For those of us who have started out kung fu training we are taught the self-discipline as this is the key to self mastery. We have different motives to start kung fu , perhaps it was the first time you saw a Bruce lee movie, or maybe to get fit or perhaps for self esteem. In any case the mystique of kung fu and its history are long and the training hard. There are infinite ranges of styles of kung fu with their origins tracing back to mimicking animals striking and fighting in their native habitats. It has been said that Shaolin monks observed the movements of these animals attacks and this lay the foundation for them to develop their own fighting styles. The monkey fighting style, the 5 animal kung fu style and tiger claw kung fu style can observe this. Indeed many of the forms and styles of kung fu training stems from these ancient origins. As part of the tradition of kung Fu training these practices are still part of today’s training routine.
A classic example of this is the posture of the Chinese horse stance. Any kung fu trainee will have spent many times practicing this posture. It is both simple and very effective. It is the cornerstone of beginning you Your training is more than learning the forms and actions- your training should be a test of endurance, stamina and focus. This is embodied in the horse stance. It gets its name by position you see someone who is sitting on a horse. The Chinese did love their animal analogies. Essentially the posture is as follows.:
By the way it is not recommended that you try this the Jacki Chan way as above. He is a bit of a masochist. If you have seen the out takes of his movies you will know what I mean
Your legs are just more than shoulder width apart, you should be squatting down with your knees and toes pointed forward -thighs parallel to the ground.
Your back is straight- looking forward. Your arms can have different positions. The most popular (how I was trained) was with your arms forward shoulder width apart with palms facing out fingers pointing up.
The goal here is to hold this position for 5 minutes. To achieve this I would suggest breaking it up into 30 second stints and build up to 5 minutes. To be honest 3 minutes is an achievement in itself. You will learn much from this posture. It will create greater flexibility in you legs and all over, in particular your leg strength will grow and grow. It will burn it will sting-you may be staggering around after your initial practices—but this is kung fu training ..if you saw what Uma Thurman went through in Kill Bill 2 you are getting of light.. But you will reap immediate rewards from this simple yet complex exercise.
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:20 am
[...] slow and elegant. It requires a lot more concentration and meditative in nature. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 2nd, 2010 at 6:27 pm
[...] slow elegant and patient. Meditative in nature it requires a lot more concentration. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:39 pm
[...] are slow and patient. It requires a lot more concentration and meditative in nature. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 3:13 am
[...] are slow and patient. It requires a lot more concentration and meditative in nature. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
[...] are slow and patient. It requires a lot more concentration and meditative in nature. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 5th, 2010 at 9:43 am
[...] are slow and patient. Meditative in nature it requires a lot more concentration. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 6th, 2010 at 10:55 am
[...] slow and elegant. It requires a lot more concentration and meditative in nature. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 9th, 2010 at 3:22 am
[...] are slow and patient. Meditative in nature it requires a lot more concentration. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 9th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
[...] slow elegant and patient. Meditative in nature it requires a lot more concentration. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 10th, 2010 at 11:19 am
[...] slow and elegant. It requires a lot more concentration and meditative in nature. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 11th, 2010 at 2:05 am
[...] elegant and patient. It requires a lot more concentration and meditative in nature. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 12th, 2010 at 3:15 am
[...] slow and elegant. It requires a lot more concentration and meditative in nature. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 12th, 2010 at 6:32 am
[...] are slow and patient. Meditative in nature it requires a lot more concentration. A complete kung fu training regime will have elements of both soft and hard kung fu- there are very much complementary. The [...]
June 19th, 2010 at 7:35 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 19th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
[...] strengthen the body. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 19th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
[...] strong. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 20th, 2010 at 2:56 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 21st, 2010 at 2:20 am
[...] hard. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 21st, 2010 at 6:42 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 21st, 2010 at 1:07 pm
[...] strengthen the body. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:07 pm
[...] to be very strong. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 23rd, 2010 at 4:43 pm
[...] hard. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 24th, 2010 at 6:57 am
[...] hard. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 25th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
[...] the body. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 26th, 2010 at 2:55 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 27th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 27th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
[...] the body. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 29th, 2010 at 6:42 am
[...] the body. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 30th, 2010 at 6:52 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
June 30th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 1st, 2010 at 3:18 pm
[...] to be extremely hard. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:05 am
[...] extremely hard. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 4th, 2010 at 11:07 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 4th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
[...] to be extremely hard. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 5th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
[...] the body. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 5th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
[...] strong. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 6th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
[...] strong. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 6th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 7th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 12th, 2010 at 12:26 am
[...] to be extremely hard. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 12th, 2010 at 2:30 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 12th, 2010 at 6:05 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 12th, 2010 at 9:58 am
[...] strong. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 12th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 13th, 2010 at 7:18 am
[...] the body. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 14th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
[...] be very strong. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 15th, 2010 at 10:13 am
[...] the body. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 17th, 2010 at 1:23 am
[...] the body. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 17th, 2010 at 10:03 am
[...] to be very strong. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 19th, 2010 at 12:33 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 20th, 2010 at 10:35 am
[...] the body. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 21st, 2010 at 1:57 am
[...] hard. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:53 pm
[...] strong. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:54 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 24th, 2010 at 8:41 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 26th, 2010 at 3:43 am
[...] be very strong. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 27th, 2010 at 10:44 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 29th, 2010 at 3:53 am
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
July 31st, 2010 at 9:40 pm
[...] strengthen the body. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 1st, 2010 at 9:43 am
[...] the body. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 1st, 2010 at 10:26 pm
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 5th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
[...] you do not need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 6th, 2010 at 4:57 am
[...] the body. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 8th, 2010 at 4:00 am
[...] strong. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 9th, 2010 at 7:46 am
[...] hard. Dont need to go to these extremes. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 11th, 2010 at 1:16 am
[...] the body. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 11th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
[...] to be very strong. No need to go this far. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]
August 12th, 2010 at 5:33 am
[...] extremely hard. You dont need to go overboard. Start of with one of the hardest exercises for any kung fu style the horse riding stance move onto other [...]