Hung gar kung fu is a Chinese martial art with a long, storied history going back centuries. It is associated with the Shaolin temple and is known for its five distinct ‘animal forms’ and related techniques.
Long histories aren’t always a good thing in martial arts though. Many of Hung Gar’s techniques and training are outdated in many ways especially when compared to more modern martial arts such as BJJ or MMA like we see here in the following video.
It’s quite easy to tell which style is which in this one. We see the Hung gar practitioner with his lands low and far apart, remaining stationary for the most part. While the MMA guy has his hands up high, his chin tucked and is using effective movement.
The Hung gar guy lands a couple side kicks which push his opponent away but really don’t do any damage. The fight ends relatively quickly after a brief grappling exchange. The Chinese martial arts practitioner lets his guard down and gets cracked hard with an uppercut that ends the fight just like that.
ABOUT HUNG GAR
“The hallmarks of Hung Ga are deep low stances, notably its “sei ping ma” horse stance, and strong hand techniques, notably the bridge hand and the versatile tiger claw.
The student traditionally spends anywhere from months to three years in stance training, often sitting only in horse stance between a half-hour to several hours at one time, before learning any forms. Each form then might take a year or so to learn, with weapons learned last. However, in modernity, this mode of instruction is deemed economically unfeasible and impractical for students, who have other concerns beyond practicing kung fu.
Hung Ga is sometimes mis-characterized as solely external; that is, reliant on brute physical force rather than the cultivation of qi; even though the student advances progressively towards an internal focus.”
