Frequently Asked Questions

Most people that want to join the martial arts have many questions but they do not know where to get a straight answer. Underneath will be all of the questions we can think of that new students would ask about.

Q: [What System of Martial Arts should I go join]
A: [To be very honest, in the Chinese Martial Arts alone, there are over six hundred different systems. What you have to do to start, is to do a little research into what type of martial art you would want to learn. Remember that today in this day and age, what you see in the media is what is known as a martial sport, this is martial arts, but a more modern type, which is known as a martial sport. The difference between a martial art, and martial sport is what you would learn. To be brief, in a martial art, there are many things to learn, calligraphy, art, herbal medicine, "Dit, Dat, Jow", acupressure, various instructions on anatomy, "Body cavities", and, "attacking nerves", ancient weapons, meditation, Chi Kung techniques, moving meditation, self defense, and so much more. Basically what you would learn in a true martial art is everything that was taught for thousands of years. However the martial sport styles teach to train for tournaments, "Believe me there is a lot of money in this area for schools involved in this". In a martial sport you would defiantly learn self defense techniques but not as thorough as the martial arts systems. But to make a long story short, think of it like this, it is so much more important that you learn any one of these, as it is better to do something, then nothing at all. ]

Q: [Long time ago when I joined, I was made to fight in the first week when I did not even know what I was doing, the higher belts in this style seemed to beat on all the lower belts, no matter what level, I had a broken hand from this incident and stopped going, it was a terrible experience. My question is does this type of teaching still happen today. ]
A: [To answer your question honestly, I would have to say that yes this does still happen to this very day. However that is why you need to do research before joining a school. Find out if any of your friends belong to any clubs or schools in your area. Ask them questions about how it is run. Remember that for every school out there that has an excellent instructor, there is another school opened by someone who should not be teaching at all, for one thing they do not have a true teaching degree from their teacher, for another they were never taught how to teach, which not everyone can. Not everyone is a born teacher, with this said, that is what a master will look for in his top students, who can teach with skill and with compassion. It is completely ridiculous for anyone to have to fight on the first or second week of joining, again we have to say that this could have been avoided had you asked the teacher for his or her teaching degree. Also remember that some wane be teachers will forge a teaching degree, or believe this or not, buy it on the internet. Once you see who taught this instructor don't be afraid to phone his grand master to ask if he or she had a teaching degree to teach their system. This is all it takes to find out if your prospective teacher is a phoney, or legitimate. Remember this is not baseball, this is the martial arts, and it is a very serious life lesson, but this lesson should be taught by professional, not someone who attained a black belt, left their teacher to open their own school, which is ridiculous, anyone trained to black belt and then left. Has not learned anything from the advanced versions of the forms. For instance, we have a form called Dragon form in White Belt, it has great techniques that are taught in between white and green belt, up to black. But a student does not learn the advanced stages until third and sometimes forth degree black belt. Each and every time someone learns these movements at third degree black belt, they are so amazed because they trained that form for years and years by this time. Then after ten to fifteen years, they have to relearn it in it's advance stage. ]

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Related resources

How to find out if the teacher of a schools has a teaching degree.
There are many different types of martial arts, do a little research to find out what it is you like about them.
If I join a school and they have no linage chart, or will not show me one, do I stay, or go to another school? That is up to you, but when joining a real Chinese Martial Arts system, they will have a linage that goes back hundreds of years, this is the type of school to join if you want to join a martial art. On the other hand if you want to join a martial sport, most were only created sixty years ago when Karate was taught to the Japanese by the Okinawa Peoples. As soon as the Japanese started to have tournaments that is when they started to package and market what was known as martial arts, into martial sports.
What is better, sport, or art. This depends more on the type of person you are. Bottom line is better to learn something, then nothing at all. However it is best to investigate what you want to learn. Believe me in the Chinese martial arts there are six hundred known recognized systems alone. That is another complete lack of education on the media's part, that Kung Fu is one martial art, that every thing Chinese, is one method, when in fact it is six hundred different systems, that are divided into North and South, Hard and Soft, Buddhist and Taoist schools of thought.