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If you are like me, you are looking to get in a little better shape. What better way to do that than to start taking up martial arts. There are literally hundreds of different types of martial arts styles, and you want to make sure that you are getting a good deal on your karate lessons. Karate studios vary in quality, and unless you know what you are doing it might not get the best deal available. There are hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of karate instructors and their quality varies widely. Let’s take a look at three different tips to keep in mind when shopping for a karate studio.

1. How long. This might not seem obvious at first, but the length of time that a karate studio has been in existence is more important than you would think? Why is that? Because many karate studios are like restaurants. People who open restaurants generally are good cooks, and maybe not the best business people. Just because you’re an Olympic athlete doesn’t mean you are a good business person. So what if a karate studio is brand new, the odds of its staying around for a long time, are fairly low. But if the karate studio has been around for a little while. You might be a lot safer, signing a long-term contract with them.

2. Instructor. Who is the instructor? Is he or she a well-known name? Is in a chain of karate studios? The instructor makes all the difference. Finding a good instructor is like finding a nugget of gold. The good ones are hard to find, but when you find them, you should really stick to them. Ask the instructor or what his qualifications are and how long he’s been practicing karate. A little legwork goes a long way.
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The Martialarm Introduction To Choy-Li-Fut

Choy-Li-Fut is a popular Southern variety of kung-fu in which the opponents oppose from some distance, which necessitate of each the proficient and expert development of long-hand abilities, as well as firm and solid grouning in the body, though the feet must be versatile. The arms are wielded freely and powerfully in a variety of styles: uppercuts, backfists, roundhouses, and overhead foreknuckle thrusts. The Baat Gaw land, willow leaf double swords, and 18 staff can be used in the aggressive kung-fu variety.

As a Southern Shaolin style with Five Animal techniques, Hung Kuen is a close relative of Choi Lei Fut and is said by some Choi Lei Fut branches to be the variety that Chan Yuen-Wu taught founder Chan Heung.

Choi Lei Fut is a characterized as a “soft-hard”, “external” variety. The curriculum was designed so that anti-Qing rebels may perhaps concisely gain feasible proficiency and still incorporates a wide range of weapons. Several frequent movements have specific sounds interrelated with them for example, “sik” when throwing punches, “yik” when punching from horse riding stance, “wah” was used when using a Tiger Claw and “dik” when kicking hypothetically so that friendly forces may perhaps recognize each other in battle and to force the practitioner to coordinate his breathing habits with his movements.

Choy Lay Fut training could be done in any city in the world and I call you to visit out martial arts directory of Choy Lay Fut to find a school near you!
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The Martialarm Introduction To Chow-Gar

Chow-Gar style is from Southern China. It was instituted by Chow Lung, who learned hung-gar, one of the five quintessential southern systems originating in the Shao-lin temple, from his uncle who added the pa-kua staff maneuvers to his nephew’s training prior to passing away. The Choy style was taught to him by Choy-Kau. Subsequently, after a three-year residence at the temples he exposed his own school in Canton. in 1915 Gen. Lee-Fook-Lam appointed Chow-Lung an instructor in the Chinese army.

Chow Gar is a short range fighting process from the Southern Shaolin, and is a form of Southern Praying Mantis, which is one of a number of Chinese martial arts. It is an frightening style with emphasis on close range fighting. These attainments are developed by utilizing a range of training techniques a.k.a chongs and gungs, which have been advanced over several centuries.

The Basic Movements of Chow Gar

There are also 20 basic movements consisting of one or 3 moves, these are known as San Sau. they are;

* Bow Chong (cover hand, meaning to wrap up)
* Gau Choi (hammer fist to come down)
* Cye Sau (deflect)
* Doa Sau (spring hand)
* Narp Sau (hook hand)
* Got sau (cut back hand)
* Saw Sau (lock hand)
* Chum Chung sau (sinking elbow hand)
* Yong Sau (upward reach hand)
* Chuen sau (Transmit hand)
* Larp sau (snatch hand)
* Mut sau (sweep hand)
* Kum la Ja Jook (seize and hold hand)
* Kwor sau (circle over hand)
* Yui Sau (Shake off hand)
* Pai Kui (slicing hand)
* Cheet Jeung (cutting palm)
* Lau Sau (Leaking hand)
* Dun Chung (back elbow)
* Ngai Chung (Forward elbow)
* Jin Sau (scissor hand)
There are 16 more.
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For many people, especially those who are not familiar with martial arts, the question often arises on what the difference between karate and kung fu is. Upon watching somebody doing martial arts, the untrained eye will find it hard to tell whether that person is doing karate or kung fu. Even those who are beginning martial arts may sometimes be confused about the different styles until further exposure to them will reveal just how different they really are.

Historically, the people living in the islands of Okinawa just south of Japan got exposed to Chinese kung fu martial arts due to the close proximity to China. Over time, the Okinawans and Japanese developed their own styles of martial arts now known as karate from the original influence of Chinese kung fu. Although both karate and kung fu utilize many similar martial arts techniques, most kung fu styles will usually have more variety of techniques compared to karate systems. It’s almost like the Japanese streamlined the number of techniques from Chinese systems to develop karate. The Japanese also modified the way techniques are executed in karate as they became more linear compared to kung fu. This is especially evident in the forms or katas (traditional sequence of set moves) where karate techniques are performed with crisp movements that have distinct stop and go motions.

In kung fu forms, movements involve the use of more circular techniques, particularly with the hands. These circular motions give kung fu forms a more visually graceful look as techniques seem to flow from one to another. There is less stop and go with most kung fu styles. This is why some martial artists, especially in North America, often refer to Chinese kung fu as ‘soft’ styles while karate and tae kwon do are ‘hard’ styles. This is not to say that hard styles such as karate or tae kwon do are more powerful martial arts than kung fu and other soft styles. The term ‘soft’ is a bit misleading because the power from circular kung fu moves is often hidden. Circular moves can generate just as much power as linear ones found in hard styles. Most kung fu forms are also usually more complex and longer in duration than most karate forms. To most martial artists, a kung fu form will look much more exotic while a karate form will look more straight forward in terms of martial arts techniques. Interestingly enough, there are karate styles such as goju which do have quite a lot of circular techniques similar to kung fu. Kempo styles are considered a hybrid of Chinese kung fu and Okinawan karate techniques with both circular as well as linear techniques. There are also many more different styles of kung fu compared to karate.
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