Kung fu?

Can anybody tell me what makes kung fu so effective and different from other arts such as taekwondo or karate?

Kung Fu has a pretty broad definition. There are heaps of different styles that suit all kinds of people, so any answer would be fairly limited. The shortest answer would be that JKD has more emphasis on more and higher kicks. Karate from my knowledge has lower stances and more hand/forearm techniques. There are many different types of Karate and TKD so again, there can be really no specific answer. If you have access to either three of these MA i suggest you go and scope the place out and make up your own mind. Ask the instructors as much as you see fit, see what goes on.

As for the effectiveness, it's all in the person.

The effectiveness of the art depends on the instruction and the dedication of the student.

well to tell you the truth i practice basic wing chun, boxing, and jkd, i think jkd is the way to go in martial arts but that's my opinon. but to be good at jkd you have to understand it and you should have the basic of a few martial arts. jkd is alot of things but one of the main things it stands for is adding what works for you and subtracting what does not work for you. but with truth and all that western boxing would work better in a fight than most martial arts but that's just my opinon. and on a side note kung fu really means to have much or a deep amount of skill in something it does not mean martial arts but it does apply since to be good in martial arts would mean you have good skills in that. but i think that a better term would be wushu, which i think is mandarin for military art, but really just means martial arts because the word martial itself means to be suited for war, or military. i think those words are defined pretty much right but anyway i just thought i'd add something. so peace

Well this isn't why, but Kung fu has much more years of development to it. It is also older and all the techniques in TKD and Karate pretty much derive from old kung fu styles. There is also more flow and substance to it, but that doens't mean that today it is more effective. It takes ALOT of time and practice, as well as good guidancee to make it efficient, where some of the more simple techniques of karate and TKD can work pretty fast, but in the long run won't really help as much (at least in professional fighting). Internal aspects, and much knowledge through trial and error is also another reason why its a good reason to get into. Kung Fu is so vast and endless, you will never stop studying.

Also I view JKD as more of a philosophy and less of a martial art. I would rather have a few good techniques, done right, and trained right with the right basics/fundamentals, than augmented ones mixed in with a bunch of other techniques. I would rather have a strong base in WC, or Hung Gar for example, than just be the jack of all trades. But thats just me, I like the deepness of such arts that alot of time and effort went into. The chi gong methods are also invaluble, and in HG forms, are incorporated into every movement.

I can only speak for my style of Kung-Fu. We study all 6 ranges of fighting ,and one of the major goals of all the techniques is flow.How to flow from one technique to another depending on the energy given by your opponent and to be able to flow between ranges.We do not study forms and therefor have no predetermined moves since in a real situation you do not know what your opponent will do.

The biggest misconception is that forms are for fighting.
They are not for fighting, they are for conditioning and training. If someone uses pre-determined moves, instead of reacting naturally to an attack, it is not the forms or the art, it is the person that is the problem. Sure forms develop certain techniques and ways of understanding, but the fighting component is completely different.

Forms have great benefits, as long as someone doesn't think its the same thing as fighting.

The translation of the words Kung and Fu mean time and effort - I think that says it all....

time and effort. that sounds correct to me but really it's the same as skill in a way, because time and effort and skill go hand in hand, you know you get skill from time and effort. thanks for your info. peace

Kung Fu can also roughly be translated as hard work or labor. Wu Shu is actually a closer word to "martial arts" in Chinese. The term "kung fu" has been westernized to mean pretty much any Chinese martial arts, which make it a very large sphere indeed. As far as what system makes a person a better fighter, I suppose that depends on the person more than the style. Am I the greatest fighter in the world? No! Am I a better fighter for having trained in my system of Kung Fu? Definitely!

-Sting

he's right, basically the use of Kung Fu to mean chinese martial arts originated in America when Bruce Lee first hit the screen there big time, i can't quite remember what film it was but he used Kung Fu to describe martial arts and from there it has stuck. Kung Fu does translate best to 'skill' but the term Kung Fu is so commonly used to describe Chinese Martial Art that it is now prefered to Wushu, which is a far better way to describe basic Chinese Martial Arts.

I disagree that kung fu is more effective than other arts. Not only because it is the practitioner that makes the art, but because there are merits inall.
You cannot claim that jiujitsu is inferior as a grappling art to chin ma.
And you cannot say that escrima has inferior knife techniques.
There is a lot to be learned from all arts.
What makes kung fu effctive, is that it relies on principles not on uncoordinated techniques.
Kung fu systems are exactly that systems, not a set of blocks and strikes, they are left open for interpretation and adaptation, that is what makes them good.

kungfu covers a large area of chinese martial arts, its hard to specify any forms or styles. japanese and korean martial arts are basically derived from chinese martial arts.because of cultural differences, their "original quality" changes. therefore, japanese and korean martial arts are more rigid in terms that almost everything is fixed and cannot be changed. whereas, the mastery of chinese martial art is based on the understandin of the individual which allows flexibility in the use of art.