What you will learn
You will learn a practical system of martial arts encompassing many elements of traditional Chinese kung fu. From day one you will learn self defence techniques that you will be able to use straight away, but through time and training you will slowly learn the deeper aspects of martial arts. Not only will you learn about self defence, you will also gain flexibility, strength and cardiovascular fitness.
The basics will begin with stancework, the foundation of any fighting style. From a solid stance you will learn how to balance and throw powerful kicks and punches. You will then progress to complex combinations of punches and strikes and higher kicks. Techniques of grappling, locking and breaking will also be taught.
How you will learn
Basics: Every class will start with stancework, as this is the key to everything else you will learn. By repeating the movements of kicks, punches and strikes in class, you will perfect the movements. Once this has been achieved you will practice the movements against pads and strike shields to build up speed and power. You will also practice movements with a partner to learn blocking and countering techniques.
Exercises
During class you will also perform stretching exercises to improve flexibility, various types of push up including “Chinese press ups” which work only the punching muscles in the arm, and traditional kung fu power-building exercises such as grinding arm and grinding leg. Arm and leg conditioning will also be practised to strengthen bones against injury.
Forms
In parallel with the practical aspects you will also learn “forms” – patterns of movements from traditional systems of kung fu. Initially these will increase your coordination, balance and strength, but over time, they will help you to understand more about the roots of kung fu.
Study
Training will always be very physical, pushing you to the limits of strength and stamina. Classes will initially be once a week, so to progress quickly you will need to train regularly at home. Firstly you will need to work on flexibility, by stretching every day, and improve arm and leg strength using various exercises taught to you during class. You will then need to perfect the kicking, punching and blocking techniques, and then the “forms”.