Hi everyone. For a while now i’ve been interested in taking up a form of Kung Fu that is well rounded in different areas of combat and highly effective. I know that this applies for most/all kung fu styles, but i’ve been interested in the more intricate forms such as mantis which includes throws, locks, etc as well as strikes and tiger crane which combines the aggressive with the passive/evasive. Being lucky enough as to have centres near me which teach both styles i want to decide which style is right for me before fully taking it up. Ulitmately i’m just trying to find out people’s opinions on what they feel about the two forms in terms of effectiveness, suitablility, ease of application in violent situations, etc. To me, personally, i feel that the two are more or less on a par with each other in terms of diversity. i just wanted to get a lil feedback so i make the right choice. Sorry if this is a bit of a broad question
All I can suggest is try both. Take a couple of classes of each to get the basic flavour of the style, the classes and the teacher. I train in Tiger Crane so any thing I could say would be biast, ultimately it’s best to find a style that suits you and your body type best. One thing I will say from my experience is that Tiger Crane is a very versatile system which I find to be effective. But then I have never trained in Mantis.
Anyway, after all that waffle, try both, see which you like and stick with it.
Happy training.
Hi Lee, there are a few systems that refer to themselves as Tiger-crane to which one are you refering to? Does the school have a website? Plus are you talking about Northern or Southern Mantis?
Yeah I’ve got their websites. The Tiger Crane school’s very good, the school in epsom is the international headquarters for it and the teacher is a bada$$ apparantly so it looks like a pretty proficient place to learn. I’m not sure of its relation to the Hung Gar lineage, but it’s namyang and teaches weapons systems in advanced levels. ian armstrong, the sifu was a biology teacher at my friend’s school and demonstrated these weapons systems in assembly. he left to concentrate on martial arts. the mantis school i was talking about is northern praying mantis and looks equally reputable. there are other schools such as seven star, southern forms but they’re too far away from me i think. the link for tiger crane is www.namyang.co.uk and the mantis is www.northernmantis.co.uk. i just wanted to get some feedback on both mantis and TC style from people who practice in these forms to help make a sound judgement about which kung fu to go into. i know it depends on myself, ie body shape, etc but any feedback on these styles would be great aswell. thanks
It’s the teacher, not the style
Styles are not what you should be concerned about. Look for the right teacher that can teach you properly and show you the aspects of the art that you wish to master. ALL styles include joint locks, throws, strikes etc. but not all teachers understand those aspects of combat, so the teacher is the most important part of the equation. I would check out all schools you could and make a sound decision from there.
Of course you will find the Mantis school to be superior, but then again it is a biased opinion! 
Which Mantis school is it if you don’t mind my asking?
Cheers
Jake 
If you are a calm collected charecter then praying mantis will be for you, espcially souther because it concentates on internal power, but if you are an active person and feel internal development is not for you choose hun gar, you can allways try both for yoursaelf and decvide
you decide
[indent]I feel that all styles are good and it all depends on the individual and what he is looking to get out of it. I read article some where about students back in China in the old days use to study many different styles before they settled on a partical style they wanted to master, and then some of them mixed all they had learned together giving birth to new style of kung fu. Maybe that’s why there is so many different styles of kung fu. I don’t know. Well I agree with mantis fist try both and you decide for your self. That would be the best advice anyone could give.[/indent] [indent]SIGNING OFF NOBBY[/INDENT]
The Tiger-Crane style is not Hung Gar. Some Hung Gar schools call themselves Tiger-Crane styles sometimes when they are not. Probably because the tiger-crane form in Hung gar is their favourite form. The style of kung fu Nam Yang use is called Tiger-Crane combination. The whole system is based on the tiger and the crane and it is different to Hung Gar and much rarer.
It does involve internal energy development. The main form, the ‘Sum Chien’, which is practised from the beginning develops serious internal power.
I’ve been learning the system with them for three years and can say there is no other system i would want to learn as tiger crane is a complete effective system.
I can not say what praying mantis is like as i have no experience of it.
Hi, Lee. Hows everything? just to give you my opinion the Mantis or Tang Lang pai has Qigong both internal and external as well. Alot of Praying Mantis systems for example teach Lohan Gong, Yijinjing, Xisuijing, etc… Which are extremely viable method for internal cultivation. They also have Iron palm, Iron shirt, as well as various other methods of iron body training. Though I can only state from the experience in my system of praying mantis which is Qi Xing Tang Lang Pai. But im sure the system that you mentioned should be pretty close.
As for the Tiger Crane combination I have no knowledge of it, but it sounds very interesting. Are you aware of any schools that teach this system in the United States? thanks.
take care,
zai jian