# Help me decide a school and style in Brooklyn



## Eric22 (Mar 30, 2017)

Hey, everyone. I'm new here and looking to get into the martial arts. I've practiced some before, but never seriously. However, now that I'm out on my own, I'd like to start practicing seriously. With that in mind, I thought I'd come here and ask for some advice. 

I'm looking for something that will be a good workout and is practical for self-defense. With that in mind, some friends recommended Kung Fu. Some people online did warn me that Kung Fu can be tricky since it can be difficult to find a legitimate teacher. I've discovered a few schools in Brooklyn that I'll link here in case anyone happens to know of them, but I'm open to other schools or styles. 

Schools: 

1. Home

2. Yee's Hung Ga Kung Fu Academy | Chinatown, New York |

3. Moy Yee San Jong

4. Get Started


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## JR 137 (Mar 31, 2017)

There are great instructors and bad instructors in every art, and everything else for that matter.  If Kung fu interests you*, visit as many schools that you can afford and the schedule doesn't conflict with yours as reasonably possible.  Pick the one where what's going on on the floor makes the most sense - the teacher, classmates, etc.

NYC has a ton of legendary MA instructors in pretty much every art.

* Why Kung Fu?  Not that there's anything wrong with Kung Fu, just curious if this is based on your own opinion, friends' opinions, etc.


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## Eric22 (Mar 31, 2017)

There's no particular reason I'm looking at Kung Fu aside from the fact that a few friends recommended it as a good option for self-defense especially given that I'm 5'6.


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## oaktree (Mar 31, 2017)

Lots of great kungfu schools in new York there is also some great classical Japanese schools there, I would say new York and LA are pretty much a martial artist dreamland for good stuff.


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## oaktree (Mar 31, 2017)

Eric22 said:


> There's no particular reason I'm looking at Kung Fu aside from the fact that a few friends recommended it as a good option for self-defense especially given that I'm 5'6.


Research, learning about different styles and their approach and philosophy can help you narrow what you are looking for.


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## JR 137 (Mar 31, 2017)

Eric22 said:


> There's no particular reason I'm looking at Kung Fu aside from the fact that a few friends recommended it as a good option for self-defense especially given that I'm 5'6.



Are these friends martial artists?  If not, what do they know?  I'm not trying to be a jerk.

I don't train Kung Fu, and I don't have anything against it.  Saying Kung Fu is probably even broader than saying karate.  There's sooo many styles of Kung fu.

Being 5'6 makes zero difference in what art you train in.  If you're genuinely interested in Kung Fu because you've been exposed to it in one way or another, great.  It'll probably be what you're truly looking for.  If you don't know what you're looking for exactly, we can help you separate the arts a bit too.

Just trying to help.


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## Eric22 (Apr 1, 2017)

JR 137 said:


> Are these friends martial artists?  If not, what do they know?  I'm not trying to be a jerk.
> 
> I don't train Kung Fu, and I don't have anything against it.  Saying Kung Fu is probably even broader than saying karate.  There's sooo many styles of Kung fu.
> 
> ...



Well one of my friends who recommended Kung Fun trained in Hung Gar Kung Fu. He did tell me to make sure the school taught a specific style as opposed to generic Kung Fu. Beyond that I don't know how well trained he is or anything. The reason he recommended Kung Fu was because I said I wanted to learn something practical for self-defense and one of older styles. I do not have a valid reason for not being interested in say, Krav Maga, but for some reason, I'm more interested in the traditional styles. My exposure to the martial arts has been limited. When I was younger, I took about six months of lessons in Taekwondo, but light and other issues got in the way and I was much younger. The school that taught me never really clicked. As a result, I'm not that interested in Taekwondo, but I don't really have anything against it.

So what, I'm looking for is something that would be practical in self-defense and fighting. I don't plan to go around picking fights or anything, but it's always nice to know how to defend yourself. I'd like to get in shape. I'm not in terrible shape, but I could stand to lose some weight and build muscle and I think I would enjoy a martial art so I think sticking with it would be easier than trying to force myself to go to a normal gym every few days. I think eventually moving on to weapons training would be fun, but that's not a deal breaker as I may be better finding a school that focuses solely in weapons forms.

As for the emphasis, I would ideally like something that balances throwing and striking. Thank you all, and i hope that helps shed some light on my situation.


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## Midnight-shadow (Apr 2, 2017)

I don't know if it's the same in the US, but here in the UK kungfu schools can be broadly separated into traditional and self-defence orientated. The traditional schools focus on one particular style and very rarely branch out from it, whereas the self-defence schools take ideas from different styles and essentially make their own style. 

Typically speaking, if you join a traditional school you are in for the long haul and won't learn many practical self-defence skills for awhile compared to a hybrid self-defence school. On the flip side, traditional styles, if you stick with them will give you more than just basic self-defence skills to work with. 

Just as an example, a traditional hung gar school might have you practicing a low horse stance for up to 6 months before teaching you any real fighting skills, whereas a hybrid system will teach you many different techniques in that time. 

What I like about traditional schools is the investment you can make into them. You can train them for the rest of your life and still have more to learn, plus you learn about the history and culture of the style which interests me. It's horses for courses just be prepared for a typically slower progression in a traditional school than a more modern self-defence orientated school.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Apr 2, 2017)

Eric22 said:


> Well one of my friends who recommended Kung Fun trained in Hung Gar Kung Fu. He did tell me to make sure the school taught a specific style as opposed to generic Kung Fu. Beyond that I don't know how well trained he is or anything. The reason he recommended Kung Fu was because I said I wanted to learn something practical for self-defense and one of older styles. I do not have a valid reason for not being interested in say, Krav Maga, but for some reason, I'm more interested in the traditional styles. My exposure to the martial arts has been limited. When I was younger, I took about six months of lessons in Taekwondo, but light and other issues got in the way and I was much younger. The school that taught me never really clicked. As a result, I'm not that interested in Taekwondo, but I don't really have anything against it.
> 
> So what, I'm looking for is something that would be practical in self-defense and fighting. I don't plan to go around picking fights or anything, but it's always nice to know how to defend yourself. I'd like to get in shape. I'm not in terrible shape, but I could stand to lose some weight and build muscle and I think I would enjoy a martial art so I think sticking with it would be easier than trying to force myself to go to a normal gym every few days. I think eventually moving on to weapons training would be fun, but that's not a deal breaker as I may be better finding a school that focuses solely in weapons forms.
> 
> As for the emphasis, I would ideally like something that balances throwing and striking. Thank you all, and i hope that helps shed some light on my situation.


A style that is similar but more focused than Hung Gar, is Fu Jow Pai. It's both very practical and a legitimate style of kung fu. Luckily for you, master Tak Wah Eng teaches in NYC (chinatown), and I believe he is the unofficial 4th generation successor of the style (don't quote me on that). However, you will most likely have to learn Hung Gar from his school before he teaches Fu Jow Pai.  
Someone else may be able to elaborate more on the style/tak wah then I can.


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## Eric22 (Apr 2, 2017)

kempodisciple said:


> A style that is similar but more focused than Hung Gar, is Fu Jow Pai. It's both very practical and a legitimate style of kung fu. Luckily for you, master Tak Wah Eng teaches in NYC (chinatown), and I believe he is the unofficial 4th generation successor of the style (don't quote me on that). However, you will most likely have to learn Hung Gar from his school before he teaches Fu Jow Pai.
> Someone else may be able to elaborate more on the style/tak wah then I can.


Just curious, any particular reason I'd have to learn Hung Gar before Fu Jow Pai? Is one more advanced than the other or anything like that?


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Apr 2, 2017)

Eric22 said:


> Just curious, any particular reason I'd have to learn Hung Gar before Fu Jow Pai? Is one more advanced than the other or anything like that?


It's been a while since it was explained to me, but essentially hung gar follows five animals (dragon, snake, crane, leopard and tiger). Fu Jow Pai focuses purely on the tiger. You need to have a basis in the five animals before you can focus more in depth on the tiger. I believe this was how Wai Hong did it before Tak Wah took over, no idea if Tak Wah does as well.

I really am not an expert on Fu Jow Pai, so you would have to go to the school or find someone who trains it to get more detailed answers on it.

Edit: Quick martialtalk forum search found me this: Fu Jow Pai, 
which is from someone who actually trains/is a sifu in the system.

Two points of note:



> Greetings and salutations Samson818. There are at the moment only eight schools (Kwoon) open in the United States. If you tell me where you are located I can direct you in the right direction. As far as forms we have many forms in Fu Jow Pai. Each instructor needs to know the Hung Gar System before he can begin to learn Fu Jow Pai. Hung Gar prepares you for the Fu Jow Pai Forms which are very hard to do compared to Hung Gar. Please do not think for a minute or believe Hung Gar is not hard; it is a very hard system to learn and do. This is why you need to learn it first; not all that learn Hung Gar can Learn Fu Jow Pai.



and



> Greetings and salutations to you 7Starmantis. The answer to your question is yes and no. Hung Gar is based on the five animals. Fu Jow Pai forcuses on the Tiger claw itself.


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## deflect->atemi (May 3, 2017)

Don't know if you're willing to explore other arts such as various western adaptations of jujutsu.  

There is a guy that does grappling and weapons training who goes by the name of Bahi (or Bahee?).  I think he's in the Bronx or somewhere in Long Island.  

You can try to find a competent and willing Sanuces-Ryu Ju-Jitsu practitioner in Brooklyn (I think in Bed-Sty area). 

Miyama-Ryu Jujutsu is another art you can explore.  It was founded by the late Anthony Pereira and his school is on Tremont Ave in south Bronx.


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## JowGaWolf (May 3, 2017)

Eric22 said:


> Hey, everyone. I'm new here and looking to get into the martial arts. I've practiced some before, but never seriously. However, now that I'm out on my own, I'd like to start practicing seriously. With that in mind, I thought I'd come here and ask for some advice.
> 
> I'm looking for something that will be a good workout and is practical for self-defense. With that in mind, some friends recommended Kung Fu. Some people online did warn me that Kung Fu can be tricky since it can be difficult to find a legitimate teacher. I've discovered a few schools in Brooklyn that I'll link here in case anyone happens to know of them, but I'm open to other schools or styles.
> 
> ...


I think there is a Jow Ga Kung Fu School in your area.   The system is solid and very practical.


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## JowGaWolf (May 3, 2017)

Midnight-shadow said:


> Typically speaking, if you join a traditional school you are in for the long haul and won't learn many practical self-defence skills for awhile compared to a hybrid self-defence school.


If the traditional school has a self defense focus then they won't stand around in horse stance for 6 months.  Jow Ga Kung Fu is a practical fighting system, traditional, and we have never train a horse stance for 6 months.  We use our stances all the time so a student will either take time to train their stances or they will struggle.  In all the Jow Ga schools I know of the stances are shown to the student.  Then the stance training form is taught.  After that, then it's up to the student to spend some time training their stances.


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## Druid11 (May 7, 2017)

I know very little about Kung Fu or it's various iterations, so if you're firm in your desire to study Kung Fu I can't really point you in any direction.  On the other hand if you're open to other styles I can recommend an Isshinryu Karate dojo in Brooklyn.  Full disclosure, I train at a dojo affiliated with the Brooklyn one (just one significantly farther upstate).  I've met Mr. Donovan, the head instructor, a couple times and while I've never taken a full class from him I've found to be really nice and helpful (he gave me helpful critic of my Kata after judging me in a tournament, when he didn't really have to go out of his way to do so).  In any case, it's another option you can check out if your interested.

Traditional Okinawan Karate of Brooklyn


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