newbie with a mission

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Forum
1

i’ve only posted a couple times, but here’s a basic description of what i’m looking for:

i’m a female, 5’6 about 130 lbs. (that was easy, huh guys) and i’m interested

at this point everything is a learning experience for me. even tho my training is pretty sporadic, my interest has been pretty consistent. MA, as i think the abbreviation goes, seems like so much F-U-N. it’ll give me some kind of foundation, at least. knowledge is never a bad thing, so i’m going to try everything to attain it. unfortunately, my schedule now is pretty restrictive (normal 9-5…statisticly [sp?] speaking, i’m proud to be a small town average american).

my training so far has consisted of boxing (guard, footwork,sense of range) sticks, and a few other arts. what would you suggest is the best start? i’ve been told that endurance training is pretty pointless. (although every kind of training, i believe, has its own benefit) i LOVE sticks (from what i’ve been exposed to, some of the Dog Brother footage is pretty gruesome)

anyway, i think thats a good start…

me

2

Not really such thing as a “best” art.
If you like stick work try some Kali or Escrima.
Go to a couple kung fu schools and try a class.
Maybe Tai Chi. Silat is pretty tight too.
:slight_smile:
It all depends on what you’re looking for. Best bet is to check out a c ouple schools and see how you feel abou them.

3

Just stay away from that TKD, it turns good kids into thugs.

welcome to the forum,ZEN

4

from what you listed that you’ve had exposure to, I’d say stick with what you are doing, if it’s comfortable to you. Look for Yenhoi on this forum. He’s in NV also and has similar training.

5

what do you guys think about Judo? I am aware of Silat, Kali, & a vague sense of Tai chi.

Keep it comin’ guys…

me

6

I love judo (I’m also biased, as it’s one of the arts I currently train in)

It’s a good solid art that will teach you some good solid skills. Being a woman, grappling knowledge would only benefit you.

What exactly are you looking for in an art?

7

whoever told you endurance training is a waste of time needs his head boiled in urine. but yeah- it depends on what you are doing. Hapkido, kung fu, tai chi chuan, karate- these all take time and patience to become useful. I have been doing kung fu for about 9 months, but even that is just laying the foundations. If you want to be able to defend yourself now, I’d go for judo. not being sexist here but it’s a plain fact that boxing isn’t going to help you, being a woman. I myself considered it but I just don’t have the build- I can either become a good kung fu practitioner or a mediocre boxer.

So yeah. Judo is based on using your opponents weight against them so it’s quite popular amongst the girls I know who do martial arts. Other than that wing Chun is quite good- It was after all developed by a woman and is about misdirection, not strength.

Of course its entirely up to you, I suggest going to a few classes of anything near you and then choosing what you like the best. any instructor that won’t let you have at least one free session isn’t worth your time. (that or they are amazingly good, but in small town america I wouldn’t bank on it)

8

And where are you?

If we know more of what you want and where you are then people here can probably point you at a few good schools.

9

D’oh! Just saw Reno, NV under your name. That should do it!

So, are you into the boxing, do you want something more “esoteric”, more practical for sport competition? Do you want a primarily weapons based or empty hand based style? Etc.

10

Originally posted by Ikken Hisatsu
not being sexist here but it’s a plain fact that boxing isn’t going to help you, being a woman.

You’re an idiot. And that was sexist.

I’d love to see you go up against Muhammed Ali’s daughter sometime.

11

yeah poor choice of words- against a big dastardly mugger, it won’t be as effective as say, judo. (I thought thats what I said… bleh too little sleep)

12

Originally posted by Ikken Hisatsu
yeah poor choice of words- against a big dastardly mugger, it won’t be as effective as say, judo. (I thought thats what I said… bleh too little sleep)

Well, even that is a misleading statement. Really, grabbing hold of a big bad mugger and trying to throw him could be worse than trying to smack him in the ear and leg it.

13

Well, even that is a misleading statement. Really, grabbing hold of a big bad mugger and trying to throw him could be worse than trying to smack him in the ear and leg it.

Get the best of both worlds - crosstrain in kung fu and swai jiao (is this a valid pinyinization, or just a misspelling?)

14

That would be a mis-spelling. I think the accepted version Shuai Chiao. Or something like that.

Anyway, SC :wink: on it’s own would teach striking and throwing, so no cross training needed necessarily. Judo might be good for the throws and newaza.

Any good kung fu system should have throws, locks and submissions anyway, but there are few good systems around. And other arts certainly emphasise this stuff more. Some of the Indonesian and Philipino arts empahsise more stick and knife work.

In truth, it boils down to what’s available to Zen. She might really like the idea of SC, but if there’s no school near her then it’s academic. Unless she’s prepared to move!

So, anyone know what good schools there are in Reno?

15

Hiya ZEN, this is ZIM

To my online ears, it sounded like ZEN was saying she wants to master an art, not just do one for self defense [maybe she already has that down to a degree and wants the rest, who knows…].

So IMHO, that kind of changes the topic slightly from the usual “blah blah, this art versus that one for X body type” arguments.

If so- my questions might start thuslike:
-you like weapons and especially sticks, I’m guessing, so is there a reason to not follow FMAs?

-are you wanting to find a weapons-oriented Kung Fu versus an empty-hand one? Would the order of training [weapons first or after] make a difference? Are ther other types of trainings you are after [like iron palm, etc]

-how much time are you willing to make in your daily life to pursue this, and how much time are you willing to devote towards attaining competence, let alone mastery [I mean how impatient are you]?

-are you looking to teach?

-are you willing to get involved with an extended Kung Fu family and work to support that, even if it means losing money or students? This isn’t always the case, but some family cultures are different from others- some are commercially savvy, some very traditional,etc. Honesty here, is a good thing- it helps to find the type of organization that’d support your goals best.

If I’m in error in my suppositions then none of this matters much, perhaps.

16

:eek:

17

Originally posted by SevenStar
What exactly are you looking for in an art?

well, at this point i’m pretty open-minded. i’m looking for something that will provide me with a means to defend myself in almost any situation. not necessarily “self-defense” but i want to get to a point where “i didn’t move the hand, it moved itself”. Judo seems to fit my situation as of now, from what i know of it. it seems like it covers most of the basics, isnt TOO “skill” oriented and you get to wear a shnazy gi. LOL Also, there is a judo club here in reno, i might check it out. (thanks Shaolin, i have a few schools in mind)

Ikken- what benfits do you personally get from doing endurance training? what kind of workout are you on right now?

and then came ZIM-

first of all, you guys have to understand i dont know the “lingo” just yet…blushing…what is FMA? formal martial arts? just a guess…

second, i think learning with a weapon would make learning open-handed combat easier. the sense of range is much different between a 3-foot long stick vs. my tiny little hands. i suppose getting better at a longer range would make close-range seem more…comfortable.

thirdly, depends on what you mean by impatient. that word has both positive and negative conotations. i’m not in this for a “quick fix” if thats what you mean. on the other hand, i think a certain level of impatience creates a sense of urgency for knowledge. dont know if that makes sense…

fourthly, isnt the ultimate goal to get the point where you CAN teach?

fifthly (whew) money…what a silly thing.

thanks ZIM

okay, i gotta get back to the real world now, thanks so much guys

me

p.s i only get one time a day to answer back, guys, so dont think i’m abandoning you! an answer is on its way, i promise…
:smiley:

18

my 2 cents

I’m guessing the FMA mean Filipino Martial Arts… and from what your saying about stick to hand techniques you might want to look into that… what caused to to dabble in it and stop?

Escrima, Kali or Arnis pretty much do what you mentioned… start with a stick then later show you how to apply it with a hand.

I’m personally a fan of Wing Chun. For me it’s very structural in theory and thus the sooner you learn the structer, hand positions etc… the quicker you’ll be able to apply it.

Judo’s always looked like alot of grabbing and so I’ve tended to prefer Jujitsu or akido for similar style throwing with less (IMO) grabbing.

Of course this is all relative to what’s available in your area… perhaps after you’ve found some potential school posting them here could lead to some interesting discourse.

19

First and most important, what schools are available in your area?

20

Originally posted by ZEN
Ikken- what benfits do you personally get from doing endurance training? what kind of workout are you on right now?

Well, I’m not Ikken, but I’m a fan of endurance work. I do Taku’s intervals (derived from the Tabata protocol). Here’s a link:

http://trainforstrength.com/Endurance1.shtml

Highly recommended. Benefits? I’m losing fat, gaining explosive strength, and I’m starting to get what Taku calls a 30-gallon gas tank. Very different to traditional jogging endurance work. I do 2 or 3 laps of my local oval in total which takes about 6 min and my workout’s done. After doing it for about 2 months now, I’m yet to hit my endurance limits in my WC classes, yet I would before I started.

I’m also on a strength program at the same time. I wouldn’t want to do the interval training without maintaining strength.

Hope that helps.