Functional Kung Fu: For Success in Combat and Life

More than a decade ago I was in what we call Kung Fu Lala land. I had finally found a Grand Master to directly train under. I was overdue for a new teacher to push training to new heights and I finally found him. I was particularly driven to put in 300km of travel once a week to study because this man was a master from Hong Kong. I had learned and understood that masters coming out of Hong Kong from the 50s and 60s were kind of a different breed. They typically weren’t teaching modern wushu. They weren’t interested in teaching anything fancy, anything flamboyant, or anything for competition. This was true of Grand Master Philipman Chow. His motto was pretty much: simple; useful....Meaning, if it wasn’t simple, “no use”.

 His approach to applying Praying Mantis in self defence was to the point which ultimately made it effective. One principal that he often repeated was “shake the foundation”. This one is my favourite becaus...

...and 50 years from now; meaning balance performance with longevity.

Click here to learn about Holistic Kung Fu

I wanted to write about something amazingly simple but very useful that with your overall physical health as well as your mental health and your confidence.

It’s kind of funny how simple it is, but as my teacher Grand Master Philipman Chow says simple; useful.

I’m talking about Chambering; a very basic position in martial arts that often gets overlooked because there’s nothing too glamorous or fancy about it.

I was reminded about this whole lesson actually by one of my students, who’s a great massage therapist and they were teaching some of their clients to chamber their hands like we do in Kung Fu to help with their posture and it helped them a lot because they’re typically hunched over all the time like a lot of us are. Our shoulders are getting rounded out and our neck is arching forward from sitting at a desk so much. Now, this obviously has negative physical effects, but one thing we don’t think about enough is the effect it has on us psychologically. One very important thing K...

How Kung Fu helped me build a life of meaning

 Sifu Atalick - 9th Generation Master of Seven Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu

Last week I quickly brushed over the misunderstood strike first philosophy of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, and I thought that I may owe a better explanation on this principle, because it’s very important, applicable, and in need of clarification. This principle, as well as every other part of my Kung Fu journey, has completely changed my life for the better.

When I first began to learn Kung Fu and I heard “strike first”, I was quite confused and conflicted. I thought martial arts and self defence was always supposed to be defensive. I don’t want to be an aggressor, a bully. Being bullied was the whole reason I started martial art. Striking first seemed aggressive and destructive. Well of course that’s true, to a point. In a greater context you never start a conflict, you never seek out violence, but if and when violence finds you, you need to be assertive and control t...