Wushu complexes. Health-improving Wushu gymnastics for beginners. Wushu rules

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:

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.
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.
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:

In this article you will find a video with basic wushu techniques - the ABC of the entire technical arsenal of this Chinese martial art. Basically, the success of training depends on whether the practitioner can learn the basic technique of Jiben Gong. When learning the basics of the martial art of Wushu, you need to practice all the movements and bring them to perfection. The basic Wushu technique is so important that even professional masters, after warming up, begin training with this technique.

Vladimir Fateev's video was made for beginners, everything is explained very clearly in it. It seems to me that this is the most convenient way to analyze all the movements of basic exercises without leaving home. Of course, you won’t be able to achieve perfection in learning Wushu at home, but it’s quite possible to get acquainted and start.
Don’t forget that before starting the basic Jiben Gong exercises, you need to thoroughly stretch all your limbs so as not to accidentally injure yourself or harm your body. And also we must not forget about the spiritual part of the exercises. During exercise, your mind should be in peace and quiet, since the abundance of everyday thoughts racing in your head can affect the quality of your workout as a whole.

All the best to you and successful training.

Also take a look here:

One famous ancient Chinese doctor in the 2nd century AD, who practiced treatment and exercises, stated: “When a doorknob is constantly in motion, it does not rust. When a person moves a lot, he does not rot.”

Humanity learned about the existence of wushu from the Chinese; it was they who gave this amazing gymnastics to people. It is designed not only to strengthen the body, but also the spirit and mind. “Through the perfection of the body - to the perfection of the spirit” is the principle of the Wushu masters. There are practically no contraindications for practicing it. Neither gender, nor age, nor weight, nor lack of initial physical training is a hindrance.

But the benefits from wushu are great: it develops flexibility, agility, endurance, correctly coordinates movements, making them strong, concentrating maximum attention and speed of reaction.

In the end, this is simply nothing more than a healthy lifestyle. By the way, the main indicators of a healthy person in the East are not similar to European standards. A powerful, tall athlete with defined muscles is not included here.

In Asia, this is a well-fed, short person, with a small belly due to abdominal breathing, and not gluttony; but he has smooth skin, a magnificent shine to his hair, he is calm, with a clear gaze and a smile. Flexible, light, agile, plastic, brilliantly controls his body and will. The slow pace of wushu exercises does not interfere with burning fat, because, nevertheless, a lot of energy is expended.

Features of Wushu

You should always start doing gymnastics at a slow pace, with a small number of repetitions, and only very gradually increase them. You need to exercise on an empty stomach, or, in extreme cases, 2-3 hours after lunch. Listen to your feelings, choosing what is comfortable for yourself.

First, you need to use the simplest dynamic exercises to develop flexibility, good stretching, and master the basic basic stances. Wushu was originally a martial art for adults, the word wushu consists of two characters: "u" - military, and "shu" - art.

It was a whole system and philosophy for developing abilities in extreme situations; it restored the body in the shortest possible time, revealing its possible reserves and capabilities, improving a person.

Each family had its own secrets of this art, passed down in secret to generations. Today wushu is not martial training, it is wushu gymnastics, which anyone can do. It received its special new development especially after the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

There are many styles and schools of this gymnastics, for different ages - more than 130 directions, and the Shaolin direction - more than 400 varieties, and no less gymnastics complexes. Wushu gymnastics for health: for beginners and advanced there is always one basis for training - developing endurance and mastering breathing exercises.

The goal is to achieve good flexibility of the joints and body (in the East there is a saying - whoever maintains flexibility will delay old age), increasing muscle tone and joint health.

At the same time, the condition of the cardiovascular system and respiratory organs improves, the body gets rid of fatigue and stress. The smoothness of movements eliminates stretching and damage to the muscles and skeleton. You should also know that not a single exercise is related to combat movements. Essentially wushu is the same as kung fu, but the latter direction, according to Europeans, is a martial art (remember Bruce Lee).

Wushu rules

It is advisable to conduct lessons in the morning, having cleansed the intestines. Clothes should not restrict movement and be made from natural fabrics. The face should face north; the room should be well ventilated and have enough space.

The duration of the complex is at least an hour. The minimum number of repetitions of the lessons of the complex is 2 times a week. Thus, gymnastics can be used as morning exercises.

First steps

Any system always has its own basic complex for developing flexibility in the lumbar region, hip joint and shoulder girdle. Then you need to be able to perform different basic stances.

Wushu stances are not standing in one position, not static, but a certain chain of movements and steps. At first, the hands are placed on the belt, elbows back, fists clenched. The beginning of classes is always marked by a warm-up.

Main racks

Bingbu– stand straight, legs connected. Weight is evenly applied to both limbs.

Mabu– feet parallel to each other, spaced apart. With your knees slightly apart, slowly squat down with your back straight so that your thighs are parallel to the floor.

Gunbu– bend one knee and take a deep lunge (step) forward. In this case, the toes and heels of the feet are located on the same line.

Xyubu– spread your legs wide, transfer your weight to one leg, slightly squatting on it. Freeze like this for several minutes, starting with 1-2 minutes and increasing to 10.

After mastering the basic stances with ease of performing them, a set of movements begins. They are also not static, but represent smooth transitions from one fixed pose to another. The exercises are repeated 10-20 times, the movements are sharp but comfortable.

Breathing is only through the nose. You will need to learn to breathe with the diaphragm (stomach), and not with the lungs; they do not take part in breathing and remain motionless.

For newbies

Wushu gymnastics for beginners consists of several simple exercises.

Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart. Then extend one arm forward and the other back. Begin to calmly rotate your arms, first forward, then back, using 2 arms at the same time. The number of repetitions is 20-30 times on each side.
The stance is the same, arms bent at the elbows. Try to do pendulum movements, like when running. Do about 50 times.
Stand straight, then raise your left leg, bend at the knee and toe. Raise one arm up, palm open. The other hand is laid back. Her fingers are up and gathered into a pinch. This is a static exercise - you need to hold the pose for about 2 minutes. Then repeat with the other arm and leg.
Stand straight, spread your legs wider so that you are at least a meter wide. Then slowly squat down, keeping your buttocks level with your knees. Breathe with your belly. Also, you must first hold this motionless position for a minute, then gradually increase it to 7-10 minutes.
Stand up straight, one leg straight and laid back. And the other is raised and bent at an angle of 90 degrees. Hands on the belt. Looking forward, abdominal breathing. Freeze in the pose for a few minutes. Increase the static time gradually.
Stand in a basic stance with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grasp the support with your hands and bend over, bending over. Gradually increase the amplitude and bend in the shoulder joints.
Keep your legs straight, one leg on a support. Gradually increasing the range of bends, try to reach the toe on the support, while keeping your back straight. 10 repetitions for each leg.
Stand with your right side to the support, raise your right leg onto the support. Do bends with a straight back. As a result, you should reach the lift of the leg with your head and the knee with your shoulder. 10 times with each leg.
Straight leg on the support, stand with your back to the support. Bend back as far as possible. 10 times on each side.
Place your hands on the support. Bend backwards and swing your legs backwards. 10 times.

If you practice systematically, without skipping, you will feel better with each session and will help you improve your health. The muscles will work with pleasure, and “muscle joy” will appear. Gymnastics can also be done to tone and relieve fatigue.

There are many sets of exercises and they can always be found on the Internet as your level of preparedness increases.

Some people who practice under various pretexts (too busy at work and don’t have time to finish all the repetitions) try to reduce the number of repetitions. This is just self-deception. If you didn’t sniff the crust after taking it on your breast, don’t expect results.

The result will be noticeably lower. Therefore, do not save time on your health. Do the exercises carefully. Upbeat music is not forbidden if desired, but without words so that the brain is not distracted.

Otherwise, mentally, instead of relaxing, you will analyze the next modern masterpieces. There are many complexes for children too. Their course is more simplified due to underdevelopment of motor skills and coordination of movements.

Breathing exercise

In addition to physical exercises, wushu gymnastics requires proper breathing. You need to learn to breathe correctly while performing the complex. According to pundits, it is believed that deep breathing reduces the frequency and lengthens life.

This position is confirmed in animals: rodents, colic, squirrels - they breathe very often and their life span is much shorter than, for example, a turtle. The indicator of healthy vital energy in Wushu is the duration of holding your breath. So learn a simple breathing exercise several times a day.

Strength will increase and nervous processes will normalize. Frequent breathing is the combustion (oxidation) of the body in a mass of oxygen. Health-improving breathing can be done in any place and time. This is slow but controlled breathing.

The peculiarity is that you partially block the glottis to slow down the movement of air, creating resistance. Due to the tension of the muscles of the larynx, a whistling sound “sss” is heard when inhaling, and a hissing sound “xxx” is heard when exhaling. Inhale quickly with your stomach, and exhale as slowly and stretch as possible.

The time of the entire respiratory act (inhalation-exhalation) is gradually lengthened, and exclusively by exhalation. But without fatigue in the form of cephalalgia and heaviness in the head, tinnitus and redness of the face. At first, the exercise will take 1-2 minutes, but every week (very gradually) add a couple more minutes.

Many people know about the Shaolin Monastery in China; films have been made about it and written in books and newspapers.

Everyone knows that the monks of this monastery possessed unusual martial arts.

So, the birthplace of the martial art of Wushu is the Chinese province of Henan. Namely, the origin took place in the famous Shaolin monastery.

What it is

Wushu, translated from Chinese, means “to stop aggression or martial art”; in the West it is called kung fu. A person who masters Wushu techniques is called a Wushuist.

The creator of this unique martial arts was the former patriarch Bodhidharma in the middle of the 6th century AD, he was also the creator and laid the foundations for the Chen sect, called Zen in Japan.

When Bodhidharma came to the Shaolin Monastery, he began to talk about the new teaching.

And then he saw in the first lesson that many students were weak in body and spirit, that is, they fell asleep during classes.

And so he decided to create physical and psychological training for special exercises called “18 movements of the hands of arhats” (an arhat is a superman or a demigod, translated from Sanskrit - worthy).

In these 18 simple combinations, first they stood up on defense, then they struck, and in the end there were a lot of combinations, about several thousand.

Even before the creation of wushu in the 2nd - 3rd century, a famous physician named Hua-to developed therapeutic gymnastics - the Games of Five Animals, which included a bear, a bird, a tiger, a monkey, a deer, that is, an imitation of these animals.

But it was also used not only for medicinal purposes, but also for combat. When he died, he left behind a huge and scientific legacy.

This gymnastics still exists today, you can watch it in this video:

Styles

Soon, the Shaolin monks began to develop styles of animals and insects, imitating the elements of water, wind, fire and air.

Now there are several thousand styles of Wushu. For example, the names of famous wushu styles - the most famous is Taijiquan (Great Limit Fist), it includes slow and plastic movements that fascinate with their beauty, the beauty of these movements is not only external, but also internal, that is, a person feels all the beauty in his body.

There is also a style of wushu Tanglangquan or Mantis style created by master Wang Lan from Shandong province.

Tanglangquan includes fast movements, flexibility, and grips.

Using it, you will know all the beauty, and to know it, you need desire and willpower, then you will reach the heights of perfection itself.

Now the martial art of wushu exists almost everywhere, some use it for combat, and others for medicinal purposes. Wushu is also a kind of gymnastics. There is also the sport of wushu sanda - free contact combat.

You can start practicing it if you want to get to know it better, here is the title of the book - author I-Shen - “We start wushu gymnastics from scratch.” Read, enjoy and be healthy!

Watch a video about the martial art of Wushu: