel the emptiness that I'm gonna feel with no Choy Lee Fut to learn, but alot of colleges are big enough that you will find many people into Kung Fu for you to train with, and some people who are qualified to teach. Like my friend is going to UCSD, and he's not sure if he will teach there, but he's been doing Lohan Kungfu for about 10 years now, and is qualified. I'm sure you can find someone to teach you, and if not, most schools (at least the ones that I researched) had some form of martial art as a PE class, and while very few have Traditional CMA (most have JMA), something is better than nothing.

So if you can get free classes as PE credit through the school, go for it.

And yeah, you need to start taking classes. A book isn't enough.

And alot of styles incorporate Leopard Paw, Choy Lee Fut has some, but you probably want to do 5 Family 5 Animal style; I'm pretty sure that's the most exposure you'll get to leopard paw of any style, unless there's a Leopard Paw school, but I've never heard of it as its own independent style.

[sempronius]

Oh I understand better now...I didn't realize that those five animals were one style. Since that's the case, can anyone reccommend good "5 animal style" books?

As for classes, I'm already signed up for classes in my first year and can't add any PE courses, and I'm not sure if martial arts was even an option. However, the school does have a martial arts club. There arn't really any details on it that I can find, but maybe that will help.

There is one school that I can find in Worcester. "Maury's Looang Foo Pai Kung Fu Academy - Huan Shou Gong Fu." http://www.mauryskungfu.com/
Do you guys have an opinion on this? What sets Looang Foo Pai apart from other styles? Seems pretty legit to me.

Thanks again.

[Mr Punch]

I'm leaving for New York in 4 days, and am leaving my lovely, little, one of a kind, traditional, Chan Family Choy Lee Fut School behind, and I can already feel the emptiness that I'm gonna feel with no Choy Lee Fut to learn, but alot of colleges are big enough that you will find many people into Kung Fu for you to train with, and some people who are qualified to teach.

Mate, if you can't find some reasonable kung fu and even CLF in NY, you can't find your arse with a flashlight!