Practical Reasons Naked Kung Fu

I've heard of people doing Naked Yoga. I actually often do Kung Fu without clothes on for several reasons... and they are going to seem really bizarre but they actually make sense.

The first reason is actually to dry off after a shower, especially if it is cold and there is nobody to hand you a towel.. or not quickly enough.

There is actually a white crane technique that my Sifu had encouraged us to try after a shower, to, like a crane (though more likely you've seen a dog do this) try to shake dry. That power of shaking dry and be used to produce power to strike or to create space when  some one is trying to grab you. Again, it also warms you up, sort of like over exaggerated shivering on purpose.

The Fukienese White Crane does this a lot. I enjoyed doing these shorter technques in the bathroom because I knew that pows and cups might mean I would hit the wall or pump into something.

Another reason to practice naked is a form of laziness. If you get clothing all sweaty, then you will have to wash that clothing. If you just get all sweaty and then towel off then you save resources washing clothes.

I know these are not the answers one expected with this title... but that is the point.

This second reason is not usually an issue.. but since we are traveling, I sport of had a limited supply of clothing and ended up doing some basics in front of the mirror naked.

But part of it was to observe my body. I had felt like I was getting heavier and weighed myself. I am about 185, which according to doctors would be overweight. 175 was my high school weight. Most doctors would say i could go down to 165 or even 160 for my height.

I did notice some chunk so I wanted to see what I looked like doing basics.


When doing basics, you don't exactly suck your stomach in the way people trying to look thinner do. But you do flex and the visual look is similar.

Anyway I used to prefer teaching people with their shirt tucked in because there is aspects of the posture and alignment that is difficult to see.

Practicing naked I noticed details in positioning of my thighs and calves that I wouldn't have looked at before. Even though i don't practice Kung Fu that much I would still say you can definitely tell by the proportions of my body that it does Kung Fu and that it has adapted to do Kung Fu. I certainly don't look like a long distance runner or a swimmer.

I was just surprised because I had noticed that my stance seemed weaker recently or needed work (in fact I wrote about this) But looking in the mirror I'm just saying that despite being lax... it is still obvious that my body has done Kung Fu seriously for over a decade. Over two decades if you count my childhood playtime training.

I thought of the Romans and the Greeks doing sports naked. It's not really a Han tradition at all. But it would be interesting to take that approach to Kung Fu as well.