Here is a demonstration of the Han dynasty pole arm, Sha 鎩 in action. This spear-like weapon has a sword blade that allows for some high powered cutting as well as piercing and thrusting. The Sha would have been used by more elite soldiers in infantry, and oftentimes by the cavalry on horseback. This particular Sha has a bat wing design for the cross guard, hence it's name. Since there are no existing manuals or records of Han dynasty fighting techniques, we are unsure of how they were exactly used. However, we can speculate that on horseback they would've been used more for swinging and cutting, otherwise for infantry soldiers, they would've been used more direct with thrusting techniques. I am performing a selection from the Snake Tongue Spear form from Choy Li Fut kung fu as the movements fit this weapon well with a variety of thrusting and cutting techniques.

Han Dynasty halberd in action! The Ji is a halberd with two blades, one upward spear head and one forward dagger axe blade which was a very important weapon during the Han Dynasty. Although the blade itself is quite light, once it is placed on the end of a pole it becomes noticeably heavy in motion. I have a couple other videos on my YouTube channel that discuss this weapons history and usage, and a video on how to tie it too! Be sure to check those out!!!

What was the real weapon of Lü Bu?

This video is inspired by the poem "Broken Time" by Xin Qiji and features the truly magnificent sword and reproduction of a 2000 year old Warring States Era sword "The Magnificent Chu Jian" by LK Chen Swords. https://lkchensword.com/magnificent-c... This sword is agile, aggressive, and fierce. It favors piercing and thrusting, but can carry itself through any chop and slash, making it a very menacing sword.

Check out: https://youtu.be/JZlDMYPIm-k if you want to know more about the sword!

This video features the Gung Ji Kuen 工字拳 form of Choy Li Fut kung fu. It is not the same as Gung Jee Fook Fu in the Hung Gar system, and the name itself is derived from the '工' or 'gung' character as the path of the footwork in the form resembles the 工 shape. Gung Ji Kuen is a unique set and I enjoyed the parallels of training the linear parts of the set in the narrow hallways, it just seemed like the perfect setting. Gung Ji Kuen is known and practiced by many Choy Li Fut practitioners around the world, and here you can see the form performed by a young student in King Mui village in China https://youtu.be/AJ9WOeNVWTE. Get out there, train hard, and sleep well!

The song is called "Trying to sleep" by Wolfie's Just Fine. I don't own copyright to the song, and I did not monetize this video, so any ads you see support the artist, if you like it you should check out his channel www.youtube.com/jonlajoie or purchase his albums across all major music streaming apps.

Choy Li Fut Kung Fu Two Section Staff 大梢子棍 The two section staff is one of my favorite kung fu weapons and I personally think it is highly underrated. Not only is it an impressive weapon to watch, it is a challenge to train and develop technique, and it is quite practical as a long weapon.

Choy Li Fut Kung Fu - Nine Tooth Rake One of the more dynamic weapon sets in Choy Li Fut Kung Fu, the Nine Tooth Rake has is more than just a muck rake, forged in heaven, it was the chosen weapon of the immortal Zhu Bajie (Pig of Eight Precepts) or "Pigsy" (in western translations) from the Chinese literary classic Journey to the West. Even though Zhu Bajie was reckless and lacking in tact, his martial prowess was well known as were his deeds as he joined monk Tan Sanzang, Sun Wukong the Monkey king, and Sha Wujing the sand monk, on their journey to the west. I speculate that there was a large influence of Chinese opera in the making of this form, with certain positions like "wearing the sword" and the frequency of weapon spinning techniques. It is most likely that this form was created in homage to the character from the story, but inspired by opera routines of the time. In the end, I think it's a very underrated and underrepresented form in the vast Choy Li Fut system. It's a very exciting form as well as challenging to switch grips and spin and perform strong techniques on both right and left sides. If you ever get the chance, I highly suggest you learn it!

I've been lucky enough to learn some Wudang sword exercises, techniques, and forms from Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong who learned them from his teacher, Hu Yuen Chou who was a student of Guo Qifeng who was a master of Wudang sword.

The sword I am using is the Flying Phoenix from LK Chen https://lkchensword.com/flying-phoenix and you can see some cutting I did with the sword here: https://youtu.be/SjPJVut7KeQ and a review video with my thoughts here: https://youtu.be/f2cWP1hjTvM

I felt that out of the handful of jian sets I know, this felt the most natural with the Han Jian. The length of the sword and the weight distribution felt perfect for the many circling and thrusting techniques.

This was a lot of fun to both film and edit. The sword carries itself, I just have to point it at the water bottle...

...also, slow motion makes everything look cooler!

If you know a punch or a kick, you have something to practice...

There's the classic Bruce Lee quote "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." When you take all of the fancy, spinning, jumping, theatrics away from the martial arts, all you will have left are a handful of punches and kicks, and in all honesty, you don't even need to know all of those either.

What makes the difference, is your skill in execution of the single techniques. That is the true sign of advanced skill in any art, and though it most likely won't be highlighted, your teachers and advanced level practitioners will see it and keep an eye on it as you progress. Belt grades are measures of memorization of the requirements, tournament medals are just as much a reward of chance as they are skill. Real skill is not built through belt/medal collections, but the honing of skills, the working and reworking of the basics. Just a punch (for example) Focus on your basics, using the hip, shoulders, snapping the punch, and then checking your alignment. Throw the punch in slow motion to make the path of the strike clean and efficient, then speed it up. Punch something....repeatedly. Build up the strength to punch strong, and support a strong punch (fortify those wrists!). Then practice moving and punching: stepping forward and punching, stepping back and punching, turning 90 degrees and punching, turning around 180 degrees and punching. Practice punching from completely still (this one's a lot harder than it sounds) with no preliminary movements or telegraphs. Practice punching at different targets to develop accuracy (head, solar plexus, ribs, vs a standing opponent, vs a downed opponent...). Douse candles with the wind of your punch. Break boards with your punch. Get some resistance bands and build strength in your punch, put your punching knuckles on the ground and do push ups. Contract your muscles, clench tight and and punch slowly. Hang a string from the ceiling and punch it. Hang a piece of paper and rip it with your punches. Do 10,000 punches of gratitude. Perfect the technique, one punch at a time. So don't worry if you don't have anything new to work on, or are stuck at home away from classes, because mastery of the technique is a product of practice and like I said -if you know a punch or a kick, you have something to practice.

Scorpion and Sub-Zero - Kung Fu Edition With the new movie out, I had to go back and dig up some photos from Halloween a few years ago when all the instructors dressed up like Mortal Kombat Characters. The only rule we had is that you still had to incorporate some kung fu aspect (since we're a kung fu school) though I have to admit, the mask is what brings everything together and it's all thanks to Sifu Dunng (Sub-Zero).

Kung Fu Butterfly Knives Fundamentals: Different attacking options from a forward press.

I just posted a video of the Yang Tai Chi 16 Step Form!!! Please stop by and check it out!!!

THE MASTER (2014) This movie is about the founder of Choy Li Fut, Chan Heung. It’s a little weird to see and hear the names in Mandarin ( Cai= Choy and Chen Xiang = Chan Heung) and although it’s not the most amazing kung fu movie, it is one of the best movies centered on Choy Li Fut, even the balance dummy. Also, most of the story is based on actual events... except the horse story, that was borrowed from another kung fu style and master and honestly it’s one of the more useless bits in the movie.

I’m still hoping that one day we’ll get a CLF movie on par with the Ip Man series. I really think the history of Lau Bun would make for a great film.

If you could only learn one technique with the three section staff...

 This would be your best option. Not only does it make a nice spinning movement which is fun to watch and good coordination training, but this is one of the best grip configurations for using the three section staff as an actual weapon. I use this technique (not as a continuous spin) all the time in sparring. It still utilizes the momentum and unpredictability of a sectioned weapon, but the security of having a blocking/attacking weapon in the front hand.

So if you are ever interested in learning the three section staff as a practical weapon, start here:

Hong Kong Dance Company trains it’s dancers in Traditional Martial Arts

This is super cool, the HKDC held workshops with local kung fu masters to give their dancers a new perspective of movement. They worked in styles like White Crane, Baguazhang, and Choy Li Fut. It’s really neat to see their interpretation of kung fu movements into dance. Full Article Here: https://www.dancemagazine.com/hong-kong-dance-company-2650129851.html

Learn some Tiger Kung Fu Movements in this classic Tiger Kung Fu Technique.