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2013-03-10 04:59 6007848 Anonymous (200px-Art_of_Shaolin_Kung_Fu[1].jpg 200x267 13kB)
I'm thinking about picking up some kind of martial art. Most likely either Wing Chun or Shaloin Kung Fu. Does anyone have any advice? I'm a complete beginner and never had any training but I'm very interested, not because of spiritual reason or because of movies but because it seems like an extremely good way of excercise. I was just thinking about Kung Fu because its the oldest and because its really not based on pure strength, but I'm not sure what should I really try.

2 min later 6007906 Anonymous
try them all if you can't make up your mind

3 min later 6007918 Anonymous
Just take up mai thai kickboxing if you want to learn something straightforward and practical for self-defense. Taking up a martial art is not going to magically cure your lack of discipline and shitty character. Sorry anon, but contrary to your belief there is no such thing as an easy solution to an ongoing problem like you.

5 min later 6007950 Anonymous
>>6007906 This. Give all sort of shit a try, don't just limit yourself to East Asian martial arts. Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Sambo, even traditional boxing and wrestling. Go with whatever bro.

6 min later 6007969 Anonymous
>>6007918 Don't listen to this faggot. Regardless of whatever discipline you choose, if you have a good teacher and take it seriously, you will gain self-discipline and improve your character. That said, I would recommend some style of kung fu, because it's god damn kung fu (and contrary to popular belief it is practical for self defense.)

6 min later 6007974 Anonymous
>>6007918 Huh what made you think I have a problem? I go running three times a week already, its just it gets boring after a while and I'd rather learn to defend myself as well.

7 min later 6007980 Anonymous
>>6007918 What does that even have to do with OP's post? He isn't complaining about a 'lack of discipline' and there's nothing to indicate a 'shitty character'. He just wants exercise. Go fuck yourself. In regards to OP's post, I would recommend Wing Chun, but sampling a bit of everything wouldn't hurt.

7 min later 6007982 Anonymous
>>6007848 I practice Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. Most of what we do is solo work, doing forms. It is EXTREMELY good exercise. You get so much more flexible. People in my class can do the splits without effort, some can actually use the splits properly as an attack. Wing Chun is not so much exercise-based. Any questions on Shaolin?

8 min later 6008009 Anonymous
>>6007982 For the record, ~half of a wing chun class is forms and exercises. Probably not as much as shaolin, but certainly still a great workout.

10 min later 6008024 Anonymous
>>6007982 Not OP, but I am curious about Shaolin. Can you talk more about it?

10 min later 6008033 Anonymous
>>6008009 That's great and all, but OP is focused on exercise. I'm not shitting on wing chun -- it's a great martial art -- but Shaolin will make you move like a gymnast/yoga master while still teaching you very applicable self-defense techniques.

11 min later 6008044 Anonymous
>>6007982 How long have you been doing it? Is it good at self-defense as well? Do you also have strenght training of some kind?

20 min later 6008192 Anonymous
>>6008024 Sure. Northern Shaolin's emphasis on on the legs, but oddly enough doesn't include a large amount of kicks. We work on flexibility and emphasize deep, strong stances. In fact, in order to display the strength of his stance, our teacher had three other students crawl all over him and try to get him out of a simple stance. They could not. Our connection to the ground is fucking intense. It's a very long-range striking martial art which teaches attack and defense simultaneously. The idea is to not let your opponent come near you. Given that some may come close, we also practice many joint-locking techniques (Google Chin Na) to get ourselves out of grappling situations. Blocks are very circular, aiming to redirect opponent's movements rather than stop them (which also allows for you to block and immediately grapple an opponent if you'd like to). In the sense of our movement and blocking/striking techniques, I'd say Northern Shaolin is somewhere between Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and Tai Chi. It's got the distance of Tae Kwon Do, the grounding of Karate, and the flowing movements of Tai Chi. That being said, it's not incredibly offensive. Internal martial artists (redirection being the main goal of these people) criticize it for being too external, while external martial artists (fierce attacks being the main goal of these people) criticize it for being too internal. In addition, we don't typically spar in class, preferring to work through two-person exercises and forms, the goal of which being to keep your movements through muscle memory and have your art properly displayed during combat. The reason we stick to two-person forms and such instead of sparring is simple. If you look at a TKD or Karate sparring match, they will often resort to MMA or kickboxing rather than displaying their individual martial art. It IS an art form and should be treated as such. Granted, your kung fu won't look perfect in a real situation, but (cont)

27 min later 6008292 Anonymous
>>6008192 You'll look a lot more intimidating if you're performing well and (for a lack of a better word) beautifully executed kung fu, rather than just showing a few kicks and punches you mastered because of sparring matches. That's not to say that sparring is unimportant. I have a sparring partner outside of the kung fu center I attend. You'll learn to defend yourself much quicker during sparring, whereas through forms and two-person forms, it may take 5-10 years. (However, I stand by the opinion that it DOES work very well; I've seen it.) >>6008044 I've been doing kung fu for about a year now. You may be thrown off at first because the forms may seem to look like a dance, but every movement has a purpose. I am personally not yet ready to use my kung fu in real combat, but other students of around 4-6 years would be able to handle themselves easily in a street fight. The students there for 10 years or so would very easily be able to take down another martial artist from a different school with a similar time investment. As for strength training, we do some conditioning of the legs, arms, fists, palms, etc. and keep pushups as a regular part of our practice (25 pushups, 25 knuckle pushups, 25 fingertip pushups a day). We also do things like holding out a kick properly for up to ten minutes at a time or holding stances sometimes for thirty minutes. There is a story my teacher likes to tell about the grandmaster. When the grandmaster was learning, his teacher would tell them to take a stance, then would light a stick of incense. They had to keep that stance until the incense went out. This caused the grandmaster to become very strong and grounded.

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