http://www.kungfulibrary.com?

[Yoda]

There's a guy on dragondoor who is raving about the training principles of the 72 Shaolin traditions. Anyone tried it? I downloaded the free version and while it's a bit of a tease, it was still interesting. I'll probably check it out at some point.

[Yoda]

I found the paper book on amazon here:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Authentic-Shaolin-He...8592&sr=1-1

 

You can noodle around a bit.

 

Note the section on stone padlocks... a prior incarnation of kettlebell training. Written in 1934, but it appears to have all the basics: lots of massage, teeth knocking, saliva swallowing, stance training, with misc. practices like eyesight improvement, etc before the arrival of slick talkin' chi teachers.

[Yoda]

So the compiler of the above book has a more recent book out. I figured maybe this would be a 'best of' Wushu.

 

The picture I got from that book is that any sort of external qigong which would include stance training, pistols, kettlebells(stone padlocks), 8 Brocades, and Muscle/Tendon Changing postures. Of these, the later is the best to cultivate the super fighter. External practices can make you undefeatable but can't make you immortal.

 

So flip to the internal section and it's only a few scant pages on emptiness meditation. Sigh... the mystery lives on.

 

But I like the fact that I can think of my kettlebell training not as cardio or endurance training (boring!) but rather as an ancient Shaolin chi kung devised by Bodhidharma to whip his monks into shape!

 

His treatment of Muscle and Tendon Changing wasn't as detailed as in other books which is a bit out of place from the very high marks he gives the drill.