The Art of Wushu
July 29, 2008
Yesterday, I discovered a Chinese martial art called wushu. After finding out that the National Wushu Training Center was less than a mile from my house, I decided to explore it and take my first class this evening. Before class, I had told one of the assistants that the bigger the challenge and higher the pain, the more likely I would be to return.
In the middle of class…I almost blacked out. Literally. I actually had to take 5 min to let my head get itself back in order. What a wonderfully intense workout and such a beautiful artform! Yes, I will definitely return as soon as I can. Wushu will not defeat me.
Wushu is a term that refers to general Chinese martial art activities. The term is also commonly used in regards to the modern Chinese sport which encompasses gymnastic-like movements while performing bare-handed and weapons forms (think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
The basic forms consist of stances, kicks, punches, balances, jumps, sweeps, and throws. The more advanced forms can include 540 and 720 degree jumps which are absolutely amazing to see.
Click to see Wushu in action at the Wushu Masters in China. (It’s worth the click!)
I want to take the class! All I can do is make origami boxes and goldfish.lol
love you bunches
Don’t worry! Once you come back from Germany, I’m going to drag you to all these things with me so you can be all stiff and sore too! Love you back -nessa
Awsome! Do you know what style exactly you are learning? I am learning bak hok pai, or Whyte Crane Boxing. It is a real challange and I love it very much. I just started about 6-7 months ago.
Hello Garrett
Actually, I don’t think this wushu has a specific domination. However, I am also taking Eagle Claw Kung fu and it has been fantastic so far! I’m hoping to be able to go see the martial arts championships in Las Vegas later this month. Fingers crossed! (If I go I’ll write about it lol)
Thanks for your comment! -nessa
Eagle claw! Wow, that’s one I don’t know much about. Sounds interesting! I won’t be able to go see the championship so I will rely on your blog lol! That’s really cool; I would like to hear more about your Eagle Claw style. I’m interested in seeing how different it is from White Crane. I love reading about other ppl’s experiences in Wushu. I should probably share my own some day. Take care!
Garrett.
I know, I really hope I’m able to go! I’m going to be writing a post on Eagle Claw soon and will explain what makes it unique. I’ll have to do some research on White Crane to see what that’s about too
later -nessa
Haha sweet. There are lots of websites with little info about White Crane, but if you would really like to learn about it this book is the best source…. http://www.ryukyu.com/id254.html
If you would like to see the lineage of the system, check out this site…. http://www.geocities.com/whitecranefist/index.htm. This last site was never completed, but the links that do work are very excellent. Through it I was able to find my instructors old teacher and track our roots right back to the systems founder! I thought it was cool anyway. Lol. Can’t wait to hear about Eagle Claw!!! Btw your blogs are incredible! Your one about your time in the navy is especially interesting. I think I might give blogging a shot after reading yours, although mine wont be quite as divers and interesting
Anyway, []Deace!
Garrett.
Great, I’m going to take a look at those links after work. And thanks so much for the compliment! Totally sweet
-nessa
Hey this is Garrett. I started an account and will start my own blog soon. Here is a link to a video of one of our forms. It is preformed slow and very perfect so although it may not dazzle you with its speed it does show some of our techniques well. This is beyond what I am currently learning, but some day….. Check it out! (=
Lol… forgot the link sorry :S
http://www.fightcon.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=861&title=Crane_Kung_Fu_Form_Performance
Hey Garrett,
Sweet. You’re right it is very slow paced and kind of looks like a dance at times. I found an example of an eagle claw performance. You’ll see it’s very different in pace and style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztNFf9vIRuQ Let me know when you get that blog going! later, nessa
Yes he is performing it as a soft art to show the actual moves and not just to show off his speed. Any traditional gung fu can be preformed as an internal art, like a Tai Chi and it is extremely useful to learn your forms in such a manner in order to build muscle strength in each position. Crane, much like snake is a very loose form, never committing itself till the very last possible moment. It will remain soft in combat until it is guaranteed a strike and then it turns hard. Once I am confidant enough I will post some vids of myself doing White Crane forms and maybe some in class sparring (once we start sparring, I’m not there yet.) on my blog page (= Unfortunately Crane, like Eagle is a very old stance, predating the Shaolin Order itself. It has very long forms with many moves and some masters claim it can take up to ten years to fully grasp. I’m patient, but yikes!
I love that Eagle Claw vid! He is very good! I would some day like to learn more then one stance. It will probably never happen, but you never know. I deff want to perfect white crane as best as I can first and that could take a while. Life is too short for wushu lol. I would imagine that some of the forms would be similar in some of the stances. The three that intrigue me are the White Crane, Snake and now I am interested in this Eagle Claw style. I am having trouble finding any history on it other then it predates Shaolin. Can’t wait to see that blog on it!!! (=
Check out this vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMJ_b9uV1Lo
When the Tae Kwon Do artist attacks the Wushu has his hands up and ready to defend each move, but when the Wushu artist attacks the Tae Kwon Do artist just barely gets out of the way. Each bloke he performs covers his upper, middle and lower gate perfectly. He is very good. Don’t read the youtube comments lol.
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[...] with the Wushu training that I previously wrote about, I have also been pursuing Eagle Claw kung fu, for training [...]
wushu is great!