Depending on who you ask, the origin of Xing Yi Quan dates back to the 18th century, traced back to the Liang Dynasty. Historians believe the martial art stemmed from the military spear fighting techniques. Several early martial arts practitioners adopted the style; however, many consider Li Luoneng’s teachings as the modern-day version of Xing Yi Quan. During the 20th and 21st centuries, Chinese officers trained in Xing Yi Quan during the Sino-Japanese War as part of close combat training.
Xing Yi Quan is one of three internal martial arts, meaning that practitioners train their bodies to generate internal force using proper alignment and Chi energy to deliver powerful blows. Known for its aggressive nature, Xing Yi seeks to attack weaknesses in an opponent’s defenses. To do so, Xing Yi relies on straight-line movements and vectors, seeking to close the distance between an opponent. The idea is to level an opponent and end a fight quickly.
You don’t hear as much about Xing Yi compared to more commercialized Hollywood glorified martial arts like Taekwondo or jujitsu. Still, those who know about Xing Yi appreciate its brutal efficiency. Several Xing Yi schools, clubs, and solo practitioners exist in the US and worldwide.
We had the opportunity to sit down with Frank Kyle of the Xing Yi Martial Arts Club in Dayton, Ohio, to discuss this particular martial arts system and compare it to other practices.
Athletified: Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into learning Xing Yi Quan.
Frank Kyle: My mom enrolled me in Taekwondo when I was eight. I didn’t get too far into it, getting a blue belt in the ATA style of Taekwondo. We moved into the Dayton, OH area, and I needed to take a sport. I enjoyed Taekwondo and wanted to take a similar martial art. At the time, I started getting into the Karate Kid movies, including Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. There was a Shaolin Kung Fu school in the town right outside of Dayton. So, I started enrolling, and it just grasped my soul at that point. I started training four days a week and going back to take the beginners class to refine the basics. The basics are everything, and advancement really happens when you practice the basics over and over. I ended up getting a black belt in Shaolin Do Kung Fu.
Sparring is where I learned what actually works in a fight. I will give credit to my instructor for having us spar. He trained with Remy Presas, a phenomenal Arnis practitioner who told him to spar every class. So we sparred every class, and that made a world of difference.
I got interested in Xing Yi and Bagua because of Jet Li’s movie The One. I learned that Xing Yi was the main style of the bad guy in that movie, and Bagua was the style of the good guys. Those are two of the three internal styles of Chinese martial arts.
It took me years to track down my current instructor, Fritz Froehlich. He didn’t advertise and is an acupuncturist. Fritz is one of my Sifus that I picked up over the years. Altogether I’ve practiced martial arts for 17 years. I’ve been practicing Xing Yi for six years with Fritz and Tai Chi for almost eight years with him. You can’t understand Tai Chi without understanding Xing Yi or Bagua.
Athletified: What drew you to Xing Yi Quan?
Frank Kyle: First, I am not a professional fighter. I recognize that I’m not a pro fighter, and I will get older and weaker than some people. So I have to find a martial arts system in which a smaller person can gain an advantage over someone who might be superiorly stronger than them.
I am not always going to have my strength. One day I will be older, and a younger man might attack a family member or me. I pray that it never happens, but if it does, I must step up to the plate and use what I know and have practiced. An attacker will most likely be physically stronger than me. So I must work on technical skills that do not rely on being stronger to gain an advantage, like minimal effort techniques that generate maximum results.
https://www.athletified.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/video-1652307767.mp4
Athletified: Would you say that Xing Yi levels the playing field somewhat as far as fighting a larger opponent?
Frank Kyle: To quote my teacher Fritz, who is an acupuncturist. “There are only so many ways to move the human body.” When learning Xing Yi, you are learning a highly efficient way to move your body. You would be surprised by how uncoordinated and unbalanced the average person is. Every martial arts style uses strategic choices in a combat situation. Xing Yi is about structure and alignment. You learn to use your entire mass effectively with your strikes, throws, and joint manipulations. On the first day of training, you learn San Ti Shi (also known as the trinity posture) and how to correctly align your structure. Sant Ti Shi is the core stance training of Xing Yi, and you hold this stance as an isometric exercise.
https://youtu.be/0oRDxD9pVRs
Athletified: Roughly translated, Xing Yi means Mind-Intention-Fist (Boxing). Can you explain that to the average person?
Frank Kyle: Xing Yi is an intentional movement. One thing lacking in people in the modern era is the lack of attention to detail and intention of moving. Xing Yi is the opposite of that. The mind tells the body the movement and what it’s going to do, and then the body follows suit. It is meditation in movement as in yoga and Tai Chi. Xing Yi is the same thing.
Xing Yi is a mental training just as much as a physical one. When you stand in the San Ti Shi posture, it is a meditation where you think about alignment. When you stand in San Ti Shi or do stance training, you will experience pain in those muscles. You learn to tell your body to push further and relax your muscles in the stance. This is a basic understanding of Xing Yi and other martial arts that practice stance work.
Each of the five elements is “an energetic” that you can use in boxing as a strategy for when you change an angle and drive in with your superior structure, like an axe splitting wood. Only one person can occupy a space at one time. You learn to strike with your whole mass in Xing Yi as you take up the opponent’s space. The result is your opponent is violently removed from their space.
One of the five elements is a battering ram, as you drive straight forward. When you learn self-defense, they always tell you that a jab is much quicker than a big hook because it’s faster. You don’t have to be stronger; you just have to be faster.
Xing Yi is a very linear system of fighting, the equivalent of fighting with a spear. It forges hooks and big/broad circular movements and favors direct and straight movements. Xing Yi, you will seek the superior angle of attack, make a wedge and drive your superior structure in. This is like the Spearman driving in the tip of his spear. It is fast, direct, and efficient. In self-defense, you want the same mentality to end an encounter as quickly and effectively as possible.
Athletified: What are the significant differences between Xing Yi Quan and other martial arts?
Frank Kyle: This question is a tricky one to answer because everyone wants to know what is different. The main differences in martial arts styles are the training method and strategic choices that they employ. However, over the years that I have studied other martial arts, I noticed that at their highest levels, the different arts are similar and have many of the same universal principles. Most of the time, it is just the language they use to describe something, but the idea is the exact same as other arts. As one of my teachers said, “There are only so many ways to move the body.” I have started saying, “There are only so many ways to effectively move the human body.”
We can see this with the phenomenal figures that we have video of. For instance, we can watch a video of Mifune, a legendary figure in the Judo community and one of my favorite Judoka figures. He explained the idea of making his body into that of a ball. I have heard this principle taught in Tai Chi to illustrate a principle. So really, there are some universal truths among all the different arts.
But if we must look at the differences, the training methods and strategic choices are the answer. For instance, Brazilian jiu-jitsu has strategically chosen to focus heavily on the range of ground fighting. They tailor their training methods to focus on what works through rolling with each other and competing against others. On the other hand, Tae Kwon Do is an Olympic sport but is primarily a striking art. It looks like a high-speed tag match. It is trained as a sport, and they are great athletes.
Now for Xing Yi, Tai Chi, and Bagua, the three internal arts of Kung Fu. They start off slow and build up so your body doesn’t break, which I feel suits the common man. Through these Kung fu styles, you start paying attention to your body as you hold these stances, you notice what muscles are working, and you learn to bring more muscle groups to bear. You learn to use all of your extensor muscles and not just your triceps. You’re just not lifting with your arms; you’re starting the chain from the ground up. This is learning how to move your body efficiently.
Athletified: MMA gets a lot of attention. What are your thoughts on it when comparing it to Xing Yi?
Frank Kyle: If you are not a pro fighter, you have no business stepping into the ring with one. MMA is a sport. These are high-level athletes. I don’t care if you’ve been practicing Xing Yi since you were eight years old. That better-conditioned fighter who spends 8-10 hours a day, over 6-7 days training, will beat someone who only trains two days a day. It’s not a fair comparison.
I prepare to take care of the untrained. I’m not going to fight a pro athlete. Most high-level martial artists are friendly people. They don’t want to fight. If you bump into them in a bar, they will say sorry first. You’re going to recognize that this person doesn’t want to fight. You’re not going to fight well-trained fighters. So who are you going to fight? Most likely, it’s the drunkard with no self-control. If he has no self-control, he has no body control.
Usually, you’ll mop the floor with that person because no matter what type of training you’re doing, you’re better at using your own body. Xing Yi is good for self-defense against the untrained. But being marked for death against a knife in the back when you’re least expecting doesn’t matter what you know. So all these online arguments over what martial art is superior always come down to the individual, the fighter. Who is better conditioned, faster, stronger, or technically skilled fighter? People are always going to defend their style or what they identify with. Bruce Lee said in his book that it is the fighter and not the art. I believe this to be a true statement.
Athletified: Xing Yi doesn’t have many high kicks as you see in other styles. Why is that?
Frank Kyle: In Chinese martial arts, there is a saying, “every step is a kick, and every kick is a step.” The majority of the best kicking targets are from the solar plexus down. The head is an elusive target and can be hard to strike. High kicks to the head to open yourself up to tons of different counterattacks, grabs, etc. If you are trying to protect yourself, you do not want to give your opponent any extra doors to come in. We are going to keep our kicks to the solar plexus down. What targets are there?
A kick to the solar plexus can take your breath away. Next, you have the floating ribs, which are the weakest of your ribs. Then we go down to the hips and the groin. You also have the inner thigh where the femoral artery is. Many people have decent hamstrings and glutes, but the abductors and adductors are weak. A kick at the right angle and target can dislocate a hip. You have kicks to the outside of the leg and knee.
You’ve seen what leg kicks do in MMA, as there is plenty of evidence. The knees themselves are complex joints that are vulnerable to attacks. You always have to protect your knees regardless of the sport you play. Then you have the shins that are below the knees. If you do not have conditioned shins like a Muay Thai fighter, a kick to the shin will have you grunt in pain and limping. You have the ankles where you can roll an ankle by pinning it and shoving. Lastly, you have the small bones of the feet and toes. Easily stomped on to cause significant damage to the way someone stands or runs after you
