I’m looking at possibly taking Hung Gar here in NY City at Yee’s Hung Gar. My goal is to teach martial arts after I retire and at my age, I don’t think I’ll have enough of the martial aspect in Tai Chi 16 years from now.
I’m of course looking to get back into shape after too much weight gain and sedentary life. Would any of you recommend Hung Gar in my case?
How long does it take typically for someone to begin to use it for self-defense and with competence if that person puts in a reasonable amount of days of class time (of course have to practice when not in class)?
I want to retire at an age where I can enjoy it and still be able to teach.
Some aspects of it may be hard, realize you may not heal as fast as some of the 18-21 guys in there, and there tends to be a lot of force on force type stuff in the beginning as with most newbies in most arts. That being said, you will get in shape quick, bring up the yang fire a bit and have some amazing power and solid hits well within the first year.
Can you learn Hung Gar after 40… yes. Can you effectively defend your self after 40… yes. Can you move like 20 year old… probably not. Realisticly you can do most anything within the limits of your body.
One thing that you might not get the hang of is hard core fighting. After 40 the body tends to break before it adapts. If you want to teach hard core fighting, this might pose a small problem.
We here fight to the ground, choke each other out, do full contact San Shou etc, etc. I am almost 45 and I still fight hard core, but my body wants to fall apart. I teach all the aspects of Hung Gar but I started a long time ago.
Other than that you can learn and teach most of whatever you want
and yeah, you won’t heal as fast if you get into the hard banging too often, but it teaches you a lot about yourself and therefor is worth the sacrifice.
you could take up any martial art you wanted, although I would say stick with the practical applied stuff and don’t get too into the flowery stuff because …well, just because.
after 40 kung fu is usually looked at for a health aspect. if you were never really a fighter in life, it will be harder to learn then the 18-20 year old guys. remember you aren’t as crazy as you were in your youth, and you do see fear of getting hurt more. flexibility will be an issue also. i say go for it. learn an art, the yee people are good. you will develop all these aspects.
Hmm I followed a similar path, so let me share some of my experiences.
In my youth I was a fanatic MA. Have been practicing a range of arts, but as many times happens somewhere in my twenties other stuff became important and the arts faded away (and got fed up with the fraud there was in the arts back then). For 20 odd years I have not been practicing or doing any other sports. Just sitting behind my computer finishing projects for my clients.
I ended up weighing close to 100kg and decided that was enough about 2,5 years ago at the age of 34 (ok, not 40, but still). I have been practicing daily since then. I also picked up iron palm (practicing ~ 5 times a week) and can now without much effort (this must be the chi ;)) knifehand through a red housing brick. IOW: even at “our age” your body can still adapt.
Last year October I participated in a fairly large tournament in Germany performing Gung Gee Fook Fu Kuen, Hungs’ base form. My sigung put me in the experienced class due to my previous experience (“You will be stealing a price otherwise.”) which started at 18 years and up (and most participants were not much older!). About 25 entered in this class, and around 20 were simply good as well. Nonetheless I ended up 5th place, so that was pleasing for me.
I know I am not healing up and recovering from a good practice as fast as I used to, so I do need to plan out my training well. No more 4 non-aerobic (hope I get this right in English) runs a week for example. Getting some knowledge of making jows and acupressure etc will really help you here though!
And I notice I am still going forward as well. My performance has since October been considerably improved as well. Currently trying to make Fu Hok “my own” as well, and although at slower pace compared to my teen and early twenties, eventually I’ll get that as well.
With a risk of sounding very pedantic, “there is no end to learning.”
It is best to set the mindset into “personal martial growth” as opposed to “mastering the system.”
In reality, martial arts evolve to adapt contemporary needs. It is inappropriate to think martial arts as: a big bang of genius invention followed by generational decays (“my sifu was a great fighter, I am not as good as he is”). It is more in the evolutionary biology sense: evolution-mutation/revolution.
“Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master” - Leonardo da Vinci
Think of taking Hung Gar as a part of completing your own circle as opposed you need to finish the whole circle of Hung Gar.
You need to adapt it to your need and work on it smart, not only hard.
Learning and trying something is better than not doing at all. If you don’t give it a chance, how do you know if you can even learn something out of it?
It might be hard to master it since people who start younger have the advantage of youthfulness and have done more repetitions. However, somewhere in the middle, it still beats being a sedentary 40-something by far, don’t you think?
Fighting is about what is in your heart (or intention) … and whether your body can sustain to follow it by having the appropriate strength and reflexes.
Without heart, nothing moves.
That’s why gun is called the men’s equalizer: You have the intention and the gun follows, bypassing your body limitations.
Sorry for the multiple postings, but I think that a practical suggestion might be worthwhile, too.
Everything is double-edged. We can use our disadvantagedness as our disadvantagedness. Yet, our strength can be our weakness, too.
One that is very powerful might be able to get way with less techniques just because he has enough power to end the fight. However, he might end up not developing too many techniques. It doesn’t matter from the practical perspectives, but there is no growth to his arts.
One that doesn’t have the aforementioned advantage has to work around to be proficient in fighting. Master the techniques that don’t require (much) of our disadvantagedness.
I too have started Hung Gar after 40. I find it quite beneficial, even if I’m the oldest person in the class. I get in better shape, and sometimes show the young ones my determination, if not my skill.
it is said that you are in your prime in Gung-Fu at 56, so you have quite a ways to go. I’ll be 50 this July, and I keep getting better and better. I have still made gains in speed, power, strength, mass, etc. Do not let your life and how you feel about yourself be governed by the simple fact that the Earth rotated around the Sun. Chronology has nothing to do with it. How you eat,drink, sleep,and play, how you exercise,stretch, and deal with stress is what will determine your “age.”
So, GO FOR IT!!! and tell Yui “Hi” from Ten Tigers. You couldn’t have picked a better Hung-Ga Sifu in NYC.
It’s never too late to start or start again. I am 38 and had studied Hung Gar up till last year. I could have easily trained in it for another 15-20 years but decided to take a different path. I was able to keep up and many times outpace my younger counterparts. The younger guys may have more **** and vinegar but with age comes wisdom and you can make better decisions and have better comprehension. I know I did after the age of 30. In my twenties, I had more time to train but didn’t put as much effort into my training as I could have. Now at the age of 38 with 3 kids, my own business and other hobbies I train harder than I ever did and have progressed further because of it.
I’m looking at possibly taking Hung Gar here in NY City at Yee’s Hung Gar. My goal is to teach martial arts after I retire and at my age, I don’t think I’ll have enough of the martial aspect in Tai Chi 16 years from now.
I’m of course looking to get back into shape after too much weight gain and sedentary life. Would any of you recommend Hung Gar in my case?
How long does it take typically for someone to begin to use it for self-defense and with competence if that person puts in a reasonable amount of days of class time (of course have to practice when not in class)?
I want to retire at an age where I can enjoy it and still be able to teach.[/QUOTE]
So did you try it out yet? I am 38 and I was thinking of Yee’s also, but like you, I feel the same about age and what style to pick, etc…
I’m 52, soon to turn 53. I’ve been back at steady training now for about 5 years after a long hiatus. My sifu, Tony Brown, is 57. He just came back from Taiwan where he and his Norwegian team competed in the 10th World Cup Kuoshu Tournament. Sifu Brown came out of retirement there and fought in the full contact Lei Tai matches. Despite waking up sick that morning, he won a silver medal for his Norwegian team. I don’t think they had him only fighting other 50 somethings… Oh, and on top of that, he only has one arm. http://www.tromso.hungkuen.no/taiwan7.html
Granted, Sifu Brown has been teaching, training, and learning for a long time. He is very good at what he does. I would never consider going up against someone half my age in a full contact match, but he is just demonstrating that age is not necessarily an absolute, just like he has long demonstarted that having a “disability” is not an absolute. I have learned the hard way on how to adjust my training for my age… I herniated a disc almost 2 years ago training like I use to do in my early 20’s. I don’t look, or move, like I’m 20 years old, but I sure look a hell of a lot better than a lot of other 50 somethings who have difficulty picking something up off the floor… and a lot of 40 somethings, come to think about it.
50 and above is not a barrier so I don’t see that 40 something is anything to sweat. It is all in intent.
[QUOTE=todi;759707] Sifu Brown came out of retirement there and fought in the full contact Lei Tai matches. Despite waking up sick that morning, he won a silver medal for his Norwegian team. I don’t think they had him only fighting other 50 somethings… Oh, and on top of that, he only has one arm. http://www.tromso.hungkuen.no/taiwan7.html
[/QUOTE]
For me the forties were a good time to pour it on. Forty starts a new eight year cycle in male developement and is a good time to establish the habits that will carry you on through a good portion of the rest of your life. I turned double nickles on the twenty third of April and still feel forty or younger. I’m partial to Hung Gar so 'nough said about that.
I restarted taking CLF when I was 51 exactly 2 years ago with my son who was 10 and also taking CLF. I had taken CLF about 30 years ago for about 3 years when I was in my late teens to early 20s. Because of college, work and later marriage and a family, I did not make time to take CLF. It was not too drastic of a transition because during the 30 years off, sometimes I continued practicing basic punches, kicks and blocks. I did not practice my sets and I forgot them during the 30 years. Unlike before when I use to get bruised conditioning or sparring, luckily we don’t do any now. By not getting bruised, this is less wear and tear on my old body. I now take CLF primarily for health and some self -defense reasons. For an old guy, I can still do all the moves on the Sup Ji Kau Da set. This is a testimony that an old guy can still start kung fu at over 40 or even 50.
My brother started Hung Gar well into his 30’s and did very well. He also had a weight problem. He trained in NYC under a very good Hung Gar Sifu, I can’t recall his name at the moment. Good luck.
