Kung Fu is to repeat the simplest content constantly, so as to fully enlighten the body and mind! Practice one movement every day, every month, every year, and see if you can improve your Kung Fu!
Chinese martial arts contain extremely rich content, but it can be summarized as the following: one day routine, two days technique (or move method), three days Kung Fu. Routines include boxing, weapons, and sparring, and techniques are fighting and grappling. Kung Fu, in a narrow sense, refers to internal Kung Fu, external Kung Fu, soft Kung Fu, hard Kung Fu, etc. Kung Fu seems to be the patent of folk martial arts. Military martial arts do not pay much attention to practicing this kind of Kung Fu because it takes a long time and takes a long time to take effect.
In the process of teaching, most martial arts schools teach routines first, then techniques, and finally Kung Fu, or practice “private Kung Fu”. In terms of practice guidance, it relies on Kung Fu theory and Kung Fu.
Nowadays, both Chinese and foreigners call practicing martial arts practicing Kung Fu. This is actually in a broad sense, and it originated from Guangdong martial artists. Guangdong people call practicing Chinese martial arts “fighting kung fu”, which covers all the contents of Chinese martial arts. Bruce Lee’s rise promoted this term, and foreign magazines all transliterated it, and “kung fu” became synonymous with Chinese martial arts. However, according to the traditional classification of Chinese martial arts, kung fu specifically refers to a single strong skill, which can be seen from time to time in the lectures of martial arts halls in various countries in the 1930s. Compared with routines and techniques, kung fu is of a higher level, but in terms of the combat function of martial arts, the three are absolutely inseparable.
Looking at the overseas dissemination process of martial arts since the 1970s, the first is the dissemination of routines. It is the nationalized body language displayed by routines that has attracted countless overseas audiences and expanded the global influence of martial arts. Then there is the promotion of martial arts free fighting. However, in the early stage of promotion, some rules clearly have the shadow of boxing and overseas free fighting, such as the use of boxing gloves, such as scoring by points, such as dividing weight categories… These have encouraged free fighting athletes to practice more techniques and be devoted to wrestling. With the expansion of international exchanges, in large-scale free-hand combat, compared with athletes in Europe, America and Central Asia, our athletes still have deficiencies in striking and resisting ability. Since then, drawing nourishment from traditional martial arts and improving free-hand combat ability has become a forward-looking move for knowledgeable people in the Chinese martial arts community.
The role of routines was already clear in the Ming Dynasty. It “activates hands and feet, exercises limbs, and is the door to beginners’ art”. Therefore, “learning boxing requires flexible body movements, convenient hand movements, light and solid foot movements, proper advance and retreat, and flying legs. And its magic is to turn upside down; and its fierceness is to pierce and chop horizontal fists; and its speed is to capture the sky; and its softness is to know how to dodge obliquely”, and finally achieve the purpose of improving the body’s “flexibility”, enhancing strength, physical strength, and coordinating the movements of various parts of the body.
But routines are not practical after all, because they are fixed structures arranged in advance, and the movements are required to be standardized. The bow is the bow, the horse is the horse, the fist is the fist, and the palm is the palm. It can be stretched or compact, slow or fast, and everything is practiced according to the requirements. In actual combat, the movements will not be perfect and neat. The bow is not a bow, the horse is not a horse, the Ding is not a Ding, and the Ba is not Ba. The punches and kicks are fast and fast. The moves cannot be old, and the strength cannot be exhausted. In actual combat, all the movements copied from the routines will only be a posture for getting beaten. Simply considering the practice of routines as the foundation of martial arts is undoubtedly a misunderstanding of martial arts.
Techniques are methods to defeat the enemy but not be defeated by the enemy. They are the skills and techniques of fighting and grappling. No matter which school or faction, whether it is disassembling routines or practicing Sanda alone, they are all teaching this skill and technique, and the practical value of martial arts is also reflected in this. Some schools have no routines at all. From their original intention, it is to highlight the techniques. No matter how beneficial the techniques are to fighting, they cannot replace “Kung Fu” after all. Because the technique is about “using skill”, that is, skill in footwork, body, method, attack, encounter, use and use. If the technique is not refined, it is difficult to use skill in fighting, and won’t you be controlled by others? Kung Fu is to practice superhuman strength. Once it has been practiced, it must be better than ordinary people, and there will be a chance of winning. Therefore, if you want to learn martial arts, practicality is the first priority. In addition to fists and feet, you must practice two or three kung fu. Otherwise, no matter how skillful and beautiful the boxing is, and how flexible and neat the equipment is, it is not practical. In the end, it is just a fancy boxing and embroidered legs, a fancy spear and a fancy stick. When you grow old, you will learn nothing. It is in line with the boxing proverb “If you practice boxing without kung fu, you will grow old and nothing”.
Of course, today’s martial arts are about artistic fitness, that is, fancy boxing and embroidered legs, practicing for a long time is beneficial to the body and mind. However, if you really want to inherit and carry forward Chinese martial arts, you must never exclude or ignore “kung fu”.
Take Bruce Lee for example. The reason why he has become a world-famous martial arts master in today’s society is that he not only mastered superb fighting skills, but also attached great importance to practicing kung fu. He placed great importance on the training of strength and physical strength, which was the success of his creation of “Jeet Kune Do”.
Generally speaking, there is no difference between schools of kung fu, but each has its own emphasis and is similar. Especially the foundation-building kung fu to improve personal quality, such as pile kung fu, tripod kung fu, stick rolling kung fu, sandbag kung fu, stone lifting, stone throwing lock, jar grabbing, chopstick twisting, wooden stakes, stone piers, etc., are all similar, all for training finger strength, wrist strength, arm strength, waist strength, leg strength, knee strength. Boxers call it “exercise hands and feet”, which refers to this kind of kung fu.
There are four types of superior specialized kung fu: soft, hard, internal and external. Soft kung fu practices soft Yin kung fu, hard kung fu practices hard Yang kung fu, internal kung fu focuses on training qi, and external kung fu focuses on training strength. The four types of kung fu can be divided into two categories. One is self-defense kung fu, which is also known as the kung fu for resisting blows, such as the Golden Bell Cover, Iron Cloth Shirt, Iron Bull Kung Fu, and Toad Kung Fu, which means “learning to be beaten before learning martial arts”. The other is the kung fu for controlling others, which is the kung fu for hitting others, such as the One Finger Vajra Method, Iron Sand Palm, and Winning Broom Kung Fu, which emphasizes “no attack, no defense, just one strike”.
There are certain procedures for practicing special kung fu, and you can’t do it recklessly. The methods of practicing kung fu are often different in different schools. For example, when practicing Iron Sand Palm, Shaolin Temple requires that iron sand be placed in a cloth bag on a solid wooden bench, and beaten twice a day in the morning and evening, from light to heavy, from slow to fast. It can be used after 100 days, and great kung fu will be achieved after 300 days. The Chuojiao Fanzi School first puts wheat in a cloth bag, places it on a wooden bench and beats it, then changes to sorghum, then changes to mung beans, and finally changes to iron sand. Before and after the slap, soak your hands in Chinese herbal decoction to relax the muscles, activate blood circulation, reduce swelling and relieve pain. It can be used for 100 days. The hands are white and delicate, and they are as hard as iron when hitting people.
There are many types of kung fu. The “Shaolin Seventy-two Arts” records 72 special kung fu. In fact, there are far more than these. Each school and faction chooses kung fu exercises that highlight the characteristics of the school, such as Shaolin’s iron leg kung fu, Eagle Claw School’s eagle claw force, Emei School’s power palm and boy kung fu, Wudang boxing’s nine palaces, plum blossom school’s plum blossom, Fujian Nanquan’s iron head kung fu, Ziran school’s lifting a thousand pounds, Sanhuang Kung fu’s Jie Di Kung, Black Tiger School’s night walk, etc. There are also different emphasis on internal kung fu, such as Shaolin’s Yijinjing, Fanzi’s eight palm movements, and Baji’s walking kung fu. Many famous martial artists have amazing special skills, which can be seen from their nicknames, such as Iron Arm Ji De, Iron Palm Wu Huiqing, Iron Leg Wei Zankui, Iron Foot Buddha Shang Yunxiang, Flying Leg Sha Liang, Lightning Hand Zhang Zhaodong, Iron Foot Lin Lin Yanyuan, Leopard Foot Wei Bao, Divine Fist Song Laomai, Iron Arhat Miaoyue, Guangdong Four Irons: Iron Sea Dragon, Iron Golden Dragon, Iron Bone Boy, Iron Head Boy, etc.
Special skills enable practitioners to have super strength and excellent skills in a certain aspect. However, relying on kung fu alone is not enough. Techniques and kung fu complement each other, which is the basis for defeating the enemy, just like eyes and ears, which should be used together and cannot be separated for a moment. Some people ignore techniques and practice kung fu, and then rely on their strong strength. When fighting, they just rush forward and may win temporarily. If they don’t know how to seize the opportunity and don’t know the direction and position, they are just a rough fight. Not to mention that it is difficult to last, it may not be recognized by experts and audiences. Some people neglect to practice kung fu, and after mastering two or three hand-like techniques, they think they can conquer the world, and naturally they are bound to run into a wall.
The externalization of kung fu is reflected in confrontation. Some kung fu is difficult to perform, such as standing practice to improve the stability of the trunk. Another example is iron sand palm. There is no beauty in its practice process, but it can be externalized into splitting bricks and stones, which can give people a sense of intuition. In old China, some martial arts figures with unique skills externalized kung fu and made a living by performing, which was a sad scene in the history of Chinese martial arts. Today, martial artists have no worries about food and clothing, and they show their kung fu to others, which is a world of difference from the situation in old China where people made a living by performing. However, some people fake the props in programs such as breaking red bricks with palms, hanging people on paper, and piercing glass with needles. That cannot be regarded as martial arts kung fu, but a kind of art program such as “jianghu performing”. People who want to practice real kung fu should not imitate it. Some kung fu is unscientific and even harmful to the body, so it should not be practiced. There was a boxer who practiced the skill of shrinking the vagina for a long time, and practiced until his testicles were hidden. From then on, his crotch was not afraid of being kicked, but he also lost his fertility and never married. It can be seen that this skill is harmful to the body and should not be practiced.
It takes time to practice kung fu. Time refers to time. Kung fu is the accumulation of time bit by bit, and there is no kung fu that can be achieved overnight.
Spending time to practice kung fu means that you must be able to endure loneliness and boredom. Because kung fu used to be practiced alone in private, sometimes in order to avoid being watched or secretly learning, it is often practiced in the dead of night, so it is called “private kung fu”. And all kung fu, whether soft, hard, internal or external, are mostly simple and boring movements, such as standing, which is time-consuming, and iron sand palm, which is to repeatedly hit the sandbag, unlike the fancy and beautiful routines. Therefore, you must be able to endure loneliness and boredom. Many people give up halfway because they can’t “endure”.