Kung Fu Fit For an Army

Stealing a Horse

'Stealing a Horse Left and Right' is the 11th road of Luohan Gung. The poetic verse exhorts us to train hard and persevere through the pain of lifting 1000 catties.

Entering the Sea of Awareness

How do 700 year old romantic plays relate to our Kung Fu? They serve as a lesson to us that we must work hard every day and not allow any thoughts to unbalance our training. The story of romance is used to remind the student to keep their mind focused and calm on attaining the body of a Luohan.

Jing Ke the Under Cover Assassin 

One Step Three Punches

The old masters said that, 'Attacking with straight rushing fists and the interconnected stepping always relies on the hands following each other.' This is the method of 'one step three punches.'

The Double Palm Strike of Mantis Boxing

Eighteen great masters of kung fu passed on their best techniques which later evolved into Praying Mantis Fist. One of the simplest of the master's techniques is the double palm strike. Why did the masters favor this strike?

General Yu and the Escaping Pirates
Battling pirates 450 years ago trying to make the coast of China safe, little did General Yu know that he would be attacked by his own commanding officer! Lucky for us, that gap in his military career gave him the time he needed to write one of the most important books on Chinese martial arts. The formulas for taking advantage of the opponent's strength!

Tai Mountain Crushes the Top

The Barbarian Surrendering Maneuver

The Yin Yang Hook of Plum Flower Mantis

Brought to you by Tampa Kung Fu!

Long Punches and Short Elbows of Iron Fist

Within 'Surnames of the Founders of Eighteen Styles' is written, "Lin Chong's Mandarin duck kicks are strong."

How strong are they? They are strong enough to be the kicking method of the Mantis Fist Style!

Learn how mandarin duck kicks work!

See the video clip from this month's article!

Dig Out The Hole To Defeat Your Opponent

One of the founders of Mantis Boxing and his powerful technique 'dig out the hole fist.'

Where it comes from, how it is applied and how Secret Door Praying Mantis drills the technique for two people.

Go to battle when you see victory, but make no move when you do not! Take advantage of the hole in your opponent's defense. The training method that teaches you to press your advantage of attack.

Using the essential mantis technique 'hide the peach under the leaf' as our training tool.

A female general  and her soldiers eliminates an island of invaders. Her weapon of choice?

The double sabers!

An article on the drills of attack and defense of double sabers with pictures taken outside of our new Tampa Kung Fu location

Kao da teaches us how to apply power of short strike techniques. One of the most important techniques of kao da is the smashing step. Here applied in kao da and the well known Eight Step Mantis form Seven Hands.

White Ape Steals the Peach

Seize his arm, control his head then jump up high to strike from below and you have the uncanny technique known as White Ape Steals the Peach.

The Cleaving Staff Method

The 'fight ending' technique of the simple staff is the cleaving chop shown here by Sun Wukung.

An article on the solo and two person version of cleaving, Monkey Sun's signature move, within Six Harmony staff.

Leaking From The Bottom

This technique combines the characteristic advancing hooked step  of Mantis Boxing with grabbing for control and chopping strikes.

One of the oldest techniques of Mantis Boxing as recorded in the first set of Pugilist Essentials.

Tyrant Takes the Helmet

The Seven Hands of 8 Step Mantis

Rarely seen photos and verse of Wei Xiao Tang and the seven hands form of 8 Step Mantis.

Seven hands is probably the most concise representation of what the praying mantis attacking style of kung fu is all about.

Mantis Hands Topple the Earth

Eighteen essential attacking methods of Mantis Boxing. The Mantis method of starting a fight. This is about overturning the sky and toppling the earth.

Mantis of No Blocking No Defending

One of the special methods of Mantis Boxing is its method of attacking and striking that does not utilize any type of block or defense.

We look at how to develop this skill with basic exercises and advanced theories.

The Hooking Step of Mantis Boxing

Master Shi Zhengzhong performs the hooked step while visiting and teaching Mantis Boxing at Peng Lai's Brazilian club.

The Governing Formula of Mantis Hands describes This stance and this article explains why this stance occurs in Mantis and how is it used. Included are seven famous Mantis masters performing this stance in their own particular fashion.

Sweeping Away the Rebels

Kicks Of Peng Lai

How do we train the kicks of Peng Lai? An article on training methods and principles with hand drawn pictures from my youth explaining the drills.

Double Seal of Mantis Boxing

			Shi Zhengzhong Wei Xiaotang Kevin Brazier
Three types of sealing with applications from Plum Flower Road.

Defeating the Legs

An article comparing a 1936 hand drawn manuscript of Shaolin boxing applications to the applications of Mantis Boxing. Included are old pictures of my Shifu, Shi Zhengzhong, and his training partner Yang Fengshi!

A Weekend in Tennessee

The highlights of our weekend training in Tennessee include a video clip with a pair of two partner drills as well as a pictorial explanation of lan man shi, the impeding horse maneuver.

Staff Of the Great Sage

During the middle of September Jim Smyer of nashvillekungfu.com came to Tampa for a visit. One of the things we trained was the two person stick form called Shaolin Eighteen Movement stick.

Applying the folding elbow when the hook kick fails you. We look at another move from Li Kunshan's form Iron Fist. How to combine long range leaping with short range elbow strikes.

The Luan Elbow of Shaolin Luohan

When speaking of the luan elbow General Qi Jiguang said, "If you can do this who dares contend with you?"

We explore what General Qi had to say of this technique before going into detail with photos of how it is applied within Shaolin Luohan and Mantis Boxing.

The 400 Year Old Iron Fist

When Li Kunshan came to Taiwan after WW2 he taught a longfist form called Iron Fist. Within his hand written manuscript of boxing he placed this form under the heading of longfist. Iron Fist is first mentioned in the earliest manual of Shaolin martial arts, Exposition of Original Shaolin Stick Fighting, written around 1610 by military expert Cheng Zongyou.

Seizing the Opportunity

When crossing hands with your opponent you must snatch your moment of opportunity to overcome and defeat him. The skills of Mantis boxing are based on this maneuvering ability. Here, for the first time ever, is an English translation of Cui Shoushan's Discourse on Maneuvering.

Sparrow Brushes the Water

Within Mantis Boxing the sudden changes from long to short range are as speedy as the flight of a skittering sparrow rushing past the water. Stepping closer to your opponent without stepping toward your opponent creates a perplexing optical illusion.

The Waist Chop of Mantis Boxing

This Month we explore one of the key movements of Mantis Boxing from the old forms Beng Bu and Luan Jie. This move relies on the keywords pasting and leaning as well as fastening the opponent's hands to chop him and so it is said, 'With the pasting body and fastening strike there is no place to hide.'

The Revolving Wheel of Water and Fire
The internal body of Mantis Boxing from Eighteen Luohan Gung. In Chinese the melodious rhyming verse of the Eighteen Luohan Gung sonnet was a useful mnemonic aid to keep the students focused on proper breathing and a calm mind. Read this article to see how the revolving wheel of water and fire was attained. 

The Rising and Falling of the Mantis Fist

A look at the moves of Mantis Boxing from the old form Luanjie through the postures of my shifu and shiye. Explained through the concepts laid down in the manuscript Essential Treatise of Short Strikes.

Pan Zhou-The Coiled Elbow

Within the twelve coiled elbows the most commonly used is itself called the coiled elbow. Here I give a pictorial representation of the application of the coiled elbow.

Bi Zhou-The Outer Forearm Elbow

Within Mantis Boxing exists a manuscript about the coiling elbows.
"Divide the body and attach the twelve hidden coiling elbows."

Including a pictorial representation.

Young Master Luan Opens A School

Luan Shiye tells me a story over tea about his application of qi gung. Included is the sonnet and picture from Immortal Points the Way.

Hard Can Defeat Soft

Rarely has the preface to this list of eight been seen in English.

Deception Within the Boxing of Shaolin and Mantis

"How can the weak defeat the strong?" Asks Shaolin's earliest existing manual of empty hand fighting.

.