Basic Shaolin hand-to-hand combat forms

[Shaolinstudent]

What are the first five forms that are learned in shaolin gong fu. Or name any if you know any like Xiao Hong Quan, Da Hong Quan, Tong Zi Gong and Lohan Shi Ba Shou, or any other begining styles.

[Lucas]

xiao/dahongquan are the first you will learn. i decided to stop after those two, personally. i learned two different versions of dahongquan, which ive since combined for my own dahongquan, ive also made minor adjustments to xiaohongquan based on the way shi deyang demonstrates his. my xiaohongquan is pretty well set where it is, but im constantly adjusting and working on my dahongquan.

ive also adapted 'street versions' of each set. this is just something i personally do. the form and techniques are all still there, but there are some adjustments ive made due to the way people generally fight here in the US. my personal versions carry more over into what ive experience and witnessed in my life, as well as influence from other areas of martial arts, and the interactions and learnings ive had from various other styles. for instance, many of the stances are raised, and the guards closed tighter. a good comparison is when you see someone peform a set, and then watch that person fight with the same material, it is somewhat similar but the actuality of combat forces change from the classical material. its more of a 'street fighting' version that I like to practice. completely seperately from the traditional versions. there was a point where i just decided to make the hong sets my 'style' you could say.

then there is the whole internal aspect of the sets....

at this point im satisfied with just those two sets for my empty hand sets. i had also learned several northern longfist sets, a couple nanquan sets, and various weapon sets.

i still practice many of the techniques removed but have dropped all empty hand sets except the hong forms. ive retained the weapons because they are really fun.

if you are currently trying to learn on your own until you find a teacher, a good set you can practice is your basic stances.

for instance:

start in a standing position, and then step into horse, pull back into empty/cat, then down into ding bu (sry i dont remember the english name, but its in shaolin sets: EDIT: I think its refered to as a T stance sometimes), shoot forward into bow, fall back to a drop stance, step through for a resting stance, twist for a sitting/twisting stance, twist to back standing position. then repeat on opposite side. do till your fall over exhausted ;)

i often combine offensive and defensive hand techniques in the stance sequences.

you can make your own combination based on what stances you do currently know. you can also make differing variations to keep it more vercitile.

this will help you on your transitioning between stances which will benefit you when you are doing your sets, or when you are using stances combined with footwork in freefighting.

[sha0lin1]

What are the first five forms that are learned in shaolin gong fu. Or name any if you know any like Xiao Hong Quan, Da Hong Quan, Tong Zi Gong and Lohan Shi Ba Shou, or any other begining styles.

One of the first forms you learn is Lian Huan Quan. Wu Bu Quan is another, it is a Modern form that has been adopted because it teaches the five basic stances so well.

[Shaolin]

Depends on the teacher. I teach Small Arhat before Small and Large Flood. I feel it gives the students a boost on their balance, coordination, flexibility, strength and endurance. Every teacher is going to have his or her own reasons for teaching which sets at what time. You can bet you'll probably learn Small and Large flood along with Long Fist in your begining levels.

[ktkungfu]

Any videos of real shaolin forms?

[Sal Canzonieri]

Any videos of real shaolin forms?

yeah, just go to youtube and look up my name as salcanzonieri and you will find a load of them that i have posted there, and you can look at all my subscriptions and find a lot more too.

[Sal Canzonieri]

What are the first five forms that are learned in shaolin gong fu. Or name any if you know any like Xiao Hong Quan, Da Hong Quan, Tong Zi Gong and Lohan Shi Ba Shou, or any other begining styles.

I learned the Soft Boxing (Rou Quan) tradition from Shaolin, which is this material:

Liuhe Gong (6 Harmony exercises or skills)
Chan Yuan Gong (Zen Circular skills)
Luohan 13 Gong

Chan Yuan Quan
Luohan 13 Quan
Rou Quan 36 postures Yi Lu and Er Lu
Rou Quan 108 postures
Rou Xing Chui

then, Shaolin Long Fist:

Taizhu Chang Quan 32 postures
Xiao Hong Quan Yi Lu and Er Lu
Lao Xiao Da Hong Quan
Da Hong Quan 1 to 6 Lu
Lao Hong Quan 1 to 4 Lu
Pao Quan
Pao Chui sets (various)
Tongbi Quan sets (various)

Luohan 18 Shou (Hands) 1 to 8 Lu
Luohan Quan sets (Xiao, Da, Er Lu)
13 Spear
36 Staff

That's a complete traditional Shaolin system, nothing modern there. Started in 1975.