Practice at home?

[kllrbee]

Hey all
Im new to the martial arts. I am contemplating signing up at the local kung fu school. I went to a free class yesterday and I really enjoyed it.
My main concern is that I can only attend once a week on saturdays. There is no way around it as the weekday classes are held in the evenings and i work 2nd shift. I have checked other schools around my area and they are all basically the same.
Luckily, almost no one regularly shows up on saturdays. So its slmost like an hour and half of private instruction.
The instructor said that I will get "homework" to work on during the week. Which is no problem cuz all my mornings are free. I realize that I can work on footwork, stances, forms, etc, but I was wondering what could actually substitea real person. The wooden dummies are way too expensive and Im not yo great at homemade stuff....so building one is not an option.
I was thinking more along the lines of a heavy bag with the wing chun attachmate. Anyone have any experience with these? Would they be acceptable for a beginner?
Or would a freestanding bag be better? Not even sure if i could use attachmate with a freestanding bag....
Any thoughs and comments are appreciated.

 

[hussaf]

Martial arts schools are notorious for being poor at advertising. Give a good second or third look for schools that may have day classes. Full time schools often have high levels of instruction (but can also tend to be McDojo, so be careful).

 

[Takai]

I wouldn't be to concerned about not having access to a Muk Yong Jong. You really aren't going to need or be able to use it properly for sometime. In the beginning focus on your form and footwork is going to consume a lot of your time (or at least should). After a while you may be able to spend time time working out with your fellow classmates outside of the school. While nothing replaces time spent with training with your sifu, time spent with other classmates will be helpful. Just don't work on things that your sifu hasn't shown you...just work on what you have been taught.

 

[geezer]

Hey all
Im new to the martial arts. I am contemplating signing up at the local kung fu school. I went to a free class yesterday and I really enjoyed it.
My main concern is that I can only attend once a week on saturdays. There is no way around it as the weekday classes are held in the evenings and i work 2nd shift. I have checked other schools around my area and they are all basically the same.
Luckily, almost no one regularly shows up on saturdays. So its slmost like an hour and half of private instruction.
The instructor said that I will get "homework" to work on during the week. Which is no problem cuz all my mornings are free. I realize that I can work on footwork, stances, forms, etc, but I was wondering what could actually substitea real person. The wooden dummies are way too expensive and Im not yo great at homemade stuff....so building one is not an option.
I was thinking more along the lines of a heavy bag with the wing chun attachmate. Anyone have any experience with these? Would they be acceptable for a beginner?
Or would a freestanding bag be better? Not even sure if i could use attachmate with a freestanding bag....
Any thoughs and comments are appreciated.

I teach Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) on a similar schedule and I've had prospective students with the same time conflicts. If you think the instructor is legit and like the program, consider yourself lucky and give it a try. Commit yourself to a minimum of three months, attend every class you can, take notes and do the "homework" exercises recommended by your instructor, not some improvised drills on home-made equipment. Then after three months assess your progress and decide whether to continue, perhaps with some private lessons thrown in, or else try another school or art.

As far as dummies go, even if you had a wooden dummy, you aren't ready to train on it yet, and won't be for a few years! Better to find a "live-dummy" or real-life training partner. Maybe you can convince a buddy to join the school and train with you, or maybe you will make friends at the school and be able to train with them outside of class. Personally, I heartily encourage this among my students. I only ask that they stick to what they have been taught in class and don't start trying out stuff they aren't ready for yet.

 

[kllrbee]

Thnx very much for the replies.
I had a feeling I was getting ahead of myself.
I will also check out some more schools.

 

[oaktree]

two of my teachers I see once a week because that is when they want to teach. Some of my teachers I see once a year or so because they are very far away.
So I know your situation pretty well and I have been doing fine for almost 8 years. Besides using a mirror and working on your foot work, stances and forms and all that,
you could put an ad up or get a friend or someone to work with you. Many times I would have my wife just hold her arm out just so I could better understand something.
Another thing to use are trees. Using the branches as arms or the trunk as a stationary person can help you. Any long stick wedged between something can act as an arm to practice trapping, blocks and evading. If you got money you can get a bag a bob or a grappling dummy. I once had a store mannequin that I taped and padded up to practice on because it was cheaper then a bob punching bag.

 

[wingchun100]

Thnx very much for the replies.
I had a feeling I was getting ahead of myself.
I will also check out some more schools.

Two questions:

1) You say kung fu, but you don't say the exact style. Then you mention getting something with the "wing chun" attachment. Just for clarity's sake, is this school a wing chun school?

2) If you like it that much, did you give any though to asking the head instructor about private lessons that could work around your schedule?

 

[donald1]

I like kung fu, my favorite forms are the yin ching forms and white ape snatches peach, the mantis and the seven star forms also seem interesting

Hussaf brings a good point about mcdojo, it would be good to be aware

Practice at home is good it can't be practiced once a week and be expected to help much , practice To the best of your ability.

Best of luck

 

[Dinkydoo]

Aim to train hard at least 3 times per week out-with class, or don't expect any real progress. When I started training 3 years ago I practiced the fundamentals I'd been taught in class 5 days a week for an hour each day. I've seen lots of people join the clubs I've trained at and even after a year they have quite a poor grasp of the style specific basics they're training in.

 

[MJS]

Hey all
Im new to the martial arts. I am contemplating signing up at the local kung fu school. I went to a free class yesterday and I really enjoyed it.
My main concern is that I can only attend once a week on saturdays. There is no way around it as the weekday classes are held in the evenings and i work 2nd shift. I have checked other schools around my area and they are all basically the same.
Luckily, almost no one regularly shows up on saturdays. So its slmost like an hour and half of private instruction.
The instructor said that I will get "homework" to work on during the week. Which is no problem cuz all my mornings are free. I realize that I can work on footwork, stances, forms, etc, but I was wondering what could actually substitea real person. The wooden dummies are way too expensive and Im not yo great at homemade stuff....so building one is not an option.
I was thinking more along the lines of a heavy bag with the wing chun attachmate. Anyone have any experience with these? Would they be acceptable for a beginner?
Or would a freestanding bag be better? Not even sure if i could use attachmate with a freestanding bag....
Any thoughs and comments are appreciated.

I can certainly relate to your situation, as for quite a while, I worked the 2nd shift. Frankly, it sucked, when it came to training! LOL! If Sat. is your only option, then I'd certainly make sure you got there each Saturday. Some other options for you, though I don't know if they're possible, would be to:

1) See if you can take a 30min private after the Saturday class.

2) See if your teacher is available any days during the week, during the day. If so, then you might be able to take a private during the day.

 

[Prostar]

Ok, now I'm going to offer a different opinion. Yes, do practice at home. Just don't bother going crazy at it, for a couple of reasons.

First, practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. So if you practice bad skills a lot they are harder to correct in class.

Second, if you practice for no more than fifteen to twenty minutes two or three days a week, you will reinforce what you have been taught.

At this point of your training, the important part is the shape of the techniques. Pounding on a bag is very gratifying but not all that effective in the short run.

If you practice lightly a few days each week, you are less likely to burn out and get the yucks of it.

It is very useful to lay on the floor in front of the tv and do kicks during the commercials. You can also hang onto a door frame, chair back or little brother's head for balance while doing kicks.

Of course, there is my all time favorite...the balloon. Tie it from a high point and use it for punching or kicking practice. Now you have a moving target. If you beat around the room the round type is easy to hit. The teardrop kind just tumbles in place if you hit it on the narrow end. Balloons keep you humble.

As a rule, I could always pick out which students were doing some work at home. It doesn't take much to make a big difference.

 

[ballen0351]

If you show the teacher your going to be a long term student and you train hard in the classes you get to in a few months talk to your teacher about your schedule. I had a similar situation where I was on evening shift. I asked if there was anyway I could pay extra for a day time class and he opened a day class once a week for anyone that wanted to attend. No extra costs ether. After a while we had a few dedicated students that came on Wed mornings. Cant hurt to ask worst they can say is no and at least it shows a desire to learn