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BePartofStory

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Journey of discovering strength & mind power.

Verča Partikova: Kung Fu Academic

MMA fighter with a PhD in Sports Psychology

writing about mind, fighting & life in Asia

Writer's pictureVeronika Partiková

Why Kung Fu Gets Mocked and Why There's Truth to It


Kung fu training

Before you throw some tomatoes my way - I do love kung fu, I have been training it for the past 17 years and I teach it, too.

But being serious in my training, traveling the world for it, and competing on the highest level, as well as training in other disciplines, like MMA or fitness, gifted me with a new perspective.


Kung Fu and Strong Stances

My style, hung gar, is very well known for its firm stances. All of us, the practitioners, are always proud that our style is quite often the one being pictured in the old kung fu movies by Golden Harvest production, and the most epic part - the training montage where Jackie Chan gets to become a cool fighter - is commonly focused on the pain of the stances.



It is also what we expect when we join this - pain in the legs. We happily use the stance-holding torture as kind of a rite of passage for the new students.


But you see, the problem is, people are zombies.


Where is the Athleticism?

Let me explain.


The race for strong stances (not even mentioning the race for deepest stances on the planet) resulted in non-mobile people.


Do you understand, that the stance is a vehicle of your power? How do plan to generate power, if your vehicle is more of a rusty van than a Ferrari?


I see people way too often being very slow.

“I have firm stances, though!”

And they even punch after they move their legs. Makes no sense at all.


“That’s how the style is. Strong and chunky.”

No, it’s not. You are just too lazy.


The problem is, we are still talking about martial arts, right? You cannot expect people to stand in front of you, while you switch stances and THEN you punch.


Yes, hung gar has strong stances. But you still need to develop speed and be mobile on your feet. We are more grounded than for example Choy Lee Fut, our southern-style cousin, but definitely nobody should be a zombie.


If you believe that kung fu people should be strong and ALSO athletic, you are at the right spot.


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