Post by frankgooo on Aug 24, 2008 4:24:40 GMT -5
Shaolin Kung Fu Training in China, Traveller reports
Hi,
we trained one year Shaolin Kung Fu in the second largest Kung Fu school of China in Shaolin and would like to give our experiences, impressions and many tips to you.
As a child we watched all Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies and after many years of martial arts training in German, we thought of starting training at the origin of all kinds of martial arts - Shaolin. After various chinese contacts (with a translator - no one speaks German and it is hardly to find a chinese who speaks English) we started our journey to Beijing and with an inland flight to Zhengzhou, the capital of the Henan province.
The head master picked us up at the airport, unfortunately he couldn't speak one word English. He only had a large handpainted sign of the translator: "Please follow this person, he will bring you to the school". After 2 1/2 h we are arrived at shaolin. Thousands of students train in numerous schools (Meanwhile all schools in shaolin were destroyed and moved to the nearby city Dengfeng).
At the next morning we bought training equipment like shoes and clothes with the coach and after breakfast we started our training. The first day was OK - however the next 4 weeks were only pain.
05:30 - 07:00: Running, condition training in the mountains, i.e. climbing up stairs, hoping up stairs with left or right leg, moving down stairs with pushups, 1 1/2 h training.
Afterwards we strengthened our body with breakfast consisting of rice, noodles or deep-fried dough.
09:00 - 11:30: Morning training: Warming up with running, sprints in order to improve your speed, extreme stretching, splits and more, basic techniques such as Kicks, punches, stands.
12:00: Lunch consisting of rice, noodles (what else?) and vegetables, the legs are tired due to extreme stretching, the muscles are stone-hard. Unfortunately the room is on 4th floor but due to muscles pain each step is a hard fight. The toilets are in the ground floor so we had to use the stairs frequently. NOw it is time to relax.
14:30 - 18:00: Afternoon training: Warming up exercises and sprints. The emphasis in the afternoon training are acrobatic exercises (e.g. summer sault) and learning new forms. At the beginning we learnt Wu Bu Quan and Xiao Hong Quan, some simple fist forms. After that the movements become more complex and you will learn various acrobatics. At advanced level weapons are taught such as stick and sword, in addition three-stick, 9-section whip, spear, Shaolin meteor hammer and more.
18:30: Dinner as previously mentioned consisting of rice and noodles.
The first 4 weeks are very very extreme, your body doesn't know this kind of heavy training for 8 - 10 hours a day.
Muscles are everywhere hardened and each step means pain. There is one day off a week, so your body will be recovered. Temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius and the unusual food stresses the body too. Like all foreigners we got extreme diarrhea after the first week (5 days long). Immodium and other medicin didn't heal, only Chinese medicine got an improvement. After 4 weeks pain decreases to a "normal measure". Every day you will have pain but it is OK. After 4 weeks you will learn new forms, acrobatics and more so we recommend to stay at least 4 weeks. We never repented to live one year in shaolin training every day. We got many chinese friends. If we will get the opportunity we would like to to do this adventure again, even if the living conditions are extremely simple and primitive.
We wrote down our experiences, training conditions, the training, tips, many pictures and videos on our homepage, so please take a look at www.shaolin-wushu.de or www.trip-to-china.com.
China Kung Fu
www.shaolin-wushu.de - Shaolin Kung Fu Training in China, more than 1000 pictures and videos, traveller reports, Forum and more
www.trip-to-china.com - Learning Chinese language in china, Shaolin Kung Fu/Tai Chi/Sanda Training in China
www.shaolin-wushu.de
www.shaolin-wushu.de/en/index.html
<img>http://www.shaolin-wushu.de/video/qigong_luftballon.jpg</img>
<img>http://www.shaolin-wushu.de/video/taiqi_all.jpg</img>
Hi,
we trained one year Shaolin Kung Fu in the second largest Kung Fu school of China in Shaolin and would like to give our experiences, impressions and many tips to you.
As a child we watched all Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies and after many years of martial arts training in German, we thought of starting training at the origin of all kinds of martial arts - Shaolin. After various chinese contacts (with a translator - no one speaks German and it is hardly to find a chinese who speaks English) we started our journey to Beijing and with an inland flight to Zhengzhou, the capital of the Henan province.
The head master picked us up at the airport, unfortunately he couldn't speak one word English. He only had a large handpainted sign of the translator: "Please follow this person, he will bring you to the school". After 2 1/2 h we are arrived at shaolin. Thousands of students train in numerous schools (Meanwhile all schools in shaolin were destroyed and moved to the nearby city Dengfeng).
At the next morning we bought training equipment like shoes and clothes with the coach and after breakfast we started our training. The first day was OK - however the next 4 weeks were only pain.
05:30 - 07:00: Running, condition training in the mountains, i.e. climbing up stairs, hoping up stairs with left or right leg, moving down stairs with pushups, 1 1/2 h training.
Afterwards we strengthened our body with breakfast consisting of rice, noodles or deep-fried dough.
09:00 - 11:30: Morning training: Warming up with running, sprints in order to improve your speed, extreme stretching, splits and more, basic techniques such as Kicks, punches, stands.
12:00: Lunch consisting of rice, noodles (what else?) and vegetables, the legs are tired due to extreme stretching, the muscles are stone-hard. Unfortunately the room is on 4th floor but due to muscles pain each step is a hard fight. The toilets are in the ground floor so we had to use the stairs frequently. NOw it is time to relax.
14:30 - 18:00: Afternoon training: Warming up exercises and sprints. The emphasis in the afternoon training are acrobatic exercises (e.g. summer sault) and learning new forms. At the beginning we learnt Wu Bu Quan and Xiao Hong Quan, some simple fist forms. After that the movements become more complex and you will learn various acrobatics. At advanced level weapons are taught such as stick and sword, in addition three-stick, 9-section whip, spear, Shaolin meteor hammer and more.
18:30: Dinner as previously mentioned consisting of rice and noodles.
The first 4 weeks are very very extreme, your body doesn't know this kind of heavy training for 8 - 10 hours a day.
Muscles are everywhere hardened and each step means pain. There is one day off a week, so your body will be recovered. Temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius and the unusual food stresses the body too. Like all foreigners we got extreme diarrhea after the first week (5 days long). Immodium and other medicin didn't heal, only Chinese medicine got an improvement. After 4 weeks pain decreases to a "normal measure". Every day you will have pain but it is OK. After 4 weeks you will learn new forms, acrobatics and more so we recommend to stay at least 4 weeks. We never repented to live one year in shaolin training every day. We got many chinese friends. If we will get the opportunity we would like to to do this adventure again, even if the living conditions are extremely simple and primitive.
We wrote down our experiences, training conditions, the training, tips, many pictures and videos on our homepage, so please take a look at www.shaolin-wushu.de or www.trip-to-china.com.
China Kung Fu
www.shaolin-wushu.de - Shaolin Kung Fu Training in China, more than 1000 pictures and videos, traveller reports, Forum and more
www.trip-to-china.com - Learning Chinese language in china, Shaolin Kung Fu/Tai Chi/Sanda Training in China
www.shaolin-wushu.de
www.shaolin-wushu.de/en/index.html
<img>http://www.shaolin-wushu.de/video/qigong_luftballon.jpg</img>
<img>http://www.shaolin-wushu.de/video/taiqi_all.jpg</img>
