Is this any good for self defense? I heard it was an aggresive internal art. How is that? Do they emphasise kicks or hand strikes? Please help I’m looking at this school.
I’m going to sleep soon, so ill just leave you with a link:
All of the internal martial arts are extremely aggressive. Xingyi is an excellent martial art. It is typically misconcieved as the most ‘aggressive’, most ‘simple’, and most ‘external’ of the internal arts because the martial intents of it’s movements seem for most people to be the easiest to see. However, there is no fundamental truth to any of these statements. That said, if you can see the martial intent of it’s movements better, you may have an easier time applying it. But nothing is so black and white - for example, I see the martial intent of baguazhang much easier, because it is more consistent with how I percieve of fighting.
The site allready posted is an excellent source of info on xingyi, as is www.hsing-i.com . The basis of the training is holding a stationary stance called santi and moving through five very short sequences that will probably look like five kinds of power/angle of striking with the arms/fists. By learning the body mechanics inherent in and associated with this training, practitioners develop incredible striking power. This power is later considered with more martial applications through a series of forms likened to the spirit of various animals. Of course there are plenty of partner drills and such too. Stereotypically, the xingyi tactic is said to advance aggressively into the opponents space, to overrun him and set him up for a large strike. The stereotype is not entirely accurate though - xingyi does make use of angular stepping and deflections to avoid the brunt of it’s opponent’s force while advancing.
Anyway… that’s my late night xingyi ramble. I’m not a practitioner though, only repeating what I’ve heard my betters say. Good luck. 
Hsing-I is cool.
Darn right, nice summary Braden. I think Xingyi is very popular in japan because it’s the most karate-esqe of the internal arts. As Braden said- the stereotypical view of xingyi is to aggresively set your opponent up for one strike. You can see the parallels. It’s just that karate alone really lacks emphasis placed by arts like xingyi on fine internal structure, alignment and intent. I find xingyi fits very well into my mentality.
Hey Braden do bagua guys favour palm strikes or is this another stereotype? In your view how is the power generation of it’s strikes different to xingyi? Xingyi has linear strikes but with very subtle coiling and spiralling motions in it. I don’t know a lot about bagua but isn’t the power generation similar?
Naf -
Bagua varies ALOT between lineages, but the vast majority of them DO heavily favor palm strikes. The two most common strikes in the system I am learning are heavy strikes using the entire palm, and strikes with the striking surface adjacent the thumb’s base - used in similar angles as elbow strikes. Front and back elbows are also very prominent, as are backpalms. The only fist techniques I’ve seen in my style, and even they have been underemphasized, have been uppercuts and hammerfists.
I haven’t personally done any xingyi, so I couldn’t comment on the differences in power generation. I would suspect that the fundamentals are the same, but each style has it’s own emphasis and some ‘other’ stuff. Even between bagua styles, there will be some differences in power generation. For instance, the useage of the dragon palm for striking is particular, and wouldn’t be found in styles that emphasize other palm shapes. I suspect that bagua emphasizes more horizontal energy, more the movements of the waist, will deviate from the six harmonies more readily, and has more developped the idea of the ‘palm’ extending down the entire body as a single striking surface.
What do you mean Karate-esque?
I mean of the three main internal arts, xingyi’s external apperance most resembles karate. I’m speaking very generally here of course.
Xingyi’s 5 elements sort of resemble the stepping and punching training techniques employed by many karate schools. However xingyi has the “keys” that karate lacks or is unwilling to give beginners. i.e. focus on correct structure, alignment, intent etc.
However stance-wise the karate front stance - the most common training stance in many karate schools resembles the bow stance much more than the rear weighted xingyi stance. I find the stepping in xingyi to be very similar in external apperance to wing chun…
Naf-do you see anny similarities-other than superficially between beng ch’uan and battle punches (usually taught with the luk dim bun gwun)or jik chung choy strikes found in wing chun?
A couple things I didn’t like about Karate, is it seems to sraight and angular and to me it seemed kinda slow(and slowfooted) . In Hsing-I is the footwork similar? I ask because I wonder if it emphasises speed in footwork and speed in hand tecniques. One of the reasons I’ve taken a liking to CMAs is that it seems more fluid than JMA.
Also I feel that CMAs are quicker than most JMAs.And more realistic.
Xingyi
I have been practising Xingyi for about a year now, when i started i had a high level graduation in another kungfu system, first thing i found out was that i was unable to stand move or punch even half as good at the Xingyi beginners…a very humbling experience.
Now after only a year of practice xingyi has changed and improved not only my Kungfu techniques but also my capoeira.
I think that xingyi is a style that everybody should experience.
One of the best Internal matrial artists i know told me that if he could start over again he would have practiced the first 10 years only Xingyi.
THATS HELLA COOL!
Thats encouraging! I’ve heard many good things sbout Hsing-I. But I still wonder how swift is it?
Xingyi
Xingyi as i see it is very good in that its fast, balanced and the basics are relativly easy to learn ( my experience compared to other things i have tried).
I think originally the system was made to teach spearmen unarmed defence in a short time, can anyone tell if this is correct?
Tentigers- I’m sure there are similarities, i’m just a beginner in both xingyi and wc, esp wc. with the wc arrow(sp?) walking the stance and stepping is very similar to the xingyi stance, albeit with less emphasis on fine structure and intention. xingyi emphasizes precise alignment and intent from the word go. The beng quan has a slight downward sinking quality to it, something not initially emphasized the wc that i took. A difference i can see is that wc guys were not taugh to twist their upper torso, but keep it square as they stepped foward. If they rotated they were taught to do it as a unit on their heels… xingyi motion used a horizontal twisting of the waist and upper spine. with the arm movement simply a by product of the motion. I’m sure someone with more wc and xingyi experience can give you more theory into the elements and energies involved.
Yung- Karate is general is very straight and relies on linear exagerrated movements. It is not slowfooted. In the training stance yes, it’s slow but when sparring the stances were fleeting, i.e. they appeared (and only in a shortened form) only for a split second before changing into something else.
In this sense it is similar to xingyi, i.e. linear stepping and use of angles of attack. karate emphasizes speed a lot.
IMO none of the internals really emphasize speed to the same extent. Instead focusing on building a good foundation for whole body power and strucutre. The aim is to transcend the need for speed. This takes a heck of a long time and is one of the reasons why you gain fighting ability far quicker in other styles. Xingyi as with any system can be slow or lightning fast. chen man ching was renowned for practicing very slow but paradoxically had the ability to whip techniques out extremely fast. While xingyi at my level doesn’t emphaize speed. At a certain level it is just as fast as any other art.
xingyi is not wonderfully peaceful like taichi or mesmerising in the way bagua circle walking is, it looks rough and crude in comparison. However it can be just as fluid. moreso than karate IMO.
Another thing most karate is strictly long range. (THERE ARE MANY EXCEPTIONS) the internal cma generally want to get close.
I’ve done xingyi for a couple of months and am still very very stuck on “pi” splitting fist. If i had the choice i wouldda have done an internal for 7 years instead of shotokan. xingyi suits me better as it’s essentially a puncher’s art and probably the closest in appearance to karate.
Any of the internals are good. also recommend some form of silat. I hear goooood things about it all the time.
I’m sorry…I’m just kinda biased against Karate
I went to a Karate school for a short while. I guess it was just the school but it really didn’t teach much in the way of anything. And since I had practiced in TKD (I took a TKD that didn’t emphasise self defense so I wanted to study something different)before that I used to get frustrated when everyone just assumed that any martial art meant Karate. The sparring matches I’ve seen were slow in comparison to TKD(at least it seems that way to me) Many people take Karate or have taken it and I just wanted something different. I wanted to study in a martial art that was anything but Karate, something people can recognise as an art that isn’t Karate. (which I know is kinda childish) But I’ve taken a great liking to this school in town. It teaches Hsing-I. I’ve even heard the sifu there is really good. I like how it’s aggressive. I also like (from what I’ve heard) how Hsing-I practioners are very lethal in hand strikes. (after all most fights are with fists alone) I aslo like how it’s internal style. I’ve heard many things about the strength of internal martial arts. To me it seems that Hsing-I is both internal and external. But this particular MA has intrested me a lot.
Hopefully someone can clear this up for me
I read on one of the Hsing-I sites that internal only meant, I think it went along the lines of, a certain region. And that most have the misconception of internal as being soft. Is this statement correct? I though most internal arts were soft and about things like chi. Isn’t that supposedly internal power, cultivating your Chi?Isn’t that how iron palm, iron body is taught too, using chi? Hsing-I teaches about chi also,right? Because I used to think that Hsing-I taught both using internal power and external power.( I’m really anxious, I can’t wait to start studying at the Hsing-I school. They also Chin NA , iron body,and iron palm to advanced students)
Yung Apprentice, if you are considering the school on Nellis Ave, by all means do it!! He is a good teacher.
Besides, Hsing-I 0wnZ.
Thats the one I’m looking at! How did you know about that one?Who is the teacher there? I forgot to ask ,in Hsing-I are there weapon trainings? Isn’t this a small world?( what do you mean Hsing-I owns?) Your not the only one here who said he is very good, so this is very encouraging.
I’m very excited about this school!