northern long fist

[sall the same]

Hi i have recently decided i will begin training in northern shaolin kung fu. I have extensive training in taekwondo and i would like to know what kind of differences to look forward to in this transfer. Mostly so that i may make some changes to my training. I searched the net and could not find much info on this style, so if their are any practitioners or people who just hav general insight on this style please let me know.

[BruceSteveRoy]

is it contemporary wushu long fist or traditional long fist?

[sall the same]

im assuming that it would be traditional. the school is Pan Yue Chaun. does that help?

[zhangxihuan]

well if you have a good school there should be significant differences. The forms or "kata" will be a lot different. You will probably start off with "spring leg" techniques or some such. Its fun.

[Judge Pen]

If you did TKD, you should be flexible. There will be more stance training and more transitioning from very low to very high stances. Your hands will be more involved and your body and techniques will be more flowing. You should do well with the jumping techniques.

[sall the same]

thas cool. should i do more arm exercises. we do some punches in tkd, but they are few and far between. from the sound of that kung fu i will be doing more arm techniques.

[Judge Pen]

thas cool. should i do more arm exercises. we do some punches in tkd, but they are few and far between. from the sound of that kung fu i will be doing more arm techniques.

Yes you will. Northern long fist is known for its legs, but the kicks will be different and the arms are much more involved. The atleticism is used to move in and out of distance and strike through your target. It's very fun if you are athletic enough to do the moves properly.

[norther practitioner]

Your kicks are going to vary from slightly to greatly from TKD...

Who are you planning on studying with? Where are you located, you'd be surprised what you can find out if you ask.

[GLW]

Many MIGHT say that there is a lot of crossover...but this is erroneous.

This is like saying that there is a lot of crossover in moving from Ballet to Tab dance.

The big difference is in approach and body mechanics.

For northern long fist, there is a major emphasis on extension and doing this from the waist. For example, if you are in Gong Bu - front stance, and with right leg forward, and throw a punch with the right hand, you will tend to keep square in a TKD approach (from my experience with things like Moo Duk Kwan long ago) while in a northern long fist approach, you will turn the waist to extend the punch as far as you can while still maintaining a stable stance. The translated principle is "One inch longer, one inch stronger".

If you then punch with the left hand (commonly called a reverse punch), you turn the waist from the left to the right to again extend the punch as far as possible. This one is the harder of the two because of the cross body extension. It DOES cause the waist and spine to be more supple and extendable.

So, in a TKD sense, you would see hip type power more while the entire body shifts and pivots in northern long fist. (this is often not done or understood by a lot of people...and NOT done that way at all in more traditional southern styles.)

The other thing that is different will be doing two or more things at once. TKD rarely does a hand technique combined with a kick. In northern long fist, the first thing you will encounter in a moving sense will be Tan Tui (not the form but the technique). This is a walking drill where you kick with the right leg, punch at the same time with the left hand, then left kick, right punch, etc... across the floor.

If you keep the shoulders square as a TKD method, the punch is worthless. It can't reach. If you do the waist turn as described, you will have an option to come closer to the extension of the leg with the punch. (even moreso if you have shorter legs and in relation to your torso).

So, the big thing to work on will be the flavor and body mechanic approach. It IS different.