Drunken fist

[Elbowgrease]

Looking for good info, videos, etc. Looking for open hand forms, lessons, training materials. Found a little bit but thinking maybe someone knows of a gold mine somewhere on the net, or at least a good place to start. Didn't do much of a search of the forum here before I posted this. Will look a bit more.

 

[mograph]

Are you looking to practice the art?

 

[Flying Crane]

Look for green dragon studios in Stowe, Ohio, if they are still in operation they have a huge number of instructional videos, including drunken material. They are/were on the Internet.

I had a few of their videos years ago, played with them a bit (not drunken material -had a video of that, but never got around to trying it), it just does not work as a method for learning this stuff. I did learn one of their forms, but it was shallow mimicry at best. It's a waste of time and I do not recommend it. Needless to say, I do not still practice any of that material.

If you just wantt to see it, this could be a resource. I am not advocating for them, in fact the head sifu, John Allen, in my opinion comes across as very arrogant, feels that he is kind of the only source for legitimate training in Chinese martial arts. I don't buy that story. I do not have any idea how legitimate he is. Anyway, caveate emptor. Again, I do not recommend it, in fact I would actively discourage you from trying to learn in this manner.

 

[clfsean]

What FC said about learning from video.

Aside from PRC Wushu & what people "learned from an old Chinese guy in his backyard since his son needed a training partner" type of story , Drunken is a modifier laid over an existing skill set (CLF, Praying Mantis, Long Fist, etc... ).

A teacher

 

[Elbowgrease]

Aye. I'd rather learn from a person directly, but there isn't really anyone around right now. I also already have at least a small foundation in Gongfu and T'ai Chi. I don't really like trying to copy from a video, but I think I can do it, and study it enough to get what's actually going on, given enough time. The principles of the thing is what I'm really after. I've got some ideas about making my T'ai Chi purposefully loose and sloppy LOOKING, and I can get pretty erratic. But I'm looking for a good breakdown of an orthodox unorthodox style, I guess. What's going on with the swaying and stumbling? Some of the wild, backwards looking moves. A specific method of controlling the weirdness to start to learn with, I suppose.

 

[Flying Crane]

Aye. I'd rather learn from a person directly, but there isn't really anyone around right now. I also already have at least a small foundation in Gongfu and T'ai Chi. I don't really like trying to copy from a video, but I think I can do it, and study it enough to get what's actually going on, given enough time. The principles of the thing is what I'm really after. I've got some ideas about making my T'ai Chi purposefully loose and sloppy LOOKING, and I can get pretty erratic. But I'm looking for a good breakdown of an orthodox unorthodox style, I guess. What's going on with the swaying and stumbling? Some of the wild, backwards looking moves. A specific method of controlling the weirdness to start to learn with, I suppose.

You will not get it from video instruction. If you are hell-bent on doing this, then knock yourself out. But we are giving you good advice here. Sometimes when the problem is a lack of a good instructor, the only real answer is: then you don't get to do it. Life ain't fair. Video instruction is not a viable substitute.

If you decide to embark on this fool's errand, please give us honest updates on your progress. I think it will prove educational, tho probably not in the way you are hoping.

 

[Elbowgrease]

Fair enough. And I do appreciate your input.

 

[jks9199]

My very, very limited understanding of drunken styles are that the movements, leans, sways, and other unorthodox and erratic movements are a strategy to confuse and distract opponents... But, really, to understand and use them, you're going to need direct and personal training, not videos. You might manage to copy a form, but I don't expect that you'll actually get an understanding of it without a skilled instructor to lead you. And I can easily see how you could get hurt doing them, if you're not being shown the proper way to get there as well as how to condition yourself for it.

 

[mograph]

What they said.

It's better to learn martial art B from a good teacher than martial art A from a video. No matter how attached we are to learning art A, we are far better off learning just about any other martial art from a good teacher.

We need to lose the idea that there's something intrinsically good about a particular martial art; that is, to the extent that attempting to learn it from a video is better than learning something else from a good teacher.

 

[Dong xiao hu]

Neil Ripskei has good vids on you tube

Sent from my Z797C using Tapatalk

 

[kuniggety]

We need to lose the idea that there's something intrinsically good about a particular martial art; that is, to the extent that attempting to learn it from a video is better than learning something else from a good teacher.

I completely agree. I just wanted to throw out there that videos are great for supplementary training - just not primary.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

The drunken fist system uses the "water" principle. It's mainly a "counter- attack" system. It's like the lake water is calm. If you throw a rock into the lake water, the lake water will jump up. For example, if you throw a punch at my face, I'll use footwork, spin my body, move my body to be out of your attacking path, and throw a haymaker at your head.

 

[mograph]

I completely agree. I just wanted to throw out there that videos are great for supplementary training - just not primary.

True. The good videos are those that show your teacher teaching the same material you learn in class; those videos are supplementary. However, as the videos diverge from that situation (i.e., with different teacher, different material), they lose value.