Atlanta Kung Fu and Sanda Center?

[dboeren]

I've been interested in martial arts for a long time. In high school and early college I studied Tae Kwon Do for about 4 years, however this was over 20 years ago. Between now and then, I've dabbled in several schools (Aikido, Wah Lum Preying Mantis, Shinkendo, Kali), but due to various circumstances these tended to only be about 6 months or so before I moved away, or changed jobs, etc... and other interests and family have taken up my time as well. Now at 43 years old I'd really like to get back into it and stay with a school for a long time again and make it a regular part of my life.

I've been working on losing weight and stretching to get back some of my prior flexibility prior to joining. I've been researching all the schools nearby, mapping them out, comparing schedules versus our existing time commitments. I also have a friend of similar age who wants to join with me to support each other, he has some previous Jeet Kune Do experience (about a year and a half) and is also wanting a long term commitment. We both have similar desires, we're looking for a traditional martial art which will help us improve ourselves in additional to the self defense benefits. No McDojos, no overly macho MMA gyms.

One of the possibilities that we're looking at is this school:

Atlanta Kung Fu & Sanda Center under Sifu Russell Feldman, teaching Choy Li Fut and Lama Pai (Steven Ventura lineage)
http://www.atlantakungfu.net

Is anyone here familiar with this school or instructor? Choy Li Fut is of course a well known style, and while I hadn't been familiar with Lama Pai previously I've been doing a lot of reading over the last 10 days about it and it sounds very interesting. I like the idea of studying a less common style with an interesting heritage.

Is there any reason these styles would not be appropriate for a couple of somewhat chunky (but working on it) early 40's guys? I'm still reasonably flexible and willing to put in the work to improve my conditioning. Due to having a family now I will only be able to train two nights a week, maybe an occasional Saturday or special event. I work from home, so I'm often able to to set some time aside during my lunch hour for exercise. Currently I am using this to go walking or do some stretching but I could just as easily work on forms or something.

Anyway, we're going to be visiting the school to watch a class tonight and I expect to base much of our decision on our impressions of the schools, instructors, students, and material that we see on our visits to each school but I thought it would be worth asking the community here for their thoughts as well.

Thanks!