The original fighting art of the Shaolin monks, not flashy just effective
If you are looking for top-notch training in Shaolin Kung Fu in the Las Vegas and Henderson area - you found it!
The true history of how Southern Shaolin Kung Fu became Wing Chun
The Chinese characters for the art of kung fu literally translate to "skill through hard work" or "devotion". It does not mean martial arts or fighting skills.
Here's the story...
A long time ago in China people developed fighting techniques through experience.
They realized that being efficient with motion and attacking the vulnerable points of the human body, such as the eyes, throat and groin area, were the most practical ways to defend yourself when your life as on the line.
Through the years families would pass on this knowledge to their sons and daughters and slowly it became a system of fighting.
Each family had their own style, and they would only teach this style within their own circle of trusted friends and relatives.
Buddhist monk style of Shaolin kung fu
In addition, the criteria for incorporating a technique from each style the technique must fit within the philosophy and logic of effective fighting.
His new style became known as Sil Lum Fut Gar Kuen (Shaolin Fo Jia Chuan) or Buddhist Monk Fist
Shaolin is a place. It is an ancient Buddhist temple high in the mountains of China.
This temple is located within a forest, so when it was first built, the builder gave this temple its name. "Shaolin". The term Shaolin literally translates to "young forest"
Let me explain...
The people who chose to live here could be either Buddhists and Taoists. The monks of Shaolin Temple, however, were not just regular monks they were warrior monks. These warrior monks were masters of the martial art of kung fu.
Monks doing martial arts?
Now, fighting monks may seem a bit strange to people in Western society, because when you think of religious people like priests you don't visualize them as warriors.
But, for people living in ancient China, it was quite common for people to practice self-defense, after all, one could not simply call the police if they were attacked.
Let me be a bit more specific…
For most of its long history, China was virtually a lawless land. There were many tribes of marauding bandits that roamed the countryside looking for easy targets to seize.
The Shaolin temple is the birthplace of kung fu
One of the biggest benefits of training here is the improvement you will see in your level of discipline. To be successful in the martial arts, large amounts of self-discipline are required.
As a result, this kind of discipline translates directly to all other areas of your life, such as work and family.
Shaolin kung fu becomes famous
Shaolin Kung Fu became famous. First within China itself and now the entire world.
Today, the word Shaolin can be used as an umbrella term. Shaolin Kung Fu can mena all martial arts that have come out of the Shaolin temple over the past few centuries. Styles like Wing Chun, Hung Gar, and Choy Lee Fut all trace their origins to the famed temple.
Kung fu practitioners are truly limitless in how much they can achieve. They are capable of reaching the most advanced levels of awareness and inner harmony.
What Makes Shaolin Kung Fu Different From Other Styles?
The style of Shaolin Fo Jia Chuan or Siil Lum Fut Gar Kuen, itself is really not as important as the theory or science behind it.
The techniques of kung fu itself are not difficult to execute. If the movements were difficult they would not work in a real-life self-defense situation.
However, what makes kung fu special is not the simplistic techniques, but rather the conditioning that is behind them.
The simplest punch can be devastating when thrown with velocity. For example, take the cross punch of Western Boxing. The right cross is a very simple punch. Nothing complicated at all. However, it has knockout power.
Shaolin kung fu is about repetition of the basics
One of the goals of students training in Shaolin kung fu should be to practice a technique at a minimum of 10,000 times. Repetition is the mother of skill. Having a superficial understanding of movements is one thing, while mastery is another. There is always room for improvement in any endeavor. Striving for perfection is something that most people today no longer have the stomach, or patience for.
The key to greatness is to practice, practice, and practice some more. Shaolin kung fu is not about being good, but about learning to love the journey. Learning to love to idea of practicing the basics. Learning to instill one's own personality and creativity into the movements.
Shaolin kung fu uses the whole body as a weapon
In the Shaolin Kung Fu, your entire body becomes a weapon. The principle behind this movement is first to evade the strike than to use your bcalance and body weight to blast through the opponent.
Your connection to the ground can be transferred through your body into the shoulders which is the part of your body where you contact the opponent.
However, you can also strike the groin at the same time that you enter for the body check, then follow up with an upward elbow strike.
Shaolin kung fu includes all of the weapons
In the Shaolin system of Kung Fu the staff is the mother of all weapons. In addition, as you might deduce, it is also the oldest of all weapons.
The first person to ever use a staff was probably someone in danger who realized that if they picked up that broken tree branch, they would have an advantage in combat. In ancient times the staff was the first weapon taught to Shaolin Kung Fu students.
Weapons work such as staff training don't have a lot of practical usage in real-world self-defense. Although some might argue that in a self-defense situation a staff-like weapon, such as a broom, might somehow be available, what's the chance of getting into a fight near a broom?
Ancient weapons of Shaolin kung fu
However, I do believe that learning ancient weapons like the staff have tremendous value. First, you will learn how to coordinate your stance and tyour weapon to move together. Remember, your staff strikes will not have any power unless you can synchronize them with your footwork. The body and the weapon must be unified. Once they get this, most students will begin to understand the concept of leverage.
Secondly, the Shaolin staff training teaches is the concept of range. The staff form is very good for developing spacial awareness. As you can see in the video, The kung fu students practicing the staff, have to know whether their weapon would accidentally hit the mirrors or walls within the school.
Thirdly, Learning the staff also teaches students how to have rhythm and timing.
Lastly, In addition to teaching useful concepts, staff training is one of the best workouts you can do. The weight of the weapon itself, combined with having to use your stances and trying to put speed into your set come together to provide a total body workout. If you replace the wooden staff for a length of electrical conduit used in construction, you increase the weight you are whipping around and you can break a heavy sweat.
Standing Jointlocks
Jointlocks are great for when a person grabs a hold of you. It is a means of controlling your opponent without injuring them permanently.
When most men think about self defense, they imagine getting punched. However for most women, they visualize getting grabbed and abducted. This is one of their greatest fears.
Standing Jointlocks, also known in Chinese as "Chin Na" can alleviate some of your fears. It is very calming to know that you have a solution in case anyone tries to grab you.
Some of the things that make Kung Fu a practical martial art
Kung Fu is not unique in using these concepts, which makes sense because effective technique has universal core concepts
Blocking is really striking
The one caveat to the minimizing of movement in blocking is to not sacrifice any power.
Remember that all blocking is really striking.
In reality, when using blocking techniques, you are really striking the opponent's arm. You want to cause damage to his main weapons. Namely, his hands.
Speed is power
If a person needs to rely on physical strength alone to win a fight, the bigger and stronger person will always win.
The style of Shaolin Kung fu does not rely on strength. Instead, Shaolin Kung Fu uses speed to generate massive amounts of power.
There are a few key principles you need to know, of how kung fu increases the speed of techniques. Learning both principles and theory are equally important when learning martial arts.
Use your structure to hit rather than muscles
Muscular strength is great but very weak compared to using your skeletal structure to strike.
When you align your body correctly, power does not bounce back.
All of your force is transferred into your target. Nothing is wasted.
Some of the benefits of training in Kung Fu
The benefits are many. It really can improve your life.
Principles Of Speed In Shaolin Kung Fu
Make yourself faster through correct strategy.
In kicking, to attempt to kick an opponent to the upper body would mean that your foot would have to cover a greater distance to reach its target. Now, there are some instances where kicking above the waist would be effective, but in general, kicking below the waist is more effective. you want to target the knee and groin of your opponent.
The opposite would be true of hand techniques.
Attempting to punch someone in the knee would require your hand to travel a great distance and doesn’t make much sense. The best example of this principle in everyday life is to try and think of your own house. Two people start at the entrance and try to make their way to the back yard, one person walks all the way around the house to get to the back yard. The other person walks straight through the house. In both instances, they arrive at the same destination. However, walking around the house takes longer because of the greater distance covered.
Velocity
There is actual speed which we refer to as velocity: This is the type of speed that everyone is familiar with. The velocity of techniques like a punch or kick can be clocked in the feet per second. Only through relentless training can you gain this type of speed be gained.
Shorten the distance
Shaolin kung fu has many techniques that travel in a straight line. A straight line between two points is the shortest distance. Your punch cannot get any faster if you throw it in a straight line.
Shortening the distance between your hands and the opponent's face can be accomplished through heavy blocking. Think of a down block that simultaneously blocks and jerks the opponent's head forward. If one takes advantage of this forward jerking movement, one can double the power issued by forcing the opponent to ram his face into the oncoming fist. I want you to imagine a car crash. Now tell me, which car crash generates more force, a car crashing into another parked car or a head-on collision?
Conservation of motion
The third principle of gaining speed involves conservation of motion. Kung fu believes in striking without winding up. Shaolin Kung Fu does not use wind up and use arm power to generate force. Instead, Shaolin kung fu does not wind up any strikes. Shaolin Kung Fu uses the whole body to hit. Even very short movements, become devastating strikes when your body weight is behind it. The style of Kung fu always sets up the next movement while executing the first. This is to conserve time and motion
Reaction training in Shaolin kung fu
Lastly, you need to learn how to react instantly, to random attacks. In reacting to an attack, if a student has not practiced to the point of perfection, even serious martial artists may fail.
Reaction time is the hardest skill to develop. Even the most expert of fighters, still have to see the attack coming, process what to do, then react appropriately.
Now how do you block fast enough to overcome these hurdles?
The secret? There is only one answer.
You must first go from seeing thinking, reacting to seeing, reacting. Train relentlessly, until the reaction is built into your subconscious.
A kung fu student must go from seeing-thinking–reacting to seeing-reacting. This is similar to reflex action. In Western boxing, fighters practice the inside and outside slips ad-nauseum. The result? A good boxer no longer has to think about what to do. Rather, he flows with the situation. As we all know, The art of slipping can make a boxer virtually unhittable. The same principle applies to kung fu.
Reaction training in kung fu starts with scenarios. For example, your first defensive technique might be a counter technique to the right sucker punch. As you progress, your training becomes more difficult. Punches become more random, Next, kicks and takedowns are added into the equation. At the end of this process, students come out to be excellent fighters. They know that they are able to react to whatever attacks may come at them.
Our philosophy is that anything worth learning is worth learning well
The ONLY way to get good at something is to practice, practice, practice. There are no shortcuts. There are no secrets. Learning the ancient art of Shaolin Kung fu requires you to go through and overcome a very strenuous training regimen.
What you put into it is what you will get out of it. I believe that only through hard work and dedication can you achieve your goals in life.
How will training in the martial art of kung fu benefit you? Well, martial arts give you a chance to channel your energies into movement. By concentrating on developing your martial arts skill, men, women and children alike, can learn to focus longer, concentrate more and start to attain their full potential.
Self Discipline
Self-discipline and focus are intrinsic to learning the martial art of kung fu. Learning the power of self-discipline enables you to accomplish anything you set your mind to.
What's prevented you from enrolling in a martial arts school? Did you think joining a martial arts school is very intimidating? Or perhaps it's the fear that you would look foolish in front of others?
In short, we specialize in teaching beginners. The class environment at the school is only encouraging and never discouraging. Instructors are always patient and always progress students at their own pace. Finally, classes are challenging, it takes hard work and perseverance to succeed.
FAQ
We've tried to answer any questions you might have but if we've missed something you can always call us at 702-336-1095.
Answer: Yes, of course. You are welcome to observe or try a class. However, please contact us to schedule an appointment to come in. The trial class is free.
Answer: Wear comfortable clothing. Also, wearing flip-flops or sandals are the easiest. Our students are not allowed to have footwear on when training on our mats. However, when they do step off our mats footwear is required. Also, we recommend you bringing a water bottle.
Answer: Adult classes are 90 minutes. Also, you can checkout our class schedule here: https://www.lvshaolin.com/schedule/
Answer: You're never too old to start martial arts. indeed, we have student of all ages and at different fitness levels. Don't worry about not being in shape. Enrolling in martial arts will help you get in shape. Here at our school, you work at your own pace and set your own goals. in short, we are here to help you in reaching your own personal goals.
Answer: Yes, testing fees are $55 per student. Testing are held twice a year in April and October. In addition, Black belt testing fee is $100.
Answer: Of course! You don't need to have any experience to start. Eventually, you will improve and soon you will feel very comfortable in class.
Answer: Our program is on-going. in other words, you can start at anytime.
Answer: Everyone's schedule is different. Most people come twice a week. However, some students love our classes so much, they come everyday
Answer: Usually, if you are on a trial program, you can borrow our equipment. However, if you enroll in our regular program, you are required to have your own equipment eventually. In addition, your equipment packages can be purchased here at our martial arts studio.
Answer: Martial arts (like any other sport) has its various risks and dangers. However, we always try our best to prevent injuries. In addition, we always promote a culture of safety at our school that helps keep students from getting injured.
Interested in just Kung Fu?
Most people who just want to learn one style don't mesh well with the culture here. We always emphasize that all styles have limitations. Keep an open mind.
Here’s what people are saying about our school.
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I'm someone that has always had an interest in kung fu and martial arts but I was always too busy or lazy or scared to try a class at a kung fu school
Finally, I made an effort to try my first class. After my first class, I was hooked on kung fu. It felt good like something I needed.
Kung Fu has helped me in many ways. It has helped me improve my balance, agility, strength, and speed. Even more, the Kung Fu class has increased my mental focus and clarity. It has sharpened my reflexes.
One of the things I really like about this style of kung fu is the efficiency of movement.
Not only does Instructor Kevin teach us correct technique in forms and application (fighting) but, very importantly, he explains and tells you why.
There is a reason for every hand and foot position, and technique. Basically, Shaolin Kung fu is a very effective fighting style.
Anyone without any previous martial arts training will find easy to learn from a teacher as good as Instructor Kevin.
Jemil G.
Student
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"I can’t" was a phrase that I had gotten used to saying.
When I first stepped into the Kung Fu Academy, I didn’t know that it would change my life. Actually, I didn’t plan on joining, but they had a special offer where when my 2 kids joined I could train for free.
In any event, I decided to give Martial Arts a try for myself. I don’t remember much from my first class. However, I do know that after that first class I was hooked on how training made me feel.
I had gotten into the habit of using the phrase "I can't"
But as I started to progress and see results of my constant practice, that phrase changed to it's challenging but I can do this.
Now, martial arts influences countless aspects of my daily life. I feel confident. I feel pride.
Martial arts has given me more confidence to try new things, more perseverance when times are difficult, and more discipline to strive at the most important things in my life