Shaolin Kung Fu

[Icetuete]

yeah - Shaolin Kung Fu it is... tell me about it please dont know anything at all. what is it good for? what can i reach? r there belts? how long does it take to achieve the next one? how many r there? does Shaolin K.F. bring me into good shape? is it good for self-defence?

 

and everything else certainly is interesting for me, too

[paolung]

well first off, "Shaolin kungfu" isn't necessarily "one system", but rather refers to a slew of systems that came either from or were strongly influenced by the original Shaolin temples in China. so there really isn't any "shaolin kungfu" system by itself, but the term comprises a ton of different systems. some of them are animal-based, some aren't. some are "northern shaolin" (hailing primarily from north China), some "southern" (obviously from the southern area).

 

i would say just about any shaolin system i've come in contact with or that is commonly practiced will get you into shape, provided you train hard. whether or not it is good for self defense depends also on training, but not necessarily how 'hard' you train, at least in the sense of physical effort, but more how you train as in how realistically you practice, spar, train for fighting, etc. there are alot of systems out there, and the vast majority of them will work for fighting if you have a good sifu and train diligently.

 

i guess it would help more if we knew what sort of specific systems you were looking for... do you have any examples?

 

the truly chinese shaolin systems don't have belts persay, although some may have sashes. grading or ranking belts were primarily brought in when the systems reached the west, so there could be some legit systems in the west that use belt/grade rankings, but they are not inherant to chinese systems persay.

 

as far as "what you can reach"... well, a good system offers a lifetime journey of training... you will never reach the end, because the system is always expanding and developing. as my sifu (teacher) is fond of saying, "it all depends on how deep into the rabbit hole you want to go".

 

as you get better, good gungfu gets harder. as you get more proficient, it gets more challenging. it grows with you.

 

hope that helps