A Little History on Kung Fu
Kung Fu a generic label used to describe the martial arts that come from China. Chinese kung fu is not only about fighting but about self discipline, self respect, humbleness and patience. What makes the Chinese martial arts unique is the use of meditation as part of their art. Also the many weapons they have to master is another unique benefit of kung fu. Kung fu really took off in China when they added mind training to their workouts. They were the first to combine mental exercises with physical. The results were the most effective martial arts system around. When the figured out how to train the mind correctly they were able to push the body way beyond its normal limits. One form of meditation they used was Chan meditation.
Kung fu has more variety of movements, systems, weapons and traditions compared to most of the other martial arts. There are soft and hard types of martial arts in china. Both styles include the use of weapons. Some of the weapons include the broadsword, staff, kwan do, butterfly knives and three section staff. It’s estimated that there are over 200 styles of kung fu. Compare that to Karate or Judo. However, this isn’t always a good thing. It causes much argument and confusion in the kung fu community. You see everyone studying a system believes their system is the best and was the original style. The good thing about this is that there should be a style to suit every body type out there.