I really love Praying Mantis. Though I don’t train it as my primary style (I train Northern Long Fist/Southern White Crane as my core) I have learned Bung Bo form from 7 Star Mantis and half of the modern Wu Shu Mantis form that Yu Hai created. Actually, in the Long Fist I train, which is the Han Ching Tan lineage, it has 3 Praying Mantis forms within that Long Fist system. So a little bit of Praying Mantis is in my Long Fist training.
But anyways, I have discovered recently that some people think Praying Mantis is a funny or weird looking style and don’t like it. I can’t really comprehend why. Cause I think it’s a great effective combat style that looks good by default. I show some Praying Mantis to most people and they like it. But there are people here and there that says it looks goofy. But they don’t have anything bad to say when I show them the applications and the combative side to Mantis, they just think it’s not good looking or something. But I think it’s beautiful visually. And effectiveness is not a question.
Yeah I been training under Master Yang for the past 7 years here in Boston. Hey you’re in Boston too? If you like his books, you should take a seminar or 2 with Master Yang. If not, then come by and say “hi” sometime.
We’re across the street from the Forest Hills Orange Line station on 38 Hyde Park Ave. There’s a sign that sticks out of the school that says Kung Fu so you should be able to find us.
Never heard anyone say Mantis forms looked odd. Actually, always heard praise from non-Mantis practitioners. This being said, Ive seen some Southern Mantis forms that almost made me laugh. But our southern brothers are proven fighters!
Originally posted by Ren Blade … I show some Praying Mantis to most people and they like it. But there are people here and there that says it looks goofy… they just think it’s not good looking or something…
Wear Hugo Boss or Armani next time – they’ll be impressed for sure.
Originally posted by Ren Blade …But there are people here and there that says it looks goofy. But they don’t have anything bad to say when I show them the applications and the combative side to Mantis, they just think it’s not good looking or something…
I’ve read an account of Wang Lang doing PM where some of the senior monks said it looks to “Jerky” to be effective. Then Wang Lang served them a can of “a$$ whuppin”.
I find this account interesting, because the PM I’ve learned doesn’t appear “Jerky” at all. Nevertheless, PM has undergone many changes since Wang Lang.
I once saw this guy do a Bung Bo that look jerky, awkward, ineffective and totally wrong from the way I learned it. Then I saw him do the 2-man Bung Bo version with one of his classmates. I was shocked, awestruck, and dumbfounded. It was soo smooth, swift, and effective looking, my hair didn’t laydown for 4 days. Then they demonstrated the applications for their version of Bung Bo. After this, I had a renewed respect for awkward, ineffective, and incorrect-looking forms/style. After this incident, I don’t judge the combat-effectiveness of a form or style by just looking at the forms. Even if I THOUGHT I knew the style/form and/or it’s applications.
I’d like to say, this is my own interpretation of this experience. There were other people in the room, and they may not have seen the incident the way I saw it.
A classmate of mine got to train a little bit of mantis with a master in Qingdao last summer. Anyway, the way he described the teacher’s form performance, it sounded kind of “jerky”. He said he’d seem kind of slow/still one moment, then bust out a moment of blazing fast praying mantis fury, then calm again, and so on I’m not sure if this was someone my teacher had recomended, or someone Tony Yang had hooked him up with.
Hey RAF, if you read this, think you could ask him if he knows who my classmate trained with there?
but I thought I’d throw this out there. I just finished reading a book by Adam Hsu, Sword Polisher’s Record and an interesting comment he made was something to the effect of truly good Kung Fu comes when one stops looking to impress others, and trains to improve for themselves. It’s basically the old addage, “Who cares what others think if you’re happy.”
