I haven’t really talked much about this on the blog, but I’ve been studying Kung Fu for over three years. The school I train at is a branch of YMAA, here’s a description of the program. Scroll down to the adult program, that’s what I’m doing. Most popular question asked by people when I say I do Kung Fu is “What belt are you?”. There are no belts. Karate has belts. And Kung Fu is not Karate.
What’s the difference, you ask? Kung Fu is a Chinese martial art. Karate is a Japanese martial art, derived in part from Kung Fu. If you’re an expert on this topic and I’ve got it not quite right, blame my teacher. 
I’m no expert.
Anyway, we have a system of stripes to mark our rank. As you can see on the YMAA site, the system has 15 stripes, and at 6 you can be an instructor. To put it in perspective, at my school, the instructor has 6 stripes, one guy has 5, one has 4, about 6 have 2, and everyone else has less. It’s hard hard hard to get more than 1 stripe.
I have one stripe, and I’m working towards my second. Tonight I passed my Long Fist barehand sequence, Gong Li Quan. I’ve been working on it for probably 2+ years, so this was a big event. I’m very happy to be able to focus on something else. I have now passed 3 of the 5 things needed to get my 2nd stripe. My goal is to get that 2nd stripe by the end of the year.
I know it’s pretty early in the year, but it’ll still be a challenge. I have Short Defense, which are 10 techniques use to throw your opponent into the floor. Yeah! Those are fun. I’m sure I’ll be able to pass those by year end. The challenge is Qi Mei Gun, which is a staff sequence. Yes, they’re giving me a weapon. Everyone look out! I’ve used the staff a bit before, but now I’m focused! There will be lots of Tara-swinging-staff events. The staff should reach your eyes, so it’s over 5 feet long. It’s great.
Anyway, that’s enough of these ramblings. You may hear more of my real-life Kung Fu adventures, which is the main thing I do when I’m not playing World of Warcraft, working, or blogging. Like that ordering? Where are my priorities!
9 Responses to “Kung Fu Training Progress”
Nerf Tara! You ultimate ninja who is epic questing for the power +2 stripe, remind to never aggro you, ever.
Heehee. Yes, must not aggro the Tara, she will attack.
[...] As I mentioned in this previous post, I’ve been studying Kung Fu for several years. Yesterday I tested and passed my 10 Short Defense, which are moves to throw your opponent to the floor. Ten different ways to slam someone into the ground, pretty fun to do, not so fun to have done to you. [...]
[...] As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been studying Kung Fu for four years. I’ve been marking my progress over the last few months, and today I finally reached a new rank. I got my second stripe. It’s a big accomplishment and I feel so fantastic about it. I described the YMAA system in an earlier post, so I won’t repeat myself. Suffice it to say that not that many people get to their 2nd stripe. Maybe it’s like getting your black belt? Maybe? I’ll have to ask my teacher if he’d agree with that. In any event, I passed Qi Mei Gun today, which was the last of 5 things I needed to test. It’s a staff sequence, so it’s the first weapon sequence I’ve passed. Very cool. [...]
Well done!
I am also a practitioner of the exquisite art of Chinese Gong Fu and also practice and instruct in the Long Fist style.
Your master Yang trained alongside my master Chen Chin Ho under Si Gung Li, Mao Ching.
How are you finding gong li chuan? personally I don’t like it as much as the leun bu chuan but right now I am learning a form from our southern system (Hong Chuan) called Gong tse fu hu chuan or “taming the tiger in the I shape” - it is one of the pillars of the Hong system (Famous hong stylists include Wong Fey Hong)
well done and keep up the good work
Gong Li Chuan is ok. It’s pretty exhausting. I managed to learn our next sequence before I left, Yi Lu Mai Fu. I liked that one a lot. Too bad I haven’t had the time to find somewhere to train in San Francisco yet. But I’m still getting settled. Soon.
Hi
Been almost a year - are you still training?
I am grading next month *scary*
just finished my sword form “Li Hui Dan Dao”
or 6 Harmonies Broadsword
we’ll be learning Yi lu mai fu next
Matt
Sadly, no. No Kung Fu at all. Been doing some running and other working out, but haven’t found a place to train since I moved to SF.
http://online.sfsu.edu/~kungfu/classes.html
I don’t know anything about the instructor but at least its long fist and some of the pics look like Tan Tui 3 so it may be authentic
Have fun
Oh we starting to learn Fukien Ge Chuan <– southern white crane
should be fun
Matt