Akron Ohio Choy Li Fut Classes open to public

This is to let folks in the N.E. Ohio area know that there are Classes in Choy li fut being conducted
4 times per week. With some reluctance I have decided to open these classes to the public. With the permission of my teacher Sifu David Carr, and Grandmaster Wong Doc Fai.

This is my 35 year of kung fu study, the last 25 years I have devoted to the study of Northern Praying Mantis. But the Choy li Fut
I learned in my younger years has never left me, "due to its excellent training methods".
If you are in the Akron area or other parts of N.E. Ohio it's worth a stop by and see what I'm sure you will think may be one of the most interesting and hardest training sessions being conducted in the area. It's not for everybody, It is "very hard". Choy Li fut is known for its long endurance incredible footwork and its idea of your fist being like a steel ball on the end of a bullwhip. The nice thing about Choy Li Fut is that anybody can learn it, and it gives a person incredible body power. It is said sometimes that Choy Li Fut is the quick road to kung fu proficency. My students enjoy it.


I would be interested in feedback from this post from some of the locals or anyone else.


Mike Biggie
Northern Praying Mantis Shaolin Boxing Academy
1155 Canton Rd.
Akron, Ohio 44312

330-798-0144 Cell 330-697-0398
Tuesday: 8:30-9:30 PM, Thursday 6:30-7:30 PM Saturdays 10:30-1:00 PM again from 4:00 PM- 5:00 PM Saturday afternoon

Congrats, Mike!

Was hoping you guys were going to make it to the GLT this weekend.

We drove friday and today so we didn't have any extra time or I woulda called you.

Matt

Mike, Congratulations on opening your teaching to the public! Good Luck with this 'new' endevor! I'm positive you will have great success with the school and turn-out' some excellent students! Da-Fu Hao!!!, Li Ma-Keh

I have had the pleasure to meet and train with Shifu Biggie. He has extensive knowledge of both CLF and Northern Praying Mantis. True he is hard core and not for the faint at heart, yet he is very compassionate about the fighting arts and his students. You will be trained well. You can see this thru students that have trained with him. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Mike I wish you the best, I know you have been wanting to do this for a while. Not sure if my travels will take me your way this year. Shi Zhengzhong is coming to the US and I have to be in DC and LA in August. I would love to train some CLF with you some time, your the best!

Mike,

Good luck with the new classes. I look forward to hearing how the classes are going for you.

Be well.

Dale

Thanks for the kind remarks and encouragement guys. It was a hard decision to
even consider splitting my teaching and training time between my beloved
7 star mantis and my Choy li fut, from years ago.

My main concern has and always will be my students. I want to make sure
that they get the most out of their time with me.
Having a commercial studio, I have seen alot of new student become completely
frustrated with Mantis and leave. But since I have started training folks in Choy li fut, I have seen the new people make an immediate connection to it and, most stay now.and my older student never miss.
The youngsters love it. So to all my Mantis friends I hope you do not consider me a sell out.
We still train our 7 star mantis 4 times a week. But me, I'm a purist.

Yu shan and Oso, Sorry I missed your visit North, You are always welcome when you are in the area.
and so is everyone else.

Thanks
Mike


Mike Biggie
Northern Praying Mantis Shaolin Boxing Academy
1155 Canton Rd.
Akron, Ohio 44312

330-798-0144 Cell 330-697-0398
Tuesday: 8:30-9:30 PM, Thursday 6:30-7:30 PM Saturdays 10:30-1:00 PM again from 4:00 PM- 5:00 PM Saturday afternoon

Mike,

I'm very curious, without any hidden or malicious intent, what do you think the reasons are that new students find the mantis frustrating?

fyi, I'm teaching some of the tan tui roads and two eagle claw forms and applications prior to starting mantis forms...but, the way things are connected in PL it really doesn't seem like a big change from one to the other. However, I experienced a similar thing when starting people with our shortest, but not necessarily the simplest mantis set 'Xiao Si Shou/Little Four Hands'.

what form were you starting foks with and what sort of basic work were you using to introduce the mantis?

again, no mal-intent meant, if you want to email or pm me instead...understood.

mmelton@ashevillemartialarts.com

:)

Matt

Oso:

I teach 14 roads, and gung li kune, all basic training prior to anything being taught was related to the 14 roads.I find the 14 roads to be a student killer. I will move folks on to a set like Bak yuen tow tao or dao gong kune.
From my vantage point I will say that mantis training as a rule is a finishing art, even at its basic level it is
very refined. In days past people who took it up already had a very solid foundation in some other Shaolin style. So I think that may be where some of the problem is at that I see. People like ourselves or your teachers who are willing to go the extra 100 miles to get things down, We will get it, But many are not willing to leave their couches and will not get it.

Also in my case the area that I live in is loaded with CMA and several Mantis oriented schools to boot.
so people in many instances here have done Wing Chun , Shuai Chao or something else, maybe a little spoiled with so much around.

I hate to say it, but intercept hands, Ou Lou Choi or Bung choi is in a lot of cases too much for some people.
I find that the front end of training for Choy, is not as complicated, is an incredible workout and sets folks up for better things to come. Many of the tactics are the same, just a little whippier. So what I've seen is that students are more confident when trying things later that have more complicated and subtle ideas behind them ie.mantis. I refuse to let may students become kick boxers with all of the traditional training available
it seems that's what happens alot.


Mike Biggie
Northern Praying Mantis Shaolin Boxing Academy
1155 Canton Rd.
Akron, Ohio 44312

330-798-0144 Cell 330-697-0398
Tuesday: 8:30-9:30 PM, Thursday 6:30-7:30 PM Saturdays 10:30-1:00 PM again from 4:00 PM- 5:00 PM Saturday afternoon

I hear you on the 14 roads...PL has short drills taken from the 12 roads tan tui, I've only learned the first 5 but was teaching them as the first drills. they aren't hard but they are kinda boring as most basic exercises are. I'm only teaching the first two now as the most basic 'forms' and then quickling moving on to Babu Lian Hua and then Shaolin Shi Ba Shou. After that I take them to Xiao Si Shou and Qishou and then Bengbu.

So far, this is working out and the students are getting to sink their teeth in to a fun and relatively easy set (BBLH) that has some fun drills with reasonable applications that can be taken in to sparring.

Quote:

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I refuse to let may students become kick boxers with all of the traditional training available it seems that's what happens alot.

---

my own take on this is that if I can teach someone the basics of fighting (in our case I'm working with san shou rules for sparring) and get the basics of timing, distancing, etc. in to them and then as they learn the 'traditional' techniques we work them in to the sparring. In most instances, we work the form...the two person drill/application for it and then put the gloves on and figure out how to translate that to the ring.

thanks for the reply

Best of luck Mike!

Mike is a great guy and I would never hesitate to refer any student to him.

There are a lot of choices here in Akron and without a doubt Mike is one of the best.

Take care and See ya around!

Sifu Mike Biggie,

Welcome To The Clf World. As Doc Fai Wong Is My Si-sook Gung (gung Fu Uncle) And We Come From The Same Hung Sing Lau Bun Lineage.


Gm Doc Fai Wong Is Doing Big Things Out There. Good Luck

By no means do I think you are a sell out, just a smart man. Training Tanglang 4 days a week is excellant. I liked what you had to say about Tanglang, I feel the same. As for frustrated students, I have seen and lost my share. I do not have a beginners class so I have to pool everybody together, talkin about challenge. At this stage of the game I`m not so interested in numbers, just quality. BTW, I did not come up for the tournament. You know I would have stopped in for sure. Good luck and keep us posted. Oh yes, I did get to train some CLF with the late Great Master Lee Kwoon Hung. I was with Chan Pui at the time and LKH was one of the few that we were given the graces to cross train with. I only skimmed the surface with CLF, but what an awesome martial art. I give it praise as much as possible!

Jim

Friends,
I visited Mike's school last night and watched about 2 1/2 hours of classes.
Perhaps I am biased since Mike and I have been friends and kung fu brothers for about 20 years, but I was very impressed with how quickly his students are coming along.
Minimantis, who posts here, is a young teenager who ROCKS! Both her PM and CLF is very powerful. I hope none of her boyfriends ever make her mad. :eek:
The training at Mike's is very hardcore. At the end of the one hour "warm-up" they finished with 100 uppercuts. After a two minute break they began running through CLF forms and finished with Gung Lik Kuen. This finished out a second hour. Then they took a ten minute break before the PM class started where they practiced White Ape Steals the Peach, Crushing Steps and Avoiding Hardness repeatedly.
We have a lot of Kung Fu schools in the Akron-Canton area. Some good, some bad and some ugly. Mike's school is one of the best!

hey thanks for the comment richard , yes it is hardcore but thats okay we need it , it all makes everything better . :D

mini mantis