Bamboo Kung Fu teaches traditional Choy Li Fut kung fu with a strong focus on practical movement, biomechanics, and long-term physical development.

We offer children’s and adult kung fu programs.

Our mission: to help students develop practical movement skills, confidence, and long-term physical health through traditional kung fu training.

Our main Toronto locations are:

• - Downtown Toronto: 141 Spadina Avenue, Unit 205
• - Scarborough: 4385 Sheppard Avenue East, Unit 13

Our programs are designed for all skill levels. Whether you are completely new to martial arts or have previously trained before, we can help you to improve.

We can adjust and customize your training during class to your skill level.

Choy Li Fut is a traditional Chinese martial art style known for its striking, circular flowing movements, and practical application.

In our curriculum, we emphasize good structure, body mechanics, and training that can support everyday movement and martial skills. Our kung fu curriculum focuses first on developing good structure, body mechanics, and maximizing leverage. Then, we apply the principles in the forms and in practical sparring applications.

We ask you to purchase and wear a Bamboo Kung Fu T-shirt when you are performing in public performances or appearances.

Absolutely. Our classes are designed so new students can join and progress at a comfortable pace. We build from the basics and help students improve one step at a time.

Yes. We welcome new students to book a free trial so they can experience the class format, meet the instructors, and see whether the school is a good fit.

At Bamboo Kung Fu, we evaluate skills by testing through technique performance, technical delivery during drills. Our kung fu students are able to feel and understand the skill level they have achieved. As they progress further in their training, they can feel their striking is more effective on the punching bag, the blocking and defence techniques are more robust and are able to repel oncoming offense from a challenger or multiple challengers. The students will come to realize the belt ranking and certificate are unnecessary to their skill progression.

Belt rankings are adopted in Japanese martial arts (karate, judo, jujitsu, aikido) and Korean martial arts (taekwondo, tang soo do, hapkido).

We do not want to focus on getting just a certificate. Rather, we want them to focus on real improvement in movement quality and martial skill.

Our classes are kept small to ensure each student receives individual attention and correction from the Sifu.

Here's how Choy Li Fut compares to other martial arts:

• Karate, Taekwondo, Kickboxing – These are striking arts centred on punches and kicks, often with a competition emphasis.
  Similarly, Choy Li Fut is primarily a striking art, but its techniques are more fluid and flowing, and place more emphasis on body mechanics. Our sanshou/sanda background adds to our CLF repertoire with takedowns and practical kickboxing applications.
  
  
• Judo, Jujitsu (BJJ) are grappling arts that focus on throws, takedowns, and ground fighting, including ground submissions.
  Although Choy Li Fut’s focus is on standing upright hand strikes, kicks, and not ground grappling, its technical library does include throws and takedowns; for example, the gwo ma tat (over-the-hip throw) technique.
  
  
• Aikido is an art of soft flowing redirects and throws with very few strikes, whereas Choy Li Fut includes a flowing sequence of punches, kicks, blocks, and self-defence techniques.
  
  
• Wing Chun is a Chinese martial art style which focuses on close-range, linear, fast strikes and center-line control. Although our Choy Li Fut shares a similar center-line control principle, we use a good mix of straight-line long-range hand strikes and wide circular techniques, kicks and throws, all delivered through various dynamic footwork.
  
  
• Ying Yi Quan, Bagua, Tai Chi – These internal Chinese arts focus on soft internal yin power (loi geng), energy flow, meditation, and close-range pushing. Choy Li Fut is more focused on external or yang energy (ngoi geng), emphasizing power in strikes and kicks, for practical applications.
  
  
• Wushu is a performance-based Chinese martial art focused on aesthetics, forms, and competition. In contrast, Choy Li Fut is a practical martial art for self-defence and movement development, less performance-based.
  
  

In summary:

• For a flowing sequence of striking, kicks, and self-defence: Choy Li Fut kung fu
• For close-range, fast, direct strikes: Wing Chun
• For competition focused on striking: Karate, Taekwondo, Kickboxing
• For throws and grappling: Judo
• For ground fighting: Jujitsu (BJJ)
• For redirects and throws: Aikido
• For internal power and energy cultivation: Ying Yi Quan, Bagua, Tai Chi
• For performance and forms aesthetics: Wushu

Our children’s kung fu program help to improve physical literacy. Bamboo Kung Fu children’s program teaches foundation skills to enhance and widen the child’s movement library. Children will be better and more effective in their movements and improve coordination and balance.

For example, rather than just balancing on a single leg stork stance, the child will deliver a kick while standing on a single leg stork stance.

Another example, instead just walking forward, our kung fu program will have the child walk and punch simultaneously.

We use age-appropriate drills and movement games to make training safe, fun, and useful. Our children’s training includes multi-directional movement such as rolling, tumbling, crawling, hopping, frog jumps, and other skill-building exercises.

Another highlight of the children’s kung fu program, is the kids will learn the skills of falling to the ground safely without getting injured.

Additionally, children will build positive mental, cognitive and emotional habits i.e., focus and attention, discipline, emotional regulation - i.e., manage and regulate frustrations or small achievements, listening skills and respond to cues, learn to work in a structured group setting.

They are the important elements for children grow into healthy, active, and coordinated adults; not just learn a few martial arts move.

There are no belts, no hype, no anxiety. Instead, children learn meaningful physical skills and steady progress they can feel in their bodies and movements. Skill progress is monitored through regular technical feedback, skill milestones, and participation in controlled partner drills

In short, children increase physical literacy naturally at their own pace, no pressure.

Age 6 is ideal because children have developed a basic level of fundamental movement skills (FMS), physical coordination and attention to follow instructions. Our Sifu is experienced in matching to the children's developmental stage, with games and drills to keep them engaged while building focus, discipline, and movement skills.

We recommend waiting until age 6, and have the mental maturity to follow group instructions and participate in structured training.

We teach children to value kung fu for physical and mental self-development, not misuse it to bully and hurt another person.

We emphasize on structure, rules, discipline and control, proper technique, and respect for partners and respect for the art and its founders. There is no aggressive contact or dangerous training. Children learn to move safely and effectively, develop body control, confidence in their abilities. Our multi-directional training (rolling, tumbling, crawling, hopping) helps kids learn how to handle themselves physically without risk of injury.

When an individual is physically literate in a specific movement, they can perform the movement proficiently, so the movement is more enjoyable, and they become more confident in doing it. When children develop physical competence, confidence, and motivation, they are more likely to stay active from childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Physical literacy is as important as academics (numeracy and literacy) as advocated in the 2018 Government of Canada national policy document titled Common Vision for increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary living in Canada: Let’s Get Moving, “… it is critical that physical literacy, like numeracy and literacy, is fostered from an early age and developed throughout the life course.” In its CS4L framework, Sport for Life Canada states, “The learning and practice of Fundamental Movement Skills is the basic building block for the development of physical literacy.” (Sport for Life Society).

References:

Sport for Life Society. Developing Physical Literacy for Life. 2019, sportforlife.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/DPL-2_EN_web_November_2019-1.pdf .

The table below compares the partially/already acquired basic FMS and Kung Fu foundation skills equivalent FMS category Partially / Already acquired basic FMS Kung fu foundation skills equivalent Locomotor skills Walking, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, galloping Footwork, stance stepping, advance-retreat, angle steps, jump steps Balance and stability skills Standing on one foot, squatting and rising, turning, stopping, landing safely, shifting weight Horse stance, cat stance, crane balance, turn-and-settle, freeze on landing, controlled weight transfer, learning to fall safely Manipulative skills Reaching, throwing, catching, striking an object, grasping, aiming Punch-to-pad, kick-to-target, block-and-return, parry drills, partner target work.

Children will develop better body control. In simpler terms, FMS are the basic building blocks of all physical activity, i.e., walking, running, balancing, throwing, and striking.

Sparring or partner drills are encouraged at Bamboo Kung Fu but they are closely controlled. However, we prohibit contact to the head and face, throat, groin, solar plexus, back of the neck, spinal column, kidneys or any sensitive or vital areas which are unsafe. Unsafe joint manipulations are also prohibited.

All sparring or stress test contact interaction is closely monitored and moderated by the Sifu. We encourage the practitioner to execute techniques to overwhelm and control the challenger without inflicting harm to the challenger.

For example, students are welcome to use their skills to control and overwhelm challenger's defence and stopping strikes just millimeters away from the challenger's head.

Adult students are encouraged to undergo conditioning to toughen their hands especially their forearms and knuckles, legs, feet, as these are the body parts used in striking and blocking techniques. In the case of accidental injury, students are expected and required to stop the activity and to check-in and obtain consent before continuing.

Chronic lower back pain causes are varied in their manifestation.

It’s wise to seek medical clearance from qualified health professional prior to seek kung fu training. Many students with chronic back issues train safely by modified training, avoiding high-impact work, and emphasizing gentle mobility and core stability.

If you experience any discomfort or negative symptoms during class, please advocate for yourself and let us know immediately.

Our kung fu program does not include formal seated meditation. Instead, our Sifu, a registered massage therapist, teaches biomechanically sound techniques that promote safe movement patterns and help prevent injury. Specifically at Bamboo Kung Fu, our program helps strengthen weak joints (knees, shoulders, core strength) builds and improves mobility for injury-prevention and long-term training. When students focus on perfecting their techniques, they naturally develop mindfulness by redirecting their focus to the technical task and practice. This “moving meditation” replaces traditional seated stillness. It interrupts overthinking cycle by demanding intense, real-time focus that deactivates the brain’s worry network (DMN).

In addition, the physical exertion burns off excess trapped energy by metabolizing stress -hormone – cortisol and the deep breathing regulation helps to lower heart rate that manages restlessness. In other words, practising kung fu techniques channels negative anxious energy into a focused beneficial flow state.

In the long run, this helps train the mind to remain calm under pressure by developing emotional regulation habits for real-world stress resilience.