northern china shaolin martial arts academy

[Shard]

It depends on how it is trained. If it is trained in an Alive and practical manner, then it will probably do you some good.

[Broadsword2004]

Well I doubt forming your hands into a snake or a crane or a praying mantis and trying to take on any MMA fighter will work very good. And you don't need to go to China these days to learn contemporary wushu; many Chinese wushu athletes, some from the Beijing Wushu Team, run schools right here in the U.S. The United States has a National Wushu Team as well.

But punching and slapping and, since we have long legs, basic kicking, are the primal ways to fight, even against animals. Humans are just physically very weak compared to animals, but if you send a 600+ pound mountain gorilla up against a lion, when he punches said lion, it's going to be a LOT harder of a hit than any human could generate.

That is why boxing and Muay Thai and such are so effective.

You can actually learn a lot of wushu techniques right by yourself, thanks to websites like Mavi's and the various tricking sites out there.

You can teach yourself flips, full splits, aerial kicks like a jumping 360 crescent kick, jumping 360 hook kick, 540, 540 crescent, wushu 540, tornado kick, double-leg 540, 720, 720 double, scissor kick, etc...you just need some mats for crashing on. You can teach yourself a 360 butterfly twist, 540 butterfly twist, 720 butterfly twist if you have a soft landing pad and are skilled enough (if you can pull a 720butterfly you are bad-@$$ acrobatics-wise). Once you learn a backflip, you can learn X-outs, gainers, flashkicks, etc...

Advanced tumbling moves usually require an instructor, though, like double backflips, arabians, etc....

If you self-teach yourself all these aerial kicks and basic acrobatics (aerial cartwheels, backflips, handsprings, etc...), as well as acquire full-range flexibility (splits) and a fairly strong body, you will be at a huge advantage over most people when you start formally training in wushu.

You won't know the forms, but even if you start at 30, if you have been doing all the splits and flipping and kicking since your early twenties or teenage years, you'll have the body and jumping ability of a decent wushu athlete. You will just need to learn the forms.