New answers tagged kung-fu
1
A Shifu is technically a Master in something.
It is not only applied to Martial Arts either.
When someone masters an art, trade or skill, they can be considered a Shifu.
That is, they have achieved the highest form of a certain skill.
Being a Shifu generally also means you have enough knowledge to teach others in the art, trade or skill. However, not every ...
0
I've been practicing Kung Fu (Wushu) for 3 years now. Here is my honest take on it:
Wushu/ Kung Fu can equip you with the tools (kicks, punches etc.) you need to defend yourself. As a matter of fact, I would argue that Kung Fu practitioners are amongst the best athletes and performers in terms of execution. However, it's more about how you use those tools ...
2
Yes, but:
Kung Fu is an umbrella term for all Chinese martial arts. There's hundreds of them and many are very different from each other.
Whether or not a historical martial art is practical for self-defence depends more on how it is trained than on its techniques. Yes, the techniques need to be practical on a basic level, but most martial arts are ...
0
Based on experience, I have to say it teaches you to never underestimate opponents, approach situations seriously, avoid conflicts with the best of your ability and if there is absolutely no way to avoid conflict then yes, proceed with resolution, efficiency, and finish it as soon as possible, then get out of the place. Sometimes the best defense is to run, ...
2
There's an important discussion to be had here on Strategy vs. Tactics.
Strategy is going to be very dependant on the situation you are training for/find yourself in, and tactics will be dictated by the larger strategy.
To provide examples, if training for self defence the strategy is to avoid putting yourself in dangerous situations, deescalate where ...
0
To reframe this slightly: is a traditional martial useful for self defense.
For all of them, the answer is yes.
Traditional martial arts are those where the Tradition of the martial art is important. This means that the martial artists like to actively keep things more or less as they are, including enjoying the cultural background/"coloring" (for ...
1
The training I was getting was divided in three parts:
Traditional
Acrobatics
Utility
Acrobatics were useless in a fight, but built strength and elasticity of the body. That's something you always want to have in a fight. I dropped that part because frankly I was too fat and too old for this.
Traditional was flashy, sure, but I was able to kick old rusty ...
1
Having been to two different traditional Kung Fu schools, I'll say that an average person would not want to get into a fight with any of the more advanced students or masters, at least that I have met.
So in a nutshell, the answer to the question "Is (training) Kung-Fu useful for self defence?" the answer is "Yes" if the alternative is ...
0
Although I have not formally done much Kung Fu, I did once use a Wing Chun punch in a real fight and it was effective (this is the short sharp punch where the elbow starts on the hip and the fist drives up into the chest of the opponent). What I noticed about this punch was that the person was not expecting it at all, as people are normally used to big ...
3
Knowing kung fu is one thing, applying it is something else. You have to recognise what to do when you are being attacked. There is no standard kung-fu: there are lots of different types that are all grouped together and called kung fu. There is no standards body for kung fu.
The purpose of a stance is for stability in a particular situation. The teacher ...
0
Oh hell yes.
Very few people on the planet can beat Georges St-Pierre, even today, in a real fight. 99.9999% of the couldn't even go the distance. But Jet Li, who is not a fighter, can go the distance. There's nothing GSP can do or try that Jet doesn't have a counter for, and Jet is probably a little faster. As long as Jet doesn't try to win, Jet can go, ...
14
I don't think it's possible to give an answer to such a broad question, other than to say something along the lines of
It can be, to the extent that...
It trains on realistic, damage-inflicting strikes, with "realistic" indicating targeting realistic targets (e.g., knife hands to the neck are not open if the guy has his guard up), and not many (if ...
15
Stances
Like squats or push-ups, stance training is often not directly about fighting, but in acquiring strength, flexibility, and coordination.
Acrobatics
Modern wushu is closer to gymnastics, a display of athleticism and not really for fighting. Large flashy movements have always been crowd-pleasers with questionable fighting utility.
Kung fu is a rather ...
1
My understanding is that "eat bitter" is perseverance through hardship. There are old Chinese idioms that are 4 characters, like "eat bitter taste sweet" meaning something like suffering now brings rewards later - in this case the suffering is hard training and the reward is gongfu.
There's another one like "not bitter not tea" ...
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