Shaolin Kung Fu Home Study - Bare Handed
There are Yoga videos for people to learn from home. How about Shaolin Kung Fu? Can you learn it from home with videos? The answer to that question is a definite “Yes”. Similar to any physical exercise, you can learn Shaolin Kung Fu from videos.
The problem with this approach is there are hundreds of Shaolin Kung Fu styles. If you just search for the term “Shaolin Kung Fu” on YouTube, you will get many unrelated videos for home study. The solution is to found a standard curriculum of styles that are taught in Shaolin Temple and it's foreign subsidiaries. As the styles are listed as general curriculum, you can find lots of videos for each style.
Unlike Karate / Taekwondo, Chinese Kung Fu doesn't have a belt system. It's more on whether you can or can not do it for each of the styles. However, as like normal curriculum, the styles are divided into three (3) “categories”: easy, medium, hard. The easy / beginner category consists of Shaolin Kung Fu styles that are short and easy to follow even for children. The hard/expert category consists of styles that are long (which needs lots of stamina) and require some athletic capabilities.
Below are some (not all) of the styles inside the Shaolin Kung Fu curriculum with lots of videos on YouTube that you can use for home study. You can search for more videos on YouTube by copy-pasting the Mandarin writing. Please note that Shaolin curriculum differs from one foreign subsidiary to another. However, the styles below are commonly practiced by students around the world.
Beginner level
Five-Step Fist / Wu Bu Quan / 五步拳
As the name suggested, this style is a short Shaolin Kung Fu that combines the standard five (5) stances. Here’s the YouTube series by master Yan Xin:
- Wu Bu Quan - part 1
- Wu Bu Quan - part 2
- Wu Bu Quan - part 3
- Wu Bu Quan - part 4
- Wu Bu Quan - part 5
- Wu Bu Quan - part 6
- Wu Bu Quan - part 7
Continuous Chain Fist / Lian Huan Quan / 连环拳
This is also another short and simple style. It consists of straight strikes, grabs, and blocks. Here’s the YouTube series by
- Lian Huan Quan - full demo
- Lian Huan Quan - part 1
- Lian Huan Quan - part 2
- Lian Huan Quan - part 3
- Lian Huan Quan - part 4
Intermediate level
Seven-Star Fist / Qi Xing Quan
The direct translation of this style means Seven Star Fist. However, it can also be translated as Big Dipper fist. As this style is quite long to perform but has no special athletic movements, this style is categorized into intermediate difficulty level. This style is also performed in lots of Shaolin movies.
- Qi Xing Quan / 7 Star Fist by Shifu Heng Wei
- Qi Xing Quan performed by students
- Qi Xing Quan by master Shi Heng Yi - Shaolin Europe
Penetrating-Arm Fist / Tong Bi Quan / 通臂拳
This style is also considered as a compulsory style for Shaolin students. It includes more jumps and kicks.
Great Ancestor Long fist / Tai Zu Chang Quan / 太祖长拳
This style was created by Zhao Guang Yin, China’s Song dynasty emperor as a summary of all important styles of Shaolin Kung Fu when he stayed in Shaolin temple.
- Tai Zu Chang Quan - intro and demo
- Tai Zu Chang Quan - HD video and slower movement
- Tai Zu Chang Quan - HD video
Expert level
Small Flood Fist / Xiao Hong Quan / 小洪拳
Although this style has no hard athletic movements, this style is categorized as expert / hard difficulty because it needs greater stamina where the body is compressed and extended throughout the whole routine.
Big Flood Fist / Da Hong Quan / 大洪拳
Paired with Xiao Hong Quan, this Da Hong Quan Kung Fu style consists of jumping, kicks, twisting, and grappling.
Vajra Guardian fist / Jin Gang Quan / 金刚拳
This style can be considered as one of the Kung Fu styles that act as Shaolin identity. When Chinese people talk about Jin Gang, people will automatically think about Shaolin temple. This is a long and difficult style and unfortunately, no step by step videos can be found. At most, you can slow down the videos to learn.
Arhat Fist / Luo Han Quan / 罗汉拳
This is another style that is considered as Shaolin identity. There are a lot of sub-styles of this Kung Fu, there are Xiao Luo Han, Da Luo Han, 18 Lou Han, and many others.
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Those are some of the styles inside Shaolin curriculum. Which style do you like the best? Have you found other resources on Shaolin Kung Fu videos for home study? Please share in the comments below.
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