Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Practicing the basic movements and postures
• Method 2 of 3: Improve your kung fu skills
• Method 3 of 3: Studying kung fu

Kung fu is often described as a lifelong journey. While it takes years, if not decades, to fully master this martial art, it is possible to learn the basics in a relatively short period of time. With dedication, patience, and foresight, you can master the basic movements relatively quickly.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Practicing the basic movements and postures

1. Create a safe exercise area where you can check your posture. Choose a place with enough free space, without furniture and other obstructions. Place a standing mirror (or a full-length mirror against a wall) where you can see yourself while you practice. If necessary, you can also place your computer or TV somewhere you can easily see it so that you can watch video tutorials.
2. Warm up. Run for five minutes in your neighborhood, do a few jumping jacks or any other light exercise to get the blood going. Then do some stretching exercises to make your body flexible, so that it is nice and flexible. End with some push-ups and sit-ups to get your body ready for some serious action.
3. Take the Horse Stance. Stand in front of the mirror. Place your feet about three feet apart. Bend your knees until your hips are slightly higher than your knees. Stretch your spine by leaning your upper body back slightly. Make sure you can see your hips up to your head in the mirror. It's like sitting in a chair without the chair.
   • Use the Horse Stance to lower and stabilize your center of gravity while practicing punches and punches with your arms. Keep your posture straight so your body and muscles are properly aligned.
   • This attitude should be difficult to maintain. Practice this in increments of 30 seconds at a time, resting for 1-2 minutes, and then try to keep this up for longer and longer.
   • Practicing the Horse Stance daily will quickly strengthen your core and leg muscles and make you a more powerful and stable martial artist.
4. Practice swinging from the Horse Stance. You learn Kung Fu by sticking to the simplest movements first. When you try a new shot for the first time, do it in slow motion. Concentrate on the execution. As the movement becomes more natural, it requires less thinking on your part, and you can gradually accelerate the action, one after another, until you can pull out with full force. As your stamina improves, increase the number of strokes per rep. Start with the Straight Punch, one of the most basic if not the most basic moves:
   • With each hand, form a fist with your thumb closed over the outside of your index finger. With your arms close to your sides, pull your fists back along your hips, thumbs up. Pull your elbows back and open your chest.
   • Strike with one fist. Keep your elbow straight behind your fist as your arm extends forward. As you straighten your elbow, twist your fist so that it ends thumb down. As you hit, lead with that shoulder and pull your other shoulder behind you, pivoting from the waist. Your shoulders and hitting arm form a straight line when you hit the target.
   • Reverse the action again. Retract your arm, rotating your fist so that the thumb is raised again, with your elbow straight behind it. As your front arm is pulled in, your shoulders will line up again above your hips and extend in the same way with your second arm.
   • Exhale as you thrust. Breathing is an important part of learning kung fu, and proper breathing technique will help you progress faster during your training.
   • Use your front torso to put force behind your punches. In Kung Fu, your strength comes from your torso, and these strokes are meant to work these muscles and get stronger faster. Use the momentum created by pulling back one punch as fuel for the next.
5. Get into a basic fighting stance. Stand in front of the mirror. Place your body at a 45 degree angle with the left foot and left shoulder forward. Your right foot is slightly back and on the right side of your left foot. If you are right handed this should feel natural. Make sure you are standing comfortably and that your feet are no further than shoulder width apart. Keep your hands high to protect your head, but stay light on your feet.
   • This pose is akin to a Western boxing stance and should also be practiced in the opposite direction (right leg forward). This pose occurs in many (but not all) kung fu styles.
6. Learn the basic punches. With the fists closed, punch straight forward with your left hand. Rotate your body to the right during this movement and make your shoulders as straight as possible. This punch is also called a "jab". Focus first on your performance and only then on developing speed and strength. Then try a punch with the right. This is often referred to as a "cross" because your right fist must "cross" in front of your body. Twist on the ball of your right foot while completing this punch.
   • If you'd like to learn kung fu quickly, take it easy and get your body used to the movements first. Adding power and speed is easy if you know how to perform the movements correctly. If not, your progress will be slowed down considerably, as you will have to relearn each movement correctly and again.
   • Practice the full movement every time. Make sure your arm is fully extended and then retracted. Each punch starts and ends with a bent elbow and your hand protecting your head.
   • Your strength always comes from the center of your body.
7. Learn to block. From the fighting stance, you imagine an opponent who is about the same size as you and lashes out at you. With a forearm extended, use the force of your core to move it left or right and parry the opponent's imaginary arm to naturally move the punch off course. These are the so-called inner and outer blockages.
   • Inner blocks start on the outside of your body and move inward. Outer blockages do the opposite.
   • Practice blocking with both arms. Learning kung fu quickly is all about getting stronger on both your dominant and non-dominant side.
8. Practice the basic stairs. As with everything, your body will first have to get used to the correct execution of techniques. Stairs can seem intimidating at first, but you can break them down into sections and practice them individually. Learning something quickly will depend on how diligently you are in mastering proper posture and consistent practice. Start practicing these techniques from the combat stance.
   • Start each kick by pulling your knee up to your chest. Bring your knee up to your shoulder as high as possible. Practice this move to become more flexible and practice keeping the knee above your hips for better balance. At this point, your leg is "ready to strike," similar to your bent elbow and fist protecting your head.
   • With a frontal kick, the next action is to extend your leg, pushing from your hip and making sure that the bottom of your foot hits the intended target and pushes it away from you.
   • With a side kick, your leg is extended forward from your hip, with your foot still on the floor rotating 90 degrees with the movement. With this kick, your foot ends horizontally (instead of vertically as with the front kick).
   • In a roundhouse kick, imagine hitting your opponent's hip (or higher) with the top of your foot (much like a kick when playing soccer). The force continues to come from your hip, but instead of moving forward, the force is directed to the left or to the right (depending on the foot you kick with). The other foot continues to make contact with the ground and pivots 90 degrees on the ball of the foot to facilitate this pedaling motion.
   • With each kick, make sure to bring your knee back to your chest after the kick before lowering it. Lowering your leg right after a kick is very bad posture and will not help you get better faster.
   • Practice slowly and with good execution. Try to hold each individual position you take while performing the kick (knee up, kick, pull knee back to your chest) for several seconds to instill proper movements in your brain. Practicing this way will quickly become second nature to you and your kicks will start to feel (and look) like one smooth motion.
9. Practice changing your postures. Once you have mastered the individual movements, practice moving from pose to pose during an attack. By moving from fighting stance to horse stance, your attacks can gain extra power.
   • To quickly transition into horse stance, pull your left knee up to a 90o angle, turning your knee to the left, with your left foot retracted, adjacent to your right knee. Quickly plant your left foot three to four feet lengths from your right foot and drop into horse stance, both feet pointing forward.
10. Practice shadow boxing or use a punching bag. Once you master the basic postures and shapes, you will need to practice a lot to get better faster. Stay light-footed and moving as you hit, kick, and block the air or punching bag. To build stamina, you can practice in rounds, as if you were in a tournament (for example, 3-minute rounds of vigorous exercise, followed by a 3-minute break and then repeat).

Method 2 of 3: Improve your kung fu skills

1. Find a training partner. A quick way to get better and challenge yourself is to start exercising with a partner. Mentally you will be more driven to train harder and longer.
   • A partner can also help you get better by holding on to pad, and vice versa. Kicking and punching pads will increase your strength and stamina much faster than just shadow boxing or using a punching bag.
   • Holding the pads in front of a partner is also a good way to improve hands and footwork and shouldn't be underestimated as a good way to exercise. It is important to learn the different combinations of punches and kicks on either side of the pads, and holding the pads will also help you stay relaxed until the moment of impact.
2. Improve your resilience. There are many ways to strengthen your fists, forearms and feet. Be aware that aside from technique, speed and power, your body has to get used to hitting and taking blows.
   • Hitting or kicking a heavy bag on your own can be an effective workout for getting harder, especially in roundhouse kicks and achieving impact with the top of your foot. First, take it easy and focus on the correct technique, then as soon as your foot can handle more, try to hit the bag with more force.
   • If you're exercising with a partner, try to harden your forearms using a general blocking exercise. Stand opposite each other in horse stance if you can do this correctly and extend your right arm down with your hand for an inward block. Your partner does the same and your forearms collide (slightly at first) as a way to practice blocking. Next rotates your right arm 180 degrees clockwise. Your partner will do the same and your forearms will reconnect. Now rotate your right arm counterclockwise 180 degrees for a third blockage. Try the exact same thing now with your left arm and keep repeating this. Make sure you get momentum from twisting your torso.
   • Push-ups on your fists (or the knuckles - even heavier) can be a great way to make your fists stronger.
3. Strengthen your core or core muscles. Improve your ability to draw strength from the ground and put that into your guts. Increase the force you can put with your kicks. Don't just focus on your abs (that's only part of your core) but your side and back as well. Exercises for strengthening your core muscles include:
   • The plank
   • Traditional and reverse sit-ups
   • Raising your knees to your chest while hanging from a chin-up bar or from the push-up position (also known as "mountaineers").
4. Develop your arms. Wear wrist weights during kung fu training.Exercise your arms daily with traditional methods. Do push-ups, pull-ups, curls, etc. Pay extra attention to your forearms, which will improve your ability to grapple with opponents.
   • An "easy" way to strengthen your forearms: clench your fists while extending your arms straight in front of you.
5. Train your legs. A solid base and strong legs are very important in any martial art, so make sure to train your legs. Wear leg weights when you practice the kung fu moves. Make it a daily routine to do squats, squat jumps, and step-ups.
   • Some other good leg exercises include: Toe Jumps, Frog Jumps, Cossack Jumps, One-Leg Jumping, Duck Walk, and Sprinting.

Method 3 of 3: Studying kung fu

1. Research the different kung fu styles. Compare and understand the difference between the teachings and philosophy of each direction. For long-term goals, consider which style emphasizes the areas you wish to develop, both mental and physical. In order to learn kung fu quickly, it is wise to choose a style that suits your strengths.
   • The two most prominent schools are Wu Dong and Shaolin. In Wu Dong the emphasis is on the "inner strength" for the purpose of developing your chi (life force). Shaolin focuses on the "external force" with exercises that strengthen your body.
   • Kung fu styles are further distinguished by their geography. Northern styles focus more on a lot of leg work and acrobatics. Southern styles emphasize a solid foundation and more arm work.
   • Another distinction between styles is hard versus soft. Hard styles teach you to face an opponent with equal or greater strength, while soft styles try to use the opponent's momentum to their disadvantage.
2. Watch tutorials online. See exactly how your body should move and orient, to perform movements and postures correctly. Start with simple movements such as kicks and punches. Then you watch how these individual steps are incorporated into longer katas (fixed series that combine a variety of movements).
   • Watch each video multiple times. Pay attention to only one area of ​​the instructor's body at a time. Check out the footwork first. After that, focus on the hips. Then the waist. And so on. This way, when you are going to practice this yourself (eg swing with your arms), you will know exactly how your feet and legs should support your body, so that your strokes yield the most return.
   • To further expand your understanding of kung fu, you can also watch videos from other martial arts to see how they differ from each other. Note how kung fu is more fluid in its movement, making more use of circular techniques than in other martial arts, such as karate, where movements are more direct and linear.
3. Take the mindset that comes with kung fu. Even if you want to learn kung fu quickly, try to resist the temptation to train hard too soon. While kung fu requires discipline from those who practice it, it is not expected of you right away, so relax. Forget the adage "no pain, no gain". Work on a sensible training schedule, according to your abilities and fitness level, to avoid injury or burnout.
   • For example, instead of practicing 100 kicks right away, start with 10 reps throughout the day. Learn how to do it correctly and efficiently, without wearing yourself out. Once you've mastered the kick, work on your stamina by gradually building up the number of kicks per rep: from 10 to 15; from 15 to 20; from 20 to 30; and so on.