kung fu basics The power of wushu training

Chinese Martial Arts Training

Wushu terminology means Chinese Martial Arts skills, while Kung Fu means hard work over a long period. The term Kung Fu can refer to any trade which requires work for long periods.
Wushu involves movements for muscles, joints, and internal organs. The flexibility of the joints, the elasticity of the waist, the strength of the limbs, and breathing control are essential parts of martial arts training.
The fundamental requirements for Wushu skills consist of basic training for the body parts such as waist and limbs, headstands, Meihua poles standing, and stances.

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Wushu Basics

Shaolin Warrior Program

Basic Skills Training

The basic training for Wushu includes exercises for legs, waist, stances, Meihua poles standing, arm stands, eyes and hands, and fist punches. Some of this training might require special apparatus. Basic Skills Training includes:

Leg Training: presses, pulls, splits, pushes, control, kicks.
Waist Training: bending, turning, overturning, twisting, springing, swinging, suspending, bridging, rubbing.
Basic Stance Training: Ma Bu (Horse Stance), Gong Bu (Bow Stance), Xu Bu (Empty Stance), Pu Bu (Crouching Stance), and Xie Bu (Sitting Stance).
Stands Training: Hunyuan, Siping.
Arm-Stands Training: elbow, shoulder, headstand, hand, push, double arms, single arms.
Hand and eyes Training: relaxation, wrist exercises with eye movement.
Fist Punches Training

Basic Movements Training

The basic movements in Wushu are called Taolu or routines. They are a set of attacks and defenses in a particular sequence. When these movements combine with physical mobility, they create techniques that can be static or dynamic, including jumps, throws, balance, turnings, folds, and spins. Basic training includes balance, leaps, overturning, folds and spins, and footwork. Practicing these basic movements, one can develop coordination, flexibility, speed, muscle elasticity, balance, and inertia in motion. The routines will only be practiced after the basic skills such as flexibility, agility, and strength are mastered.

Basic Movements Training includes:

Balance Training: knee, legs, squat, cloud balance, backward, swallow, sideways.
Jumping Training: flying kicks, double flying kicks, chain kicks, lotus leg swing, whirlwind kicks, snap kicks.
Tumbling Movements Training: forward and backward rolls, cartwheel, flips, fallings, leg twists.
Folding and Rotating Movements Training: sweep kicks, spinning kicks.
Footwork Training: steps (crossing, walking, striding, treading, striking)

Basic Fist Training

Basic fist training is classified into empty hands and weapons. There are numerous routines with different movements from slow to fast, brisk, contraction, extension, rolls, and falls.

The Wushu training consists of three steps:

Conditions Training
Techniques Training
Routines Training

Basic Fist Training includes:

Types of fists
Snap kick boxing (fist punches, cross kicks, chopping, smashing, forks, striking, rotating arms, heel kicks, latching fists, jumping and kicking in the air, turning the body)
Power boxing
Short boxing

Basic Techniques Training

Basic techniques training for attack and defense include kicking, striking, tumbling, and catching. These techniques are essential in Wushu training.

Kicking techniques include heel, treads, diagonal kicks, swings, flips, twists, sweeps, and hooks.
Striking techniques include punches, bumps, leaning, shoves, warding off, chopping, snapping, smashing, forking, blocking, pulling down, hooking, and scooping.
Tumbling techniques include holding, consolidating, tucking, falling, crawling, grabbing, rolling, smashing, and hooking.
Catching techniques include hooking, catching, locking, buckling, closing, sealing, dislocating, and intercepting.

The beauty of wushu

Wushu has strict rules and requirements in practice and execution of the movements. Some movements are required for one type of weapon training, while some are not. What is applicable for one weapon training might not be allowed for the other. The first step is to learn the rules and requirements for each technique and style and then work on the speed, power, and Qi.