A Guide to Learning Kung Fu by Yourself

Written by Frank Fortuna, Founder of KungFu.hk

Owner and Found of @KungFu.hk – The Largest Kung
Fu Instagram account on the planet
We all have our reasons to want to learn Kung Fu.
Some of us want to learn how to defend ourselves.
Others want to look cool. And others are simply
looking for a hobby to pass the time. In today’s age,
there isn’t a reason which is more noble than the
other. You want to take part in a Traditional Art – and
that is good. This is the first step.

But before I go on, I must remind you that you will

only become good with practice and by being honest
to yourself.

So without filling this up with filler words or similar,

let’s keep this moving.
The First Step – Why?
Before even beginning your Kung Fu journey, you
have to ask yourself why it is you want to learn Kung
Fu to begin with. Really sit down somewhere and
think why it is you want Kung Fu and if it’s the best
step for you.

- Do you want to learn Kung Fu because you

want to be like Shang-Chi?
- Do you want to learn Kung Fu so you can be
with yourself more and in the moment?
- Do you want to learn Kung Fu just for self
defence?
- Do you want to learn Kung Fu as a hobby?

The list goes on and on and on. The most important

part of any journey is understanding where you want
the journey to end. What’s the end goal and what is it
that you want? Once you figure that out, you can
then do your own thing. Your own path with your
own set goals.

Do not continue this guide until you figure this out.

But once you do, continue.

The Second Step – Getting Ready to Practice

Part 1 – Clean.
You will need to either clear an area within your
home or find a wide open space you’re comfortable
practicing in. It has to be large. You’ll be doing a lot of
jumping, kicking, punching, dynamic moves and other
various movements.

You’ll be shadowboxing and shadow fighting. A lot.

Anything in front of you will be damaged. Even

potentially to the side of you.
As a general rule of thumb, you want the space
you’re working in and practicing in to be roughly 10
feet by 10 feet wide as a bare minimum.

Remove any objects that may harm you or that you

may break. Common sense.

The Third Step – Target Practice

It’s important to find the Kung Fu moves that you
want to practice. You’ll be practicing your moves
mostly in the air. Shadowboxing and shadow fighting.
Eventually, you will have to get a punching bag to
help build resistance and so that you can gauge just
how hard you’re punching.

I highly suggest hanging the punching bag from your

ceiling instead of buying a free standing punching bag
due to the dynamic nature of Kung Fu.

The Fourth Step – Acquire Guidance

YouTube is your best friend when it comes to learning
specific techniques of Kung Fu. With YouTube, you
can slow down movements, look at tiny details,
watch for changes in posture, impact and other
things.

People hate on YouTube but it is an ABSOLUTELY

invaluable resource for learning Kung Fu and any sort
of Martial Art.

The ability to slow down movements and watch in

detail how certain people jump, kick, or punch is
extremely valuable and something that didn’t exist
before. You can master movements in the comfort of
your own home and all you need is a smart phone.

However, I want to say this before other Kung Fu

practitioners jump down my throat and start insulting
me – a physical teacher is the best way to learn Kung
Fu and always will be.

However, you can read books, watching YouTube

tutorials (as I said before), buy DVD, or look at
websites which offer classes. Some even offer classes
for free.

- It’s important to remember that nearly

everyone teaches Kung Fu differently. It’s rare
to find two Sifu’s/Teacher’s who agree on the
same thing. You need to diversify and find the
one that appeals to you the most. Search for
experts and those who really know what they
are talking about.

The Fourth Step – Improvement and Schedule

It’s important that you find an area you specifically
want to develop and work on. There’s tonnes and
tonnes to learn when it comes to Kung Fu. From
striking, to counter attacks, to blocks, to claws, and all
sorts.

You will not learn everything. There are masters who

are still learning who are probably 3x your age.
It’s important to pick a specific area you want to
improve on first. Once you’ve learned a few of the
stances and you’re sufficiently flexible, I suggest then
thinking or what you want to learn first – as a
suggestion, I would pick punching and kicking as
these are both essential.

Then create a schedule – A basic schedule will look

like this:

- Monday – Strength Training and Punching

- Tuesday – Flexibility and Kicking
- Wednesday – Balance and Punching
- Thursday – Flexibility and Kicking
- Friday – Strength Training and Punching
- Saturday – Stances and Flexibility
- Sunday – Rest

Then stick to the schedule for a few weeks and

change it as you see fit depending on your life
schedule.

The Fifth Step – Core and Basic Training

The most important aspects of Kung Fu are balance
and flexibility by far. In order to hold stances for a
long time, you will need balance as well as a degree
of flexibility. If Kung Fu is intense, I suggest taking up
Yoga as an introductory into what will be needed
from you.

Great Kung Fu requires balance, control, and

flexibility. It is the key to all Great Kung Fu.

Every Kung Fu session should begin with a warm up

of some kind and then a stretching session. There are
many on YouTube which you can take your pick of
depending on your goals. Stretching your muscles is
crucial in keeping them injury free.
But it’s also crucial in getting your kicks higher and
allowing for better muscle control.

The Sixth Step – The Stances

Although debated in the Martial Arts circle, stances
are an important part of Kung Fu. They are the
framework that holds Kung Fu together. It’s
impossible to deliver the correct movements and
attacks if you have the wrong stance. The three core
stances are meant for Traditional Kung Fu and
Weapons – these are NOT meant for fighting.

- The Horse Stance – Google is your friend to

understand how this stance is meant to look.
Bend your knees about 30 degrees, widen your
feet a bit farther apart than shoulder width,
and hold clench fists in at your sides. The palms
always fact upwards. Keep your back straight.
Visualise yourself riding a big horse.
- The Front Stance – Bend your knees and draw
your left leg back. Almost like a lunge but with
less bend. Your right fist should be in-front of
you. With your left fist close to your chest to
allow for quick blocking and strikes. When you
switch legs, you also switch which fist is in
front.
- The Cat Stance – Place your right leg slightly
behind you and lean back on it so that it takes
the majority of your weight. Your left leg
should be infront of you, with just the toes
gently touching the ground. Both fists should
be protecting your face In a resting boxing
position pose.
- Combat Stance – There is no special “mystical
fighting stance”. Please don’t believe the
movies. The stance you need is the same as the
boxing stance or Sanda fighting stance. One
foot slightly infront to take the weight of your
body and both hands covering your face.
The Seventh Step – Punches, Blocks, and Kicks
Arguably the most important move in all martial arts.
The punch. Remember that when you punch, most of
the force doesn’t come from your arms or fist it
comes from your hips. When you punch, jab, hook or
similar, you rotate and generate force using your
hips.

I won’t list out the different type of punches here

because the list is quite meticulous and this is only a
beginners guide to learning at home. Again, there are
resources on YouTube you can use.

The same of course applies to blocks, your blocks will

be different depending on what you’re blocking.
There’s a wide array of blocks that are use in Kung Fu
to defend yourself from attacks and just like the
above, there are multiple tutorials on YouTube that
will show you the wide array of blocks and the ones
you can use.

I’ll only be repeating myself but kicks are much the

same. However, kicks tend to be one of the more fun
and dynamic aspects of Kung Fu. You won’t start with
hard dynamic kicks like you see in movies where the
lead her is doing flips and stuff, but you’ll gradually
build up to it. Again, YouTube.

This is a guide on how to learn at home.

The Eighth Step – Traditional Moves

This is the “Instagram Pose” section, which I get. A lot
of Kung Fu stances make for decent poses. One of
those stances being The Dragon stance. Think wider
stanced horse stance and your hands in a claw shape.
This is meant to be an intimidating stance.

Another you may want to try is The Snake and the fan
favourites, The Leopard and The Crane. A less
impressive looking one (weirdly), is The Tiger. You
would think The Tiger would be the more intimidating
one but nope. Anyway, give these stances and
Traditional Moves a look.

The Ninth Step – Understanding

Remember that scene in Kung Fu Panda where Po
finally realises he’s The Dragon Warrior? And he can’t
understand why? Well that’s because of Philosophy.
He fell into the right Philosophical mindset in order
for him to acquire those amazing skidoosh powers.

There are two core/main schools of Kung Fu. You can

read classic literature I guess, like Sun Tzu, Bruce Lee,
David Chow, or whatever. But the two main schools
of thought are:

- Shaolin Kung Fu – The oldest school of Kung Fu

which is mostly known for external movements
and practices strengthening the muscles and
body. This is what most people typically think
of when they think Kung Fu.
- Wu Dung/Wu Dang – A little more modern and
has a different understanding of kung fu. These
are more internal moves that manipulate chi or
life force. Focusing on zen, peace, etc. Internal
power.

The Tenth Step – Practice

Now that you have read through this, it is important
that you keep practicing and later consider acquiring
and finding a good Sifu. There are many ways to
practice, such as:

- Recording yourself while practicing and fixing

errors. Similar to dance.
- Asking a friend to watch you perform.
- Sparring with a friend. Gently.
- Practicing striking and kicking on a punching
bag or padded tree.
- Shadowfighting.
Practice will be the only thing that will make you
good. An hour a week or two simply isn’t enough to
become great at Kung Fu. You must practice everyday
for an hour at least in order to become good. Good
concentrated practice.

Final thoughts
There are people who have become great by simply
practicing on their own. If you don’t plan on entering
a ring or getting into a vicious fight, you can quite
easily teach yourself several movements providing
that you record yourself and you’re highly critical of
yourself.

Of course, if you want to become a nationally

accredited award winning martial artist, it’s
important to understand that you will absolutely
need to find a Teacher who is willing to sign you up
for contests or tournaments that involve fighting or
practicing forms.

Generally, Kung Fu is fantastic for meditative

purposes and for focus. But more importantly, Kung
Fu is fantastic for self-discovery and breaking past the
barriers you may not have been aware of.

Whatever you may choose to do, best of luck on your

journey!