Shaolin 5 Animals

[markulous]

Spar with the animal you wish to immitate. :uhyeah:

Believe it or not, if you can come out alive, I think that's the best training ever!

Personally, I learned cat-like reflexes from watching (and causing trouble) to my cat. Try causing trouble to your pet cat and get away without a scratch or bite.

That's actually exactly what my Sifu did. To me, it is useful to a point. I think the footwork to a cat is the most useful.

I have a pretty big rottweiler and he's not exactly the nicest dog so when I try to play with him he gets pretty mad. It's useful to try and dodge him and get him in holds and lightly tap him when you see openings. Laying on the ground is good too. It limits my strikes a lot and makes me have to "feel" more.

 

[Shou Shu Blue]

for anyone familiar with the shaolin 5 animals (dragon, tiger, leopard, crane, snake) what body type would be best suited for each animal form?

for instance, someone tall and lanky would most likely have it easier studying the crane style, right?

i think it'd be extraordinary for someone to master all 5 animal styles equally well...

the problem with saying master all 5 is that, most systems that teach the 5 animals dont teach them as individual styles. You dont learn core then at black you learn each animal individually. you learn all the animals at once and honestly they arent complete forms of each animal.

Just what i have seen with 5 animal systems.

Salute,

Blue

 

[Tony]

your school website is nice, 7sm! i'll keep checking for updated stuff...it's an all mantis school, right? no other northern/southern styles mixed in? and how many demos do you guys do? thanks again for sharing!


i've just been recently introduced to iron shirt and it is an excellent way to build strength, and we also use weights when practicing our forms



here's a link to my school too if anyone's interested:
http://www.lvlohans.com/index.php

Hi Cloudchaser

I was looking at your Kung Fu site and it looks awesome! My classes are in a training hall of a Sports centre that my Sifu has to hire and for our grading he has found a local community centre! I wish we had somewhere full time we could practice everyday! I know there are places in England where, not as many in the states, where there are Martial Arts schools/Academies but I think they are probably more expensive to run!, and my instructor has a full time job on top! I only train twice a week but I practice as much as I can when I'm not in class!

 

[CloudChaser]

greetings to you as well, Tony <bows politely and grins>

unfortunately, our training center is not as big as it seems from the website pic... our sifu is currently searching for a bigger building to accomodate the growing number of students, for both kung fu AND tai chi classes... oftentimes, we would end up practicing in the parking lot outside! (which can become a minor inconvenience when you're doing forms while also having to keep an eye out for cars that might unexpectedly run you over, heh)...

since we're a non-profit organization, class fees are significantly lower than other martial arts schools in our area... funding is mostly supplemented by donations from various demos

i only train 2x/week too and i don't practice as much as i should (shhhh, don't tell my sifu now!), but i've been told that i have improved much from the time i started a year ago... go me, yay! hehe

so Tony, where in England do you study? i'm planning to check out London in late May so who knows, maybe i'll get a chance to visit your school!

 

[Tony]

greetings to you as well, Tony <bows politely and grins>

unfortunately, our training center is not as big as it seems from the website pic... our sifu is currently searching for a bigger building to accomodate the growing number of students, for both kung fu AND tai chi classes... oftentimes, we would end up practicing in the parking lot outside! (which can become a minor inconvenience when you're doing forms while also having to keep an eye out for cars that might unexpectedly run you over, heh)...

since we're a non-profit organization, class fees are significantly lower than other martial arts schools in our area... funding is mostly supplemented by donations from various demos

i only train 2x/week too and i don't practice as much as i should (shhhh, don't tell my sifu now!), but i've been told that i have improved much from the time i started a year ago... go me, yay! hehe

so Tony, where in England do you study? i'm planning to check out London in late May so who knows, maybe i'll get a chance to visit your school!

Hi Cloudchaser

Well I can give our website which is www.aftma.org.uk and that will tell you about our style and what we do. I practice near Oxford in a town called Abingdon at the local Sports Centre! This is quite common over here, even though there are some full time schools but they're very few and far between.
In London there are probably more Martial Arts to look at, maybe you could do a search on Dojosearch.com (i think thats the name of the site). So remind me, what style of Kung Fu do you do?
Luckily we have more than enough space to practice in the hall! And its also fortunate that we practice in a Sports centre that attracts other people to come and watch and see if they would like to give it a go!
Although we do get new people and the classes have grown slowly, there is still enough room for everyone to practice! You mentioned your classes sometimes spill out onto the Parking lot!
I found my present club purely by accident. My instructor has sent out leaflets and left them in the reception area of the sports centre. I guess over here we don't advertise as well as in America.

 

[CloudChaser]

thanks for your link Tony, but i couldn't see much except a page stating something about the grading update... oh well, maybe i'll try looking it up thru Google

anyways, my school teaches shaolin style kung fu... a combination of both northern and southern styles with a special focus on tai chi mantis...

yang/chen tai chi are also offered as well as chi kung classes

the only ads i've seen for my school is the occasional leaflet at our local chinatown and a spot in the phone book...sometimes, we do get free advertisement thru tv when we perform demos so that helps too

i'm always suspicious about the schools with the big ads... they're usually too commercial for me and i can imagine how much the testing fees must cost!

 

[Tony]

thanks for your link Tony, but i couldn't see much except a page stating something about the grading update... oh well, maybe i'll try looking it up thru Google

anyways, my school teaches shaolin style kung fu... a combination of both northern and southern styles with a special focus on tai chi mantis...

yang/chen tai chi are also offered as well as chi kung classes

the only ads i've seen for my school is the occasional leaflet at our local chinatown and a spot in the phone book...sometimes, we do get free advertisement thru tv when we perform demos so that helps too

i'm always suspicious about the schools with the big ads... they're usually too commercial for me and i can imagine how much the testing fees must cost!

You should be able to find various boxes that you can click on! My Class teaches Shaolin aswell with various styles such as Mantis, Eagle claw and some animal styles! Its seems everywhere you go the Taekwondo schools have fliers and posters up! I think Taekwondo must be one of the most popular styles because nearly everyone has heard of it but Kung Fu is still shrouded in mystery! I often get people confusing My kung fu with Judo or Karate! My friends will say " so when's you judo/karate class" and I annoyingly say "KUNGFU".
Look at the site again and hopefully you'll get more information. It sounds like our classes are similar but we don't do a lot of tai chi!
Last night was a killer, because we had to do everything at speed last night. Because we weren't fast enough in some cases my instructor made us do situps but if he says 20 situps it never is because its always when he says we can stop! Also we had to do some kicks with partners, running to meet them in the middle of the hall and doing 15 types of kicks on each leg! and if we weren't doing it properly we would have to do 750 star jumps! Great workout though!

 

[7starmantis]

I often get people confusing My kung fu with Judo or Karate! My friends will say " so when's you judo/karate class" and I annoyingly say "KUNGFU".

LOL Yup, I get that ALL the time too! "How's your Karate going"? "Oh, so you know Karate"? Even close friends or family members!! Oh well, its just that people have their intrests and they all differ.

7sm

 

[Tony]

Hi 7*

How are you? You know if we were both doing Taekwondo or Karate I don't think people would get so confused! Its sad I know but there it is! Even though they my friends know i study Kung Fu they will jokingly say judo or karate. I think this is because Kung Fu was always a closed system for many years for non chinese people! However the Koreans and Japanese had no problems with teaching other nations their Art, in order that it might grow!
The Chinese communities have a strong sense of tradition and so I guess it has been hard to change, but how lucky for us that they have!
I resent it when my friend or anyone else says to me, "why don't you be a man, do Taekwondo?" making a negative assumption that my training is easy! huh!! But if ever a Kung Fu practioner has to defend him or herself their attackers won't know what they were injured with! ( unless the attacker is a fellow martial artist with no honour!)

 

[7starmantis]

Yeah, its odd how many people assume kung fu training is easy or unrelated to fighting, when in reality it is the complete oposite. I'll get that from time to time, when people will make comments about being a man, and studying something thats hard, or make wise cracks about me practicing a "soft" system. Its ok though because I know the truth.

I did have a nice moment once however, when some buddies of mine were at a party with a bunch of classmates from college. There ended up being a fight and, in accordance with my luck, I was caught in the middle. I tried to stay out of it as much as possible but when it got to the point where I was going to get hurt I had to defend myself. I applied a few takedowns with a few heel piercing kicks and 5 or 6 punches and it was over. Not really much to talk about, but it was so funny, all my buddies showed up at my kung fu school the next week to take lessons! Hardly any of them are still there but it was a nice moment!

7sm

 

[Tony]

You know another comment this so called friend of mine made was when we were all out for a night out! He invited some of his friends from his Taekwondo class, these 3 girls all of whom seemed quite nice! Anyway one of the topics of conversation was on Taekwondo. I was talking to one of these girls and she asked me "why don't you try Taekwondo?" I said I did but preferred Kung fu! Then my friend said "Taekwondo is too fierce for you!"
I laughed because he has no idea of the devestating techniques Kung Fu has such as the clawing motions of Tiget claws, ripping nerves and arteries, eye gouges and my training is hardly a walk in the park! There are techniques we don't train in because they are too dangerous! I guarantee every lesson I will come out sweating! I came out the other night sweating so much, funny considering all the ice on my car, I was trying to cool myself down with a cold can of coke! But the thing is Taekwondo is heavily influenced from Karate and Kung fu especially all the flashy kicks that originate from the Northern Styles! I once told him this but he got offended when I was only trying to give him some information on his particular style! I guess he finds it hard to be lecture from someone younger than himself.(I'm 26 and he's 34 and has only just been doing taekwondo for 2 years and I have been studying Kung for for nearly 6) Also being interested in History I have many books on different styles and have quite a lot of knowledge about different Martial Arts, but I don't claim to be an expert or know it all!
However I have not been in a position to prove myself to this person although he challenged me to a sparring match, i knew it was just a way of him wanting to boost his ego! I refused and he got annoyed calling me gay but I didn't care! And when he wants to start a fight with someone me and my other friend will talk him out of it! Even when I'm sparring I will be courteous to my opponent, but I know from the stories he tells he does go pretty wild when he is sparring and hardly ever uses good technique! He has been warned by his instructor for his excessive contact!
I was sparring the other night, and unfortunately I caught the eye I was sparring in the groin, I didn't mean to and offered to wait for him to recover, I guess i'm just too nice!

 

[CloudChaser]

hear, hear! it's the same thing with me too... a chinese friend of mine likes to affectionately call me 'karate kid' even when she knows i'm doing kung fu! sheesh, i guess 'karate kid' rolls better on the tongue than 'kung fu kid', ha ha...

you'd think that with all the kung fu flicks out there now as well as the david carradine tv series with the same name, ppl would acknowledge this style with a bit more respect... it's like we're just 'chop-socky' stuff compared to the likes of karate and tkd... maybe the movies exaggerate the action too much and kung fu starts looking unrealistic and 'hollywood-phony' influencing ppl to underestimate the real thing and not to take it as seriously?

 

[CloudChaser]

p.s. we did the 5 animal striking drills a last night and today, i can barely lift a cup of tea without wincing! my forearms, wrists, palms, shoulders, and back are still sore, ugh...
anyone who calls kung fu a wussy style need only to attempt an hour of the advanced class to convince them otherwise!

 

[7starmantis]

Hah, I hear that!! We had a guy come in to try our Intro class the other night, he threw up (First person to do that in our Intro class ever) but then called back and said he was not coming back because he wouldn't pay money to do something that hard! LOL Thats ok with me, I don't like cleaning up barf anyways!


7sm

 

[Tony]

Hi 7*

We have had all kinds of people come to our class and I think they have not come back because they have found it hard! My instructor told me of a couple of guys, one who I think was a body builder and found it extremely hard because he could not hold his own weight whole sitting in the various stances and a guy from taekwondo who was a Olympic Champion, but after sparring with my Instructor was on his backside and couldn't understand why!
I don't want to be negative about other people and what they study but it proves that Kung Fu is a good style!
I fear we have gone a little off topic here! So I really need to make this more relevant. All these stances that are hard originate from many different animals. Obviously as humans we find them difficult because we are not used to moving like that, to the animal kingdom its part of who they are.

 

[CloudChaser]

and speaking of animals, heh... is the basic horse stance suppose to hurt if you're doing it correctly??? i'm assuming yes because the only encouragement i got was to block out the pain, geez... my knees are bad enough as it is!!!

last night's beginner's class was required to hold the stance with a staff on their lap for a mere 10 seconds but of course, not 2 seconds later, we'd hear a loud clatter from someone unable to maintain the proper position...which meant everyone had to restart the count again sooooooo by the time it was all over, we ended up doing the horse stance for more than the originally required 10 seconds! i found out later that the poor guy who kept dropping his staff was a newbie who had only been attending for a month and just couldn't get down in a low enough sitting position to prevent it from rolling off... the instructor finally realized something was amiss after about the 6th! <grimaces> time it was dropped and got one of the advanced students to help him keep it in place... the worse part was not so much the pain as having to witness the immaturity level of one of the other students who groaned with disgust and yelled at the guy for not being able to hold his staff in place and making us have to repeat the stance again and again...but i, uh, digress...sorry!

 

[Tony]

Hi cloudchaser

I know when I'm doing a horse stance my legs will be shaking. My instructor will always make us try and go low! When we perform forms, if he makes us do a form together we will have to be in the correct posture and he won't let us continue to the next move until we are low enough!
I have also had the staff on my thighs while in a low Horse stance. And it hurts! My instructor doesn't usually get any beginners to do that particular exercise until they are a higher grade! Obviously everyone is worked hard and its such a friendly class, there is no one criticising anyone for bad form or technique.
As for that person shouting at the beginner, he should learn some humility, because he was once a beginner himself and should help that person not belittle him!

 

[RHD]

Hi cloudchaser

I know when I'm doing a horse stance my legs will be shaking. My instructor will always make us try and go low! When we perform forms, if he makes us do a form together we will have to be in the correct posture and he won't let us continue to the next move until we are low enough!
I have also had the staff on my thighs while in a low Horse stance. And it hurts! My instructor doesn't usually get any beginners to do that particular exercise until they are a higher grade! Obviously everyone is worked hard and its such a friendly class, there is no one criticising anyone for bad form or technique.
As for that person shouting at the beginner, he should learn some humility, because he was once a beginner himself and should help that person not belittle him!

Sometimes its for the better of the class and the art, if those who can't or won't...don't.
Mike

 

[7starmantis]

and speaking of animals, heh... is the basic horse stance suppose to hurt if you're doing it correctly??? i'm assuming yes because the only encouragement i got was to block out the pain, geez... my knees are bad enough as it is!!!

Heh, horse stance = pain. I think one of the benefits of it is learning to push through pain. I would say horse stance is probably one of if not the most painful thing in kung fu. Focusing on your breathing helps a bit to take your mind of the pain. Breath slowly, in through your nose, out through your mouth, very slowly it really helps and the time goes by quicker. My next test is 5 minutes of horse stance at the beginning, it will be hard!

7sm

 

[Tony]

We were doing some stance work last night! While we were watching some one else performing their forms we had to sit against a wall, thighs paralell to the gound, for 2 minutes then after that place our feet against the wall and our hands pushing on the floor so we were at a right angle. That takes a lot of strength, but I find I can do that position really well!
Thanks for your suggestion on the Horse stance 7*! We are told to breathe but I think I will do that, breathe slower! I need to practice my stances more at home! especially with regards to where my feet are and balance!
Some of these stances are so awkward such as la kwei ma where you squat down, with one knee nearly touching the floor but you aren't resting on your foot. I guess we in the west have it relatively easy compared to the Chinese Martial Artists who have to practice horse stances for hours on end!