Quick question

[Booya]

i'm thinking of starting shaolin kuing fu (5 animal)

well not thinking, i know i want to! haha

but yeah, i 17 at the moment sometimes i feel like the best always start at an early age.

what do the rest of you think?

my main problem is money, i need to make sure i have a dcent income to pay for my gym and martial arts lessons.

[Sagacious Lu]

I think you should find a good school and go for it. Make a list of schools in your area that look like they have what you're looking for and visit each of them. Just be careful, unfortunately there are a lot of frauds out there.

[mavi]

U Remind me a bit o me in my early days....
I didnt have much money ether when i started but i had a strong will.
Money isnt that important but makes everything much easier.
Especially when you do acrobatics and need expensive equipment or courses.

About you age. You can still learn everything. Even all the acrobatics. But it will be much more difficult when u are 20 or older.

As I said, i had the money problem when i was 12 so I had to save money to buy bruce-lee and karate books. With the time I put more and more effort into it and learned everything i ever wanted to learn.
But I could have learned faster with somebodys.
The problem is, that everybody just wants money money money.

So I made a FREE website about wushu and gymnastics training.
All animated flash instructions.
Its one of the best martial arts acrobatics resources in the web and its just to help guys who dont have much money. It doesnt replace an instructor but I think it will help you a lot ...
Unfortuneately its in particular for gymnastics and modern wushu.
But im adding traditional stuff now.
I hope ull enjoy it...
REGARDS MAVI

http://www.martinvidic.com/martinvidic_en_2006/flash_mavi

You can use it to learn all the WUSHU (Kungfu) basics jumps etc.

[Booya]

thanks alot

i mean, im a large lad, so hopefully between the acrobatics and trainig from MA and the gym i can sort that out

this is the place i am looking to join

http://www.hungkuen-kungfu.com/

check it out and tell me what you think

[Sagacious Lu]

I wouldn't assume anything about a teacher I've never met or a school I hadn't been to just from a web site. They are claiming to trace their lineage directly to Wong Fei Hong. If so Wong Fei Hong practiced Tiger Crane Kung fu so I would expect there to be very little acrobatic stuff. I would expect kicking to be deemphasized with a strong empasis placed on upper body strikes and chin na. I also noticed that one of the student coments reported:

Over the three years of attending a regular class on a Monday night taught by James Entwistle I have attained a 1st degree black belt.

If that means that you can become a master by training one night a week for three years than personally I would have some questions to ask. What it really comes down to is that you have to visit the school and talk to the sifu though, you can't make that kind of judgement via internet.

[Tom Yum]

If that means that you can become a master by training one night a week for three years than personally I would have some questions to ask. What it really comes down to is that you have to visit the school and talk to the sifu though, you can't make that kind of judgement via internet.

Great advice.

[Booya]

I didnt just google the institution and find the first, its one close to my area and they happened to have a website.

i will be visiting them soon.

Also, just because its a blackbelt doesnt mean they are a master straight away does it?

theres stages after that, i just thought belts was a sign of level or experiance.

Also, a belt system is different with each martial art is it not?

Dont get me wrong, i am not very educated in the matter, these questions are just debatable discussions which will aid me and maybe others, not arguments.

Thanks again for your time.

[Sagacious Lu]

Also, just because its a blackbelt doesnt mean they are a master straight away does it?

theres stages after that, i just thought belts was a sign of level or experiance.

Also, a belt system is different with each martial art is it not?

The idea of denoting rank by belt color is a westernization- that's not traditional. Yes, each school/style does it differently. In my school earning a black sash means that you are now qualified to open your own school and teach the system to others with my teacher's blessing- that's a privelege that takes many years of training diligently to earn. As I understand it that is the norm in a traditional wu guan. I've heard other systems describe a black belt as merely a serious beginner but I'd be surprised to find a traditional kung fu school that took that attitude. One way or the other the quality of the training is important, the format the ranking is presented in isn't. If a black belt is easy to attain it doesn't mean much though, and if a school holds it's black belts to a low standard than that's a sure sign of a poor school. Like I said though, I would never judge a school I hadn't visited.

[Booya]

what Ma do you study?

[Booya]

This one seemed the most interesting you see, it will be visited. Other MAs are now more of a sport, which i like. But i am interested int he way of life and the MA as a whole, not just sporting events.

[Sagacious Lu]

Shaolin Tiger Crane

[Booya]

cool

where you study?

country?

im in England. I need to find out about more places where i live n stuff. Trying to get lifts to places is sucha pain in the arse its untrue.

[Booya]

(double posted)

[Sagacious Lu]

I can't help you there, I'm an American.

[Booya]

thought so

are alot of members here American?