# Okinawan Goju-Ryu or Wing Chun? Please help



## agamemnon5150 (Jan 3, 2007)

I've been trying to get back into Martial Arts, (I practiced TKD as a child)
After looking around, all I have found in my area are Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate, and Wing Chun Kung Fu. I plan on visiting both facilities, but my question, to those who have trained with these styles, is which is more practical for real world situations? What are the Pros/Cons of both?

Any help you guys can offer would be great. Thanks


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## arnisador (Jan 3, 2007)

Both are good choices; I've done both. Personally, I prefer Wing Chun for practicality, but check out the instructors--that makes the bigger difference.


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## CuongNhuka (Jan 3, 2007)

Things to look for before you start training at the school:
Instructor quality (meaning, if his black belt certificate is written in crayon, don't train there)
Price ($100 is too much no matter what)
Class size (10 - 20 is perfect, and less is better then more in this instence)
Instructor quality part 2 (if he's a wanna be drill sergeant, don't train there)

After that, it's largely up to you. Though, if your looking for real world self defense here are something to keep in mind:

Wing Chun was created for the express purpose of being able to beat the snot out of somebody if needed, or seriously injure them, or (if needed) kill them. The weapons taught are valid, though slightly impracticle in most fighting situations. You will be fighting ready in about 6 - 8 months.

Goju Ryu was created to make the practioner ready to defend themselves if and when nessicary, in most situations. Weapons taught are (mostly) impracticle in a fight. You could be fighting ready in about 5 - 7 months.

Notice any simulartys? The real question has to do with body type, natural skills, and what you would like to be able to do. Wing Chun does little ground fighting, and barely more kicking. Goju Ryu however, focuses more on kicking, and at times does teach ground fighting. Since you did Tae Kwon do before, you may want to do Goju Ryu build off earlier skills. Or you may want to go with Wing Chun to develop your hand skills.
Martial Arts are not practicle in a fight. None of them are. Period. Wing Chun isn't, neither is Goju Ryu, Shotokan, Kyokoshin Kai, Tae Kwon Do, Wushu, Eagle Claw, Tang Soo Do, Boxing, Wrestling, White Crane, Red Tiger, Cuong Nhu, Arnis, Militech Fighting Systems, Brazillian Ju Jitsu, MMA, and Realitly Fighting Systems. None of them are. It is all in the application. One person could train in Jeet Kune Do and in a month be able to beat the snot out of some body. Someone else could train in Jeet Kune Do with the same person, in all the same ways and never be able to beat anybody. It all has to do with the application of the material.

good luck and good training


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## agamemnon5150 (Jan 3, 2007)

CuongNhuka said:


> Things to look for before you start training at the school:
> Instructor quality (meaning, if his black belt certificate is written in crayon, don't train there)
> Price ($100 is too much no matter what)
> Class size (10 - 20 is perfect, and less is better then more in this instence)
> ...


WOW.....thanks for all the insite. I understand completly about checking out the instructor, thats why I plan on visiting both places and see how they train. I'm not realy conserend about the weapons portion of the forms quite yet. I'm leaning more toward Wing Chun, since I would like to develop my hand skills, also the class is small as well (10-15). I still haven't visited the Goju Ryo class yet, so we'll see.

The G/Y class is a little more expensive than the W/C class, but the way thier scedules are, I would be able to to go to 8 classes a moth of G/Y, versus only 4 classes a month of W/C


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## CuongNhuka (Jan 3, 2007)

well there you go. 

good luck


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## tshadowchaser (Jan 3, 2007)

Keep us informed as to which you end up training at and how it goes


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## SFC JeffJ (Jan 3, 2007)

It'd be a tough choice for me, as I'm interested in both.  I myself would lean more towards the Goju Ryu, as I like a lot of the apps in it.  Let us know what you decide.

Jeff


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## agamemnon5150 (Jan 3, 2007)

JeffJ said:


> It'd be a tough choice for me, as I'm interested in both. I myself would lean more towards the Goju Ryu, as I like a lot of the apps in it. Let us know what you decide.
> 
> Jeff


what apps does Gojo Ryu have that Wing Chun doesn't?


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## SFC JeffJ (Jan 4, 2007)

agamemnon5150 said:


> what apps does Gojo Ryu have that Wing Chun doesn't?


I think the grappling aspects of GoJu are a little more refined than in Wing Chun.  Also they are emphasized more as well.  But it's still be a tough choice for me.

Jeff


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## D.Cobb (Jan 6, 2007)

I know absolutely nothing about Wing Chun, except it was too hard for Bruce Lee, so he invented his own style 

I have been training in Okinawan Goju for the last 6 months and the muscular/ strength improvements I have noticed are incredible. I guess every school is different but if your instructor teaches like mine..... 

There is a very strong focus on kata, maintaing the purpose and meaning of kata. A lot of very low stances etc.

My personal choice,: Okinawan Goju Ryu.

--Dave


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## agamemnon5150 (Jan 6, 2007)

D.Cobb said:


> I know absolutely nothing about Wing Chun, except it was too hard for Bruce Lee, so he invented his own style
> 
> I have been training in Okinawan Goju for the last 6 months and the muscular/ strength improvements I have noticed are incredible. I guess every school is different but if your instructor teaches like mine.....
> 
> ...


is Goju Ryu more of a practical martial art, or a "flashy" show martial art?


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## exile (Jan 6, 2007)

agamemnon5150 said:


> is Goju Ryu more of a practical martial art, or a "flashy" show martial art?



sigh... there seems to be this general viewwhat to me seems a serious misperceptionthat some arts are for show and others are combat applicable. Well, every one of the  martial arts was created to allow its practitioners to do severe or even lethal damage to an assailant. _Every one._ They wouldn't have endured if they hadn't been able to do that. TKD as taught to, and trained by the armed forces of the ROK was designed to be a literally killing art and was used as such by the ROK Marines, to the point where the VC command in the Vietnam War ordered their fighters to avoid contact with Korean infantry whenever possible, specifically because of their TKD training. Goju-Ryu and other Okinawan arts were the combat systems designed by the bodyguards of the King of Okinawa in the 19th c. to defend their king, because they were forbidden by the Satsuma to carry weapons, and some of the most celebrated and dangerous fighters of the time belonged to that crowd. If you looked at the `Police Shotokan' video that was posted on MT a couple of months ago, and how it's used by the Japanese special police units and the military, you wouldn't doubt for a second the possibility of using those techs to break an attacker into pieces. Same with any of the Chinese arts. Same with the Filipine arts. 

But you don't have to train these arts that way. The toolsto maim and kill, in plain termsare there in the technical content of all these MAs, but if you train TKD or karate for tournament competitionand in such competition, it's hard to tell them apart; the scoring systems of both encourage certain kinds of flashy techniques that are mostly street-uselessthen you'll have a sport, not a practical self-defense system. If you train these arts for kata perforance, as vs. kata applicationall too common now in modern karate-based MAsthen all you'll have is choreography. The crucial thing is, when you go to whatever MA school you choose, what is the goal of the training you'll receive at that school? If the instructors there train you on combat apps using realistic scenarios emphasizing instinctive responses and effective, broadly applicable fighting principles, you'll have a formidable repertoire of combat knowledge that you can bring to bear to take an attacker out under a wide range of circumstances. If they go for sport, then that's what you'll wind up with.

This issue of which is more practical, which is more combat effective is almost certainly the wrong question. No one in his or her right mind would want to lift a hand in anger to Hee  Il Cho or Mas Oyama or Chuck Norris in their days of glory. These guys trained for blood. With either Wing Chun _or_ Goju Ryu, if you train for blood the same way, you'll be an effective fighter, no question. Will you train that hard, in that way? That's up to you. But either of these two arts, or any of a great many others, can give you the resources you're looking for.


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## agamemnon5150 (Jan 13, 2007)

well after going to both scholls and participating in each, I must say this is going to be a VERY hard choice.....both are excelent scholl with very effective tecniques. I'm most likly going to go to the Goju class now, sine I can attend class more often, they also offer weapons training.


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## Brandon Fisher (Jan 13, 2007)

Traditional Goju Ryu is not flashy and its effective once you learn the application of the techniques.


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## CuongNhuka (Jan 13, 2007)

agamemnon5150 said:


> well after going to both scholls and participating in each, I must say this is going to be a VERY hard choice.....both are excelent scholl with very effective tecniques. I'm most likly going to go to the Goju class now, sine I can attend class more often, they also offer weapons training.


 
good luck and good training!


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## exile (Jan 13, 2007)

Brandon Fisher said:


> Traditional Goju Ryu is not flashy and its effective once you learn the application of the techniques.



Either choice would serve you well; Brandon is exactly right about Goju Ryu. Be patient, though. Effectiveness is a function of both time on the dojo floor and hard training with a specifically SD focusyou have to be willing to take a chance on getting hurt sometimes yourself, and hurting others sometimes.


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## agamemnon5150 (Jan 15, 2007)

well after going to both dojos, I've decided to go with the Gojo Ryu class. Let me say both seem like they would be effective if learned and practiced correctly. The reason I chose the Goju place over the Wing Tsun place, is I really enjoyed the atmosphere, and the instructor seem to really know his stuff. Practicing with the other students, let just say I got put on my face a few times.

http://www.lovelesskarate.com/

this is the website if any of you wanna take a look at it.


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## arnisador (Jan 15, 2007)

That's great! Good luck. I enjoyed Goju when I studied it.


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## exile (Jan 15, 2007)

Sounds like it's gonna be funif for some reason I absolutely had to switch arts, Goju Ryu would be very high on my list of alternatives, maybe the very top choice. Sounds like your intuitions are giving sound guidance. Let us know how your training goes, yes?


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## agamemnon5150 (Jan 15, 2007)

exile said:


> Sounds like it's gonna be funif for some reason I absolutely had to switch arts, Goju Ryu would be very high on my list of alternatives, maybe the very top choice. Sounds like your intuitions are giving sound guidance. Let us know how your training goes, yes?


will do?


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## grydth (Jan 27, 2007)

agamemnon5150 said:


> is Goju Ryu more of a practical martial art, or a "flashy" show martial art?



My daughters have both trained in Goju-ryu for close to 2 years - I attend every class.

What the other gentleman said about low stances and strength improvement is right on the money - my oldest daughter outperforms most boys in gym now. Both have shown significant increases in general physical fitness.

The katas progress in an intelligent and progressive fashion. You can be taught an enhanced 'flashy' kata for tournament competition, the ordinary ones are more practical.

I believe weapons only start at a high intermediate level. The first one is a staff.

As others have noted, quality of instructor is paramount. I, too, returned to martial arts after a layoff of years - it can be done. Best of fortune to you!



Their dojo has a lot of emphasis on self defense and sparring - both girls have gone up to 6 rounds.


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## Tired_Yeti (Jul 3, 2016)

I'm really late to the dance, but I just found this thread. Yeah, I'm bringing back a zombie thread but I'm sure other people have this same question.  

It's hard to ask a question like this and get an answer that has much more than theory. It'd be nice if anyone who has actually been in a fight (or 2 or 10) using one of these styles could answer. I have read some things on wing chun including a very long article from a wing chun instructor who basically said that wing chun takes years to be competent in, it's very rigid and unnatural, and it's nearly useless in a fight (unless you're playing slaps in a phone booth). His words, not mine. This particular sifu left wing chun (as did Bruce Lee) and took up Krav Maga.
I've used karate in actual, real fights but it wasn't Goju Ryu. It's was a different style. I found karate to be very effective in real street fights against untrained enemies (which most people in the street are). I've never fought another martial artist in the street (unless you count the guys who obviously spent a few months at the boxing gym). I guess that's probably because most serious martial artists don't get drunk and unruly in public?
Anyway, based on my personal experience, I'd recommend the karate.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk


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