Very well said lauren
Were they right?
- Thread starter Hand Sword
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Very well said lauren
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Agreed, I frankly do not think I will find a Taiji instructor that is better than the one I have anywhere.
And 30 years ago it was different
Well said Master Lauren! I think you hit on something that I couldn't articulate in my first post. Finding the right instructor is crucial: the rest is what we make it.
I think many of us (ok, me) have had times when we looked over to another place & figured that the "grass was greener" over there. But wherever we go, the grass will look greener somewhere else.
still learning
Senior Master
Hello, Yes the training ways in America is not the same as many Asian countries.
One reason: Time ...most schools here only train for 2-3 days a week and for 1-3 hours each day the most. (In many places in Asia they train everyday and for long hours.
Two: Most Amercian students will quit once the training gets lots of full contact type of training ( most people do not like getting beat up or hurt at every class.) In Asia it is accepted as NORMAL training.
The intensity it usually harder in Asian countries.
Our Judo Sensi...said if I train today students how I had learn? ...I will have NO students today. (they/old days would do one technique over and over till they got it right or correct...same throw over and over...sometimes for hours long. Lots of repetitions! Tons of it!
Teacher were usually stricter and expected lots of loyality and demended hard work and long hours of training over and over....NO quiting or giving up......Today any student can quit anytime with NO recourse either....
Some Teachers still enforce some of the old ways.....many do lose alot of students. ( They have one school in Kona....once they went back to hard full contact sparring daily...students ending up quiting one by one..till a few hard core guys are left)
Black belts from Japan, China, Okinawa, and other Asian countries....compare to American Black Belts? Over all?
UM? Aloha -
PS: There is Schools in Amercia that is very hard core....
Lots of schools are also just a business pushing out Black belts
What is a TRUE black belts?
One reason: Time ...most schools here only train for 2-3 days a week and for 1-3 hours each day the most. (In many places in Asia they train everyday and for long hours.
Two: Most Amercian students will quit once the training gets lots of full contact type of training ( most people do not like getting beat up or hurt at every class.) In Asia it is accepted as NORMAL training.
The intensity it usually harder in Asian countries.
Our Judo Sensi...said if I train today students how I had learn? ...I will have NO students today. (they/old days would do one technique over and over till they got it right or correct...same throw over and over...sometimes for hours long. Lots of repetitions! Tons of it!
Teacher were usually stricter and expected lots of loyality and demended hard work and long hours of training over and over....NO quiting or giving up......Today any student can quit anytime with NO recourse either....
Some Teachers still enforce some of the old ways.....many do lose alot of students. ( They have one school in Kona....once they went back to hard full contact sparring daily...students ending up quiting one by one..till a few hard core guys are left)
Black belts from Japan, China, Okinawa, and other Asian countries....compare to American Black Belts? Over all?
UM? Aloha -
PS: There is Schools in Amercia that is very hard core....
Lots of schools are also just a business pushing out Black belts
What is a TRUE black belts?
OP
OP
sooo......They we're right?
Adept
Master Black Belt
Well, surely it all depends on how you define 'better', right?
I mean, I haven't watched Fight Quest or Human Weapon, and I haven't trained in Asia either, but I'd feel confident putting money on someone like Tank Abbot over a Shaolin Monk any day of the week.
Of course, how you qualify the term 'better' is going to depend on the paramaters we use. Are we talking about the person we'd most want to have on our side in a bar room brawl? Or the most competent fighter under MMA rules? Or the person with the best conditioning?
Sure, the hosts in the show might not be up to scratch. But how well would those monks cope in the UFC? How long would they last in a boxing ring? Does it really matter?
It's all well and good to say the training in Asia is 'better'. But it begs the question; better at what?
I mean, I haven't watched Fight Quest or Human Weapon, and I haven't trained in Asia either, but I'd feel confident putting money on someone like Tank Abbot over a Shaolin Monk any day of the week.
Of course, how you qualify the term 'better' is going to depend on the paramaters we use. Are we talking about the person we'd most want to have on our side in a bar room brawl? Or the most competent fighter under MMA rules? Or the person with the best conditioning?
Sure, the hosts in the show might not be up to scratch. But how well would those monks cope in the UFC? How long would they last in a boxing ring? Does it really matter?
It's all well and good to say the training in Asia is 'better'. But it begs the question; better at what?
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
If you go to Shaolin to train with a monk it is likely a good bet they are as good as or better than anyone in the US (that was not trained at Shaolin or by the Chinese Government) at Contemporary Wushu.
If you are going to Shaolin to learn Wing Chun, Xingyiquan, Tongbei, Changquan or any other CMA for fighting you are better off staying in the US or going to some other part of China and finding a real teacher of these arts. But it is very much buyer beware there are charlatans everywhere looking for the Western buck so be careful. Real good, better than the average, martial arts teachers generally do not advertise and they generally do not speak much English either when you are talking China.
But as to finding the real fighting styles in the US; Well of course you can find them but it is not easy and there are martial artists and martial arts teachers in the US that are as good as any you will find in the East (depending on style in my opinion). But if you can train in the East as apposed to the West in general you will have more time training with your Sifu in China, I cannot speak for Japan or Korea.
My Taiji teacher is from China but teaches here and I am thoroughly convinced I will not find a better one in China or anywhere else, maybe as good but not better.
When I trained Wing Chun my teacher was an American and I was very impressed with his skill and I would not go looking for a better teacher in China either, I might find one that is more skilled in China but I might find one in America too. His teacher is of the IP family and I imagine is better than him and I believe his teacher lives in China. But there is allegedly a gentleman an hour north of me that does not advertise, takes only advanced students is suppose to be very good and was a student of Ip Man and he is in the US.
My first CMA Sifu is also from China and teaches mainly Wushu and he is ok but I know there are better in this country (his wife is a better teacher actually) and much better in China. My first CMA Sifu now claims to teach Chinese martial arts and I know there are much better than him in the same town. My most recent Xingyi Sifu was an American a good fighter and I am certain there are better Xingyiquan teachers than him in both the US and China, but he was not bad at Xingyiquan.
There is good and bad in both America and Asia and you need to be careful when choosing a teacher in both America and Asia. Just because the teacher is Chinese, Japanese or Korean does not mean they are any good.
I went to check out a Hapkido a few years back that was run by a Hapkido master from Korea who I assume was fairly good in Korea but after years in the US his school and his students were pathetic. I have checked out a bunch of TKD schools in my area and I have seen a few run by Korean nationals and the best one in my area is run by an American, who also teaches hapkido I found out afterwards. Iwas invited to watch a class and that too was very impressive.
In Beijing there is now an MMA school run by a retired (I think) LEO from America and he also has a partner that teaches Muay Thai. Is this school not as good at MMA as an American School or is the Muay Thai not as good as you would get in Thailand? To be honest I do not know I do not train either but if you have a school like that in Beijing and advertising it I am guessing you are pretty good because you may get challenged from time to time.
Bottom-line it does not matter where the teacher is from just what he/she knows and in their ability to teach, that is all.
If you are going to Shaolin to learn Wing Chun, Xingyiquan, Tongbei, Changquan or any other CMA for fighting you are better off staying in the US or going to some other part of China and finding a real teacher of these arts. But it is very much buyer beware there are charlatans everywhere looking for the Western buck so be careful. Real good, better than the average, martial arts teachers generally do not advertise and they generally do not speak much English either when you are talking China.
But as to finding the real fighting styles in the US; Well of course you can find them but it is not easy and there are martial artists and martial arts teachers in the US that are as good as any you will find in the East (depending on style in my opinion). But if you can train in the East as apposed to the West in general you will have more time training with your Sifu in China, I cannot speak for Japan or Korea.
My Taiji teacher is from China but teaches here and I am thoroughly convinced I will not find a better one in China or anywhere else, maybe as good but not better.
When I trained Wing Chun my teacher was an American and I was very impressed with his skill and I would not go looking for a better teacher in China either, I might find one that is more skilled in China but I might find one in America too. His teacher is of the IP family and I imagine is better than him and I believe his teacher lives in China. But there is allegedly a gentleman an hour north of me that does not advertise, takes only advanced students is suppose to be very good and was a student of Ip Man and he is in the US.
My first CMA Sifu is also from China and teaches mainly Wushu and he is ok but I know there are better in this country (his wife is a better teacher actually) and much better in China. My first CMA Sifu now claims to teach Chinese martial arts and I know there are much better than him in the same town. My most recent Xingyi Sifu was an American a good fighter and I am certain there are better Xingyiquan teachers than him in both the US and China, but he was not bad at Xingyiquan.
There is good and bad in both America and Asia and you need to be careful when choosing a teacher in both America and Asia. Just because the teacher is Chinese, Japanese or Korean does not mean they are any good.
I went to check out a Hapkido a few years back that was run by a Hapkido master from Korea who I assume was fairly good in Korea but after years in the US his school and his students were pathetic. I have checked out a bunch of TKD schools in my area and I have seen a few run by Korean nationals and the best one in my area is run by an American, who also teaches hapkido I found out afterwards. Iwas invited to watch a class and that too was very impressive.
In Beijing there is now an MMA school run by a retired (I think) LEO from America and he also has a partner that teaches Muay Thai. Is this school not as good at MMA as an American School or is the Muay Thai not as good as you would get in Thailand? To be honest I do not know I do not train either but if you have a school like that in Beijing and advertising it I am guessing you are pretty good because you may get challenged from time to time.
Bottom-line it does not matter where the teacher is from just what he/she knows and in their ability to teach, that is all.
Perhaps 50 years ago, but today martial arts schools around the world are just as good as the ones run in the native countries.
Whe we didn't know how to do karate or Tae Kwon Do, then yeah, Japan and Korea had the lock on quality because they had the talent.
But today, with 50 years+ of Instructors migrating and teaching, there is no monopoly in those countries on the quality of Instruction. In fact, you're better off finding traditional Tae Kwon Do schools outside Korea, especially those affiliated with a Kwan.
Whe we didn't know how to do karate or Tae Kwon Do, then yeah, Japan and Korea had the lock on quality because they had the talent.
But today, with 50 years+ of Instructors migrating and teaching, there is no monopoly in those countries on the quality of Instruction. In fact, you're better off finding traditional Tae Kwon Do schools outside Korea, especially those affiliated with a Kwan.
still learning
Senior Master
Hello, One way to really find out....is going there and experience the Asian ways of training
Or have challenges/tournaments between countries? Full contact?
Aloha
PS: So many martial arts all over the world.....too hard to compare because of the many styles of teaching? ...which is better?
Most likely the one that works for your in a REAL situtions..? this is the most important thing...not the training in other places.
Or have challenges/tournaments between countries? Full contact?
Aloha
PS: So many martial arts all over the world.....too hard to compare because of the many styles of teaching? ...which is better?
Most likely the one that works for your in a REAL situtions..? this is the most important thing...not the training in other places.
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