Shane Lee asked:


This article is about the kung fu martial arts and you can find some useful information in it if you are a fan of the kung fu martial arts. As a Chinese, I think I have a better understanding of the kung fu martial arts than most western people. 

A lot of people think that the Chinese kung fu martial arts is far more than the boxing. In their point of views, the kung fu martial arts should include kicks, elbows and knees skills too. This is reasonable, but I have something else to say. I think there is no big differences between different kinds of martial arts. Every country in the world has its own martial arts theories, but all of them are very similar. The Chinese kung fu martial arts have been exaggerated in my point of view. Many Chinese “kung fu masters” look down the boxing. But in the real street fights, the cross, jab, hook and upper-cut are the most practical and useful ways to strike your opponents. Shortest Distance between Two Points is a Straight Line. In most situations, the simplest way is the best. Also, the punches have lots of tricks and need lots of practice to improve its power. In China, a lot of people think that the Chinese kung fu martial arts have too many mere forms. In the kung fu martial arts shows, the kung fu fighters are just doing something superficial. These kinds of shows are just like dancing shows, not the practical fighting shows. Why the Chinese kung fu martial arts have so many mere forms? I think it is because of the Chinese culture. There are lots of mere forms and superficial things in the ancient Chinese culture and the Chinese kung fu martial arts gained these from the culture. If you like the Chinese kung fu novels, you will be able to see a lot of superficial things in them. The kung fu in these novels have been greatly exaggerated and they are just like magic. The top kung fu masters are like god and are able to do lots of incredible things in these kung fu novels.

Although I have to admit this shortcoming of kung fu martial arts, it still has some really good stuffs. Qi Gong ( it is called Nei Gong too ) is the unique thing in kung fu, comparing with other martial arts in the world. In many kung fu videos, you can see lots of Qi Gong stuffs from the Shaolin monks. They are able to break the bricks, sometime even iron sticks using this Qi Gong kung fu. But this unique kung fu is not easy to learn. Most Qi Gong kung fu maters are not willing to teach other people. This makes the Qi Gong more and more mysterious in the world. I have some good friends learning Qi Gong kung fu in China. They all have this kind of feeling that the Qi Gong kung fu’s theory sounds very reasonable sometimes. But you will find it ridiculous sometimes too. In the period of learning this Qi Gong kung fu, they can understand some Qi Gong kung fu theories sometime. But they will find themselves in a misted situation sometime.

In my view, you should not waste your time learning this kind of mysterious Qi Gong kung fu if your aim is to learn how to defend yourself. Some people learned 10 or 20 years of Qi Gong kung fu but still lost in the real street fights. If you wanna learn something more practical, I think the Chinese wrestling is a good choice. You do not need to find a “kung fu mater” to teach you this. The coaches in the sports academy or schools can teach you the most practical wrestling skills. All these coaches must get the professional licence to teach students. They have long time of experience in teaching wrestling. Generally, if you can learn the wrestling for one or two hours every day, you will be able to win most street fights after one year’s of wrestling trainings. If you can insist the trainings for 3 years. You will find that it is very difficult to find a good opponent in your surroundings. The boxing is also a very good opion. You can greatly improve your fighting skills if you have one year’s of trainings in boxing. For the self defence, I think the wrestling and boxing is enough. These are really practical in the real street fights.

Sanshou kung fu is the most practical kung fu in my point of view. It is like a combination of the Chinese wrestling and Chinese kickboxing. Learning Sanshou kung fu can be much more useful in the real street fights than learning the mysterious Qi Gong kung fu. Although a lot of Qi Gong masters talk about their incredible Qi Gong all the time. One one can stand out to fight Hailong Liu ( the famous Sanshou kung fu champion in China ). Sanshou kung fu is not very difficult to learn. You only need 3 months to learn its technics and skills. After one or two years of practice, you will gain the capability to defend yourself and to protect others.

By Shane Lee.  Date: 05/07/2009.

Copyright belongs to ShowKungFu Dot COM .  You can find more information about kung fu martial arts from our web site.

NOTE: Permission is granted by the copyright owner to disseminate this article in whole or in part provided credit is given to the author (with a link to the article’s source URL ShowKungFu Dot COM ) and this NOTE is not removed.



Leslie

Adrian Adams asked:


Martial Arts is the combination of physical techniques and mental discipline. It is used for self defense, body strengthening, relaxation, and even competition. Women often take martial arts classes to learn moves that will help them in the event of an attack. The moves of Martial Arts are designed for even a small woman to use them effectively.

The arms and legs are used in Martial sports moves. Practicing them will help you get fit and strengthen your body. Doing these moves will also help relax your mind. There are many different types of martial arts including karate and tae kwon do. Karate involves various kicks and punches. The goal of karate is to defend rather than to hurt the other person. Tae kwon do is the most commonly used type of martial art. The moves are very graceful and requires exceptional coordination.

The level of skill varies greatly in martial arts, from beginners to experts. Competitions are very popular. In addition to karate and tae kwon do, kickboxing competitions are very popular as well.

Martial arts is a great sport for children of all ages to participate in. They will get fit, learn about self discipline, and have some basic skills for defending themselves. It can help with behavior issues too including a short attention span, following directions, and communication style.

There are many variations of the martial arts. It is important to identify the types of techniques and trainings that will be used in a class before you sign up. The instructor can help you determine if it is right for you. There are also martial arts videos you can purchase to use at home. This is a great way to pick up skills in the privacy of your home. It is also great for those with a hectic schedule.

Many types of Martial Arts have a colored belt system. Judo was the first type of Martial Arts to adopt this practice. The color of the belt indicates the level of skill the student has. Students have to pass skill tests to move on to learning techniques and moves of the next color. Beginners start with a white belt. In the old days, the white belt was dyed the new color as a rite of passage and honor in Martial Arts. Today the belt is simply replaced with the new color of the skill level. After white, the colors are yellow, orange, green, blue, brown, and black.

While the goal of each student in Martial Arts is self improvement, the belt in some forms of it offers the student a way to display their efforts to the other students. It is also designed to help students engage in fair sparing activities. To respect the culture of Martial Arts, it is important that you wear the belt properly.

Never let a white belt get dingy or dirty. The belt needs to be tied firmly above the hip bones. Make sure it is loose enough to move during your activities but tight enough to stay in place. The ends of the belt hanging on both sides need to be even. This can take time to learn so practice finding the amount of material needed to tie it. Some people place a small market on the inside of the belt to find the location easily. The belt should never be allowed to cross itself in the back. Never let your belt touch the floor.

Having the proper respect for the Martial Arts includes honoring the belt color system. Never wear a belt for a level of skill you have not accomplished. This is considered to be dishonorable. Your instructor will help you learn to tie your belts properly. Enjoy learning about Martial Arts, improving your skills, and proving you are worthy of a higher ranking belt.



Lonnie

Phil Burney asked:


Many people are planning to start learning about martial arts nowadays but may not have taken into account the fact that they will need martial arts equipment to be able to practice this hobby or occupation. Here are some tips on how to get the best martial arts equipment you need:

1.Try to figure out which martial arts equipment you want to become proficient in. The uniforms in martial arts differ in design, color and use so you have to be specific about which uniform you wish to use. This also applies to your martial arts equipment since the martial arts equipment for one martial art may be unique to that martial art.

2.Find out what protective gear you need to be able to spar and train in your preferred martial arts. Protective gear as martial arts equipment is very important because the last thing you want is to get injured in a sparring session. Protective gear as martial arts equipment can be categorized either as head gear (like face masks and helmets), gear to protect your torso (like chest shields), gear to protect your groin (which is more for men than women, and may consist of a crotch guard or sports cup to shield your privates from being punched or kicked), shin guards to keep the shin area of your legs from being injured when you block a flying kick with your legs (since getting hit on the shin tends to be rather painful since there isn’t much flesh and muscle to shield your shin bone), feet gear (such as kicking boots, designed to keep your opponent from being critically injured if you should hit them with your legs or feet), and hand gear (such as punching mitts, used also to shield your opponent from the full force of your punches.) You need to invest in quality martial arts equipment as protective gear so you get the best protection possible.

3.You can also invest in practice martial arts equipment. This means getting punching bags (like those used in boxing), and martial arts dummies (which attempt to give you an idea of how to punch and kick a real human being.) Your punching bag can consist of either the teardrop bag or the bigger boxing-type punching bag. Martial arts dummies are basically like punching bags except they may be a bit bigger and shaped like human bodies. Though these martial arts equipment are no replacement for sparring and training with real-live opponents (because these practice equipment cannot dodge your blows or retaliate), they are very important to have around so you can get the feel for the sport.

4.There will be sports that require you to become proficient in certain martial arts weapons (which are also martial arts equipment.) However, you should always be careful when trying out such weapons in the first few sessions because you might hurt someone badly (such as yourself) if you don’t know what you are doing. If you are at the stage when martial arts equipment like weapons are necessary, then always pay attention to your instructor and learn how to master the weapons first. Often, such weapons were designed to maim your opponent and maybe even kill him so caution is always necessary in training with weapons.

Martial arts equipment were designed to work a certain way. Many martial arts equipment have a long history that can help you study how your preferred martial arts evolved. Study carefully how martial arts equipment are meant to be used and they can really help you become a better martial artist afterwards.



Carolyn

boomer9 asked:


well i have been doing bjj for about a week now, and while its good and all,i just dont think it will protect me if a streetfight. For example theres basically no striking. So what martial art out there will help me be more effective in a street fight?
sorry, what i mean is so far bjj hasnt taught me anything about defending against a mugger or how to deflect punches. its just teaching me how to defend against another grappler

Jonathan