wushu

[wushu_flip]

For those of you who think wushu is just a gymnast art u are very wrong, as much as wushu is acrobatic it is based off all traditional styles, and for those of you who don't know jet li studied wushu. sure a gymnast would have an advantage in wushu but a martial artist would find it as a challenge. many of the movements cannot be used in combat (exept the forms when u fight one another) but it can enhance your reflexes and agility as well as power and stregnth.

by the way im new

[joedoe]

So are you saying that doing wushu would make you a good fighter, or that it qualifies you as a martial artist?

[wushu_flip]

i m not saying wushu will make u a good fighter, it's possible. but it will greatly enhance your agility and reflexes so it can make u a better one. and yes it qualifies u as a martial artist it is not just acrobatics, forms usually don't have many acrobatics in them. also there are forms when u fight each other and they are very fast paced, right now i am learning 3 sectional staff vs spear and i have learned bare hands fighting forms and it can prepare you.

[joedoe]

By that argument, Tae Bo could also prepare you to be a fighter though.

I have a great deal of respect for wushu practitioners as fantastic athletes. But as for whether they are martial artists? I am not sure about that, though I am happy to be proven wrong.

[wushu_flip]

no offence to tae bo but it's just aerobics based on tkd and karate, my uncle was in the navy with billy bank's(tae bo's biggest star) brother. as a wushu practioneer and a vetran tkd'er believe me when i say wushu is a martial art. just look at the shoalin all they do is wushu know but wat is it based off of, thats right traditional kung fu which the shoalin are famous for, they used to be famous for there fighters and know they have no need for defending themselves against armies or attackers, they have addapted to modern tomes and brought there martial arts with them.

[joedoe]

But it is just as valid a statement. If you say that wushu prepares you as a fighter because it has 'fighting' moves in it and you are conditioned and flexible, then the same argument holds for tae bo - you train with fighting moves, and you end up conditioned and flexible.

I understand the history of Shaolin, however after the cultural revolution the traditional arts pretty much left China. Wushu was developed as a non-martial way to practice the movements of the traditional arts (the Chinese government did not want people learning how to fight unless they were fighting for the government). The only reason the current Shaolin monks are able to fight is if they train fighting. Add to that the fact that the traditional masters have been invited back to teach the old Shaolin arts back to the temple.

Wushu alone will not prepare you for fighting any more than tae bo will. If your wushu training includes technique application, fight conditioning, and sparring then sure, you could claim that it will prepare you for it. Otherwise, it is no different to gymnastics or dance.

[wushu_flip]

wushu does not prepare u for a fight because it has fighting moves, it prepares ur reflexes, and strengthens u. tae bo is just kik,knee and punch in the same spot in rythem for 30 min a day. in wushu u learn 2 fight through the forms. when u are fighting someone in a form u have to be precise, fast, and powerful. maybe the american tought schools are like dance but my sifu is from china and was national champion as well as close to national champ many times. when he teaches the forms he will explain the movements as if fighting someone.

[joedoe]

How does it train your reflexes if the fighting is choreographed though? Does that also mean that ballet would train your reflexes?

[wushu_flip]

u have a heated argument here. when i am doing the form at my school the spear it coming at me fast and i am trained to block it fast, it trains my reflexes. i am a better fighter than i was since i started wushu. by the way what MA do u study?

[joedoe]

I apologise if I am coming across as antagonistic. I really am trying to understand where you are coming from, however either I am not conveying my ideas correctly, or not reading your answers correctly. Please, I am not trying to be nasty or to have a argument. I am interested in having a constructive discussion on this topic. As I said in my first post, I am willing to be proven wrong.

The point still stands that if the movements are choreographed, then the improvement of your reflexes would be minimal. Your timing is improved since you have to time your movement to avoid or block the incoming attack, but your reflexes would only be improved if you get your timing wrong, or your movement wrong.

As for what martial art I study, I train in Five Ancestors Fist.

[wushu_flip]

do u think a MAist who studies who studies tae bo would defend themselves as good a someone who studies wushu, i know all the high flyin fancy moves are not that effective in combat(unless ur in a movie)butim just trying to prove one point that all the dedicated MAist who study wushu are qualified as MAist

sorry, by heated argument i meant good discussion

what exactly is Five Ancestors Fist.

[joedoe]

See, that is an interesting question. I think if you trained tae bo with the intent of using it for fighting (so training the techniques as fighting techniques rather than just movements to keep your heartrate up) then I think you would have the foundation for some sort of fighting ability. Same as if you did that with wushu. However, if you did tae bo purely for exercise then no.

Same goes for wushu. If you train wushu for the asthetics of it and not for the martial aspects, then no it would not give you a foundation for fighting. If you train it with fighting in mind, then yes you would have a foundation for fighting.

I guess in my mind there are many types of martial artists. Some people practice martial arts because they enjoy the exercise, some like the way you move in the forms, some like the esoteric and mystical aspects, and some want to learn to fight. Most people are a combination of these (and many other reasons people train that I have not listed). There is nothing wrong with preferring one over another, as long as you don't kid yourself that just doing forms is going to make you a great fighter. To me, firstly you have to want to be able to fight. Then you have to train appropriately.

So sure, wushu probably would give you a foundation in speed, stamina, flexibility etc.

Five Ancestors Fist (Wuzuquan, Ngor Chor Kun) is a southern Shaolin art that is a sythesis of the five arts of taizu, monkey, white crane, lohan, and the Bodhidharma meditation and qigong forms. There are two different histories for the art, one dating back to around 1250AD, the other back to around 1850AD. It is a very popular art in the Fukien province of China.