Kung Fu and Fighting Skill

[Troy Dunwood]

Chinese Martial Arts is perhaps one of the oldest forms of unarmed combat. It is comprised of the external and internal methods. Generally speaking most westerners associate the title Kung Fu as boxing skill when actually it is the foundation of boxing and weaponry. The term Kung Fu literally means hard work or skill acquired. In terms of Chinese Martial Arts this would mean the development stage for performing or executing boxing and weaponry skills, for example to be good at boxing one must have a firm kung fu foundation which serves as the necessary building blocks as: Stance, Footwork, Breath Control as well as body development. Most students of martial arts nowadays spend the majority of their practice time with the exercising of hand and weapons forms while lacking the time spent to develop the body to properly execute such skills. In the kung fu of olden days a student was generally tested in the apprentice stage of Chinese martial arts training usually by being required to practice the Horse Stance. This type of training served to test the students will, perseverance, while also training the legs and waist which plays a vital role in the mastery of traditional Chinese Martial Art. Kung Fu is the beginning stage of real Chinese Martial Arts training, this phase of ones training should be met with a valiant effort with maximum determination. In the end one will have a strong foundation to build upon thereby allowing the learner to reach great heights in their martial arts learning.