Survival sparring: how Shaolin monks train

Shaolin is a place of power. Few people have not heard of this Buddhist temple in Central China. Many movies have been made about the martial arts of the monastery, the most popular American hip-hop team Wu-Tang Clan and the cult Russian band of the 90s “Kar-Man” sang about them. Shaolin monks were also the characters of the famous video game Mortal Combat.

The strength and endurance of the monastery’s students inspires and amazes. What goes on behind the closed doors of the temple? Let’s find out how the legendary Shaolin monks train and keep in shape.

Stretching and heavy loads

Since ancient times Shaolin has been a legend. It is not without reason that the Chinese emperor Li Shimin in the VII century turned to the monastery for help – in the end, it was the support of warrior monks that helped him to stay on the throne. Even professional warriors around the world were afraid of the monastery’s students. And for good reason.

The order of the day in Shaolin makes you both horrified and delighted at the same time. The day begins at 5 a.m. with two hours of meditation. Those who like to sleep longer will have a hard time here – there is a punishment for violation of the regime. As a rule, the guilty are beaten with sticks. Of course, for educational purposes.

Meditation is followed by stretching exercises. Every self-respecting Shaolin monk must be able to sit on the twine.

Morning training is followed by bathing in a mountain stream and massage with special herbs. All this helps the monks prepare for the real stresses. After all, there was only a warm-up before, and the main training is ahead.

Sparring on the edge of survival

The main training takes place in the afternoon and is divided into two parts. First, the monks perform tasks aimed at developing strength and endurance, and then they practice martial arts. After lunch there is an hour of free time – the only respite of the day.

In the evening, real martial sparring takes place. They are both hand-to-hand and with the use of various weapons. The pupils of the monastery fight in full force. And the process is carefully monitored by specially trained people to intervene and stop the fight in case of a serious threat to health. This is the kind of sparring usually shown in Hollywood movies about Eastern martial arts.

There are believed to be five ancient styles of fighting in Shaolin: the tiger, snake, crane, mantis and monkey styles. Each of them has a number of features that are characteristic of the patron animal. For example, the tiger is characterized by serious strength training, low stances, powerful strikes and direct movements. While the praying mantis is characterized by precision and speed of blows.

High endurance but little muscle mass

It would seem that with such super-intensive training, Shaolin monks should look like bodybuilders from the pages of glossy magazines. However, their muscle mass is not pronounced at all – most of them, on the contrary, look quite thin. And there is an explanation for this.

The fact is that Asians in general are not inclined to gain mass. They are ectomorphs by body type, and it is quite difficult for them to get better.

Another reason lies in the Shaolin diet. Monks do not eat fish and meat and prefer food of exclusively vegetable origin. And without animal protein it is almost impossible to gain muscle mass. In addition, three times daily training does not allow the muscles to recover. And without enough rest, muscles grow much slower.

However, the lack of mass is more than compensated by amazing endurance. Shaolin monks believe that the main thing for fighting is not the beauty of muscles, but the mobility of the body and the ability to control it. On the contrary, a large mass negatively affects maneuverability and only takes away energy.