SHAOLIN KUNG-FU TRAINING

Zero to Hero

‘Kung-Fu (功夫)’ means a skill to practice and perfect. Shaolin (少林) Kung-Fu1 is
combination of martial arts and Zen Buddhism, developed by the monks of Shaolin temple
in 1500 years.

Kung-Fu has 2 types of skills:

- Body: bodybuilding exercises, including hardness, power, stamina, speed, flexibility,

balance, and control of the body, also meditation2 develops internal energy.

- Mind: fighting techniques, tactics, and strategies for barehanded, weapon, and
barehanded vs weapon against single or a group of opponents.

- Time: Shaolin monks practice daily except one or a couple of days a week to rest. It takes
a couple of hours, at any time of the day or night. It includes daily meditation, body
building, and fight skills, which are done together or in different sessions.
Keep your weekly practice time; if you practice less days, increase daily practice times; for
example, if for practicing 6 days a week you follow a time schedule, for 4 days a week
increase it to 1.5 times, for 3 days, to twice as long, and for 2 days thrice as long.

- Place: ‘Shaolin Kung-Fu is trained in a lying ox’s place,’ which means a small place.

- Clothing: ‘Proper clothes for the warmth and the cold, but do not be afraid of the weather.’

- Results: ‘Practice 100 days for difference, 1000 days to achieve skills, and 10000 days for
mastery.’

1 Shaolin Kung-Fu (YouTube): Complete series including hundreds of video tutorials by Shaolin masters.
2 Yang Jwing-Ming’s ‘Qigong for Health and Martial Arts’ and his other books.
1
 Shaolin Kung-Fu Body Building

Kung-Fu body building includes 7 categories of exercises: hardness, power, stamina, speed,
flexibility, balance, and control of the body. Shaolin body exercises are called the '72 arts'
by the folks, but the actual number of exercises could count much more or less, depending
on how they are categorized. Here, the exercises are categorized into the above 7 types,
which makes them much easier to understand and more general to practice. These skills
can be practiced and mastered at any age.

Warm-up for body building

Warming up before exercises to prevent injuries to the body. Shaolin monks loosen up by
rotating the joints of the body to and fro.
– Repetition of each move: 10 slow to fast, routine time: 3 minutes

Arms:

Wrists Elbows Shoulders

Legs:

Ankles Knees Hips

Trunk:

Waist Back Neck

At the end, loosen up whole the body and shake all limbs.

2
 Flexibility

Soft Kung-Fu3 is the set of stretching exercises. In each exercise hold the position, begin
with 3-5 soft bounces to wake up the muscle group, then lock the posture by tensing the
muscles and hold stretching still for 10 deep breaths, soft to hard. It takes about 1 minute.
Do all these exercises daily. Mastery level, when you can do these final postures with ease,
takes about 5 years of continuous training. There are many stretching postures with
similar purposes; these are the most famous postures and their usual variants.

– Routine time: 10 minutes

Exercise: Hands grab a string, turn shoulders and arms

back and forth, try with the shortest possible length of
string. At advanced level, do with palms joined together.

1
Lazy monk salutes Buddha (懒僧拜佛)

Exercise: Feet apart, arc backward, land palms behind.

Pre-variant 2
Bridge (桥) Hide flower under the leaf (叶底藏花)

3 柔功: rou gong

3
Exercise: Sit or stand, bend forward and try to pass
your shoulders through your legs and place your legs
behind your back.

3 3
Coiling dragon (青龙卷腰) Golden rooster stands on one leg (金鸡独立)

Exercise: ‘Clasp Buddha’s foot’: One leg squats, other leg straight
in front, hands pull back its toes, bend forward with straight spine,
try to touch the toes with your chin; switch legs.
Try ‘front split’, legs straight; switch legs. At advanced level,
combine these to ‘posture 4’.

Pre-variant Pre-variant 4
Clasp Buddha’s foot (抱佛腳) Front split (竖叉) Skyward step (朝天蹬)

Exercise: ‘Clasp Buddha’s foot’: One leg squats, other leg straight
to side, hands pull back its toes, bend sideward with straight spine,
try to touch the toes with your head; switch legs.
Try ‘side split’, legs straight. At advanced level, combine these to
‘Posture 5’.

Pre-variant Pre-variant 5
Side clasp Buddha’s foot (抱佛腳) Side split (橫叉) Side skyward step (朝天蹬)

4
 Balance

Light-body exercises are better learned by using supports, like leaning to a wall, etc., at the
beginning. Practice for 10 minutes or so daily by holding still or doing push-ups/sit-ups
in one or a couple of postures. At the mastery level, one may load weights on his body in
balance postures. There are many balance postures with similar purposes; these are the
most famous postures and their usual variants.

1
Arhat salutes Buddha (罗汉拜佛)

2
Swallow balance (燕式平衡)
aka Dragon surfs on sea (蛟龙探海) 3
Reverse swallow balance

4
Child salutes Buddha of compassion
(童子拜观音) 5
Sleeping fish carries Buddha (卧鱼载佛)

5
 6
Midair meditation
(悬空打坐)
aka Buddha ascends to heaven
(迎佛升天)

7
Arm support (臂扶撑)

8 Advanced variant
Handstand (倒立) Two-finger meditation ()

9, Elbow stand
Headstand monument (头倒载碑)

10
Upside-down salute Buddha (倒拜佛)

6
 Of the 72 skills/arts/methods/techniques kung/yi/fa/shu 艺/功/
法/术, every monk selects a few skills to practice and master.

Hardness

Hard-body exercises harden the body by hitting it against hard objects.

1- "Body-building with self-hitting":

1. Metal bell cover (金钟罩: jin zhong zhao)

2. Serial hits (排打: pai da)
3. Twin locks (双锁: shuang suo)
4. Knock groins (门裆: men dang)
5. Tortoise back (龟背: gui bei) aka Iron back
6. Iron knees (铁膝: tie xi)

7. Iron ox (铁牛: tie niu) aka Iron stomach (tie dai)

8. Iron robe (铁布衫: tie bu shan)

2- "Body-building with hard objects":

+ Hitting:

9. Meteor poles (流星桩: liuxing zhuang) aka Standing like a pile and
hit a pile (zhan zhuang da zhuang)

10. Iron head (铁头: tie tou)

11. Iron arms (铁臂: tie bi)
12. Iron sand hands (铁砂掌: tie sha zhang)
Hands of 5 poisons (五毒手: wu du shou) aka 5 poisons chase sand
palms (五毒追砂掌: wu du zhui sha zhang) aka Palm of 5 thunders
13. Mantis claws (螳螂爪: tanglang zhao) aka Diamond hand (jingang
shou)
14. Brick-breaking fist (in Deqiang's jibengong book)
15. Bullet fists (弹子拳: dan zi quan)
16. Metal spade fingers (金铲指: jin chan zhi) aka Immortal hand (
仙人掌: xian ren zhang)
17. Poke stone (点石: dian shi)
18. One diamond finger (一指金刚: yi zhi jin gang)
19. Guitar playing (琵琶: pipa) aka Springy fingers (zhi tou tan)
20. Iron sweeping broom (铁扫帚: tie sao zhu)
21. Kick wooden pole (踢木桩: ti mu zhuang)
22. Trampling foot () (in Deqiang’s jibengong book)

7
 23. Metal sand hands (金砂掌: jin sha zhang) aka Rub and pierce (摩插:
mo cha)

24. Bawang’s elbows (霸王肘: bawang zhou)

Power

3- "Body-building with hard objects":

+ Pressing:

25. Rubbing palms (合盘掌: he pan zhang)

26. Catching dragon hands (擒龙手: qin long shou): twisting palms

27. Locking fingers (锁指: suo zhi)

28. Pinch flower (拈花: nian hua)

+ Pulling:

29. Pull nails (拔钉: ba ding)

30. Pull mountain (拔山: ba shan)

4- "Body-building with heavy objects":

+ Throwing:

31. Sack of iron beads (铁珠袋: tie zhu dai)

+ Hitting:

- Hung bag:
32. Eagle wings (鹰翼: ying yi)
33. Bamboo leaf palms (竹叶手: zhu ye shou) aka Copper sand palms (铜
砂掌: tong sha zhang) aka Palm rotating sand (fan sha zhang)

+ Pushing:

34. Water separation (分水: fen shui)

8
 35. Lash power (鞭劲: bian jin)

36. Cloth bag (布袋: bu dai)

+ Lifting:

- Dumbbells:

37. Frog (dumbbells) (蛤蟆: hama)

38. Eagle claws force (鹰爪力: ying zhao li) aka Dragon claws (long
zhao)

- Kettlebell:

39. Kettlebell (石锁: shi suo)

40. Carry 500 kilo (提千斤: ti qian jin) aka Water chestnut (shi bo qi,
bi qi)

- Halter:

41. 500-kilo halter (千斤闸: qian jin zha)

42. Crouching tiger (卧虎: wo hu) aka Sleeper (shui) aka Feline (mao):
(first it's like chest press)
43. Slithering snake (蛇行: she xing) aka Jumping centipede (蜈蚣跳: wu
gong tiao)

44. Hug tree (抱树: bao shu)

45. Horse saddle (马鞍: ma an)

46. Pole of cypress (柏木桩: bai mu zhuang)?

47. RuYi ring (如意圈: ru yi quan)

5- "Body-building with hanging from bars and ropes":

48. Flip and soar (翻腾: fan teng) aka leather strips (pi tiao)

Stamina

49. Reveal truth (揭谛: jie di) aka 18 summersaults

9
50. Strike wooden dummy (打木人: da mu ren)
51. 1000 sheets of paper (千层纸: qian ceng zhi)
52. kicking legs (腿踢: tui ti)

53. Pot raising (上罐: shang guan)

54. Stone pile (石桩: shi zhu)
55. Jade belt (玉带: yu dai) aka Continuous round of the universe (qian
kun juan)

Speed

56. Dodge and fight (闪战: shan zhan) aka sand bags (沙包: sha bao):
'??? (金刀换掌; jin dao huan zhang)'

57. Spears and knives cannot wound (枪刀不入: qiang dao bu ru)

58. Devil-chopper sword (斩魔剑: zhan mo jian)

59. Shooting feet (足射: zu she)

60. Pushing mountain palms (推山掌: tui shan zhang) aka 1-inch push
(cun jin)
61. Hard and soft (刚柔: gang rou) aka 1000 sheets of paper (千层纸:
qian ceng zhi)?

62. Bodhisattva Guan Yin's palm (观音掌: guan yin zhang)

63. Yin hands (阴手: yin shou) aka Yin fists (阴拳: yin quan) aka
Mysterious air punch (玄空拳: xuankong quan) aka Well fist (jing
quan); Wind-Chasing palms (追风掌: zhui feng zhang) aka Sun-rays
hands (阳光手: yang guang shou)

64. Flight walking (飞行: fei xing) aka Flight over the earth (?陆地飞
行?) aka Solitary walk of 1000 LI aka Night walking

+ 陆地飞行??

6- "Body-building with walking, running, and jumping":

65. Light body (轻身: jin shen)

66. Walk on string (一线穿: yi xian chuan)

67. Plum-blossom poles (梅花桩: mei hua zhuang)

10
 68. Run on boards (跑板: pao ban)

69. Deft jumps (蹿纵: cuan zong)

70. High jumping (跳跃: tiao yue) aka Higher and further (登髙超远: deng
gao chao yuan)

71. Fly to roofs and walk on walls (飞檐走壁: fei yan zou bi) aka 8
steps in the horizontal position (heng pai ba bu)

72. Lizard climbs wall (壁虎游墙: bihu you qiang) aka Climbing a wall
(pa bi) aka Hung picture (gua hua)

7- "Body-building with water":

73. qiu shui 浪里钻 (泅水)': Swimming,

Senses and Control

74. Hung gold coin (悬金钱: xuan jin qian)

75. Hung Buddha's pearl (挂佛珠: gua fo zhu)

76. Hung cotton ball (悬棉椎: xuan mian chui)

77. Kick hung weights (踢称锤: ti chen chui)

78. Pass through the curtain (穿帘: chuan lian)

79. Enlightened (罗汉: luohan)

80. Ant counting ()

81. Draw in Yin (吸阴: xi yin)

Control Internal Energy (Qi):

82. Whirlwind palms (旋风掌: xuanfeng zhang) aka Cinnabar sand palms (朱
砂掌: zhu sha zhang) aka Plum-blossom palms (梅花掌: mei hua zhang)
aka Red sand palms (紅砂掌: hong sha zhang)

83. One-finger meditation (一指禅: yi zhi chan)

+ 软玄 : =xi yin?

11
Some exercises could be trained in collaboration between two or more persons…

Iron sand hand: each palm 30~50 time, 100 day; 50 time after 100 day.

Sand claw: Rice, 50~100 time (until claws get numbed), 2~3 month; then with sand; then iron, 30~50 time, 1 year;
50~130 time; then wall, more than 100 time daily, after a long time one can make a hole in the wall.

Punch: 0-100 time, 3~5 month; more than 100 time; after the pain vanish, 3~4 session daily, each session 50 time, 3~4
month later can break brick; then with stone, continue 10, 20, or 30 year.

In body hardening, don’t use hard objects from the beginning, they damage your body, make objects harder over the
years.
Head: Both fists punch head, morning and evening 30~50 time, 3 month; 100 time, 1 year; 300 time 1 year; continue
3~5 year; then hit head with a staff 45 cm long 5 cm thick, grab it with both hands, slow to fast, light to heavy, morning and
evening, 30~50 time, 3 month; 50~100 time 1 year; 100~300 time 3 year; after success hit head to wall, 10~15 time,
light to heavy, slow to fast, 3 month; 50~100 time 6 month; 100~300 time 3 year.

Jump: Hole 30 cm, 3~5 minute; morning and evening 15~20 time, until about 1.5 meter.

In case of injuries, wait until after the healing, then continue on.

Combat warm-up

Begin lightly, by jogging, gradually do them quicker and heavier to beyond your endurance
limits. When you cannot do anymore, you should do more and harder. You improve day by
day. do some exercises for 10 minutes or so daily: jog, run forwards, sideways, backwards,
zigzag, stationary run, high-knee run, run raise foot forward, run raise foot backwards, jumping
run, sprint, jump, turning jump, single-foot jump, high-knee jump, squat, squat walk, squat hop,
crawl, roll, somersault, punch, kick, ….

12