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



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.