Southern style kung fu is commonly known for its quick foot works and hand movements which derives from speed, balance, power and agility. In the 5-Family System, it starts with the method(s), learning the proper posture and mechanics of the stances, punches, blocks, and kicks. Then conditioning the mind and body to improve one’s power and speed practiced with weights for strength and mobility, zigzag around obstacles to gain slalom speed. Then comes balancing, traditionally it was done on top of a pole formation named plum flower poles 梅花樁(five poles), however, in the modern age other methods became acceptable as substitutes … like using bricks. For focusing and developing accuracy, conditioning, and power, it is desirable to use a wooden dummy for blocking, stuffed bags for punching and kicking. The last is to be able to integrate any stances, punches, blocks and kicks into a single movement or a series of techniques randomly. Of course, lessons of proper breathing are included in the basics. Our simple concept of breathing is to inhale when hands are in, exhale when hands are out. However, the advance level requires the dynamic of the breathing rhythm be synchronized with the flow of techniques in order to endure fatigue, to build-up stamina, and to generate the internal/micro energy on hits or blocks.
The following is a small list of postures/movements that is part of our fundamentals that are used to create our Ng Ga Kuen Forms/Sets with the associated family that had contributed to our system of Kung Fu. The last category of “Sweeps” is a collection of movements/postures from the various 5-families, since each had contributed a different type of leg sweep. Lessons 1-8 and videos on the fundamental postures/movements can be found here.
Stances / 馬步 – Choy Ga: Front Square Stance – Straight Stance – Triangle Stance – Cat Stance – Cross Leg Stance – Low Stance – Kneeling Stance – One Leg Stance – Cross Leg Stance
Punches / 拳法 – Hung Ga: Flat Punch – Straight/Sun Punch – Uppercut – Leopard Punch – Back Fist – Hook Punch – Chicken Heart Punch – Overhead Punch
Blocks / 橋手 – Lee Ga: Outside Block – Slap Block – Hammer Fist Block – Cut Block – Hook Block – Upward block – Knee block – Arm Block – Elbow Block
Palms / 掌法 – Fut Ga: Front slap – Back hand slap – Side slap – Finger tap – High chop – Medium cut – Push hand – Angle slice
Kicks / 踢法 – Mok Ga: Front kick – Side kick – Stomp kick – Snap kick – Heel kick – Crescent kick – Double kick – Horse kick
Leg Sweeps / 腿掃法 – 5 Ga: Double sweep – High sweep – Hook sweep – Slap sweep – Front sweep – Back sweep
Shaolin Kung Fu - 少林五家拳 