Chinese Kung Fu: Which style is worth it?

[fenwick99]

personal preferences

1. wing chun

2. white eyebrow

3. five animals

4. hsingyichuan

5. hop gar

in no particular order.

also, combat taichi is great, if you can find a taichichuan sifu who will teach you the real stuff.

[suhieb]

Genox -

what are you actually looking for out of a martial art?

[aku aku]

But if you think logically about where the punch is coming from. It is coming from the side of your body. This means that your body is not behind it (ie you are just relying on muscle). You and shaolin warrior are correct that the force generated from your feet transfer into the hit. But this is not bodyweight.

I'm not sure I understand. If the hook is executed with a strong pivot and body rotation, your body is very much developing the power and your arm simply transfers it to the target like any other good punch. Try throwing a hook with just arm strength and without moving your body, without the body driving it there's no power at all.

[jubaji]

Without a doubt, wing chun is the best kung fu for combat.

Funny, funny stuff.

[SergeTk]

Where is Thai Bri when you need him

[Red Rum]

You guys know of a better kung fu style for combat? I have been doing martial arts for over twenty years and I haven't seen one.

As for aku aku - what I am saying is that the boxers punch is relying on momentum. It is like playing golf - you swing your body through the golf club, through the ball in one motion. It creates a lot of power, but there is no structure behind it and it uses a lot of energy.

With the wing chun punch, you are driving with the whole of your body behind the punch. The best way of thinking about it is to try pushing a wing chun practitioner backwards. They will show you how much force can be generated through stance. When I do it to my Sifu, I can't push him back, and I weigh three times his body weight.

At the end of the day, I am not saying that a boxers punch is rubbish - they are the best upper body fighters in the world. What I am saying is that in the realistic environment (no gloves, no rules, etc), a wing chun punch is sometimes better. It is more efficient (you can do a lot of them without getting tired), it is powerful, it is fast and can be done at extremely close range.

[Blue Wave Gym]

I think San shou is the best it has strinking and grappleing is that an over simplistic enough comment for you

[Tom Yum]

I think San shou is the best it has strinking and grappleing is that an over simplistic enough comment for you

I'd say san shou as a base cross trained with wingchun and qin na.

[Blue Wave Gym]

I don't know Tom

I'd say san shou as a base cross trained with wingchun and qin na.

I don't see alot of functional wing chun in sport combat, and chin-na is just another joint locking art like akido, hapkido ect. right? I just think san shou has the most functional stuff in kung fu.

[Tom Yum]

I don't see alot of functional wing chun in sport combat, and chin-na is just another joint locking art like akido, hapkido ect. right? I just think san shou has the most functional stuff in kung fu.

I chose san shou as a base, because the foundation would be similar to an MMA fighter, with the same direct and simple attacks, footwork and defenses. Adding to that, the conditioning and speed/intensity/spontaneity of training.

Wingchun fighters can hit pretty hard and quick in a short distance.

They do so from a casual stance where you're not squaring off against your opponent. I think it would be an asset to be able to strike, quick and hard with little space, without gloves and from a stance that doesn't say "hey, let's fight." Beyond that initial strike or two, you could finish it off with san shou strikes or throws.

That's kind of what Bruce Lee did...except he cross trained in tae kwon do, boxing and the fillipino arts. Someone whom really does this combination is none other than Mike Altman, who has competed a great deal in MMA and kickboxing.

A fighter needs to be able to de-escalate fights without causing too much damage - not only for legal reasons, but more friendly ones -which is where Qin-na comes into play.

Sure its like aikido, but unlike aikido, Qin-na is usually attached to a striking system.

[Mephariel]

I don't see alot of functional wing chun in sport combat, and chin-na is just another joint locking art like akido, hapkido ect. right? I just think san shou has the most functional stuff in kung fu.

Chin-na is not an art. That is one of the biggest misconception about Chin-Na. Chin-na refers to the joint locking techniques found in various styles of Kung Fu. A lot of chin-na philosophy is like Aikido in a way that many chin-na techniques are defensive in nature and requires the element of surprise. Another misconception about chin-na is that wrestling is part of it. It is not.

[Red Rum]

First off, is San shou recognised as a form of kung fu? Most people I know who have trained a lot in it claim that it is just a derivative of wushu

Secondly I play around with a lot of san shou guys and I have no trouble taking them down. Admittedly, their strikes are hard but I can out-box them if it is a friendly play around, or if they are really going for it, I just destroy them using close quarter Kamon wing chun.

I'm not saying san shou is crap - I am sure it is good if trained properly, but one of my training partners has trained wushu, san shou, preying mantis for over twenty years and he still gets caught out in smaller environments (my garage, small training halls etc)

So I would disagree with your comments Blue Wave Gym, but you may not have seen really good wing chun, and I might not have seen really good san shou

As for chin na, people claim that it is part of wing chun, but it is not great from what I have seen. I try to disassociate myself from chin na - if you want grappling/clinch concepts - use BJJ.

[medic06]

Lawd, where's Tai Bri when you need him

[Red Rum]

Lawd, where's Tai Bri when you need him

Why? Don't you know how to write posts all by yourself? Or do you just need someone to hold your hand?

[Thai Bri]

We like holding hands. You homophobe!