Nutrition in Combat Sports

17 Wushu (Chinese Martial Arts) 307
Table 17.3 (countinued)
Weight/age requirements
Eleven weight categories from 90 kg with divisions at intervals between 4 and 5 kg
Adult division (18–35 years of age), Junior division (15–18 years of age)
Rounds
Three 2-min rounds with 1 min in between
Target sights
Accepted
- Use of hands and feet as weapons allowed
- Head, trunk, and thighs may be struck
- The fighter may perform throws, sweeps, takedowns
Not accepted
- Use of head, elbows, or knees as striking weapons
- Chokes and arm locks are prohibited as are strikes to the posterior cranium and groin
- The fighter cannot strike the opponent’s head when he or she is down
Fighting ring/platform specifications
80 cm high, 800 cm long, 800 cm wide
No ropes are provided to keep fighters in ring
The ring floor is covered with a soft mat and covered with canvas; protective mats are
placed on the floor surrounding the platform
17.7 Taolu
Choreographed forms (Taolu) traditionally have been an integral part of most martial
arts. [1–4] Forms develop stamina, promote flexibility and tolerance, and assist
with mastering movements and techniques. The emphasis of form competition in
tournaments has in recent years gradually departed from the more traditional presentations.
The contemporary designated forms appear to be hybrids between ballet,
gymnastics, and martial arts, which makes this “visual art” exciting to watch.
Obviously, athletes have to train differently for this type of event, and this can result
in a wide variety of injuries that may have not been common under the more traditional
training. There are timed sequences containing mandatory movements in
both external and internal forms. Taijijuan, which has roots as an internal style, now
has incorporated moves that require greater flexibility and jumping skills. These
modern internal and external Taolu forms have become so subspecialized that some
team members train for only one-open-hand or weapons forms. They have to spend
much time fine-tuning acrobatic and gymnastics skills in order to be competitive
and to achieve the ultimate goal of medal placement (see Fig. 17.3 ). Traditionally,
the martial artist would have been using such time for further internal and martial
arts skill development. There continue to be some limited traditional tournaments.
It is rare that a forms competitor also competes in Sanshou in the contemporary
Wushu “sport.” There is some concern that such acrobatic requirements may discourage
amateur athletes from pursuing these arts and may serve unintentionally as
a deterrent rather than promoting wider Chinese martial art dissemination.
The IWUF competition forms are as follows [3] :