In 1974, the disco song “Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting” shot to the top of the pop music charts in Canada, the U.S., Britain, and Australia. This catchy certified “gold” tune by Carl Douglas rhapsodizes about the amazing abilities of Kung Fu fighters “fast as lightning,” although perhaps a “bit frightening” but “fought with expert timing.”
Obviously, not everybody is Kung Fu fighting at the moment. But what if they were? Or more to the point, committed to training in any martial art? That is, dedicated to attaining extreme skill through dedicated effort, which is what “kung fu” actually means.
Martial arts, “the arts of war,” or as written in Chinese (wushu) and Japanese (budo) characters, the practices for stopping fighting, are widely recognized for their quick motions, punches, kicks, locks, throws that create an overall image of superhuman skill and ability. While the practices are often glorified in popular media for the powerful movements, prowess, and skill, there are immense tangible health benefits that come from training.
There is a growing body of scientific literature showing that martial arts training using coordinated, whole-body movements improves balance, strength, and physiological function. The use of martial arts exercises is a promising treatment technique for individuals with chronic conditions and can also be used as a “pre-habilitation” tool. Additionally, martial arts provide a holistic approach to exercise where the brain, body, and mind reap the advantages if done consistently.
Since the “Kung Fu Craze” of the 1970s that spawned “Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting,” martial arts continued to grow in popularity and recently, especially amongst older adults hoping to increase postural and balance control. Aging is often associated with a decline in neuromuscular function as well as a reduced capacity of the body. Falls are the leading cause of accidental deaths worldwide and the largest comorbidity in older adults. Of course, the expectation of decreased function in aging is often brought about by decreased activity itself. Regulation of balance, functional learning for activities of daily living, and strength training improve postural control and mitigate the risk of falls.
This is where Kung Fu (more properly wushu) kicks in. While it's impossible to definitively track the origins of any ancient martial art, two related but different streams of martial arts, Shaolin and Wudang fist (quan, chuan), originated from two centers in China. Shaolin refers to traditions associated with Buddhist temples that hosted more “external” or “hard” style martial arts. It is considered “external” because of the predominant strong, quick, and forceful movements and a common emphasis on using physical strength. External martial arts focus on strengthening the muscles, skin, and bone, building speed and strength. A significant “hard” Shaolin-related martial art is White Crane, whose children include Long Fist and Preying Mantis in China and which significantly influenced the development of Okinawan and then Japanese karate, and thus eventually Tae Kwon Do in Korea.
Wudang martial arts originated from Taoist practices in the Wudang mountains and have more of an emphasis on “internal” or “soft” style with a focus on meditative traditions which are in some ways subtly more complex. Wudang martial arts are centered around developing from the core to the outside. Internal martial arts prioritize skills such as focus, timing, awareness, precision, and the use of energy total body power. A hallmark of training in traditions like Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua Zhang, and Hsing I Quan is the combination of slow postural movement with rapid techniques. Many arts share probable origins that combine both, such as the system Bruce Lee originally trained in Wing Chun.
(Trivia interlude: the name for hip hop Wu-Tang Clan is an homage to martial arts. Their debut album "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" refers to Bruce Lee's classic "Enter the Dragon" and the cult hit "36 Chambers of Shaolin.")
So what happens to your function if you do some Kung Fu fighting? Tai Chi Chuan is one of the most extensively studied martial arts and the slow movements place an emphasis on cognitive processing, leading to improvements in memory and function. Those trained in karate show improved one-leg standing balance compared with those in other activities (swimmers) where active balance and postural control are not key. Forearm bone density, handgrip strength, and balance control were shown to be greater in Wing Chun practitioners in comparison to untrained folks. On average, training in martial arts movements lowers the risk of falls while improving quality of life and functional capacity.
THE BASICSKarate and other martial arts have been built upon extensive repertoires of agile gestures, movements, and patterns that are interwoven in the practices, which lead to increased strength and reaction times. For older adults, improvements in strength and the ability to perform everyday household tasks such as opening jars can create substantial differences in lifestyle. Strength has been tested in several interventions with martial arts due to the fast and focused movements that exist within the modalities. Frailty increases with age; therefore, it is imperative to maintain or enhance strength throughout the lifespan. This can also help to offset or respond to injury or neurological damage arising from a stroke.
Falls are a cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, so strength is important for integrating different areas of the body in functional ways. In research studies, we showed that arm & leg cycling, arm cycling, and weight training improved strength and interlimb connections with training after stroke, likely due to evolutionarily conserved connections related to our quadrupedal ancestry. Possibly the same occurs in martial arts interventions where the underpinnings of the practices rely on neurologically coordinated movements within and between the arms and legs.
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Ageism Among the Elderly Overall, martial arts improve balance, postural regulation, strength, reaction time, and body composition leading to improved quality of life for practitioners. In terms of physiology, many martial arts are excellent for exercise with multifaceted benefits in all parts of the body due to the focus on integrated whole-body movements. A focal point on balance is important for aging populations and martial arts such as karate are promising therapies. More understanding of the practices from a quantified scientific lens continues, and we hope that the use of traditional martial arts training can underpin preventative “prehabilitation” strategies across the lifespan.
To answer Carl Douglas then, if “Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting,” everybody might be better off both now and beyond. Which brings us to "Bruce Lee and the Brain" and "From the Shaolin Monastery to the Modern Mind" in our other posts.
© E. Paul Zehr (2020)
Note: This post was a collaboration between me and Hajer Mustafa, a graduate trainee in the Rehabilitation Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Victoria.