Are all schools the same?

Absolutely not! There are about 5000 different martial arts in the world. Every culture has their own indigenous fighting art. Even the Europeans had fencing, savate, boxing, and wrestling. Some fighting arts are good, solid, and logical in their approach to fighting and teaching. Other martial arts are really martial sports with nothing of substance in their curriculum. Others are for flash, smoke and mirrors, you will pay them huge sums of money to become a “Paper tiger” you may look dangerous but looks are deceiving.

Basically it can be broken down this way. There were three types of Martial arts in Asia. Peasant arts, those done by the lowest cast members of the culture. The warrior arts, those arts done by the professional warrior who depended on these skills to stay alive. And last the Scholar arts; the arts perfected by the wealthy or priestly who could devote eight hours a day to training for twenty years or so. These are also called (in the same order) hard style, Hard/soft style, and soft style. All martial arts fall into one of these categories.

The sport or tournament styles are mostly hard style. The combat or real fighting arts are Hard/soft styles, and the soft styles have become the healing arts such as Tai Chi. You should consider what you are wanting before you make a mistake and train in the wrong art.

If you are athletic, young, and want to compete, then a hard style may fit your needs. Keep in mind, age will affect this type of training so the older you get the less your skills will stay sharp. If you want to really learn to fight, (and still compete if that is your wish) then a Hard/soft style is better suited for you. Age is not a consideration, in fact most Hard/soft martial artist peak around the age of 55. If you only want some form of healthy fitness program, then seek the Soft styles. These are very good for the elderly. Soft styles can be used for self-defense after about ten to twenty years of specialized training. Our school is a hard/soft style.