Any wushu practioners here? Some questions.

B

berry king

Guest
Hi, I have been very interested in wushu lateley and would like to learn it. I dont know much about though, and would appreciate it if people with some knowledge on it could help me out. As far as i know, it is not self defense orientated but is more based on forms and acrobatic performance and doing neat things with the body. It looks to me like its a meeting of gymnastics with kung fu. Am I correct? I am already taking a judo/jiujitsu/sambo class as well as learning systema(a russian martial art) for self defense and cultivation in a martial sense (if you know what i mean) so the only reason i'd really want to take wushu is for the cool things you learn to do with your body. Also, i am 18 years old, and hope that it isnt too old an age to start in wushu, i am already very flexible and have good balance however. Lastly, does anyone know of any good wushu school in the los angeles area? Thank you.
 
OP
T

theneuhauser

Guest
search this forum for a good thread on modern wushu.
you are correct, modern wushu is a marriage of gymnastics and forms from various chinese martial arts. i studied briefly with jinheng li from the beijing wushu team and i began with him at 24 yrs of age, so i would say you are at the perfect age of 18 yrs. classes should be challenging workouts. check out www.beijingwushuteam.com for some links to schools.
 
OP
T

the_kicking_fiend

Guest
If I'm not mistaken Capoeira also has lots of gymnastic tricks in it too, but I think a lot of these are often balancing on your hands and rolling on the ground whereas Wu Shu is more aerial and involves flips, etc. I think Wu Shu is an excellent martial art skill to master to improve your overall fighting performance. As an individual fighting art I am doubtful of its effectiveness.

I actually managed to teach myself the butterfly kick just off notes and drawings so it's not too hard to get hold of. Butterfly kick is one of the easy tricks going and a very common Wu Shu trick for escaping from an enemy or attacking. It's kinda like a cartwheel but horizontal to the ground where you do a roundhouse kick followed by a reverse turning kick all in the air before landing. See Neo Karate for a whole host of tricks and how to do them.

Oh and by the way, 18 is definately not too old to learn these tricks!

your friendly fiend,
D
 

Latest Discussions

Top