I need advice in KUNG FU

**boondock lee** · Posted On: 8/22/2007 11:55pm

Ok, so this is my position. I'm currently in a korean martial art called kuk sool won and im in a contract that ends this month. While i happen to like kuk sool, i don't like the contract and the way classes are run. Now I'm going to college and my kuk sool school is further away. On the second day of school, i found a small kung fu place nearby. The man that was there was the one of the assistant instructors and i asked him all about his school. His father is the head instructor and has been practicing since he was a child(1968). He teaches two styles of kung fu, Ba Gua Chang ( eight trigram palm boxing) and Chang Chuan (long fist). I always wanted to take Long fist since it will do wonders for my physical conditioning and striking. Now i am aware of Long fist's place in modern wushu, but i have always wanted to learn it. Anyway, the school has a bunch of trophies and there is a sparing class everyday! ( which i am happy cuz i didn't do much sparring back at my old school) Although it is point sparring, they do it alot and they also do a little full contact. The instructors look good and the head instructor seems to be a good teacher. But i also want to continue to learn kuk sool won(although cross training is frowned upon) but it would be easier to learn at the kung fu school since i'm in town all day. Plus the kung fu place offers a reasonable price. I am going to see what they do in a typical class. So what im asking for is any insight on long fist, any helpful advice in kung fu and if i should put kuk sool on hiatus to learn long fist, etc. Any helpful info and advice would be great. :wave:

**Bang!** · Posted On: 8/23/2007 12:18am

TL; DR

Please restate your question in one sentence or less.

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 8/23/2007 2:19am

I'm assuming you mean 'trigram' since I don't know what a 'triagram' is.

Let's summarize:

-You like KSW, fine.
-Don't like contract nor school. Important!
-KSW is now further distance. Important.
-Bunch of trophies at KF place. Irrelevant.
-Sparring, with love at KF place. Important.
-Distance to KF class is less. Important.
-In KSW cross-training is frowned upon. Translation: They are afraid of you finding a better place and leaving.

So you already know what you should do here anyways but I'll type it out for you. Go to the place where you will be able to train more consistently. Time is always important for everyone, additionally as a student cost of training is more important. Find out what the Kung Fu people do in a typical class, then seriously consider training in Kung Fu for now.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 8/23/2007 7:04am

I would seriously think about taking some remedial English classes before, starting a new Martial Arts.

Don't write your entire thought process down.

External vs internal blah.

Go to a class see if it is what you like. Long Fist nowadays means modern wushu in most cases.

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 8/23/2007 4:24pm

I've yet to see any longfist that was worth a ****, but I've only probably seen the modern Wushu version of Longfist so that's all I've got to base my impressions on.

**D Dempsey** · Posted On: 8/23/2007 4:35pm

If it's what you want to do go for it. I agree with Ronin.74 that most long fist is a waste of time, but if he's also teaching baguazhang it's probably as a prerequisite. KSW frowning on cross training is irrelevant as it's your time and your money.

**Cullion** · Posted On: 8/23/2007 4:43pm

So far the kf sounds better than the ksw. Here are the questions I have about the kung fu place;-

1) When they say they do a little full contact, how much do they mean exactly?

2) Do you have to have trained there for years before they let you go full contact?

3) Do they compete in any full contact format against other schools/gyms?

**boondock lee** · Posted On: 8/23/2007 11:52pm

Yeah, sorry about the errors, i was like half asleep when i wrote this, but i fixed it so it doesn't sound like a four year old wrote it. So I'm probably going to join the kung fu school since it is simply the better choice here. Its just a matter of time. To answer your question, Cullion, they mostly focus on point sparring since many of the students go to tournaments and participate in point sparring. As for how much contact they allow and under what conditions they allow full contact, i don't know yet since i haven't spoken to the head instructor. But i will get the answers soon. What I'm now asking is how is long fist training and what should i expect? One more thing, they offer to teach traditional long fist, not its wuhsu counterpart which focus more on aerobatics.

**Matt Stone** · Posted On: 8/24/2007 4:01am

The very first question I'd ask is "since he teaches changquan (typically a wushu compulory style), is the baguazhang wushu also?"

Great. They spar. So what? What does it look like? Does it look like krotty-kickboxing, or do they fight the way they train?

Lastly, I'm curious where this is and who's doing the teaching... Lineage may or may not mean anything, but personal reputation carries a lot of weight.

In any case, good luck.

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 8/24/2007 11:48am

Originally Posted by boondock lee

Yeah, sorry about the errors, i was like half asleep when i wrote this, but i fixed it so it doesn't sound like a four year old wrote it. So I'm probably going to join the kung fu school since it is simply the better choice here. Its just a matter of time. To answer your question, Cullion, they mostly focus on point sparring since many of the students go to tournaments and participate in point sparring. As for how much contact they allow and under what conditions they allow full contact, i don't know yet since i haven't spoken to the head instructor. But i will get the answers soon. What I'm now asking is how is long fist training and what should i expect? One more thing, they offer to teach traditional long fist, not its wuhsu counterpart which focus more on aerobatics.

Since you have no training in Long Fist, how are you going to know if they are teaching you a traditional style or the contemporary style? Lots of instructors will tell you that they teach the traditional style just to get you to sign up and then teach you the contemporary one figuring you won't know the difference. Be Careful!! Try going to youtube and finding vids of "traditional" longfist and then see how it compares visually with what they are teaching.

As I have stated LongFist has never impressed me, but as Matt Stone stated you should try to get more info on the lineage especially in regards to the BaGua Zhang.