Newbie question about Northern Praying Mantis

[Hurdoc]

I am interested in taking up martial arts, in particular for self-defense. I am limited to only a few schools in my smallish city however: American Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido and Northern Praying Mantis.
I've managed to read up a little about the first 3 arts, but I don't understand what exactly is Northern Mantis... is it a striking art, grappling? Does it perform well for practical self defense at the 4 distances I have heard of (i.e. long strike, short strike, grappling, and ground) ?
Thank you for any information you can provide!

 

[arnisador]

Perhaps the toughest person I ever free-sparred was a Northern mantis person. He was fast, came at me from odd angles, and somehow kept his hands near enough to hit me but his body too far back for me to hit him very often.

Aikido is excellent for self-defense in the long run but it takes a long time to become proficient; Tae Kwon Do is often more sports-oriented but some schools emphasize self-defense. American Kenpo is known as a practical art. We have fora for all three of these arts.

Northern mantis has the advantage of being both effective and also interesting and deep enough to hold your interest. I haven't studied it personally--only discussed it with practitioners who demonstrated it for me--but I'd recommend it. Of course, it depends very strongly on the instructor--especially when self-defense is your interest. You should definitely check out all four schools!

 

[TkdWarrior]

Arnisdor is quite rite...
it's quite aggressive MA geared with powerfull kicks, good with trapping hands, they hav good grappling skills too i think more than Qin-na... very very aggressive given a choice i m not getting intimated to fight Mantis guy...
TKD is good if it's not geared towards sports...sport version is not very good...
aikido...well it holds my intrested too...
dunno nuthin about Kenpo...hav heard only good things about it tho
-TkdWarrior-

 

[7starmantis]

I agree with what everyone here has said, be sure and check out all the schools. Alot of the decision is based on the instructor. I'm afriad all of my experience in the MA is in CMA so I cannot tell you alot about the other arts you asked about, but I study 7 Star Preying Mantis, its a northern style. Do you know what actualy style of mantis it is that they teach?
Mantis Kung Fu is very different from alot of other systems, the downside to most beginners is it can take quite a bit of time to become extremely fluent. It involves alot of quick hand techniques such as grabs and locks, joint manipulations and breaks. It is a very aggressive system as far as their attacks, alot of grabs and traps with alot of attacks. Deep stances for takedowns and alot of yielding to attacks and using their own energy against them.
I deffinatly recommend it, but as I said I don't have much experience outside of CMA so you may want to check out what some others have to say as well. Good luck on your decision, remember to choose one that is right for you.

7sm

 

[7starmantis]

PS: I don't know where you are located, but if you know the instructors name I can probably give you some info on him if he is teaching Northern PM.


7sm

 

[Hurdoc]

The style is 7 star that is being taught and the location is London, Ontario in Canada (not UK!). I don't remember the teachers full name off hand but his first name is Mike if that helps

 

[arnisador]

The Kenpo forum has lots of Kenpo practitioners from that area. They may know more about the Kenpo there and possibly about the other teachers you mention. You may wish to ask there.

 

[Hurdoc]

Its called Falcon Kung Fu and I plan to attend a class on Monday, so I should be able to have more info as well.

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by Hurdoc

Its called Falcon Kung Fu and I plan to attend a class on Monday, so I should be able to have more info as well.

Well, I haven't heard of them, but good luck! Aks a bunch of questions, you can never ask too many questions. Ask about the system, the leneage, talk to the students, get a good feel of it. I allways love seeing someone get involved in the mantis system but not if it isn't right for them, so ask away!! Let us know how it goes too!


7sm

 

[Skarbromantis]

Hurdoc I read your post on KFO also, so how was the class did you like it, I live in Toronto, who is the Teacher?

Skarbromantis

 

[Hurdoc]

Unfortunately, I was late getting there... I was trying an American Kenpo class right before it, somewhere else. What struck me about Kenpo was that, because there are very limited locks/throws, most responses involve doing a lot of damage to your opponent with strikes of different sorts. I'd like to be able to disable without causing serious injury at times as well. I hope NPM allows for that...

 

[7starmantis]

Its hard to talk about disabling someone without talking about causing injury, since they often times come together. When you are in a situation where you need to disable, then causing injury might be the least of your worries. However, there are those times when a drunk friend, or not so friend, decides to pick a fight and you dont' want to injure them at all. In PM (I haven't studied Kenpo, but I'm sure they have a system like it as well, but) we use alot of Chin Na techniques for throws and joint manipulations as well as joint locks. After becoming effecient in PM you learn to use your quick hand techniques along with your stances for easy throws and joint manipulations, so it does allow for controlling someone without serisouly injuring them, but it is also very effective when needing to protect your life. Just remember that no matter what system you choose, your decisions in what techniques to use in a situation rest on you, and most systems I would believe have some sort of Chin Na - esque techniques to help with control when not needing to seriously injure. Good luck in the rest of your classes and in your decision.


7sm

 

[Skarbromantis]

I have studied Kempo and I now do 7*PM, Pm is nothing like Kempo at all, except maybe a couple knife hand attacks, what
7starmantis said about chin na is correct, but Kempo is more like Karate, not much Chin Na at all.

Good luck let us know whow it goes and also, who is the teacher?

Skarbromantis