Personal Workouts

Personal Workouts: 

Expression of Animal Styles within San Soo

I am a practitioner of Tsoi Li Hoi Fut Hung Gar, more commonly known as Kung Fu San Soo. It is a Five-Family system that incorporates the strikes, stances, and fighting applications of several Chinese Kung Fu styles under a single, unified style. The term San Soo, a variation of the word San Shou, means "free form" and it emphasizes the versatility and applicability of the system. San Soo has many principles which, when understood, lend themselves to variation. The principles of San Soo are solid, but it is the solidity of these principles that makes the art flexible enough to fit any individual. Myself, I am a proponent of the different, which is why I seek to vary my expression of the art in as many ways as possible.

For example, I am very intrigued by the animal styles of Kung Fu. Though San Soo is not considered an animal style, the art incorporates many principles found in the animal styles. Therefore, I like to practice those principles to enhance my San Soo and I do so by dividing my training into different days which incorporate different elements of the art of San Soo. I pair each group of elements to one of the animals. For example, on the Day of the Leopard, I work my use of the Leopard Paw strike, and I work on quick lateral use of the horse, whereas on the Day of the Tiger, I work on the use of the Tiger Claw strike, and more direct, full-power applications of the horses.

I will be posting some of my workouts to share and to help me write down and record my progress in my understanding of the art.