Shaolin kung fu?

hi i'm a 16 year old male and i'm wanting to take shaolin kung fu but i am wondering if it is useful in a real fight, also is shaolin kung fu mostly about kicks punches or grapples? also would this be a good martial art for me to take? i'm looking for a martial art that teaches some self defense techniques.

Shaolin kung fu?
One of the main keys of studying martial arts is to find something you enjoy. I love my Chinese Internal arts class and find it relaxing to run through forms and moves. Most classes will let you take a couple of freebies to see what you think. Take some in your area and find the one that you find comfortable. If you hate your art you won't put your all into it. As for self defense any art will help.
Reply:Shaolin Kung Fu is kicking, punching, grapple, kicking in the groin, eye jabs and everything to defend against those attacks.


We also do sparring.


We also do forms for each belt grading.





You would certainly be able to have a advantage over a fight if you are a good fighter (that's if you stay calm and defend instead of going all out offense).





Shaolin Kung fu is one of the most powerful fighting styles. It is how well you apply the techniques used and most of the techniques are fairly efficient.
Reply:since when does the real shaolin kung fu start grading with belts ? when did they start sceeming for money ?


Look mate shaolin is ok mainly cause of the name people love it.


But REAL thugs and criminal attemps are a bit more advanced and changed in the last 300 yrs you should try something a bit more up to date that handles with real criminals.
Reply:boxing and judo are supposed to be good for self defence but i have never done them





i do karate and freestyle karate and out of the 2 only freestly karate even come close to self defence and only cause it uses muay thai/ boxing punches and round kicks
Reply:The Shaolin styles of kung fu are rather varied. Some are grappling (Chin Na) heavy, while some emphasize punches, others kicks. There are many many chuan (forms) in Shaolin too. This is why Shaolin is the springboard for most of the great martial arts today.
Reply:I do choy li fut kung fu which has shaolin roots. Pure shaolin doesn't grapple, but luckily most of the schools have adapted and added this in since the ground game is so important. A good thing about kung fu is that it is a style that has a wide variety and teaches you to use your whole body in a fight. If you happen to be smaller, kung fu is good because it teaches you to use your oppoents force against them. As far as real fighting goes, I think all martial arts are useful because the primary idea is teaching your self to respond to an attack. Practicing response and getting teaching yourself to have natural reflexes is the most important thing in my opinion.