Chinese kung fu fans

The Fluid Movement of the Snake Lends Itself Well to the Art of Kung Fu

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If youve been reading my articles, you know I have two loves: Mastering various Kung Fu styles and seeing them done in films.

Ive been doing snake style Kung Fu for nearly eight years now. Once I transitioned into Kung Fu styles, snake was the first one I picked up, because it had a lot of similarities to jiu jitsu. Like jiu jitsu, snake style kung fu is all about transmitting core body strength from the abdomen to the arms, and uses a lot of joint locks and grappling moves. But Unlike jiu jitsu, it uses a more open stance, and tries for greater flow in motion, with more arm strikes and kicks. Particularly, it incorporates several weapon elements, including techniques applicable to using a sword. There are differences with a lot of contemporary styles from China, in the focus on blocks, throws and hitting from weird angles.

Martial arts when applicable to swords are totally awesome. Before we get to the sharp, pointy sticks, lets discuss snakes. The reasoning behind snake style kung fu, as I learned early on, is that from the fluid movements of snakes, you can learn a lot about balance, body motions and striking power. Some people focus on the cobra strikes, trying to emulate the fast attack of a cobra with an open palmed strike. Others focus on the nature of the python, which, as you might suspect, draws in to joint locks and throws and immobilizations. All of them focus on feints you learn not just the strikes, but the techniques to mask which strike youre throwing, or which joint lock youre throwing. Snake style is kind of like a cross between chess and poker. Not that youre going slow enough to actually think while youre doing it since its all learned at the muscle memory level, but that youve got moves, counter moves and bluffs, all running at several moves per second.

Snake style isnt the most effective on defensive blocks. The blocks, parries and lateral movements are fundamental at best. It is a more offensive style, in the Northern version, which is what I learned. (Northern snake style is largely what got used for the cinematography for Sir Tes style the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) Wudang Mountain, the great school in the movie, is renowned for producing great Snake Style Kung Fu artists.

Southern snake style is a more recent innovation, and dates back to the 1800s. Its a blend of classic Shao Lin styles, with harder, direct punches mixed with Wing Chun movements for a bit of fluidity. You can tell the practitioners apart, because the Southern stylists have a much more upright and open stance, and focus more on a variety of punches rather than a balanced template of punches, joint locks and holds. I am not going to get into the discussion about which one is superior, since Im biased having trained in the more traditional form of the art. Both styles are fun and can train you in practical martial arts techniques.

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