What do you think of Kung Fu as a martial art. Note... hundreds of kung fu styles... more specifically... Northern Shaolin... and the style the monks used to train in as their basics. If you have no direct experience? what do you think? if you have had contact? what do you think? if you study other martial arts and trained or havnt trained in KF ... what do you think of it?|||I%26#039;ve got 32 years experience in a southern Chinese style of kung fu - (a five family system of Tsoi-Li-Ho-Fut-Hung ga) and hold a Master%26#039;s rank. This is a fighting style, not show or artsy style of kung fu.
As you said, there are hundreds of Chinese styles and some are mere showiness, with little, if any, actual fighting prowess. However, there are also many which are devastating fighting arts. They are brutal, direct, and deadly. It depends on the style as well as the teacher and the student. The best fighting art in the world is useless if the teacher can%26#039;t teach it or the student refuses to do what is necessary to make the art effective - i.e, train, work correctly, and not namby-pamby about as if the name of the art itself was like some magical talisman which protects against all comers.
I have seen some outstanding Northern Shaolin style fighters! and I do NOT use the term fighter loosely. These people were world class fighters by anyone%26#039;s definition, anywhere. I%26#039;ve also seen some who were so caught up in useless idiocies that all an actual fighter could do was to laugh at their sheer lunacy.
The sad thing is that many schools, not only Chinese, but Japanese, Korean, Thai, etc., in the country have degenerated into sort of McDojo%26#039;s - run to get as many people thru as quickly as possible with as little skill as could possibly be imparted.
There are also some absolutely top FIGHTING schools in almost all of the arts (I%26#039;m not one who believes all styles are equally worthwhile - some are simply for show or sport ) but I am one who firmly believes that if someone in a good fighting style doesn%26#039;t train well, doesn%26#039;t take it seriously, doesn%26#039;t fight full out when it%26#039;s necessary - then that someone will be creamed by someone who%26#039;s trained in an inferior art, but who took it very seriously.
So to try to answer you question a bit more directly - I think kung fu (again remembering that we%26#039;re talking about hundreds of styles when we use this term) can be one of the most effective fighting arts on the planet. It can also be one of the biggest jokes, depending on which art and which student we%26#039;re discussing.
If you are looking at any particular art for yourself, the best thing to do is to visit the school Don%26#039;t make your decision based on one day. Visit a few times. See how the people interact with the instructor and with each other. If they don%26#039;t even seem like they like each other or are obnoxiously cocky - run, don%26#039;t walk, to the exit. Are you required to sign a contract or do they go month to month and want you there because you want to learn? (Both have their advocates, I%26#039;m a definite no-contract kind of guy). Do they charge you to test? Or is the testing part of what they do because they are supposed to help you learn? All of these are things you should find out and evaluate for yourself.
If you want a fighting art for self defense, find out how much time is actually put into that. How much into form work. How much into weapons skill. If you are looking for competition, then find a school which specializes in that - not necessarily stuff that%26#039;s actually effective on the street - but stuff that wows the judge and the audience. So, basically, find what you want and go with it.|||i like it very much..it makes us flexible..it helps in self protection and all...but unfortunately i dont have a kung fu teacher in my place..however i practice from what i see in movies...y do u have some ways to help me!!?
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