REAL Kung-Fu Fighting!

Does kung-fu really work? This is a familiar question any kung-fu practitioner is likely to face. I’d say, the answer is of course it works, but it depends…

There are two sides to this question: 1. The efficiency of the techniques. 2 The efficiency of how they’re practised.

Many kung-fu techniques, especially within the animal styles, are absolutely brutal. But for that very reason, they can only be practised carefully.

One’s skills at throwing boxing punches can be honed day in and day out in sparring, but things quickly end up like this if you legitimately try to hit someone with kung-fu animal style striking.

But when it comes to self defense, sparring is crucial. For this reason, I think the average boxer will typically do better than the average kung-fu guy in a street fight.

To be the best fighter you can be, I recommend practising both ancient traditional techniques, which were designed for survival rather than sport purposes and mix it with kickboxing, BJJ, or even better MMA.

We all know what real kung-fu fighting looks like in the movies, but what about legitimate full contact kung-fu fighting? Well, the stances will typically not be as low as the ones seen in Wushu forms and sometimes movies.

But why read further? I have an example to watch (this video is based on a sparring session between me and a fellow kung-fu student. We use closed fists rather than animal fists, skip to 1:40 if you just want the fight and not the additional info).