I am not a fan of Kung Fu forms and Budo kata, but because of the physical therapy I have been in and out of since 2019 I have some not-what-you-think insights on this practice. First I will point out why many sources on Kung Fu are not reliable. Second I will show the oldest known kung fu form to demonstrate what the original purpose of forms were. Third I will need to address a myth about combat sports, and then 4th I will be able to show WHY forms proliferated.
1. The Boxer's Rebellions before the Cultural Revolution established Kung Fu as effective at using violence to influence politics. The Cultural Revolution was trying to bring China out of the dark ages using Marxist revolutionary ideology, flattening the class structure. Most real Kung Fu fighters who survived did so by fleeing for their lives to Taiwan, Hong Kong, South East Asia, Australia or the West Coast of North America. By the end ALL of the martial temples (Wudang, Shoulin, etc.) were evacuated. So:
- The Chinese state-endorsed Kung Fu sport called "Wushu" has zero authority to comment on what techniques did NOT exist in China before the cultural revolution.
- People currently teaching martial arts at the Wudang and Shoulin temples in the best case scenario have sought instruction from Kung Fu styles from before Wushu (Choy Li Fut, Chen style Tai Chi [who hid instead of fled,] Hun Gar, etc.) Kung Fu fighters traditionally had sparring and fights between students of other schools, and the fact that sparring is new to the Temple Martial Arts communities in China demonstrates their broken lineage.
2. Chinese American Doc Fai Wong did in fact do the legwork necessary to learn Kung Fu, in as much depth as possible. Studying and participating in martial arts on the West Cost, in Hong Kong and in Taiwan, he became a lineage instructor in at least 3 different branches of Choy Li Fut and in Yang style Tai Chi. He also studied Yiquan and Chi Kung. I once learned a form in Doc Fai Wong's system that was considered to be the original Kung Fu form, from when the Shoulin Monks first started practicing martial arts 1,500 years ago. It is supposedly from India, and you can see some superficial similarities to this form and Yoga:
This form is showing up in Chinese Martial Arts that are not related to each other with significant variation, but with shocking similarities considering the form's age (1,500 years old. On one hand the person demonstrating this form is clearly a Choy Li Fut practitioner from outside of Doc Fai Wong's organization. On the other hand there seem to be people with no Choy Li Fut background whatsoever practicing almost exactly the same form by the same name.)
3. Beyond the Yoga and Physical Therapy type exercises, you can see techniques in there that show up in Tai Chi and most other East Asian martial art arts today. But to demonstrate this I will have to correct a myth you probably believe about combat sports: "in combat sports, striking is taught in basically the same way from gym to gym." NO IT IS NOT. I saw some of my friend's training at Bumble Bee's Boxing in Seattle. I trained in full contact karate/American kickboxing in the 80s, what would now be called Dutch Kickboxing in the 90's as well as more recently studying MMA striking at Kitsap Combat Sports, also observing their Muay Thai and Boxing classes. I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SINGLE STRIKE TAUGHT EXACTLY THE SAME WAY IN ANY TWO SCHOOLS. For example take a leg kick, obviously you point your toes straight when you throw a leg kick, making your striking leg's foot go in a straight line with your shin, right? This is a gold standard from Kyokushin to Muay Thai to Dutch kickboxing, etc. Well according to this two time King of Kings champion kickboxer you should not, instead you should do it like they do in the above 1500 year old kung fu form:
4. Kung Fu and Budo are not only for young athletes: they are intended to be EFFECTIVE in training adults to fight. If you look at the non-combative exercises in the 1500 year old form, they are addressing weakness and inflexibility in the body that comes from aging. I can tell you from personal experience you can be the toughest guy in the room until you get a shoulder impingement and can't effectively use one arm and it becomes painful to move, and then you are the weakest guy in the room. The 1500 year old form isn't stretching to prevent possible injury in the near future, instead it is building good long term posture and flexibility so that the person will have the physical capacity to defend themselves.
Repetitive stress - the reason why some people can't go running. Shadow boxing is less repetitive than running. However the 1500 year old form it is LESS REPETITIVE than shadow boxing because it includes many conditioning techniques most would not employ in to free sparring. Forms and Katas are a much less repetitive form of Cardio than shadowboxing, running, bag work, jump rope, etc.
Forms and Katas commit physical principles into muscle memory through exaggerated movement. For example Karate forms focus on very strong and intentional movement, beyond what anyone actually does in free sparring. This does not make karate forms useless, because when combined with free sparring it does help Karatekas become strong and intentional in the way they fight. Tai Chi forms teach being fluid and mindful (if sparring is not neglected.) Choy Li Fut focuses on maximizing your full body power while remaining relaxed:
And as you can see there because forms are not shadow boxing, they can catalog most of the techniques in a system, so that even if this generation of instructors do not use all those techniques in free sparring, future generations can. All this said, I only practice two modified brief forms from Yang style (16 movement and Saber), both slowly and with speed. I never let forms cut into the time I need for free sparring, and neither should you.
