Unlock the Secret of Shaolin Fighting Kicks

In China we used to have two Shaolin Temples,People sometimes think if you want to make
one in the south and one in the North. It is saidyour shin and feet strong you need to kick hard
that the Southern Shaolin Temple was famousthings all the time but as I explained in last
for their punches and the Northern Shaolin Templemonth's article on Body Conditioning, this is
was famous for their kicks. But hundreds ofcompletely wrong. If you want to make your leg
years ago the Northern Shaolin Temple washard then the first thing you need to do is have
burned down and the only record of it today is ingood stamina, if you don't have stamina it's not
history books. The skills from both temples havepossible for your leg to be strong as you won't
now merged. The ancient books from the templehave energy. It's like a car without petrol, it simply
say that in order to have powerful kicks, wecan't move, you won't be able to lift your leg up
need to develop three vital skills.or kick therefore you have lost everything.
Three Essential IngredientsThis is the reason why stamina is so important.
1) Flexibility. If you want to kick with power andAfter you have gained stamina you then work on
speed you want to have as much control overyour flexibility and then you can work on your
your leg as you do your arm. This means trainingspeed and power and then you can start on the
it to have as much flexibility and dexterity asconditioning training for your leg.
your arm.Iron Leg
2) Speed and power. Flexibility doesn't lead toThe best way to warm up is to do the Si Bi
speed and power so the next thing you have toQuan form from my Workout One DVD. This
concentrate on is gaining speed and power.form consists of two ingredients: stamp and
3) Strength. In Shaolin we have seventy-twopunch, the more power you can use with the
different styles and one of these styles in calledstamp, the more you will build the power of your
Iron leg. The purpose of training in iron leg isleg muscles and bone. This movement is simple
literally to make the leg as hard as iron.and useful. After doing this form you can then
If you can combine these three essentialstart to do bag work.
ingredients successfully then your leg will be aKick Bags
weapon and you can then progress to the fourthIt's best to kick different bags, some hard and
element, which is.some soft so that your body can get used to
4) How to use your weapon.kicking different weights. Soft bags eat energy
Flexibilityand if you have a powerful kick then you have to
If you've read my other articles then you knowhold your power otherwise you may get an
that I am always advising martial artists to addinjury. This is all part of the training. When you go
running to their training. No boxer would ever goin the ring, people's bodies are different, people
into the ring without stamina training and asmove differently so it's best to be as adaptable
everyone knows, all boxers include running as partas you can when you train. Keep changing your
of their stamina training. At the Shaolin Temple it'scombinations and the bags that you work on.
the same, we always begin our training with aKick Bamboo
run, this not only helps us with our stamina but itAfter we have kicked bags we then kick bamboo.
also makes our body hot. Once our body is hotBamboo is better than wood because it is both
we then stretch our arms and our legs. Once wesoft and hard at the same time. If you have ever
have stretched out our muscles then we begin tobeen into a bamboo forest, then you will have
do The Five Fundamental Kicks, which Iseen the trees bending with the direction of the
demonstrated in a previous Combat article andwind but this is what makes them incredibly
also in my Shaolin Workout One DVD. The fivestrong.
different angles of these kicks increases ourWhen you embark on kicking bamboo you have
flexibility much further than just stretching everto be careful. Never try this alone but always train
would. From the kicks we then go into the threeunder a qualified teacher. You need to have a
way splits. This training make our legs and hipsgood understanding of your body, take the
flexible so that our legs and hips can move intraining step by step and keep listening to your
different angles, and is the first step to makingbody.
our leg flexible.Qi Gong
Mixing traditional with modernWhen we do this hard training we also practice Qi
Once we can do the five fundamental kicks weGong to look after our bodies and our legs. One
can then mix them, for example we can performof our Qi Gongs is called Bone Marrow Cleansing
the inside kick with the outside kick and link themQi Gong because it literally cleans out our bone
together. We can increase the number of kicks inmarrow. We use a Shaolin Energy Massage brush
the combination. We can use the five fundamentalto massage ourselves. Not only is this is the first
kicks as a warm up before our fighting kicks.step to body conditioning but it is also another
Speed and Powerway to open our meridian channels. After we
All traditions of fighters use footwork to link thehave finished our body conditioning we then use
link the kicks together and practice varioustraditional medicine. I make this medicine every
fighting combinations. At Shaolin we link fightingtwo years, it takes about three months to make,
kicks with traditional training. The purpose of thisand it helps the blood to flow and makes the
is to strengthen our legs.bone stronger. It comes from a traditional recipe
We may stay in Ma Bu (horse stance) for fivefrom the Shaolin Temple but there may be slight
minutes and then we will do the fighting kicks asvariations depending on the disciple's personal
quickly as we can for one - three minutes. Thisexperience and the type of body conditioning that
combination of stance and kick links power withthey do.
speed. Or we may run up a hill and when weHow To Use
come back we kick bags as quickly as we can.All of these ingredients make your leg into a
We will make a goal to kick one hundred or twoweapon but this doesn't mean that you know
hundred times. Our legs will feel so tired that it'show to use this weapon or that you are a good
hard to lift them off the ground but we will notfighter, it just means that you have a sharp
stop until we've completed our target.weapon. So the first thing you need to do is link
Optimize The Poweryour punch and kick together and learn how to
If you want to kick with speed then you need totrick people so that you can get through their
make your leg tired, once your leg is tired, youdefenses. How do you fight with different people?
have to train your body to relax. Once you areSome people have good kicks, others good knee,
relaxed you have to learn how to get maximumother good elbows. At the Shaolin Temple we
power from your kicks. When you kick, askusually choose one good traditional technique and
yourself, which part of my body am I using?combine that with our fighting punches and kicks.
Once you know the answer then you will saveWe then spar against many different opponents
energy, as you will only be using the parts ofto test ourselves and hone our skill.
your body that you really need.Mind Control
This dramatically optimizes your power andWhen we fight in the ring, the judge says start
energy. This is the reason if you want a powerfuland no one knows what will happen. This is why
swift kick then the only way to achieve this iswe practice our fighting kicks over and over again
through kicking a lot. Through kicking a lot yourand we imagine many different opponents so that
body will understand. In martial arts we can neverwe can be ready for anything and even though
understand with our head, we always have to bewe have no control of the outcome, in our mind
led by our body's inherent wisdom.we have inner confidence and this gives us the
Strengthcontrol.