Saturday, 12 September 2009

How a White Tiger Martial Arts class works

The core class is our Unarmed Combat-Self Protection - Threat Response - Street Fighting system.

This is a set of drills students practice with each other.

There is no punching and kicking the air, though we do incorporate shadow boxing.

There is no hard oriental "discipline", we train in a relaxed and friendly manner.

There is no bowing, we prefer a smile and a handshake.

There is no half hour "warm up", just some basic stretching.
This is not an aerobics class or a yoga class, it is a Martial Arts skills class. You spend your time building skills.

This is real time one-on-one CQC drilling, taken from our core arts of Karate, Jujutsu and Kung Fu (which itself is mainly Wing Chun).

There is karate style sparring and chi sao sparring for those who want to do it.
Nobody is forced to spar until ready, but those who want to can "get stuck in" on their first night if they wish.

There is no special uniform or gi, just wear what you feel comfortable in.

The class then bifurcates into Kickboxing and Kobudo (weapons) for those who want to learn these skills.

For Kickboxing you need your own protective gear for partner drills and sparring.
You can bring your own or buy from us at a reasonable rate.
There is some kit on loan for those who want to "try before they buy".
There is impact work on focus pads, Thai pads, and shields. Again, to get maximum benefit students are encouraged to buy their own pads, though there will be some provided.

For Kobudo students need to buy their own weapons depending on what they want to get involved with:

A pair of sticks and a knife.
A pair of tonfa.
A set of nunchaku, both foam safety and wood/chain.
Bokken, shinai, jo and bo.

There will be weapons provided for those who want to "try before they buy".

There is basic weapon sparring with sticks, nunchaku, sword and staff.
Later we will look into acquiring armour for full contact weapons sparring.