Why not Kung Fu

[jubaji]

I'd rather this not turn into a fith grade p--sing comtest.

I'd imagine you're not even qualified for that. Keep training...

[Tom Yum]

I'd imagine you're not even qualified for that. Keep training...

Do they allow running starts?

[osopardo]

There is a lot of "Secrecy" in kung fu. The instructors are not always willing to give up knowledge.

You mean it's like all mysterious and stuff?!? Like Frank Dux being taught "the dim mak". Or Mai Pei teaching the five-finger-touch exploding heart technique to the Bride in "Kill Bill 2"? Ninja, please!

[Tom Yum]

lol...He means willingness to teach an entire system

[Hardball]

For example............I was cross training in Wing Chun and the Instructor did not want to show me Chi Sao...........even after 9 months. Thats supposed to be a basic part of Wing Chun. There are many other examples.

[Ironpalm]

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[sherwinc]

[U]For instance Bruce Lee critizized wing chun as being overly complicated and he developed the more simple Jeet Kune Do.

but why is it that there are plenty of Good WingChun Fighters compare to Jeet Kune Do Fighters???????

i still never heard any well known Jeet Kune Do Fighter except Bruce Lee the creator of Jeet Kune Do......

but in WingChun, there are plenty of good fighters......

or......

Bruce Lee's Movie Art is Jeet Kune Do

but

Bruce Lee's Real Street Fight is WingChun

[Ironpalm]

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[47MartialMan]

There is a lot of "Secrecy" in kung fu. The instructors are not always willing to give up knowledge.

Or "colored belts"

[Hardball]

Or "colored belts"

My wing chun school did not have a belt system only levels. I really enjoyed the wing chun classes but left the school because of personal reasons.

[47MartialMan]

I dont not think a Kung Fu school should have a colored rank system-if they do they are mimicking the karate systems and looking for ways to "sell out" for more profit

[Ironpalm]

IMHO (yeah right), Belts, pajamas, etc. are shit to sell your students (or thier parents). They never existed in kung fu. The outfits are peasant garb of the time period. You spend more on that costume than those people would have made in years. Trophies are another warning sign, as are glory walls. These are usually (but not always) trappings designed to distract and impress rather than educate. They are money makers--thats why they are there. Find those who teach to support thier habit. Thier martial art habit.

I will close with a quote from Miyamoto Musahi that answers the colored belt question best:

"Other schools become theatrical, dressing up and showing off to make a living, commercializing martial arts; therefore it would seem that they are not the true way." --The Book of Five Rings

[Hardball]

I will close with a quote from Miyamoto Musahi that answers the colored belt question best:

"Other schools become theatrical, dressing up and showing off to make a living, commercializing martial arts; therefore it would seem that they are not the true way." --The Book of Five Rings

My favorite martial arts book, I've read it about 20 times but I still learn something everytime I re-read it.

[Ironpalm]

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[Jeremy Lobdell]

Great reads!

Another book I really enjoy is "Angry White Pyjamas". It was written by Robert Twigger, an Oxford educated poet who went ot Japan to learn from the masters and went through the Tokyo Riot Police cource. It may not be as significant as the other books listed by Ironpalm and Hardball, but gives some really good insites into training over there, at least for those of us who aren't koko.