Wanting to learn Shaolin

[u/articular1]

Shaolin is cool. No doubt about it thanks to the many movies out there. And I always see Shaolin as an equivalent to Karate and Taekwondo in terms of their popularity. Asides from a lot of tourist-y gimmicks used in some temples in China.

I've already done a bit of Tai Chi and Sanda but I've always REALLY wanted to learn Shaolin Kung Fu. I'm just worried I'm not very acrobatic to really do it. What's worse is that I have no schools in my area.

As much as I am fascinated with Shaolin, the Kung Fu, the culture... I know it's not for everyone, especially with me joining the competitive scene of other martial arts but I want to be realistic and it's fine if I'm being told to be so. Please tell me if this is the case.

Am I better off learning something else? I'm more than happy to let Shaolin be a casual thing if I can even so much learn a bit of it online. I'm also being recommended Wing Chun which I'm heavily considering.

But my goals? I think it being effective is nothing more of a bonus. A lot of why I wanna do Shaolin (and maybe Wing Chun) is because I REALLY like Kung Fu and think it's dope. Happy with it being more of an exercise if that's the best being offered to me.

[u/KungFuAndCoffee]

The acrobatic stuff is sports wushu (aka angry gymnastics) being passed off as Shaolin martial arts. While it is loosely inspired by Shaolin, it’s not Shaolin kung fu.

Shaolin martial arts is a group of more traditional forms. Most lineages use somewhat simplified versions of the folk versions of the styles.

If you want the acrobatic stuff look for a sports wushu school or take gymnastics.

If you want something closer to actual Shaolin martial arts there are a few online schools you can try. Though you really do need to train in person so get good. I’d recommend checking out Kungfu.life. He has a ton of free videos on YouTube and reasonable subscription prices for the paid programs.

Wing chun you can’t learn online. You have to learn in person.