| If you've been reading my articles, you know I | | | | strikes, but the techniques to mask which strike |
| have two loves: Learning Kung Fu styles and | | | | you're throwing, or which joint lock you're |
| seeing them used in movies. | | | | throwing. Snake style is sort of like a cross |
| I've been doing snake style Kung Fu for going on | | | | between chess and poker. Not that you're going |
| 8 years now. Once I moved into Kung Fu styles, | | | | slow enough to actually think while you're doing it |
| snake was the first one I picked up, because of | | | | - it's all learned at the muscle memory level, but |
| its similarities to jiu jutsu. Like jiu jutsu, snake | | | | that you've got moves, counter moves and |
| style kung fu is all about transmitting core body | | | | bluffs, all running at several moves per second. |
| strength from the abdomen to the arms, and | | | | Snake style isn't the greatest on defensive blocks. |
| uses a lot of joint locks and grapples. Unlike jiu | | | | The blocks, parries and lateral motions are basic |
| jutsu, it uses a more open stance, and tries for | | | | at best. It's a more offensive style, in the |
| greater fluidity in motion, with more arm strikes | | | | Northern version, which is what I learned. |
| and kicks. In particular, it incorporates several | | | | (Northern snake style is largely what got used for |
| weapon elements, including techniques applicable to | | | | the cinematography for Sir Te's style in Crouching |
| using a sword. It contrasts with a lot of | | | | Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) Indeed, Wudang Mountain, |
| contemporary styles from ancient China, in the | | | | the great school in that movie, is renowned for |
| focus on blocks, throws and hitting from strange | | | | producing great Snake Style Kung Fu practitioners. |
| angles. | | | | Southern snake style is a much more recent |
| Now, martial arts are needed. Martial arts with | | | | innovation, and dates back to the late 1800s. It's a |
| applicability to swords are seriously cool. Before | | | | blend of classic Shao Lin styles, with harder, direct |
| we get to the sharp pointy things, let's talk about | | | | punches mixed with Wing Chun movements for a |
| snakes. The reasoning behind snake style kung fu, | | | | bit of fluidity. You can tell the practitioner apart, |
| as I learned early on, is that from the fluid | | | | because the Southern stylists have a more open |
| motions of snakes, you can learn a lot about | | | | and upright stance, and focus more on a variety |
| balance, body motions and striking power. Some | | | | of punches rather than a balanced template of |
| practitioners focus on the cobra strikes, trying to | | | | punches and joint locks and holds. I'm not gonna |
| emulate the fast bite of a cobra with an open | | | | get into the argument about which one is better, |
| palmed strike. Others focus on the nature of the | | | | since I'm obviously biased having gone for the |
| python, which, as you might suspect, draws into | | | | more traditional form of the art. Both styles are a |
| joint locks and throws and immobilizations. All of | | | | lot of fun and can teach you practical martial arts |
| them focus on feints - you learn not just the | | | | techniques. |