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Adult martial arts training is about more than getting a great workout. At Shaolin Arts, our authentic Shaolin Kung Fu program helps adults build strength, improve mobility, gain confidence, and develop practical martial arts skills through structured, beginner-friendly training. Whether your goal is better fitness, self-defense, stress relief, or lifelong personal growth, you’ll discover why so many adults choose martial arts as a lifelong practice.
Select a topic to learn how Shaolin Kung Fu can help you become stronger, more focused, and more capable.
Most workout programs focus on calories burned, miles run, or pounds lifted. Adult martial arts training offers something more—a chance to become stronger while continually learning new skills.
At Shaolin Arts, every Shaolin Kung Fu class is designed to improve your fitness while developing practical martial arts skills. You’ll build strength, improve mobility, increase balance and coordination, and sharpen your focus as you learn techniques that challenge both your body and your mind. Instead of repeating the same workout week after week, every class introduces new skills and builds on what you’ve already learned.
That sense of continual progress is what keeps so many adults engaged. You’re not just exercising—you’re mastering movement, developing confidence, and becoming more capable with every class.
Whether your goal is better fitness, practical self-defense, stress relief, or simply finding an activity you’ll enjoy for years to come, adult martial arts provides a purposeful path toward a stronger body, a sharper mind, and a more capable life.
The goal of adult martial arts isn’t simply to get you in shape—it’s to help you become more capable in everyday life.
Through authentic Shaolin Kung Fu training, you’ll develop the strength, mobility, balance, coordination, and flexibility needed to move with confidence and control. Every class improves your ability to generate power efficiently, react more quickly, and maintain better body awareness, whether you’re training, working, hiking, playing with your grandchildren, or simply going about your daily routine.
You’ll also develop practical self-defense skills that emphasize awareness, sound judgment, and effective technique. While we hope you’ll never need to defend yourself, martial arts training provides the confidence that comes from knowing you have the skills to respond if the situation ever arises.
Real capability isn’t measured by how much weight you can lift or how fast you can run. It’s measured by your ability to move well, adapt to challenges, and confidently handle whatever life puts in front of you.
One of the most rewarding benefits of adult martial arts training has nothing to do with punches or kicks. It is the mental clarity that comes from being fully engaged in the present moment.
Shaolin Kung Fu requires concentration, coordination, and problem-solving. As you learn new techniques and refine your movements, you naturally develop greater focus, discipline, and body awareness. Many students find that the demands of training allow them to set aside the stress of work and daily responsibilities, replacing mental clutter with purposeful action.
Over time, this practice builds more than martial arts skills. It develops patience, resilience, perseverance, and the confidence to face challenges with a calm, focused mindset. These qualities extend far beyond the training hall, helping you become more effective at work, more present with your family, and more resilient in everyday life.
Whether you are looking to reduce stress, improve your concentration, or simply enjoy an activity that fully engages both your body and mind, Shaolin Kung Fu offers a lifelong practice of continuous growth.
One of the greatest advantages of Shaolin Kung Fu is that every class builds on the last. Rather than repeating the same workout or chasing short-term fitness goals, you’ll follow a structured curriculum that develops your skills step by step.
Each lesson introduces new techniques while reinforcing the fundamentals you’ve already learned. As your knowledge and abilities grow, you’ll advance through clearly defined ranks that recognize your progress and provide new challenges along the way. Every milestone represents more than time spent in class—it reflects improved skill, greater confidence, and a deeper understanding of the art.
This structured approach helps keep training engaging and rewarding. There is always something new to learn, another skill to refine, and another goal to pursue. Whether you train for fitness, self-defense, or personal growth, you’ll always have a clear path forward.
At Shaolin Arts, we believe martial arts is a lifelong journey. Every class is another opportunity to improve, challenge yourself, and become a little better than you were yesterday.
It’s never too late to begin your martial arts journey. In fact, most of our adult students walk through our doors with little or no previous martial arts experience.
You don’t need to be in great shape before your first class, and you won’t be expected to keep up with experienced students. Our instructors create a welcoming, supportive environment where you’ll learn at your own pace, building confidence and ability one class at a time.
Every Shaolin Kung Fu class is designed to help you progress safely through a structured curriculum. As your strength, mobility, coordination, and martial arts skills improve, you’ll discover that challenges which once seemed impossible become achievable through consistent practice.
Whether you’re looking for a new way to stay active, improve your fitness, learn practical self-defense, or simply challenge yourself to grow, adult martial arts offers a rewarding path forward. The hardest part isn’t the training—it’s deciding to take the first step.
Shaolin Kung Fu is one of the world’s oldest and most respected martial arts traditions, developed over centuries to cultivate strength, skill, discipline, and character. At Shaolin Arts, we honor that tradition while making it accessible to modern adults through structured, beginner-friendly instruction.
Our curriculum blends fundamental techniques, forms, partner training, conditioning, practical self-defense, and the timeless principles that have shaped generations of martial artists. Rather than chasing quick results or flashy techniques, you’ll build a solid foundation that develops lasting skill, confidence, and understanding.
While every student begins as a beginner, the journey of Shaolin Kung Fu offers a lifetime of growth. As your abilities develop, you’ll continue refining your technique, expanding your knowledge, and discovering that true mastery is not a destination but an ongoing process of learning and self-improvement.
Whether your goal is better fitness, practical self-defense, personal growth, or a deeper appreciation of one of history’s great martial arts traditions, you’ll find an authentic training experience and a welcoming community at Shaolin Arts.
Put simply, Shaolin Kung Fu is the original mixed martial art.
With the popularity of the UFC, many people have heard about MMA or Mixed Martial Arts. MMA is a sport-type event for the entertainment of spectators. MMA uses more than one ‘style’ or type of martial art.
However, thousands of years ago, before the rest of the world knew about Asian martial arts – the Shaolin Monks were practicing hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of styles of “Kung Fu” that included kicking (ti 踢), striking (da 打), throwing (shuai 摔), and grappling (na 拿) styles – the “four families” of Chinese Kung Fu.
Because the Shaolin Monks needed Kung Fu to defend themselves and others in life-and-death situations, Shaolin Kung Fu is a deadly and dangerous art designed to stop a threat as quickly and thoroughly as possible. It is not limited by competition rules such as those in MMA or other sport-focused martial arts.
At Shaolin Arts, we teach the five classic Shaolin Animals: tiger, leopard, dragon, crane, and snake, called Shaolin Wu Ling Xing Quan Fa and includes all four families of Chinese Kung Fu.
Our classes are small so you won’t get lost in the crowd. Experienced instructors coach every class. Throughout the class, you get personal attention and coaching. Because classes are unique and you are always learning something new, it’s always fun, never boring.
What makes Shaolin Arts unique is that our art, Shaolin Wu Ling Xing Quan Fa, includes all four families of Kung Fu:
At Shaolin Arts we teach a family-style Kung Fu called Shaolin Wu Ling Xing Quan Fa or Shaolin Five Animal Essence Fighting Method. The five animals of Shaolin Wu Ling Xing are the Tiger, Crane, Leopard, Snake, and Dragon. Together these five animals make a complete fighting art that has all four families of Kung Fu: Kicking, Striking, Throwing/Ground Fighting, and Grappling.
Kicking (Ti 踢): This family of Kung Fu emphasizes the use of various kicking techniques. The techniques are often powerful and fast, aiming to knock down or disable the opponent. The style also includes footwork and positioning to set up effective kicks.
Striking (Da 打): This family of Kung Fu emphasizes striking techniques, such as punches, palm strikes, elbow strikes, and finger strikes. The techniques focus on delivering maximum force to vulnerable points on the opponent’s body.
Throwing/Ground Fighting (Shuai 摔): This family of Kung Fu emphasizes throwing and grappling techniques, with the aim of taking the opponent to the ground and controlling them. Techniques include joint locks, chokes, and pressure points. It also includes training in ground fighting and submission holds.
Grappling (Na 拿): This family of Kung Fu emphasizes close-range grappling and wrestling techniques, such as joint locks, throws, takedowns, and ground fighting. The techniques aim to control the opponent’s body and neutralize their attacks.
Different Kung Fu styles emphasize different families of techniques. What makes Shaolin Arts unique is that our art encompasses all four families.
In this time, you will realize Kung Fu is not an easy journey. At the same time you will feel that you can move faster and you become more flexible. The improvements will be self-evident. In this time, you can get a general idea of what Shaolin Kung Fu is like and learn the methods to practice Shaolin Kung Fu.
This phase is sometimes the dark time before the sun. You might feel discouraged because you are aware of what you need to do to make one single move better, but your body just can’t do it, YET! This is the time to continue practicing with patience and allow yourself to blossom out of your cocoon. This phase is the time to develop agility, strength and speed of kicks and punches, accuracy of single moves, coordination of your body, strength, speed and the spirit of Shaolin Kungfu.
After you have blossomed, you will find you are progressing very fast. You can learn a difficult form quickly! And you are now at the top of your class and at the school. This level requires the shape of the hand to be correct, the moving of the body to be quick, the body acting as a whole, the eyes following the moving of the hand, steps moving accurately, spirit to be up and strength to be released at certain moment with speed.
Having learned the basics of Shaolin Five-Animal Kung Fu, as a black sash, you embark upon your personal kung fu journey of mastery. You learn kung fu at a deeper level. You learn how to harness your energy (Chi). You learn to improvise attacks and defenses based on previous material fluidly. Your attack and defense techniques are applied at “fight speed.” You are ready for a life-long journey of discovery and fitness.
Here’s a sample of some of the techniques we teach and things you might learn in class.
Click on a location name to see the Traditional Kung Fu class schedule at that location.
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