I really like the forms and movements in shaolin,i think they look class!! but how true is it when people say?

its useless in a real situation!!! i can defend myself as i done muay thai and american kick boxing for a while! but would this help me defend myself better or just look like a jet li film

I really like the forms and movements in shaolin,i think they look class!! but how true is it when people say?
Shaolin is a very good real life school of self defense. True some moves and aspects may be outdated (who fights against a spear anymore?) but most of the Shaolin techniques still apply today. As far as unarmed combat goes Shaolin was once the best in the world and it is still very good today.





The art most people say is impractical is Wushu. It is not the same as Shaolin at all. Wushu is another form of Kung Fu founded by Communist China after they realized that they were destroying classic Kung Fu within their borders through religious restrictions. Since most classical Kung Fu was based on religious institutions like the Shaolin temple, restricting the operations of such groups meant no more Kung Fu training.





So Wushu was born. In an effort to make it look and feel more classical it adopted some of the most old fashioned aspects of classical Kung Fu styles: Wide and low stances, long circular movements, slow and complicated forms, and lots of loud slapping and shouting. Wushu is very pretty and is used in most Kung Fu movies. It isn't useless, it can be an effective fighting style, but it takes years before you learn how to use the forms they teach on the street.





Shaolin and Wushu are very different. Shaolin is a real fighting art.
Reply:Not true, Shaolin is a defence form and you can do some serious damage with it if taught properly.
Reply:...They never spar or actually test anythings out. Their technique are way outdate. The way they train aren't effective. It's just for show. Nothing more.
Reply:YOU, and I say you, can apply any style or tech. to work in a real life encounter. I train in Aikido and it get's bashed kind of hard sometimes. As that go's I have made it a very effective part of my over all ability. I have used the idea and concepts many times in my mma fights. A lot of people say it wouldn't work, I know better. As for me it can and does work, so keep that in mind. Maybe Shaolin forms will not work for some but would for others. I, personally, have been around a Pai Lum Kung Fu school for many years. My personal view is that the style would not help me in real life, but for others it may. Most people look at this sort of thing as black and white, it eithers works or dosen't work. I try to look at everything in grey's. There is not black and white / yes or no answer to any question. The best answer I could give is that you should try it out, find out for yourself if is a viable addition to your self defense. Does it work? The question should be does it work for you. And the only way you'll know that is if you give it a try. LIsten to others view but in the end the best way to find out a question like this is to try it and see for your self.
Reply:Fighting with out doing a form


would be like swimming with out learning to swim.


It's practice - in the middle of a real fight your muscle memory will take over and you will kick ***.
Reply:ok, out of all the chinese martial arts out there (a category of martial arts that is known for having bad training due to a number of reasons I will explain below) shaolin is one of if not the MOST suspect.





1- CMAs in general do not train with resistance, if you took muai thai (which gyms will train with resistance) you should know this and you should know what to expect out of a martial arts gym.





2- the "forms" in CMA are and were developed for a number of reasons which we can all mentally masturbate from now till the day our lord and savoir spuds mckenzie comes and saves our souls on judgement day. Fact is whether they were put in to make it look not like a martial art, or because teachers screwed up and misinterpreted things without testing them and it just happened over and over because of "tradition", whatever. CMA is full of many useless forms that are capitalized on by the entertainment industry to "look nice".





3- lack of resistance training.





A large number of CMA schools tran without resistance, or with substituted ideas that they claim are "resistance" like chi sau or tai chi type pushing hands. There are two main problems with this:





a- they are not substitutes to real resistance because the excercise itself has limited applicability and isn't realistic resistance.





b- even if it is it is not taught by the teacher how to get into that unusual position and take it into your advantage.
Reply:Go to China, attack someone wearing an orange robe and see what happens... Not effective pfft...
Reply:if you know the form,s you pick them apart and use what you need you don,t do the whole form \ yes shaolin is a very traditonal system but if you use what is thire and adapt it is very use full you don,t think the monk,s had ever thing layed out do you you adapt and use what work,s
Reply:Ok, this never happened to me personally, but I got this from a first point account at a classmate at my academy.





He was approached behind by his older brother who was attempting to scare him, and when his brother grabbed him, he instinctively turned around and did an punch upwards into the face, then he went automatically into the rest of the form which involved grabbing and kneeing.





And I'd say it probably was true cause he isn't the type of persons to make up random stories like this...