Which MA teacher do you want to learn from?

[Kung Fu Wang]

If you are a student, which MA teacher do you want to learn from, A or B?

A: If you have learned all the 50 forms that I'm going to teach you, you will be my successor.
B: If you have learned X and Y from me, you can leave and find yourself another MA teacher.

If you choice teacher

- A, you want to learn his MA system.
- B, you want to learn his best skill.

 

[Bruce7]

That is an interesting question.
A: If I had train with Jack Hwang for decades I would have been happy.
That was not possible because I join the Navy.

B: I am still happy because if I had not join the Navy,I would never found a great teacher of Long Fist.
It made me a better Marital Artist.

I real don't know which is the best path.
Finding great teachers is the right path maybe.

 

[Christopher Adamchek]

Both
Id pick one A and multiple Bs

 

[skribs]

Random thoughts as I sort this out in my brain:

• How much can I learn from 50 forms or from principles X and Y? That's the most important to me.
• What are my goals? To cross-train as much as I can, or to eventually be a teacher myself?
• How convenient is it to find another martial arts teacher of similar quality? Are there tons in the area I can find, or are the only ones in the area a pale imitation of my master?
• How comprehensive is the teacher's knowledge? The guy with 50 forms probably knows some concepts. The guy who is teaching concepts is probably at the very least giving me drills and combinations to practice in which those concepts are applied. But does the teacher only know the forms and have no real martial skill? Or are the concepts so limited that they only apply in 25% of the fights you're going to be in?
• Until you reach the expected level of knowledge, does it matter what your plan for the future is? You might change your mind.
• Does it matter what your instructors plan for your future is? He may want me to take over, and I may have no plans of it, but learn from him anyway.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

How much can I learn from 50 forms or from principles X and Y? That's the most important to me.

It depends on whether the term "complete" is important to you or not. Some MA systems require weapon training such as:

1. dagger
2. Diao (single edge knife)
3. Jian (double edges sword)
4. staff
5. spear
6. Guan Dao (knife on staff)
7. long whip.

If you just learn one form from each weapon, that will be 7 forms there. If you also learn 2 men form, that will be 14 forms. Most of the CMA styles have many Dao and Jian forms. It's not surprise that you may require to learn more than 20 weapon forms.

The open hand forms have not included yet. If the teacher had cross trained in other styles, it's not surprise that you may have to learn 50 forms to complete.

 

[skribs]

It depends on whether the term "complete" is important to you or not. Some MA systems require weapon training such as:

1. dagger
2. Diao (single edge knife)
3. Jian (double edges sword)
4. staff
5. spear
6. Guan Dao (knife on staff)
7. long whip.

If you just learn one form from each weapon, that will be 7 forms there. If you also learn 2 men form, that will be 14 forms. Most of the CMA styles have many Dao and Jian forms. It's not surprise that you may require to learn more than 20 weapon forms.

The open hand forms have not included yet. If the teacher had cross trained in other styles, it's not surprise that you may have to learn 50 forms to complete.

It also depends on what is a "form". For example, we have a set of 8 drills we use for our introduction to eskrima sticks in our black belt class. Is this 8 forms, or 1 form?

 

[drop bear]

Sorry I am lost.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Sorry I am lost.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Even down under.
That should help you get oriented, right?

 

[drop bear]

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Even down under.
That should help you get oriented, right?

Thanks. Back on track now.

 

[JowGaWolf]

If you are a student, which MA teacher do you want to learn from, A or B?

A: If you have learned all the 50 forms that I'm going to teach you, you will be my successor.
B: If you have learned X and Y from me, you can leave and find yourself another MA teacher.

If you choice teacher

- A, you want to learn his MA system.
- B, you want to learn his best skill.

I would still pick A.. I rather learn 50 forms than only 2 things from a teacher. What works best for my teacher may not be the best for me. My teacher may be a better kicker than me so he builds his strategy around kicking. I may be a better puncher than my teacher so I build my strategy around punching.

Just because I learn someone else's best skill doesn't mean that it will be my best skill. If I learn 50 forms then I'm guaranteed to find something that I can customize to fit my strength.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Jow Ga Beginner for has about 45 unique techniques. I can actually fight with all but 3 of those techniques in a real fight. That's 42 fighting techniques I can choose to customize my own way of fighting to fit various scenarios and various opponents. I know 4 empty hand forms, 3 are longer than the beginner. If they all have 45 unique techniques (which they don't). Then we are looking at 180 options. Which is a lot of options so I'll stick with the 45.

Out of the 42 techniques that I can use from the beginners form. I know at least 2 applications for each. So in reality I know 84 different ways to strike using 42 unique techniques. That's more than enough for me to start customizing my fighting strengths

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Jow Ga Beginner for has about 45 unique techniques.

What if teacher A's

- X technique needs 30 techniques to support it.
- Y technique needs 20 techniques to support it.

You will learn 50 techniques instead of 50 forms. Do you want to learn 50 techniques, or 50 forms?

 

[Flying Crane]

If the forms are well designed and well taught, then somewhere around 6-10 forms is probably plenty. If you don’t “get it” by then, learning 40-44 more won’t help you.

If you DO “get it” after learning 6-10 forms, then learning 40-44 more is unlikely to be terribly useful or necessary for you.

So I guess I choose option # 3.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

What if teacher A's

- X technique needs 30 techniques to support it.
- Y technique needs 20 techniques to support it.

You will learn 50 techniques instead of 50 forms. Do you want to learn 50 techniques, or 50 forms?

I'd be more interested in 50 techniques. But then I'm not a huge fan of forms as a focus for training.

 

[JowGaWolf]

What if teacher A's

- X technique needs 30 techniques to support it.
- Y technique needs 20 techniques to support it.

You will learn 50 techniques instead of 50 forms. Do you want to learn 50 techniques, or 50 forms?

50 techniques to me is a form.

 

[JR 137]

I want to learn from a teacher who actually knows how to teach. One would think that’s not hard to find, but my search a few years ago proved otherwise. Not everyone who decides to open a MA school can not should teach.

I don’t need a teacher who can wow me with his/her skills. As entertaining as that may be, and thinking “my teacher can beat up everyone else’s teacher” went out decades ago for me, I just want someone who can spot my mistakes, explain them to me, and teach me an appropriate way for me to correct them.

One of the things that drew me to my current teacher was how he was correcting students appropriately for those students and not a one size fits all approach. It’s too easy for a teacher to teach everyone the same exact way. What makes a teacher better than average is when he/she can teach the same technique to several different people in ways that work for those individuals rather than a cookie cutter approach.

I’m never going to be light on my feet and be able to pull off spectacular high and athletic kicks. I’m a get inside and pound it out guy. Me and the guy who’s a lanky 6’2 and can slap people silly in their face with his foot don’t want to be taught the same way.

 

[KenpoMaster805]

I pick both

 

[DocWard]

I'm with drop bear on this one. I'm more than a little lost, so I will answer as best I can. There is a part of me that enjoys learning purely for the sake of learning. This is likely why I read far more non-fiction than fiction, why I took up a martial art, among other things, as an adult, and more. So, in either case, I could see negatives that are disconcerting.

I don't necessarily want to be anyone's "successor," for a variety of reasons. Beyond the burden of being a successor and head of a system, the fact that I could learn a teacher's material to his or her satisfaction also doesn't mean I have the ability to pass it on to his or her satisfaction, or my own, for that matter.

In the case of the second option, if X and Y are all the teacher will teach me, then if I wish to continue learning, I have no alternative but to seek out another teacher. If I've learned X and Y, and wish to continue, and the teacher is willing to continue instructing me, then I will likely wish to learn more. This assumes I appreciate the art and believe it worth learning, of course.