when i see shaolin kungfu i see a lot of long range attacks, jumps, flips, and acrobatics. i was wondering if shaolin kungfu had any close range attacks shown in their forms or in sparring?
“satisfaction loses, humility gains”
Of course
Close range upper cuts, elbow strikes, head butts, clinching and knee strikes are all used by shaolin practtioners.
I don’t know about other schools, but we are taught a lot of close range fighting and grappling our in Southern Sil Lum system. I notice a lot of elbow strikes and uppercuts as well as knees and head-butts. Chin Na works well for close range if you have spent enough time to learn how to do the techniques quickly and effectively. Also, I believe the iron palm would be a pretty good close-range technique as well. A well rounded system will have a balance of close-range and long-range attacks/defense.
I too noticed that, though Shaolin Chuan does have close range movements, it does concentrate on longer range movements. Because of this I also study Hung Gar. It costs a bit more but since I live in two places throughout the year it’s good to have somewhere wherever I am.