Shaolin Kung Fu

[Cycler]

Shaolin, considered as the centre of the World (for China) was a balanced style incorporating both internal and external, northern and southern, long and short, quick and slow, etc. It seeks to find the ultimate balance between the material and immaterial, physical and metaphysical, with the aim of reaching enlightenment.

Has anyone tried this fantastic discipline of chinese martial arts?
Sounds fascination!

I dabbled in it for about two years. 1yr with an instructor, 2nd yr with my college roommate whose uncle was a kungfu instructor in which he learned from. I just dabbled though, so I don't know a whole lot. I only learned two forms which I've completely forgoten and I know applications for a few of the animal styles and a few stances. That's pertty much it! I'm a fan of shaolin kungfu for sure tough. It's cool stuff!!!

[Tangent210]

I'm really intertested in the style. Some of the monks from China are absolutely amazing and I wouldn't doubt in a competition of skills and techinque they would put most other forms to shame. Some of the training in those monestaries are insane. I've heard they have to balance plates and cups for hours on end and I've seen some monks punch the sandy ground until they couldn't move their arms.

[Rickster]

Originally Posted by Tangent210

I'm really intertested in the style. Some of the monks from China are absolutely amazing and I wouldn't doubt in a competition of skills and techinque they would put most other forms to shame. Some of the training in those monestaries are insane. I've heard they have to balance plates and cups for hours on end and I've seen some monks punch the sandy ground until they couldn't move their arms.

This is false. Dont be fooled, naive and gullable.

Those are not real monks and that is not authentic Shaolin Boxing

[Bruce_Vann_Dumb]

Ive practiced Wing Chun like many people,which is pretty simple to pick up and retain the techniques without even still practicing the art.
Ofcourse im not as fast as practicing Wing Chun people,but i can stil remember the techniques i practiced 20 years ago.

I later practiced Chow Gar Mantis which is a southern kung fu style.
There exercises are very ardous but all the guys that practice this style reguardless of size seem to be very strong.
When i went to my first lesson i couldnt believe the strength of this wirey instructor,he must of developed very strong tendon through these mantis exercises.

If i was to explain this art i wouldnt do it justice,and to watch it might not seem to impressive,but if you can find a club and persevere with the hard but boring exercises,apparantly if you stick it out these exercises become easier.

heres some links to explain the style better-

http://www.chowgarprayingmantis.com/

http://www.chowgarprayingmantis.com/

http://www.chowgarprayingmantis.com/

http://www.londonkungfu.com/

http://chowgarprayingmantis.org.uk/1.html

[Rickster]

Originally Posted by Bruce_Vann_Dumb

Ive practiced Wing Chun like many people,which is pretty simple to pick up and retain the techniques without even still practicing the art.
Ofcourse im not as fast as practicing Wing Chun people,but i can stil remember the techniques i practiced 20 years ago.

I later practiced Chow Gar Mantis which is a southern kung fu style.
There exercises are very ardous but all the guys that practice this style reguardless of size seem to be very strong.
When i went to my first lesson i couldnt believe the strength of this wirey instructor,he must of developed very strong tendon through these mantis exercises.

If i was to explain this art i wouldnt do it justice,and to watch it might not seem to impressive,but if you can find a club and persevere with the hard but boring exercises,apparantly if you stick it out these exercises become easier.

heres some links to explain the style better-

http://www.chowgarprayingmantis.com/

http://www.chowgarprayingmantis.com/

http://www.chowgarprayingmantis.com/

http://www.londonkungfu.com/

http://chowgarprayingmantis.org.uk/1.html

Yes, I believe many Kung Fu sysyem are effective. However, what is labled as "Shaolin Kung Fu" is not true/authentic.

I had practiced a Tohng Lohng system about 20 years ago for a few years.

Some of its tactics didnt even "mimic" the creature.

[The-Mad-Writer]

Shaolin Kung Fu is interesting, however the only thing tumultuous in my opinion is the unorthodox training. For instance, I seem to recall running across a funny little documentery explaining the Shaolin training, and I couldn't help but notice a man being repeatedly kicked in the crotch and trained to become oblivious to pain. While this may seem like a legitimate way of strengthening males, their training seems quite painful. However it pays off, most of them are extremely lithesome and acrobatic. Possessing such physical superiority while practitioning a more internal style seems to be solid. Once again, i'd like to train for survival rather than pain. Even kids go thorugh a lot of training, I remember one laying over a pole and bending himself, but the pole was sort of etching itself into his spine. They train for flexibiltiy and pain amongst other things, but i'd probably enjoy it; though getting kicked in the crotch isn't my cup of tea.

[sirdarksol]

It's not really all that unorthodox. Most traditional martial arts have similar training methods. Maybe not crotch-shots, but something to train them to become insensible to pain. David Lowry, when he was learning kenjutsu, was told to clean his sensei's floor. His sensei would then leap out at him with a bokken and smack him with it. He went home completely covered in bruises. This continued until he learned how to get out of the way. There are many such tales in bushido.
In karate, there are similar things, traditionally. Westerners don't often train like this simply because they don't want to. Since the martial arts are a commercial venture now, if the customer doesn't want to train with crazy, get beaten down every day, painful exercises, then the customer doesn't have to.

[Rickster]

being able to take a hit to the groin is not a primary deal in fighting.

Groin shots rarely hit the mark on a intentional strike.

[disgruntled]

yeah, there are tons of examples of "extreme" conditioning.... the thai kick banana trees... punching bags leaned up against a wall can be used for the same purpose (to strengthen and numb the shins)..... in hapkido we would flip eachother as hard as we could hoping to get tiny mirco fractures that will heal and make our bones denser....... (disguntled stops to ponder why she has so many joint and bone problems...)...... punching a hard bag or board or bucket of sand is used to strengthen the knuckes..... etc.

whether these are good to do or not, i am not sure..... i am tempted to say that hundreds of years of martial arts history cannot be wrong, but they trained like this in times when the live expectancy was low enough that arthritis and other long-term effects were not a concern...... i plan to live as long as possible and would really like to be able to move and even do martial arts right until the end