Kung Fu San Soo Chula Vista California
Since 1979
San Soo
San Soo is not a spectator sport but a savagely effective fighting style that trains the fighter to instantly adapt to any combat situation.
This brutally effective fighting style of Kung Fu San Soo, preserved and taught by Grand Master Jimmy H. Woo, is a radical circular fighting technique that uniquely attacks an opponent’s every reaction. It is hand to hand combat in its purest form.
While some martial arts styles focus on a specific technique - as with judo for throws and karate for kicks and punches - San Soo teaches the full range of techniques, allowing fighters to adjust their style according to the situation they are in. The punches and kicks, the leverages, the nerve attacks, the takedowns - all directed to vital parts of the body - are executed in a perfect rhythm that can make the flow of movement compelling, even beautiful, to witness. But at its very core is also a raw brutality that emphasizes the San Soo focus on self-defense.
Students of other arts sometimes point to San Soo's lack of sparring as a training weak spot. In truth, the brutally direct and effective principles of San Soo make it impossible to use as a game or "play fighting" without crippling or killing competitors.
San Soo philosophy is simple: You will fight as you train. Arts obsessed with trophies and competitions to prove who is best are playing games with one another. To train this way, following rules and play fighting so as not to hurt each other, will make you fight this way on the street.
Fighting is a brutal, ugly business without rules, points, or trophies. Short of destroying human beings for practice, no other system trains the mind to use the body as effectively as San Soo.
Most of the students who are serious about learning self-defense and health maintenance become long time members of the school. After the first ten years of teaching, 97% of my students were still with me if their schooling or work had not moved them away. This provides the beginning 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, 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 people 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 students become comfortable with defending themselves (herself) against people of different sizes and abilities.
Our school emphasizes awareness of ones surroundings and respect for one’s fellow humans. Alternatives to fighting are encouraged when appropriate. Because this is not always possible though, students are taught how to defend themselves by any means possible when necessary. For this reason, this school, like all San Soo schools, 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 their individual strengths, but it also encourages the student to recognize their weakness and understand how to improve or compensate for them.
Workouts
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 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 asked to leave the studio.
Forms
Forms in Kung-Fu San Soo play an essential role. Although a good deal of the student's time in the studio will be spent working out, students are expected to know and practice their forms. Forms are not generally used to teach fighting skills. They are meant to help the students improve their coordination, breathing, balance and timing. Both hand and weapons forms are taught. Students will generally learn the hand forms with the class while working on a weapon's form with a weapon of their choice.
Tsoi Li Ho Fut Hung
style Inside Kung Fu Magazine calls
devastating art
of
Crane Tiger
are the kung fu animals most closely associated with San Soo, although
Kung Fu San Soo has correctly been referred to as
“Human Style” Kung Fu
and is older than any of the animal styles.
Tai Chi Chuan
..
Tai Chi Chuan is an internal martial art mostly practiced in the west as an exercise and meditation. It is a valuable addition to any martial artist's training providing challenging physical and mental conditioning as well as chi cultivation, and is an excellent exercise for non-martial artists of all ages.
Master Instructor
Laoshi Richard Dinsmore
under Lo Sifu Chin Siu Dek
well known as
Sifu Dinsmore has been teaching Kung Fu for 29 years
and has personally produced many black belts and recognized Masters.
Sifu Dinsmore is a
Doctor of Oriental Medicine,
Board Certified Acupuncturist
and an experienced Chinese “bonesetter”.
Classes
Kung Fu Class Schedule
Thursday Evening
6:30-8:00
Saturday Morning
9:00– 11:30
Two Classes Per Week
$130 per month
Private Lessons
$75.00 per hour
Tai Chi Class Schedule
8:AM Saturday and By Appointment
One Class Per Week
$75.00 per month
619.946.7035
1380 Third Avenue Chula Vista California 91911
A Chin Siu Dek Loyalist School Since 1980
TaiZu
t Kung Fu San Soo of Chula Vista we proudly teach TaiZu Long Arm- the "Ga-Soo" or "family style" of the ancient Chin Family-often mispronounced "Ah-Soo"-the so called 'old style' originally taught by Lo Sifu Chin Sui Dek (Jimmy H. Woo). We believe it to be foundational to the more intricate aspects of the art, which we also teach. See "Ga-Soo" demonstrated below by one of Master Woo's earliest American students, the legendary Frank Woolsey.
