I've been looking fro something new to take up...

I was watching karate kid (yeah, I know) the other day and the stuff in there really made me want to give kung fu a try.

Does anyone here do it?

I've found some classes at leeds met uni so I'm thinking of going along.

Not unless Kung Fu Panda is a self help video.

i used to do Ju Jitsu when i was younger (dropped it when i moved up North) and a few of my friends have Karate black belts

You're not alone - I felt the same way when I saw it.
I was 8 or 9 though.

gaaaah!!! nothing more cringeworthy than people saying just "kung fu" as "kung fu" translates to "professional" so really I think you mean "kung fu fighting" ie "professional fighting" saying "kung fu" on its own just doesnt work and cos theres differant types of "kung fu" too

mini rant over

I don't do it personally but I know quite a few people that do TKD, as well as other martial art disciplines.
Is there anything specific you were looking for?

Mark

Is Hung Kuen kung fu better?

That's the full name of the club. I guess its the name of the style or something?

Almost - it means to excel, to have proficiency in something, to be diligent at your practice. So it can be used about anything, accurately. My friend Chung often refers to driving Kung Fu, for instance.

Ah! So hung kuen kung fu is literally to excel in the art of hung kuen.

Ummm no.

Kung Fu itself can (and does) refer to the martial art on its own, whether or not you want to be specific about which school is another matter.

As much as you want to rant about it, the fact is you can't just have some blanket statement which says it translates to "such and such" just because "Kung" means X and "Fu" means Y. Chinese isn't a language which you can just translate words on their own, words in their own right have different meaning dependent on context and what they're paired up with.

For example, the word used for "Middle" is also the same word used for "to have sustained" or "to have obtained" (poison, or a gunshot wound... even used for "winning" with respect to the lottery).

/MY mini rant over.

As for the main topic.... what is it you were actually looking for?

In my opinion Kung Fu is very much more of a traditional Martial Art, focused on improving yourself both mentally and physically. From a self defense standpoint however, i would say that it doesn't necessarily bring much to the table apart from an assortment of punches/kicks and the mentality of how/when to use them.

Contrast this, from my point of view, to a more self defense practical martial art such as Judo, Jujitsu or even Muay Thai which are more centered around either grappling or working from a closer personal space.

Anyhow, that's just the way i see it either, i used to train Tae Kwon Do which whilst was fun, i didn't find it evolved much after learning the very basics and thus each session was relegated to more of a physical work out akin to taking up a sport. Whilst in Uni i took up Judo which i personally found to be much more useful since it dealt with both standing up (how to put someone on the ground) and what to do once they're there (or what to do if you end up there).

See, that's interesting to me, because my mate sees it quite the opposite.
He's a black belt in TKD, and started Judo about a year ago, and is finding Judo extremely boring, to the point of where he's actually thinking about dropping it all together.

Mark

Well I trained in jitsu for 3 years at uni and got my err... Blue belt.

It's good and I enjoyed it but I like the idea of the training styles of Kung Fu.

Hmmm, like you said... interesting.

I found Judo to be much more subtle... not something you can necessarily "power your way through".

Not saying that Tae Kwon Do is like that, however i felt that TKD was much more "physically active" per se and relied a lot on visual acuity during sparring.

Judo on the other hand was very much like a tug of war, relying on "feeling out" the opponent, their momentum and their centre of gravity in order to throw them. I guess that's what drew me to Judo, since on my first session (as a total beginner) i landed what felt like a "perfect throw" on my friend (also a beginner but with some Aikido background) and ever since then i've not been able to recreate the "effortlessness" that went into that initial throw (bearing in mind he's about half a foot taller than me and ~1.5x my weight) despite actually knowing more about the theory behind it.

Ultimate i feel like Judo has more "depth" to it in that with Tae Kwon Do, my smaller stature results in increased agility and speed which evens out any power lost (especially since TKD sparring is normally semi-contact instead of full contact). Whereas with Judo, since you practically start in a grappling position, i tend to have a disadvantage since my opponent can move me around easier and i'm more reliant on technique, timing and "reading" the opponent in order to position myself for a throw and/or followup.



Since you've already had Martial Arts experience, what is it of Kung Fu that appeals more than continuing with Jitsu?

Is it just the thought of something new and fresh/different? Or is there a more practical reason ?

I think it's just the new and different part of it. Although I do like the idea of sparring (i.e. not fighting) with someone at high speed with punches, blocks and counter punches.

Jitsu, the root martial art behind the sport Judo, was more about taken a punch and put the assailant on the floor with a broken arm while you run away.