Forms and Combat in Traditional Kung Fu

One of the most debated topics in martial-arts groups and forums is whether or not to practise forms, and how useful they are. Much has been written about it, but I would like to share my own view.

Why Do We Practise Forms?

In my opinion, yes — it is good to practise the forms of the style, for several reasons.

1. Forms are a simple way to exercise and get stronger. They move every part of the body, improve coordination, and are excellent aerobic exercise when done with speed and power. And because at any moment someone may say «do this form for me», they train you to jump instantly from relaxation into a state of stress.

2. Forms hold the most visible characteristics of our style. Well understood and executed, they prepare the body for combat: repeating a movement 300 times integrates it, making it far easier to apply later in fighting, on the bag, on the pads or with a partner. The movements must be understood, though — and you must know that in a real fight they will never be executed exactly as in the form, but will be based on what the form taught you.

3. Forms are how we express ourselves through kung fu without fighting. As Master Wong, director of the Futsan Hung Sing Temple, once said in an interview: «Whoever knows where to look can tell if a person is good at Choy Li Fut just by watching a few movements.» As in dance, a student’s personality, energy, elegance and power show in the forms — not in whether they look pretty, but in whether the execution is powerful, fast, fluid, relaxed and contains what the masters call «the essential characteristics» of the style.

4. Forms are a beautiful way to preserve the culture inherent in kung fu. Some were devised more than 150 years ago, and practising them keeps the memory and spirit of the master who created them alive. Others use weapons that were once vital in war and will never be used again; learning the form teaches both the weapon and the history of the style. I remember when we learned the anti-Japanese saber and tended to use it like an ordinary saber — but Master Ho insisted the cut was different, and although we will never use it, this knowledge is thereby not lost. People who focus exclusively on fighting sometimes discard forms; everyone is free to do as they wish, but in Chinese kung fu forms play an important role, and without them part of the essence is inevitably lost.

Can You Learn to Fight from Forms?

The obvious answer is no. Forms are one training method among the many kung fu uses toward an end — which, for Choy Li Fut, was originally to end a fight as quickly as possible and to face more than one opponent at once, something our style is especially good at. This does not mean the ancestor masters forgot «wude» (martial virtue), respect for the Sifu, or fellowship — but kung fu is what it is, and many Southern styles developed in the 19th century, like Choy Li Fut or Hung Gar, were made to fight in war.

Bruce Lee said, «if you want to learn to swim, you have to get in the water» — no matter how much technique you have, until you are in the pool you will not know if you can reach the other side. Our Sifu Rubén Romero puts it another way: «doing forms is like a passing drill in football — important and indispensable for handling the ball, but to be a good player you then have to play a match.»

So if you want to learn to fight you need to spar — but intelligently. Nothing is more absurd than handing people gloves and protection and telling them to go at it wildly. First ask: what do you want to practise? The point of training forms, techniques and kicks is that they serve a purpose; kung fu is an intelligent art, and you must train reaction, speed, «intention» and focus. To tell two kids «put on the gloves and hit each other» requires no martial training at all — any teenager can do that. What matters is developing drills that let us apply our techniques in combat and, above all, prepare the student to react, attack, move and evade.

An important clarification: some schools say «we don’t only do forms, we also do partner techniques, pad work and punches in the mirror.» Fine — but if all of that is done in the same stances and with the same strikes as in the forms, it is still just doing forms. What you must do is extract what is inside them and apply it — which is not the same as choreographing a fight from the form’s sequence and calling it application. For that you need a good teacher who opens your eyes and is willing to spend the time explaining why it is different.

Finally, there is the opposite kind of school — one that sells you the idea that because our kung fu is so lethal, and made for war, it cannot be used in combat, and that training only cooperative partner techniques and forms is enough to fight and be lethal. That is a great lie. I do not believe the ancestor masters did forms and then went to war on that alone — you must always train with a partner. And yes, you can compete: you can do sanda, a contact sport created so kung fu could be used in a ring, and even MMA, adapting what we know — because what defines our style is not the kind of fighting we do, but our training and, above all, our values. Hou Kan, a master of the Futsan Hung Sing Kwoon, is considered a martyr for dying fighting the Japanese; it is truly hard to imagine he went to war having practised only forms.

In conclusion: Choy Li Fut and the more traditional styles cover a very broad body of knowledge — Chinese culture, forms, values and combat. Each of us may prefer one aspect over another and practise some things more than others, but if any of them is missing, our kung fu is incomplete.

An opinion piece by Tin Sing Kwun (María Arias Antoranz 何天萍); it does not necessarily reflect the views of every member of our school.