This is the 8-movement sequence you are supposed to perform before each form! It's the salutation part of each form of Five Ancestors Fist. So practice it well.

While variations exist between styles, the priority here is precision and consistency. This sequence develops coordination, strength, and body awareness, and forms the foundation for all further practice.

Together these three forms contain the essence of Taiwan's Five Ancestors Fist.

As Jiang Yu Shan puts it: "The first form is the breathing technique which builds the foundation. The second form gives you a strong body. The third form is how you handle a fight with ancient weaponry."

Jiang Yu Shan teaches how to structure your training around the three student forms.

Learn the correct exhaling technique used throughout the beginner forms of Wu Zhu Quan (Five Ancestors Fist). Controversial topic among Kung Fu masters.

Practice the three steps forward and three steps backward sequence of Twenty Fists, synchronizing every movement with your breath. You'll learn the proper stance which creates tension on the inside of the thighs and requires complete body tension throughout every step.

Learn the wave strike sequence in Twenty Fists, where power starts from the rear foot, travels through the hip and spine like a wave, and releases through the shoulders, elbow and fingertips toward the throat or face.

Every step requires complete body tension, clenched jaw, and tight neck so you can absorb hits from any direction while delivering maximum force outward like arrows.

Learn the monkey fist position in Twenty Fists, where one hand rises to redirect a frontal attack while the other hand strikes backward.

Learn the Lohan-based movement in Twenty Fists.

Learn the crane-inspired leg stance in Twenty Fists, where both hands cut downward simultaneously with bent wrists and fingers pointing down. 

This position gives you the ability to redirect or cut away attacks from multiple directions while staying light and mobile.

Learn the elbow strike sequence in Twenty Fists.

Learn the forearm chop where the entire arm becomes a baseball bat targeting the ribcage directly under the armpit.

Learn a single long-arm strike targeting the bladder area where even a moderate hit collapses the opponent's entire lower structure.

"People always think the target is the head. But now I introduce you the rib cage and the bladder area."

Learn a rising and cutting downward motion that trains the hand sword, a full arm chop that can block kicks, cut open grabbing hands, or strike the head, while simultaneously building tricep and forearm strength.

Learn the traditional Lohan salutation position where one hand guards the solar plexus and one guards the crotch, giving you simultaneous high and low protection while keeping the front foot light and ready to advance or retreat.

Learn the final movement of Twenty Fists, ending in full body tension like a terracotta warrior before releasing completely.

"All the blood shoots in your palms, the energy is back into your psychic center, your breath is calm, your muscles are relaxed — you're much more focused after that exercise."

Full form demonstrated by the students.

Grandmaster Jiang Yu Shan also shares a personal lesson from his own fighting career: he was knocked out once in 2007 with a broken jaw, came back stronger, and competed until 2016.

Learn how to measure and maintain consistent footwork throughout the form and in fighting, keeping every step the same size forward and backward.

Three Battle Steps form demonstrated by grandmaster Jiang Yu Shan.

Learn the second foundational form of Five Ancestors Fist Taiwan Style. The form consists of 20 punching movements performed in a deep, low stance, designed to awaken your full muscular chain and teach you how to generate and transmit explosive power through your fist.

You'll also practice controlled breathing, body shaking, and striking with full mental intention against an imaginary opponent!

Your mind is the conductor. Execute every movement and technique with full intention: "Your mind is the conductor and this is your orchestra."

Learn the detailed execution of the punching techniques in Twenty Fists, continuing from the breathing form.

Learn the shaking movement that follows the three punches in Twenty Fists, along with two short-range strikes.

You'll also understand the breathing logic of fighting.

Learn the blocking techniques in Twenty Fists and discover that every block should be a weapon in itself.

You'll explore the geometric principles embedded in Shaolin Kung Fu such as the circle, the square, and the triangle. Each represented by different arm and body positions in the form. 

The key emphasis is on the iron bridge concept: blocks must be so powerful and firm that an incoming strike injures the attacker.

Learn the final movements of Twenty Fists, including two protective hand techniques.

These guard positions are not passive blocks but active responses to straight attacks: if someone punches forward, you intercept with the protective hand and immediately counter.

Every movement in Twenty Fists can be extracted from the form and trained as a standalone exercise. Whether it's the punches, the blocks, or the grabs. Each technique is complete enough to be drilled on its own. 

Understand the spatial logic of Twenty Fists: every movement happens within an invisible square, and your footwork must always return to that square after each technique. 

You'll learn to identify open gates (empty spaces) as the direction to move toward, and closed gates as directions to avoid. Once the form is firmly learned, you can begin experimenting.

Understand the poke and palm strike in detail and learn the principle of short distance power.

How to generate significant force from minimal movement using only the elbow and wrist.

You'll also be introduced to a praying mantis-derived wrist technique for developing the palm strike.

What to do when you forget your position mid-form. The grandmaster explains that panicking or flailing when you lose your place scatters your energy in every direction, away from your psychic center.

The demonstration of the full Twenty Fists form.

This lesson from Jiang Yu Shan reflects on what students feel during the form — the surprise of how exhausting proper punching is, and the sensation of the whole body working as one connected muscle.

Discover the fire road which is an internal energy circuit running from the nose down to the psychic center, up the spine, and out through the crown and lips.

Explore the deeper principles behind the low stance and rooting in Twenty Fists. The grandmaster explains that gripping the floor through a stable, low stance is not just for show, rather it compresses energy into the psychic center and creates real structural power.

Learn the principle of polarity: what goes up has a down, what goes forward has a pull back, what is inhaled must be exhaled.

The blueprint for building the warrior monk, the most important thing. This is how Shaolin builds the warrior monk, layer by layer: first breathing, then power, then weapons.

Learn the third and final student form of Taiwan's Five Ancestors Fist, which mimics a warrior equipped with saber and shield. 

Every cutting, slashing, blocking and poking movement in this form traces back to actual weapon techniques, because in ancient times all empty hand forms were built around dealing with weapons.

"What you can do empty handed, you can also do with a weapon."

"Man man lai — slowly, little by little, step by step you become more proficient. If you want too much, you get less."

Learn the opening double block sequence where two consecutive blocks cover the inevitable one-two punch pattern, followed by a rising knee and spear hand strike to the ribs. 

Learn a circular arm block of Hitting Four Corners.

Learn the three punch sequence that flows into a downward grab and a rising cut mimicking a saber piercing upward while the other hand shields.

Every movement in this form represents either sword or shield, teaching the ancient warfare logic of simultaneous attack and defence.

Learn the grab and uppercut sequence followed by a jumping backward cut, understanding that every movement in this form mimics the ABC of ancient battlefield warfare.

This form was never designed for one against one, but one against many armed opponents.

"Fist fighting in old times is mimicking warfare."

Learn the correct shape of the Kim, the grabbing movement, where fingers round into a claw, the elbow drops down and the arm swings in a full circle.

Learn to shift your body sideways instead of standing still as a fixed target, using a hooking bridge hand to redirect the opponent's arm and enter with a stabbing finger strike to the eyes or a grab to the neck. 

Learn the pushing technique that breaks grips and snaps elbows, and discover how the same movement defends against a double leg takedown by driving the forearm into the attacker's throat.

Every movement in the form has a real application.

"Learn a form and don't know the application — that is a big disaster. Applications must always be inside the kung fu form."

Learn the rising push technique that simultaneously snaps the elbows and drives the cutting hands into the liver and spleen on both sides, pressing the air out of the opponent's body before pushing them away with full force.

Learn the turning sequence that ends with three punches and the butterfly palm. 

This finishing technique appears across Wing Chun, Tiger and Crane, Hong Chun and nearly every wooden dummy form in Southern Shaolin.

Full form demonstrated by the students.