I know very little about eagle claw other than it is a northern style, it has a lot of joint locks, and is a long fist system. My teacher studied some eagle claw and we do a couple of the Ching Wu forms.
What I wanted to comment on was the long fist comments. Long Fist is a name of an art that is taught at Chin Wu, Chang Chuan I beleive. But it seems it can also identify the type of attacks as well. Long Arm style tend to be from the north and tend to be long range. Of course this is jsut a sterotype and exceptions do occur. Southern systems typically are short arm styles. Though Hung Gar and wing chun have lots of long range attacks were the arms are fully extended. In wing chun we call it long bridge, and it has specific power or energy associated with it. Hung Gar Tiger and Crane has several sections that I have heard were incorporated into it from another style because of the long bridge.
Not sure if any one was interested, but thought I would comment.
Tom
I posted some video clips on the Mantis forum on a thread entitled Time for mpegs.
It includes Eagle Claw 2 man drill and forms as well as weapons and Mantis.
I suggest Tainan Mantis`s thread, time for mpegs, a must see! He has a great video for the offering…with too much info for the price. Really good two-person stuff here , trust me!
Okay, now it seems to me that this style is more for very young people. I remeber looking through a book by Sifu Leung Shum that said that while this style can be learned by anybody, for people over 30 years old, this style is more for sport than self-defense. Could somebody please tell me if I am right? If I am right, then why is this true? Thanks in advance.
What Sifu Shum Leung was saying, is that anyone can learn Northern Eagle Claw (young & old), but in order to learn the gymnastics safely (front handspring, back handspring, butterfly kick, hand stand, kip up, leg splits…etc.) which are found in the forms. Then it is better to start at a very young age because your joints, tendons and muscles are very soft, so it makes it easier for you to stretch the body to prevent injuries and also when you are young you have no fear when it come to learning tumbling techniques.
The fists, weapons and partner sets in the Northern Eagle Claw system are very flashy, which makes them great for demonstrations and tournaments.
However, do not be fooled by the flashy forms, the Northern Eagle Claw system is great for learning how to protect yourself and your loved ones on the mean streets.
