Hello I wanted to ask those of you that have been doing gung fu for along time more so the si fu's than anyone else. But others are welcome to answer as well. I have a friend that wants to get into gung fu. However He is 6'4 and a little out of shape. He had asked me so I will ask you what would be a good art for him. He has had some training before mostly in korean arts like myself. But he wants somthing diffrent, I do notice that he seems to like chin na. And the only thing around us is a School that teaches hung gar and mantis. And anywords I could pass on would be cool and thank you all.
Man, the height shouldn't matter, and if he's out of shape, well martial arts will help with that. He really should just check out both schools and see how likes them. IME, arts fit personalities more than body types.
If you like qinna then Praying Mantis is great. Praying Mantis loves to trap and manipulate the opponents hands and arms. Just tell him to check out the school and if he likes the teacher and teaching style then give it a try.
Post your location, or look for schools in the area. If you post them up here, you will get a rundown on the school (guaranteed).
Well... the fact that the scroll reading "Aikido" in the background is backwards doesn't impress me favorably... Also, I don't really like the large number of disparate styles they do there...but who knows?
It does seem like they teach a lot of styles and their blurb on the kung fu page is a bit confusing... it sounds like they teach taichi and hung gar and after you learn hung gar they teach the other styles? I'd ask questions about time in training, lineage, etc. Side note - another internal arts are for elderly quote. AAAARRRGHH HULK SMASH!!!!!
So have you studied both Northern and Southern PM, PlumDragon? What can you tell me about how they compare? Are they similar at all? Do they share a common ancestor? Any info. would be much appreciated.
I have studied both, although neither of which has been on an extremely long timeline. I spent about a year in Northern Mantis and Im going on my 2nd month of southern. As an initial note, Northern Mantis is agruably the single largest system of martial arts, with more than 9 subsystems that are each quite large in their own right. While I consider myself to know a good deal about Northern Mantis in general, the views Ill relate below are almost entirely views of my specific subsystem of Northern Mantis, ie, So Rim Temple Northern Praying Mantis. Southern Mantis, while very small in comparison, also has a few subfactions and I will talk entirely of Southern Mantis as I know it, ie, Kwangsi Jook Lum gee Praying Mantis. My Northern Lineage: Chul Woo Jung --> Donald Richardson --> me; Jung trained directly in the So Rim Temple. My Southern Lineage: Roder Hagood --> John Brown --> me While a couple of the stances, strikes/kicks, and philosophies I learned in Northern Mantis are similar to that of Southern, the 2 styles look very different and feel very different. Northern mantis relies heavily on the mantis grab, stance training, a variety of angles of attack (One form I know is similar to CLF), and--atleast my sifu--takes a very different approach to training. Both are traditional, but obviously were influenced by different areas with different fighting philosophies in mind. Southern mantis on the other hand, has no mantis grab, and really only grabs in a couple of instances, but usually makes use of hooking, doesnt deal with stances training in nearly the same way, and focuses much more on rib power, sensitivity, and has a much different bodily structure, more condensed, ready to issue short power more readily. Since its been discussed recently in another thread: Southern mantis develops power for close-range fighting but doesnt strictly work in this range. Northern Mantis, as I know it, doesnt work as much with short power but works in close-range as happily as it does in longer ranges; rather than issuing jing as readily (although at higher levels it may be the case), the Northern mantid employs locks, LOTS of grab/kick combinations, chokes and poking (which is also seen alot in Southern Mantis), and some throws; stuff that doesnt readily require as much jing for damaging results. Overall, Id say that the stories are for the most part accurate: Northern and Southern Mantis have no specific link in lineage but were developed independently. While many claim that southern mantis is ugly, as a martial arts enthusiast, I find it rather beautiful in its own way, and to somewhat resemble mantid movements, althoguh some might disagree with me. Northern Mantis most definitely resembles the mantis in movement, and is aesthetically pleasing, IMO simply by coincidence as I find it quite effective. Hope this helps... EDIT: Reading over this, there is just so much info I didnt put in here...If you have a more specific question, you have my email address and are more than welcome to get a hold of me, or send a PM, etc..
Victor Chao 4235 Pontiac Trail Ann Arbor, MI 48105 (734) 663-8073 Victor_Chao@juno.com Hsing I Chuan Gao Style Pa Kua Hao Style Tai Chi I Chuan All I could come up with Sorry
