Basic elements of Wushu. Book: Gymnastics of USHU

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Many people today visit fitness centers or do yoga, but this is an expensive pleasure, and wushu health gymnastics is only gaining popularity as opposed to other types of gymnastics.

Health-improving Wushu gymnastics for beginners

This is something that many women and men do to restore their health, as well as develop and strengthen physical and spiritual energy. Wushu classes are held in a ventilated room and last at least one hour. In addition, the room should have more free space for activities.

Wushu technique for beginners

Wushu originally appeared in ancient China, but initially it was a type of martial arts that was practiced only by adults. However, now wushu is used as a form of gymnastics that strengthens the body physically as well as spiritually. There are many different programs designed for beginners.

According to supporters, wushu gymnastics helps get rid of many diseases. Regular exercise helps improve the performance of the musculoskeletal system, including the functioning of both the cardiovascular and respiratory organs.

At first, the workouts are carried out at a slow pace and with a small number of repetitions, then gradually become more difficult.

Wushu technique for beginners

You need to do gymnastics on an empty stomach. Representatives of the fair sex are not recommended to perform many complex exercises that put a lot of stress on the body.

The Chinese believed that wushu develops the abilities necessary to survive in extreme conditions and situations where it is necessary to quickly make a decision and act.

Wushu secrets for practicing at home

In addition, this art soon helped restore the body’s strength, reveal its potential, and also improve a person’s health. For many years, the secrets of wushu were passed on from one generation to another, and these secrets were kept within the same family.

In comparison with other eastern teachings, Wushu has a number of features:

• selected physical exercises perfectly strengthen muscles, stretch tendons, as well as joints of adult gymnasts;
• training improves the performance of the heart, including the respiratory organs;
• thanks to training, the musculoskeletal system develops, correct posture is formed;
• By performing special movements during training, the gymnast gets rid of fatigue and stress.

It should be performed at a slow pace and with smooth movements to avoid sprains. To achieve maximum success from your training, you should follow a number of simple rules:

• It is better to conduct lessons in the morning or evening, but before lunch or dinner;
• It is not recommended to perform gymnastics when feeling very hungry or very full;
• clothing should be loose and made of natural fabric;
• during training, the face should face north;
• The lesson should be taught at least twice a week;
• During training, you should correctly calculate your strengths and capabilities, avoiding heavy loads.

The basis of the training is training endurance, as well as. The main goal of gymnastics is to strengthen joints and muscles and keep them in good shape.

Wushu gymnastics for training at home

In addition, they are not as complicated as they seem at first glance, and they can be performed at home.

So, wushu gymnastics for beginners consists of several simple exercises:

• Stand straight with your feet wider, then extend one arm straight and the other back. Begin to calmly move your hands, first forward, then back. Do the exercise 20 times.
• Stand straight with your feet wider, then bend your arms, trying to move as if you were running. Do about 50 times.
• Stand straight, then raise your left leg, bending your knee, with your toe pointed towards the floor. Next, raise your right arm up, palm up. This exercise is static. Stay in this position for a couple of minutes. Then repeat the same exercise on the other leg.
• Also, stand straight and your feet wider, but the distance between your feet should be at least a meter. Next, squat so that your buttocks are in line with your knees. When performing this exercise, you must take a stationary pose. You need to remain in this position for approximately 7-10 minutes.

One of the types of Chinese martial arts is Wushu Sanda, known since ancient times. The word “sanda” means a free fight, i.e. in this sport everything is allowed - punches and kicks, as well as throws, grabs, including twists.

Wushu sanda and video school of lessons

Wushu classes can be seen on video on the Internet. There is professional as well as sports wushu sanda. The first is used as hand-to-hand combat, and the second is carried out in special protective equipment - helmet, gloves, etc.

In martial arts schools where wushu is taught, children are taught mainly philosophy, culture, and art, but not fighting. The purpose of such schools is to help parents develop children into individuals who will be strong in spirit, as well as healthy and have moral values.

Wushu for children at the Gymnastics Federation

When choosing a sports section for a child, you should pay attention to what qualities you want to reveal in the child. Wushu helps not only accelerate the child’s physical development, but also mental development. In addition, the Federation of Traditional and Sports Wushu conducts training not only with children, but also with adults.

Wushu is the general name for martial arts that exist in China. The name consists of two hieroglyphs - “wu” and “shu”, which translated from Chinese means “martial art”.

Essentially wushu is the same as kung fu. However, according to Russian tradition, the term “kung fu” refers to martial arts, and “wushu” refers to gymnastic exercises, which are the basis of both physical and spiritual improvement.

Historically, the art of Wushu originated as a system of knowledge that made it possible to ensure human survival in any conditions. Such training helped develop the ability to quickly make the necessary decisions and take immediate action. However, wushu is not only intended for combat training: the techniques that the art uses also make it possible to develop the body’s hidden abilities, quickly restore expended resources, and achieve health improvement and self-improvement.

Wushu gymnastics

Wushu gymnastics is a set of exercises that includes physical and breathing practices, excluding spiritual and meditative ones. It is aimed at achieving flexibility, developing muscles and joints, maintaining endurance and improving the health of the body.

Wushu gymnastics has the following advantages:

• Due to the special demands placed on the athlete's flexibility in wushu, exercises contribute to the development of not only muscles and tendons, but also joints. As they say in the East, “he who maintains flexibility will delay old age”;
• Gymnastics effectively develops the cardiovascular and respiratory systems of the body. This is due to the need to perform exercises for flexibility and muscle relaxation;
• Wushu classes have a positive effect on the development of the musculoskeletal system and the formation of posture;
• The rhythmic and at the same time smooth movements of the athlete relieve emotional and muscle tension.

Despite the fact that Wushu was originally formed as a martial art, gymnastic exercises are not an imitation of movements in combat, they are performed smoothly and gently to avoid sprains of ligaments and tendons.

Before you start wushu gymnastics, you need to follow a few important tips:

• It is best to practice wushu early in the morning or in the evening, after cleansing the intestines;
• Do not exercise on a full stomach or when very hungry;
• During gymnastics, use loose clothing made from natural fabrics that does not restrict movement;
• According to ancient Chinese tradition, Wushu should be practiced while facing north;
• In exercises, use the principle of gradualness, observing moderation in the load;
• Practice wushu regularly - at least twice a week.

Regardless of whether you are a beginner or a person who has been practicing Wushu all his life, every workout should begin with practicing basic techniques. It includes exercises to develop flexibility:

• shoulder girdle;
• hip joint,
• lumbar spine.

After warm-up exercises, wushu classes involve performing stances and strikes. Stances are not static positions, but dynamics in action, special steps that, depending on the situation, differ in shape and length. In the initial period of learning Wushu stances for beginners, the following position of the hands is assumed: the hands are pressed to the belt and clenched into fists, the elbows are pulled back.

Basic stances in Wushu:

• Bingbu. Legs together, back straight, weight evenly distributed on both limbs;
• Mabu. The most important stance in Wushu. It is used not only for practicing technical actions, but also for training breathing, leg muscle strength, and increasing endurance. Legs are placed shoulder-width apart, feet pointing forward and parallel to each other. The athlete squats, bending his knees so that his thighs are parallel to the surface. The back is straight, the stomach is pulled in, the knees are turned outward;
• Gunbu. The stance allows you to quickly maneuver, giving you the opportunity to deliver a powerful blow, both in motion and in place. A long step is taken with one leg, the leg is bent at the knee. The toe of the front leg is in line with the heel of the back leg;
• Xyubu. The stance is used when kicking, moving away with a block and breaking the distance. Legs are spread apart. We sit down on one leg, bending it at the knee, transferring the entire weight of the body to it. The toe of the front foot is in line with the heel of the back foot.

After the student has learned stances, wushu for beginners involves mastering the technique of moving in stances both forward and backward. The student’s task is to learn to move from one stance to another, taking into account the correct position of the body, arms and legs.

Wushu for children

According to research, wushu classes improve the neuropsychic state and physical fitness of children. Performing complex coordinated movements of the Wushu complex contributes to the formation of such qualities as endurance, discipline, balance, concentration, attention, memory, speed and reaction speed. Children involved in this type of gymnastics are characterized by energy, optimism, and a state of emotional satisfaction.

During training, children perform exercises aimed at stabilizing breathing, as well as relaxation (nervous and muscular) after classes.

Wushu for children involves studying a simplified course, without overloading with physical exercises, taking into account the child’s lack of motor skills and coordination of movements.

Today, many people, when they hear the word USHU, often imagine completely different contents. For some, these are movements from old films of the 80s and 90s, when at the peak of popularity there were films such as “Hong Gil Dong”, various epics about the confrontation between ninjas and Shaolin, and it’s impossible to list them all! And for some, these are health-improving movements, so beautifully and slowly performed by older people in parks. Many see this as a system of sports combat, effective and dangerous, and there are those who practice highly acrobatic elements, training somersaults and jumps with a turn of 360 and 720 degrees...

We even conducted a special survey where we asked the question: “What is USHU???” The broadcast with this survey can be viewed on our YouTube channel right here:

It's actually simple. If you want to engage in this art, or perhaps want to send your child to USH, then you definitely need to understand what you can learn in this or that section.

For example, a person, having seen enough of the well-prepared fighter Zabit Magometsharipov, a native of the USU, one of the best UFC fighters, goes to study in the USU section. But by chance he ends up in a place where they are working in a completely different direction. At a minimum, this person will be disappointed after some time... Or if someone is looking for health-improving techniques, but ends up in a section where they train a sports match, the result will clearly be negative. And perhaps, completely disappointed, people will no longer return to this wonderful art.

To prevent this from happening, you must initially understand both your goals and the directions that USU offers. And in this case you will not be disappointed! Because everything you want, you will definitely find in this art! The main thing is to come to the right place!

Let's finally come to the end of this issue.

But the truth is that today the USU does not represent a single space. As already mentioned, evolutionarily it was divided into 3 large directions.

Let's start in order.

Remember the old films that filled the cinema, where monks met ninjas in battle, flying warriors fought off thousands of arrows, and disappearing and teleporting fighters generally amazed our imagination!? If you don’t remember, then watch the films “Hong Gil Dong”, “Ninja vs Shaolin”, etc...

And modern cinema does not stand still. In order to be an actor in a film as a kungfu fighter or another style of fighter, certain training is needed. How colorful the moments of fights are filmed, what cool tricks the heroes do...

But this is the first direction - sports taolu. This is the direction with which in China in recent times they tried to replace all USHU. What are the reasons for these iterations? We won't consider it now. The fact remains that during the so-called Cultural Revolution, everything related to traditions and real military training was practically uprooted; everything that was connected with wushu as an integral system of training a person capable of making independent decisions, based on the concepts of military morality.

But the people’s love for Wushu could not be removed, and the wise leadership of the Central Committee of the Party of the People’s Republic of China resolved the issue radically - Wushu was created for the people, it was even called GOSHU, which meant Statecraft!

Special styles were created, the features of which were artistry and the ability to move beautifully. Today, this area has developed so much in its specialization that athletes are developing incredible dizzying acrobatic elements. The level of body control has increased to colossal heights. Somersaults and jumps, speed and artistry are at their best here. What else do you need for a movie?

But this system itself has become truly self-sufficient in order to improve in it. Professionals in this area really amaze with their coordination, jumping ability and acrobatics.

This is exactly where we have sports taolu. This is a training system where the main goal of training is to learn how to get into stances, develop beautiful readable movements, and form beautiful clear shapes of the arms and legs. However, in combat terms, everything is not so beautiful. And you need to clearly understand: this is not training to fight - this is training to show off beautifully.

And here we smoothly move on to the second direction - these are diametrically opposed goals and training. The name of this branch of USHU is .

Sanda is precisely a system of sports combat, where the basis of preparation is timing training, the ability to strike, move and work against a living opponent in the ring or a special platform. Here, efficiency in 1v1 combat is the basis of the training process. It is efficiency that is placed above artistry and beauty of movements. This is the training of a fighter.

Compared to the sports Taolu section, there are completely different movements, different movements, different body work. It's like 2 ends of one very long stick.

The more professional you are in any of these areas, the further from the middle of the stick you move towards the edge. You can never hold on to 2 ends at the same time.

And often people who are involved, for example, in sports taolu, looking at sanda players simply say: “But this is not WUSHU at all!” And vice versa. Those who practice sanda often do not understand at all what athletes do in the sports taolu section...

But in fact, these are just 2 different directions in which you can improve for a very long time. And in each of them you can achieve amazing results! You just need to clearly understand your goals and what goals the chosen direction pursues.

And here we move on to the third section, the one from which the first two came. This is the root or, so to speak, the connecting link.

This traditional USHU or better said, traditional styles of Wushu. This is the knowledge that was accumulated by Masters and passed on from generation to generation, selecting the most effective and best techniques. The basis of training in this direction is, undoubtedly, efficiency. And here we see the similarity of Sanda’s direction, which took efficiency as the basis of the training process.

However, speaking about effectiveness, it should be said that effectiveness in traditional areas is not only associated with the ability to fight with one or several opponents. Efficiency also applies to health practices. Techniques for bringing consciousness into a calm and balanced state also occupy a significant place in the transmission of traditions.

All these techniques are aimed at self-development and nurturing in a person the necessary moral, ethical and, of course, physical qualities.

For a person who has knowledge of martial arts, but has not absorbed the moral values ​​of Ude, can be very dangerous to society.

Therefore, tradition is the place where the Teacher-Student relationship is still preserved, initiation into followers and keepers of style traditions takes place. And everything is exactly as in the books about the ancient heroes-Masters, which all the children read in childhood.

Fortunately, recently the Chinese government has come to its senses and began to revive traditional Wushu. However, a lot has been lost. But still there were Masters who were able to create both the sports school of Sanda and preserve traditional knowledge. Today, like decades ago, they carefully pass them on to those who are ready to accept them.

It wasn't without problems, of course. The popularity of low-quality films of the 80s gave rise to many schools where outright fakery was passed off as mastery. This is what happened all over the world and in the post-Soviet space as well. We had a huge number of schools called “family” or “clan” or something else. However, at best, the creator of such schools had little training in karate, sports wushu taolu, perhaps boxing... Since there was no way to check where he got his knowledge, everything was very simply closed with words like: “the Master himself gave it to me”... And the “Masters” themselves, even if they were of Asian appearance, were often, so to speak, self-called “guardians of clan and family traditions”... Followers spent years, decades, studying such sacred practices. The result is simple. It simply doesn't exist. And, unfortunately, today there are still a lot of such schools and masters who pass off their homemade products as real kungfu. But this is a separate topic.

This all had a very negative impact and is still affecting the truly great art of Wushu. Ignorance and misunderstanding of the basics and basis of styles leads to changes in the training process itself. And a lack of understanding of goals and objectives generally leads to the most disastrous results.

That is why the traditional direction is the most difficult. In fact, this is where the seemingly impossible merges - beauty and efficiency. After all, beauty is also one of the attributes of Wushu. Only how much this beauty differs from what is familiar to us - we will learn about this from another article.

Let's get back to styles. In fact, there are not countless of them. And not even thousands and thousands, but only 129 styles, the traditionality of which has been confirmed during many years of research in China itself. This was done specifically to try to protect the truly traditional movement from quackery.

In fact, there are not many true specialists in traditional styles around the world. However, they all honor and preserve traditions, and just like many centuries ago, they pass on knowledge to their students. So it’s actually much more difficult to find a real Master in a traditional direction than a coach in sports areas. And becoming a dedicated disciple or a keeper of traditions is a very difficult task. The demands placed on candidates are too high.

So, what do we have in the end?

And the fact is that before you go to practice martial arts, you need to clearly understand what goals you are pursuing. Then you need to understand which direction is taught at the school where you applied. Don't be shy to ask questions to the coach. It is important to understand what direction is practiced in a given place.

And only the following can be practiced:

1. Sports taolu, which includes the specially created styles of Chanquan and Nanquan. Also sports complexes with weapons, long or short. All these are performances specially selected for competitions, distinguished by ultra-clean movements, colorful and high acrobatics at a serious level of preparation.
2. The art of sports combat. This is a technique of free combat on a special platform or in the ring according to certain rules, which in fact in many ways distinguish this area from other related types of martial arts. This direction is characterized by high efficiency and a fairly wide variety of fighting techniques.
3. Traditional styles of Wushu, where you will study the real style of martial art, which came from time immemorial and retained all the elements of effectiveness regarding combat, healing and practices for the development of consciousness. Here you will have to painstakingly work on the base, studying complexes of different directions - both combat and health-improving. This is perhaps the most difficult direction. And here are the most pitfalls. One way or another, get ready for hard work.

It should be noted that the time of competition left its mark on traditional styles. Almost every style has specific complexes that are studied specifically for competitions. They are already more like sports taolu. Because, in most cases, for ease of assessment, they are formed so that they resemble sports ones. Of course, in terms of combat, not all movements can be applied here. This is also something to keep in mind if you begin to study the tradition.

There is also a very difficult question about how effective the methodology for studying taolu complexes is in general. But this is also a topic for a separate article!

As you can see, WUSHU today allows EACH of us to find the right direction! So don’t hesitate and come to the training! Because no matter how much we read, no matter how much we think... nothing can replace real practice!

And a video answering the question - what is USHU for a modern person can be seen here: