I’ve been doing a form of Northern Shaolin kung fu (Chun Yuen) since January, and I have to say that it’s had a slimming effect on my physique! Prior to that I’d given up the gym workouts I used to do as there was no time to do both Wing Chun and gym exercise. Consequently, I’ve been feeling a bit lardy.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of a friend who recommended Chun Yuen, I decided to start attending classes.

The form that we start off with in the Chun Yuen class is called Xing Shou and it involves lots of stretching and a few high kicks. Because I like pushing myself, I make all my stances as low as possible, and this really stretched my legs. As the stance is low, it requires a lot of muscle power to stand back up again.

I know around 3/4 of the Xing Shou form and it includes maybe 20 low stances. I love these low stances as they stretch your muscles, making you more flexible, and they make you stronger because of the effort needed to stand up again. This section of the form also includes 5 kicks which I try to do as high as possible.

The end result of all this effort is a bucket of sweat and a nice relaxed feeling in my muscles when I walk out of the gym.

I don’t tend to weigh myself, but I can definitely feel slimmer than I was 3 months ago. I’m also more flexible too. I’ve seen a few books on Amazon that extol the virtues of Shaolin Kung Fu for “working out” and losing weight, but I didn’t realise just how enjoyable – and effective – it would be.

• The Shaolin Workout: 28 Days to Transforming Your Body and Soul the Warrior’s Way – Yan Ming Shi
• Shaolin Warrior – Workout – Vol 1 – Beginners – Shifu Yan Lei

Since January, I’ve been doing one hour long Chun Yuen class and 2 workouts during the week that last 30 minutes each. Given the short amount of time spent each week doing the Shaolin Kung Fu, I’m surprised by the effect it’s had on my body. When I used to exercise “conventionally” in the gym more, I used to do around 40 minutes every day. Now I’m exercising for less time but I’m feeling slimmer and fitter. Weird.

Although Chun Yuen is a martial art, there is not much emphasis on its martial applications. To be honest, this doesn’t bother me at all. I have my Wing Chun for that. For me, the two arts are performing different functions: Wing Chun is for self defense and Chun Yuen for fitness, strength and flexibility. Fortunately, the Chun Yuen training complements the Wing Chun perfectly.

I’m trying to improve the strength and flexibility in my legs. I go to the gym every lunch time and Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do cardio exercises (the stair machine at the moment) followed by leg stretches. I spend 15 minutes on the cardio and then around 10 minutes on the stretching. It’s nothing intense, in fact it’s quite a tame routine.

Leg Exercise Torture

A few times at my Wing Chun class the teacher has made us do a gruelling leg work out. This isn’t sifu, this is some other senior who has some kind of compulsive disorder regarding leg torture! He administers the pain in the following ways:

• Gets us to do siu lim tau on one leg. So you stand on one leg with the other raised with thigh parallel to ground while tan/fook sau goes out and then swap legs when you change to jum sau/wu sau. Nasty.
• Stand on one leg with the other raised so that thigh is parallel to floor. Rotate the foot clockwise and then anticlockwise for an eternity. Then rotate the shin in the same fashion for another eternity. Then stretch the whole leg out so that it’s straight. This lasts a bit longer, like an aeon actually.
• A vicious one this: face a pillar and raise your knee until thigh horizontal again or even pointing up a bit and lower leg just pointing down. Extend your leg so that the heel touches the pillar (foot is maybe 45 degrees to the vertical). This is the painful bit. Keep the leg in that position but relax the foot so that the heel moves away from the pillar and then hit the pillar again with the heel. The ball/arch of the foot maintains contact while the heel hits the pillar repeatedly. All this with the leg raised quite high (for me anyway).

He’s fair about it though as he leads the exercise and sets a fine example as he is so supple.

My New Lege Exrecise Routine

These exercises really hurt. But… they hurt because I don’t do any exercise at home or in the gym. So I’ve decided to rectify this by stepping up (ok – by starting) some strength/flexibility training for my legs. It’s laughable at the moment: I stretch as usual (see above) but then I balance on one leg whilst holding out my other leg for a count of 10. The goal is to hold the leg stretched out horizontally but all I can manage at the moment is some patheic angle to the ground!

Jet Lis’s Intensive Workout

Now, this is an inspirational bit of footage. Look at Jet Li around the 10 second mark. That’s the kind of strength and control I want.