Alex great pod cast and stories! I grew up inNYC in 1970’s and studied Wing Chun for a number of years with Sifu Duncan Leung when he first came from HK who studied with Yip Man! Then studied with Alan Lamb and in 90’s with Sifu Chow on 23rd st and Lexington so can relate to your stories! Excellent job! Keep up the good work!
As a life long and old Manhattan dweller, I'll admit my friends and I would head down to Times Square or Chinatown to buy ninja gear. But we were 14 and we didn't walk around the streets with our gear. We were having fun though and no one ever lost an eye. Which is miraculous considering how many shuriken we threw around. We were idiots!
I love the story you told about Sifu Carson Lau. I can relate because the 3 seminars I had with him at the Chicago branch he does has a set program. I am lucky because his English was good...really good. I love him. He is really good teacher.
Ha, a great episode sifu! Honestly thought that some Final Fight/Streets of Rage action would happen between you and the ninja. Glad that you handled it well. Awesome to hear how used the Village Voice's classified section. Definitely showed some "Kung Fu Hustle" there :) . Liked your perspective on acknowledging when you're not the best. Being humble, wanting to know more, we should all strive for that. Practically speaking, you make a lot of sense too. It doesn't hurt someone's business when they show humility. Finally, wanted to give a shout out to Dre. Dude's so expressive! He mirrors how the audience feels. His looks of shock and surprise really make the stories memorable. Again, thank you for this great content.
Yo, from a fellow jersey kid now living in Hell’s Kitchen (only 2 years younger then you) i can’t tell you how much I love these stories. I’m a karateka myself, but always appreciate your kung fu genius stories! (I was actually sitting on the B train while listening to your long pole on the subway story). Please keep them coming!
@@TheKungFuGenius totally. I could swear I was sitting in the chair for Mr. Ninja before we went back to CT, because I remember i think him having the flyer in hand, with literally ALL of the tear off tabs still on it and me commenting "he could have just tore a tab off instead of pulling the whole flyer". There's so many weird thing's i wish we all had cell cameras back then.
After hours is peak crazy time and we had our fair share in San Francisco, especially with a bar two doors down.... now as for your ninja, I don't think you missed out on much there... 😅😅😅
Great Episode Sifu. We were all nervous having Sifu Lau test us. You always told us that you trained us to your standards so you prepared us for this day. We were shitting fortune cookies though lol
I've really grown to like your podcasts, and you seem very cool and laid back compared to some people in the field. I'm not a Wing Chun Guy primarily but find the material really useful in real life and sparring. I hope to one day visit and do some sessions as I've always felt the little bit of Wing Chun I acquired over the years was very useful and think that having experts fill in the gaps and fix my flaws would be a good thing. Keep up the podcasts they are really informative and enjoyable.
Iv been watching a lot of you footage and have to say as a karate practitioner find your stuff really informative. I have done SOME wing chin training over the past couple of years and has open many doors to my development. Currently Iv been studying the throws in the shotokan sytem and have read some of the throws were taken from “chin-na” do you have any videos explaining for about the concept of chin-na? Much respect
Thank you so much, I'm glad that you find my videos informative. The body of knowledge called chin-na (kam na in Cantonese) is quite broad, Wing Tsun has some locking techniques that are done when it fits with our hand techniques. I'm sure there are some people on RUclips who have some good videos that can give you some better ideas on the concept.
Your ninja story blows mine out of the water! The guy I had to deal with was similar, sans the ninja gear. He wanted to teach ninjutsu at the MMA gym I taught and trained at years ago ( I taught kids and teens MMA and BJJ, and occasionally ran the Adults Muay Thai night class.) At the time the owner, let's call her Sally taught the women muay Thai classes and asked me about offering ninjutsu classes. I said, "It would be cool if he had any knowledge or skill, but the guy just said he got his black belt in 1 year." The guy was in his gi and so I decided I would test him by letting him in on the class I was teaching, he was early 20's so around my age but maybe a little older. (I think I was 20 around that time. ) It was sparring day and we had some older kids around 16 who were on the fight team (which had their own coaches), but since I didn't know who he was or his kills, I ended up working with him. I used this opportunity to gauge him and went easy as I did with the young ones. He was incredibly over-responsive to strikes: light jabs, slow jabs, straights, and feints all of which he responded to with x-block. leg and body kick low blocks that failed on contact. After a few seconds, I knew he had no sparring experience. I let him respond with a few attacks and they were too easy to read. and before you know it the round was over. In the end, I was nice and said that we would contact him if we decided we want a ninjutsu instructor and left it at that. I then told the owner, not to hire people like him. he's nice, but it seemed like he was looking for an easy job and a gullible person.
Interesting story 🤔tbh 🤔😕😅in all honesty Shinobi-no-jutsu/ninpou aka ninjutsu 🤔 is not a bujutsu=ma. Shinobi-no-jutsu is historically listed as a heijutsu=spy craft used in historical Japanese gurila warfare. Shinobi-no-jutsu consists of espionage.sabatoge.subturfudge.arson.poisions.herbolgy.toppagraphy. Shinobi-no-jutsu as a bujutsu I'd 100%b.s used by frauds to make money 💰🤑🤣 sadly wit all the info out that is translated straight from historical resources ^^ 😀😃😄😁🙂 it's sooo sad that even with all the info out peeps still get duped by frauds. 😥😔😟🙁😞😿 also there is no special ninja ma. Ninja ma is fantasy:/ in the bansenshukai fujibayashi yatsutake states that a shinobi must no bujutsu all this passage means is that a person studying Shinobi-no-jutsu must no weapons & combatives. Another passage in the bansenshukai states that a shinobi must not b steeped in tradition to honor old ways bt imbrace new technology ^^ long story short wanna learn Shinobi-no-jutsu 😀read books 😀😉 wana no how to fight 🤔😀then train in ma^^ ne way that was long lol tc^^
I really enjoyed that episode! It must be a thing about Wing Tsun schools that attracts the occasional odd-ball ninja type, 🤔😂 My instructor asked me to teach the class one night as a 1st TG and of course this wirey looking, short skinhead from Poland shows up for his first (and only) free trial class. He starts legitimately kicking people in the knees while my back was turned and telling people the stuff I was teaching didn't work, in particular a wrist lock defense I was teaching. He told me it didn't work, so naively I tried to show him how it worked by letting him to try wrist lock me. Out of nowhere he put it on as hard as he could, quite aggressively while I was talking, so I ended up blasting him in the face with a straight punch instinctively. He let go straight away and told me that wasnt the first time he's been hit and not the last. He expressed interest in the next class and then never came back 😂 have you had similar experiences with difficult people like that?
Thanks for sharing - I think most of us have had similar experiences! This is why in NYC we never have the initial intro lesson in the group class. One - you need to be able to cater the intro lesson to the individual and be available to answer questions with undivided attention. Two - you need to vet the new student to see what program they belong in or if they should even train in your school at all. Three - letting someone in off the street to train with your students unvetted is potentially dangerous to your new and unskilled students who are still nervous about learning martial arts. It's also quite distracting having a trouble maker in your class of paying students - better to deal with them one on one than to let the quality of your group class suffer because someone doesn't have their ego in check. Just my two cents.
@@TheKungFuGenius Thanks for the tips! Pretty sound advice, and a much better method than having to lay the Smackdown on a stranger that's misbehaving 😂🙏
I'm working to get Sifu Lau on, but he's nervous about his English. He keeps asking me to send him the questions in advance but I'm like... it's a conversation not an interrogation lol. I would love to have Chris Collins on as well, but he's going through a bit a controversy now and I don't feel like attracting that to my podcast. I would love to have him on eventually.
@@TheKungFuGenius except this dude moves more like a larper than an actual ninja. I'm surprised he hasn't been questioned by law enforcement for bringing katanas to a park where they have little league soccer every week. HQ is literally a block over Worth street. No, wait. I know why: because all the taichi and fujow guys also have their swords out.
Quote - 'Are you going to debunk the Kung Fu Genius in this episode' ? ....Hmmmmm.....Well , only if he's a ninja uniformed 3 am insomniac with a penchant for Dianetic bullshatner down the phoneline.....lol
I think I know the black shirt Tennessee guy you spoke of at the seminar. If it is the guy I think it is, I was there when he got it. He was told "you do not deserve this, but you have a school and you have to be higher than your students. " It was around this time my faith in the ranking in America was really diminished. The guys from Germany were awesome in skill, but the US Guys all seemed a really mixed batch. There was a lot of levels handed out because of politics.
It's unfortunate... the US association could have "eaten bitter" for a few years building up quality but they went for the quick and easy... and the results are in.
@@TheKungFuGenius When the big break between Sifu Emin and the EWTO/AWTO, etc. happened I saw a lot of people rank shopping. I never understood that, just because you get a rank does not mean you have the knowledge or skill to back it up. You end up embarrassing both yourself and your system.
@@TheKungFuGenius if you watched it with LSD then you would’ve enjoyed more of the multicolor, all the colors of the rainbow, ninjas flipping around by the end of the movie. 😂
If the ninja walks in the door and says all that. Here's what you say. "You're gonna be a competitor, and if you're teaching Wing Chun and I teach you you have to start from scratch, join me as a member of my federation and I get to be the senior to you in your class. " if he says he's only incorporating Wing Chun into his style but not as a distinct class then you say. "Well you start as a rank beginner, and you have to reference me as your current teacher, and we set up seminars which will make us both money." In other words you have to make it clear you won't train a competitor, but instead he needs to become an affiliate and an ally. That isn't as arrogant as it sounds, remember he sought you out, walked downtown in a Ninja outfit and tried to communicate with you after hours. I've had other people from other styles walk in to classes I was teaching and sort of think they could become my teacher or an authority. And I always tell them, "That's fine I can tell you are expert in what you do, I'm sure you have a lot to teach me about what you do, but this is ---------- and I'm the instructor here, you came here to see me, and there is only way this class can be run. Would you like a standard membership?" and always always pitch them and try to get them to sing up. If Danny Inosanto can sign up as a novice to something new just about every decade of his life, and humbly listen to and obey people far less famous than him, anyone can.
Yeah, or you can realize that it's most likely an EDP (emotionally disturbed person) and is not a potential student in real life. I've been down that road of trying to "educate" people who are the poster boy for the Dunning Kruger effect. The cost/benefit analysis makes it not worth my time. Plenty of normal people who want to join.
I think that leung ting didnt push a lot into this country but it seems to me that you bumped into every flake that has an interest in wt. There are groups of people who really like to train
I know, I have a school full of them "ones who really like to train". When I tell these stories, don't forget I live in a city of over 9million. For every flake we got three serious students... You're just hearing the stories that are funny.
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Your cohost laughing is wonderful, he's very authentic and he's having a genuine good time with the "shove him" story! Amazing!
He’s a hoot.
Alex great pod cast and stories! I grew up inNYC in 1970’s and studied Wing Chun for a number of years with Sifu Duncan Leung when he first came from HK who studied with Yip Man! Then studied with Alan Lamb and in 90’s with Sifu Chow on 23rd st and Lexington so can relate to your stories! Excellent job! Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much!
As a life long and old Manhattan dweller, I'll admit my friends and I would head down to Times Square or Chinatown to buy ninja gear. But we were 14 and we didn't walk around the streets with our gear. We were having fun though and no one ever lost an eye. Which is miraculous considering how many shuriken we threw around. We were idiots!
The key point is that you were 14 and not thirty-something like "Arthur S. Cosplay"...
@@TheKungFuGenius I salute him!
I bet that Ninja was the person prank calling you at 3 AM!
I love the story you told about Sifu Carson Lau. I can relate because the 3 seminars I had with him at the Chicago branch he does has a set program. I am lucky because his English was good...really good. I love him. He is really good teacher.
Thank you! Glad you like it!
@@TheKungFuGenius yes. Keeping coming. I hope can get to travel to NY and train with you and your students 😃
Ha, a great episode sifu! Honestly thought that some Final Fight/Streets of Rage action would happen between you and the ninja. Glad that you handled it well. Awesome to hear how used the Village Voice's classified section. Definitely showed some "Kung Fu Hustle" there :) . Liked your perspective on acknowledging when you're not the best. Being humble, wanting to know more, we should all strive for that. Practically speaking, you make a lot of sense too. It doesn't hurt someone's business when they show humility. Finally, wanted to give a shout out to Dre. Dude's so expressive! He mirrors how the audience feels. His looks of shock and surprise really make the stories memorable. Again, thank you for this great content.
Thank you so much! It's definitely been a journey. I'll pass on your words to Dre!
Yo, from a fellow jersey kid now living in Hell’s Kitchen (only 2 years younger then you) i can’t tell you how much I love these stories. I’m a karateka myself, but always appreciate your kung fu genius stories! (I was actually sitting on the B train while listening to your long pole on the subway story). Please keep them coming!
Yo! Jersey in the house! Thank you for your support!
This is some of your best stuff. Subscribed.
Thank you buddy!
Another great Podcast.
Awesome episode! Greetings from Paraguay
Greetings from NYC!
I just clicked on this video, i hope "lot’s of shoving" is exactly what i think it is!
You probably remember this story firsthand...
@@TheKungFuGenius totally. I could swear I was sitting in the chair for Mr. Ninja before we went back to CT, because I remember i think him having the flyer in hand, with literally ALL of the tear off tabs still on it and me commenting "he could have just tore a tab off instead of pulling the whole flyer". There's so many weird thing's i wish we all had cell cameras back then.
After hours is peak crazy time and we had our fair share in San Francisco, especially with a bar two doors down.... now as for your ninja, I don't think you missed out on much there... 😅😅😅
I remember you told me some wild stuff about visitors in SF. I can imagine anyone with a school in a major city would have similar experiences.
Great Episode Sifu. We were all nervous having Sifu Lau test us. You always told us that you trained us to your standards so you prepared us for this day. We were shitting fortune cookies though lol
Hahah that's funny. You're one of the few who still remember that!
Sifu Alex, Great Episode, very interesting stories. Great job by you and Dre.
Thanks, I’ll pass it on to Dre!
I've really grown to like your podcasts, and you seem very cool and laid back compared to some people in the field. I'm not a Wing Chun Guy primarily but find the material really useful in real life and sparring. I hope to one day visit and do some sessions as I've always felt the little bit of Wing Chun I acquired over the years was very useful and think that having experts fill in the gaps and fix my flaws would be a good thing. Keep up the podcasts they are really informative and enjoyable.
Thank you! Much appreciated!
You should of gave that ninja the benefit of the dout. PLUS seeing him line up with your other students in that suit would of been class 🤣🤣
Hahaha
Another Great podcast, Thank you 🙏
Thank you buddy!
Iv been watching a lot of you footage and have to say as a karate practitioner find your stuff really informative.
I have done SOME wing chin training over the past couple of years and has open many doors to my development. Currently Iv been studying the throws in the shotokan sytem and have read some of the throws were taken from “chin-na” do you have any videos explaining for about the concept of chin-na? Much respect
Thank you so much, I'm glad that you find my videos informative. The body of knowledge called chin-na (kam na in Cantonese) is quite broad, Wing Tsun has some locking techniques that are done when it fits with our hand techniques. I'm sure there are some people on RUclips who have some good videos that can give you some better ideas on the concept.
@@TheKungFuGenius that’s great thank you for the reply, I will continue my search but will definitely continue to follow your work.
Your ninja story blows mine out of the water! The guy I had to deal with was similar, sans the ninja gear. He wanted to teach ninjutsu at the MMA gym I taught and trained at years ago ( I taught kids and teens MMA and BJJ, and occasionally ran the Adults Muay Thai night class.) At the time the owner, let's call her Sally taught the women muay Thai classes and asked me about offering ninjutsu classes. I said, "It would be cool if he had any knowledge or skill, but the guy just said he got his black belt in 1 year." The guy was in his gi and so I decided I would test him by letting him in on the class I was teaching, he was early 20's so around my age but maybe a little older. (I think I was 20 around that time. ) It was sparring day and we had some older kids around 16 who were on the fight team (which had their own coaches), but since I didn't know who he was or his kills, I ended up working with him. I used this opportunity to gauge him and went easy as I did with the young ones. He was incredibly over-responsive to strikes: light jabs, slow jabs, straights, and feints all of which he responded to with x-block. leg and body kick low blocks that failed on contact. After a few seconds, I knew he had no sparring experience. I let him respond with a few attacks and they were too easy to read. and before you know it the round was over. In the end, I was nice and said that we would contact him if we decided we want a ninjutsu instructor and left it at that. I then told the owner, not to hire people like him. he's nice, but it seemed like he was looking for an easy job and a gullible person.
I’m sure many instructors have wild ninja related stories! Thanks for sharing!
Interesting story 🤔tbh 🤔😕😅in all honesty Shinobi-no-jutsu/ninpou aka ninjutsu 🤔 is not a bujutsu=ma. Shinobi-no-jutsu is historically listed as a heijutsu=spy craft used in historical Japanese gurila warfare. Shinobi-no-jutsu consists of espionage.sabatoge.subturfudge.arson.poisions.herbolgy.toppagraphy. Shinobi-no-jutsu as a bujutsu I'd 100%b.s used by frauds to make money 💰🤑🤣 sadly wit all the info out that is translated straight from historical resources ^^ 😀😃😄😁🙂 it's sooo sad that even with all the info out peeps still get duped by frauds. 😥😔😟🙁😞😿 also there is no special ninja ma. Ninja ma is fantasy:/ in the bansenshukai fujibayashi yatsutake states that a shinobi must no bujutsu all this passage means is that a person studying Shinobi-no-jutsu must no weapons & combatives. Another passage in the bansenshukai states that a shinobi must not b steeped in tradition to honor old ways bt imbrace new technology ^^ long story short wanna learn Shinobi-no-jutsu 😀read books 😀😉 wana no how to fight 🤔😀then train in ma^^ ne way that was long lol tc^^
I really enjoyed that episode! It must be a thing about Wing Tsun schools that attracts the occasional odd-ball ninja type, 🤔😂
My instructor asked me to teach the class one night as a 1st TG and of course this wirey looking, short skinhead from Poland shows up for his first (and only) free trial class. He starts legitimately kicking people in the knees while my back was turned and telling people the stuff I was teaching didn't work, in particular a wrist lock defense I was teaching. He told me it didn't work, so naively I tried to show him how it worked by letting him to try wrist lock me. Out of nowhere he put it on as hard as he could, quite aggressively while I was talking, so I ended up blasting him in the face with a straight punch instinctively. He let go straight away and told me that wasnt the first time he's been hit and not the last. He expressed interest in the next class and then never came back 😂 have you had similar experiences with difficult people like that?
Thanks for sharing - I think most of us have had similar experiences! This is why in NYC we never have the initial intro lesson in the group class. One - you need to be able to cater the intro lesson to the individual and be available to answer questions with undivided attention. Two - you need to vet the new student to see what program they belong in or if they should even train in your school at all. Three - letting someone in off the street to train with your students unvetted is potentially dangerous to your new and unskilled students who are still nervous about learning martial arts. It's also quite distracting having a trouble maker in your class of paying students - better to deal with them one on one than to let the quality of your group class suffer because someone doesn't have their ego in check. Just my two cents.
@@TheKungFuGenius Thanks for the tips! Pretty sound advice, and a much better method than having to lay the Smackdown on a stranger that's misbehaving 😂🙏
Rumor has it, “Ted” (the Scientologist) was actually Tom Cruise.
Another great podcast sifu Alex! Any chance of getting sifu Carson Lau or sifu Chris Collins on the podcast ?
I'm working to get Sifu Lau on, but he's nervous about his English. He keeps asking me to send him the questions in advance but I'm like... it's a conversation not an interrogation lol. I would love to have Chris Collins on as well, but he's going through a bit a controversy now and I don't feel like attracting that to my podcast. I would love to have him on eventually.
About Chi Sao, did you had students where they're not good at Chi Sao but actually good in real street fighting / octagon fighting?
Thank you for commenting
That was a good one ☝🏽 the sf is not taking any...lol
"the Sifu told me... no ninjas"...
@@TheKungFuGenius 😂
8:30 28:40 29:43 1:12:31 😂👌🏽👌🏽
Must be the same guy practicing with a katana in Columbus park on Sunday's
I wouldn't be surprised! Ninjas are more bold these days.
@@TheKungFuGenius except this dude moves more like a larper than an actual ninja. I'm surprised he hasn't been questioned by law enforcement for bringing katanas to a park where they have little league soccer every week. HQ is literally a block over Worth street. No, wait. I know why: because all the taichi and fujow guys also have their swords out.
Quote - 'Are you going to debunk the Kung Fu Genius in this episode' ? ....Hmmmmm.....Well , only if he's a ninja uniformed 3 am insomniac with a penchant for Dianetic bullshatner down the phoneline.....lol
Hahah
Breaking news: The ninja was Chong E Itsu. Thank heaven you didn't let him join.
Thanks for that, I thought it might have been Fung Kioto or Kai Pei.
Super fun, part 2! Not to be consumed after abdomen surgery 😄
Hahaha
I think I know the black shirt Tennessee guy you spoke of at the seminar. If it is the guy I think it is, I was there when he got it. He was told "you do not deserve this, but you have a school and you have to be higher than your students. " It was around this time my faith in the ranking in America was really diminished. The guys from Germany were awesome in skill, but the US Guys all seemed a really mixed batch. There was a lot of levels handed out because of politics.
It's unfortunate... the US association could have "eaten bitter" for a few years building up quality but they went for the quick and easy... and the results are in.
@@TheKungFuGenius When the big break between Sifu Emin and the EWTO/AWTO, etc. happened I saw a lot of people rank shopping. I never understood that, just because you get a rank does not mean you have the knowledge or skill to back it up. You end up embarrassing both yourself and your system.
@@BaatChamDo Yup, and both associations have dwindled to nearly nothing in the US.
I can’t believe that you turned down Michael Dudikoff.
I was really disappointed with American Ninja 4: The Annihilation
@@TheKungFuGenius if you watched it with LSD then you would’ve enjoyed more of the multicolor, all the colors of the rainbow, ninjas flipping around by the end of the movie. 😂
Was just watching American ninja 4 yesterday. I ll watch the end fight tonight. 😀
Great podcast as always, btw👍
You should've taught the ninja the art of Shove-Fu!!
An ancient art created on the fly in 2003.
If the ninja walks in the door and says all that. Here's what you say. "You're gonna be a competitor, and if you're teaching Wing Chun and I teach you you have to start from scratch, join me as a member of my federation and I get to be the senior to you in your class. " if he says he's only incorporating Wing Chun into his style but not as a distinct class then you say. "Well you start as a rank beginner, and you have to reference me as your current teacher, and we set up seminars which will make us both money." In other words you have to make it clear you won't train a competitor, but instead he needs to become an affiliate and an ally. That isn't as arrogant as it sounds, remember he sought you out, walked downtown in a Ninja outfit and tried to communicate with you after hours. I've had other people from other styles walk in to classes I was teaching and sort of think they could become my teacher or an authority. And I always tell them, "That's fine I can tell you are expert in what you do, I'm sure you have a lot to teach me about what you do, but this is ---------- and I'm the instructor here, you came here to see me, and there is only way this class can be run. Would you like a standard membership?" and always always pitch them and try to get them to sing up. If Danny Inosanto can sign up as a novice to something new just about every decade of his life, and humbly listen to and obey people far less famous than him, anyone can.
Yeah, or you can realize that it's most likely an EDP (emotionally disturbed person) and is not a potential student in real life. I've been down that road of trying to "educate" people who are the poster boy for the Dunning Kruger effect. The cost/benefit analysis makes it not worth my time. Plenty of normal people who want to join.
I think that leung ting didnt push a lot into this country but it seems to me that you bumped into every flake that has an interest in wt. There are groups of people who really like to train
I know, I have a school full of them "ones who really like to train". When I tell these stories, don't forget I live in a city of over 9million. For every flake we got three serious students... You're just hearing the stories that are funny.
😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂✌️