On the Road to Kung Fu — One

It has now been about three weeks since I called my kung fu pal, Lee, and started actively practicing Hung Gar Kung Fu again. So here is a little update on my progress. The kung fu road is not an easy road, especially in a hard core school. Not all kung fu schools are equal, but I guess that’s evident. Not all martial arts schools are equal. There are two basic kinds of martial arts schools.

One kind of martial arts school is “the business”. This school is supposed to make money. This is an elusive martial arts dream. Hardly any martial arts schools make money. We all knew martial arts schools were notorious for bouncing checks when I worked for the bank. This is usually because most martial arts teachers are not good at running a business. Nevertheless, some schools do make money. Here’s how to tell if a school is a school or a business.

Martial arts schools that make money are the ones that offer short classes, about one hour. They also offer classes for each level, kids and adult, beginner and advanced. The schools are attractive, clean, and organized. There are big mirrors on the wall and trophies in the windows. People advance quickly from one belt to another. This is what people want. That’s how you run a business. You provide what people want. These places are usually costly, too. The last one I priced wanted $600 for ten private lessons and $250 per month for classes. Now that’s an expensive way to get your “kicks”.

On the other hand, my kung fu teacher, my sifu, says that he has an expensive “hobby”. This is because our school is always broke. He almost never brings in enough money to pay expenses. At one time, he covered the expenses himself. Now, the senior students do it. He has never tried very hard to retain students. There are no belts. The classes last around three hours. You have to be there six months before you ever spar with anybody. Most people quit after the first few workouts.

To be honest, I went to that karate school because I wanted that one hour workout. I didn’t want to spend three hours in class. At 54, my old joints aren’t that forgiving anymore. I like being able to walk the day after working out. I’m funny that way. But there was no way I was going to pay $600 for the private lessons, or even $250 for classes. I just don’t have that kind of cash. So I called my old pal and asked him if he would help me relearn some of what I forgot.

What I forgot were what we in the kung fu world call “forms”. Forms are choreographed fighting sequences in which you practice various techniques. Some forms are short and some are long. Most are over a couple hundred movements. So each forms lasts from three to five minutes. Think of them as songs with movements instead of lyrics. In karate, they are called kata. We have many forms in our school.

We start with Moi Fa Kuen (plum flower fist), Lau Gar Kuen (Lau family fist), and Choi Gar Kuen (Choi family fist). Then you learn the first two person form, Sook Kuen Chut. This takes about eighteen months. Then, you get to learn the first serious form, Gung Gee Fook Fu Kuen. This means subduing the tiger in the shape of an “I”. This is a very long form and requires months to learn. Then you get to learn one of the other definitive forms of the system, Fu Hok Kuen (Tiger Crane fist). Along the way, there is a little form called Fum Gum (I have no idea what this means), Bam Bo (Preying Mantis), Kuen Chut (the other two person form—the long version), and finally Ng Hai Ng Hay (Five animal five element).

Then you get to start learning the weapons. We have the spear, the broadsword, the long handled broadsword (around six feet long), the tiger fork (it looks like a big pitchfork), the butterfly swords, and the chain whip. Some of those are more advanced than others. You don’t learn them one after the other. So, as you can see, there are a lot of these forms. To learn them all requires at least ten years, usually more. Doing these forms is a great way to exercise. Do all the forms and it gives you a good hour long workout. Let me tell you, you sweat—a lot. I knew them all before my foot injury. And after seven years, I had forgotten them all.

I mean, I remembered the individual movements in the forms. I just couldn’t remember what form the movement came from or what order it came in. Now, since each form has a couple hundred movements in it, you can see that relearning them might be quite a task. It is. Believe it or not, however, it’s not as hard as you might think. Muscles have memory. So once you do one movement, the next several movements come back on their own. But it still requires a lot of work.

Truth be told, I would be happy just doing a couple of these forms a couple times per day. I would get a great workout just from that. I mean, who really needs to use a broadsword or spear? But here’s the rub: as a senior student/teacher, I have certain responsibilities. On my second Sunday workout I found out that one of the other senior student/teachers was moving away. The club was going to need someone to take over the class. My pal, Lee, simply gave me a glance. I knew what that meant. Come back to the club and I would have to once again shoulder that responsibility. I really didn’t want that. But it comes with the territory.

So now, I feel the need to relearn everything, not out of choice, but out of duty. After these three weeks, I have already regained the basic forms plus the major form, Gung Gee, the one created by the system’s founder, Hung Hei Kwan (Hung Gar means Hung family fist). I am about halfway through relearning Fu Hok (Tiger Crane). I am most of the way through the broadsword and spear. This is more than enough for me. I will specialize in knowing these forms well.

I’m not really interested in teaching the system anymore. I have done the kung fu master thing. I don’t need to do that anymore. I have no need to teach the more advanced students. But I will have to help the beginner and intermediate student, so I will bring myself up to speed on those forms.

Now that you know what I have to learn, I will keep you all posted on my progress. You might find it a little interesting to see how an old man does in practicing this young man’s art. In the next posting, I will let you know what goes on during one of those classes I attend. I might even give you a little instruction along the way. So bring out the sweat pants and get ready to work, Reverbia. The master is coming back.