Huntington Beach Kung-Fu San Soo Studio Profile

Most of the students who are serious about learning self-defense and health maintenance become long time members of the studio.  This provides the begining student with valuable resources since most of their time will be spent working with other students.  The beginning students are NOT separated from the more advanced students. 

Once the workout begins (see below for more details), students pair off to practice the day's lessons and incorporate the newly learned techniques into their arsenal. Generally students will work out with a few different in one class.  Students are always encouraged to workout with as many different students as possible (though not necessarily in the same class).  This helps the student become comfortable with defending himself (herself) against people of different sizes and abilities.

The studio emphasizes awareness of ones surroundings and respect for his (her) fellow man.  Alternatives to fighting are encouraged when appropriate.  Because this is not always possible though, the student is taught how to defend himself (herself) by any means possible when necessary.  For this reason, this studio (as with most Kung-Fu San Soo studios) does not compete in competitions or tournaments.  Kung-Fu San Soo is NOT a sport.  Students are not competing with each other; they are learning from each other.

Students are encouraged to participate in all the lessons taught in the studio, but they are NOT forced to do any thing that they are not comfortable doing.  It is not the goal of this art to make every student the same.  Kung-Fu San Soo is a very personalized art that maintains the individuality of its students by encouraging the student to focus on his (her) strengths, but it also encourages the student to recognize their weakness and understand how to improve or compensate for them. 

The first fifteen minutes of class are spent with students still arriving and stretching or warming up individually. Instruction usually begins at 6:30 p.m. (for the 6pm night classes), but check with Master Sias if you are unsure of the starting time. 

Instruction begins with stretching, yoga, mind-boxing, Brocade, and other martial related arts.  This lasts for about fifteen to twenty minutes on the average.  After the class is warmed up, Master Sias goes over the forms with the class.  After forms, the lessons for the day are taught and practiced while Master Sias works with individual pairs of students on the fundamentals behind the lesson.  The class then continues to work in pairs or breaks off and forms new pairs to "workout " and incorporate what they have learned into the present knowledge.

The workouts themselves are difficult to describe.  One really needs to see them. or better yet, try them to understand them.  Students do not repeat lessons learned verbatim but try to incorporate the principles of the lessons into their workout, thus every person has a somewhat different style of working out.  Depending on the type of workout you are looking for you may workout fast and hard (as some would call it) or slowly, concentrating on the intricacies of the movements. Regardless of the style one prefers, all students are encouraged to workout somewhere in the middle range while occasionally working a bit more to the extremes.

Students are NOT encouraged to workout so hard or fast that they injure their partner.  This is not a competition. Students must learn control as it is essential to the art.  If at any time during a workout you feel that your partner is working out to hard or fast, you should ask him (her) to slow down.  Remember that most of the students at the studio have jobs and lives outside of the art and can not afford to sustain any major injuries.  Once again, this is not a competition.  If students continually persist on working out in such a manner which injures other students he (she) may be ask to leave the studio. 

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