Korean Job Discussion Forums

[varanid]

Hi, I am living in the Gangnam area and want to find a kung fu school, the closer the better. I trained 7 star preying mantis (chi shing tang lang quan) style for three years back in the states and heard of some mantis schools in Seoul, but don't know where they are. Anybody heard of any?
If this search doesn't prove fruitful I would consider another style as long as the instructor is good (I care more about the instructor than the style, outside of my preference for kung-fu and a general distaste for olympic style martial arts, e.g. tkd and wushu).
Thanks for any help you can give.

[SuperFly]

Please read this thread from start to finish. In the thread, you'll get some good info from other posters regarding the kinds of schools that exist here, including info on a guy who's been here for awhile now and teaches another art that you may be interested in.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=79529&highlight=

[traxxe]

I don't know of any... but I have some things you should watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjux_y5Xp64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjK0g-cDJI4&mode=related&search=

Anyway, I hope you are practiving Kung Fu as an art form. It's great against someone who doesn't know anything and definitely is not as worthless as TKD, etc. But round yourself out if you can and have the desire. Take the best of each style, using what works...

There is no mystical answer to fighting. Mix, adapat and learn.

[varanid]

I have practiced many different martial arts, including BJJ (a little), Muay Thai, Sambo and JKD. I chose to specialize in Kung fu because the instructor in my town was truly badass and I fealt I could learn a greater variety of skills from him (i.e. chi gong, how to be relaxed and weapon sets are really fun too). Fighting is best taught simply by fighting. No black belt can win in a match by just training forms against a kid who just got into fights every day in high school. I believe the success of the modern martial arts in fighting competitions is simply because they focus on mostly fighting in the most efficient/effective way possible. I don't really feel the need to make my shins into weapons nowadays and would rather focus on a style with a strong internal base, just a personal choice.
That being said training sambo from a guy with a black belt in BJJ was awesome and I would gladly do it again.

[samd]

A friend of mine trains in Myeongil-dong in Gangdong-gu.

He rates his trainer, who is president of the Korean Kung Fu association or something like that, very highly.

I'll get the street address or phone number for you if it's not too far for you to go.

[xingyiman]

[varanid]

It depends on what you are studying for. I am not really interested in becoming a career fighter or anything. I just found kung-fu more interesting for the total package of it. While doing a 15 minute horse stance is certainly badass, it is just about worthless in a fight. I am comfortable with my fighting skills and am looking into that straight blast gym, but am feeling more like training kung-fu right now. Kung-fu is great for doing kung-fu and living in general (esp. along with taiji and qigong), BJJ is great in the fights, but I don't get into a lot of those, besides I am reaching that special age where I don't heal as fast as I used to.

[samd]

www.kungfu.co.kr