Andy Miles, if leg breakers in china also took dance lessons does thy make them viable fighting tools?
Andy Miles, if leg breakers in china also took dance lessons does thy make them viable fighting tools?
Internal arts can be taught to children, however certain aspects need to be left out until they are adults. I teach Qi Gong to kids, but I make a fun game that they like and they don't really know they are doing it. Taiji forms are too boreing for kids so I take a few postures and make some games so they practice just the basics.
Children should not do any heavy exertion like lifting heavy weights. Nor should they do any type of sound vibrations like Hung Gars Iron Wire. Nor should they do any type of training that affects their nervous system, such as Iron Palm.
Any of the above internal training regimimes should be done after the age of 16 (for me I would prefer 20-21). If you are going to teach Internal arts to (American) kids, you need to make fun exercises that hide repetition.
ginosifu
Last edited by ginosifu; 08-23-2012 at 07:05 AM.
You should teach young children everything and have 9yo black sashes promoting your art as examples of deadly young masters.
"If you like metal you're my friend" -- Manowar
"I am the cosmic storms, I am the tiny worms" -- Dimmu Borgir
<BombScare> i beat the internet
<BombScare> the end guy is hard.
Wrestling? YES!
Striking each other? No. Striking devices and inanimate objects? Sure, but again, be careful, the body and skeletal structure is not fully developed in youth.
What age to flip the switch? about 14-18, but be careful. Bones are not fused or fully developed in humans until about 18-20 years old. To inflict severe damage through impact stress could indeed lead to a malformation. In truth, bone is never fully developed, but it is in adult hood where it hardens and fuses. I think interruption of this process through concussive striking is probably counter to good development.
Kung Fu is good for you.
I agree that wrestling/grappling is much better for kids than concussive impacts. Ideal, actually, since their bodies are still naturally more pliable, so the grappling can be done more realistically with more safety.
When I was a kid, I took to throwing/grappling more readily than striking. I got my start in judo. It took me a while to acclimate to striking, when I got into karate. Back then, I was in the adults class at 13, and got knocked around a fair bit. From my experience, back in the '70s, people were far less protective of kids than they are today. I hated it for a time, but eventually it became a positive and helped me. But I might have been lucky, and now I would definitely not recommend someone that young taking moderate to hard contact, especially from adult men.
*edit to add:
Even light contact from adult men. Because what is light for a man is likely moderate or even heavy for a kid, unless he's unusually big for his age. Even then, caution is needed.
Last edited by Jimbo; 08-23-2012 at 09:38 AM.
Chronological age is not the same as physiological or mental maturity. I don't teach anyone under the age of nine but I have seen fourteen-year-olds less mature than some nine-year-olds.
Basic structure, sets and freesparring are fine for young children. Conceptual learning is better introduced only very gradually. I don't think the level of exercise should be too demanding and active children don't really need much more than they get at play.
I don't think young children should do weapons training. They don't have the strength to weild real weapons and their nervous systems aren't developed to handle the response times. Weapons skills can only be gained from two-man drills with realistic training weapons and weapons sets don't serve the purpose well.
"Look, I'm only doing me job. I have to show you how to defend yourself against fresh fruit."
For it breeds great perfection, if the practise be harder then the use. Sir Francis Bacon
the world has a surplus of self centered sh1twh0res, so anyone who extends compassion to a stranger with sincerity is alright in my book. also people who fondle road kill. those guys is ok too. GunnedDownAtrocity
Yep, and start them on breakfalls and tumbling from day one and they might have some skills that last a lifetime.=Jimbo;1184546]I agree that wrestling/grappling is much better for kids than concussive impacts. Ideal, actually, since their bodies are still naturally more pliable, so the grappling can be done more realistically with more safety.
"A heavyweight's jab feels like a light heavyweight's knock out punch."--Floyd PattersonEven light contact from adult men. Because what is light for a man is likely moderate or even heavy for a kid, unless he's unusually big for his age. Even then, caution is needed.
"Look, I'm only doing me job. I have to show you how to defend yourself against fresh fruit."
For it breeds great perfection, if the practise be harder then the use. Sir Francis Bacon
the world has a surplus of self centered sh1twh0res, so anyone who extends compassion to a stranger with sincerity is alright in my book. also people who fondle road kill. those guys is ok too. GunnedDownAtrocity
In our Qi Gong style we use fetal or natural breathing. Mouth closed, breathe in your nose. Hollow your chest and inflate you belly as you inhale. Imagine your breath going all the way down to your stomache (just imagine... It wont go there though). What happens is your diaphram expands and contract as you inflate your stomache. Which inturn stimulates everything (organs, reproductive area etc).
Now for the kids, I tell to close thier mouths and breath in their nose and watch me expand and contract my big belly. They laugh cuz my belly gets really big and small. So now they try it.... thier not good at it, but they try. Now everytime I say "Everyone close your mouths and start Qi Gong Breathing..." they all laugh and start doing what I ask.
Another scinerio is the same... I ask them to start Qi Gong Breathing... then I say lets see who can be the quietest person while doing our exercises. They all keep their mouths closed and attemp to do single punches while keeping their mouths closed and without making a sound... etc etc
ginosifu
Cool, thanks.
Yeah I hear abdominal breathing is really healthy. I know qigong does it, I think they do it in meditation and yoga, too.
"If you like metal you're my friend" -- Manowar
"I am the cosmic storms, I am the tiny worms" -- Dimmu Borgir
<BombScare> i beat the internet
<BombScare> the end guy is hard.
When I visited the Shaolin Temple in 2001, there were 100s of kids -- all boys as far as I could tell -- spread out on the plain in front of the temple being taught in groups of 12-18 hard style forms of all kinds. In the temple, I saw boys as young as 8 or 9 learning the same sort of things and doing lots of tough stretching and agility training; even some weight work. I saw no kids learning any internal or what are sometimes called "soft" forms anywhere in China.
My teacher studied only hard style from the age of 15 until 22, when he started in with Lee Soo-Chin in Taiwan; Master Lee was a student of Yang Sho Hao, brother of Yang Cheng Fu. My teacher felt that we had to have the experience of hard style -- kicks, punches etc -- or we would never "get" TCC for real. In my own teaching experience of TCC, I run into grownups all the time who have never even been in a fight of any kind, don't know how to make a fist, etc.
Children need to exercise hard and fast to develop themselves physically. They don't need especially any of the hocus-pocus that typifies the approach of many TCC practitioners these days. They need to punch, kick, play sports, get tired and play.
What are your guys' feelings on children and tong zi gong?
For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.
Young couple to their little kids while watching us work out at the park, "Look, they are doing Tai Chi!. See what they are doing? Look, Tai Chi!"
Corrections to students, "No, circle hands like this, lift up, transition the weight forward. No, under the chin, up, and forward. You are breaking his neck! Like this!"
Nervous looking parents to kids, "Now! It's time to go, now!"