Self-Defense
Self defense is one of the first reasons many people will consider taking martial arts classes. In fact, it's probably safe to say that most people believe it is the point of taking such a class. However, though Wushu is a fighting system in takes many years of practice and repetition before its benefit as a self defense system can be had. This is true of any martial art - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian; you name it, no matter what they tell you. While the other benefits of taking martial arts classes (fitness, discipline, challenge, etc.) have immediate results, a martial arts system takes years of learning before it can be used effectively to fight with. Self defense classes, women's in particular, generally have a different aim than martial arts classes. They strive to teach confidence, awareness, empowerment, confrontation skills and a few simple strikes in a very short period of time, in order to make the average person more likely to be able to defend themselves in case of a physical attack. FBI journals have shown that a large number of attacks can be avoided using good verbal and spatial skills and that is what a good self defense class should focus on. That being said, taking Wushu classes does tend to raise confidence fairly quickly which raises awareness and you are constantly learning techniques that, given enough practice, will be much more effective than any technique you could learn in a self defense class, as long as you are willing to put in the work and time. Here at Wushu Kung Fu Fed, Inc. we teach the practical application for every technique you learn, so deciding to take a Wushu class for self defense is fine as long as you are aware of the difference and can enjoy the other aspects of practicing it until proficiency is reached.