Hung Gar Kung Fu · Bonus

Lam Family
Hung Gar

Southern Shaolin · 南少林

Tiger-crane power, deep stances and bridge-hand conditioning, trained the traditional way. A bonus series for Alpha Trainer athletes.

虎Tiger鶴Crane橋Bridge馬Stance

Start Training ↓The Lineage

拳
The Main Event

Workouts & Drills

The author crouched beside a client, teaching her the technique Fist Through the Monk's Sleeves in a dark gym
Fist Sliding Through the Monk’s Sleeves

打Combat Combinations

The author, in a Master Trainer shirt, throwing a high kick to a focus mitt held up by a fighter in red shorts on a red mat in a gym
Attack and counter simultaneously
Advanced Session

Combat Session

Lam Family Hung Gar · full breakdown, 18 screens
130–150Minutes
ADVLevel
1,300+Strikes
360Kicks
Start Session →Download PDF

馬Stance & Conditioning

The author, masked and dressed in black, holding a deep horse stance with red kettlebells held out at arm's length in a temple courtyard lined with wooden dummies, mountains glowing at sunset behind
Conditioning in the horse stance

形Forms Practice

Two men in black kung fu pants practicing a bridging hand technique in a torch-lit hall lined with wooden dummies

Forms practice sessions

洪
The Style

What Is Hung Gar Kung Fu

Tiger Crane Style poster: Hung Gar Kung Fu, tiger claws and crane wings, power and grace combined

Hung Gar (洪家, also Hung Kuen 洪拳) is a Southern Chinese martial art from Guangdong, traditionally traced to the Southern Shaolin Temple and named after its legendary founder, Hung Hei Gun.

It is known for low, stable stances (especially the horse stance), strong bridge hands and the tiger claw. It also trains both hard external power and internal work through breathing.

馬

Rooted Stances

Low, stable stances, with the horse stance at the center of training.

橋

Strong Bridges

Conditioned forearms (bridge hands) to connect, control and strike.

虎鶴

Tiger & Crane

Tiger for hard, direct power. Crane for soft, evasive, whipping power.

剛柔

Hard & Soft

External strength balanced with internal breath work, as in Steel Wire.

五形
The Foundation

The Five Animals

Hung Gar is built on the five animals of Shaolin: tiger, crane, leopard, dragon and snake. Each animal trains a different quality.

Tiger claw stance in a fiery temple courtyard flanked by tigers
虎

The Tiger

Bones · Power

Trains the bones and tendons. Its signature is the tiger claw and its clawing techniques, backed by deep stances and full-body power. The tiger fights with fierceness, courage and hard, direct force, and Hung Gar's tiger shout comes from the dan tien, not the throat. Tiger and crane together form the heart of the style.

The author in a one-leg crane stance at a waterfall
鶴

The Crane

Balance · Precision

Trains the sinews, balance and focus. The crane teaches grace and control, using soft, whipping power instead of the tiger's hard force. It waits patiently for an opening, then strikes with speed and pinpoint accuracy at sensitive targets, staying elusive the whole time.

The author in a leopard stance in a mountain river
豹

The Leopard

Speed · Strength

Trains speed and strength. Its signature is the leopard fist and the piercing jab (tsop choy). Smaller than the tiger, the leopard relies on agility, momentum and rapid, aggressive strikes, chaining blows together to outmaneuver and disable an opponent.

Hung Gar Dragon poster: a fighter wreathed in flames in a fighting stance with a black dragon coiled behind him, captioned 'Calm on the outside' and 'Inferno on the inside'
龍

The Dragon

Spirit · Internal

Trains the spirit and internal power. Dragon work develops correct breathing, the twisting of the waist and stance for power, and a mind that is changeable and hard to predict. In Hung Gar it is trained less as a set of strikes than as dynamic and isometric movements in the style of Southern chi gung.

The author in black, in a low stance, throwing a snake-hand finger strike between carved serpent pillars in a misty temple hung with red lanterns
蛇

The Snake

Qi · Flexible Striking

Trains qi and relaxed, flexible power. Snake work strengthens the fingers for fast, darting strikes to vital points such as the eyes and throat, delivered with smooth, circular arm movements. It is the fastest animal at short range, and its nature is deception.

傳
History of Hung Gar

From Shaolin to Today

The author with his Sifu, Master Mike Marshall
師With my Sifu, Master Mike Marshall

Hung Gar's early history comes from tradition, and accounts vary. The Lam Family line is well documented from Lam Sai Wing onward. Lam Sai Wing became a disciple of Wong Fei Hung, moved to Hong Kong in the 1920s and published three classic books on the style. He passed the art to his nephew and adopted son, Lam Cho, whose students carried Lam Family Hung Gar around the world.

  1. Origin

    Southern Shaolin 南少林

    By tradition, Hung Gar traces its roots to the Southern Shaolin Temple, placed in Fujian in most accounts, and its abbot Jee Sin (Gee Sin) Sim See. The temple story is legend, and accounts of where it stood and how it fell vary. Legend says the Qing government destroyed the temple for sheltering rebels, and its fighters scattered across southern China, carrying their arts with them. Among the temple's lay students, the story goes, was Hung Hei Gun.

  2. Founder

    Hung Hei Gun 洪熙官

    In legend, Hung Hei Gun was a tea merchant who fled to the Southern Shaolin Temple after a clash with Manchu officials. The abbot Jee Sin taught him tiger boxing, and he became the best of the temple's lay (non-monk) students. Tradition names Hung Gar, “Hung family fist,” after him, though some accounts credit his fellow student Luk Ah Choi and the anti-Qing Hung Mun society instead. Tradition traces the line from these students down to the Wong family of Guangdong.

  3. Wong Fei Hung
    Legend

    Wong Fei Hung 黃飛鴻

    Wong Fei Hung (1847–1925) learned Hung Gar from his father, Wong Kei Ying, one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. He learned the Iron Wire from Lam Fuk Sing, a student of Tit Kiu Sam (“Iron Bridge Three”), who created the form. A physician who ran the Po Chi Lam clinic in Guangzhou, he systematized the style, shaped its Tiger Crane set, and became a folk hero of more than 100 films. His best-known disciple, Lam Sai Wing, carried the art forward. No film footage of Wong Fei Hung exists, so generations of famous Chinese actors have brought him to life on screen, Jet Li among the most famous.

    Jet Li as Wong Fei Hung in Once Upon a Time in China II
    Jet Li as Wong Fei Hung
  4. Grandmaster Lam Sai Wing
    Grandmaster

    Lam Sai Wing 林世榮

    Lam Sai Wing (1860–1943) came from a family of martial artists and dit da healers in Nanhai, Guangdong, and became Wong Fei Hung's best-known disciple. Sun Yat-sen honored him as “Mr. Tiger Crane” after a 1921 charity performance of the Tiger Crane set. He brought the art to Hong Kong in the 1920s, published three classic books on Gung Ji, Tiger Crane and Iron Wire, and created the Warrior's Palm form. He passed the family line to his nephew and adopted son, Lam Cho.

    Grandmaster Lam Sai Wing in a fighting stance
  5. Grandmaster Lam Cho
    Grandmaster

    Lam Cho 林祖

    Lam Sai Wing's nephew and adopted son, raised and trained as his successor. He began training at six, was teaching by sixteen, and in 1933 founded the Lam Cho Martial Arts Association, whose tiger-and-crane emblem became the mark of Lam Family Hung Kuen. He taught and practiced dit da in Hong Kong for decades and died in 2012 at 102. His eldest son, Grandmaster Lam Chun Fai, carried the family teaching on in Hong Kong, while senior students such as Buck Sam Kong took it overseas.

    Grandmaster Lam Cho in a fighting stance
  6. Grandmaster Lam Chun Fai
    Grandmaster

    Lam Chun Fai 林鎮輝

    Eldest son of Lam Cho, who carried the Lam family teaching on in Hong Kong. Born in 1940 and named by his great-uncle Lam Sai Wing, he began training under his father at five. He was helping his father teach as a teenager and at 18 opened his own school and dit da clinic in North Point. He has since taught Lam Family Hung Gar in seminars around the world, and students travel to Hong Kong to train with him.

    Grandmaster Lam Chun Fai in a low stance with a weapon
  7. Master Buck Sam Kong
    Master

    Buck Sam Kong 江北山

    Trained under Lam Cho as a youth in Hong Kong, alongside Lam Chun Fai. Brought Lam Family Hung Gar to the U.S. After moving to Hawaii in 1956, he opened a school in Honolulu in 1963 and was one of the first to teach kung fu openly to the public, not only to students of Chinese ancestry. He co-wrote the 1973 book Hung Gar Kung-Fu, was named Black Belt's Kung Fu Instructor of the Year in 1974, and moved his school to Los Angeles in 1976.

    Master Buck Sam Kong in a low stance
  8. Sifu Mike Marshall
    Master

    Mike Marshall

    A top student of Master Buck Sam Kong who also trained under Praying Mantis master Kam Yuen. A Marine Corps veteran and expert marksman, he worked behind the scenes with David Carradine and was his bodyguard at his wedding. His classes are built on the stance: long stance work first, then kicks, punches and self-defense, and only then the forms. He keeps Tid Sin for students who have earned it.

    Sifu Mike Marshall in a one-leg stance with a trident
形
The Core Curriculum

The 4 Main Forms + Warrior's Palm

Tid Sin Kuen (Steel Wire) poster, pictured: Grandmaster Lam Sai Wing
林世榮Pictured: Grandmaster Lam Sai Wing
04
★ Most Treasured Form
鐵線拳

Tid Sin Kuen

Steel Wire (Iron Wire)

Tid Sin means “Iron Wire” or “Steel Thread”: the body is trained to be as strong as steel and as flexible as thread. It was created by Grandmaster Tit Kiu Sam (鐵橋三, “Iron Bridge Three”), one of the Ten Tigers of Canton, and reached Wong Fei Hung through Tit Kiu Sam's student Lam Fuk Sing; later masters lengthened it. The set joins breathing, sound and dynamic tension with the twelve bridge-hand techniques to build internal power, strength and a stable root. In the old days it was trained with iron rings on the wrists. It is the last and most advanced of the four core hand forms in the Lam Family curriculum.

My noteIt took me about 15 years to earn this form from my teacher. It was what I wanted most from my training.

Performing a section of Tid Sin (Iron Wire) · tap to play
Black Tiger poster: the author in a tiger claw stance
01
工字伏虎拳

Gung Ji Fook Fu Kuen

Taming the Tiger

Gung Ji Fook Fu means “Taming the Tiger in the 工 (Gung) pattern”: the footwork traces the character 工. One of the oldest Hung Gar sets, it is said to go back to the Southern Shaolin abbot Jee Sin, and some lineages credit its choreography to Luk Ah Choi. The long set drills the core stances, especially the horse stance, along with strong blocks, bridges and punches, and builds breath control and stamina. It is the foundation form of the Lam Family system and the first of its four core hand forms.

My noteMy favorite form for fighting: the most practical street techniques and the longest set, about 20 minutes done correctly. I trained it in a weighted vest.

The author in a crane stance on a snowy temple terrace
02
虎鶴雙形拳

Fu Hok Seung Ying Kuen

Tiger Crane

Fu Hok Seung Ying means “Tiger Crane Paired Form.” Tiger Crane sets exist across many Hung styles, but the version taught in the Lam Family was choreographed by Wong Fei Hung, who is said to have worked in Tit Kiu Sam's bridge hands and long-arm techniques. It pairs the hard, direct power of the tiger with the soft, evasive whipping power of the crane, teaching the student to use both hard and soft force. Lam Sai WingLam Sai Wing performed it for Sun Yat-sen in 1921 and recorded itrsquo;s 1921 charity performance of it won praise from Sun Yat-sen, and he recorded it in one of his three books. It follows Gung Ji as the second core hand form and adds much of the style's fighting vocabulary.

The author in a leopard pose
03
十形拳

Sup Ying Kuen

Ten Forms

Sup Ying means “Ten Forms”: five animals (dragon, snake, tiger, leopard, crane) and the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth). Wong Fei Hung choreographed the Five Animal set, and Lam Sai Wing expanded it into this Five Animal Five Element version, which is particular to Lam Sai Wing's branches. Almost a style in itself, it combines each animal's way of fighting with breathing work, deep stances and tight hand techniques. It is the third core hand form, a bridge between the external Tiger Crane work and the internal Iron Wire.

Vintage photo of a Hung Gar master in a low palm stance
戰
Additional form · created by Lam Sai Wing
戰掌

Chin Cheung

Warrior's Palm

Chin Cheung means “Warrior's Palm” (also translated “War Palm”). It is a Lam Family form created by Grandmaster Lam Sai Wing. It is taught alongside the four core hand forms and complements Gung Ji, Tiger Crane, Ten Forms and Iron Wire.

師
The Sifu

My Hung Gar Journey

The author with a bar held like a staff in red smoke

20 years of Hung Gar. I'm one of Master Mike Marshall's top students, training in the Lam Family system that runs through Master Buck Sam Kong and Grandmaster Lam Cho.

The same discipline that builds a strong stance builds a strong lifter: patience, structure and work done right every rep.

My Story · 我的武道
  1. 始

    Finding My Sifu

    As a kid, I watched the original Kung Fu series starring David Carradine every day after middle school. Years later, at 18 and playing football at the University of Louisville, I found my Sifu, Master Mike Marshall. When I learned he had worked behind the scenes with David Carradine and was his bodyguard at his wedding, I realized how rare this opportunity was. I thought I knew what hard training was. I was wrong.

    Black and white photo of Sifu Mike Marshall working a wrist drill with the author
    Sifu Mike Marshall teaching Iron Wire
  2. 馬

    Built in the Stance

    Class was four days a week, two hours a session, and it was brutal. The first 45 minutes were stance training: holding stances, nearly nonstop, until your legs shook and your mind wanted to quit. Then came kicking drills, punching drills and self-defense, and only then the forms. After a year or two, I was training mornings at my teacher's house.

    Sifu Mike Marshall guiding the author through a low stance with dumbbells, mountain temple at sunset behind them
    Training fire punches under Sifu Mike Marshall
  3. 戰

    Tested in the Fight

    My Sifu trained me for several fights. The first was in Seattle, and while I was there I also trained with Choy Li Fut Master Mak Fai.

  4. 鐵

    Earning the Steel Wire

    Steel Wire (Iron Wire) was what I wanted most from my training, and it took about 15 years before my teacher taught it to me. Some things can't be rushed. They have to be earned.

“When you do that form, your whole body feels full of power and hard as steel. There’s no feeling like it.”

On Tid Sin Kuen

For fighting, Gung Ji is my form. It holds the most practical street-fighting techniques, and it’s the longest form, about 20 minutes to perform correctly. I trained it in a weighted vest for conditioning.

20Years training
洪拳Hung Kuen
LamFamily system
南Southern Shaolin
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