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To quote wikipedia "Aside from a few very well known systems, such as Xiao Hong Quan, the Da Hong Quan, Yin Shou Gun, Damo Sword, etc., after the loss of records during the 20th Century Cultural Revolution it would be almost impossible for a particular style to conclusively establish a connection to the Temple." The shaolin.com website claims ...

Bowing in Kung-Fu will take various different forms; not surprising as there are hundreds, if not thousands, of individual styles from various families and various regions all throughout China. In China, bowing (especially the traditional kowtow) serves as a sign of reverence. Modernly (following Imperialisms decline in China), the kowtow has been replaced ...

It is important to recognise that the vast majority of styles and variations may have never been documented at all, with every little remote village possibly having some knowledge passed down from generation to generation. The Shaolin Temple merely happened to be a gathering place with a strong enough tradition of formally collecting this type of knowledge. ...

What you are asking for is a tall order. If you live on the ground floor, noise issues are more easily addressed because you don't have to worry about impact noises with the floor. Impact noises are the hardest to control, and they radiate through rigid structures like floor joists rather well. I have no affiliation with the site, but there are a great ...

There are a few things you might try. I will mention up front that this is from a Hapkido perspective, and if you have a variation of the stance that isn't quite the same this won't perfectly fit. The wushu horse stances I've seen are similar to ours, except that you tend to go much deeper than we usually emphasize. Let's look at the basic elements of a ...

Depending on your chosen style, going for a 90 degrees angle right from the start may not be the proper position for the horse stance. In shorinji-ryu karatedo, for instance, we usually go for about 45 degrees with the knees about shoulder width. Although we eventually end up going lower as a training exercise to build leg strength, we don't advocate doing ...

Postures encode a lot more than the obvious. Sometimes you'll find yourself in the middle of sparring, and you flow through a posture you've trained before. "Oh! I just did X! I didn't know I can use it like that!" Striking and blocking are the most obvious application. The next layer beneath that relates to what you can do when you grab or use joint locks. ...

In Shaolin Kung Fu, that is actually a combination of a few different moves. Forms will typically encode movements in combinations like this, for multiple reasons. One, it makes it easier to remember large amounts of moves, as forms were typically used to preserve techniques where handwritten manuals weren't sufficient. Also, when fighting in real life, you ...

I believe most of people have ingrained into system a social unwritten law. We do not hurting other people. The law is unconscious and generally it is a good thing. Fighting systems do teach how to go over the psychical restriction, or I should rather say fighting systems should do it. Your problem is common and you need to work on it. I remember the first ...

I have two methods I rely on when I become a counter-puncher (or counter-thrower, or passive grappler). The first is to simply attack constantly. You will become tired. That's okay, you'll get in better condition. You will make mistakes. That's okay, mistakes are what practice is for. Start every round (against competent, non-noob partners) with an ...

You could try to focus on counter attacks for a while. As soon as you receive a kick (and preferably block it) you immediately answer it with a kick on your own. This helps your reflexes, may catch you opponent off-guard and -most importantly- you don't have to think about when might be a good time for an attack: your opponent gives you the command for ...

Yes. There are many different forms of kung fu and some do certainly contain techniques reminiscent of the roundhouse kick. I studied a system called Northern Shaolin Kung Fu Wu Su and one of the kicks we were taught was called the "bow leg kick". It had all the elements of a roundhouse kick. From in stance, you would pivot onto one leg so you are facing ...

From what you describe, it sounds like the problem you have is maintaining your balance using other parts of your body other than your arms. While your arms and hands will bear the weight while in a handstand, you should also focus on using your core strength (abs and back) to hold yourself up. The idea is similar to standing up straight on your feet and ...

I do: Increase your arms and torso Strength. Work on your wrists. Strength and flexibility. You have to increase your body constrictive Strength. (to keep your body hard, independant of the position. Find out your balance point while upside down. During a handstand, Try to push the ground and at the same time do not let your gravity center to raise. Work ...

To add to one of the answers, blocks in two different directions, such as the mountain block in Taegeuk pal-jang, make sense in the case of defending against multiple attackers. If there are multiple threats, then you have reason to defend yourself in different directions. You'll also see some weapon forms taking a similar stance to create a longer block ...

We got this exact question over at fitness.SE. Essentially you just get back into it a little slower, with a little less intensity (less weight on the bar, running shorter distances, sprinting a little slower). Not much special to it, except crossing your Ts and dotting your Is. Make sure the sickness is really gone and start training carefully.

I have not trained in Seven Star Praying Mantis; I will defer to anyone with even a modicum of specific knowledge. I also admit my ignorance with respect to the hand position. I can state that within Tai Chi there are several stances that are backweighted like that, and where the heel is down and the toe is up. When I came to tai chi from aikido that ...

Northern styles have more legwork, acrobatics, and jumping moves. Contrastly, Southern Chinese kung fu systems focus more on short moves and stable stances. Actually, that describes the differences between the unarmed techniques, to an extent the weapons forms are the other way around. The way I heard it (at least 20 years ago, and I have forgotten the ...

Why is a technique included or not included in a style? What was the terrain like in the area where the style was born? Swamps, mountains, plains, rivers, beaches, all these things will influence the available techniques. What was the founder like? Tall? Flexible? Strong? Wide of shoulders? Big-bellied? Did he have arms the size of tree trunks? This will ...

imho, you can do it in 3 ways; I am not sure what could be applied in kung fu, but here it is: hard: your block itself is so strong and hard that it will hurt the attacking arm/leg (like in shotokan) soft: let the attack fall through, attack at the same time (some variations of aikido) semi-hard: cross the direction of the attack with your vertical punch ...

A good attack is an attack that succeeds. In order for an attack to succeed, it has to make contact with a proper area on the partner's body. In order for an attack to make proper contact, the way has to be clear, that is to say, it must not be blocked. So, how do you throw an attack that does not get blocked? Throw the attack so fast that the partner ...

I don't wear them whilst training but on a bicycle (only on safe paths and often with just one ear in place) - the Klipsch Rugged S4i or maybe their Sport a5i. They have an oval tip and big silicon earpieces that make them very secure. As a ruggedized headset I think they would survive sweat from training and would just run the wire inside a shirt. I did ...

The way I learn to avoid bad habits is sometimes to suffer the consequences of why they are bad in the first place. Spar with fake knives... perhaps some markers as you can see where they hit. Sometimes full contact (like boxing) is good as well. Multiple attackers are also excellent practice for learning the limitations of defensive combat. Another option ...

There are already a bunch of good answers here, but let me indulge myself and try to rationalize the experience I've had in both learning myself and learning along with my classmates. The most common reason for this blockage is usually fear. There are several types of fear and consequently several ways of overcoming the fear: Fear of getting hurt. This one ...

I think you are pretty much on the right track when you say 'mental block'. You are not attacking; and it is very likely that you are not attacking because: 1 - you don't have enough confidence in your knock-out power 2 - you are afraid you will be exposed and counter-attacked. for the first one, I would train control and precision. Train in ...

This question has already been kicked around here a few times in slightly different forms. There is a whole list of things I could mention but personally I think the key thing is to gain experience, which you can only do by training more and sparring more. The exact 'thing' required is different for each person. For me (many years ago) it was the ...

A good part of the answer seems to genetics, distance, and culture. Northern Chinese people are, on average, inches taller than people of Southern China. Body breadth, skin coloring, and other patterns of physicality are often cited as being clearly different North to South. Different physical builds naturally lead toward different athletic expressions. ...

Geography, population differences, influences, etc. Same reasons everything is different over space. For example, one reason I've heard is that southern styles were influenced by ship-board fighting, for which large, sweeping moves are contra-indicated, and short, stable stances are a necessity because of deck motion. Oceans in the south, mountains in the ...

Every time I've ever done a butterfly kick, I've arched my back. I've found that if I let my back be straight or slightly rounded, my hips drop and I lose the height needed to keep my body elevated enough for the kick to completely finish. Unless your sifu specifically says otherwise, I'd go with what feels comfortable and allows you to complete the kick. I ...

In Korean, I would call that santul makki or mountain block. It appears two times in Taeguk Pal Jang. It is followed (in that poomse) by a crossing shoulder grab (using the lower blocking arm) and a killing uppercut (using the raised blocking arm). In terms of it's meaning, I would interpret as "protecting your head from an attack on your left as you move ...