Norwich Kung Fu Academy
The Norwich Kung Fu Academy provides unique Kung Fu classes in Norwich, Norfolk, for children and adults.
Our Chief Instructors combine over 60 years of martial arts and teaching experience. The academy’s curriculum has been shaped not only by decades of training across a wide range of martial arts—including Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Karate, Boxing, Chinese Kempo, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Kyokushin Karate, Wing Chun, Escrima, Hapkido, professional restraint and self-defence—but also by professional teaching expertise. Chief Instructor Sifu Mark Ringer is a qualified teacher (PGCE), helping to ensure lessons are clear, structured and designed to help students progress with confidence.
Tao Te Kung Fu lessons combine the principles of traditional Chinese martial arts with modern teaching methods for those who wish to train in an environment focused on personal development rather than tournament competition.
Alongside developing speed, strength and flexibility, students cultivate discipline, confidence and resilience while exploring the philosophy and mindset that are central to the style.
Do today what others won’t, and tomorrow you’ll do what others can’t
- Highly qualified martial arts and self defence instructors with over 60 years of combined experience
- The most advanced, professionally developed teaching methods
- Combat techniques tried and tested in the security industry
- Train with people at your own level
- Impeccable health & safety record
- Instructors are First Aid & Safeguarding trained, DBS checked and fully insured
Adults' Kung Fu
- Civilised Self-Defence
Students learn to understand and control their physiological responses in the face of confrontation. Instruction takes account of the requirements of British law to ensure that students understand the legal limits of their emerging skills - Focus & Self Mastery
There is a primary emphasis throughout training on developing focus & mastering our own reactions which is epitomised during meditation at the end of lessons - Discipline & Self Esteem
The humble quiet confidence, that grows with martial expertise, overflows into every aspect of life. Increasing self esteem means that students become less anxious and more confident in their positive life choices - Confidence & Belonging
Every effort is made to increase a student’s confidence and sense of their place within the group, including in the initial induction, which is one to one with an instructor - Courtesy & Respect
Some historical traditions are maintained to help create a separation between our everyday lives and the training studio. We bow as we enter to mark the transition to a space in which the ego, competition and life’s stresses are left behind. We bow to our training partners to acknowledge their co-operation and friendly intent - Flexibility, Balance, Fluidity, Strength, Speed
The program has been designed to not merely enhance physical abilities, but also the psychological attributes that they parallel
Children's Kung Fu
- Common Sense Before Self-Defence
Perhaps the major aspect from a parent’s perspective, students develop not only the physical & emotional skills to deal with confrontation but also the responsibility to consider when and how to take action - Flexibility, Balance, Fluidity, Strength, Speed
Traditional animal stances are used to teach, not merely physical attributes, but also the character traits that go with them - Discipline & Self Esteem
Kung Fu training does not stop as children leave the class but includes home and school based activities for which they are regularly rewarded and encouraged with badges, medals and trophies - Confidence & Belonging
Every effort is made to increase children’s confidence and a sense of their place within the group including in their initial pre-class induction, one to one with an instructor - Focus & Self Control
There is a primary emphasis throughout their training on focus & self control which is epitomised during meditation at the end of lessons - Courtesy & Respect
From the very first bow as students enter the room they are encouraged to learn about and show courtesy & respect
What Our Students Say
I cannot recommend the Norwich Kung Fu Academy enough! Both Sifu Ringer and Sifu Will are excellent teachers that make you feel welcomed from the very first session. They guide you through all the forms and weapons with clear and simple instructions and help you build on your techniques week after week. If you are looking for classes that will help you understand and develop self-defence along with the wisdom and discipline that surrounds Kung Fu then this is the place to be. The classes are always engaging and friendly and what I have learned so far is invaluable!
The Kung Fu academy have been both welcoming and patient with my daughter as she has progressed through her belts and she always looks forward to her lessons each week.
Looking to reignite my martial arts journey, I discovered Norwich Kung Fu Academy and quickly realised it was exactly what I'd been searching for. The academy offers a strong foundation in traditional Kung Fu while seamlessly blending modern self-defence techniques. Combined with Qigong and guided meditation, it highlights that the training is as much about philosophy and mindfulness as it is about hand to hand combat. Sifus Will & Ringer are great instructors. Knowledgeable, approachable, inclusive and able to make each session both challenging and genuinely enjoyable. I can't recommend Norwich Kung Fu Academy highly enough.
My 10 yr old son has been attending for over two years. He enjoys learning the skills taught and fitness training provided. He finds the teachers very approachable, knowledgeable and also playful.
Which Martial Art? Karate, Boxing or Kung Fu?
“Karate is the most popular Martial Art in the world followed by Taekwondo. Principally because they were developed to be easily taught to a large group. However, both, like boxing, were developed to be a simple, fast learned set of techniques, for fit, strong young men. If you are strong, fit & big and want something to learn quickly these sort of styles will be ideal for you. I moved away from Karate when I realised that, in my mid thirties, I was as good as I was ever going to be. As I got older, I was going to go downhill. That was when I began to look for a system that would work for everyone, of any age; a lifestyle enhancing skill that would develop with me and grow to suit my individual personality.”
– Sifu. Mark Ringer
Our Classes
From foundation to mastery, structured training for adults and children across two Norwich locations.
Foundation
Aprx 6 months. 3 modules, lasting 8 weeks each, comprise the first 3 belt ranks.
Intermediate
Aprx 10 months. 5 modules, each lasting 8 weeks, comprise the next 5 belt ranks.
Advanced
Aprx 20 months. 5 modules, each lasting 16 weeks, comprise the final 5 belt ranks, culminating in the Black Belt rank.
Masters
A structured curriculum continues beyond Black Belt; developing strategy and mastery.
FAQ
Common questions about training, pricing and our approach.
Tao Te Kung Fu is a complete system that incorporates the most efficient techniques and profound ancient philosophy with modern teaching methods.
Tao Te Kung Fu has been developed using techniques predominately from the Kung Fu style of Wing Chun. Wing Chun is almost certainly the most popular Kung Fu style practised in Europe and the USA, not least, we suspect, because the legendary Bruce Lee originally practised it.
“Tao Te” means the virtuous way, and refers to the development of the style within a modern context. There is always the danger that if one becomes entrenched in a tradition, eventually lessons look like a sort of historical re-enactment. Tao Te Kung Fu takes advantage of the most recent developments in the neuroscience of skill acquisition and includes influences from other traditions not available to earlier practitioners, and is refreshed with decades of real life experience in the security industry.
Many martial art styles require such levels of conditioning, strength and fitness that only young, strong men can really excel — and they will often pay the price in later years as the physical punishment of their training takes its toll. Because Tao Te Kung Fu was developed to enable a smaller, weaker fighter to overcome a larger and stronger opponent, it is ideally suited to people of all sizes and ages. Not being dependent on vast strength, Tao Te Kung Fu puts an emphasis on speed, with many fast striking combinations and close-range techniques. The training will help you become stronger, fitter and more supple, but your capacity to excel in Tao Te Kung Fu is not dependent on these.
The traditional Wing Chun forms include all the techniques of the style, but are long, complex and often require a lot of work to simply extract a technique and work out its application. Few of the techniques can be used as they appear in the forms, which means the student is learning and practising unhelpful muscle memory. In Tao Te Kung Fu the forms incorporate the techniques in the way they will work in real life.
Each 8 part form is short enough to be remembered easily — this is martial arts, not memory training — and practised until it can be done without thinking. Each form is put together in a way that, if used automatically, would deliver a conflict-winning combination. Each of the forms, of course, varies in difficulty, but they are grouped into Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced levels. Each group of forms develops the coordination needed to move on to the next, giving a logical system that covers every unarmed Tao Te Kung Fu technique.
No. Tao Te Kung Fu is an effective real-life martial art, not a tournament style.
Historically, many martial arts have tried to ensure their continuation by becoming a sport once the conflict or social condition that led to their creation was past. The problem with this is that no one wants to take part in, or watch, a sport in which the contestants die within the first two seconds — so a set of rules has to be introduced to make it safe, which is a bit like a system of gardening that ensures nothing grows. Inevitably the style will change to match the rules, often developing more complicated techniques when a simple move would hurt or kill the opponent, and often becoming simpler in terms of skill as victory begins to depend on fitness and strength rather than technique. If we trained people to take part in tournaments we would have to miss out many of the most effective techniques. It is not uncommon for people to train to a high level in some styles only to find that when they get attacked their skills are of no use, because no one showed them how to win a fight — only how to keep a fight going for minutes without anyone getting hurt. Having said that, occasionally a student will want to take part in a mixed-style tournament, but will have to take some time learning to limit their use of techniques. Invariably they end up saying, “I could have won in the first seconds if I’d been allowed to do this or that.”
The simple answer is that most students reach Black Belt in about three years.
The difficult question is, what is “Black Belt standard”? Tao Te Kung Fu uses the most sophisticated training system that enables students to learn the most within the shortest time. You will be learning and developing continuously for those three years. Many styles require at least five or six years to reach Black Belt — not because there is so much to learn, but because they insist on a level of strength and fitness to compensate for simple techniques. Bear in mind that the most popular Karate styles were originally developed for the Japanese army in the early part of the last century: a slimmed-down version of an Okinawan system intended for fit young men to learn in a matter of weeks. It is an artificial construction to make such styles take years to learn, and inevitably means week after week of repetition of simple moves performed with increasing strength.
The greatest risk to health is that you get fitter and find that you have to buy new clothes.
It is an irony that the most brutally effective martial art is also the safest to train in. The training system enables you to learn to use devastating techniques without getting hurt. It is possible to develop muscle memory and precise movements without having to deliver your strikes with full force. When you do deliver a strike with full force, it won’t be targeted at your training partner, but at a special pad. Safety equipment and body armour make it possible to spar realistically without risk to the participants.
Another area of health risk prevalent in many martial arts is injury through over-training. There is a difference between health and fitness, though people use them almost synonymously — you can become so fit that you sacrifice your health. Historically, martial arts have often been guilty of this. When a warrior was training to survive on a battlefield, the difference in fitness level between being able to do a thousand press-ups and only a hundred may have been the difference between life and death. That’s fine when you are planning to be a professional warrior in the ancient world, retiring with crippled joints at 35 and dying by 45. However, if by “fit” you mean fit to live an active life into your 80s, you might want to question using the same exercise regimes that have been used in many traditions. Do you need calluses on your knuckles, or forearms conditioned until you’ve destroyed all the nerves? Is it really a benefit being able to do a hundred press-ups in a minute at 20, if it means not being able to lift your arms above your head in your 40s?
At Norwich Kung Fu Academy the exercise regime is designed to optimise functional fitness without the risk of future injury through wear and tear.
No, we simply don't work like that.
It is true that the most effective way to learn a Kung Fu technique is to have it embedded as an automatic reaction to a given stimulus — reactions that require conscious thought are too slow to work in a real situation, so we train in a way that transfers the control of movements from the cerebrum to the cerebellum, much like the difference between brushing your teeth with your usual hand and doing it with the other. However, this doesn’t mean that if a friend reaches to brush a fly from your shoulder, you will have broken their arm in three places before they can blink. Your unconscious is not that stupid; reactions that bypass conscious consideration do not entail illogical responses. Just as you can eat with a knife and fork without concentrating on what your hands are doing, that doesn’t mean you’ll accidentally cut up the waiter’s hand if he puts it on the table while you’re engrossed in conversation over lunch.
If anything, rather than a jumpy, inappropriate, violent response, you will find the opposite. You will develop more control, and be less likely to jump in panic. The increased self-esteem and confidence that goes with Kung Fu skills will make you more relaxed, alert and focused.
Yes. It is a fundamental principle in Tao Te Kung Fu that every technique must be the best for its purpose, both in its efficiency and its suitability for everyone irrespective of size or strength.
Make no mistake — although lessons are friendly and fun, the style is brutally effective, the most efficient martial art system available. This is not a sport. No real fight in which Tao Te Kung Fu was being used would last more than a few seconds. Over the course of your training, however, you will develop the skill to choose the appropriate level of force, whether you need only to restrain someone, disable them, or even kill them.
You will also develop the psychological and physiological control necessary to deal with real life confrontations — staying focused, alert and able to function in the face of threatening situations. These are also skills that overflow into every aspect of your life, putting you in the driving seat of your life choices.
Not really. There is as much difference between martial arts instructors as there is between a doctor and someone at the pub who has seen every episode of Casualty.
There is a qualification in Self-Defence Instruction (held by Norwich Kung Fu Academy instructors) that includes an understanding of the law as it relates to the use of force in all situations, a detailed understanding of the physiological changes a person goes through during an assault, and techniques for counteracting these. Yet there are people who claim to teach self-defence who don’t even have this qualification. Would you pay for a first-aid course from someone who wasn’t even qualified, but who owned a first aid kit? At Norwich Kung Fu Academy we don’t lightly make the claim of the highest qualified martial arts and self-defence instructors in the region. Most instructors have trained for a few hours a week for a few years. Sifu William has trained in a number of martial arts “full time” for nearly fifteen years, often travelling to train one-to-one with the best of the best in many different disciplines — if you compare martial arts to academic study, he would be a university professor where others attended an evening course. Sifu Ringer has done his share of competition, from regional boxing champion to competing in Karate at national level, but he has also worked in the security industry, using his skills in literally thousands of real confrontations. He has been recognised as an expert in unarmed combat by private international security firms who have employed him as a manager and consultant, and is also a qualified teacher who, in addition to being a Head of Department in high schools, has mentored trainee teachers at the UEA.
The breadth of experience, level of skill and depth of knowledge of the instructors is certainly the most important factor in the quality of your training and personal development.
Children's classes are 30 minutes and adult classes are 30 or 60 minutes.
There is a limit to how much one can learn at any one time before it is necessary to let that learning become embedded and integrated with other knowledge and skills. If you try to learn less, you will become bored. If you try to learn more, you will switch off and not take it in. Lessons are organised so that some sections might take three or four minutes and others only one minute before a change of activity — timings based on what experience has told us works for most people.
Junior lessons are half an hour in length because this is what works best for them. Adult classes are divided into two half-hour sections: the first covers the core curriculum and the second covers the extended curriculum, ensuring learning is maximised by limiting to optimal time allocation. We don’t spend any time on meaningless repetition, only focused and productive practice — even the warm-up sections are a set of specially developed Chi Kung exercises that prepare both the body and the mind for improved learning and coordinated physiological integration.
While students pay monthly for a membership that includes far more than simply lessons, the cost per lesson will average out to roughly £7.50 for most adults.
For junior students (under 12 years of age), training to Black Belt can be from as little as £4.96, and includes much the same benefits as the adults, with the exception that children won’t learn to use weapons until after Black Belt.
After your first month of training, which is free, payment is monthly by direct debit, with no long-term contract — payments can be changed, suspended or stopped at any time. Unlike many clubs, there is no joining/membership fee and no licence fee, which can often cost £100 or more.
We also have generous family discounts available: all additional family members receive half-price lessons, and after the fourth family member, all others train for free. Concessions are also available to those in special circumstances — details on request.
No. As a beginner, you will join the Foundation class.
To ensure optimised learning, classes are skill-level specific, enabling focused attention on the individualised needs of all students. You will only train with people at a similar level — people on a shared journey, with similar goals. As you progress through the syllabus you will move into the Intermediate class, then the Advanced class, and eventually, after you reach Black Belt, the Masters’ class. Classes are never overcrowded, ensuring good individualised attention from two instructors — only those trained as instructors will be assisting you, not well-meaning students who happen to be ahead of you by a few belts.